Newspaper clipping of a cartoon depicting Charles Seymour and a humorous letter written by Fitz James O'Brien as Henry Ward Beecher. Transcription: [handwritten by Gunn] From the Picayune! MR. [Charles Bailey] SEYMOUR AS HE APPEARED IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS ?ǣCLOSING ACT, ? SWEARING BY HIS NOSE AND DESTROYS THE DIAMOND LENS. [handwritten by Gunn] (Written by [Fitz James] O ?Brien.) SHOCKING INSTANCE OF PROFANITY! DEPRAVITY OF A PROMINENT THEATRICAL CRITIC!!! LETTER FROM THE REVEREND HENRY WARD BEECHER. TO MR. PIC. Sir, ?It is with feelings of the utmost pain and consternation that I observe
Newspaper clipping of a cartoon depicting Charles Seymour and a humorous letter written by Fitz James O'Brien as Henry Ward Beecher. Transcription: [handwritten by Gunn] From the Picayune! MR. [Charles Bailey] SEYMOUR AS HE APPEARED IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS ?ǣCLOSING ACT, ? SWEARING BY HIS NOSE AND DESTROYS THE DIAMOND LENS. [handwritten by Gunn] (Written by [Fitz James] O ?Brien.) SHOCKING INSTANCE OF PROFANITY! DEPRAVITY OF A PROMINENT THEATRICAL CRITIC!!! LETTER FROM THE REVEREND HENRY WARD BEECHER. TO MR. PIC. Sir, ?It is with feelings of the utmost pain and consternation that I observe in the columns of the Daily Times the fall of one of my most promising disciples from a state of grace. Mr. Charles C. B. Seymour, theatrical critic of that paper, has, on the occasion of a controversy connected with a carnal story entitled ?ǣThe Diamond Lens, ? yielded to the counsels of Satan, and blasphemed the most majestic features of the human countenance. The sanctity of the human proboscis has been always proverbial. To tweak a nose has been the deadliest of insults ever since the time of Ovidius Nase. By the Roman augurs, the length and shape of the nose was considered as an infallible indication of the future destiny of the baby owner. In Tristram Shandy, some of the finest passages occur relative to the nose-?; and even in England ?that land of flunkeyism, the feature has been elevated to a high rank under the title of ?ǣthe Lord knows who. ? Mr. Seymour ?s nose is of a majestic order of architecture. Salient and threatening as the prow of an ancient trireme, which, with brazen edge, cuts through the floating ranks of the enemy. It is not a nose to be trifled with. It is a feature that does not look as if it had ever been contaminated with sacreligious sternitations. Why then blaspheme so noble an organ; so sacred a vessel? I sorrow over this desecration; I weep over the fall of my friend. I would say more if my feelings permitted me. But I do trust that my belove
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