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diff --git a/old/44810.txt b/old/44810.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02594c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44810.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3483 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chats in the Book-Room, by Horace N. Pym + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Chats in the Book-Room + +Author: Horace N. Pym + +Release Date: January 31, 2014 [EBook #44810] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHATS IN THE BOOK-ROOM *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Christian Boissonnas and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +Chats in the Book-room + + + + + Of this Book only One Hundred and Fifty + Copies were privately printed for the + Author, on Arnold's Unbleached Handmade + Paper, in the month of January + 1896---of which this is + + _No. 25_ + +[Illustration: H.N. Pym] + +[Illustration: _Walker and Boutall ph. fc._] + + + + + Chats in the + Book-room + + By + + Horace N. Pym + + Editor of Caroline Fox's Journals; A Mother's Memoir; + A Tour Round my Book-shelves, etc. etc. + + _With Portrait by MOLLY EVANS, and Two + Photogravures of the Book-room_ + + "If any one, whom you do not know, relates strange stories, + be not too ready to believe or report them, and yet (unless he is + one of your familiar acquaintance) be not too forward to contradict + him."--Sir Matthew Hale. + + Privately Printed for the Author in the Year + 1896 by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. + + + + + _To_ + + _My Dearly Loved Son_ + + _Julian Tindale Pym_ + + + _I dedicate these "Chats in the Book-room," to which I ask him to + extend that noble "Patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill," which + gilds and elevates his life._ + + H. N. P. + + Christmas, + Foxwold Chase, 1895. + + + + +Table of Contents + + "_Youth longs and manhood strives, but age remembers, + Sits by the raked-up ashes of the past, + Spreads its thin hands above the whitening embers, + That warm its creeping life-blood till the last._" + O. W. Holmes. + + + PAGE + + Introduction 1 + + + CHAT I. + + On Richard Corney Grain--His home qualities--His love for + children--His benevolence--His power of pathos--His letter + on a holiday 3 + + + CHAT II. + + On a portrait of General Wolfe--On the use of portraits in + country-houses--On a sale at Christie's--A curious story + about a curious sale 8 + + + CHAT III. + + On holiday trips--Across the Atlantic--Some humours of + the voyage--Some stories told in the gun-room 18 + + + CHAT IV. + + On a private visit to Newgate prison--In Execution + yard--Some anecdotes of the condemned 34 + + + CHAT V. + + On Book-binding--Some worthy members of the craft--On + over-work and the modern race for wealth--Charles Dickens + on work--A Song of the City--Anecdote of Mr. Anstey Guthrie 41 + + + CHAT VI. + + On an uninvited guest--Her illness--Her convalescence--Her + recovery--Her gratitude--On texts in bedrooms--A + welcoming banner 53 + + + CHAT VII. + + On some minor poets--On _vers de Societe_--On + Praed, C. S. Calverley, Locker-Lampson, and Mr. A. Dobson 58 + + + CHAT VIII. + + On Mr. Punch and his founders--Concerning portraits of + Jerrold, Kenny Meadows, and Horace Mayhew--On Mr. Sala as a + painter--A letter from G. A. Sala 66 + + + CHAT IX. + + On our schooldays--On Bedford, past and present--On R. C. + Lehmann--A poem by him--A Christmas greeting by + H. E. Luxmoore 73 + + + CHAT X. + + On John Poole, the author of "Paul Pry"--His friendship with + Dickens--His letter to Dickens detailing the French + Revolution of 1848 82 + + + CHAT XI. + + On Ethie Castle--Its artistic treasures--A letter from + Charles II.--A true family ghost story 99 + + + CHAT XII. + + On Cardinal Manning--Dramatic effect at his _Academia_--On + Poets who are never read, or "hardly ever" 108 + + + CHAT XIII. + + On a true story, called "Jane will return"--On Hamilton's + "Parodies"--An unknown one, by the Rev. James Bolton 119 + + + CHAT XIV. + + On autographs--Mr. James Payn and his lay-sermons--Mrs. + Charles Fox of Trebah--Her friendship with Hartley + Coleridge--A letter from him--A letter from John Bright + to Caroline Fox--Mr. Ruskin as a mineral + collector--Five unpublished letters from him 125 + + + CHAT XV. + + On Mrs. Lyne Stephens--The story of her early + life--Thackeray's sketch of her--Her art + collections--A wonderful sale at Christie's--Her charities + and friendships--Her death--Her funeral + sermon--Her portraits 143 + + "_I come not here your morning hour to sadden, + A limping pilgrim, leaning on his staff,-- + I, who have never deemed it sin to gladden + This vale of sorrows with a wholesome laugh._" + --The Iron Gate. + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + Portrait _To face the Title Page_ + + The Book-room (First View) _Page_ 58 + + The Book-room (Second View) " 113 + + + + +Introduction. + + "_Some of your griefs you have cured, + And the sharpest you still have survived; + But what torments of pain you endured, + From evils that never arrived!_" + + +A few years ago a little inconsequent volume was launched on partial +acquaintance, telling of some ordinary books which line our friendly +shelves, of some kindly friends who had read and chatted about them, +some old stories they had told, and some happy memories they had +awakened. + +When those acquaintances had read the little book, they asked, like +Oliver, for more. A rash request, because, unlike Oliver, they get it +in the shape of another "Olla Podrida" of book-chat, picture-gossip, +and perchance a stray "chestnut." Their good-nature must be invoked to +receive it, like C. S. Calverley's sojourners-- + + "Who when they travel, if they find + That they have left their pocket-compass, + Or Murray, or thick boots behind, + They raise no rumpus." + + + + +Chat No. 1. + + "_Lie softly, Leisure! Doubtless you, + With too serene a conscience drew + Your easy breath, and slumbered through + The gravest issue; + But we, to whom our age allows + Scarce space to wipe our weary brows, + Look down upon your narrow house, + Old friend, and miss you._" + --Austin Dobson. + + +Since we made our last "Tour Round the Book-shelves," death has +removed one of the kindest friends, and most genial companions, of +the Book-room. In Richard Corney Grain, Foxwold has lost one of its +pleasantest and most welcome guests, and it is doubtful, well as the +public cared for and appreciated his genius, if it knew or suspected +how generous a heart, and how wide a charity, moved beneath that +massive frame. When rare half-holidays came, it was no uncommon thing +for Dick Grain to dedicate them to the solace and amusement of some +hospital or children's home, where, with a small cottage piano, he +would, moving from ward to ward, give the suffering patients an hour's +freedom from their pain, and some happy laughs amid their misery. + +One day, after a series of short performances in the different parts of +one of our large London hospitals, he was about to sing in the accident +ward, when the secretary to the hospital gravely asked him "Not to be +too funny in this room, for fear he'd make the patients burst their +bandages!" + +Dick Grain was never so happy, so natural, or so amusing as when, of +his own motion, he was singing to a nursery full of children in a +country house. + +Those who knew him well were aware that, delightful as were all his +humorous impersonations, he had a graver and more impressive side to +his lovable and admirable character, and that he would sometimes, when +sure he would be understood, sing a pathetic song, which made the tears +flow as rapidly as in others the smiles had been evoked. + +Who that heard it will forget his little French song, supposed to be +sung by one of the first Napoleon's old Guard for bread in the streets. +He sang in a terrible, hoarse, cracked voice a song of victory, +breaking off in the middle of a line full of the sound of battle to +cough a hacking cough, and beg a sous for the love of God! + +Subjoined is one of his friendly little notes, full of the quiet happy +humour that made him so welcome a guest in every friend's house. + + Hothfield Place, + Ashford, Kent. + + "My dear Pym, + + I shall be proud to welcome you and Mrs. Pym on Wednesday the + 26th, but why St. George's Hall? Why not go at once to a play and + not to an entertainment? Plays at night. Entertainments in the + afternoon. Besides, we are so empty in the evenings now, the new + piece being four weeks overdue. Anyhow, I hope to see you at 8 + Weymouth Street on Nov. 26th, at any hour after my work, say 10.15 + or 10.30, and so on, every quarter of an hour. + + "I am dwelling in the Halls of the Great, waited on by powdered + menials, who rather look down on me, I think, and hide my clothes, + and lay things out I don't wish to put on, and button my collar + on to my shirt, and my braces on to my----, and when I try to + throw the braces over my shoulders I hit my head with the buckle, + and get my collar turned upside down, and tear out the buttons in + my endeavours to get it right; and they fill my bath so full, that + the displacement caused by my unwieldy body sends quarts of water + through the ceiling on to the drawing-room--the Red Drawing-room. + Piano covered with the choicest products of Eastern towns. Luckily + the party is small, so we only occupy the Dragon's Blood Room, so + perhaps they won't notice it. But a truce to fooling till Nov. + 26.--Yours sincerely, + + R. Corney Grain." + + _Nov. 16, 1890._ + +He was one of the most gifted, warmest-hearted friends; his cynicism +was all upon the surface, and was never unkind, the big heart beat true +beneath. His premature death has eclipsed the honest gaiety of this +nation--"he should have died hereafter." + + + + +Chat No. 2. + + "_Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife! + To all the sensual world proclaim, + One crowded hour of glorious life, + Is worth an age without a name._" + --Old Mortality. + + +A picture hangs at Foxwold of supreme interest and beauty, being a +portrait of General Wolfe by Gainsborough. Its history is shortly +this--painted in Bath in 1758, probably for Miss Lowther, to whom he +was then engaged, and whose miniature he was wearing when death claimed +him; it afterwards became the property of Mr. Gibbons, a picture +collector, who lived in the Regent's Park in London, descending in due +course to his son, whose widow eventually sold it to Thomas Woolner, +the R.A. and sculptor; it was bought for Foxwold from Mrs. Woolner in +1895. + +The great master has most wonderfully rendered the hero's long, gaunt, +sallow face lit up by fine sad eyes full of coming sorrow and present +ill-health. His cocked hat and red coat slashed with silver braid are +brilliantly painted, whilst his red hair is discreetly subdued by a +touch of powder. + +One especial interest that attends this picture in its present home is, +that within two miles of Foxwold he was born, and passed some youthful +years in the picturesque little town of Westerham, his birthplace, +and that his short and wonderful career will always be especially +connected with Squerryes Court, then the property of his friend George +Warde, and still in the possession of that family. + +Until recently no adequate or satisfactory life of Wolfe existed, +but Mr. A. G. Bradley has now filled the gap with his beautiful and +affecting monograph for the Macmillan Series of English Men of Action: +a little book which should be read by every English boy who desires to +know by what means this happy land is what it is. + +In country houses the best decoration is portraits, portraits, and +always portraits. In the town by all means show fine landscape and +sea-scape--heathery hills and blue seas--fisher folks and plough +boys--but when from your windows the happy autumn fields and glowing +woods are seen, let the eye returning to the homely walls be cheered +with the answer of face to face, human interests and human features +leading the memory into historic channels and memory's brightest +corners. How pleasant it is in the room where, in the spirit, we now +meet, to chat beneath the brilliant eyes of R. B. Sheridan, limned by +Sir Joshua, or to note with a smile the dignified importance of Fuseli, +painted by Harlow, or to turn to the last portrait of Sir Joshua +Reynolds, painted by himself, and of which picture Mr. Ruskin once +remarked, "How deaf he has drawn himself." + +Of the fashion in particular painters' works, Christie's rooms give +a most instructive object-lesson. It is within the writer's memory +when Romneys could be bought for L20 apiece, and now that they are +fetching thousands, the wise will turn to some other master at present +neglected, and gather for his store pictures quite as full of beauty +and truth, and whose price will not cause his heirs to blaspheme. + +A constant watchful attendance at Christie's is in itself a liberal +education, and it seldom happens that those who know cannot during its +pleasant season find "that grain of gold" which is often hidden away +in a mass of mediocrity. And then those clever, courteous members of +the great house are always ready to give the modest inquirer the full +benefit of their vast knowledge, and, if necessary, will turn to their +priceless records, and guide the timid, if appreciative, visitor into +the right path of selection. + +What a delightful thing it is to be present at a field-day in King +Street. The early lunch at the club--the settling into a backed-chair +at the exactly proper angle to the rostrum and the picture-stand. (The +rostrum, by the way, was made by Chippendale for the founder of the +house.) At one o'clock the great Mr. Woods winds his way through the +expectant throng, and is promptly shut into his pulpit, the steps of +which are as promptly tucked in and the business and pleasure of the +afternoon begins. Mr. Woods, dominating his audience + + "As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, + Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm," + +gives a quick glance round the big room, now filled with well-known +faces, whose nod to the auctioneer is often priceless. Sir William +Agnew rubs shoulders with Lord Rosebery, and Sir T. C. Robinson +whispers his doubts of a picture to a Trustee of the National +Collection; old Mr. Vokins extols, if you care to listen, the old +English water-colourists, to many of whom he was a good friend, and Mr. +George Redford makes some notes of the best pictures for the Press; but +Mr. Woods' quiet incisive voice demands silence as Lot 1 is offered +with little prefix, and soon finds a buyer at a moderate price. + +The catalogues, which read so pleasantly and convey so much within a +little space, are models of clever composition, beginning with items of +lesser interest and carefully leading up to the great attractions of +the afternoon, which fall to the bid of thousands of guineas from some +great picture-buyer, amidst the applause of the general crowd. + +A pure Romney, a winsome Gainsborough, a golden Turner, or a Corot +full of mystery and beauty, will often evoke a round of hand-clapping +when it appears upon the selling-easel, and a swift and sharp contest +between two or three well-known connoisseurs will excite the audience +like a horse-race, a fencing bout, or a stage drama. + +The history of Christie's is yet to be written, notwithstanding Mr. +Redford's admirable work on "Art Sales," and when it is written it +should be one of the most fascinating histories of the nineteenth +century; but where is the Horace Walpole to indite such a work? and who +possesses the necessary materials? + +One curious little history I can tell concerning a sale in recent years +of the Z---- collection of pictures and _objets d'art_, which will, to +those who know it not, prove "a strange story." + +A former owner, distinguished by his social qualities and position, in +a fit of passion unfortunately killed his footman. The wretched victim +had no friends, and was therefore not missed, and the only person, +besides his slayer, aware of his death, and how it was caused, was +the butler. The crime was therefore successfully concealed, and no +inquiries made. But after a little time the butler began to use his +knowledge for his own personal purposes. + +Putting the pressure of the blackmailer upon his unhappy master, he +began to make him sing, by receiving as the price of his silence, first +a fine picture or two, then some rare china, followed by art furniture, +busts, more pictures, and more china, until he had well-nigh stripped +the house. + +Still, like the daughter of the horse-leech, crying, "Give, give!" he +made his nominal master assign to him the entire estates, reserving +only to himself a life interest, which, in his miserable state of +bondage, did not last long. + +The chief butler on his master's death took his name and possessions, +ousting the rightful heirs; and after enjoying a wicked, but not +uncommon, prosperity with his stolen goods for some years, he also died +in the odour of sanctity, and went to his own place. + +His successors, hearing uneasy rumours, determined to be rid of their +tainted inheritance; so placed all the pictures and pretty things in +the sale-market, and otherwise disposed of their ill-gotten property. + + + + +Chat No. 3. + + "_Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat, + Wary of the weather, and steering by a star? + Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat, + To Providence, or Babylon, or off to Malabar._" + --R. L. Stevenson. + + +The best holiday for an over-worked man, who has little time to spare, +and who has not given "hostages to fortune," is to sail across the +herring-pond on a Cunarder or White Star hotel, and so get free from +newspapers, letters, visitors, dinner-parties, and all the daily +irritations of modern life. + +Those grand Atlantic rollers fill the veins with new life, the tired +brain with fresh ideas; and the happy, idle days slip away all too +soon, after which a short stay in New York or Boston City, and then +back again. + +The study of character on board is always pleasant and instructive, and +sometimes a happy friendship is begun which lasts beyond the voyage. + +Then, again, the cliques into which the passengers so naturally fall, +is funny to watch. The reading set, who early and late occupy the +best placed chairs, and wade through a vast mass of miscellaneous +literature, and are only roused therefrom by the ringing summons to +meals; then there is the betting and gambling set, who fill card and +smoking room as long as the rules permit, coming to the surface now +and then for breath, and to see what the day's run has been, or to +organise fresh sweepstakes; then there is often an evangelical set, +who gather in a ring upon the deck, if permitted, and sing hymns, and +address in fervid tones the sinners around them; then there are the +gossips (most pleasant folk these), the flirts, the deck pedestrians, +those who dress three times a day, and those who dress hardly at all: +and so the drama of a little world is played before a very appreciative +little audience. + +I remember on such a journey being greatly interested in the study of a +delightful rugged old Scotch engineer, whose friendship I obtained by a +genuine admiration for his devotion to his engines, and his belief in +their personality. It was his habit in the evening, after a long day's +run, to sit alongside these throbbing monsters and play his violin to +them, upon which he was a very fair performer, saying, "They deserved +cheering up a bit after such a hard day's work!" This was a real and +serious sentiment on his part, and inspired respect and an amused +admiration on ours. + +The humours of one particular voyage which I have in my memory, were +delightfully intensified by the presence on board of a very charming +American child, called Flossie L----, about fourteen years old, who by +her capital repartees, acute observation, and pretty face, kept her +particular set of friends very much alive, and made all who knew her, +her devoted slaves and admirers. + +Her remark upon a preternaturally grave person, who marched the deck +each day before our chairs, "that she guessed he had a lot of laughter +coiled up in him somewhere," proved, before the voyage was over, to be +quite true. + +It was this gentleman who, one morning, solemnly confided to a friend +that he was a little suspicious of the drains on board! + +Americanisms, which are now every one's property, were at this time--I +am speaking of twenty years ago--not so common, and glided from +Flossie's pretty lips most enchantingly. To be told on a wet morning, +with half a gale of wind blowing, "to put on a skin-coat and gum-boots" +to meet the elements, was at that day startling, if useful, advice. She +professed a serious attachment for a New York cousin, aged sixteen, +"Because," she said, "he is so dissolute, plays cards, smokes cigars, +reads novels, and runs away when offered candy." Her quieter moments on +deck were passed in reading 'Dombey and Son,' which, when finished, +she pronounced to be all wrong, "only one really nice man in the +book--Carker--and he ought to have married Floey." + +Mr. Hugh Childers, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was a passenger +on board our boat, and having with infinite kindness and patience +explained to the child our daily progress with a big chart spread on +the deck and coloured pins, was somewhat startled to see her execute +a _pas seul_ over his precious map and disappear down the nearest +gangway, with the remark, "My sakes, Mr. Childers, how terribly +frivolous you are!" + +She had a youthful brother on board, who, one day at dinner, astonished +his table by coolly saying, as he pointed to a most inoffensive old +lady dining opposite to him, "Steward, take away that woman, she makes +me sick!" + +A stout and amiable friend of Flossie's, who shall be nameless in +these blameless records, on coming in sight of land assumed, and I +fear did it very badly, some emotion at the first sight of her great +country, only to be crushed by her immediate order, given in the sight +and hearing of some hundred delighted passengers, "Sailor, give this +trembling elephant an arm, I guess he's going to be sick!" Luckily for +him the voyage was practically over, but for its small remnant he was +known to every one on board as the trembling elephant. + +One day a pleasant little American neighbour at dinner touched one's +sense of humour by naively saying, "If you don't remove that nasty +little boiled hen in front of you, I know I must be ill." + +Then there was a dull and solemn prig on board, who at every meal +gave us, unasked, and _apropos des bottes_, some tremendous facts and +statistics to digest, such as the number of shrimps eaten each year +in London, or how many miles of iron tubing go to make the Saltash +bridge. Finding one morning on his deck-chair, just vacated, a copy +of Whitaker's Almanack and a volume of Mayhew's "London Labour and +the London Poor," we recognised the source of his elucidations, and +promptly consigned his precious books to a watery grave. Of that +voyage, so far as he was concerned, the rest was silence. + +Upon remarking to an American on board that the gentleman in question +was rather slow, he brought down a Nasmyth hammer with which to crack +his nut by saying, "Slow, sir; yes, he's a big bit slower than the hour +hand of eternity!" + +I remember on another pleasant voyage to Boston meeting and forming +lasting friendship with the late Judge Abbott of that city, whose +stories and conversation were alike delightful. He spoke of a rival +barrister, who once before the law courts, on opening his speech for +the defence of some notorious prisoner, said, "Gentlemen, I shall +divide my address to you into three parts, and in the first I shall +confine myself to the _Facts_ of this case; secondly, I shall endeavour +to explain the _Law_ of this case; and finally, I shall make an +all-fired rush at your passions!" + +It was Judge Abbott who told me that when at the Bar he defended, and +successfully, a young man charged with forging and uttering bank-notes +for large values. After going fully into the case, he was entirely +convinced of his client's innocence, an impression with which he +succeeded in imbuing the court. After his acquittal, his client, to +mark his extreme sense of gratitude to his counsel's ability, insisted +upon paying him double fees. The judge's pleasure at this compliment +became modified, when it soon after proved that the said fees were +remitted in notes undoubtedly forged, and for the making of which he +had just been tried and found "not guilty!" + +Speaking one day of the general ignorance of the people one met, he +very aptly quoted one of Beecher Ward's witty aphorisms, "That it +is wonderful how much knowledge some people manage to steer clear +of." Another quotation of his from the same ample source, I remember +especially pleased me. Speaking of the morbid manner in which many +dwelt persistently on the more sorrowful incidents and accidents of +their lives, he said, "Don't nurse your sorrows on your knee, but spank +them and put them to bed!" + +On one visit to the States I took a letter of special commendation to +the worthy landlord of the Parker House Hotel in Boston. On arriving +I delivered my missive at the bar, was told the good gentleman was +out, was duly allotted excellent rooms, and later on sat down with +an English travelling companion to an equally excellent dinner in +the ladies' saloon. In the middle of our repast we saw a small +Jewish-looking man wending his way between the many tables in, what +is literally, the marble hall, towards us. Standing beside our table, +and regarding us with the benignant expression of an archbishop, +he carefully, though unasked, filled and emptied a bumper of our +well-iced Pommery Greno, saying, "Now, gentlemen, don't rise, but my +name's Parker!" + +Upon a first visit to America few things are more striking than the +originality and vigour of some of the advertisements. One advocating +the use of some hair-wash or cream pleased us greatly by the simple +reason it gave for its purchase, "that it was both elegant and chaste." +Another huge placard represented our Queen Victoria arrayed in crown, +robes, and sceptre, drinking old Jacob Townsend's Sarsaparilla out of +a pewter pint-pot. I also saw a most elaborate allegorical design with +life-size figures, purporting to induce you to buy and try somebody's +tobacco. I remember that a tall Yankee, supposed to represent Passion, +was smoking the said tobacco in a very fiery and aggressive manner, +that with one hand he was binding Youth and Folly together with chains, +presumably for refusing him a light, whilst with the other he chucked +Vice under the chin, she having apparently been more amenable and +polite. + +To note how customs change, I one day in New York entered a car in the +Broadway, taking the last vacant seat. A few minutes, and we stopped +again to admit a stout negress laden with her market purchases. The car +was hot, and I was glad to yield her my seat, and stand on the cooler +outside platform. She took it with a wide grin, saying with a dramatic +wave of her dusky paw, "You, sir, am a gentleman, de rest am 'ogs!" a +speech which would not so many years ago have probably cost her her +life at the next lamppost. + +A Washington doctor once told me the following little story, which +seems to hold a peculiar humour of its own. A country lad and lassie, +promised lovers, are in New York for a day's holiday. He takes her into +one of those sugar-candy, preserved fruit, ice, and pastry shops which +abound, and asks her tenderly what she'll have? She thinks she'll try +a brandied peach. The waiter places a large glass cylinder holding +perhaps a couple of dozen of them on their table, so that they may help +themselves. These peaches, be it known, are preserved in a spirituous +syrup, with the whole kernels interspersed, and are very expensive. +To the horror of the young man, the girl just steadily worked her way +through the whole bottleful. Having accomplished this feat without +turning a hair, she pauses, when the lover, in a delicate would-be +sarcastic note, asks with effusion, if she won't try another peach? To +which the girl coyly answers, "No thank you, I don't like them, the +seeds scratch my throat!" + +As is well known, most of the waiters and servants in American hotels +are Irish. Dining with a dear old Canadian friend at the Windsor Hotel +in New York, we were particularly amused by the quaint look and speech +of the Irish gentleman who condescended to bring us our dinner. He had +a face like an unpeeled kidney potato, with twinkling merry little +blue eyes. Not feeling well, I had prescribed for myself a water diet +during the meal, and hoped my guest would atone for my shortcomings +with the wine. After he had twice helped himself to champagne, the +while I modestly sipped my seltzer, my waiter's indignation at what +he supposed was nothing less than base treachery, found vent in the +following stage-aside to me: "Hev an oi, sorr, on your frind, he's +a-gaining on ye!" + + + + +Chat No. 4. + + "_Give them strength to brook and bear, + Trial pain, and trial care; + Let them see Thy saving light; + Be Thou 'Watchman of their night.'_" + --Sabbath Evening Song. + + +Armed with a special order of the then Lord Mayor, Sir Robert Nicholas +Fowler, I sallied forth one lovely blue day in June, and timidly rang +the little brass bell beside the little green door giving into Newgate +Prison. + +The gaol is now only used to house the prisoners on the days of trial, +and for executions on the days of expiation; at other times, save for +the presence of a couple of warders, it is entirely empty, and empty it +was on this my day of call. + +Presenting my mandate to the very civil warder who replied to my +summons, I was (he having to guard the door) handed to his colleague's +care, to be shown the mysteries of this great silent tomb, lying so +gloomily amid the City's stir. + +The first point of interest was the chapel, with that terribly +suggestive chair, standing alone in the centre of the floor opposite +the pulpit, on which the condemned used to sit the Sunday before his +dreadful death, and, the observed of all the other prisoners, heard +his own funeral sermon preached--a refinement of cruelty difficult +to understand in this very Christian country. Then followed a visit +to the condemned cells, two in number, and which are situated far +below the level of the outside street. They are small square rooms +with whitewashed walls, enlivened by one or two peculiarly ill-chosen +texts; in each is a fixed truckle bedstead, with a warder's fixed seat +on either side. The warder in attendance stated that he had passed +many nights in them with condemned prisoners, and had rarely found his +charges either restless or unable to sleep well, long, and calmly! + +There is an old story told of a murderer, about whose case some doubt +was raised, and to whom the prison chaplain, as he lay under sentence +of death, lent a Bible. In due course a free pardon arrived, and as the +prisoner left the gaol, he turned to the chaplain saying, "Well, sir, +here's your Bible; many thanks for the loan of it, and I only hope I +shall never want it again." + +Then we visited the pinioning room; this process is carried out by +strapping on a sort of leather strait-waistcoat, with buckles at the +back and outside sockets for the arms and wrists. While putting on one +of these, I found the leather was cold and damp; it then occurred to +me, with some horror, that it was still moist with the death-sweat of +the executed. + +The scaffold stands alone across one of the yards, in a little wooden +building not inappropriately like a butcher's shop. When used, the +large shutter in front is let down, and the interior is seen to consist +of a heavy cross-beam on two uprights, a link or two of chain in the +middle, a very deep drop, with padded leather sides to deaden the sound +of the falling platform, a covered space on one side for the coffin, +and on the other a strong lever, such as is used on railways to move +the points, and which here draws the bolt, releasing the platform on +which the culprit stands; a high stool for the victim, should he prove +nervous or faint--and that is all the furniture and fittings of this +gruesome building. + +The dark cell is perhaps the most dreadful part of this peculiarly +ghastly show, and after being shut in it for a few minutes, which +seemed hours, one fully understood its terrific taming power over the +most rebellious prisoners: you are literally enveloped in a sort of +velvety blackness that can be felt, which, with the absolute and awful +silence, seemed to force the blood to the head and choke one. + +Upon asking the warder to tell us something of the idiosyncrasies of +the more celebrated criminals he had known, he stated that Wainright +the murderer was the most talkative, vain, and boastful person he had +seen there, that his craving for tobacco was curiously extreme, and +he was immensely gratified when the governor of the prison promised +him a large cigar the night before his execution. The promise kept, he +walked up and down the yard with the governor, detailing with unctuous +pleasure his youthful amours and deceptions, like another Pepys. "But," +added my informant, "the pleasantest, cheeriest man we ever had to hang +in my time was Dr. Lampson, full of fun and anecdote, with nice manners +that made him friends all round. He was outwardly very brave in facing +his fate, and yet, as he walked to the scaffold, those behind him saw +all the back muscles writhing, working, and twitching like snakes in a +bag, and thus belying the calm face and gentle smile in front. Ah! we +missed him very much indeed, and were very sorry to lose him. A real +gentleman he was in every way!" + +It was pleasant, and a vast relief after this strange experience, to +emerge suddenly from this dream of mad, sad, bad things into the roar +of the City streets, to see the blue sky, and find men's faces looking +once again pleasantly into our own; but, nevertheless, Newgate should +be seen by the curious, and those who can do so without coercion, +before it disappears. + + + + +Chat No. 5. + + "_To all their dated backs he turns you round: + These Aldus printed, those Du Sueil has bound._" + --Pope. + + +It is the present fashion to extol the old bookbinders at the expense +of the living, and for collectors to give fabulous prices for a volume +bound by De Thou, Geoffroy Tory, Philippe le Noir, the two Eves +(Nicolas and Clovis), Le Gascon, Derome, and others. + +Beautiful, rare, and interesting as their work is, I venture to say +that we have modern bookbinders in England and France who can, and do, +if you give them plenty of time and a free hand as to price, produce +work as fine, as original, as closely thought out, as beautiful in +design, material, and colour, as that of any of the great masters of +the craft of olden days. + +For perfectly simple work of the best kind, examine the bindings of +the late Francis Bedford; and his name reminds me of a curious freak +of the late Duke of Portland in relation to this art. He subscribed +for all the ordinary newspapers and magazines of the day, and instead +of consigning them to the waste-paper basket when read, had them whole +bound in beautiful crushed morocco coats of many colours by the said +Bedford; then he had perfectly fitting oaken boxes made, lined with +white velvet, and fitted with a patent Bramah lock and duplicate keys, +each box to hold one volume, the total cost of thus habiting this +literary rubbish being about L40 a volume. Bedford kept a special staff +of expert workmen upon this curious standing order until the Duke died. +By his will he, unfortunately, made them heirlooms, otherwise they +would have sold well as curiosities, many bibliophiles liking to have +possessed a volume with so odd a history. Soon after the Duke's death I +went over the well-known house in Cavendish Square with my kind friend +Mr. Woods of King Street, and he showed me piles of these boxes, each +containing its beautifully bound volume of uselessness. + +But to return to our sheepskins. I would ask, where can you see finer +workmanship than Mr. Joseph W. Zaehnsdorf puts into his enchanting +covers? He once produced two lovely pieces of softly tanned, +vellum-like leather of the purest white colour, and asked if I knew +what they were. After some ineffectual guesses, he stated that the +one with the somewhat coarser texture was a man's skin, and the finer +specimen a woman's. The idea was disagreeable, and I declined to +purchase or to have any volumes belonging to my simple shelves clothed +in such garments. + +An English bookbinder who made a name in his day was Hayday; he +flourished (as the biographical dictionaries are fond of saying) in +the beginning of the present reign. I possess Samuel Rogers' "Poems" +and "Italy," in two quarto volumes, bound by him very charmingly. In +this size Turner's drawings, which illustrate these two books, are +shown to admiration, and alone galvanise these otherwise dreary works. +Hayday was succeeded by one Mansell, who also did some good work; but +I think domestic affliction beclouded his later years, and affected his +business, as I have lost sight of him for some years. + +Among other English bookbinders of the present day I would name Tout, +whose simple, Quaker-like work, with Grolier tooling, is worth seeing. +Mackenzie was, in his day, a good old Scotch binder; but the treasure +I have personally found and introduced to many, is my excellent friend +Mr. Birdsall of Northampton. His specialty is supposed to be in vellum +bindings, which material he manipulates with a grace and finish very +satisfactory to see. He can make the hinges of a vellum-bound book +swing as easily as a friend's door. He spares no time, thought, or +trouble in working out suitable designs for the books entrusted to his +care. For instance, I possess Benjamin D'Israeli's German Grammar, +used by him when a boy, and to bind it as he felt it deserved, he +specially cast a brass stamp, with D'Israeli's crest, which, impressed +adown the back and on the panels, correctly finishes this interesting +memento. Then, again, when he had Beau Brummell's "Life" to work upon, +he used dies representing a poppy, as an emblem flower, a money-bag, +very empty, and a teasel, signifying the hanger-on: these show thought, +as well as a pleasant fancy, and greatly add to the interest of the +completed binding. + +I have some work by M. Marius Michel, the great French binder, whose +show-cases in the Faubourg-Saint-Germain, in Paris, were a treat to +examine. He was kind enough to let me one fine day select and take +therefrom two volumes of E. A. Poe's works translated and noted by +Beaudelaire, beautifully clothed by him; and he, at the same visit, +gave me an autograph copy of his "L'Ornamentation des Reliures +Modernes," with which, when I returned to England, I asked Mr. Birdsall +to do what he could. Set a binder to catch a binder, was in this case +our motto, and Mr. Birdsall has, I think, fairly caught out his great +rival, although I have not yet had an opportunity of taking M. Michel's +opinion upon the Englishman's work. + + * * * * * + +One of the leading characteristics of the present day is its craze +for work, unceasing work, work early and late, work done with a rush, +destroying nerves, and rendering repose impossible. "Late taking rest +and eating the bread of carefulness" do not go together, the bread +being as a rule anything but carefully consumed. R. L. Stevenson +somewhere says, "So long as you are a bit of a coward, and inflexible +in money matters, you fulfil the whole duty of man," and perhaps this +is the creed of the present race of over-workers. In the City of London +we see this hasting to be rich brought to the perfection of a Fine Art +(with a capital F and a capital A). + +Charles Dickens, who always resolved the wit of every question into a +nutshell, makes Eugene Wrayburn, in "Our Mutual Friend," strenuously +object to being always urged forward in the path of energy. + +"There's nothing like work," said Mr. Boffin; "look at the bees!" + +"I beg your pardon," returned Eugene, with a reluctant smile, "but will +you excuse my mentioning that I always protest against being referred +to the bees? ... I object on principle, as a two-footed creature, +to being constantly referred to insects and four-footed creatures. +I object to being required to model my proceedings according to the +proceedings of the bee, or the dog, or the spider, or the camel. I +fully admit that the camel, for instance, is an excessively temperate +person; but he has several stomachs to entertain himself with, and I +have only one." ... + +"But," urged Mr. Boffin, "I said the bee, they work." + +"Yes," returned Eugene disparagingly, "they work, but don't you think +they overdo it? They work so much more than they need--they make so +much more than they can eat--they are so incessantly boring and buzzing +at their one idea till Death comes upon them--that don't you think they +overdo it?" + +Some time since I cut from the pages of the _St. James' Gazette_ the +following "Cynical Song of the City," which pleasantly sets forth the +present craze for work, and again proves, like Dickens' bee, that we +rather overdo it:-- + + "Through the slush and the rain and the fog, + When a greatcoat is worth a king's ransom, + To the City we jolt and we jog + On foot, in a 'bus, or a hansom; + To labour a few years, and then have done, + A capital prospect at twenty-one! + + There's a wife and three children to keep, + With chances of more in the offing; + We've a house at Earl's Court on the cheap, + And sometimes we get a day's golfing. + Well! sooner or later we'll have better fun; + The heart is still hopeful at thirty-one. + + The boy's gone to college to-day, + The girls must have ladylike dresses; + Thank goodness we're able to pay-- + The business has had its successes; + We must grind at the mill for the sake of our son. + Besides, we're still youngish at forty-one. + + It has come! We've a house in the shires, + We're one of the land-owning gentry, + The children have all their desires, + But _we_ must do more double-entry; + We must keep things together, no time left for fun, + Ah! had we been twenty--not fifty--one! + + A Baronet! J.P.! D.L.! + But it means harder work, little pleasure; + We must stick to the City as well, + Though we're tired and longing for leisure. + We shall soon become toothless, dyspeptic, and done, + As rich as the Bank, though we can't chew a bun, + And the gold-grubber's grave is the goal that we've won + At seventy--eighty--or ninety-one." + + * * * * * + +Guests at Foxwold are given the opportunity, when black Monday arrives, +of catching a most unearthly and uneasily early train, which involves +their rising with anything but a lark, swallowing a hurried breakfast, +a mounting into fiery untamed one-horse shays soon after eight, and +then being puffed away through South-Eastern tunnels to the busy hum of +those unduly busy men of whom we speak. + +To catch this early train, which means that you "leave the warm +precincts of your cheerful bed, nor cast one longing lingering look +behind," some of our friends most justly object, preferring the early +calm, the well-considered uprisal, the dawdled breakfast, and the +ladies' train at the maturer hour of 10.30. Our dear friend, Mr. +Anstey Guthrie, having firmly and most wisely declined the early +train and any consequent worm, one very chilly morn, as the early +risers were starting for the station, appeared at his chamber window +awfully arrayed in white, and muttering with the fervour of another +John Bradford, "There goes Anstey Guthrie--but for the grace of God," +plunged back into his rapidly cooling couch, "and left the world to +darkness and to us." + + + + +Chat No. 6. + + "_It's idle to repine, I know; + I'll tell you what I'll do instead, + I'll drink my arrowroot, and go + To bed._"--C. S. C. + + +My good and kind old friend Robert Baxter, who now rests from his +labours, was, during his long active life in Westminster (dispensing +law to the rich and sharing its profits with the poor), one of the most +charitable and hospitable of men. + +Occasionally, however, even his goodness was taxed with such severity, +as to somewhat try his patience. + +The once well-known Mrs. X---- of A----, a philanthropic but foolish +old woman, arrived late one evening, uninvited, at his house in Queen's +Square, suffering from the first symptoms of rheumatic fever. Calmly +establishing herself in the best guest-chamber, and surrounded by the +necessary maid, nurse, and doctor, she turned her kind host's dwelling +into a private hospital for many weeks. When at last she reached the +stage of convalescence, and was allowed to take daily outings and +airings, Mr. Baxter's capital old butler, Sage, had the privilege of +carrying the fair but weighty invalid downstairs to the carriage, and +upstairs to her rooms once, and often twice, a day. No small effort +for any man's strength, however athletic he might be, and Sage, be it +conceded, was a moderate giant. + +The weeks dragged themselves away, and at last the welcome date for +a final flitting to her own home arrived. Sage felt that he had well +earned an extraordinary douceur for all his labours, and was not +therefore surprised when the good lady on leaving slipped into his +willing hand a suggestive looking folded-up blue slip of paper instead +of the more limited gold. Retiring to his pantry to satisfy his very +natural curiosity as to the amount of the vail so fully deserved, his +feelings may be imagined, but not described, when he found that instead +of the expected cheque, it was what, in evangelical circles, is called +a leaflet, bearing on its face the following appropriate and cheerful +text: "Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee!" + +Whilst upon the subject of misapplied texts, another instance, touched +with a pleasant humour, occurs to me. Many years ago I visited for +the first time an old friend and his wife in their pleasant country +house. Upon being shown into what was evidently one of the best +guest-chambers, I was intensely delighted to find over the mantelpiece +the following framed text, in large illuminated letters: "Occupy till I +come!" Unprepared to make so long a stay, I left on the Monday morning +following, and have no doubt the generous invitation still remains to +welcome the coming guest. + +Another story of a like nature was told us by Mr. Anstey Guthrie, and +is therefore worth repeating. He once saw a long procession of happy +school-children going to some feast, headed by a band of music and a +standard-bearer. The latter was staggering beneath an immense banner, +on which was painted the Lion of Saint Mark's, rampant, with mouth, +teeth, and claws ready and rapacious; underneath was the singularly +appropriate and happy legend, "Suffer little children to come unto Me." + +Another capital story from the same source, which time cannot wither, +nor custom stale, is, that at some small English seaside resort a +spirited and generous townsman has presented a number of free seats for +the parade, each one adorned with an iron label stating that "Mr. Jones +of this town presented these free seats for the public's use, the sea +is his, and he made it." + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chat No. 7 + + "_Where are my friends? I am alone; + No playmate shares my beaker: + Some lie beneath the churchyard stone, + And some--before the Speaker: + And some compose a tragedy, + And some compose a rondo; + And some draw sword for Liberty, + And some draw pleas for John Doe._" + --W. M. Praed. + + "_All analysis comes late._"--Aurora Leigh. + + +The difficulty which has existed since Lord Tennyson's dramatic death, +of choosing a successor to the Laureateship, has partly arisen from +the presence of so many minor poets, and the absence, with one +remarkable exception, of any monarch of song. + +The exception is, of course, Mr. Swinburne, who stands alone as +the greatest living master of English verse. The objections to his +appointment may, in some eyes, have importance, but time has sobered +his more erratic flights, leaving a large residuum of fine work, both +in poetry and prose, which would make him a worthy successor to any of +those gone before. + +Of the smaller fry, it is difficult to prophesy which will hereafter +come to the front, and what of their work may live. + +As Oliver Wendell Holmes so pathetically says:-- + + "Deal gently with us, ye who read! + Our largest hope is unfulfilled; + The promise still outruns the deed; + The tower, but not the spire we build. + + Our whitest pearl we never find; + Our ripest fruit we never reach; + The flowering moments of the mind, + Lose half their petals in our speech." + +The late Lord Lytton (Owen Meredith) was very unequal in all he +produced. Perhaps the following ballad from his volume of "Selected +Poems," published in 1894 by Longmans, is one of the best and most +characteristic he has written:-- + +THE WOOD DEVIL. + + 1. + + "In the wood, where I wander'd astray, + Came the Devil a-talking to me, + O mother! mother! But why did ye tell me, and why did they say, + That the Devil's a horrible blackamoor? He + Black-faced and horrible? No, mother, no! + And how should a poor girl be likely to know + That the Devil's so gallant and gay, mother? + So gentle and gallant and gay, + With his curly head, and his comely face, + And his cap and feather, and saucy grace, + Mother! mother! + + II. + + And 'Pretty one, whither away? + And shall I come with you?' said he. + O mother! mother! + And so winsome he was, not a word could I say, + And he kiss'd me, and sweet were his kisses to me, + And he kiss'd me, and kiss'd till I kiss'd him again, + And O, not till he left me I knew to my pain + 'Twas the Devil that led me astray, mother! + The Devil so gallant and gay, + With his curly head, and his comely face, + And his cap and feather, and saucy grace, + Mother! mother!" + +Mr. Edmund Gosse's work is always scholarly and well thought out, +framed in easy, pleasant English. In some of his poems he reminds one +of the "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." His song of the "Wounded +Gull" is very like Dr. Holmes, both in subject and treatment:-- + + "The children laughed, and called it tame! + But ah! one dark and shrivell'd wing + Hung by its side; the gull was lame, + A suffering and deserted thing. + + With painful care it downward crept; + Its eye was on the rolling sea; + Close to our very feet, it stept + Upon the wave, and then--was free. + + Right out into the east it went + Too proud, we thought, to flap or shriek; + Slowly it steered, in wonderment + To find its enemies so meek. + + Calmly it steered, and mortal dread + Disturbed nor crest nor glossy plume; + It could but die, and being dead, + The open sea should be its tomb. + + We watched it till we saw it float + Almost beyond our furthest view; + It flickered like a paper boat, + Then faded in the dazzling blue. + + It could but touch an English heart + To find an English bird so brave; + Our life-blood glowed to see it start + Thus boldly on the leaguered wave." + +A few fortunate persons possess copies of Mr. Gosse's catalogue of his +library, and it is, I rejoice to say, on the Foxwold shelves. It is a +most charming work, reflecting on every page, by many subtle touches, +the refined humour and wide knowledge of the collector. Mr. Austin +Dobson wrote for the final fly-leaf as follows:-- + + "I doubt your painful Pedants who + Can read a dictionary through; + But he must be a dismal dog, + Who can't enjoy this Catalogue!" + +Of the little mutual admiration and log-rolling society, whose +headquarters are in Vigo Street, no serious account need be taken. +Time will deal with these very minor poets, and whether kindly or not, +Time will prove. They may possibly be able to await the verdict with a +serene and confident patience--and so can we. An exception may perhaps +be made for some of Mr. Arthur Symon's "Silhouettes," as the following +extract will show:-- + + "Emmy's exquisite youth and her virginal air, + Eyes and teeth in the flash of a musical smile, + Come to me out of the past, and I see her there + As I saw her once for a while. + + Emmy's laughter rings in my ears, as bright, + Fresh and sweet as the voice of a mountain brook, + And still I hear her telling us tales that night, + Out of Boccaccio's book. + + There, in the midst of the villainous dancing-hall, + Leaning across the table, over the beer, + While the music maddened the whirling skirts of the ball, + As the midnight hour drew near. + + There with the women, haggard, painted, and old, + One fresh bud in a garland withered and stale, + She, with her innocent voice and her clear eyes, told + Tale after shameless tale. + + And ever the witching smile, to her face beguiled, + Paused and broadened, and broke in a ripple of fun, + And the soul of a child looked out of the eyes of a child, + Or ever the tale was done. + + O my child, who wronged you first, and began + First the dance of death that you dance so well? + Soul for soul: and I think the soul of a man + Shall answer for yours in hell." + +Mr. Austin Dobson and the late Mr. Locker-Lampson are perhaps the +finest writers of _vers de Societe_ since Praed; whilst in the +broader school of humour C. S. Calverley, Mr. Dodgson (of "Alice in +Wonderland" fame), and the late James Kenneth Stephen, stand alone and +unchallenged; and Mr. Watson, if health serve, will go far; and so with +some pathetic words of one of these moderns we will end this somewhat +aimless chat:-- + + "My heart is dashed with cares and fears, + My song comes fluttering and is gone; + Oh, high above this home of tears, + Eternal joy,--sing on." + + + + +Chat No. 8. + + "_Punch! in the presence of the passengers._" + + +Within the past year certain gentle disputes and friendly discussions +as to the origin of _Punch_, and who its first real editor was, and +whether or no Henry Mayhew evolved it with the help of suitable friends +in a debtor's prison, remind us that Foxwold possesses some rather +curious "memories" of this famous paper. + +These disputes should now be put to rest for ever by Mr. Spielmann's +exhaustive "History of Mr. Punch," which, it may safely be supposed, +appeared with some sort of authority from "Mr. Punch" himself. + +One of our "Odds and Ends" is a kit-kat portrait in oil of Horace +Mayhew, "Ponny," excellent both as a likeness and a work of art, +which should eventually find hanging space in the celebrated _Punch_ +dining-room. There is also a pencil drawing of him, in which "the +Count," as he was called, is dressed in the smartest fashion of that +day, and crowned with a D'Orsay hat, resplendent, original, and gay. + +He made a rather unhappy marriage late in his life, and found that +habits from which he was not personally free showed themselves rather +frequently in his wife's conduct. One day, in a state of emotion and +whisky and water, he pressed Mark Lemon's hand, and, bursting into +tears, murmured, "My dear friend, she drinks! she drinks!!" "All +right," was the editor's cheery reply, "my dear boy; cheer up, so do +you!" + +Near by hangs a characteristic pencil sketch of Douglas Jerrold, who, +if small, was no hunchback (as has been lately stated), but was a +very neatly made, active little man, with a grand head covered with a +profusion of lightish hair, which he had a trick of throwing back, like +a lion's mane, and a pair of bright piercing blue eyes. There is an +engraving of a bust of him prefixed to his life (written by his son, +Blanchard Jerrold), which well conveys the nobility of the well-set +head. Then comes a capital drawing of Kenny Meadows in profile, and a +thoroughly characteristic Irish phiz it is. + +These pencil portraits are all from the gifted hand of Mr. George +Augustus Sala, and formerly belonged to Horace Mayhew himself. Mr. +Sala, as is now well known by means of his autobiography, was once an +artist and book-illustrator, and Foxwold is the proud possessor of +the only picture in oil extant from his brush. It is called "Saturday +Night in a Gin-Palace": it is full of a Hogarthian power, and by its +execution, drawing, and colour shows that had Mr. Sala made painting +his profession instead of literature, he would have gone far and fared +well. The little picture is signed "G. A. Sala," and was found many +years ago in an old house in Brompton, when the present owner secured +it for a moderate sum, and then wrote to Mr. Sala asking if the picture +was authentic. A reply was received by the next post, in the beautiful +handwriting for which he is famous, and runs as follows:--- + + 46 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C., + _Tuesday, Twenty-fifth June 1878_. + + "Dear Sir, + + I beg to acknowledge receipt of your courteous and (to me) + singularly interesting note. + + "Yes, the little old oil-picture of the 'Gin-Palace Bar' is mine + sure enough. I can remember it as distinctly as though it had been + painted yesterday. Great casks of liquor in the background; little + stunted figures (including one of a dustman with a shovel) in the + foreground. Details executed with laborious niggling minuteness; + but the whole work must be now dingy and faded to almost total + obscuration, since I remember that in painting it I only used + turpentine for a medium, the spirit of which must have long since + 'flown,' and left the pigment flat or 'scaly.' + + "The thing was done in Paris six-and-twenty years ago (Ap. 1852), + and being brought to London, was sold to the late Adolphus + Ackermann, of the bygone art-publishing firm of Ackermann & Co., + 96 Strand (premises now occupied by E. Rimmel, the perfumer), for + the sum of five pounds. I hope that you did not give more than + a few shillings for it, for it was a vile little daub. I was at + the time when I produced it an engraver and lithographer, and I + believe that Mr. Ackermann only purchased the picture with a view + to encourage me to 'take up' oil-painting. But I did not do so. I + 'took up' literature instead, and a pretty market I have brought + my pigs to! At all events, _you_ possess the only picture in oil + extant from the brush of + + Yours very faithfully, + + George Augustus Sala." + + _To_ H. N. Pym, Esq. + +When Mr. Sala afterwards called to see the picture, he altered his mind +as to its being "a vile little daub," and found the colours as fresh +and bright as when painted. We greatly value it, if only as the cause +of a lasting friendship it started with the artist. + +His own portrait by Vernet, in pen and ink, now graces our little +gallery; it is a back view, taken amidst his books, and a most +characteristic and excellent likeness of this accomplished and +versatile gentleman.[1] + +One of our guest-chambers is solemnly dedicated to the honour and glory +of "Mr. Punch," and on its walls hang some original oil sketches by +John Leech, drawings by Charles Keene, Mr. Harry Furniss, Randolph +Caldecote, Mr. Bernard Partridge, Mr. Anstey Guthrie, and Mr. Du +Maurier; whilst kindly caricatures of some of the staff, and a print of +the celebrated dinner-table, signed by the contributors, complete the +decoration of a very cheery little room. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Whilst these pages are passing through the press, George Augustus +Sala has been mercifully permitted to rest from his labours. An +unfortunate adventure with a new paper brought about serious troubles, +physical and financial, and ended his useful and hard-working life +in gloom: as Mr. Bancroft (a mutual friend) observed to the editor +of this volume, "It is so sad when the autumn of such a life is +tempestuous."--_December 8, 1895._ + + + + +Chat No. 9 + + "_Then be contented. Thou hast got + The most of heaven in thy young lot; + There's sky-blue in thy cup! + Thou'lt find thy Manhood all too fast--- + Soon come, soon gone! and Age at last, + A sorry breaking-up._" + --Thomas Hood. + + +It was my good fortune some short time since to revisit that most +educational of English towns, Bedford, and having many years ago had +the extreme privilege of being a Bedford schoolboy, I was able to draw +a comparison between then and now. + +In the good old days these admirable schools were managed in the good +old way--plenty of classics, plenty of swishing, plenty of cricket +and boating, and plenty of holidays. We sometimes turned out boys who +afterwards made their mark in the big world, and the School Registers +are proud to contain the names of such men as Burnell, the Oriental +scholar, who out-knowledged even Sir William Jones in this respect; +Colonel Fred. Burnaby, brave soldier and attractive travel writer; +Inverarity, the lion-hunter and crack shot; Sir Henry Hawkins, stern +judge and brilliant wit, and many others of like degree. Nor must we +forgot that John Bunyan here learnt sufficient reading and writing +to enable him in after years to pen his marvellous Book during his +imprisonment in Bedford Gaol, which was then situated midway on the +bridge over the river Ouse. + +In that wonderful monument to the courage and enterprise of Mr. George +Smith (kindest of friends and best of publishers), "The National +Dictionary of Biography," the record is frequent of men who owed their +education and perhaps best chance in the life they afterwards made a +success, to Bedford School, but,-- + + "Long hushed are the chords that my boyhood enchanted, + As when the smooth wave by the angel was stirred, + Yet still with their music is memory haunted, + And oft in my dreams are their melodies heard." + +But if the good old School was a success in those bygone days, what +must be said for it now, when, under the Napoleon-like administration +of its present chief, the school-house has been rebuilt in its own +park, upon all the best and latest known principles of comfort and +sanitation, where a boy can, besides going through the full round +of usual study, follow the bent of his own peculiar taste, and find +special training, whether it be in horse-shoeing or music, chemistry +or wood-carving, ambulance work or drawing from the figure; whilst the +beautiful river is covered with boats, the cricket-fields and football +yards are crowded, and the bathing stations are a constant joy? + +Truly the present generation of Bedford boys are much blessed in +their surroundings; and whilst they remember with gratitude the pious +founder, Sir William Harper, should strive to do credit to his name and +memory by the exercise of their powers in the battle of after-life, +having received so thorough and broad-minded a training in the happy +and receptive days of their youth. + +Bedford town is now one of the most strikingly attractive in England, +with its fine river embankment, its grand old churches, its statues +erected to the memory of the "inspired tinker," Bunyan, and the prison +philanthropist, Howard, both of whom lived about a mile or so from +the town, the former at Elstow, the latter at Cardington. It was very +good and heart-restoring to revisit the hospitable old school with its +pleasant surroundings and to find, as Robert Louis Stevenson says, +that,-- + + "Home from the Indies, and home from the ocean, + Heroes and soldiers they all shall come home; + Still they shall find the old mill-wheel in motion, + Turning and churning that river to foam." + + * * * * * + +Since printing our last little "Tour Round the Bookshelves," in +which we ventured to include some capital lines by our evergreen and +many-sided friend Rudolf Chambers Lehmann, he has again added to the +interest of our Visitors' Book under the following circumstances. +Guests and home-birds were all resting after the exhausting idleness +of an Easter holiday when they were suddenly aroused from their +day-dreams by loud cries of "Fire!" accompanied by the sound of horses +and chariots approaching the house at full speed. On looking out, like +Sister Anne or a pretty page, we were able to assuage our guests' +natural alarm by explaining that the local fire brigade were practising +upon our vile bodies and dwelling, and if fear existed, danger did not. +On their ultimately retiring, satisfied with their mock efforts, and +fortified by beer, our welcome guest wrote with his usual flying pen +the following characteristic lines to commemorate their visit:-- + + "FIRE! FIRE!!" + + (AN EASTER MONDAY INCIDENT.) + + "A day of days, an April day; + Cool air without, and cloudless sun; + Within, upon the ordered tray, + Cakes, and the luscious Sally-Lunn. + Since Pym has walked, and Guthrie climbed + To rob some feathered songster's nest, + Their toil needs tea, the hour has chimed-- + Pour, lady, pour, and let them rest. + + But hark! what sound disturbs their tea, + And clatters up the carriage drive? + A dinner guest? it cannot be; + No, no, the hour is only five. + What sight is this the fates disclose, + That breaks upon our startled view? + Two horses, countless yards of hose, + Nine firemen, and an engine too. + + Where burns the fire? Tush, 'tis but sport; + The horses stop, the men descend, + Take hoses long, and hoses short, + And fit them deftly end to end. + Attention! lo their chieftain calls-- + They run, they answer to their names, + And hypothetic water falls + In streams upon imagined flames. + + Well done, ye braves, 'twas nobly done; + Accept, the peril past, our thanks; + Though all your toil was only fun, + And air was all that filled your tanks: + No, not for nought you came and dared, + Return in peace, and drink your fill; + It was, as Mrs. Pym declared, + 'A highly interesting drill.'" + + _April 3, 1893._ + +Another poet whose pen sometimes gilds our modest Record of Angels' +Visits, is a well-beloved cousin, Harry Luxmoore by name, at Eton known +so well. His Christmas greeting for 1890 shall here appear, and prove +to him how deep is Foxwold's affectionate obligation for wishes so +delightfully expressed:-- + + "Glooms overhead a frozen sky, + Rings underfoot a snow-ribbed earth, + Yet somewhere slumbering sunbeams lie, + And somewhere sleeps the coming birth. + + Folded in root and grain is lying, + The bud, the bloom we soon may see, + And in the old year now a-dying + Is hid the new year that shall be. + + O what if snows be deep? so shrouded + Matures the soil with promise rife + And sap, for all the skies be clouded, + Ripens at heart a lustier life. + + Then welcome winter--while we shiver + Strength harbours deeper, and the blast + Of sounder, manlier force the giver + Strips off betimes our withered past. + + Come bud and bloom, come fruit and flower, + Come weal, come woe, as best may be, + Still may the New Year's hidden dower + Be good for you and Horace, and all the little + ones, and good for me." + + + + +Chat No. 10. + + "_My ears are deaf with this impatient crowd: + Their wants are now grown mutinous and loud._" + --Dryden. + + +The following graphic account of the rising in Paris in 1848 was +written by John Poole to Charles Dickens, and was recently found +amongst the papers of Mrs. John Forster, the widow of the well-known +writer, Dickens' friend and biographer, and is, I think, worthy of +print. + +John Poole was a sometime celebrated character, having written that +evergreen play "Paul Pry," as well as "Little Pedlington," and other +humorous works mostly now forgotten. + +As he grew old poverty came to bear him company, and was only prevented +from causing him actual suffering by the usual generosity of Dickens +and other members of that charmed circle, further aided by a small +Government grant, obtained for him by the same faithful friend from +Lord John Russell. + +The letter is addressed to + + CHARLES DICKENS, Esq., + No. 1 Devonshire Terrace, + York Gate, Regent's Park, + LONDON, + +and deals with the celebrated uprisal of the French mob, when a force +of 75,000 regulars and nearly 200,000 National Guards was massed round +Paris to resist it. The carnage was terrible, some 8000 persons being +killed on both sides, and 14,000 insurgents made prisoners. + +It was only by General Cavaignac's firmness and tactful management +under Lamartine's directions, that the mob was reduced and the +Republican Government established. The general was afterwards nearly +elected President of the French Republic, receiving 1,448,000 votes, +but Prince Louis Napoleon beat him, and, as history tells, held the +reins in various capacities for the next twenty eventful years. + +Poole's letter, as that of an eye-witness, gives a remarkably clear +impression of the scene as it appeared in his orbit. Dickens, on +receiving it, evidently sent it the round of his friends, and it then +remained in John Forster's possession until his death. + + "(Paris), _Saturday, 8 Jul 1848_. + + "My dear Dickens, + + I wrote to you through the Embassy on the 22nd June, giving you an + address for the three last Dombeys, and enclosing a catalogue of + the ex-King's wine; and on the 16th I sent you a word in a letter + to Macready. Dombeys not yet arrived, and I shall wait no longer + to acknowledge their arrival (as I have been doing), but at once + proceed to give you a few lines. Since the day of my writing to + you I have lived four years: Friday (the 23rd), Saturday, Sunday, + Monday, each a year. + + "The proceedings of the three days of February were mere + child's-play compared with these. Never shall I forget them, for + they showed me scenes of blood and death. Friday morning the + '_rappel_' was beat--always a disagreeable hint. Presently I + heard discharges of musketry, then they beat the '_generale._' My + _concierge_ ran into my room, and, with a long white face, told me + the mob had erected huge barricades in the Faubourg-Saint-Denis, + and above, down to the Porte St. Denis, and that tremendous + fighting was going on there. (The Porte St. Denis bears marks of + the fray.) 'Then, Madame Blanchard,' I said, 'as you seem to be + breaking out again, I shall take a _sac-de-nuit_, and say adieu to + you till you shall have returned to your good behaviour.'--'But + monsieur could not get away for love or money--the insurgents have + possession of the Chemin de Fer, and had torn up the rails as far + as St. Denis.' This was what she had been told, so I went out to + ascertain the fact. + + "Impossible to approach that quarter, and difficult to turn the + corner of a street without interruption--groups of fifteen, + twenty, thirty, fifty, in blouses, dotted all about. Towards + evening matters seemed rather more tranquil, and between six and + seven o'clock I contrived (though not easily) to make my way + to Sestels, in the Rue St. Honore (one of the very best of the + second-rate restaurateurs in Paris, 'which note'). The large + saloon was filled with men in uniform, National Guards chiefly, + and only two women there. I was there about an hour, and in that + time three dead bodies were carried past on covered litters. It + was thought the disturbances were pretty well over, as a powerful + body of troops had been ordered down to the scene of action. + + "At about eight o'clock I went out for the purpose of making + a visit in the Rue d'Enghien, but found the whole width of + the Boulevard Montmartre, which, as you know, leads to the + Boulevard St. Denis, defended by a compact body of National + Guards--impassable! Between nine and ten o'clock three regiments + of cavalry, with cannon--a long, long procession--marched in the + direction of the scene of insurrection. This was a comforting + sight, and as such everybody seemed to consider it, and I went + home. And this was Midsummer Eve!--Walpurgis Night! + + "The next day, Saturday, Midsummer Day, I never shall forget! + Sleep had been hopeless--the night had been disturbed by the + frequent beating of the '_generale_' and the cry '_Aux Armes!_' + Every now and then I looked up at the sky, expecting to see it + red from some direful conflagration. Day came, and soon the + firing of musketry was heard, now from the direction of the + Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, now from the Faubourg-Saint-Marceaux. + Then came the heavy booming of cannon--death in every echo! From + twelve till nearly one, and again after a pause, it was dreadful. + (I cannot make 'fun' of this, like the facetious correspondent of + the _Morning Post_. Who is he? Surely he must be an ex-reporter + for the Cobourg Play-house, with his vulgar, ill-timed play-house + quotations. I am utterly disgusted and revolted at the tasteless + levity with which he describes scenes of blood and destruction and + death, and so treats of matters, all of which require grave and + sober handling. And then he describes, as an eye-witness, things + which, happen though they did, I am certain he could not have been + present to see.) + + "Well, as we were soon to be in a state of siege, and strictly + confined to home, I can tell you nothing but what I saw here on + this very spot. One event is a remembrance for life. In this + house lived General de Bourgon, one of what they call the 'old + Africans.' In the course of the morning General Korte (another + of them) called on him, and said, 'I dare say Cavaignac has + plenty to do. I will go and ask him if we can be of any service + to him. If we can, I will send for you, so keep yourself in the + way.' He was in Paris 'on leave,' and had no horse with him, so + he sent Blanchard (the _concierge_) to the _manege_, which is in + the next street, to inquire whether they had a horse that would + 'stand fire.' Yes; but they would not let it go out. The next + message intimated that they must send it, or it would be taken by + force. At about two o'clock, going out, I met, coming out of his + apartments on the second floor (I, you know, am on the fourth), + General de Bourgon, in plain clothes, accompanied by his wife and + his sister-in-law--the latter a very beautiful woman, somewhat in + the style of Mrs. Norton. As usual, we exchanged _bon-jours_ in + passing. I went as far as the boulevard at the end of the street. + There was a strong guard at the 'Hotel des Affaires Etrangeres,' + and there I was stopped. An officer of the National Guard asked + me whether I was proceeding in the direction of my residence. + Answering in the negative, he said (but with great courtesy), + 'Then, sir, I advise you to return; it is in your interest I do + so; besides' (pointing in the direction where was heard a heavy + firing), 'd'ailleurs, monsieur, ce n'est pas aujourd'hui un jour + de promenade.' + + "I returned, and tried by the Place Vendome, but about half-way + up the Rue de la Paix was again stopped. After loitering about + for an hour, and unable to get anything in the shape of positive + information, I returned home. Shortly after three I saw the + General de Bourgon in full uniform, and on horseback. He proceeded + a few paces, stopped to have one of his stirrup-leathers adjusted, + and then, followed by an orderly, went off at a brisk trot. Soon + afterwards a guard was placed in the middle and at each end of + this street; no one was allowed to loiter, or to quit it but with + good reason, and only then was passed on by one sentinel to the + next, so from that moment I was not out of the house till Monday + morning. + + "At about half-past six the street--usually a noisy one--being + perfectly still, I heard the measured tramp of feet approaching + from the direction of the boulevard. I went to the window, and saw + about fifteen or eighteen soldiers, some bearing, and the rest + guarding, a litter, on which was stretched a wounded officer. + He was bare-headed, his black stock had been removed, his coat + thrown wide open, and over his left thigh was spread a soldier's + grey greatcoat. To my horror the procession stopped at this door. + It was the General brought home desperately wounded! I ran down + and saw him brought up to his apartment, crying out with agony at + every shake he received on the winding, slippery staircase. On + the following Friday (the 30th), at eleven o'clock at noon, after + severe suffering, he died. In the course of the day I saw him; his + neck was uncovered, and the eyes open (a painter had been making + a sketch of him)--he looked like one in placid contemplation. + Previously to the fatal result, at one of my frequent visits of + inquiry, I saw Madame de Bourgon (the sister-in-law). She replied + mournfully, but without apparent emotion, 'We are in hopes they + will be able to perform the amputation to-morrow.' (They could + not.) 'But see! he has passed his life, as it were, on the field + of battle--twelve years in Africa--and to fall in this way! But it + was his duty to go out.' + + "'And, madame, how is she?' + + "'Eh, mon Dieu, monsieur! how would you have her be? But a + soldier's wife must be prepared for these things.' + + "(She, the sister-in-law, is the wife of the general's brother, + Colonel de Bourgon.) His friend, General Korte, too, was wounded, + but not dangerously. + + "In all the African campaigns only two generals were killed, in + these street fights six! But the insurgents fought at tremendous + advantage. On that said Saturday afternoon two incidents occurred, + trifling if you will, but they struck me. A large flight of crows + passed over, taking a direction towards the prison of St. Lazare, + showing that fighting was murderous; and a rainbow (one of the + most beautiful I ever saw) rested like an arch on the line of roof + of the opposite houses. Beneath it seemed to come the noise of the + fight; the sign of peace and the sounds of war and death. Mrs. + Norton could make a verse or two out of this. This was Midsummer's + Day! + + "Our Midsummer Night's dreams were not pleasant, believe me. + No--there was no sleep on that night--a night of terrible + anxiety. Paris was in a state of siege--no one allowed to be + out of the house, nor a window permitted to be opened. All + night was heard in ceaseless round, from the sentinel under my + very window--'Sentinelle prenez garde a vous.' I can hardly + describe by words the peculiar tone in which this was uttered, + but the syllable 'nelle' was accented, and the word 'vous' was + uttered briskly and sharply, like a sort of bark. This was + given _fortissimo_--repeated by the next _forte_--beyond him, + _piano_--further on, _pianissimo_--till it returned, louder + and louder, and then died away again, and so on, and on, and + on till daybreak. Then was beat the '_rappel_'--then the + '_generale_'--then again the firing. + + "This was Sunday morning, and from five o'clock till ten at + night was not the happiest, but the longest day of my life. Any + sort of occupation was out of the question. Each hour appeared a + day. Impossible to get out, or to receive a visit, or to send a + message, or to procure any reliable information as to what was + going on, or how or when these doings were likely to end. All + was doubt, uncertainty, dread and anxiety intolerable. The only + information to be procured was from the bearers of some wounded + men as they passed now and then to the Ambulance (the temporary + hospital established at the Church of the Assumption). But no two + accounts were alike. I was suffering deep anxiety concerning a + good kind French family of my acquaintance, living within a five + minutes' walk of this place. 'Could I by any possibility procure a + commissionaire to carry a note for me? I'll give him five francs + (the hire being ten sous).' 'Not, sir,' said my _concierge_, 'if + you would give a hundred!' The poor general wanted some soldiers + from the barracks (next to the Assumption) to carry an order + for him. After great difficulty the wife of the _concierge_ was + allowed to go and fetch one; but she was searched for ammunition + by the first sentinel, and then passed on thus and back again + from one to another. No post in--no letters--no newspapers. + At length, at a month's end, night came. That night like the + last--'Sentinelle prenez garde a vous,' &c. &c. + + "On Monday morning (26th), after a sleepless night--for, for any + means we had of knowing to the contrary, the insurgents might at + any moment be expected to attack this quarter, a quarter marked + down by them for fire and pillage--at about eight o'clock, I + lay down on a sofa and slept soundly till ten; I awoke, and was + struck by the appalling silence! This is a noisy street. Always + from about seven in the morning till late in the day one's head + is distracted by the shrill cries of itinerant traders (to these + are now added the cries of the vendors of cheap newspapers), + the passage of carriages and carts of all descriptions, + street-singers, organ-grinders endless, the screeching of parrots + and barking of dogs exposed for sale by a _grocer_ on the + opposite side of the way, together with the swarming of his and + his neighbour's dirty children--all was hushed; not a footfall, + 'not (a line that is not often applicable here) a drum was + heard.' Yes, I repeat it, this universal silence was appalling! + Not a person, save the still guards on duty, was to be seen. The + shops were all closed, and, but for this circumstance, it seemed + like a Sunday! Strange! (and I find it was the same with many + other persons to whom I have mentioned the circumstance) I was + uncertain during these anxious days as to the day of the week. + At about eleven o'clock the _concierge_ came to tell me that the + insurrection was at an end. In less than an hour there was heard + a sharp fusillade and a heavy cannonade in the direction of the + Faubourg-Saint-Antoine. The insurgents had strengthened themselves + at that point (she came to say), but that, so far as she could + learn, General Cavaignac had at length resolved, by bombarding the + _quartier_, to suppress the insurrection before the day should + end. _And he did!_ + + "Frequently during the day parties of tired soldiers, scarcely + able to walk, passed on their way from the scene of action to + their barracks or their bivouac; wounded men were every now and + then brought to the Ambulance close by--one a Cuirassier, who, as + the guard saluted him, smiled faintly, and just raised his hand + in sign of recognition, which fell again at his side; and, most + striking of all, bands of prisoners from among the insurgents!! + Among them such hideous faces! scarcely human! No one knows whence + they come. Like the stormy petrel, they only are seen in troubled + times. I saw some such in the days of February, but never before, + nor afterwards, till now. Imagine O. Smith, well "made-up" + for one of the bloodiest and most melodramatic of his bloody + melodramas--a Parisian dandy compared with some of these. Some of + them naked to the waist, smeared with blood, hair and beard matted + and of incalculable growth, bloodshot eyes, scowling ferocious + brutes, their tigers' mouths blackened with gunpowder--creatures + to look at and shudder! And into their hands was Paris and its + peaceable honest inhabitants threatened to fall. With this I end. + + Ever, my dear Dickens, + + Cordially and sincerely yours, + + John Poole. + + "I began this on Saturday, and have been writing it, as best as I + can, till now, Tuesday, three o'clock. Pray acknowledge the receipt + when or if you receive it. This is a general letter to you all. If + Forster thinks any paragraph of this worthy the _Examiner_, he may + use it. Why does not the rogue write to me? Has he, or can he have, + taken huff at anything? though I cannot imagine why or at what. But + _nobody_ writes to me. I can and will, some day, tell you a comic + incident connected with all this, but it would not have been in + keeping with the rest of this letter. Paris is now quiet, but very + dull." + + + + +Chat No. 11. + + "_All round the house is the jet black night; + It stares through the window-pane; + It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light, + And it moves with the moving flame._ + + _Now my little heart goes a-beating like a drum, + With the breath of the Bogie in my hair; + And all round the candle the crooked shadows come + And go marching along up the stair._ + + _The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp, + The shadow of the child that goes to bed-- + All the wicked shadows coming, tramp, tramp, tramp, + With the black night overhead._" + --R. L. Stevenson. + + +On the beautiful rocks of Red Head, near Arbroath, and surrounded by +the glamour of Sir Walter Scott's "Antiquary," which was written in +the alongside village of Auchmithie, and the plot and incidents of +which are principally placed here, stands Ethie Castle, the Scotch +home of the Earls of Northesk, and once one of the many residences of +Cardinal Beaton, whose portrait by Titian hangs in the hall. + +Many of the quaint old rooms have secret staircases at the bed-heads +leading to rooms above or below, and forming convenient modes of +escape if the occupants of the middle chambers were threatened with +sudden attack. There are also some dungeon-like rooms below, with +walls of vast thickness, and "squints" through which to fire arrows +or musket-balls. The castle has been greatly improved and partly +restored by its last owner, without removing or destroying any of its +characteristic points. + +Searching, when a guest there some years ago, amongst the literary and +other curious remains, which add a great charm to this most interesting +house, the writer was impressed with the following characteristic +letter from Charles II. to the then Lord Northesk, which he was +permitted to copy, and now to print. The letter is curious, as showing +the evident belief that the King held in his Divine right to interfere +with his subjects' affairs. + +It is a holograph, beautifully written in a small clear hand --- not +unlike that of W. M. Thackeray --- and has been fastened with a seal, +still unbroken, no larger than a pea, but which nevertheless contains +the crown and complete royal arms, and is a most beautiful specimen +of seal-engraving. It would be interesting to know if this seal still +exists amongst the curiosities at Windsor Castle:--- + + Whitehall, _20 Nov. 1672_. + + "My Lord Northesk, + + I am so much concerned in my L^d Balcarriess that, hearing he + is in suite of one of your daughters, I must lett you know, you + cannot bestow her upon a person of whose worth and fidelity I + have a better esteeme, which moves me hartily to recommend to you + and your Lady, your franck compliance with his designe, and as I + do realy intend to be very kinde to him, and to do him good as + occasion offers, as well for his father's sake as his owne, so if + you and your Lady condescend to his pretension, and use him kindly + in it, I shall take it very kindly at your hands, and reckon it to + be done upon the accounte of + + Your affectionate frinde, + + Charles R." + + _For the_ Earle of Northesk. + + +Looking at the fine portrait of the recipient of this royal request, +which hangs in the castle, and the stern, unrelenting expression of +the otherwise handsome face, it is not difficult to presume that he +somewhat resented this interference with his domestic plans. No copy of +Lord Northesk's reply exists, but its contents may be guessed by the +second letter from Whitehall, this time written by Lord Lauderdale:-- + + Whitehall, _18 Jany. 1673_. + + "My Lord, + + Yesterday I received yours of the 7th instant, and, according to + your desire, I acquainted the King with it. His Majesty commanded + me to signify to you that he is satisfied. For as he did recommend + that marriage, supposing that it was acceptable to both parties, + so he did not intend to lay any constraint upon you. Therfor he + leaves you to dispose of your daughter as you please. This is by + His Majesty's command signified to your Lordship by, + + My Lord, + + Your Lordship's most humble servant, + + Lauderdale." + + Earl Northesk. + +As, however, the marriage eventually did take place, let us hope that +the young couple arranged it themselves, without any further expression +of Royal wishes by the evidently well-meaning, if somewhat imperative, +King. + +Ethie has, of course, its family legends and ghosts--what old Scotch +house is without them?--but the following, which I am most kindly +permitted to repeat, is so curious in its modern confirmation, that it +is well worth adding to the store of such weird narratives. + +Many years ago, it is said that a lady in the castle destroyed her +young child in one of the rooms, which afterwards bore the stigma of +the association. Eventually the room was closed, the door screwed up, +and heavy wooden shutters were fastened outside the windows. But those +who occupied the rooms above and below this gruesome chamber would +often hear, in the watches of the night, the pattering of little feet +over the floor, and the sound of the little wheels of a child's cart +being dragged to and fro; a peculiarity connected with this sound +being, that one wheel creaked and chirruped as it moved. Years rolled +by, and the room continued to bear its sinister character until the +late Lord Northesk succeeded to the property, when he very wisely +determined to bring, if possible, the legend to an end, and probe the +ghostly story to its truthful or fictitious base. + +Consequently he had the outside window shutters removed, and the +heavy wall-door unscrewed, and then, with some members of his family +present, ordered the door to be forced back. When the room was open +and birds began to sing, it proved to be quite destitute of furniture +or ornament. It had a bare hearth-stone, on which some grey ashes still +rested, and by the side of the hearth was a child's little wooden +go-cart on four solid wooden wheels! + +Turning to his daughter, my lord asked her to wheel the little carriage +across the floor of the room. When she did so, it was with a strange +sense of something uncanny that the listeners heard one wheel creak and +chirrup as it ran! + +Since then the baby footsteps have ceased, and the room is once more +devoted to ordinary uses, but the ghostly little go-cart still rests at +Ethie for the curious to see and to handle. Many friends and neighbours +yet live who testify to having heard the patter of the feet and the +creak of the little wheel in former days, when the room was a haunted +reality, but now the + + "Little feet no more go lightly, + Vision broken!" + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chat No. 12 + + "_I work on, + Through all the bristling fence of nights and days, + Which hedge time in from the eternities._" + --Mrs. Browning. + + +The late Cardinal Manning always felt a great interest in our parish of +Brasted. In former times it formed part of Hever Chase, the property +of Sir Thomas Boleyn (the father of Queen Anne Boleyn), who lived at +Hever Castle, about four miles from Brasted, a fine Tudor specimen of +domestic architecture, which is now somewhat jealously shown to the +public on certain days. Hever Castle is the original of Bovor Castle, +immortalised by Mr. Burnand in his wonderful "Happy Thoughts." + +The Cardinal's father, who was at one time an opulent city merchant, +and sometime Governor of the Bank of England, owned the estate of +Combe Bank, formerly the English location of the Argyll family, whose +Duke sat in the House of Lords, until quite a recent date, as Baron +Sundridge, the name of the adjacent village. + +In Sundridge Church are some family busts of the Argylls by Mrs. Dawson +Damer, who stayed much at Combe Bank, and who lies buried with all her +graving and sculpting tools in Sundridge churchyard. + +The Cardinal and his elder brother, Charles Manning, passed some +youthful years in this house, and when financial trouble overtook +their father, and he was obliged to part with the property, it became +the ever-present desire and day-dream of the elder son to succeed in +life and repurchase the place. He succeeded well in life, and enjoyed a +very long and happy one; but he never became the owner of Combe Bank, +the hope to do so only fading with his life. + +He owned, or leased, a pleasant old house at Littlehampton; and if +his brother, the Cardinal, was in need of rest, he would lend it to +him, when the Cardinal's method of relaxation was to go to bed in a +sea-looking room, and, with window open, read, write, and contemplate +for some three or four days and nights, and then arise refreshed like a +giant, and return to the manifold duties waiting for him in town. + +The Cardinal's home in London was formerly the Guard's Institute in +the Vauxhall Bridge Road, which, failing in its first intention, was +purchased as the palace for the then newly-elected Cardinal-Archbishop +of Westminster. It proved to be rather a dreary, draughty, +uncomfortable abode, but having the advantage of a double staircase and +some large reception rooms, was useful for the clerical assemblies he +used to invoke. + +I had the privilege, without being a member of his church, of being +allowed to attend the meetings of the _Academia_ which the Cardinal +held every now and then during the London season. His friends would +gather in one of the big rooms a little before eight in the evening, +and sit in darkened circles around a small centre table, before which +a high-backed carved chair stood. The entire light for the apartment +proceeded from two big silver candlesticks on the table. As the clock +chimed eight, the Cardinal, clothed in crimson cassock and skull-cap, +would glide into the room, and standing before the episcopal chair, +murmur a short Latin prayer, after which the discussion of the evening +would begin; when all that wished had had their little say, the +Cardinal replied to the points raised by the various speakers, and +closed the debate; after which he held a sort of informal reception, +welcoming individually every guest. + +No one but a Rembrandt could give the beautiful effect of the +half-lights and heavy black shadows of this striking gathering, with +its centre of colour and light in the tall red figure of the Cardinal, +his noble face and picturesque dress forming a mind-picture which can +never fade from the memory. The strong theatrical effect, combined +with the real simplicity of the scene, the personal interest of many of +those who took part in the discussion, the associations with the past, +the speculation whither the innovation of the installation of a Roman +Catholic Archbishop in Westminster was tending, giving the observer +bountiful food for much solemn thought. + +Upon our book-shelves repose four volumes of the Cardinal's sermons, +preached when a member of the Church of England, and Archdeacon of +Chichester. They were bought at Bishop Wilberforce's sale, who was +the Cardinal's brother-in-law, and contain the autograph of William +Wilberforce, the bishop's eldest brother. Upon the same shelf will +be found a copy of "Parochial Sermons" by John Henry Newman, Vicar +of St. Mary the Virgin's, Oxford. This volume formerly belonged to +Bishop Stanley, and came from the library of his celebrated son, Arthur +Penrhyn Stanley, sometime Dean of Westminster. + + * * * * * + +A good book might be written by one who is duly qualified on "the Poets +who are not read." It would not be flattering to the ghosts of many +of the departed great, but there is so much assumption on the part of +the general reader, that he knows them all, has read them all, and +generally likes them all, which if examined into closely would prove +a snare and a delusion, that one is tempted to administer some gentle +interrogatories upon the subject. First and foremost, then, who now +reads Byron? His works rest on the shelves, it is true, but are they +ever opened, except to verify a quotation? Does the general reader +of this time steadily go through "Childe Harold," "Don Juan," and +his other splendid works. Not death but sleep prevails, from which +perchance one day he may awake and again enjoy his share of fame and +favour. It is the fashion with many persons to express the utmost +sympathy with and acute knowledge of the work of Robert Browning, but +we doubt if many of these could pass a Civil Service examination in the +very poems they name so glibly. He is so hard to understand without +time and close study, that few have the inclination to give either in +these days of pressure, worry, and rush. + +Upon neglected shelves Cowper and Crabbe lie dusty and unopened--the +only person who read Crabbe in these days was the late Edward +FitzGerald; and it is a small class apart that still looks up to +Wordsworth. The stars of Keats and Shelley, it is true, are just now in +the ascendant, and may so remain for a little while. + +It is difficult and dangerous, we are told, to prophesy unless we know, +but our private opinion is that Lord Tennyson's fame has been declining +since his death, and that a large portion of his poems and all his +plays will die, leaving a living residuum of such splendid work as +"Maud," "In Memoriam," and some of his short poems. + +America has furnished us with Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose charm +and finish is likely to continue its hold upon our imagination; +then there is the Quaker poet Whittier, who will probably only live +in a song or two; and Longfellow, whose popularity has a long time +since declined. He once wrote a sort of novel or romance called +"Hyperion," which showed his reading public for the first time that he +was possessed of a gentle humour, which does not often appear in his +poems. For instance, one of his characters, by name Berkley, wishing to +console a jilted lover, says-- + +"'I was once as desperately in love as you are now; I adored, and was +rejected.' + +"'You are in love with certain attributes,' said the lady. + +"'Damn your attributes, madam,' said I; 'I know nothing of attributes.' + +"'Sir,' said she, with dignity, 'you have been drinking.' + +"So we parted. She was married afterwards to another, who knew +something about attributes, I suppose. I have seen her once since, and +only once. She had a baby in a yellow gown. I hate a baby in a yellow +gown. How glad I am she did not marry me." + +The fate of most poets is to be cut up for Dictionaries of Quotations, +for which amiable purpose they are often admirably adapted. + + + + +Chat No. 13. + + _"She will return, I know she will, + She will not leave me here alone._" + + +Staying many years ago in a pleasant country-house, whilst walking home +after evening church my host remarked, as we passed in the growing +darkness a house from which streamed a light down the path from the +front door, "Ah! Jane has not yet returned." The phrase sounded odd, +and when we were snugly ensconced in the smoking-room, he that evening +told me the following story, which, however, then stopped midway, but +to which I am now able to add the sequel. + +A certain John Manson (the name is, of course, fictitious), an elderly +wealthy City bachelor, married late in life a young girl of great +beauty, and with no friends or relations. + +She found her husband's country home, in which she was necessarily much +alone, very dull, and she thought that he was hard and unsympathising +when he was at home; whereas, although a curt, reserved manner gave +this impression, he was really full of love for, and confidence in his +young wife, and inwardly chafed at and deplored his want of power to +show what his real feelings were. + +The misunderstanding between them grew and widened, like the poetical +"rift within the lute," and soon after the birth of her child, a girl, +she left her home with her baby, merely leaving a few lines of curt +farewell, and was henceforth lost to him. His belief in her honesty +never wavered; and night after night, with his own hand, he lighted and +placed in a certain hall-window a lamp which thus illuminated the path +to the door, saying, "Jane will return, poor dear; and it's sure to be +at night, and she'll like to see the light." + +Years passed by, and Jane made no sign, the light each evening shining +uselessly; and still a stranger to her home, she died, leaving her +daughter, now a beautiful girl of twenty, and marvellously like what +her mother was when she married. + +The husband, unaware of the death of his wife, himself came to lay +him for the last beneath his own roof-tree, and still his one cry +was, "Jane will return." It seemed as if he could not pass in peace +from this world's rack until it was accomplished--when, lo! a miracle +came to pass; for the daughter arrived one evening with a letter from +her mother, written when she was dying, and asking her husband's +forgiveness, and the light still beamed from the beacon window. + +The old man was only semi-conscious, and mistaking his child for her +mother, with a strong voice cried out, "I knew you'd come back," and +died in the moment of the joy of her supposed return. + +By a curious coincidence, since writing this true story, which was +told to me in 1865, some of the incidents, in an altered form, have +found a place in Mr. Ian Maclaren's popular book, "Beside the Bonnie +Brier Bush." It would be interesting to know from whence he drew his +inspiration, and whether his story should perchance trace back to a +common ancestor in mine. + + * * * * * + +A few years ago Mr. Walter Hamilton published, in six volumes, the most +complete collection of English parodies ever brought together. Amongst +others, he gave a vast number upon the well-known poem by Charles Wolfe +of "Not a drum was heard." Page after page is covered with them, upon +every possible subject; but the following one, written by an "American +cousin" many years ago, and which was not accessible to Mr. Hamilton, +is perhaps worth repeating and preserving. He called it "The Mosquito +Hunt," and it runs as follows, if my memory serves me faithfully, I +having no written note of it:-- + + "Not a sound was heard, but a horrible hum, + As around our chamber we hurried, + In search of the insect whose trumpet and drum + Our delectable slumber had worried. + + We sought for him darkly at dead of night, + Our coverlet carefully turning, + By the shine of the moonbeam's misty light, + And our candle dimly burning. + + About an hour had seemed to elapse, + Ere we met with the wretch that had bit us; + And raising our shoe, gave some terrible slaps, + Which made the mosquito's quietus. + + Quickly and gladly we turned from the dead, + And left him all smash'd and gory; + We blew out the candle, and popped into bed, + And determined to tell you the story!" + + + + +Chat No. 14. + + "_The welcome news is in the letter found, + The carrier's not commissioned to expound: + It speaks itself._" + --Dryden. + + +A pleasant hour may perhaps be passed in searching through the +family autograph-box in the book-room. Its contents are varied and +far-fetched. A capital series of letters from that best and most genial +of correspondents, James Payn, are there to puzzle, by their very +difficult calligraphy, the would-be reader. Mr. Payn, a dear friend +to Foxwold, is now a great invalid, and a brave sufferer, keeping, +despite his pain, the same bright spirit, the same brilliant wit, +and delighting with the same enchanting conversation. Out of all his +work, there is nothing so beautiful as his lay-sermons, published in +a small volume called "Some Private Views;" and but a little while +since he wrote, on his invalid couch, a most affecting study, called +"The Backwater of Life;" it has only up to the present time appeared +in the _Cornhill Magazine_, but will doubtless be soon collected with +other work in a more permanent form. It is a pathetic picture of how +suffering may be relieved by wit, wisdom, and courage. + +As Mr. Leslie Stephen well says in his brother's life, "For such +literature the British public has shown a considerable avidity ever +since the days of Addison. In spite of occasional disavowals, it +really loves a sermon, and is glad to hear preachers who are not bound +by the proprieties of the religious pulpit. Some essayists, like +Johnson, have been as solemn as the true clerical performer, and some +have diverged into the humorous with Charles Lamb, or the cynical with +Hazlitt."[2] + +In Mr. Payn's lay-sermons we have the humour and the pathos, the tears +being very close to the laughter; and they reflect in a peculiarly +strong manner the tender wit and delicate fancy of their author. + +But to return to our autograph-box. Here we find letters from such +varied authors as Josef Israels, the Dutch painter, Hubert Herkomer, W. +B. Richmond, Mrs. Carlyle, Wilkie Collins, Dean Stanley, and a host of +other interesting people. Perhaps a few extracts, where judicious and +inoffensive, may give an interest to this especial chat. + +The late Mrs. Charles Fox of Trebah was in herself, both socially and +intellectually, a very remarkable woman. Born in the Lake Country, and +belonging to the Society of Friends, she formed, as a girl, many happy +friendships with the Wordsworths, the Southeys, the Coleridges, and +all that charmed circle of intellect, every scrap of whose sayings and +doings are so full of interest, and so dearly cherished. + +These friendships she continued to preserve after her marriage, and +when she had exchanged her lovely lake home for an equally beautiful +and interesting one on the Cornish coast, first at Perran and +afterwards at Trebah. + +One of her special friendships was with Hartley Coleridge, who indited +several of his sonnets to his beautiful young friend. + +The subjoined letter gives a pleasant picture of his friendly +correspondence, and has not been included in the published papers by +his brother, the Rev. Derwent Coleridge, who edited his remains. + + "Dear Sarah, + + If a stranger to the fold + Of happy innocents, where thou art one, + May so address thee by a name he loves, + Both for a mother's and a sister's sake, + And surely loves it not the less for thine. + Dear Sarah, strange it needs must seem to thee + That I should choose the quaint disguise of verse, + And, like a mimic masquer, come before thee + To tell my simple tale of country news, + Or,--sooth to tell thee,--I have nought to tell + But what a most intelligencing gossip + Would hardly mention on her morning rounds: + Things that a newspaper would not record + In the dead-blank recess of Parliament. + Yet so it is,--my thoughts are so confused, + My memory is so wild a wilderness, + I need the order of the measured line + To help me, whensoe'er I would attempt + To methodise the random notices + Of purblind observation. Easier far + The minuet step of slippery sliding verse, + Than the strong stately walk of steadfast prose. + + Since you have left us, many a beauteous change + Hath Nature wrought on the eternal hills; + And not an hour hath past that hath not done + Its work of beauty. When December winds, + Hungry and fell, were chasing the dry leaves, + Shrill o'er the valley at the dead of night, + 'Twas sweet, for watchers such as I, to mark + How bright, how very bright, the stars would shine + Through the deep rifts of congregated clouds; + How very distant seemed the azure sky; + And when at morn the lazy, weeping fog, + Long lingering, loath to leave the slumbrous lake, + Whitened, diffusive, as the rising sun + Shed on the western hills his rosiest beams, + I thought of thee, and thought our peaceful vale + Had lost one heart that could have felt its peace, + One eye that saw its beauties, and one soul + That made its peace and beauty all her own. + + One morn there was a kindly boon of heaven, + That made the leafless woods so beautiful, + It was sore pity that one spirit lives, + That owns the presence of Eternal God + In all the world of Nature and of Mind, + Who did not see it. Low the vapour hung + On the flat fields, and streak'd with level layers + The lower regions of the mountainous round; + But every summit, and the lovely line + Of mountain tops, stood in the pale blue sky + Boldly defined. The cloudless sun dispelled + The hazy masses, and a lucid veil + But softened every charm it not concealed. + Then every tree that climbs the steep fell-side-- + Young oak, yet laden with sere foliage; + Larch, springing upwards, with its spikey top + And spiney garb of horizontal boughs; + The veteran ash, strong-knotted, wreathed and twined, + As if some Daemon dwelt within its trunk, + And shot forth branches, serpent-like; uprear'd + The holly and the yew, that never fade + And never smile; these, and whate'er beside, + Or stubborn stump, or thin-arm'd underwood, + Clothe the bleak strong girth of Silverhow + (You know the place, and every stream and brook + Is known to you) by ministry of Frost, + Were turned to shapes of Orient adamant, + As if the whitest crystals, new endow'd + With vital or with vegetative power, + Had burst from earth, to mimic every form + Of curious beauty that the earth could boast, + Or, like a tossing sea of curly plumes, + Frozen in an instant----" + + "So much for verse, which, being execrably bad, cannot be excused, + except by friendship, therefore is the fitter for a friendly + epistle. There's logic for you! In fact, my dear lady, I am so + much delighted, not to say flattered, by your wish that I should + write to you, that I can't help being rather silly. It will be + a sad loss to me when your excellent mother leaves Grasmere; + and to-morrow my friend Archer and I dine at Dale End, for our + farewell. But so it must be. I am always happy to hear anything of + your little ones, who are such very sweet creatures that one might + almost think it a pity they should ever grow up to be big women, + and know only better than they do now. Among all the anecdotes + of childhood that have been recorded, I never heard of one so + characteristic as Jenny-Kitty's wish to inform Lord Dunstanville + of the miseries of the negroes. Bless its little soul! I am truly + sorry to hear that you have been suffering bodily illness, though + I know that it cannot disturb the serenity of your mind. I hope + little Derwent did not disturb you with his crown; I am told he is + a lovely little wretch, and you say he has eyes like mine. I hope + he will see his way better with them. Derwent has never answered + my letter, but I complain not; I dare say he has more than enough + to do.[3] Thank you kindly for your kindness to him and his lady. + I hope the friendship of Friends will not obstruct his rising in + the Church, and that he will consult his own interest prudently, + paying court to the powers that be, yet never so far committing + himself as to miss an opportunity of ingratiating himself with + the powers that may be. Let him not utter, far less write, any + sentence that will not bear a twofold interpretation! For the + present let his liberality go no further than a very liberal + explanation of the words consistency and gratitude may carry + him; let him always be honest when it is his interest to be so, + and sometimes when it may appear not to be so; and never be a + knave under a deanery or a rectory of five thousand a year! My + best remembrances to your husband, and kisses for Juliet and + Jenny-Kitty, though she did say she liked Mr. Barber far better + than me. I can't say I agree with her in that particular, having a + weak partiality for + + Your affectionate friend, + Hartley Coleridge." + +Another friend of the Fox family was the late John Bright, and the +following letter to the now well-known Caroline Fox of Penjerrick will +be read with interest:-- + + Torquay, 10 _mo._ 13, 1868. + + "My dear Friend, + + I hope the 'one cloud' has passed away. I was much pleased with + the earnestness and feeling of the poem, and wished to ask thee + for a copy of it, but was afraid to give thee the trouble of + writing it out for me. + + "For myself, I have endeavoured only to speak when I have had + something to say which it seemed to me ought to be said, and I did + not feel that the sentiment of the poem condemned me. + + "We had a pleasant visit to Kynance Cove. It is a charming + place, and we were delighted with it. We went on through Helston + to Penzance: the day following we visited the Logan Rock and the + Land's End, and in the afternoon the celebrated Mount--the weather + all we could wish for. We were greatly pleased with the Mount, + and I shall not read 'Lycidas' with less interest now that I have + seen the place of the 'great vision.' We found the hotel to which + you kindly directed us perfect in all respects. On Friday we came + from Penzance to Truro, and posted to St. Columb, where we spent a + night at Mr. Northy's--the day and night were very wet. Next day + we posted to Tintagel, and back to Launceston, taking the train + there for Torquay. + + "We were pressed for time at Tintagel, but were pleased with what + we saw. + + "Here, we are in a land of beauty and of summer, the beauty beyond + my expectation, and the climate like that of Nice. Yesterday we + drove round to see the sights, and W. Pengelly and Mr. Vivian + went with us to Kent's Cavern, Anstey's Cove, and the round of + exquisite views. We are at Cash's Hotel, but visit our friend + Susan Midgley in the day and evening. To-morrow we start for + Street, to stay a day or two with my daughter Helen, and are to + spend Sunday at Bath. We have seen much and enjoyed much in our + excursion, but we shall remember nothing with more pleasure than + your kindness and our stay at Penjerrick. + + "Elizabeth joins me in kind and affectionate remembrance of you, + and in the hope that thy dear father did not suffer from the 'long + hours' to which my talk subjected him. When we get back to our + bleak region and home of cold and smoke, we shall often think of + your pleasant retreat, and of the wonderful gardens at Penjerrick. + + Believe me, + + Always sincerely thy friend, + John Bright." + + _To_ Caroline Fox, + Penjerrick, Falmouth. + +There are few men whose every uttered word is regarded with greater +respect and interest than Mr. Ruskin. It is well known that he has +always been a wide and careful collector of minerals, gems, and fine +specimens of the art and nature world. One of his various agents, +through whom at one time he made many such purchases, both for himself +and his Oxford and Sheffield museums, was Mr. Bryce Wright, the +mineralogist, and to him are addressed the following five letters:-- + + Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire, + _22nd May '81_. + + "My dear Wright, + + I am very greatly obliged to you for letting me see these opals, + quite unexampled, as you rightly say, from that locality--but + from that locality _I_ never buy--my kind is the opal formed in + pores and cavities, throughout the mass of that compact brown + jasper--this, which is merely a superficial crust of jelly on the + surface of a nasty brown sandstone, I do not myself value in the + least. I wish you could get at some of the geology of the two + sorts, but I suppose everything is kept close by the diggers and + the Jews at present. + + "As for the cameos, the best of the two, 'supposed' (by whom?) to + represent Isis, represents neither Egyptian nor Oxonian Isis, but + only an ill-made French woman of the town bathing at Boulogne, and + the other is only a 'Minerve' of the Halles, a _petroleuse_ in a + mob-cap, sulphur-fire colour. + + "I don't depreciate what I want to buy, as you know well, but it + is not safe to send me things in the set way 'supposed' to be + this or that! If you ever get any more nice little cranes, or + cockatoos, looking like what they're supposed to be meant for, + they shall at least be returned with compliments. + + "I send back the box by to-day's rail; put down all expenses to my + account, as I am always amused and interested by a parcel from you. + + "You needn't print this letter as an advertisement, unless you + like! + + Ever faithfully yours, + + J. Ruskin." + Brantwood, _23rd May_. + + "My dear Wright, + + The silver's safe here, and I want to buy it for Sheffield, but + the price seems to me awful. It must always be attached to it + at the museum, and I fear great displeasure from the public for + giving you such a price. What is there in the specimen to make it + so valuable? I have not anything like it, nor do I recollect its + like (or I shouldn't want it), but if so rare, why does not the + British Museum take it. + + Ever truly yours, + + J. Ruskin." + Brantwood, _Wednesday_. + + "My dear Wright, + + I am very glad of your long and interesting letter, and can + perfectly understand all your difficulties, and have always + observed your activity and attention to your business with much + sympathy, but of late certainly I have been frightened at your + prices, and, before I saw the golds, was rather uneasy at having + so soon to pay for them. But you are quite right in your estimate + of the interest and value of the collection, and I hope to be + able to be of considerable service to you yet, though I fear it + cannot be in buying specimens at seventy guineas, unless there is + something to be shown for the money, like that great native silver! + + "I have really not been able to examine the red ones yet--the + golds alone were more than I could judge of till I got a quiet + hour this morning. I might possibly offer to change some of the + locally interesting ones for a proustite, but I can't afford any + more cash just now. + + Ever very heartily yours, + + J. Ruskin." + Brantwood, + _3rd Nov. or 4th (?), Friday_. + + "Dear Wright, + + My telegram will, I hope, enable you to act with promptness about + the golds, which will be of extreme value to me; and its short + saying about the proustites will, I hope, not be construed by you + as meaning that I will buy them also. You don't really suppose + that you are to be paid interest of money on minerals, merely + because they have lain long in your hands. + + "If I sold my old arm-chair, which has got the rickets, would + you expect the purchaser to pay me forty years' interest on the + original price? Your proustite may perhaps be as good as ever + it was, but it is not worth more to me or Sheffield because you + have had either the enjoyment or the care of it longer than you + expected! + + "But I am really very seriously obliged by the _sight_ of it, with + the others, and perhaps may make an effort to lump some of the new + ones with the gold in an estimate of large purchase. I think the + gold, by your description, must be a great credit to Sheffield and + to me; perhaps I mayn't be able to part with it! + + Ever faithfully yours, + + J. Ruskin." + Herne Hill, S.E., _6 May '84_. + + "My dear Bryce, + + I can't resist this tourmaline, and have carried it off with me. + For you and Regent Street it's not monstrous in price neither; but + I must send you back your (pink!) apatite. I wish I'd come to see + you, but have been laid up all the time I've been here--just got + to the pictures, and that's all. + + Yours always, + + (much to my damage!) + + J. R." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] "Life of Sir T. FitzJames Stephen," by his Brother, Leslie Stephen. +Smith, Elder & Co., 1895. + +[3] The Rev. Derwent Coleridge was at the time keeping a school at +Helston, which was within an easy distance of Perran, where Mrs. Fox +was at this time living. + + + + +Chat No. 15. + + "_Scarcely she knew, that she was great or fair, + Or wise beyond what other women are._" + --Dryden. + + +An oval picture that hangs opposite Sheridan's portrait is a fine +presentment of the Marquis de Segur, by Vanloo. + +The Marquis was born in 1724, and eventually became a marshal of +France, and minister of war to Louis XVI. After his royal master's +execution he fell into very low water, and it was only by his calm +intrepidity in very trying circumstances that he escaped the +guillotine. His memoirs have from time to time appeared, generally +under the authority of some of his descendants. This interesting +portrait belonged to the family of de Segur, and was parted with by the +present head of the house to the late Mrs. Lyne Stephens, who gave it +to us. + +The history of this admirable woman is deeply interesting in every +detail. She was the daughter of Colonel Duvernay, a member of a good +old French family, who was ruined by the French Revolution of 1785. +Born at Versailles in the year 1812, her father had the child named +Yolande Marie Louise; and she was educated at the Conservatoire in +Paris, where they soon discovered her wonderful talent for dancing. +This art was encouraged, developed, and trained to the uttermost; and +when, in due time, she appeared upon the ballet stage, she took the +town by storm, and at once came to the foremost rank as the well-known +Mademoiselle Duvernay, rivalling, if not excelling, the two Ellsslers, +Cerito, and Taglioni. + +She made wide the fame of the Cachucha dance, which was specially +rearranged for her; and the world was immediately deluged with her +portraits, some good, some bad, many very apocryphal, and many very +indifferent. + +In one of W. M. Thackeray's wonderful "Roundabout Papers," which +perhaps contain some of the most beautiful work he ever gave us, he +thus recalls, in a semi-playful, semi-pathetic tone, his recollections +of the great _danseuse_. "In William IV.'s time, when I think of +Duvernay dancing in as the Bayadere, I say it was a vision of +loveliness such as mortal eyes can't see nowadays. How well I remember +the tune to which she used to appear! Kaled used to say to the Sultan, +'My lord, a troop of those dancing and singing girls called Bayaderes +approaches,' and to the clash of cymbals and the thumping of my heart, +in she used to dance! There has never been anything like it--never." + +After a few years of brilliant successes she retired from the stage +she had done so much to grace and dignify, and married the late Mr. +Stephens Lyne Stephens, who in those days, and after his good old +father's death, was considered one of the richest commoners in England. + +He died in 1860, after a far too short, but intensely happy, married +life; and having no children, left his widow, as far as was in his +power, complete mistress of his large fortune. They were both devoted +to art, and being very acute connoisseurs, had collected a superb +quantity of the best pictures, the rarest old French furniture, and the +finest china. + +The bulk of these remarkable collections was dispersed at Christie's +in a nine-days'-wonder sale in 1895, and proved the great attraction +of the season, buyers from Paris, New York, Vienna, and Berlin eagerly +competing with London for the best things. + +Some of the more remarkable prices are here noted, as being of +permanent interest to the art-loving world, and testifying how little +hard times can affect the sale of a really fine and genuine collection. + +As a rule, the prices obtained were very far in excess of those paid +for the various objects, in many cases reaching four and five times +their original cost. + +A pair of Mandarin vases sold for 1070 guineas. The beautiful Sevres +oviform vase, given by Louis XV. to the Marquis de Montcalm, 1900 +guineas. A pair of Sevres blue and gold Jardinieres, 5-1/4 inches high, +1900 guineas. A clock by Berthoud, 1000 guineas. A small upright Louis +XVI. secretaire, 800 guineas. Another rather like it, 960 guineas. A +marble bust of Louis XIV., 567 guineas. Three Sevres oviform vases, +from Lord Pembroke's collection, 5000 guineas. A single oviform +Sevres vase, 760 guineas. A pair of Sevres vases, 1050 guineas. A +very beautiful Sedan chair, in Italian work of the sixteenth century, +600 guineas. A clock by Causard, 720 guineas. A Louis XV. upright +secretaire, 1320 guineas. "Dogs and Gamekeeper," painted by Troyon, +2850 guineas. "The Infanta," a full-length portrait by Velasquez, 4300 +guineas. A bust of the Infanta, also by Velasquez, 770 guineas. "Faith +presenting the Eucharist," a splendid work by Murillo, 2350 guineas. +"The Prince of Orange Hunting," by Cuyp, 2000 guineas. "The Village +Inn," by Van Ostade, 1660 guineas. A fine specimen of Terburg's work, +1950 guineas. A portrait by Madame Vigee le Brun, 2250 guineas. +A lovely portrait by Nattier, 3900 guineas. Watteau's celebrated +picture of "La Gamme d'Amour," 3350 guineas. A pair of small Lancret's +Illustrations to La Fontaine brought respectively 1300 guineas and 1050 +guineas. Drouais' superb portrait of Madame du Barry, 690 guineas; and +a small head of a girl by Greuze sold for 710 guineas. + +Small pieces of china of no remarkable merit, but bearing a greatly +enhanced value from belonging to this celebrated collection, obtained +wonderful prices. For example:-- + + A Sang-de Boeuf Crackle vase, 12-1/2 inches high, 280 guineas. A + pair of china Kylins, 360 guineas. A circular Pesaro dish, 155 + guineas. A pair of Sevres dark blue oviform vases, 1000 guineas. + Three Sevres vases, 1520 guineas. Two small panels of old French + tapestry, 285 guineas. Another pair, 710 guineas. A circular + Sevres bowl, 13 inches in diameter, 300 guineas. + +The ormolu ornaments of the time of Louis XIV. brought great sums; for +instance-- + + An ormolu inkstand sold for 72 guineas. A pair of wall lights, 102 + guineas. A pair of ormolu candlesticks, 400 guineas. Another pair, + 500 guineas. A pair of ormolu andirons, 220 guineas. + +Little tables of Louis XV. period also sold amazingly. + + An oblong one, 21-1/2 inches wide, 285 guineas. An upright + secretaire, 580 guineas. A small Louis XVI. chest of drawers, 315 + guineas. A pair of Louis XVI. mahogany cabinets, 950 guineas. A + pair of Louis XVI. bronze candelabra brought 525 guineas; and an + ebony cabinet of the same time fetched the extraordinary price of + 1700 guineas; and a little Louis XV. gold chatelaine sold for 300 + guineas. + +The grand total obtained by this remarkable sale, together with some of +the plate and jewels, amounted to L158,000! + +For thirty-four years, as a widow, Mrs. Lyne Stephens administered, +with the utmost wisdom and the broadest generosity, the large trust +thus placed in her most capable hands. Building and restoring churches +for both creeds (she being Catholic and her late husband Protestant); +endowing needy young couples whom she considered had some claim upon +her, if only as friends; further adding to and completing her art +collections, and finishing and beautifying her different homes in +Norfolk, Paris, and Roehampton. + +Generous to the fullest degree, she would warmly resent the least +attempt to impose upon her. An amusing instance of this occurred many +years ago, when one of her husband's relations, considering he had +some extraordinary claim upon the widow's generosity, again and again +pressed her for large benevolences, which for a season he obtained. +Getting tired of his importunity, she at last declined to render +further help, and received in reply a very abusive letter from the +claimant, which wound up by stating that if the desired assistance +were not forthcoming by a certain date, the applicant would set up +a fruit-stall in front of her then town-house in Piccadilly, and so +shame her into compliance with his request. She immediately wrote him +a pretty little letter in reply, saying, "That it was with sincere +pleasure she had heard of her correspondent's intention of pursuing for +the first time an honest calling whereby to earn his bread, and that if +his oranges were good, she had given orders that they should be bought +for her servants' hall!" + +During the Franco-German war of 1870 she remained in Paris in her +beautiful home in the Faubourg-Saint-Honore, and would daily sally +forth to help the sufferings which the people in Paris were undergoing. +No one will ever know the vast extent of the sacrifice she then made. +Her men-servants had all left to fight for their country, and she was +alone in the big house, with only two or three maids to accompany her. +During the Commune she continued her daily walks abroad, and was always +recognised by the mob as a good Frenchwoman, doing her utmost for the +needs of the very poor. Her friend, the late Sir Richard Wallace, who +was also in Paris during these troubles, well earned his baronetcy by +his care of the poor English shut up in the city during the siege; but +although Mrs. Lyne Stephens' charity was quite as wide and generous as +his, she never received, nor did she expect or desire it, one word of +acknowledgment or thanks from any of the powers that were. + +She died at Lynford, from the result of a fall on a parquet floor, +on the 2nd September 1894, aged 82, full of physical vigour and +intellectual brightness, and still remarkable for her personal beauty; +finding life to the last full of many interests, but impressed by +the sadness of having outlived nearly all her early friends and +contemporaries. + +She lingered nearly three weeks after the actual fall, during which her +affectionate gratitude to all who watched and tended her, her bright +recognition when faces she loved came near, her quick response to all +that was said and done, were beautiful and touching to see, and very +sweet to remember. Her last words to the writer of these lines when +he bade her farewell were, "My fondest love to my beloved Julian;" +our invalid son at Foxwold, for whom she always evinced the deepest +affection and sympathy. + +In her funeral sermon, preached by Canon Scott, himself an intimate +friend, in the beautiful church she had built for Cambridge, to a +crowded and deeply sympathetic audience, he eloquently observed: +"Greatly indeed was she indebted to God; richly had she been +endowed with gifts of every kind; of natural character, of special +intelligence, of winning attractiveness, which compelled homage from +all who came under the charm of her influence; with the result of +widespread renown and unbounded wealth.... Therefore it was that the +blessing of God came in another form--by the discipline of suffering +and trial. There was the trial of loneliness. Soon bereft, as she was, +of her husband, of whose affection we may judge by the way in which +he had laid all he possessed at her feet; French and Catholic, living +amongst those who were not of her faith or nation, though enjoying +their devoted friendship. With advancing years, deprived by death even +of those intimate friends, she was lonely in a sense throughout her +life.... Nor must it be omitted that her great gift to Cambridge was +not merely an easy one out of superfluous wealth, but that it involved +some personal sacrifice. Friends of late had missed the sight of costly +jewels, which for years had formed a part of her personal adornment. +What had become of a necklace of rarest pearls, now no longer +worn?--They had been sacrificed for the erection of this very church." + +Again, in a Pastoral Letter by the Roman Catholic Bishop of +Northampton to his flock, dated the 28th of November 1894, he says: +"We take occasion of this our Advent pastoral, to commend to your +prayers the soul of one who has recently passed away, Mrs. Lyne +Stephens. Her innumerable works of religion and charity during her +life, force us to acknowledge our indebtedness to her; she built +at her sole cost the churches of Lynford, Shefford, and Cambridge, +and she gave a large donation for the church at Wellingborough. It +was she who gave the presbytery and the endowment of Lynford, the +rectory at Cambridge, and our own residence at Northampton. By a large +donation she greatly helped the new episcopal income fund, and she was +generous to the Holy Father on the occasion of his first jubilee. Our +indebtedness was increased by her bequests, one to ourselves as the +Bishop, one for the maintenance of the fabric of the Cambridge Church, +another for the Boy's Home at Shefford, and a fourth to the Clergy +Fund of this Diocese. Her name has been inscribed in our _Liber Vitae_, +among the great benefactors whether living or dead, and for these we +constantly offer up prayers that God may bless their good estate in +life, and after death receive them to their reward." + +To the inmates of Foxwold she was for nearly a quarter of a century +a true and loving friend, paying them frequent little visits, and +entering with the deepest sympathy into the lives of those who also +loved her very dearly. + +The house bears, through her generosity, many marks of her exquisite +taste and broad bounty, and her memory will always be fragrant and +beautiful to those who knew her. + +There are three portraits of her at Roehampton. The first, as a most +winsome, lovely girl, drawn life-size by a great pastellist in the +reign of Louis Philippe; the second, as a handsome matron, in the happy +years of her all too short married life; and the last, by Carolus +Duran, was painted in Paris in 1888. This has been charmingly engraved, +and represents her as a most lovely old lady, with abundant iron-grey +hair and large violet eyes, very wide apart. She was intellectually +as well as physically one of the strongest women, and she never had a +day's illness, until her fatal accident, in her life. Her conversation +and power of repartee was extremely clever and brilliant. A shrewd +observer of character, she rarely made a mistake in her first estimate +of people, and her sometimes adverse judgments, which at first +sight appeared harsh, were invariably justified by the history of +after-events. + +Her charity was illimitable, and was always, as far as possible, +concealed. A simple-lived, brave, warm-hearted, generous woman, her +death has created a peculiar void, which will not in our time be again +filled:-- + + "For some we loved, the loveliest and the best, + That from his Vintage, rolling Time hath prest, + Have drunk their Cup, a Round or two before, + And one by one crept silently to rest." + + + + +The Index + + "_Studious he sate, with all his books around, + Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound; + Plunged for his sense, but found no bottom there; + Then wrote, and flounder'd on, in mere despair._" + --Pope. + + + America. Humours of a voyage to, 18. + + + Baxter, Robert. His hospitality, 53. + + Bedford Town and Schools, 73. + + Binders and their work, 41. + + Bradley, A. G. Life of Wolfe, 10. + + Bright, John. Letter from, 134. + + + Calverley, C. S., 2. + + Charles II. and Lord Northesk, 101. + + Christie's. A sale at, 11. + + Christie's. Lyne Stephens sale, 148. + + Coleridge, Hartley. Letter from, 129. + + Combe Bank, 109. + + Craze, modern. For work, 48. + + Cunarder. On board a, 18. + + "Cynical Song of the City," 50. + + + Dickens. On over-work, 48. + + Dobson, Austin, 63. + + + Ethie Castle and its ghost story, 104. + + + Fox, Caroline. John Bright's letter to, 134. + + Fox, Mrs. Charles, of Trebah, 128. + + Fox, Mrs. Charles, and Hartley Coleridge, 129. + + Foxwold and its early train, 51. + + French Revolution of 1848, 85. + + + Gainsborough's portrait of Wolfe, 8. + + Ghost story at Ethie, 104. + + Gosse, Edmund. Poem by, 61. + + Grain, R. Corney. Sketch of, 3. + + " " His charity, 4. + + " " Letter from, 6. + + Guthrie, Anstey. Bon-mot of, 52. + + + Hamilton's parodies, 123. + + Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 59. + + Humours of an Atlantic voyage, 18. + + + "Jane will return." A true story, 119. + + Jerrold, Douglas. Drawing of, 68. + + + Laureateship, The, 58. + + Lehmann, R. C. Poem by, 78. + + Letter from John Bright, 134. + + " " Hartley Coleridge, 129. + + " " Charles II., 101. + + " " R. Corney Grain, 6. + + " " Lord Lauderdale, 102. + + Letter from John Poole, 83. + + " " John Ruskin, 137. + + " " G. A. Sala, 69. + + Longfellow. Extract from, 117. + + Lyne Stephens, Mrs., 144. + + " " Sketch of her life, 145. + + " " Her art collections, 147. + + " " Thackeray's sketch of her, 145. + + " " Her death, 154. + + " " Her funeral sermon, 155. + + " " Great sale at Christie's, 148. + + Lytton, Robert, Lord. Poem by, 60. + + + Manning, Cardinal, 109. + + Manning, Charles John, 109. + + Mayhew, Horace, 67. + + Meadows, Kenny. Drawing of, 68. + + + Newgate. Visit to, 34. + + Northesk, Lord, and Charles II., 101. + + + Parody. An unknown one, 123. + + Payn, Mr. James. His lay-sermons, 126. + + Poets who are not read, 115. + + Poole, John. Letter from, 83. + + Portland, Duke of, and his books, 42. + + Portraits of Mrs. Lyne Stephens, 159. + + _Punch._ Memorials of, 66. + + " Portraits of writers to, 66. + + + Reynolds, Sir Joshua. Portrait by, 11. + + Ruskin, John. Letters from, 137. + + + Sala, G. A. Letter from, 69. + + " " Picture by, 69. + + Sales at Christie's, 11, 148. + + Schools, Bedford, 73. + + Segur, Marquis de. Portrait of, 143. + + Sheridan, R. B. Portrait of, 11. + + Stevenson, R. L., 77. + + Stories. American, 18. + + Scott, Canon. Sermon by, 155. + + Symon, Arthur. Poem by, 63. + + + Texts, inappropriate, 55, 56, 57. + + Thackeray's description of Mrs. Lyne Stephens, 145. + + + Westerham. Birthplace of Wolfe, 9. + + Wolfe, General. Portrait of, 9. + + Woods, Mr. Thomas H., 13. + + Work, modern. Craze for, 48. + + Z---- sale of pictures, 15. + + * * * * * + +The Reader (_loquiter_). + + "_Glad of a quarrel, straight I clap the door; + Sir, let me see your works and you no more!_" + --Pope. + + + + + +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | In this etext the caret ^ represents a superscript character. | + | | + | Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. | + | | + | Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant | + | form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. | + | | + | Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. | + | | + | Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved to the beginning of | + | the chat in which they occurred. The List of Illustrations | + | paginations were not corrected. | + | | + | Other corrections: | + | | + | -- Page 89: 'Hotel des Affaires Etrangers,' changed to 'Hotel des | + | Affaires Etrangeres,' | + | -- Page 125: Caligraphy changed to calligraphy. | + +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chats in the Book-Room, by Horace N. 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