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diff --git a/36228.txt b/36228.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f90a8f --- /dev/null +++ b/36228.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11205 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies, by Walter Besant + +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: The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies + +Author: Walter Besant + +Release Date: May 26, 2011 [EBook #36228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer, Gary Rees and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Words and phrases appearing in italics in the +original publication have been delimited with underscore characters in +this transcription. Additional notes appear at the end of this text.] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES + +BY + +WALTER BESANT + + + + + 'I hearing got, who had but ears, + And sight, who has but eyes before; + I moments live, who lived but years, + And truth discern, who knew but learning's lore. + + THOREAU. + + + + + [Illustration] + + + _WITH A PORTRAIT_ + + + London + CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY + 1888 + + [_All rights reserved_] + + + + + TO THE + WIDOW AND THE TWO CHILDREN + OF + RICHARD JEFFERIES + + I DEDICATE THIS MEMORIAL, IN THE EARNEST HOPE + THAT IT MAY NOT BE FOUND WHOLLY + UNWORTHY OF ITS SUBJECT. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In the body of this work I have sufficiently explained the reasons why I +was entrusted with the task of writing this memoir of Richard Jefferies. +I have only here to express my thanks, first to the publishers, who have +given permission to quote from books by Jefferies issued by them, +namely: Messrs. Cassell and Co., Messrs. Chapman and Hall, Messrs. +Longman and Co., Messrs. Sampson Low and Co., Messrs. Smith and Elder, +and Messrs. Tinsley Brothers, and next, to all those who have entrusted +me with letters written by Jefferies, and have given permission to use +them. These are: Mrs. Harrild, of Sydenham, Mr. Charles Longman, Mr. +J.W. North, and Mr. C.P. Scott. I have also been provided with the +note-books filled with Jefferies' notes made in the fields. These have +enabled me to understand, and, I hope, to convey to others some +understanding of, the writer's methods. I call this book the "Eulogy" of +Richard Jefferies, because, in very truth, I can find nothing but +admiration, pure and unalloyed, for that later work of his, on which +will rest his fame and his abiding memory. + + W.B. + UNITED UNIVERSITY CLUB, + _September, 1888_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I. + COATE FARM 1 + + CHAPTER II. + SIXTEEN TO TWENTY 49 + + CHAPTER III. + LETTERS FROM 1866 TO 1872 66 + + CHAPTER IV. + GLEAMS OF LIGHT 96 + + CHAPTER V. + FIRST YEARS OF SUCCESS 108 + + CHAPTER VI. + FICTION, EARLY AND LATE 145 + + CHAPTER VII. + IN FULL CAREER 163 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE LONGMAN LETTERS 193 + + CHAPTER IX. + THE COUNTRY LIFE 214 + + CHAPTER X. + "THE STORY OF MY HEART" 269 + + CHAPTER XI. + THE CHILD WANDERS IN THE WOOD 301 + + CHAPTER XII. + CONCLUSION 327 + + * * * * * + + APPENDIX I. + LIST OF JEFFERIES' WORKS 366 + + APPENDIX II. + LIST OF PAPERS STILL UNPUBLISHED 368 + + APPENDIX III. + LETTER TO THE "TIMES," NOVEMBER, 1872 370 + + + + +THE + +EULOGY + +OF + +RICHARD JEFFERIES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +COATE FARM. + + +"Go," said the Voice which dismisses the soul on its way to inhabit an +earthly frame. "Go; thy lot shall be to speak of trees, from the cedar +even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; and of beasts also, +and of fowls, and of fishes. All thy ways shall be ordered for thee, so +that thou shalt learn to speak of these things as no man ever spoke +before. Thou shalt rise into great honour among men. Many shall love to +hear thy voice above all the voices of those who speak. This is a great +gift. Thou shalt also enjoy the tender love of wife and children. Yet +the things which men most desire--riches, rank, independence, ease, +health, and long life--these are denied to thee. Thou shalt be always +poor; thou shalt live in humble places; the goad of necessity shall +continually prick thee to work when thou wouldst meditate; to write when +thou wouldst walk forth to observe. Thou shalt never be able to sit down +to rest; thou shalt be afflicted with grievous plaguy diseases; and thou +shalt die when little more than half the allotted life of man is past. +Go, therefore. Be happy with what is given, and lament not over what is +denied." + + * * * * * + +Richard Jefferies--christened John Richard, but he was always called by +his second name--was born on November 6, 1848, at the farmhouse of +Coate--you may pronounce it, if you please, in Wiltshire fashion--Caute. +The house stands on the road from Swindon to Marlborough, about two +miles and a half from the former place. It has now lost its old +picturesqueness, because the great heavy thatch which formerly served +for roof has been removed and replaced by slates. I know not whether any +gain in comfort has been achieved by this change, but the effect to +outward view has been to reduce what was once a beautiful old house to +meanness. + +It consists of two rooms on the ground-floor, four on the first floor, +and two large garrets in the roof, one of which, as we shall see, has +memorable associations. The keeping-room of the family is remarkable for +its large square window, built out so as to afford a delightful retreat +for reading or working in the summer, or whenever it is not too cold to +sit away from the fireplace. The other room, called, I believe, the best +parlour, is larger, but it lacks the square window. In the days when the +Jefferies family lived here it seems to have been used as a kind of +store-room or lumber-room. At the back of the house is a kitchen +belonging to a much older house; it is a low room built solidly of stone +with timber rafters. + +Beside the kitchen is a large modern room, which was used in Richard's +childhood as a chapel of ease, in which service was read every Sunday +for the hamlet of Coate. + +Between the house and the road is a small flower-garden; at the side of +the house is a vegetable-garden, with two or three fruit-trees, and +beyond this an orchard. On the other side of the house are the farm +buildings. There seems to be little traffic up and down the road, and +the hamlet consists of nothing more than half a dozen labourers' +cottages. + +"I remember," writes one who knew him in boyhood, "every little detail +of the house and grounds, even to the delicious scent of the musk +underneath the old bay window"--it still springs up afresh every summer +between the cobble stones--"the 'grind-stone' apple, the splendid +egg-plum which drooped over the roof, the little Siberian crabs, the +damsons--I could plant each spot with its own particular tree--the +drooping willow, the swing, the quaint little arbour, the +fuchsia-bushes, the hedge walks, the little arched gate leading into the +road, the delightful scent under the limes, the little bench by the +ha-ha looking towards Swindon and the setting sun. I am actually crying +over these delicious memories of my childhood; if ever I loved a spot of +this earth, it was Coate House. The scent of the sweet-briar takes me +there in a moment; the walnut-trees you recollect, and the old wooden +pump, where the villagers came for water; the hazel copse that my uncle +planted; the gateway that led to the reservoir; the sitting-room, with +its delightful square window; the porch, where the swallows used to +build year after year; and the kitchen, with its wide hearth and dark +window." + +In "Amaryllis at the Fair" the scene is laid at Coate Farm. But, indeed, +as we shall see, Coate was never absent from Jefferies' mind for long. + +Coate is not, I believe, a large farm. It had, however, been in the +possession of the family for many generations. Once--twice--it passed +out of their hands, and was afterwards recovered. It was finally lost +about twelve years ago. To belong to an old English yeoman stock is, +perhaps, good enough ancestry for anyone, though not, certainly, +"showy." Richard Jefferies was a veritable son of the soil: not +descended from those who have nothing to show but long centuries of +servitude, but with a long line behind him of independent farmers +occupying their own land. Field and forest lore were therefore his by +right of inheritance. + +As for the country round about Coate, I suppose there is no district in +the world that has been more minutely examined, explored, and described. +Jefferies knew every inch of ground, every tree, every hedge. The land +which lies in a circle of ten miles' radius, the centre of which is +Coate Farm-house, belongs to the writings of Jefferies. He lived +elsewhere, but mostly he wrote of Coate. The "Gamekeeper at Home," the +"Amateur Poacher," "Wild Life in a Southern County," "Round about a +Great Estate," "Hodge and his Masters," are all written of this small +bit of Wiltshire. Nay, in "Wood Magic," in "Amaryllis at the Fair," in +"Green Ferne Farm," and in "Bevis," we are still either at Coate Farm +itself or on the hills around. + +It is a country of downs. Two of them, within sight of the farmhouse, +are covered with the grassy mounds and trenches of ancient forts or +"castles." There are plantations here and there, and coppices, but the +general aspect of the country is treeless; it is also a dry country. In +winter there are water-courses which in summer are dry; yet it is not +without brooks. Jefferies shows ("Wild Life in a Southern County," p. +29) that in ancient and prehistoric time the whole country must have +been covered with forests, of which the most important survival is what +is now called Ashbourne Chase. For one who loved solitude and wanderings +among the hills, there could be hardly any part of England more +delightful. Within a reasonable walk from Coate are Barbury Hill, +Liddington Hill, and Ashbourne Chase; there are downs extending as far +as Marlborough, over which a man may walk all day long and meet no one. +It is a country, moreover, full of ancient monuments; besides the +strongholds of Liddington and Barbury, there are everywhere tumuli, +barrows, cromlechs, and stone circles. Wayland Smith's Forge is within +a walk to the east; another walk, somewhat longer, takes you to Avebury, +to Wan's Dyke, to the Grey Wethers of Marlborough, or the ancient forest +of Savernake. There are ancient memories or whispers of old wars and +prehistoric battles about this country. At Barbury the Britons made a +final stand against the Saxons, and were defeated with great slaughter. +Wanborough, now a village, was then an important centre where four Roman +roads met, so that the chieftain or king who had his seat at Wanborough +could communicate rapidly, and call up forces from Sarum, Silchester, +Winchester, and the Chilterns. All these things speak nothing to a boy +who is careless and incurious. But Richard Jefferies was a boy curious +and inquiring. He had, besides, friends who directed his attention to +the meaning of the ancient monuments within his reach, and taught him +something of the dim and shadowy history of the people who built them. +He loved to talk and think of them; in after-years he wrote a +book--"After London"--which was inspired by these early meditations +upon prehistoric Britain. He himself discovered--it is an archaeological +find of very considerable importance--how the garrisons of these +hill-top forts provided themselves with water. And as for his special +study of creatures and their ways, the wildness of the country is highly +favourable, both to their preservation and to opportunities for study. +Perhaps no other part of England was better for the development of his +genius than the Wiltshire Downs. Do you want to catch the feeling of the +air upon these downs? Remember the words which begin "Wild Life in a +Southern County." + + "The most commanding down is crowned with the grassy mould and + trenches of an ancient earthwork, from whence there is a noble view + of hill and plain. The inner slope of the green fosse is inclined + at an angle pleasant to recline on, with the head just below the + edge, in the summer sunshine. A faint sound as of a sea heard in a + dream--a sibilant 'sish, sish'--passes along outside, dying away + and coming again as a fresh wave of the wind rushes through the + bennets and the dry grass. There is the happy hum of bees--who love + the hills--as they speed by laden with their golden harvest, a + drowsy warmth, and the delicious odour of wild thyme. Behind the + fosse sinks, and the rampart rises high and steep--two butterflies + are wheeling in uncertain flight over the summit. It is only + necessary to raise the head a little way, and the cool breeze + refreshes the cheek--cool at this height while the plains beneath + glow under the heat." + +All day long the trains from Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and South Wales, +from Exeter, Bristol, Bath, Gloucester, and Oxford, run into Swindon and +stop there for ten minutes--every one of them--while the passengers get +out and crowd into the refreshment rooms. + +Swindon to all these travellers is nothing at all but a +refreshment-room. It has no other association--nobody takes a ticket to +Swindon any more than to Crewe--it is the station where people have ten +minutes allowed for eating. As for any village, or town, of Swindon, +nobody has ever inquired whether there be such a place. Swindon is a +luncheon-bar; that is all. There is, however, more than a +refreshment-room at Swindon. First, there has grown up around the +station a new town of twenty thousand people, all employes of the Great +Western Railway, all engaged upon the works of the company. This is not +by any means a beautiful town, but it is not squalid; on the contrary, +it is clean, and looks prosperous and contented, with fewer +public-houses (but here one may be mistaken) than are generally found. +It is an industrial city--a city of the employed--skilled artisans, +skilled engineers, blacksmiths, foremen, and clerks. A mile south of +this new town--but there are houses nearly all the way--the old Swindon +stands upon a hill, occupying, most likely, the site of a British +fortress, such as that of Liddington or Barbury. It is a market town of +six or eight thousand people. Formerly there was a settlement of Dutch +in the place connected with the wool trade. They have long since gone, +but the houses which they built--picturesque old houses presenting two +gables to the street--remained after them. Of these nearly all are now +pulled down, so that there is little but red brick to look upon. In +fact, it would be difficult to find a town more devoid of beauty. They +have pulled down the old church, except the chancel: there was once an +old mill--Jefferies' grandfather was the tenant. That is also pulled +down, and there is a kind of square or _place_ where there is the corn +exchange: I think that there is nothing else to see. + +On market-day, however, the town is full of crowd and bustle; at the +Goddard Arms you can choose between a hot dinner upstairs and a cold +lunch downstairs, and you will find both rooms filled with men who know +each other and are interested in lambing and other bucolic matters. The +streets are filled with drivers, sheep, and cattle; there is a horse +market; in the corn market the farmers, slow of speech, carry their +sample-bags in their hands; the carter, whip in hand, stands about on +the kerbstone; but in spite of the commotion no one is in a hurry. It is +the crowd alone which gives the feeling of busy life. + +Looking from Swindon Hill, south and east and west, there stretches +away the great expanse of downs which nobody ever seems to visit; the +treasure-land of monuments built by a people passed away--not our +ancestors at all. This is the country over which the feet of Richard +Jefferies loved to roam, never weary of their wandering. On the slopes +of these green hills he has measured the ramparts of the ancient +fortress; lying on the turf, he has watched the hawk in the air; among +these fields he has sat for hours motionless and patient, until the +creatures thought him a statue and played their pranks before him +without fear. In these hedges he has peered and searched and watched; in +these woods and in these fields and on these hillsides he has seen in a +single evening's walk more things of wonder and beauty than one of us +poor purblind city creatures can discern in the whole of the six weeks +which we yearly give up to Nature and to fresh air. This corner of +England must be renamed. As Yorkshire hath its Craven, its Cleveland, +its Richmond, and its Holderness, so Wiltshire shall have its +Jefferies-land, lying in an irregular oval on whose circumference stand +Swindon, Barbury, Liddington, Ashbourne Chase and Wanborough. + +Richard Jefferies was the second of five children, three sons and two +daughters. The eldest child, a daughter, was killed by a runaway horse +at the age of five. The Swindon people, who are reported to be +indifferent to the works of their native author, remember his family +very well. They seem to have possessed qualities or eccentricities which +cause them to be remembered. His grandfather, for instance, who is +without doubt the model for old Iden in "Amaryllis," was at the same +time a miller and a confectioner. The mill stood near the west end of +the old church; both mill and church are now pulled down. It was worked +for the tenant by his brother, a man still more eccentric than the +miller. The family seems to have inherited, from father to son, a +disposition of reserve, a love of solitude, and a habit of thinking for +themselves. No gregarious man, no man who loved to sit among his +fellows, could possibly have written even the shortest of Jefferies' +papers. + +The household at Coate has been partly--but only partly--described in +"Amaryllis at the Fair." It consisted of his parents, himself, his next +brother, a year younger than himself, and a brother and sister much +younger. Farmer Iden, in "Amaryllis," is, in many characteristics, a +portrait of his father. Truly, it is not a portrait to shame any man; +and though the lines are strongly drawn, one hopes that the original, +who is still living, was not offended at a picture so striking and so +original. Jefferies has drawn for us the figure of a man full of wisdom +and thought, who speaks now in broad Wiltshire and now in clear, good +English; one who meditates aloud; one who roams about his fields +watching and remembering; one who brings to the planting of potatoes as +much thought and care as if he were writing an immortal poem; yet an +unpractical and unsuccessful man, who goes steadily and surely down-hill +while those who have not a tenth part of his wisdom and ability climb +upwards. A novelist, however, draws his portraits as best suits his +purpose; he arranges the lights to fall on this feature or on that; he +conceals some things and exaggerates others, so that even with the +picture of Farmer Iden before us, it would be rash to conclude that we +know the elder Jefferies. Some of the pictures, however, must be surely +drawn from the life. For instance, that of the farmer planting his +potatoes: + + "Under the wall was a large patch recently dug, beside the patch a + grass path, and on the path a wheelbarrow. A man was busy putting + in potatoes; he wore the raggedest coat ever seen on a respectable + back. As the wind lifted the tails it was apparent that the lining + was loose and only hung by threads, the cuffs were worn through, + there was a hole beneath each arm, and on each shoulder the nap of + the cloth was gone; the colour, which had once been gray, was now a + mixture of several soils and numerous kinds of grit. The hat he had + on was no better; it might have been made of some hard pasteboard, + it was so bare. + + "The way in which he was planting potatoes was wonderful; every + potato was placed at exactly the right distance apart, and a hole + made for it in the general trench; before it was set it was looked + at and turned over, and the thumb rubbed against it to be sure that + it was sound, and when finally put in, a little mould was + delicately adjusted round to keep it in its right position till the + whole row was buried. He carried the potatoes in his coat + pocket--those, that is, for the row--and took them out one by one; + had he been planting his own children he could not have been more + careful. The science, the skill, and the experience brought to this + potato-planting you would hardly credit; for all this care was + founded upon observation, and arose from very large abilities on + the part of the planter, though directed to so humble a purpose at + that moment." + +This book also contains certain references to past family history which +show that there had been changes and chances with losses and gains. They +may be guessed from the following: + + "'The daffodil was your great-uncle's favourite flower.' + + "'Richard?' asked Amaryllis. + + "'Richard,' repeated Iden. And Amaryllis, noting how handsome her + father's intellectual face looked, wandered in her mind from the + flower as he talked, and marvelled how he could be so rough + sometimes, and why he talked like the labourers, and wore a ragged + coat--he who was so full of wisdom in his other moods, and spoke, + and thought, and indeed acted as a perfect gentleman. + + "'Richard's favourite flower,' he went on. 'He brought the + daffodils down from Luckett's; every one in the garden came from + there. He was always reading poetry, and writing, and sketching, + and yet he was such a capital man of business; no one could + understand that. He built the mill, and saved heaps of money; he + bought back the old place at Luckett's, which belonged to us before + Queen Elizabeth's days; indeed, he very nearly made up the fortunes + Nicholas and the rest of them got rid of. He was, indeed, a man. + And now it is all going again--faster than he made it.'" + +Everybody knows the Dutch picture of the dinner at the farm--the +description of the leg of mutton. Was ever leg of mutton thus +glorified? + + "That day they had a leg of mutton--a special occasion--a joint to + be looked on reverently. Mr. Iden had walked into the town to + choose it himself some days previously, and brought it home on foot + in a flag basket. The butcher would have sent it, and if not, there + were men on the farm who could have fetched it, but it was much too + important to be left to a second person. No one could do it right + but Mr. Iden himself. There was a good deal of reason in this + personal care of the meat, for it is a certain fact that unless you + do look after such things yourself, and that persistently, too, you + never get it first-rate. For this cause people in grand villas + scarcely ever have anything worth eating on their tables. Their + household expenses reach thousands yearly, and yet they rarely have + anything eatable, and their dinner-tables can never show meat, + vegetables, or fruit equal to Mr. Iden's. The meat was dark-brown, + as mutton should be, for if it is the least bit white it is sure to + be poor; the grain was short, and ate like bread and butter, firm, + and yet almost crumbling to the touch; it was full of juicy red + gravy, and cut pleasantly, the knife went through it nicely; you + can tell good meat directly you touch it with the knife. It was + cooked to a turn, and had been done at a wood fire on a hearth; no + oven taste, no taint of coal gas or carbon; the pure flame of wood + had browned it. Such emanations as there may be from burning logs + are odorous of the woodland, of the sunshine, of the fields and + fresh air; the wood simply gives out as it burns the sweetness it + has imbibed through its leaves from the atmosphere which floats + above grass and flowers. Essences of this order, if they do + penetrate the fibres of the meat, add to its flavour a delicate + aroma. Grass-fed meat, cooked at a wood fire, for me." + +After the dinner, the great strong man with the massive head, who can +never make anything succeed, sits down to sleep alone beside the fire, +his head leaning where for thirty years it had daily leaned, against the +wainscot, so that there was now a round spot upon it, completely devoid +of varnish. + + "That panel was in effect a cross on which a heart had been + tortured for the third of a century, that is, for the space of time + allotted to a generation. + + "That mark upon the panel had still a further meaning; it + represented the unhappiness, the misfortunes, the Nemesis of two + hundred years. This family of Idens had endured already two hundred + years of unhappiness and discordance for no original fault of + theirs, simply because they had once been fortunate of old time, + and therefore they had to work out that hour of sunshine to the + utmost depths of shadow. + + "The panel of the wainscot upon which that mark had been worn was + in effect a cross upon which a human heart had been tortured--and + thought can, indeed, torture--for a third of a century. For Iden + had learned to know himself, and despaired." + +Then the man falls asleep, and Amaryllis steals in on tiptoe to find a +book. Then the wife, with a shawl round her shoulders, creeps outside +the house and looks in at the window--angry with her unpractical +husband. + + "Slight sounds, faint rustlings, began to be audible among the + cinders in the fender. The dry cinders were pushed about by + something passing between them. After a while a brown mouse peered + out at the end of the fender under Iden's chair, looked round a + moment, and went back to the grate. In a minute he came again, and + ventured somewhat farther across the width of the white hearthstone + to the verge of the carpet. This advance was made step by step, but + on reaching the carpet the mouse rushed home to cover in one + run--like children at 'touch wood,' going out from a place of + safety very cautiously, returning swiftly. The next time another + mouse followed, and a third appeared at the other end of the + fender. By degrees they got under the table, and helped themselves + to the crumbs; one mounted a chair and reached the cloth, but soon + descended, afraid to stay there. Five or six mice were now busy at + their dinner. + + "The sleeping man was as still and quiet as if carved. + + "A mouse came to the foot, clad in a great rusty-hued iron-shod + boot--the foot that rested on the fender, for he had crossed his + knees. His ragged and dingy trouser, full of March dust, and + earth-stained by labour, was drawn up somewhat higher than the + boot. It took the mouse several trials to reach the trouser, but he + succeeded, and audaciously mounted to Iden's knee. Another quickly + followed, and there the pair of them feasted on the crumbs of bread + and cheese caught in the folds of his trousers. + + "One great brown hand was in his pocket, close to them--a mighty + hand, beside which they were pigmies indeed in the land of the + giants. What would have been the value of their lives between a + finger and thumb that could crack a ripe and strong-shelled walnut? + + "The size--the mass--the weight of his hand alone was as a hill + overshadowing them; his broad frame like the Alps; his head high + above as a vast rock that overhung the valley. + + "His thumb-nail--widened by labour with spade and axe--his + thumb-nail would have covered either of the tiny creatures as his + shield covered Ajax. + + "Yet the little things fed in perfect confidence. He was so still, + so _very_ still--quiescent--they feared him no more than they did + the wall; they could not hear his breathing. + + "Had they been gifted with human intelligence, that very fact would + have excited their suspicions. Why so very, _very_ still? Strong + men, wearied by work, do not sleep quietly; they breathe heavily. + Even in firm sleep we move a little now and then, a limb trembles, + a muscle quivers, or stretches itself. + + "But Iden was so still it was evident he was really wide awake and + restraining his breath, and exercising conscious command over his + muscles, that this scene might proceed undisturbed. + + "Now the strangeness of the thing was in this way: Iden set traps + for mice in the cellar and the larder, and slew them there without + mercy. He picked up the trap, swung it round, opening the door at + the same instant, and the wretched captive was dashed to death upon + the stone flags of the floor. So he hated them and persecuted them + in one place, and fed them in another. + + "From the merest thin slit, as it were, between his eyelids, Iden + watched the mice feed and run about his knees till, having eaten + every crumb, they descended his leg to the floor." + +This portrait is not true in all its details. For instance, the elder +Jefferies had small and shapely hands and feet--not the massive hands +described in "Amaryllis." + +Another slighter portrait of his father is found in "After London." It +is that of the Baron: + + "As he pointed to the tree above, the muscles, as the limb moved, + displayed themselves in knots, at which the courtier himself could + not refrain from glancing. Those mighty arms, had they clasped him + about the waist, could have crushed his bending ribs. The heaviest + blow that he could have struck upon that broad chest would have + produced no more effect than a hollow sound; it would not even have + shaken that powerful frame. + + "He felt the steel blue eyes, bright as the sky of midsummer, + glance into his very mind. The high forehead bare, for the Baron + had his hat in his hand, mocked at him in its humility. The Baron + bared his head in honour of the courtier's office and the Prince + who had sent him. The beard, though streaked with white, spoke + little of age; it rather indicated an abundant, a luxuriant + vitality." + +And I have before me a letter which contains the following passage +concerning the elder Jefferies: + + "The garden, the orchard, the hedges of the fields were always his + chief delight; he had planted many a tree round and about his farm. + Not a single bird that flew but he knew, and could tell its + history; if you walked with him, as Dick often did, and as I have + occasionally done, through the fields, and heard him + expatiate--quietly enough--on the trees and flowers, you would not + be surprised at the turn taken by his son's genius." + +Thus, then, the boy was born; in an ancient farmhouse beautiful to look +upon, with beautiful fields and gardens round it; in the midst of a +most singular and interesting country, wilder than any other part of +England except the Peak and Dartmoor; encouraged by his father to +observe and to remember; taught by him to read the Book of Nature. What +better beginning could the boy have had? There wanted but one thing to +complete his happiness--a little more ease as regards money. I fear that +one of the earliest things the boy could remember must have been +connected with pecuniary embarrassment. + +While still a child, four years of age, he was taken to live under the +charge of an aunt, Mrs. Harrild, at Sydenham. He stayed with her for +some years, going home to Coate every summer for a month. At Sydenham he +went to a preparatory school kept by a lady. He was then at the age of +seven, but he had learned to read long before. He does not seem to have +gained the character of precocity or exceptional cleverness at school, +but Mrs. Harrild remembers that he was always as a child reading and +drawing, and would amuse himself for hours at a time over some old +volume of "Punch," or the "Illustrated London News," or, indeed, +anything he could get. He had a splendid memory, was even so early a +great observer, and was always a most truthful child, strong in his +likes and dislikes. But he possessed a highly nervous and sensitive +temperament, was hasty and quick-tempered, impulsive, and, withal, very +reserved. All these qualities remained with Richard Jefferies to the +end; he was always reserved, always sensitive, always nervous, always +quick-tempered. In his case, indeed, the child was truly father to the +man. It is pleasant to record that he repaid the kindness of his aunt +with the affection of a son, keeping up a constant correspondence with +her. His letters, indeed, are sometimes like a diary of his life, as +will be seen from the extracts I shall presently make from them. + +At the age of nine the boy went home for good. He was then sent to +school at Swindon. + +A letter from which I have already quoted thus speaks of him at the age +of ten: + + "There was a summer-house of conical shape in one corner paved with + 'kidney' stones. This was used by the boys as a treasure-house, + where darts, bows and arrows, wooden swords, and other instruments + used in mimic warfare were kept. Two favourite pastimes were those + of living on a desert island, and of waging war with wild Indians. + Dick was of a masterful temperament, and though less strong than + several of us in a bodily sense, his force of will was such that we + had to succumb to whatever plans he chose to dictate, never + choosing to be second even in the most trivial thing. His temper + was not amiable, but there was always a gentleness about him which + saved him from the reproach of wishing to ride rough-shod over the + feelings of others. I do not recollect his ever joining in the + usual boy's sports--cricket or football--he preferred less + athletic, if more adventurous, means of enjoyment. He was a great + reader, and I remember a sunny parlour window, almost like a room, + where many books of adventure and fairy tales were read by him. + Close to his home was the 'Reservoir,' a prettily-situated lake + surrounded by trees, and with many romantic nooks on the banks. + Here we often used to go on exploring expeditions in quest of + curiosities or wild Indians." + +Here we get at the origin of "Bevis." Those who have read that +romance--which, if it were better proportioned and shorter, would be the +most delightful boy's book in the world--will remember how the lads +played and made pretence upon the shores and waters of the lake. Now +they are travellers in the jungle of wild Africa; now they come upon a +crocodile; now they hear close by the roar of a lion; now they discern +traces of savages; now they go into hiding; now they discover a great +inland sea; now they build a hut and live upon a desert island. The man +at thirty-six recalls every day of his childhood, and makes a story out +of it for other children. + +One of the things which he did was to make a canoe for himself with +which to explore the lake. To make a canoe would be beyond the powers of +most boys; but then most boys are brought up in a crowd, and can do +nothing except play cricket and football. The shaping of the canoe is +described in "After London": + + "He had chosen the black poplar for the canoe because it was the + lightest wood, and would float best. To fell so large a tree had + been a great labour, for the axes were of poor quality, cut badly, + and often required sharpening. He could easily have ordered half a + dozen men to throw the tree, and they would have obeyed + immediately; but then the individuality and interest of the work + would have been lost. Unless he did it himself its importance and + value to him would have been diminished. It had now been down some + weeks, had been hewn into outward shape, and the larger part of the + interior slowly dug away with chisel and gouge. + + "He had commenced while the hawthorn was just putting forth its + first spray, when the thickets and the trees were yet bare. Now the + May bloom scented the air, the forest was green, and his work + approached completion. There remained, indeed, but some final + shaping and rounding off, and the construction, or rather cutting + out, of a secret locker in the stern. This locker was nothing more + than a square aperture chiselled out like a mortise, entering not + from above, but parallel with the bottom, and was to be closed with + a tight-fitting piece of wood driven in by force of mallet. + + "A little paint would then conceal the slight chinks, and the boat + might be examined in every possible way without any trace of this + hiding-place being observed. The canoe was some eleven feet long, + and nearly three feet in the beam; it tapered at either end, so + that it might be propelled backwards or forwards without turning, + and stem and stern (interchangeable definitions in this case) each + rose a few inches higher than the general gunwale. The sides were + about two inches thick, the bottom three, so that although dug out + from light wood, the canoe was rather heavy." + +"As a boy," to quote again from the same letter, "he was no great +talker; but if we could get him in the humour, he would tell us racy and +blood-curdling romances. There was one particular spot on the Coate +road--many years ago a quarry, afterwards deserted--upon which he wove +many fancies, with murders and ghosts. Always, in going home after one +of our visits to the farm, we used to think we heard the clanking chains +or ringing hoof of the phantom horse careering after us, and we would +rush on in full flight from the fateful spot." + +His principal companion in boyhood was his next brother, younger than +himself by one year only, but very different in manners, appearance, and +in tastes. He describes both himself and his brother in "After London." +Felix is himself; Oliver is his brother. + +This is Felix: + + "Independent and determined to the last degree, Felix ran any risk + rather than surrender that which he had found, and which he deemed + his own. This unbending independence and pride of spirit, together + with scarce-concealed contempt for others, had resulted in almost + isolating him from the youth of his own age, and had caused him to + be regarded with dislike by the elders. He was rarely, if ever, + asked to join the chase, and still more rarely invited to the + festivities and amusements provided in adjacent houses, or to the + grander entertainments of the higher nobles. Too quick to take + offence where none was really intended, he fancied that many bore + him ill-will who had scarcely given him a passing thought. He could + not forgive the coarse jokes uttered upon his personal appearance + by men of heavier build, who despised so slender a stripling. + + "He would rather be alone than join their company, and would not + compete with them in any of their sports, so that, when his absence + from the arena was noticed, it was attributed to weakness or + cowardice. These imputations stung him deeply, driving him to brood + within himself." + +And this is Oliver: + + "Oliver's whole delight was in exercise and sport. The boldest + rider, the best swimmer, the best at leaping, at hurling the dart + or the heavy hammer, ever ready for tilt or tournament, his whole + life was spent with horse, sword, and lance. A year younger than + Felix, he was at least ten years physically older. He measured + several inches more round the chest; his massive shoulders and + immense arms, brown and hairy, his powerful limbs, tower-like neck, + and somewhat square jaw were the natural concomitants of enormous + physical strength. + + "All the blood and bone and thew and sinew of the house seemed to + have fallen to his share; all the fiery, restless spirit and + defiant temper; all the utter recklessness and warrior's instinct. + He stood every inch a man, with dark, curling, short-cut hair, + brown cheek and Roman chin, trimmed moustache, brown eye, shaded by + long eyelashes and well-marked brows; every inch a natural king of + men. That very physical preponderance and animal beauty was perhaps + his bane, for his comrades were so many, and his love adventures so + innumerable, that they left him no time for serious ambition. + + "Between the brothers there was the strangest mixture of affection + and repulsion. The elder smiled at the excitement and energy of the + younger; the younger openly despised the studious habits and + solitary life of the elder. In time of real trouble and difficulty + they would have been drawn together; as it was, there was little + communion; the one went his way, and the other his. There was + perhaps rather an inclination to detract from each other's + achievements than to praise them, a species of jealousy or envy + without personal dislike, if that can be understood. They were good + friends, and yet kept apart. + + "Oliver made friends of all, and thwacked and banged his enemies + into respectful silence. Felix made friends of none, and was + equally despised by nominal friends and actual enemies. Oliver was + open and jovial; Felix reserved and contemptuous, or sarcastic in + manner. His slender frame, too tall for his width, was against him; + he could neither lift the weights nor undergo the muscular strain + readily borne by Oliver. It was easy to see that Felix, although + nominally the eldest, had not yet reached his full development. A + light complexion, fair hair and eyes, were also against him; where + Oliver made conquests, Felix was unregarded. He laughed, but + perhaps his secret pride was hurt." + +After his return from Sydenham the boy, as I have said, went to school +for a year or two at Swindon. Then he presently began to read. He had +always delighted in books, especially in illustrated books; now he began +to read everything that he could get. + +The boy who reads everything, the boy who takes out his younger brothers +and his cousins and makes them all pretend as he pleases, see what he +orders them to see, and shudder at his bidding and at the creatures of +his own imagination--what sort of future is in store for that boy? And +think of what his life might have become had he been forced into +clerkery or into trade: how crippled, miserable, and cramped! It is +indeed miserable to think of the thousands designed for a life of art, +of letters, of open air, or of science, wasted and thrown away in +labouring at the useless desk or the hateful counter. + +This boy therefore read everything. Presently, when he had read all that +there was at Coate, and all that his grandfather had to lend him, he +began to borrow of everybody and to buy. It is perfectly wonderful, as +everybody knows, how a boy who never seems to get any money manages to +buy books. The fact is that all boys get money, but the boy who wants +books saves his pennies. For twopence you can very often pick up a book +that you want; for sixpence you can have a choice; a shilling will tempt +a second-hand bookseller to part with what seems a really valuable book; +half-a-crown--but such a boy never even sees a half-crown piece. Richard +Jefferies differed in one respect from most boys who read everything. +They live in the world of books; the outer world does not exist for +them; the birds sing, the lambs spring, the flowers blossom, but they +heed them not; they grow short-sighted over the small print; they become +more and more enamoured of phrase, captivated by words, charmed by +style, so that they forget the things around them. When they go abroad +they enact the fable of "Eyes and No Eyes," playing the less desirable +part. Jefferies, on the other hand, was preserved from this danger. His +father, the reserved and meditative man, took him into the fields and +turned over page after page with him of the book of Nature, expounding, +teaching, showing him how to use his eyes, and continually reading to +him out of that great book. + +So a strange thing came to pass. Most of us who go away from our native +place forget it, or we only remember it from time to time; the memory +grows dim; when we go back we are astonished to find how much we have +forgotten, and how distorted are the memories which remain. Richard +Jefferies, however, who presently left Coate, never forgot the old +place. It remained with him--every tree, every field, every hill, every +patch of wild thyme--all through his life, clear and distinct, as if he +had left it but an hour before. In almost everything he wrote Coate is +in his mind. Even in his book of "Wild Life Round London" the reader +thinks sometimes that he is on the wild Wiltshire Downs, while the wind +whistles in his ears, and the lark is singing in the sky, and far, far +away the sheep-bells tinkle. + +Why, in the very last paper which he ever wrote--it appeared in +_Longman's Magazine_ two months after his death--his memory goes back to +the hamlet where he was born. He recalls the cottage where John Brown +lived--you can see it still, close to Coate--as well as that where Job +lived who kept the shop and was always buying and selling; and of the +water-bailiff who looked after the great pond: + + "There were one or two old boats, and he used to leave the oars + leaning against a wall at the side of the house. These oars looked + like fragments of a wreck, broken and irregular. The right-hand + scull was heavy as if made of ironwood, the blade broad and + spoon-shaped, so as to have a most powerful grip of the water. The + left-hand scull was light and slender, with a narrow blade like a + marrow-scoop; so when you had the punt, you had to pull very hard + with your left hand and gently with the right to get the forces + equal. The punt had a list of its own, and no matter how you rowed, + it would still make leeway. Those who did not know its character + were perpetually trying to get this crooked wake straight, and + consequently went round and round exactly like the whirligig + beetle. Those who knew used to let the leeway proceed a good way + and then alter it, so as to act in the other direction like an + elongated zigzag. These sculls the old fellow would bring you as if + they were great treasures, and watch you off in the punt as if he + was parting with his dearest. At that date it was no little matter + to coax him round to unchain his vessel. You had to take an + interest in the garden, in the baits, and the weather, and be very + humble; then perhaps he would tell you he did not want it for the + trimmers, or the withy, or the flags, and you might have it for an + hour as far as he could see; 'did not think my lord's steward would + come over that morning; of course, if he did you must come in,' and + so on; and if the stars were propitious, by-the-bye, the punt was + got afloat." + +Then the writer--he was a dying man--sings his song of lament because +the past is past--and dead. All that is past, and that we shall never +see again, is dead. The brook that used to leap and run and chatter--it +is dead. The trees that used to put on new leaves every spring--they are +dead. All is dead and swept away, hamlet and cottage, hillside and +coppice, field and hedge. + + "I think I have heard that the oaks are down. They may be standing + or down, it matters nothing to me; the leaves I last saw upon them + are gone for evermore, nor shall I ever see them come there again + ruddy in spring. I would not see them again even if I could; they + could never look again as they used to do. There are too many + memories there. The happiest days become the saddest afterwards; + let us never go back, lest we too die. There are no such oaks + anywhere else, none so tall and straight, and with such massive + heads, on which the sun used to shine as if on the globe of the + earth, one side in shadow, the other in bright light. How often I + have looked at oaks since, and yet have never been able to get the + same effect from them! Like an old author printed in other type, + the words are the same, but the sentiment is different. The brooks + have ceased to run. There is no music now at the old hatch where we + used to sit in danger of our lives, happy as kings, on the narrow + bar over the deep water. The barred pike that used to come up in + such numbers are no more among the flags. The perch used to drift + down the stream, and then bring up again. The sun shone there for a + very long time, and the water rippled and sang, and it always + seemed to me that I could feel the rippling and the singing and the + sparkling back through the centuries. The brook is dead, for when + man goes nature ends. I dare say there is water there still, but it + is not the brook; the brook is gone like John Brown's soul. There + used to be clouds over the fields, white clouds in blue summer + skies. I have lived a good deal on clouds; they have been meat to + me often; they bring something to the spirit which even the trees + do not. I see clouds now sometimes when the iron grip of hell + permits for a minute or two; they are very different clouds, and + speak differently. I long for some of the old clouds that had no + memories. There were nights in those times over those fields, not + darkness, but Night, full of glowing suns and glowing richness of + life that sprang up to meet them. The nights are there still; they + are everywhere, nothing local in the night; but it is not the Night + to me seen through the window." + +Nobody believes him, he says. People ask him if such a village ever +existed--of course, it never existed. What beautiful picture ever really +existed save in the sunrise and in the sunset sky? Those living in the +place about which these wonderful things are written look at each other +in amazement, and ask what they mean. All this about Coate? Why, here +are only half a dozen cottages, mean and squalid, with thatched roofs; +and beyond the hedge are only fields with a great pond and bare hills +beyond. "No one else," says Jefferies, "seems to have seen the sparkle +on the brook, or heard the music at the hatch, or to have felt back +through the centuries; and when I try to describe these things to them +they look at me with stolid incredulity. No one seems to understand how +I got food from the clouds, nor what there was in the night, nor why it +is not so good to look out of window. They turn their faces away from +me, so that perhaps, after all, I was mistaken, and there never was any +such place, or any such meadows, and I was never there. And perhaps in +course of time I shall find out also, when I pass away physically, that +as a matter of fact there never was any earth." That, indeed, will be +the most curious discovery possible in the after-world. No earth--then +no Coate; no "Wild Life in a Southern County," and no "Gamekeeper at +Home," because there has never been any home for any gamekeeper. + +I have dwelt at some length upon these early years of Jefferies' life +because they are all-important. They explain the whole of his +after-life; they show how the book of Nature was laid open to this man +in a way that it was never before presented to any man who had also the +divine gift of utterance, namely, by a man who, though steeped in the +wisdom of the field and forest--though he had read indeed in the +book--could not read it aloud for all to hear. + +In order to read this book aright, one must live apart from one's +fellow-men and remain a stranger to their ambitions, ignorant of their +crooked ways, their bickerings, and their pleasures. One must have quick +and observant eyes, trained to watch and mark the infinite changes and +variations in Nature, day by day; one must go to Nature's school from +infancy in order to get this power. Nay; one must never cease to +exercise this power, or it will be lost; it must be continually +nourished and strengthened by being exercised. If one who has this power +should go to live in the city, his eyes would grow as sluggish and as +dim as ours; his ear would be blunted by the rolling of the carts, and +his mind disturbed by the rush and the activity of the crowd. Again, if +one who had this power should abandon the simple life, and should deaden +his senses with luxury, sloth, and vice, he would quickly lose it. He +_must_ live apart from men; all day long the sun must burn his cheek, +the wind must blow upon it, the rain must beat upon it; he must never be +out of reach of the fragrant wild flowers and the call and cry of the +birds. Of such men literature can show but two or three--Gilbert White, +Thoreau, and Jefferies--but the greatest of them all is Jefferies. No +one before him has so lived among the fields; no one has heard so +clearly the song of the flowers and the weeds and the blades of grass. +The million million blades of grass spoke to Jefferies as the Oak of +Dodona spoke through its thousand leaves. When he went home he sat down +and was inspired to translate that language, and to tell the world what +the grass says and sings to him who can hear. + +He who met the great God Pan face to face fell down dead. Still, even in +these days, he who communes with the Sylvan Spirit presently dies to the +ways of men, while his senses are opened to see the hidden things of +hedge and meadow; while his soul is uplifted by the beauty and the +variety and the order of the world; by the wondrous lives of the +creatures, so full of peril, and so full of joy. Then, if he be +permitted to reveal these things, what can we who receive this +revelation give in exchange? What words of praise and gratitude can we +find in return for this unfolding of the Book of Fleeting Life? + +As for us, we listened to the voice of this master for ten years; we +shall hear no more of his discourses; but the old ones remain; we can go +back to them again and again. It is the quality of truthful work that it +never grows old or stale; one can return to it again and again; there is +always something fresh in it, something new. In a great poem the lines +always bring some new thought to the mind; in great music, the harmonies +always call forth some fresh emotion, and inspire some new thought; in a +true book there is always some new truth to be discovered. If all the +rest of the literature of this day prove ephemeral and is doomed to +swift oblivion, the work of Jefferies shall not perish. Our fashions +change, and the things of which we write become old and pass away. But +the everlasting hills abide, and the meadows still lie green and +flowery, and the roses and wild honeysuckle still blossom in the hedge. +And those who have written of these are so few, and their words are so +precious, that they shall not pass away, so long as their tongue +endureth to be spoken and to be read. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SIXTEEN TO TWENTY. + + +At the age of sixteen, Richard Jefferies had an adventure--almost the +only adventure of his quiet life. It was an adventure which could only +happen to a youth of strong imagination, capable of seeing no +difficulties or dangers, and refusing to accept the word "impossible." + +At this time he was a long and loose-limbed lad, regarded by his own +family as at least an uncommon youth and a subject of anxiety as to his +future, a boy who talked eagerly of things far beyond the limits of the +farm, who was self-willed and masterful, whose ideas astonished and even +irritated those whose thoughts were accustomed to move in a narrow, +unchanging groove. He was also a boy, as we have seen, who had the +power of imposing his own imagination upon others, even those of +sluggish temperament--as Don Quixote overpowered the slow brain of +Sancho Panza. + +Richard Jefferies then, at the age of sixteen, conceived a magnificent +scheme, the like of which never before entered a boy's brain. Above all +things he wanted to see foreign countries. He therefore proposed to +another lad nothing less than to undertake a walk through the whole of +Europe, as far as Moscow and back again. The project was discussed and +debated long and seriously. At last it was referred to the decision of +the dog as to an oracle. In this way: if the dog wagged his tail within +a certain time, they would go; if the dog's tail remained quiet, it +should be taken as a warning or premonition against the journey. +Reliance should never, as a matter of fact, be placed in the oracle of +the dog's tail; but this the lads were too young to understand. The tail +wagged. The boys ran away. It was on November 11, in the year 1864. Now, +here, certain details of the story are wanting. The novelist is never +happy unless the whole machinery of his tale is clear in his own mind. +And I confess that I know not how the two boys raised the money with +which to pay their preliminary expenses. You may support yourself, as +Oliver Goldsmith did, by a flute or a fiddle, you may depend upon the +benefactions of unknown kind hearts in a strange land, but the steamship +company and the railway company must be always paid beforehand. Where +did the passage-money come from? Nay, as you will learn presently, there +must have been quite a large bag of money to start with. Where did it +come from? The other boy--the unknown--the _innominatus_--doubtless +found that bag of gold. + +They got to Dover and they crossed the Channel, and they actually began +their journey. But I know not how far they got, nor how long a time, +exactly, they spent in France--about a week, it would seem. They very +quickly, however, made the humiliating discovery that they could not +understand a word that was said to them, nor could they, save by signs, +make themselves understood. Therefore they relinquished the idea of +walking to Moscow, and reluctantly returned. But they would not go +home; perhaps, because they were still athirst for adventure; perhaps, +because they were ashamed. They then saw an advertisement in a newspaper +which fired their imaginations again. The advertiser undertook, for an +absurdly small sum, to take them across to New York. The amount named +was just within the compass of their money. They resolved to see America +instead of Russia; they called at the agent's office and paid their +fares. Their tickets took them free to Liverpool, whither they repaired. +Unfortunately, when they reached Liverpool, they learned that the +tickets did not include bedding of any kind, or provisions, so that if +they went on board they would certainly be frozen and starved. What was +to be done? They had no more money. They could not get their money +returned. They were helpless. They resolved therefore to give up the +whole project, and to go home again. Jefferies undertook to pawn their +watches in order to get the money for the railway ticket. His appearance +and manner, for some reason or other--pawning being doubtless a new +thing with him--roused so much suspicion in the mind of the pawnbroker +that he actually gave the lad into custody. Happily, the superintendent +of police believed his story--probably a telegram to Swindon +strengthened his faith; he himself advanced them the money, keeping the +watches as security, and sent them home after an expedition which lasted +a fortnight altogether. There is no doubt as to the facts of the case. +The boys did actually start, with intent to march all the way across +Europe as far as Russia and back again. But how they began, how they +raised the money to pay the preliminary expenses, wants more light. +Also, there is no record as to their reception after they got home +again. One suspects somehow that on this occasion the fatted calf was +allowed to go on growing. + +It must have been about this time that the lad began to have his bookish +learning remarked and respected, if not encouraged. One of the upper +rooms of the farmhouse--the other was the cheese-room--was set apart for +him alone. Here he had his books, his table, his desk, and his bed. +This room was sacred. Here he read; here he spent all his leisure time +in reading. He read during this period an immense quantity. Shakespeare, +Chaucer, Scott, Byron, Dryden, Voltaire, Goethe--he was never tired of +reading Faust--and it is said, but I think it must have been in +translation, that he read most of the Greek and Latin masters. It is +evident from his writings that he had read a great deal, yet he lacks +the touch of the trained scholar. That cannot be attained by solitary +and desultory reading, however omnivorous. His chief literary adviser in +those days was Mr. William Morris, of Swindon, proprietor and editor of +the _North Wilts Advertiser_. Mr. Morris is himself the author of +several works, among others a "History of Swindon," and, as becomes a +literary man with such surroundings, he is a well-known local antiquary. +Mr. Morris allowed the boy, who was at school with his own son, the run +of his own library; he lent him books, and he talked with him on +subjects which, one can easily understand, were not topics of +conversation at Coate. Afterwards, when Jefferies had already become +reporter for the local press, it was the perusal of a descriptive paper +by Mr. Morris, on the "Lakes of Killarney," which decided the lad upon +seriously attempting the literary career. + +What inclined the lad to become a journalist? First of all, the narrow +family circumstances prevented his being brought up to one of the +ordinary professions: he might have become a clerk; he might have gone +to London, where he had friends in the printing business; he might have +emigrated, as his brother afterwards did; he might have gone into some +kind of trade. As for farming, he had no taste for it; the idea of +becoming a farmer never seems to have occurred to him as possible. But +he could not bear the indoor life; to be chained all day long to a desk +would have been intolerable to him; it would have killed him; he needed +such a life as would give him a great deal of time in the open air. Such +he found in journalism. His friend, Mr. Morris, gave him the first start +by printing for him certain sketches and descriptive papers. And he had +the courage to learn shorthand. + +He had already before this begun to write. + +"I remember"--I quote from a letter which has already furnished +information about these early days--"that he once showed his brother a +roll of manuscript which he said 'meant money' some day." It was +necessary in that house to think of money first. + +I wonder what that manuscript was. Perhaps poetry--a clever lad's first +attempt at verse; there is never a clever lad who does not try his hand +at verse. Perhaps it was a story--we shall see that he wrote many +stories. At that time his handwriting was so bad that when he began to +feed the press, the compositors bought him a copybook and a penholder +and begged him to use it. He did use it, and his handwriting presently +became legible at least, but it remained to the end a bad handwriting. +His note-books especially are very hard to read. + +He was left by his father perfectly free and uncontrolled. He was +allowed to do what he pleased or what he could find to do. This liberty +of action made him self-reliant. It also, perhaps, increased his habit +of solitude and reserve. In those days he used to draw a great deal, +and is said to have acquired considerable power in pen-and-ink sketches, +but I have never seen any of them. + +At this period he was careless as to his dress and appearance; he +suffered his hair to grow long until it reached his coat collar. "This," +says one who knew him then, "with his bent form and long, rapid stride, +made him an object of wonder in the town of Swindon. But he was +perfectly unconscious of this, or indifferent to it." + +Later on, he understood better the necessity of paying attention to +personal appearance, and in his advice to the young journalist he points +out that he should be quietly but well dressed, and that he should study +genial manners. + +In appearance Richard Jefferies was very tall--over six feet. He was +always thin. At the age of seventeen his friends feared that he would go +into a decline, which was happily averted--perhaps through his love for +the open air. His hair was dark-brown; his beard was brown, with a shade +of auburn; his forehead both high and broad; his features strongly +marked; his nose long, clear, and straight; his lower lip thick; his +eyebrows distinguished by the meditative droop; his complexion was fair, +with very little colour. The most remarkable feature in his face was his +large and clear blue eye; it was so full that it ought to have been +short-sighted, yet his sight was far as well as keen. His face was full +of thought; he walked with somewhat noiseless tread and a rapid stride. +He never carried an umbrella or wore a great-coat, nor, except in very +cold weather, did he wear gloves. He had great powers of endurance in +walking, but his physical strength was never great. In manner, as has +been already stated, he was always reserved; at this time so much so as +to appear morose to those who knew him but slightly. He made few +friends. Indeed, all through life he made fewer friends than any other +man. This was really because, for choice, he always lived as much in the +country as possible, and partly because he had no sympathy with the +ordinary pursuits of men. Such a man as Richard Jefferies could never be +clubable. What would he talk about at the club? The theatre? He never +went there. Literature of the day? He seldom read it. Politics? He +belonged to the people, and cursed either party. That once said, he had +nothing more to say. Art? He had ideas of his own on painting, and they +were unconventional. Gossip and scandal? He never heard any. Wine? He +knew nothing about wine. Yet to those whom he knew and trusted he was +neither reserved nor morose. An eremite would be driven mad by chatter +if he left his hermitage and came back to his native town; so this +roamer among the hills could not endure the profitless talk of man, +while Nature was willing to break her silence for him alone among the +hills and in the woods. + +He became, then, a journalist. It is a profession which leaves large +gaps in the day, and sometimes whole days of leisure. The work, to such +a lad as Jefferies, was easy; he had to attend meetings and report them; +to write descriptive papers; to furnish and dress up paragraphs of news; +to look about the town and pick up everything that was said or done; to +attend the police courts, inquests, county courts, auctions, markets, +and everything. The life of a country journalist is busy, but it is in +great measure an out-door life. + +Although Mr. Morris was his first literary friend and adviser, Jefferies +was never attached to his paper as reporter. Perhaps there was no +vacancy at the time. He obtained work on the _North Wilts Herald_, and +afterwards became in addition the Swindon correspondent of the _Wilts +and Gloucestershire Standard_, published at Cirencester. The editor of +the _North Wilts Herald_ was a Mr. Piper, who died two years ago. Of him +Jefferies always spoke with the greatest respect, calling him his old +master. But in what sense he himself was a pupil I know not. Nor can I +gather that Jefferies, who acquired his literary style much later, and +after, as will be seen, the production of much work which has deservedly +fallen into oblivion, learned anything as a writer from anybody. In the +line which he afterwards struck out for himself--that of observations of +nature--his master, as regards the subject-matter, was his father; as +regards his style he had no master. + +He filled these posts and occupied himself in this kind of work between +the years 1865 and 1877. + +But he did other things as well, showing that he never intended to sit +down in ignoble obscurity as the reporter of a country newspaper. + +I have before me a little book called "Reporting, Editing, and +Authorship," published without date at Swindon, and by John Snow and +Co., Ivy Lane, London. I think it appeared in the year 1872, when he was +in his twenty-fourth year. It is, however, the work of a very young man; +the kind of work at which you must not laugh, although it amuses you, +because it is so very much in earnest, and at the same time so very +elementary. You see before you in these pages the ideal +reporter--Jefferies was always zealous to do everything that he had to +do as well as it could be done. It is divided into three chapters, but +the latter two are vague and tentative, compared with the first. The +little book should have been called, "He would be an Author." + +"Let the aspirant," he says, "begin with acquiring a special knowledge +of his own district. The power and habit of doing this may subsequently +stand him in good stead as a war-correspondent. Let him next study the +trade and industries peculiar to the place. If he is able to write of +these graphically, he will acquire a certain connection and good-will +among the masters. He will strengthen himself if he contributes papers +upon these subjects to the daily papers or to the magazines; thus he +will grow to be regarded as a representative man. Next, he should study +everywhere the topography, antiquities, traditions, and general +characteristics of the country wherever he goes; he should visit the +churches, and write about them. He may go on to write a local history, +or he may take a local tradition and weave a story round about +it--things which local papers readily publish. Afterwards he may write +more important tales for country newspapers, and so by easy stages rise +to the grandeur of writing tales for the monthly magazines." Observe +that so far the ambition of the writer is wholly in the direction of +novels. + +One piece of advice contrasts strongly with the description of him given +by his cousin. He has found out that eccentricity of appearance and +manner does not advance a man. Therefore he writes: + + "A good personal manner greatly conduces to the success of the + reporter. He should be pleasant and genial, but not loud: inquiring + without being inquisitive: bold, but not presumptuous: and above + all respectful. The reporter should be able to talk on all subjects + with all men. He should dress well, because it obtains him + immediate attention: but should be careful to avoid anything + 'horsey' or fast. The more gentlemanly his appearance and tone, the + better he will be received." + +The chapter on Editing gives a tolerably complete account of the conduct +of a country-town newspaper. The chapter on Authorship is daring, +because the writer as yet knew nothing whatever of the subject. Among +other mistakes is the very common one of supposing that a young man can +help himself on by publishing at his own expense a manuscript which all +the respectable publishing houses have refused. He himself subsequently +acted upon this mistake, and lost his money without in the least +advancing his reputation. The young writer can seldom be made to +understand that all publishers are continually on the look-out for good +work; that good work is almost certain (though mistakes have been made) +to be taken up by the first publisher to whom it is offered; that if it +is refused by good Houses, the reason is that it is not good work, and +that paying for publication will not turn bad work into good. Jefferies +concludes his little book by so shocking a charge against the general +public that it shall be quoted just to show what this country lad of +nineteen or twenty thought was the right and knowing thing to say about +them: + + "The public will read any commonplace clap-trap if only a + well-known name be attached to it. Hence any amount of expenditure + is justified with this object. It is better at once to realize the + fact, however unpleasant it may be to the taste, and instead of + trying to win the good-will of the public by laborious work, treat + literature as a trade, which, like other trades, requires an + immense amount of advertising." + +This is Jefferies' own ideal of a journalist. In March, 1866, being then +eighteen years of age, he began his work on the _North Wilts Herald_. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LETTERS FROM 1866 TO 1872. + + +The principal sources of information concerning the period of early +manhood are the letters--a large number of these are happily +preserved--which he wrote to his aunt, Mrs. Harrild. In these letters, +which are naturally all about himself, his work, his hopes, and his +disappointments, he writes with perfect freedom and from his heart. It +is still a boyish heart, young and innocent. "I always feel dull," he +says, "when I leave you. I am happier with you than at home, because you +enter into my prospects with interest and are always kind.... I wish I +could have got something to do in the neighbourhood of Sydenham, which +would have enabled me to live with you." + +The letters reveal a youth taken too soon from school, but passionately +fond of reading--of industry and application intense and unwearied; he +confesses his ambitions--they are for success; he knows that he has the +power of success within him; he tries for success continually, and is as +often beaten back, because, though this he cannot understand, in the way +he tries success is impossible for him. Let us run through this bundle +of letters. + +One thing to him who reads the whole becomes immediately apparent, +though it is not so clear from the extracts alone. It is the +self-consciousness of the writer as regards style. That is because he is +intended by nature to become a writer. He thinks how he may put things +to the best advantage; he understands the importance of phrase; he wants +not only to say a thing, but to say it in a striking and uncommon +manner. Later on, when he has gotten a style to himself, he becomes more +familiar and chatty. Thus, for instance, the boy speaks of the great +organ at the Crystal Palace: "To me music is like a spring of fresh +water in the midst of the desert to a wearied Arab." He was genuinely +and truly fond of good music, and yet this phrase has in it a note of +unreality. Again, he is speaking of one of his aunt's friends, and says, +as if he was the author of "Evelina": "How is Mr. A.? I remember him as +a pleasant gentleman, anxious not to give trouble, and the result +is ..." and so forth. When one understands that these letters were +written by the immature writer, such little things, with which they +abound, are pleasing. + +In March, 1866, he describes the commencement of his work on the _North +Wilts Herald_; he speaks of the kindness of his chief and the pleasant +nature of his work. In December of the same year he sends a story which +he wants his uncle to submit to a London magazine. In June, 1867, he +writes that he has completed his "History of Swindon" and its +neighbourhood. This probably appeared in the pages of his newspaper. + +In the same year he says that he has finished a story called +"Malmesbury." + + "Here I have no books--no old monkish records to assist + me--everything must be hunted out upon the spot. I visit every + place I have to refer to, copy inscriptions, listen to legends, + examine antiquities, measure this, estimate that; and a thousand + other employments essential to a correct account take up my time. + The walking I can do is something beyond belief. To give an + instance. There is a book published some twenty years ago founded + on a local legend. This I wanted, and have actually been to ten + different houses in search of it; that is, have had a good fifty + miles' walk, and as yet all in vain. However, I think I am on the + right scent now, and believe I shall get it. + + "This neighbourhood is a mine for an antiquary. I was given to + understand at school that in ancient days Britain was a + waste--uninhabited, rude and savage. I find this is a mistake. I + see traces of former habitation, and former generations, in all + directions. There, Roman coins; here, British arrowheads, tumuli, + camps--in short, the country, if I may use the expression, seems + alive with the dead. I am inclined to believe that this part of + North Wilts, at least, was as thickly inhabited of yore as it is + now, the difference being only in the spots inhabited having been + exchanged for others more adapted to the wants of the times. I do + not believe these sweeping assertions as to the barbarous state of + our ancestors. The more I study the matter the more absurd and + unfounded appear the notions popularly received." + + * * * * * + + "The spiders have been more disturbed in the last few days than for + twelve months past. I detest this cruelty to spiders. I admire + these ingenious insects. One individual has taken possession of a + box of mine. This fellow I call Caesar Borgia, because he has such + an affection for blood. You will call him a monster, which is + praise, since his size shows the number of flies he has destroyed. + Why not keep a spider as well as a cat? They are both useful in + their way, and a spider has this advantage, that he will spin you a + web which will do instead of tapestry." + +Between July 21st and September 2nd of this year he writes of a bad +illness which sent him to bed and kept him there, until he became as +thin as a skeleton. As soon as he was able to get out of bed he wrote to +his aunt; his eyes were weak, and he could read but little, which was a +dreadful privation for him. And he was most anxious lest he should lose +his post on the paper. + +Later on he tells the good news that Mr. Piper will give him another +fortnight so that he may get a change of air and a visit to Sydenham. + +He goes back to Swindon apparently strengthened and in his former health +and energy. Besides his journal work he reports himself engaged upon an +"Essay on Instinct." This is the first hint of his finding out his own +line, which, however, he would not really discover for a long time yet. + +"The country," he says, little thinking what the country was going to do +for him, "is very quiet and monotonous. There is a sublime sameness in +Coate that reminds you of the stars that rise and set regularly just as +we go to bed down here." + +His grandfather--old Iden of "Amaryllis"--died in April, 1868. + +He speaks in June of his own uncertain prospects. + +"My father," he says, "will neither tell me what he would like done or +anything else, so that I go my own way and ask nobody...." The letters +are full of the little familiar gossip concerning this person and that, +but he can never resist the temptation of telling his aunt--who "enters +into his prospects"--all that he is doing. He has now spent two months +over a novel--this young man thinks that two months is a prodigiously +long time to give to a novel. "I have taken great pains with it," he +says, "and flatter myself that I have produced a tale of a very +different class to those sensational stories I wrote some time ago. I +have attempted to make my story lifelike by delineating character rather +than by sensational incidents. My characters are many of them drawn from +life, and some of my incidents actually took place." This is taking a +step in the right direction. One wonders what this story was. But alas! +there were so many in those days, and the end of all was the same. And +yet the poor young author took such pains, such infinite pains, and all +to no purpose, for he was still groping blindly in the dark, feeling for +himself. + +His health, however, gave way again. He tells his aunt that he has been +fainting in church; that he finds his work too exciting; that his +walking powers seem to have left him--everybody knows the symptoms when +a young man outgrows his strength; he would like some quiet place; such +a Haven of Repose or Castle of Indolence, for instance, as the Civil +Service. All young men yearn at times for some place where there will be +no work to do, and it speaks volumes for the happy administration of +this realm that every young man in his yearning fondly turns his eyes to +the Civil Service. + +He has hopes, he says, of getting on to the reporting staff of the +_Daily News_, ignorant of the truth that a single year of work on a +great London paper would probably have finished him off for good. +Merciful, indeed, are the gods, who grant to mankind, of all their +prayers, so few. + +In July he was prostrated by a terrible illness, aggravated by the great +heat of that summer. This illness threatened to turn into consumption--a +danger happily averted. But it was many months before he could sit up +and write to his aunt in pencil. He was at this time greatly under the +influence of religion, and his letters are full of a boyish, simple +piety. The hand of God is directing him, guiding him, punishing him. His +heart is soft in thinking over the many consolations which his prayers +have brought him, and of the increased benefit which he has derived from +reading the Bible. He has passed through, he confesses, a period of +scepticism, but that, he is happy to say, is now gone, never to return +again. + +He is able to get out of bed at last; he can read a little, though his +eyes are weak; he can once more return to his old habits, and drinks his +tea again as sweet as he can make it; he is able presently to seize his +pen again. And then ... then ... is he not going to be a great author? +And who knows in what direction? ... then he begins a tragedy called +"Caesar Borgia; or, The King of Crime." + +He is touched by the thoughtfulness of the cottagers. They have all +called to ask after him; they have brought him honey. He resolves to +cultivate the poor people more. + +"After all," he says, with wisdom beyond his years, "books are dead; +they should not be our whole study. Too much study is selfish." + +Unfortunately the letters of the year 1869 have not been preserved; but +we may very well understand that the lad spent that year in much the +same way as the year before and the year after. That is to say, he wrote +for his country paper; he reported; he collected local news; and he +devoted his spare time to the writing of stories which were never to see +the light, or, more unhappy still, to perish at their birth. + +In the autumn of the year 1870 the letters begin again. He has now got +money enough to give himself a holiday. He is at Hastings, and he is +going across the water to Ostend. It is in September. The Prince +Imperial of France is in the place, and Jefferies hopes to see him. +There is a postscript with a characteristic touch: "I do not forget +A----. Her large and beautiful eyes have haunted me ever since our visit +to Worthing. Remember me to her, _but please do it privately; let no +one else know what I have said of her_. I hope to see her again." + +Presently he did see the Prince, sitting at the window of his room in +the Marine Hotel. The adventures which followed were, he says in his +next letter, "almost beyond credibility." + +You shall hear how wonderful they were. Lying in bed one night, a happy +thought occurred to him. He would write some verses on the exile of the +Prince. + + "... No sooner thought than done. I composed them that night, and + wrote them out, and posted them the first thing next morning + (Thursday). You say I am always either too precipitate or too + procrastinating. At least, I lost no time in this. A day went by, + and on Easter day there came a note to me at the hotel, from the + aide-de-camp of the Prince, acknowledging the receipt of the + verses, and saying that the Prince had been much pleased with them. + You will admit this was about enough to turn a young author's head. + Not being _au fait_ in French, I took the note to a French lady + professor, and she translated it for me. I enclose the translation + for you. But does not S. learn French? If so, it would be good + practice for her to try and read the note. Please tell her to take + care of it, as it cannot be replaced, and will be of great value to + me in after-life. If I were seeking a place on a London paper the + production of that note would be a wonderful recommendation. Well, + the reception of that acknowledgment encouraged me, and on the + following morning I set to work and wrote a letter to the Prince, + communicating some rather important information which I had learnt + whilst connected with the press. The result was a second letter + from the aide-de-camp, this time dictated by the Empress Eugenie, + who had read my note. I send you this letter too, and must beg you + to carefully preserve it. I took it and had it translated by the + same French lady, Madame ----, and I enclose her translation. She + says that the expressions are very warm, and cannot be adequately + rendered into English. She says it would be impossible to write + more cordially in French than the Empress has done. Now came + another discovery. It came out in conversation with this French + lady that she had actually been to school with the Empress in her + youth; that they had played together, and been on picnics together. + Her husband was a sea-commander, and she showed me his belt, etc. + He served Napoleon when Napoleon was president, but protested + against the _coup d'etat_ of 1851, and they had then to leave + Paris. She had been unfortunate, and had now to earn her bread. She + still preserves her husband's coat-of-arms, etc. Then came another + discovery. It appeared that the equerries of the Empress (sixteen + in number), unable to speak English, had seen her advertisement and + came to her to act as interpreter. She did so. After a while it + crept out that these rascals were abusing their employer behind her + back, and even went the length of letting out private conversations + they had overheard in the Tuileries, and at the Marine Hotel. She + felt extremely indignant at this ungrateful conduct (for they are + well paid and have three months' wages in advance), and she should + like the Empress to know, but being so poor she could not call on + her old companion; indeed, her pride would not permit. These were + the men, she said, from whom the Prussians obtained intelligence; + and certainly they did act the part of spies. Other Frenchmen + resident here met them at an inn, and they there detailed to them + what they had learnt at the Marine Hotel. I persuaded her (she was + in a terrible way, indignant and angry) to write to my friend, the + aide-de-camp, and see him. She did so, and the consequence is that + a number of these fellows have been discharged. The Empress and the + Prince are still here, despite all paragraphs in the papers. They + drove out yesterday afternoon. I saw them...." + +After this adventure Jefferies took the boat from Dover to Ostend. He +had more adventures on the journey: + + "... It was a beautiful night, scarcely a breath of air, moonlight + and starlit, and a calm sea. Every little wave that broke against + the side flashed like lightning with the phosphoric light of the + zoophytes, and when at eleven the paddles began to move, great + circles of phosphoric light surrounded the vessel. I was on deck + all night, for instead of being four hours as advertised, the boat + was eight hours at sea. After we had been out about four hours the + sailors mistook a light on the horizon for Ostend, and steamed + towards it. Presently the light rose higher, and proved to be the + planet Venus, shining so brilliantly. At this moment an immense + bank of fog enveloped us, so thick that one could scarcely see from + one end of the ship to the other. The captain had lost his way, and + the paddles were stopped. After a short time there was the sound of + a cannon booming over the sea. Everyone rushed on deck, thinking of + war and ironclads; but it was the guns at Ostend, far away, firing + to direct ships into port through the fog. It was now found that we + had actually got about opposite Antwerp. So the ship was turned, + and we slowly crept back, afraid of running on shore. Then, after + an hour or two of this, we got into shallow water, and the lead was + heaved every minute. The steam-whistle was sounded, and the guns on + shore again fired. To our surprise, we had run past Ostend almost + as much the other way, thanks to the fog. Now I heard a bell + ringing on shore--the matin bell--and you cannot imagine how + strange that bell sounded. You must understand no shore was + visible. More firing and whistling, until people began to think we + should have to remain till the fog cleared. But I did not grumble; + rather, I was glad, for this delay gave me the opportunity of + seeing the sun, just as the fog cleared, rise at sea--an + indescribable sight: + + 'Then over the waste of water + The morning sun uprose, + Through the driving mist revealed, + Like the lifting of the Host + By incense clouds almost + Concealed.' + + A boat finally came off and piloted us into harbour, which we + reached at seven o'clock Saturday morning--eight hours' passage. + Numbers were ill--the ladies, most dreadfully; I did not feel a + qualm. I went on by the next train at 9.30 to Brussels, and reached + it at one o'clock...." + +Brussels, at this moment, was full of French people mad with grief and +excitement at the conduct of the war and the disasters of their +country. Jefferies does not appear, however, to have been much struck +with the terror and pity of the situation. It was his first experience +of foreign life, not counting his boyish escapade; his delight in the +hotel, the _table d'hote_, the wine, the brightness and apparent +happiness of the Brussels people--they do somehow seem younger and +happier than any other people in the world, except, perhaps, the +Marseillais--is very vividly expressed. The ladies dazzle him; he thinks +of "our London dowdies" and shudders; but alas! he cannot talk to them. + +Then he goes back to Swindon, but not, for the present, to Coate. There +is trouble at home. His father has to be brought round gradually to look +at things from his son's point of view. Till that happy frame of mind +has been arrived at he cannot go home. But his mother visits him, and so +far as she is concerned all is well. He is out of work and has no +money--two shillings and threepence can hardly be called money. +Meantime, his mind is still excited by his recent experiences. He will +never be happy in the country again; he must find a place in London. It +is the kind aunt who fills his purse with a temporary supply. + +The following letter relates the difficulties of finding work: + + "... It is now four months since I last saw you, and during that + time I have unremittingly endeavoured to get money by all the fair + means I could think of. Scarcely a day has passed without making + some attempt, or without maturing some plan, and yet all of them, + as if by some kind of fate, have failed. I have written all sorts + of things. Very few were rejected, but none brought any return. I + have endeavoured to get employment, but there is none within reach. + My old place has been filled up for months, and I could not recover + it without resorting to unfair means, unless by some unforeseen + accident. The other two papers here are sufficiently supplied with + reporters, and though ready enough to receive my writings, don't + pay a farthing. There remains a paper at Marlborough to which I + applied. They were quite ready to employ me, but said that, as + their circulation at Swindon was very small, they could give but a + small price--quoting a sum which absolutely would not buy me a + dinner once a week. This was no good. Other papers further off + refused entirely. As for answering advertisements, or seeking + situations in other places, it was useless, from the following + circumstance. In the autumn a large London paper failed, and the + staff was thrown out. The consequence was, that the market became + overstocked with reporters, and all vacancies were speedily filled. + My next step was to try the London papers, especially the _Pall + Mall_, with which I have had more or less connection for years. As + I told you, three of the Dailies said if I were in town they could + give me plenty of work, but not regular employment. In other words, + one would employ me one day, another another, until an opening + occurred for regular work...." + +There are other details showing that it was a terrible time of +tightness. Threatenings of county court for a debt of L2 10s.; personal +apparel falling to pieces; work offered by the _Pall Mall Gazette_ and +other papers if he would go up to London. But how? One must have enough +to pay for board and lodging for a week, at least; one must have enough +for the railway-fare; one must present a respectable appearance. And now +only a single halfpenny left! We have seen with sorrow how the young man +had been already reduced to two shillings and threepence. But this seems +affluence when we look at that solitary halfpenny. Only a halfpenny! +Why, the coin will buy absolutely nothing. + +Yet in this, the darkest hour, when he had no money and could get no +work--when his own people had ceased to believe in him--he still +continued to believe in himself. That kind of belief is a wonderful +medicine in time of trouble. It is sovereign against low spirits, +carelessness, and inactivity--the chief evils which follow on +ill-success. + + "... I have still the firmest belief in my ultimate good-fortune + and success. I believe in destiny. Not the fear of total + indigence--for my father threatens to turn me out of doors--nor + the fear of disgrace and imprisonment for debt, can shake my calm + indifference and belief in my good-fortune. Though I have but a + halfpenny to-day, to-morrow I shall be rich. Besides, though I have + had a severe cold, my health and strength are wonderful. Nothing + earthly can hurt me...." + +The next letter was written in July of the same year, six months later. +"I am very busy," he says, "getting well known as a writer. Both Swindon +papers employ me; but I am chiefly occupied with my book. I work at it +almost night and day. I feel sure it will succeed. If it does not, I +know nothing that will, and I may as well at once give up the +profession." + +I do not think there is anything in the world more full of pity and +interest than the spectacle of a clever young man struggling for +literary success. He knows, somehow he feels in his heart, that he has +the power. It is like a hidden spring which has to be found, or a secret +force which has to be set in motion, or a lamp which has to be set +alight. This young man was feeling after that secret force; he was +looking for that lamp. For eight long years he had been engaged in the +search after this most precious of all treasures. What was it like--the +noblest part of himself--that which would never die? Alas! he knew not. +He hardly knew as yet that it was noble at all. So his search carried +him continually farther from the thing which he would find. + +On July 28 he writes a most joyful letter. He has achieved a feat which +was really remarkable; in fact, he has actually received a letter from +Mr. Disraeli himself on the subject of a work prepared by himself. It +will be observed that by a natural confusion he mixes up the success of +getting a letter from this statesman with the success of his book. + + "... I told you that I had been bending all my energies to the + completion of a work. I completed it a short time since, and an + opportunity offering, I wrote to Disraeli, describing it, and + asking his opinion. You know he is considered the cleverest man in + England; that he is the head of the rich and powerful Conservative + Party; and that he is a celebrated and very successful author. His + reply came this morning: + + 'Grosvenor Gate. + + 'Dear Sir, + + 'The great pressure of public affairs at the present moment must + be my excuse for not sooner replying to your interesting letter, + which I did not like to leave to a secretary. + + 'I think the subject of your work of the highest interest, and I + should have confidence in its treatment from the letter which you + have done me the honour of addressing to me. I should recommend you + to forward your MS. to some eminent publisher whom interest and + experience would qualify to judge of it with impartiality. + + 'Believe me, dear sir, + 'With every good wish, + 'Your faithful servant, + 'B. DISRAELI.' + + "A recognition like this from so great an intellectual leader is a + richer reward to one's self than the applause of hundreds, or than + any money can possibly be. And it is a guarantee of success, even + in a money sense; for what publisher would not grasp at a work + commended by Disraeli? This is a day of triumph to me. In an + obscure country village, personally totally unknown, name never + heard of, without the least assistance from any living person, + alone and unaided, I have achieved the favourable opinion of the + man who stands highest in our age for intellectual power, who + represents the nobility, gentry, and clergy of the land, who is the + leader of half England. This, too, after enduring the sneers and + bitter taunts of so many for idleness and incapacity. Hard, indeed, + have I worked these many months since I last saw you, and at all + times it has been my intention--and looked forward to as a + reward--to write and tell you of my success. And at last--at last! + Write to me and tell me you rejoice, for without someone to rejoice + with you, success itself is cold and barren. My success is now + assured...." + +A few days later he has to tell his aunt of another brilliant success of +the same shadowy character. He calls it a "singular stroke of good +fortune." One of the best publishing houses in London had promised to +consider his new novel--which of his new novels was it?--carefully. + + "I cannot help thinking that their 'full consideration' is a very + promising phrase. I really do think that I am now upon the + threshold of success.... The idea of writing the book came to me by + a kind of inspiration, and not from study or thought. I am now + engaged upon a magazine article, which I think will meet the taste + of the public. Since finishing the book, I have written a play + which can either be published or acted, as circumstances prove most + propitious. I have also sketched out a short tale, founded on fact, + and have sent the MS. of a history of Swindon to the local paper, + and expect a fair sum for it. I am engaged to go to Gloucester next + week for a day--perhaps two--to report a trial. So that you see I + am not idle, and have my hands as full as they can hold." + +Quite as full as they can hold; and all the time he is drifting further +and further from the haven where he would be. Yet his fortune lies at +his feet, if he will but stoop to pick it up. It lies in the hedges, and +in the fields, and woods; it lies upon the hillside. He can see it red +as gold, flashing with the splendid light of a million diamonds, if he +will open his eyes. But the time is not yet. + +The firm of publishers declined, but in courteous and even flattering +terms, to publish the work in question. The author at once made up his +mind that the book was not "in their line," and sent the MS. to another +firm. + +The second firm apparently declined the work; but in another month the +author writes triumphantly that Messrs. ---- are going to publish it. +Now nothing remains but to settle the price. + +"I cannot help," he says, "feeling this a moment of great triumph, after +so much opposition from everyone. All my friends prophesied failure, and +when I refused to desist from endeavouring, grew angry with me, and +annoyed me as much as possible.... I will let you know as soon as we +have agreed upon the price, and, of course, I shall have the pleasure +of sending you some copies when it appears." + +Alas! he was mistaken. There was much more than the remuneration to be +settled before the work was published; in fact, it never was published. + +The last letter of the packet has no other date than May 7. From +internal evidence, however, it must have been written in the year 1873. + + "I have just had a great disappointment. After keeping the + manuscript of my novel more than two months, Mr. ---- has written + to decline it. It really does seem like Sisyphus--just as one has + rolled the stone close to the top of the hill, down it goes again, + and all one's work has to be done over again. For some time after I + began literary work I did not care in the least about a failure, + because I had a perpetual spring of hope that the next would be + more fortunate. But now, after eight years of almost continual + failure, it is very hard indeed to make a fresh effort, because + there is no hope to sustain one's expectations. Still, although I + have lost hope entirely, I am more than ever _determined_ to + succeed, and shall never cease trying till I do. + + "It seems so singular to me that, although publishers constantly + decline my works, yet if by any chance something that I have + written gets into print, everybody immediately admires it, so that + it does not seem that there is any want of ability. You remember + those letters in the _Times_? They were declined by one editor of a + much less important paper. The moment they were published everyone + admired them, and even the most adverse critics allowed that the + style and literary execution was good. I could show you a dozen + clippings from adverse newspapers to that effect. This is the + reflection that supports me under so many disappointments, because + it seems to say that it is through no fault of mine. Thinking over + this very deeply lately, and passing over in review the facts and + experience I have obtained during the last eight years, I have come + to the conclusion that it is no use for me to waste further time + in waiting for the decisions of publishers, but that I ought to set + to work and publish on my own account. What, then, shall I publish? + A novel costs some L60 or L80 at least. This I cannot possibly + afford; I have no friends who can afford it. I can borrow, it is + true, but that seems like putting a noose round your own neck for + some one else to hang you with. But then many authors have made a + name and even large sums of money by publishing very small + books...." + +He goes on to show in his sanguine way how a little book is bound to +bring in a great profit. + +He then adds: + + "... Having tried, therefore, every other plan for succeeding, I + have at last determined to try this. Do you not think I am right? + It is only risking a few pounds--not like L60 or L80. The first + little book I have selected to issue is a compendium of reporting + experience for the use of learners. It is almost finished--all but + binding--and the first copy issued you shall see. It will be + published by J. Snow and Co., 2, Ivy Lane. + + "Then with regard to Swindon. I have so enlarged my account of it, + and so enlarged the account of the Goddard family, that I have + determined to publish the work in two parts. First to issue the + Goddard part, by which means I shall not risk so much money, and + shall see how the thing takes. Besides, I know that the Goddards + would prefer it done in that way. I estimate the cost of the first + part at about L10; and as the manuscript has been completed and + lying idle for nearly three months, I should like to get it out at + once, but I do not like to give the order until I have the cash to + meet the bill. + + "You have no idea of the wretched feeling produced by incessant + disappointment, and the long, long months of weary waiting for + decisions without the least hope...." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GLEAMS OF LIGHT. + + +With the year 1871 the early struggles of the young writer came to an +end. He had now secured his position, such as it was, on the local +press. As there are no further suggestions of parental opposition, we +may suppose that this had now ceased. Parental opposition generally +gives way when the lad shows that by following his own path he can +maintain himself. This Richard could now do. He continued, however, to +live at Coate, partly, no doubt, for economy, and partly for +convenience. His old friends point out the short cut across the fields +by which he was accustomed to walk from Coate to the office of the +paper. Local enthusiasm, however, is proverbially feeble in the case of +the native prophet. This grows up in the after-years. The income which +a young reporter on a small country paper can make is very modest, and +the position is not one which commands the highest respect. Yet many +young fellows are satisfied and happy in such a position, because, +though they are still at the bottom of the ladder, their foot is planted +on the rung, and their hands are on the sides. Being rich, therefore, in +hope, he took the step which naturally follows success--he became +engaged. His _fiancee_ was a daughter of the late Mr. Andrew Baden, at +that time occupying Dayhouse Farm, adjacent to Coate. For the present +there could be no thought of marrying, but they would wait till their +hopes were partly realized, and the golden shower should begin. Now +there were two instead of one looking for the splendid triumph of the +future. A first instalment of success came the following year, in +November, 1872--a real, indisputable success--a thing that brought money +and more work, and yet more work; a thing which, in the hands of a +practical man, would have brought work enough to last a lifetime. To +Jefferies it was better than this, because it presently led him--the +wanderer in the labyrinth of fruitless effort--to the line in which he +was to make his reputation, and to find his true success. Is there +anything in the world more truly delightful than the first success in +the career you have chosen and ardently desire to adorn? If one desires +to become an authority on any subject, to read your own paper in a great +magazine; if one desires to become a journalist, to have the columns of +a great paper opened to you; if one wishes to be a great novelist, to +read the reviews of your first work, and to be assured that you are on +the right track--nothing in the world surely can equal that blissful +moment. + +It came to this pair, thus waiting and hoping, in November, 1872, in +this wise: + +In the autumn of that year, the mind of the nation was beginning to be +exercised with the subject of the relations of the farmer with the +agricultural labourer. Richard Jefferies, inspired, if any man ever was, +with the thought that he knew all about the subject, sat down and wrote +a long letter about "The Wiltshire Labourer." This letter he sent first +to a certain London editor (name of the paper not stated), who refused +it. He then sent it to the editor of the _Times_, who not only accepted +it and printed it, but had a leader written upon it. Nor was this all. +The letter called forth many answers; to these Jefferies replied in two +more letters. The subject was noticed in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, in the +_Spectator_, and in other journals. We are not here concerned with the +results of the case--Jefferies wrote on the side of the tenant farmer. +It is sufficient to note the fact of the letters and their immediate +result--namely, that Jefferies sprang at one bound into the position of +an authority on things agricultural. He dated the letters from Coate +Farm, Swindon; so that he probably appeared to the editor and to the +general public as a farmer, rather than as a newspaper reporter. To the +whole of his after-life these letters were most important. They denoted, +though as yet he knew it not, an entirely new departure. He was to +experience many a bitter disappointment over novels which he ought +never to have written. There were plenty of snubs and rubs in store for +him, as there are for every literary man at every stage of his career. +Snubs and rubs are part of a profession which has an advantage quite +peculiar to itself, that everything a man does is publicly commented +upon by his brother professors writing anonymously. It is as if a +clergyman's sermons should be publicly and every week handled by brother +clergymen, or a doctor's cases by brothers of the calling; or as if a +barrister's speeches should be anonymously criticised by other +barristers. A man cannot make an ass of himself in the profession, and +expect that nobody will notice it. Not at all; the greater the mess he +makes, the more he will hear of it. Now Jefferies--poor man--was going +to make a big mess of two or three jobs before he really found himself. + +To be an authority on things agricultural is to speak on behalf of what +was then, and is still, the most important interest of the whole +country; to speak of agricultural labourers and of tenant farmers is to +speak of the best blood of the country, the hope and stay of Great +Britain. Here was opened a chance such as comes to few. If it had been +properly followed up, if it had fallen to a practical man, there would +have been perceived here an open door leading to an honourable career, a +safe line, with a sufficient income. I mean that any of our great +newspapers would have been glad to number on its staff, and to retain, +one who could write with knowledge on things agricultural. Always, +throughout the whole of his life, Richard Jefferies wanted someone to +advise him, but never so much as at this moment. He had this splendid +chance, and he threw it away, not deliberately, but from ignorance and +want of aptitude in business. + +Yet the letters mark a new departure, for they made him write about the +country. Success was before him at last, though not in the way he hoped. + +The first letter to the _Times_ was, for a young man of twenty-four, a +most remarkable production. It was crammed with facts and information. +In point of style it was clear and strong, without any faults of fine +writing. It would be taken--I have no doubt at all that the editor so +received it--as the letter of a clear-headed, well-informed, middle-aged +Wiltshire farmer. He writes at full length, covering two columns and a +quarter of the _Times_, in small print. The letter itself is so curious, +as giving an account of a condition of things which has already greatly +changed in the sixteen years since it was written, that I have placed it +for preservation in an appendix to this volume. The leader on the +subject in the _Times_ of the same day thus sums up the case: + + "When so much is done for labourers by an improved class of + landlords and tenants, and when it is evident that they cannot but + share the general advance of wages, what is it that remains to be + done? There can be no doubt about it, and we commend it to the + attention of the talkative gentlemen who are making fine speeches + and backing up the labourer to a stand-up fight with his employer. + It is the labourer himself who wants improvement. He will do + everything for himself so very badly. He will not show + common-sense in his cottage--if it is his own choice--or his + clothing, or his food, or in his general arrangements. He will + insist on poisoning the air of his cottage, his well, or the stream + that runs past his door. He will not bestow half an hour on some + needful repair which he thinks a landlord ought to do for him. He + goes to the worst market for his provisions, buying everything on + credit and in the smallest quantities. He allows a waste that would + not be tolerated in wealthier households. He will not second with + home discipline the efforts made to instruct his children at the + school. He will still permit it to be almost impossible that his + children shall be taught in the same room or play in the same + ground with the children of his employer. In a word, he will not do + his part--no easy one, it is true, yet not impossible. He escapes + from thought, effort, and responsibility at the village 'public,' + and lets his household go its way. Of course, he is only doing what + many of his betters are doing in his own class and condition. But + there is the same to be said of all. If men are to rise, it must be + done by themselves, for the whole world will never raise, or better + appreciably, those who will not raise themselves." + +You have already seen the letter written in May, 1873, in which he +speaks despairingly of his efforts and his ill-success; in fact, he +allowed a whole year to elapse without following up the advantage and +experience acquired by these letters. It seems incredible. Meanwhile he +was muddling his time, and perhaps his money, in bringing out things +from which neither money nor honour could be expected. The first of +these was the little book I have already noticed, on reporting and +journalism. It would be curious to learn the pecuniary result of this +volume. + +The next volume was a "Family History of the Goddards of North Wilts." +Now, if the Goddards were anxious to have their history written, they +might have paid for it. Perhaps they did pay for the work, but I find no +record of their doing so. Perhaps they thought that Swindon would rally +round the Goddard flag, and eagerly buy the book. I have not read the +work; but it had the honour of getting a notice from the _Athenaeum_, +which the author heroically cut out and preserved. The plain truth was +spoken in that notice, and the most was made of a very unfortunate +mistake of a place, a date, and a poet, concerning which the curious may +consult the _Athenaeum_ for the year 1873. + +The results of publishing at his own expense were, we suppose, so +satisfactory that Jefferies in 1874 brought out his first novel--"The +Scarlet Shawl"--on that delightful method. It is always in vain that one +assures a young writer that works which publishers with one consent +refuse must be commercially worthless; it is always in vain that one +preaches, exhorts, and implores the inexperienced not to throw away +their money in the vain hope of getting it back with profit of gold and +glory. They will do it. There are always publishing houses of a kind +which are ready to print young writers' crude and foolish works at their +own risk, and to talk vaguely beforehand of enormous profits to be +shared. Poor wretches! they never get any profits. Nobody ever buys any +copies. There is never for the unfortunate writer any gold or any glory, +but only sure, certain, and bitter disappointment. + +As yet, Jefferies still clung to his old ideas, and had learned none of +the lessons which the _Times_ letters should have taught him. Therefore +he brought out three novels in succession (see Chapter VI.), never +getting any single advantage or profit out of them except the pain of +shattered hopes, the loss of money, and the most contemptuous notices in +the reviews. + +We are in the year 1874. Apparently, Jefferies has had his chance, and +has thrown it away. He is six-and-twenty years of age--it is youth, but +this young man has only twelve more years of life, and none of his work +has yet been done. Why--why did no one tear him away from his vain and +futile efforts? See, he toils day after day, with an energy which +nothing can repress--a resolution to succeed which sustains him through +all his disappointments. He covers acres of paper, and all to no +purpose; for no one has told him the simplest law of all--that Art is +imitation. One must not close the shutters, light the lamp, and then +paint a flower one has never seen, as the painter thinks it ought to +have been. Yet this is what Jefferies was doing. The young country lad, +who knew no other society than that of the farm and the country town, +was wasting and spoiling his life in writing about people and things +whom he imagined. He was painting the flower he had never seen as he +thought it ought to be. + +Well, the great success of the _Times_ letters seemed to have led to +nothing. Yet it gave him a better position in his native place. His work +was now so assured, and his income so much improved--though still +slender enough--that in July, 1874, after a three years' engagement, he +was married. + +For the first six months of their marriage the young pair lived on at +Coate. They then removed to a small house in Victoria Street, Swindon, +where their first child was born. It is a happy thing to think that it +was in the first year of his wedded life that Jefferies brushed away +the cobwebs from his brain, left the old things behind him for ever, and +stepped out upon the greensward, the hillside, the forest, and the +meadows, where he was to walk henceforth until the end. It was time, +indeed, to throw away his novels of society, to put away the unreal +rubbish, to forget the foolish dreams, to let the puppets who could +never have lived lie dust-covered in the limbo of false and conventional +novels. Where is it, that limbo? Welcome, long-desired flowers of May! +Welcome, fragrant breath of the breezy down! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FIRST YEARS OF SUCCESS. + + +Jefferies made his way to the fields through the farmers first and the +labourers next. + +He wrote a paper for _Fraser's Magazine_ (December, 1873) on the "Future +of Farming," which attracted a considerable amount of attention. The +_Spectator_ had an article upon it. The paper is full of bold +speculations and prophecies; as, for instance: + + "We may, then, look to a time when farming will become a commercial + speculation, and will be carried on by large joint-stock concerns, + issuing shares of ten, fifteen, or fifty pounds each, and occupying + from three to ten thousand acres. Such companies would, perhaps, + purchase the entire sewage of an adjacent town. Their buildings, + their streets of cattle-stalls, would be placed on a slope + sheltered from the north-east, but near the highest spot on the + estate, so as to distribute manure and water from their reservoirs + by the power of gravitation. A stationary steam-engine would crush + their cake, and pulp their roots, pump their water, perhaps even + shear their sheep. They would employ butchers and others, a whole + staff, to kill and cut up bullocks in pieces suitable for the + London market, transmitting their meat straight to the salesman, + without the intervention of the dealer. That salesman would himself + be entirely in the employ of the company, and sell no other meat + but what they supplied him with. This would at once give a larger + profit to the producer, and a lower price (in comparison) to the + public. In summer, meat might be cooled by the ice-house, or + refrigerator, which must necessarily be attached to the company's + bacon factory. Except in particular districts, it is hardly + probable that the dairy would be united with the stock-farm; but if + so, the ice-house would again come into requisition, and there + would be a condensed-milk factory on the premises." + +This was going back to the right line. He seems, however, to have done +no more in this line until August of the next year (the month after his +marriage), when he returned in earnest to the rural life, and never +afterwards left it. His earliest and fastest friend was _Fraser's +Magazine_, now, alas! defunct. But he was speedily engaged to write for +other papers and magazines. His real literary life, in fact, may be said +to begin at this period. The "Farmer at Home" was the title of this +paper singled out by the _Spectator_ as the best of all the papers for +the month. Here there occurs a really striking passage on the "Farmer's +Creed." They live, says the writer, amid conditions so unchanging that +they have acquired a creed of their own, which they rarely express, +never discuss, and never fail to act upon. + + "... In no other profession do the sons and the daughters remain so + long, and so naturally, under the parental roof. The growth of half + a dozen strong sons was a matter of self-congratulation, for each + as he came to man's estate took the place of a labourer, and so + reduced the money expenditure. The daughters worked in the dairy, + and did not hesitate to milk occasionally, or, at least, to labour + in the hay-field. They spun, too, the home-made stuffs in which all + the family were clothed. A man's children were his servants. They + could not stir a step without his permission. Obedience and + reverence to the parent was the first and greatest of all virtues. + Its influence was to extend through life, and through the whole + social system. They were to choose the wife or the husband approved + of at home. At thirty, perhaps, the more fortunate of the sons were + placed on farms of their own nominally, but still really under the + father's control. They dared not plough or sow except in the way + that he approved. Their expenditure was strictly regulated by his + orders. This lasted till his death, which might not take place for + another twenty years. At the present moment I could point out ten + or twelve such cases, where men of thirty or forty are in farms, + and to all appearance perfectly free and independent, and yet as + completely under the parental thumb as they were at ten years + old.... These men, if they think thus of their own offspring, + cannot be expected to be more tender towards the lower class around + them. They did at one time, and some still wish to, extend the same + system to the labouring population.... They did not want only to + indulge in tyranny; what they did was to rule the labouring poor in + the same way as they did their own children--nothing more nor less. + These labouring men, like his own children, must do as the farmer + thought best. They must live here or there, marry so and so, or + forfeit favour--in short, obey the parental head. Each farmer was + king in his own domain; the united farmers of a parish were kings + of the whole place. They did not use the power circumstances gave + them harshly, but they paid very little regard to the liberty of + the subject.... In religion it is, or lately was, the same. It was + not a matter with the farmer of the Athanasian Creed, or the + doctrine of salvation by faith, or any other theological dogma. To + him the parish church was the centre of the social system of the + parish. It was the keystone of that parental plan of government + that he believed in. The very first doctrine preached from the + pulpit was that of obedience. 'Honour thy father and thy mother' + was inculcated there every seventh day. His father went to church, + he went to church himself, and everybody else ought to go. It was + as much a social gathering as the dinner at the market ordinary, or + the annual audit dinner of their common landlord. The Dissenter, + who declined to pay Church-rates, was an unsocial person. He had + left the circle. It was not the theology that they cared about, it + was the social nonconformity. In a spiritual sense, too, the + clergyman was the father of the parish, the shepherd of the + flock--it was a part of the great system. To go a step farther, in + political affairs the one leading idea still threaded itself + through all. The proper Parliamentary representative--the natural + law-giver--was the landlord of the district. He was born amongst + them, walked about amongst them, had been in their houses many a + time. He knew their wants, their ideas, their views. His own + interest was identical with theirs. Therefore he was the man." + +A third paper, called "John Smith's Shanty," gave a picture of the +agricultural labourer's life. He here began, timidly at first, to leave +the regions of hard actual fact, and to venture upon the higher flights +of poetic and ideal work, but poetry based upon the actual facts. Yet +not to leave altogether the journalistic methods. Thus, he wrote for +_Fraser_ a paper on "The Works at Swindon," which was simply a newspaper +descriptive article, and one on "Allotment Gardens" for the _New +Quarterly Review_. This was like his "Future of Farming"--a wholly +practical paper. One of the new principles, he says, that is now +gradually entering the minds of the masses, is a belief that each +individual has a right to a certain share in the land of his birth. That +was written twelve years ago. Since that time this belief has extended +far and wide. There are now books and papers which openly advocate the +doctrine that the land is the property of the people. It is no longer a +question which is asked, an answer which has to be whispered on account +of its great temerity: it is a doctrine openly held and openly taught. +But Jefferies was the first to find it out. He heard the whisper in the +cottage and in the village ale-house; the reeds beside the brook +whispered it to him. If, he thinks, every labouring man had his +allotment, he would cease to desire the general division of the land. + + "If it is possible to find ground near enough to the residence of + the population to be practically useful as cemeteries, there can be + no valid reason why spaces should not be available for a system of + gardens. Numerous companies have been formed for the purpose of + supplying the workmen with houses; the building societies and their + estates are situated outside the city, but within easy reach by + rail. Why should not societies exist and flourish for the equally + useful object of providing the workman with a garden? If the plan + of universal division of land were thoroughly carried out, it + follows that the cities would disappear, since, to obtain a bare + living out of the four acres, a man must live on or very near to + it, and spend his whole time in attending to it. But the extent of + allotment-ground which such a society as this would provide for the + workman must not be so large as to require any more attention than + he could pay to it in the evening, or the Saturday afternoon, or at + most in a day or so of absence from his work. He would have, of + course, to go to his allotment by rail, and rail costs money. But + how many thousands of workmen at this very hour go to their work + day by day by rail, and return home at night; and the sum of money + they thus expend must collectively be something enormous in the + course of a year! To work his allotment he would have no necessity + to visit it every day, or hardly every week. Such an + allotment-ground must be under the direction of a proper staff of + officers, for the distribution of lots, the collection of rent, the + prevention of theft, and generally to maintain the necessary order. + Looked at in this light, the extension of the allotment system to + large towns does not hold out any very great difficulties. The + political advantage which would accrue would be considerable, as a + large section of the population would feel that one at least of + their not altogether frivolous complaints was removed. As a + pecuniary speculation, it is possible that such a society would pay + as well as a building society; for the preliminary expenses would + be so small in comparison. A building society has to erect blocks + of houses before it can obtain any return; but merely to plough, + and lay out a few fields in regular plots, and number them on a + plan, is a light task. If the rent was not paid, the society could + always seize the crops; and if the plot was not cultivated in a + given time, they might have a rule by which the title to it should + be vacated. To carry the idea further, a small additional payment + per annum might make the plot the tenant's own property. This would + probably act as a very powerful inducement." + +In the year 1874 he meditates a great work, which he began but never +finished, using up his notes in after-years for what is really the same +subject treated with more literary finish and style than he had as yet +acquired. He proposes (May 20th) to Messrs. Longmans to write a great +book in two volumes on the whole Land Question. The first volume he +proposes to call "Tenant and Labourer;" the second, "Land and Landlord." +He will deal, he says, with the subject in an "impartial and trenchant" +manner, but still "with a slightly conservative tone, so as to counsel +moderation." On June 8th he sends an instalment of two hundred +manuscript folios, proposing that the first volume shall be called "The +Agricultural Life." The chapters are to be as follows: + + I. The Creed of the Agriculturist. + II. The Agriculturist at Home. + III. Agriculture as a Business. + IV. Summary of the Farmer's Case. + V. The Labourer's Daily Life. + VI. The Labourer's Case. + VII. The Gist of the Whole Matter. + +This proposal never came to anything; but the subject-matter was +abundantly treated by Jefferies later on. Most of the chapters will be +found in "Hodge and his Masters." So far, he is still, it will be +observed, the practical man. Whatever feeling he has for the poetry of +Nature, he has as yet found little expression of it. He next wrote a +paper on "Field-faring Women" for _Fraser_. He also wrote a most +delightful article for the _Graphic_ on the same subject, in which the +truth is told about these women. This was the very first paper written +in his later and better style: + + "Those who labour in the fields require no calendar, no + carefully-compiled book of reference to tell them when to sow and + when to reap, to warn them of the flight of time. The flowers, + blooming and fading, mark the months with unfailing regularity. + When the sweet violet may be found in warm sheltered nooks, and the + sleepy snake first crawls out from under the brown leaves, then it + is time to gather the couch or roots after the plough, and to hoe + the young turnips and swedes. This is the first work of the year + for the agricultural women. It is not a pleasant work. Everyone who + has walked over a ploughed field remembers how the boots were + clogged with the adhesive clay, and how the continuous ridges and + furrows impeded progress. These women have to stoop and gather up + the white couch-roots, and the other weeds, and place them in heaps + to be burnt. The spring is not always soft and balmy. There comes + one lovely day, when the bright sunlight encourages the buds and + peeping leaves to push out, and then follows a week or more of the + harsh biting east wind. The arable field is generally devoid of + hedges or trees to break the force of the weather, and the + couch-pickers have to withstand its cutting rush in the open.... + + "The cold clods of earth numb the fingers as they search for the + roots and weeds. The damp clay chills the feet through thick-nailed + boots, and the back grows stiff with stooping. If the poor woman + suffers from the rheumatism so common among the labouring class, + such a day as this will make every bone in her body ache. When at + last four o'clock comes, she has to walk a mile or two miles to her + cottage and prepare her husband's supper. In hilly districts, + where sheep are the staple production, it follows, of course, that + turnips and swedes, as their food, are the most important crop. + Upon the unenclosed open downs the cold of early spring is intense, + and the women who are engaged in hoeing feel it bitterly. Down in + the rich fertile valleys, in the meadows, women are at work picking + up the stones out of the way of the scythe, or beating clots about + with a short prong. All these are wretched tasks, especially the + last, and the remuneration for exposure and handling dirt very + small. But now 'green grow the rushes,' and the cuckoo-flower + thrusts its pale petals up among the rising grass. Till that grass + reaches maturity, the women in meadow districts can find no field + employment. The woods are now carpeted with acres upon acres of the + wild hyacinth, or blue-bell, and far surpass in loveliness the most + cultivated garden. The sheen of the rich deep blue shows like a + lake of colour, in which the tall ash poles stand, and in the + sunset each bell is tinged with purple. The nightingale sings in + the hazel-copse, or on the hawthorn bough, both day and night, and + higher up, upon the downs, the skies are full of larks carolling at + 'Heaven's gate.' But the poor woman hears them not. She has no + memories of poetry; her mind can call up no beautiful thoughts to + associate with the flower or the bird. She can sign her name in a + scrawling hand, and she can spell through simple print, but to all + intents and purposes she is completely ignorant. Therefore, she + cannot see, that is, appreciate or feel, the beauty with which she + is surrounded. Yet, despite the harsh, rude life she leads, there + works up to the surface some little instinctive yearning after a + higher condition. The yellow flowers in the cottage-garden--why is + it that cottagers are so fond of yellow?--the gilly-flower, the + single stock, marigolds, and such old-fashioned favourites, show a + desire for ornament; still more so the occasional geranium in the + window, specially tended by the wife." + +Later on he returns to the subject, and relates the story of Dolly most +mournful, most tragic, full of tears and pity. + +He now began to alternate his practical and his poetical papers. For +the _Mark Lane Express_ he wrote on "Village Organization"; for the +_Standard_ on "The Cost of Agricultural Labour"; for the _Fortnightly_ +on the "Power of the Farmer." Between these papers he wrote on +"Marlborough Forest," on "Village Churches," and on the "Average of +Beauty." + +The first of these three articles already reached almost the highest +level of his better style. Even for those who have never wandered in +this great and wonderful forest, the paper is wholly charming, while to +those who know the place, it is full of memories and regrets that one +has seen so little of all that this man saw. + + "The great painter Autumn has just touched with the tip of his + brush a branch of the beech-tree, here and there leaving an orange + spot, and the green acorns are tinged with a faint yellow. The + hedges, perfect mines of beauty, look almost red from a distance, + so innumerable are the peggles. Let not the modern Goths destroy + our hedges, so typical of an English landscape, so full of all that + can delight the eye and please the mind. Spare them if only for + the sake of the 'days when we went gipsying--a long time + ago'--spare them for the children to gather the flowers of May and + the blackberries of September. When the orange spot glows upon the + beech, then the nuts are ripe, and the hawthorn-bushes are hung + with festoons of the buff-coloured, heart-shaped leaves of a + once-green creeper. That 'deepe and enclosed country of Northe + Wiltes,' which old Clarendon, in his famous 'Civill Warre,' says + the troops of King Charles had so much difficulty to hurry through, + is pleasant to those who can linger by the wayside and the copse, + and do not fear to hear the ordnance make the 'woods ring again,' + though to this day a rusty old cannon-ball may sometimes be found + under the dead brown leaves of Aldbourne Chase where the skirmish + took place before 'Newbury Battle.' Perhaps it is because no such + deadly outbursts of human passions have swept along beneath its + trees that the 'Forest' is unsung by the poet, and unvisited by the + artist. Yet its very name is poetical, Savernake, _i.e._, + savernesacre--like the God's acre of Longfellow. Saverne--a + peculiar species of sweet fern; acre--land. So we may call it + Fern-land Forest, and with truth, for but one step beneath those + beeches away from the path plunges us to our shoulders in an ocean + of bracken. The yellow stalks, stout and strong as wood, make + walking through the brake difficult, and the route pursued devious, + till from the constant turning and twisting the way is lost. For + this is no narrow copse, but a veritable forest in which it is easy + to lose one's self; and the stranger who attempts to pass it away + from the beaten track must possess some of the Indian instinct + which sees signs and directions in the sun and wind, in the trees + and humble plants of the ground. And this is its great charm. The + heart has a yearning for the unknown, a longing to penetrate the + deep shadow and the winding glade, where, as it seems, no human + foot has been. High over head in the beech-tree the squirrel peeps + down from behind a bough--his long bushy tail curled up over his + back, and his bright eyes full of mischievous cunning. Listen, and + you will hear the tap, tap of the woodpecker, and see, away he + goes in undulating flight with a wild, unearthly chuckle, his green + and gold plumage glancing in the sun, like the parrots of + far-distant lands. He will alight in some open space upon an + ant-hill, and lick up the red insects with his tongue. In the + fir-tree, there, what a chattering and fluttering of gaily-painted + wings--three or four jays are quarrelling noisily. These beautiful + birds are slain by scores because of their hawk-like capacities for + destruction of game, and because of the delicate colours of their + feathers, which are used in fly-fishing. There darts across the + glade a scared rabbit, straining each little limb for speed, almost + rushing against us, a greater terror overcoming the less. In a + moment there darts forth from the dried grass a fierce red-furred + hunter, a very tiger to the rabbit tribe, with back slightly + arched, bounding along, and sniffing the scent. Another, and + another, still a fourth--a whole pack of stoats (elder brothers of + the smaller weasels). In vain will the rabbit trust to his speed, + these untiring wolves will overtake him. In vain will he turn and + double, their unerring noses will find him out. In vain the + tunnels of the 'bury,' they will come as surely under ground as + above. At last, wearied, panting, frightened almost to death, the + timid creature will hide in a _cul-de-sac_, a hole that has no + outlet, burying its head in the sand. Then the tiny bloodhounds + will steal with swift, noiseless rush, and fasten upon the veins of + the neck. What a rattling the wings of the pigeons make as they + rise out of the trees in hot haste and alarm! As we pass a + fir-copse, we stoop down and look along the ground under the + foliage. The sharp 'needles,' or leaves, which fall will not decay, + and they kill all vegetation, so that there is no underwood or + herbage to obstruct the view. It is like looking into a vast cellar + supported upon innumerable slender columns. The pheasants run + swiftly away underneath. High up the cones are ripening--those + mysterious emblems sculptured in the hands of the gods at Nineveh, + perhaps typifying the secret of life. More bracken. What a strong, + tall fern! it is like a miniature tree. So thick is the cover, a + thousand archers might lie hid in it easily. In this wild + solitude, utterly separated from civilization, the whistle of an + arrow would not surprise us--the shout of a savage before he hurled + his spear would seem natural, and in keeping. What are those + strange clattering noises, like the sound of men fighting with + wooden 'back-swords'? Now it is near--now far off--a spreading + battle seems to be raging all round, but the combatants are out of + sight. But, gently--step lightly, and avoid placing the foot on + dead sticks, which break with a loud crack--softly peep round the + trunk of this noble oak, whose hard furrowed bark defends it like + armour. The red deer! Two splendid stags are fighting, fighting for + their lady-love, the timid doe. They rush at each other with head + down and horns extended--the horns meet and rattle--they fence with + them skilfully. This was the cause of the noise. It is the tilting + season--these tournaments between the knights of the forest are + going on all around. There is just a trifle of danger in + approaching these combatants, but not much, just enough to make the + forest still more enticing; none whatever to those who use common + caution. At the noise of our footsteps away go the stags, their + 'branching antlers' seen high above the tall fern, bounding over + the ground in a series of jumps, all four feet leaving the earth at + once. There are immense oaks that we come to now, each with an open + space beneath it where Titania and the fairies may dance their + rings at night. These enormous trunks--what _time_ they represent! + To us each hour is of consequence, especially in this modern day + which has invented the detestable creed that time is money. But + time is not money to Nature. She never hastens. Slowly from the + tiny acorn grew up this gigantic trunk, and spread abroad those + limbs which in themselves are trees. And from the trunk itself, to + the smallest leaf, every infinitesimal atom of which it is composed + was perfected slowly, gradually--there was no hurry, no attempt to + discount effect. A little farther, and the ground declines; through + the tall fern we come upon a valley. But the soft warm sunshine, + the stillness, the solitude have induced an irresistible idleness. + Let us lie down upon the fern, on the edge of the green vale, and + gaze up at the slow clouds as they drift across the blue vault. The + subtle influence of nature penetrates every limb and every vein, + fills the soul with a perfect contentment, an absence of all wish + except to lie there half in sunshine, half in shade for ever, in a + Nirvana of indifference to all but the exquisite delight of simply + _living_. The wind in the tree-tops overhead sighs in soft music, + and ever and anon a leaf falls with a slight rustle to mark the + time. The clouds go by in rhythmic motion, the ferns whisper verses + in the ear, the beams of the wondrous sun pour in endless song, for + he also + + "'In his motion like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim, + Such harmony is in immortal souls!' + + Time is to us now no more than it was to the oak; we have no + consciousness of it. Only we feel the broad earth beneath us, and + as to the ancient giant, so there passes through us a sense of + strength renewing itself, of vital energy flowing into the frame. + It may be an hour, it may be two hours; when without the aid of + sound or sight we become aware by an indescribable supersensuous + perception that living creatures are approaching. Sit up without + noise and look--there is a herd of deer feeding down the narrow + valley close at hand within a stone's-throw. And these are deer + indeed, no puny creatures, but the 'tall deer' that William the + Conqueror loved 'as if he were their father.' Fawns are darting + here and there, frisking round the does. How many may there be in + this herd?--fifty, perhaps more; nor is this a single isolated + instance, but dozens more of such herds may be found in this true + old English forest, all running free and unconstrained. But the sun + gets low. Following this broad green drive, it leads us past vistas + of endless glades going no man knows where into shadow and gloom, + past grand old oaks, past places where the edge of a veritable + wilderness comes up to the trees--a wilderness of gnarled hawthorn + trunks of unknown ages, of holly with shining metallic-green + leaves, and hazel-bushes. Past tall trees bearing the edible + chestnut in prickly clusters, past maples which in a little while + will be painted in crimson and gold, with the deer peeping out of + the fern everywhere, and once perhaps catching a glimpse of a shy, + beautiful milk-white doe.... Still onward, into a gravel + carriage-road now, returning by degrees to civilization, and here + with happy judgment the hand of man has aided nature. Far as the + eye can see extends an avenue of beech, passing right through the + forest. The tall smooth trunks rise up to a great height, and then + branch overhead, looking like the roof of a Gothic cathedral. The + growth is so regular and so perfect that the comparison springs + unbidden to the lip, and here, if anywhere, that order of + architecture might have taken its inspiration. There is a + continuous Gothic arch of green for miles, beneath which one may + drive or walk as in the aisles of a forest-abbey. But it is + impossible to even mention all the beauties of this place within so + short a space. It must suffice to say that the visitor may walk for + whole days in this great wood, and never pass the same spot twice. + No gates or jealous walls will bar his progress. As the fancy + seizes him so he may wander. If he has a taste for archaeological + studies, especially the prehistoric, the edge of the forest melts + away upon downs that bear grander specimens than can be seen + elsewhere--Stonehenge and Avebury are near. The trout-fisher can + approach very close to it. The rail gives easy communication, but + has not spoilt the seclusion. Monsieur Lesseps, of Suez Canal fame, + is reported to have said that Marlborough Forest was the finest he + had seen in Europe. Certainly no one who had not seen it would + believe that a forest still existed in the very heart of Southern + England, so completely recalling those woods and 'chases' upon + which the ancient feudal monarchs set such store." + +In the paper called "Village Churches," Jefferies has wholly found +himself at last. Everybody has felt the charm of the village church. The +most careless pedestrian turns by instinct into the old churchyard, and +hopes to find the church-door open. It is not the architecture that he +cares to study, but the feeling of holy peace which lingers in the +place, like the glory between the Cherubim. Let Jefferies interpret for +us: + + "The black rooks are busy in the old oak-trees carrying away the + brown acorns one by one in their strong beaks to some open place + where, undisturbed, they can feast upon the fruit. The nuts have + fallen from the boughs, and the mice garner them out of the + ditches; but the blue-black sloes cling tight to the thorn-branch + still. The first frost has withered up the weak sap left in the + leaves, and they whirl away in yellow clouds before the gusts of + wind. It is the season, the hour of half-sorrowful, half-mystic + thought, when the Past becomes a reality, and the Present a dream, + and unbidden memories of sunny days and sunny faces, seen when life + was all spring, float around: + + "'Dim dream-like forms! your shadowy train + Around me gathers once again; + The same as in life's morning hour, + Before my troubled gaze you passed. + + * * * * * + + Forms known in happy days you bring, + And much-loved shades amid you spring, + Like a tradition, half-expired, + Worn out with many a passing year.' + + "In so busy a land as ours, there is no place where the mind can, + as it were, turn in upon itself so fully as in the silence and + solitude of a village church. There is no ponderous vastness, no + oppressive weight of gloomy roof, no weird cavernous crypts, as in + the cathedral; only a _visible_ silence, which at once isolates the + soul, separates it from external present influences, and compels + it, in falling back upon itself, to recognise its own depth and + powers. In daily life we sit as in a vast library filled with + tomes, hurriedly writing frivolous letters upon 'vexatious + nothings,' snatching our food and slumber, for ever rushing forward + with beating pulse, never able to turn our gaze away from the goal + to examine the great storehouse--the library around us. Upon the + infinitely delicate organization of the brain innumerable pictures + are hourly painted; these, too, we hurry by, ignoring them, pushing + them back into oblivion. But here, in silence, they pass again + before the gaze. Let no man know for what real purpose we come + here; tell the aged clerk our business is with brasses and + inscriptions, press half-a-crown into his hand, and let him pass to + his potato-digging. There is one advantage, at least, in the + closing of the church on week-days, so much complained of--to those + who do visit it there is a certainty that their thoughts will not + be disturbed. And the sense of man's presence has departed from the + walls and oaken seats; the dust here is not the dust of the + highway, of the quick footstep; it is the dust of the past. The + ancient heavy key creaks in the cumbrous lock, and the iron + latch-ring has worn a deep groove in the solid stone. The narrow + nail-studded door of black oak yields slowly to the push--it is not + easy to enter, not easy to quit the Present--but once close it, and + the living world is gone. The very style of ornament upon the + door--the broad-headed nails--has come down from the remotest + antiquity. After the battle, says the rude bard in the Saxon + chronicle, + + "'The Northmen departed + In their nailed barks,' + + and earlier still the treacherous troop that seized the sleeping + magician in iron, Wayland the Smith, were clad in 'nailed armour,' + in both instances meaning ornamented with nails. Incidentally it + may be noted that until very recently at least one village church + in England had part of the skin of a Dane nailed to the door--a + stern reminder of the days when 'the Pagans' harried the land. This + narrow window, deep in the thick wall, has no painted magnificence + to boast of, but as you sit beside it in the square high-sided pew, + it possesses a human interest which even art cannot supply. The + tall grass growing rank on the graves without rustles as it waves + to and fro in the wind against the small diamond panes, yellow and + green with age--rustles with a melancholy sound, for we know that + this window was once far above the ground, but the earth has risen + till nearly on a level; risen from the accumulation of human + remains. Yet but a day or two before, on the Sunday morning, in + this pew, bright restless children smiled at each other, exchanged + guilty pushes, while the sunbeams from the arrow-slit above shone + upon their golden hair. Let us not think of this further. But dimly + through the window, 'as through a glass darkly,' see the green yew + with its red berries, and afar the elms and beeches, brown and + yellow. The steep down rises over them, and the moving gray patch + upon it is a flock of sheep. The white wall is cold and damp, and + the beams of the roof overhead, though the varnish is gone from + them, are dank with slow decay. In the recess lies the figure of a + knight in armour, rudely carved, beside his lady, still more rudely + rendered in her stiff robes, and of him an ill-spelt inscription + proudly records that he 'builded ye greate howse at'--no matter + where--but history records that cruel war wrapped it in flames + before half a generation was gone. So that the boast of his + building great houses reads as a bitter mockery. There stands + opposite a grander monument to a mighty earl, and over it hangs a + breastplate, and gauntlets of steel. The villagers will tell that + in yonder deep shady 'combe' or valley, in the thick hazel-bushes, + when the 'beetle with his drowsy hum' rises through the night air, + there comes the wicked old earl wearing this very breastplate, + these iron gloves, to expiate one evil deed of yore. And if we sit + in this pew long enough, till the mind is magnetized with the + spirit of the past, till the early evening sends its shadowy troops + to fill the distant corners of the silent church, then perhaps + there may come to us forms gliding noiselessly over the stone + pavement of the aisles--forms not repelling or ghastly, but filling + us with an eager curiosity. Then through the slit made for that + very purpose centuries since, when the pew was in a family chapel, + through the slit in the pillar, we may see cowled monks assemble at + the altar, muttering as magicians might over vessels of gold. The + clank of scabbards upon the stones is stilled, the rustle of gowns + is silent; if there is a sound it is of subdued sobs, as the aged + monk blesses the troop on the eve of their march. Not even yet has + the stern idol of war ceased to demand its victims; even yet brave + hearts and noble minds must perish, and leave sterile the hopes of + the elders and the love of woman. There is still light enough left + to read the few simple lines on the plain marble slab, telling how + 'Lieutenant ----,' at Inkerman, at Lucknow, or later still, at + Coomassie, fell doing his duty. And these plain slabs are dearer + to us far than all the sculptured grandeur, all the titles and pomp + of belted earl and knight; their simple words go straighter to our + hearts than all the quaint curt Latin of the olden time. The + belfry-door is ajar--these winding-stairs are not easy of access. + The edges are worn away, and the steps strewn with small sticks of + wood; sticks once used by the jackdaws in building their nests in + the tower. It is needful to take much care, lest the foot should + stumble in the semi-darkness. Listen! there is now a slight sound; + it is the dull ticking of the old, old clock above. It is the only + thing with motion here; all else is still, and even its motion is + not life. A strange old clock; a study in itself; all the works + open and visible, simple, but ingenious. For a hundred years it has + carried round the one hour-hand upon the square-faced dial without, + marking every second of time for a century with its pendulum. Here, + too, are the bells, and one, the chief bell, is a noble tenor, a + mighty maker of sound. Its curves are full and beautiful, its + colour clear, its tone, if you do but tap it, sonorous, yet not + harsh. It is an artistic bell. Round the rim runs a rhyme in the + monkish tongue, which has a chime in the words, recording the + donor, and breathing a prayer for his soul. In the days when this + bell was made men put their souls into their works; their one great + object was not to turn out a hundred thousand all alike: it was + rarely they made two alike. Their one great object was to construct + a work which should carry their very spirit in it, which should + excel all similar works, and cause men in after-times to inquire + with wonder for the maker's name, whether it was such a common + thing as a knife-handle, or a bell, or a ship. Longfellow has + caught the spirit well in the Saga of the 'Long Serpent,' where the + builder of the vessel listens to axe and hammer-- + + "'All this tumult heard the master, + It was music to his ear; + Fancy whispered all the faster, + "Men shall hear of Thorberg Skafting + For a hundred year!"' + + Would that there were more of this spirit in the workshops of our + day! They did not, when such a work was finished, hasten to blaze + it abroad with trumpet and shouting; it was not carried to the + topmost pinnacle of the mountain, in sight of all the kingdoms of + the earth. They were contented with the result of their labour, and + cared little where it was placed, or who saw it; and so it is that + some of the finest-toned bells in the world are at this moment to + be found in village churches, and for so local a fame the maker + worked as truly, and in as careful a manner, as if he had known his + bell was to be hung in St. Peter's at Rome. This was the true + spirit of art. Yet it is not altogether pleasant to contemplate + this bell; the mind cannot but reflect upon the length of time it + has survived those to whose joys or sorrows it has lent a passing + utterance, and who are now dust in the yard beneath. + + "'For full five hundred years I've swung + In my old gray turret high, + And many a changing theme I've sung + As the time went stealing by.' + + Even the 'old gray turret' shows more signs of age and of decay + than the bell, for it is strengthened with iron clamps and rods to + bind its feeble walls together. Of the pavements, whose flag-stones + are monuments, the dates and names worn by footsteps; of the vaults + beneath, with their grim and ghastly traditions of coffins moved + out of place, as was supposed, by supernatural agency, but, as + explained, by water; of the thick walls in which, in at least one + village church, the trembling victim of priestly cruelty was + immured alive--of these, and a thousand other matters that suggest + themselves, there is no time to speak. But just a word must be + spared to notice one lovely spot where two village churches stand + not a hundred yards apart, separated by a stream, both in the hands + of one vicar, whose 'cure' is, nevertheless, so scant of souls, + that service in the morning in one, and in the evening in the other + church, is amply sufficient. And where is there a place where + spring-time possesses such a tender yet melancholy interest to the + heart, as in a village churchyard, where the budding leaves, and + flowers in the grass, may naturally be taken as symbolical of a + still more beautiful spring-time yet in store for the soul?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FICTION, EARLY AND LATE. + + +There lies before me a roll containing certain newspaper extracts pasted +on paper and sewed together. They are cuttings from the _North Wilts +Herald_, and contain a romance, entitled "A Strange Story," written +"expressly" for that paper, and signed "Geoffrey." That Geoffrey--let us +reveal a long-buried secret--was none other than Richard Jefferies +himself. The "Strange Story" was published on June 30, 1866. It is +blood-curdling; it is, in fact, the work of a boy. Between July 21 and +August 4 of the same year, a second tale appeared by the same author; it +is called "Henrique Beaumont." There is a murder in it, and, of course, +a murderer. Lightning--sign of Heaven's wrath--reveals that the +murderer's face, after the deed, is as pale as death. A third tale is +called "Who Will Win? or, American Adventure." There is fighting in it, +with negroes, hairbreadth escapes, and such things, in breathless +succession. A fourth and last tale is called "Masked." These boyish +efforts are only mentioned here to show in what direction the lad's +thoughts were running. Considered as a lad's productions, they require +no comment. At the outset, Jefferies proposed fiction to himself as the +most desirable form of literature, and the most likely form with which +to court success. Almost to the end he continued to keep this ambition +before himself. The list of his serious attempts at fiction is +respectable as regards number. It includes the following: + + "The Scarlet Shawl," one vol., 1874. + "Restless Human Hearts," three vols., 1875. + "World's End," three vols., 1877. + "Green Fern Farm," three vols., 1880. + "The Dewy Morn," two vols., 1884. + "Amaryllis at the Fair," one vol., 1887. + +To these may be added--but they must be treated separately--"Wood +Magic," a fable, 1881, and "Bevis," three vols., 1882. Perhaps "After +London" may also be accounted a work of fiction. + + * * * * * + +"The Scarlet Shawl" was published in July, 1874, in one volume. As the +work is stated on the title-page to have advanced to a second edition, +one of two things is certain--namely, either the book appealed to a +large number of readers, or the editions were very small indeed. I +incline, myself, to the latter opinion. + +Great as is the admiration of Jefferies' readers for his best and +noblest work, it must be frankly confessed that, regarded as a +story-teller, he is not successful. Why this is so we will presently +inquire. As regards this, his earliest serious work of fiction, there is +one remarkable fact, quite without precedent in the history of +literature--it is that the book affords not the slightest indication of +genius, insight, descriptive or dramatic power, or, indeed, of any +power, especially of that kind with which he was destined to make his +name. It is a book which any publisher's reader, after glancing at the +pages, would order to be returned instantly, without opinion given or +explanation offered; it is a book which a young man of such real +promise, with such a splendid career before him, ought somehow to have +been prevented from publishing. Two reviews of it are preserved in a +certain book of extracts--one from the _Athenaeum_, and one from the +_Graphic_. The story was also made a peg by a writer in the _Globe_ for +some unkind remarks about modern fiction generally. It is only mentioned +here because we would not be accused of suppressing facts, and because +there is no author who has not made similar false starts, mistakes, and +attempts in lines unsuited to his genius. It is not much blame to +Jefferies that his first novel was poor; it was his misfortune that no +one told him at the outset that a book of which the author has to pay +the expense of production is probably worthless. It is, perhaps, +wonderful that the author could possibly think it good. There are, one +imagines, limits even to an author's illusions as regards his own work. +But it is not so wonderful that Jefferies should at this time, when he +was still quite young and ignorant of the world, write a worthless book, +as that he should at any time at all write a book which had not the +least touch of promise or of power. + +Consider, however. What is the reason why a young author so often shows +a complete inability to discover how bad his early work really is? It is +that he is wholly unable to understand--no young writer can +understand--the enormous difference between his powers of conception and +imagination--which are often enormous--and those of execution. If it +were worth while, I think it would be possible to extricate from the +crude pages of "The Scarlet Shawl" the real novel which the writer +actually had in his mind, and fondly thought to have transferred to the +printed page. That novel would, I dare say, have been sweet and +wholesome, pure and poetical. The thing which he submitted to the public +was a work in which all these qualities were conspicuously wanting. The +young poet reads his own verses, his mind full of splendid images, +half-formed characters, clouds of bewildering colours, and imagines that +he has fixed these floating splendours in immortal verse. When he has +forgotten what was in his mind while he was writing that verse, he will +be able to understand how feeble are his rhymes, but not till then. I +offer this as some explanation of these early novels. + +Consider, again. He never was a novelist; he never could be one. To +begin with, he knew nothing of society, nothing of men and women, except +the people of a small country town. There are, truly, materials for +dramatic fiction in plenty upon a farm and in a village; but Jefferies +was not the man to perceive them and to use them. His strength lay +elsewhere, and as yet he had not found his strength. + +Another reason why he could never be a novelist was that he wholly +lacked the dramatic faculty. He could draw splendid landscapes, but he +could not connect them together by the thread of human interest. Nature +in his books is always first, and humanity always second. Two figures +are in the foreground, but one hardly cares to look at them in +contemplating the wonderful picture which surrounds them. + +Again, he did not understand, so to speak, stage management. When he had +got a lot of puppets in his hands, he could not make them act. And he +was too self-contained to be a novelist; he could never get rid of his +own personality. When he succeeds in making his reader realize a +character, it is when that character is either himself, as in "Bevis," +or a part of himself, as Farmer Iden in "Amaryllis." The story in his +earlier attempts is always imitative, awkward, and conventional; it is +never natural and never spontaneous. In his later books he lays aside +all but the mere pretence of a story. The individual pictures which he +presents are delightful and wonderful; they are like his short essays +and articles--they may be read with enormous pleasure--but the story, +what is the story? Where is it? There is none. There is only the promise +of a story not worked out--left, not half untold, but hardly begun, as +in "After London" and in "Amaryllis at the Fair." You may put down any +of his so-called novels at any time with no more regret than that this +scene or that picture was not longer. As the writer never took any +interest in his own characters--one understands that as clearly as if it +was proclaimed upon the house-tops--so none of his readers can be +expected to feel any interest. It is the old, old story. In any kind of +art--it matters not what--if you wish your readers to weep, you must +first be constrained to weep yourself. Many other reasons might be +produced for showing that Jefferies could never have been a successful +novelist; but these may suffice. + +Meantime, the wonder remains. How could the same hand write the coarse +and clumsy "Scarlet Shawl" which was shortly to give the world such +sweet and delicate work, so truthful, so artistic, so full of fine +feeling? How could that be possible? Indeed, one cannot altogether +explain it. Collectors of Jefferies' books--unless they are mere +collectors who want to have a complete set--will do well to omit the +early novels. They belong to that class of book which quickly becomes +scarce, but never becomes rare. + +There are limitations in the work of every man. With such a man as +Jefferies, the limitations were narrower than with most of those who +make a mark in the history of literature. He was to succeed in one +way--only in one way. Outside that way, failure, check, disappointment, +even derision, awaited him. In the "Eulogy of Richard Jefferies" one can +afford to confess these limitations. He is so richly endowed that one +can well afford to confess them. It no more detracts from his worth and +the quality of his work to own that he was no novelist than it would be +to confess that he was no sculptor. + +But the wonder of it! How _could_ such a man write these works, being +already five or six and twenty years of age, without revealing himself? +It is as if one who was to become a great singer should make his first +attempt and break down without even revealing the fact that he had a +noble voice, as yet untrained. Or as if one destined to be a great +painter should send in a picture for exhibition in which there was no +drawing, or sense of colour, or grouping, or management of lights, or +any promise at all. The thing cannot be wholly explained. It is a +phenomenon in literature. + +It is best, I say, to acknowledge these limitations fully and frankly, +so that we may go on with nothing, so to speak, to conceal. Let us grant +all the objections to Jefferies as a story-teller that anyone may choose +to make. In the ordinary sense of the word, Jefferies was not a +novelist; in the artistic sense of the word, he was not a novelist. This +fully understood and conceded, we can afterwards consider his later +so-called novels as so many storehouses filled with priceless treasure. + +I have in my hands certain letters which Jefferies addressed to Messrs. +Tinsley Brothers on the subject of his MSS. They are curious, and rather +saddening to read. They begin in the year 1872 with proposals that the +firm should publish a work called "Only a Girl," "the leading idea of +which is the delineation of a girl entirely unconventional, entirely +unfettered by precedent, and in sentiment always true to herself." He +writes a first letter on the subject in May. In September he reopens the +subject. + +"The scenery is a description of that found in this county, with every +portion of which I have been familiar for many years. The characters are +drawn from life, though so far disguised as to render too easy +identification impossible. I have worked in many of the traditions of +Wilts, endeavouring, in fact, in a humble manner to do for that county +what Whyte Melville has done for Northampton and Miss Braddon for +Yorkshire." + +As nothing more is written on the subject of "Only a Girl," I suppose +she was suppressed altogether, or worked up into another book. + +In 1874 he attacks the same publishers with a new MS. This time it is +"The Scarlet Shawl." It will be easily understood, from what has gone +before, that he was asked to pay a sum of money in advance in order to +cover the risk--in this case, to pay beforehand the certain loss. He +objected to the amount proposed, and says with charming simplicity: + +"I mean to become a name sooner or later. I shall stick to the first +publisher who takes me up; and, unless I am very much mistaken, we +shall make money. To write a tale is to me as easy as to write a letter, +and I do not see why I should not issue two a year for the next twelve +or fifteen years. I can hardly see the possible loss from a novel." + +This is really wonderful. This young man knows so little about the +writing of novels as to suppose that, because it is easy for him to +write two "Scarlet Shawls" a year, there can be no possible loss in +them! You see that he had everything to learn. You may also observe that +from the beginning he has never faltered in his one ambition. He will +succeed; and he will succeed in literature. + +Terms are finally agreed upon, and "The Scarlet Shawl" is produced. Some +time afterwards he writes for a cheque, and receives an account, whether +accompanied by a cheque or not does not appear. But he submits the +account to a friend, who assures him that it is correct. Thus satisfied, +he finishes a second story, this time in three volumes. It was called +"Restless Human Hearts." + +In the following year "Restless Human Hearts," in three volumes, was +brought out by the same firm. In the book of extracts, from which I have +already drawn, there are four or five reviews preserved. They are all of +the same opinion, and it is not a flattering opinion. The _Graphic_ +admitted that there was one scene drawn with considerable power. One +need not dwell longer upon this work. Jefferies, in fact, was describing +a society of which he knew absolutely nothing, and was drawing on his +imagination for a picture which he tendered as one of contemporary +manners. At this juncture--nay, at every point--of his literary career, +he wanted someone to stand at his elbow and make him tear up +everything--everything--that pretended to describe a society of which he +knew nothing. The hero appears to have been a wicked nobleman. Heavens! +what did this young provincial journalist know of wicked noblemen? But +he had read about them, when he was a boy. He had read the sensational +romances in which the nobleman was, at that time, always represented as +desperately wicked. In these later days the nobleman of the penny +novelette is generally pictured as virtuous. Why and how this change of +view has been brought about it is impossible in this place to inquire; +but Jefferies belonged to the generation of wicked dukes and vicious +earls. + +The terms upon which "Restless Human Hearts" was published do not appear +from the letters extant. Jefferies writes, however, a most sensible +letter on the subject. He refuses absolutely to pay any more for +publishing his own books. He says: + +"This is about the worst speculation into which I could possibly put the +money. Therefore I am resolved to spend no more upon the matter, whether +the novel gets published or not. The magazines pay well, and immediately +after publication the cheque is forwarded. It seems the height of +absurdity, after receiving a cheque for a magazine article, to go and +pay a sum of money just to get your tale in print. I was content to do +so the first time, because it is in accordance with the common rule of +all trades to pay your footing." The resemblance is not complete, let me +say, because the new author, on this theory, would not pay his footing +to other authors, but to a publisher, and, besides, such a proposal has +never been made to any author. "I might just as well," he concludes, +"put the cheque in the fire as print a tale at my own expense." + +Quite so. Most sensibly put. Young authors will do well to lay this +discovery to heart. They may be perfectly certain that a manuscript +which respectable firms refuse to publish at their own risk and expense +is not worth publishing at all, and they may just as well put their +bank-notes upon the fire as pay them to a publisher for producing their +works. Nay, much better, because they will thus save themselves an +infinite amount of disappointment and humiliation. + +Before "Restless Human Hearts" is well out of the binder's hands, he is +ready--this indefatigable spinner of cobwebs--with another story. It is +called "In Summer-Time." He is apparently oblivious of the brave words +quoted above, and is now ready to advance L20 towards the risk of the +new novel. Nothing came of the proposal, and "In Summer-Time" went to +join "Only a Girl." + +In the same year--this is really a most wonderful record of absolutely +wasted energy--he has an allegory written in Bunyanesque English called +"The New Pilgrim's Progress; or, A Christian's Painful Passage from the +Town of Middle Class to the Golden City." This, too, sinks into +oblivion, and is heard of no more. + +Undeterred by all this ill-success, Jefferies proceeds to write yet +another novel, called "World's End." He says that he has spent a whole +winter upon it. + +"The story centres round the great property at Birmingham, considered to +be worth four millions, which is without an owner. A year or two ago +there was a family council at that city of a hundred claimants from +America, Australia, and other places, but it is still in Chancery. This +is the core, or kernel, round which the plot develops itself. I think, +upon perusal, you would find it a striking book, and full of original +ideas." + +In consideration of the failure of "Restless Human Hearts," he offers +his publisher the whole of the first edition for nothing, which seems +fair, and one hopes that his publisher recouped by this first edition +his previous losses. The reviewers were kinder to "World's End." The +_Queen_, the _Graphic_, and the _Spectator_ spoke of it with measured +approbation, but no enthusiasm. + +He writes again, offering a fourth novel, called "The Dewy Morn;" but as +no more letters follow, it is probable that the work was refused. This +looks as if the success of "World's End" was limited. "The Dewy Morn," +in the later style, was published in 1884 by Messrs. Chapman and Hall. + +The appearance of "World's End" marks the conclusion of one period of +his life. Henceforth Jefferies abandons his ill-starred attempts to +paint manners which he never saw, a society to which he never belonged, +and the life of people concerning whom he knew nothing. He has at last +made the discovery that this kind of work is absolutely futile. Yet he +does not actually realize the fact until he has made many failures, and +wasted a great deal of time, and is nearly thirty years of age. +Henceforth his tales, if we are to call them tales, his papers, +sketches, and finished pictures, will be wholly rural. He has written +"The Dewy Morn," and apparently the work has been refused; there was +little in his previous attempts to tempt a publisher any farther. He +will now write "Greene Ferne Farm," "Bevis," "After London," and +"Amaryllis at the Fair." They are not novels at all, though he chooses +to call them novels; they are a series of pictures, some of beauty and +finish incomparable, strung together by some sort of thread of human +interest which nobody cares to follow. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN FULL CAREER. + + +Never, certainly, did any man have a better chance of success in +literature than Jefferies about the year 1876. He had made himself, to +begin with, an authority on the most interesting of all subjects; he +knew more about farming--that is to say, farming in his own part of the +country--than any other man who could wield a pen; he had written papers +full of the most brilliant suggestions, as well as knowledge, as to the +future of agriculture and its possible developments; he had written +things which made people ask if there had truly arisen an agricultural +prophet in the land. And he was as yet only twenty-eight. Of all young +authors, he seems to have been the man most to be envied. Everything +that he had so long desired seemed now lying at his feet ready to be +picked up. To use the old parlance, the trumpet of fame was already +resounding in the heavens for him, and the crown of honour was already +being woven for his brows. + +Some men would have made of this splendid commencement a golden ladder +of fortune. They would have come to town--the first step, whether one is +to become a millionnaire or a Laureate; they would have joined clubs; +they would have gone continually in and out among their fellow-men, and +especially those of their own craft or mystery; they would have been +seen as much as possible in society; they would have stood up to speak +on platforms; they would have sought to be mentioned in the papers; they +would have courted popularity in the ways very well known to all, and +commonly practised without concealment. Such a man as Jefferies might +have made himself, without much trouble, a great power in London. + +Well, Jefferies did not become a power in London at all. He could not; +everything was against him, except the main fact that the way was open +to him. First, the air of the town choked and suffocated him; he panted +for the breath of the fields. Next, he had no knowledge or experience of +men; he never belonged to society at all, not even to the quiet society +of a London suburb; he had none of the conversation which belongs to +clubs and to club life; he never associated with literary men or London +journalists; he knew nobody. Thirdly, there was the reserve which clung +round him like a cloak which cannot be removed. He did not want to know +anybody; he was not only reserved, but he was self-contained. Therefore, +the success which he achieved did not mean to him what it should have +meant had he been a man of the world. On the other hand, it must be +conceded that no mere man of the world could write the things which +Jefferies subsequently wrote. Let us, therefore, content ourselves with +the reflection that his success proved in the end to be of a far higher +kind than a mere worldly success. This knowledge, if such things follow +beyond the grave, should be enough to make him happy. + +He was himself contented--he was even happy--and desired nothing more +than to go on finding a ready market for his wares, a sufficient income +for the daily wants of his household, and that praise which means to +authors far more than it means to any other class of men. Nobody praises +the physician or the barrister: they go on their own way quite careless +of the world's praise. But an author wants it; I think that all authors +need praise. To work day after day, year after year, without +recognition, thanks, or appreciation, must in the end become destructive +to the highest genius. Praise makes a man write better. Praise gives him +that happy self-confidence which permits the flow, and helps the +expression, of his thoughts. Praise gives him audacity, a most useful +quality for an author. Jefferies could never have written his best +things but for the praise which he received. The chief reason, I verily +believe, why his work went on improving was that every year that he +lived after the appearance of the "Gamekeeper at Home" he received an +ever increasing share of praise, appreciation and encouragement. + +It was somewhere about the year 1876 that I myself first fell upon some +of his work. I remember the delight with which I drank, as a bright and +refreshing draught from a clear spring-head, the story of the country +life as set forth by him, this writer, the like of whom I had never +before read. Why, we must have been blind all our lives; here were the +most wonderful things possible going on under our very noses, but we saw +them not. Nay, after reading all the books and all the papers--every +one--that Jefferies wrote between the years 1876 and 1887, after +learning from him all that he had to teach, I cannot yet see these +things. I see a hedge; I see wild rose, honeysuckle, black +briony--_herbe aux femmes battues_, the French poetically call +it--blackberry, hawthorn, and elder. I see on the banks sweet +wildflowers whose names I learn from year to year, and straightway +forget because they grow not in the streets. I know very well, because +Jefferies has told me so much, what I should be able to see in the hedge +and on the bank besides these simple things; but yet I cannot see them, +for all his teaching. Mine--alas!--are eyes which have looked into shop +windows and across crowded streets for half a century, save for certain +intervals every year; they are also eyes which need glasses; they are +slow to see things unexpected, ignorant of what should be expected; they +are helpless eyes when they are turned from men and women to flowers, +ferns, weeds, and grasses; they are, in fact, like unto the eyes of +those men with whom I mostly consort. None of us--poor street-struck +creatures!--can see the things we ought to see. + +It happened unto me--by grace and special favour, I may call it--that in +the course of my earthly pilgrimage I had for a great many years certain +business transactions at regular short intervals with one who knew +Jefferies well, because he married his only sister. The habit began, as +soon as I learned that fact, of talking about Richard Jefferies as soon +as our business was completed. Henceforward, therefore, week by week, I +followed the fortunes of this man, and read not only his books and his +papers, but learned his personal history, and heard what he was doing, +and watched him curiously, unknown and unsuspected by himself. To be +sure, his own people knew little, except in general terms, about his +intentions or projects. It was not in Jefferies' nature to consult them. +Another thing I knew not, because, with characteristic pride and +reserve, he did not suffer even his brother-in-law or his sister to know +it--viz., the terrible poverty of his later days. + +I have never looked upon the face of Richard Jefferies. This, now that +it is too late, is to me a deep and abiding sorrow. I always hoped some +day to see him--there seemed so much time ahead--and to tell him, face +to face, what one _ought_ to tell such a man--it is a plain duty to tell +this truth to such a man--how greatly I admired and valued his work, +with what joy I received it, with what eagerness I expected it, what +splendid qualities I found in it, what instruction and elevation of soul +I derived from it. I have never even seen this man. I was not a friend +of his--I was not even a casual acquaintance--and yet I am writing his +life. Perhaps, in this strange way, by reading all that he wrote, by +connecting his work continually with what I learned of his life and +habits, and by learning, day by day, all the things which happened to +him, I may have learned to know him more intimately even than some of +those who rejoiced in being called his friends. + +As for his personal habits, Jefferies was extremely simple and regular, +even methodical. He breakfasted always at eight o'clock, often on +nothing but dry toast and tea. After breakfast he went to his study, +where he remained writing until half-past eleven. At that hour he always +went out, whatever the weather and in all seasons, and walked until one +o'clock. This morning walk was an absolute necessity for him. At one +o'clock he returned and took an early dinner, which was his only +substantial meal. His tastes were simple. He liked to have a plain roast +or boiled joint, with abundance of vegetables, of which he was very +fond, especially asparagus, sea-kale, and mushrooms. He would have +preferred ale, but he found that light claret or burgundy suited him +better, and therefore he drank daily a little of one or the other. + +Dinner over, he read his daily paper, and slept for an hour by the +fireside. Perhaps this after-dinner sleep may be taken as a sign of +physical weakness. A young man of thirty ought not to want an hour's +sleep in the middle of the day. At three o'clock he awoke, and went for +another walk, coming home at half-past four. He thus walked for three +hours every day, which, for a quick walker, gives a distance of twelve +miles--a very good allowance of fresh air. Men of all kinds, who have to +keep the brain in constant activity, have found that the active exercise +of walking is more valuable than any other way of recreation in +promoting a healthy activity of the brain. To talk with children is a +rest; to visit picture-galleries changes the current of thought; to play +lawn tennis diverts the brain; but to walk both rests the brain and +stimulates it. Jefferies acquired the habit of noting down in his walks, +and storing away, those thousands of little things which make his +writings the despair of people who think themselves minute observers. He +took tea at five, and then worked again in his study till half-past +eight, when he commonly finished work for the day. In other words, he +gave up five hours of the solid day to work. It is, I think, impossible +for a man to carry on literary work of any but the humblest kind for +more than five hours a day; three hours remained for exercise, and the +rest for food, rest, and reading. He took a little supper at nine, of +cold meat and bread, with a glass of claret, and then read or conversed +until eleven, when he went to bed. He took tobacco very rarely. + +He had not a large library, because the works which he most wished to +procure were generally beyond his means. For instance, he was always +desirous, but never able, to purchase Sowerby's "English Wild-Flowers." +His favourite novelists were Scott and Charles Reade. The conjunction of +these two names gives me singular pleasure, as to one who admires the +great qualities of Reade. He also liked the works of Ouida and Miss +Braddon. He never cared greatly for Charles Dickens. I think the reason +why Dickens did not touch him was that the kind of lower middle-class +life which Dickens knew so well, and loved to portray, belonged +exclusively to the town, which Jefferies did not know, and not to the +country, which he did. He was never tired of Goethe's "Faust," which was +always new to him. He loved old ballads, and among the poets, Dryden's +works were his favourite reading. In one thing he was imperious: the +house must be kept quiet--absolutely quiet--while he was at work. Any +household operations that made the least noise had to be postponed till +he went out for his walk. + +I have before me a great number of note-books filled with observations, +remarks, ideas, hints, and suggestions of all kinds by him. He carried +them about during his walks, and while he was always watching the +infinite wealth and variety of Nature, the multitudinous forms of life, +he was always noting down what he saw. To read these note-books is like +reading an unclassified index to the works of Nature. And since they +throw so much light upon his methods, and prove--if that wanted any +proof--how careful he was to set down nothing that had not been noted +and proved by himself, I have copied some few pages, which are here +reproduced. Observe that these extracts are taken almost at random from +two or three note-books. The writing is cramped, and in parts very +difficult to make out. + + "_Oct. 16, 1878._--Wasp and very large blue-fly struggling, + wrestling on leaf. In a few seconds wasp got the mastery, brought + his tail round, and stung twice or thrice; then bit off the fly's + proboscis, then the legs, then bit behind the head, then snipped + off the wings, then fell off leaf, but flew with burden to the + next, rolled the fly round, and literally devoured its intestines. + Dropped off the leaf in its eager haste, got on third leaf, and + continued till nothing was left but a small part of the body--the + head had been snipped off before. This was one of those large black + flies--a little blue underneath--not like meat flies, but bigger + and squarer, that go to the ivy. Ivy in bloom close by, where, + doubtless, the robber found his prey and seized it. + + "While the other leaves fall, the thick foliage of the fir supports + the leaves that have been wafted to it, so that the fir's branches + are thickly sprinkled with other leaves." + + "_Surrey, Oct. 27._--Red-wings numerous, and good many fieldfares. + + "Ivy, brown reddish leaves, and pale-green ribs." + + "_Oct. 29._--Saw hawk perched on telegraph line out of + railway-carriage window. Train passed by within ten yards; hawk did + not move. + + "Street mist, London, not fog, but on clear day comes up about + two-thirds the height of the houses." + + "_Nov. 3._--The horse-chestnut buds at end of boughs; tree quite + bare of leaves; all sticky, colour of deep varnish, strongly + adhesive. These showed on this tree very fully. + + "Golden-crested wren, pair together Nov. 3; 'cheep-cheep' as they + slipped about maple bush, and along and up oak bough; motions like + the tree-climber up a bough; the crest triangular, point towards + beak, spot of yellow on wing. + + "Still day; the earth holds its breath." + + "_Nov. 11._--Gold-crested wren and tom-tit on furze clinging to the + very spikes, and apparently busy on the tiny green buds now showing + thickly on the prickles. + + "The contemplation of the star, the sun, the tree raises the soul + into a trance of inner sight of nature." + + "_Nov. 17._--Sycamore leaves--some few still on--spotted with + intensely black spots an inch across. Willow buds showing." + + "_Nov. 23._--Oaks most beautiful in sun--elms nearly leafless, also + beech and willow--but oaks still in full leaf, some light-brown, + still trace of green, some brown, some buff, and tawny almost, save + in background, toned by shadow, a trace of red. The elms hid them + in summer; now the oaks stand out the most prominent objects + everywhere, and are seen to be three times as numerous as + expected." + + "_Nov. 25._--Thrushes singing again; a mild day after week or two + cold." + + "_Dec. 23._--Red-wings came within a yard, Velt (?) came within + ten, wood-pigeon the same. Weasel hunting hedge under snow; + under-ground in ivy as busy as possible; good time for them." + + "_Jan. 6._--Very sharp frost, calm, some sun in morning, dull at + noon." + + "_Jan. 7._--Frost, wind, dull." + + "_Jan. 8._--Frost light, strong N.E. wind." + + "_Jan. 9._--Frost light, some little snow, wind N.E., light." + + "_Jan. 10._--Very fine, sunny, N.E. wind, sharp frosty morning. + + "Orange moss on old tiles on cattle-sheds and barns a beautiful + colour; a picture." + + "_Feb. 7._--Larks soaring and singing the first time; one to an + immense height; rain in morning, afternoon mild but a strong wind + from west; catkins on hazel, and buds on some hazel-bushes; + missel-thrush singing in copse; spring seems to have burst on us + all at once; chaffinches pairing, or trying to; fighting." + + "_Feb. 8._--Numerous larks soaring; copse quite musical; now the + dull clouds of six weeks have cleared away, we see the sun has got + up quite high in the sky at noon." + + "_Feb. 12._--Rooks, five, wading into flood in meadow, almost up to + their breasts; lark soaring and singing at half-past five, evening; + light declining; partridges have paired. + + "No blue geranium in Surrey that I have seen." + + "_Feb. 17._--Rooks busy at nests, jackdaws at steeple; sliding down + with wings extended, 4.50, to gardens below at great speed." + + "_Feb. 20._--Ploughs at work again; have not seen them for three + months almost." + + "_Feb. 21._--Snow three or four inches; broom bent down; the green + stalks that stand up bent right down; afterwards bright sunshine + for some hours, and then clouded again." + + "_Feb. 22._--Berries on wild ivy on birch-tree, round and + fully-formed and plentiful; berries not formed on garden ivy." + + "_Feb. 27._--Snow on ground since morning of 21st; four wild ducks + going over to east; first seen here for two years; larks fighting + and singing over snow; thawing; snow disappeared during day; tomtit + at birch-tree buds; pigeons still in large flocks." + + "_March 7._--Splendid day; warm sun, scarcely any wind; + wood-pigeons calling in copse here." + + "_April 16._--Elms beginning to get green with leaf-buds; apple + leaf-buds opening green." + + "_May 12._--A real May-day at last; warm, west wind, sunshine; + birds singing as if hearts would burst; four or five blackbirds all + in hearing at once; butterfly, small white, tipped with yellowish + red; song of thrush more varied even than nightingale; if rare, + people would go miles to hear it, never the same in same bird, and + every bird different; fearless, too; _operatic_ singer. + + "More stitchwort; now common; it looks like ten petals, but is + really five; the top of the petal divided, which gives the + appearance; a delicate, beautiful white; leaves in pairs, pointed. + + "Humble-bees do suck cowslips." + + "_May 14._--Lark singing beautifully in the still dark and clouded + sky at a quarter to three o'clock in the morning; about twenty + minutes afterwards the first thrush; thought I heard distant + cuckoo--not sure; and ten minutes after that the copse by garden + perfectly ringing with the music. A beautiful May morning; + thoroughly English morning: southerly wind, warm light breeze, + smart showers of warm rain, and intervals of brilliant sunshine; + the leaves in copse beautiful delicate green, refreshed, cleaned, + and a still more lovely green from the shower; behind them the blue + sky, and above the bright sun; white detached clouds sailing past. + That is the morning; afternoon more cloudy. + + "More swifts later in evening. The first was flying low down + against wind; seemed to progress from tip to tip of wing, + alternately throwing himself along, now one tip downwards, now the + other, like hand-over-hand swimming. Furze-chat, first in furze + opposite, perched on high branch of furze above the golden blossom + thick on that branch; a way of shaking wings while perched; + 'chat-chat' low; head and part of neck black, white ring or band + below, brownish general colour. Nightingale singing on + elm-branch--a large, thick branch, projecting over the green by + roadside--perched some twenty-five feet high. Yellow-hammer noticed + a day or two ago perched on branch lengthwise, not across. Oaks: + more oaks out. Ash: thought I saw one with the large black buds + enlarged and lengthened, but not yet burst." + + "_May 18._--The white-throat feeds on the brink of the ditch, + perching on fallen sticks or small bushes; there is then no + appearance of a crest; afterwards he flies up to the topmost twig + of the bush, or on a sapling tree, and immediately he begins to + sing, and the feathers on the top of his head are all ruffled up, + as if brushed the wrong way." + + "_May 20._--Coo of dove in copse first." + + "_May 21._--The flies teased in the lane to-day--the first time." + +Such a man as Jefferies, with his necessities of fresh air and solitude, +should have been adopted and tenderly nursed by some rich man; or he +should have been piloted by some agent who would have transacted all his +business for him, placed his articles in the most advantageous way, +procured him the best price possible for his books, and relieved him +from the trouble of haggling and bargaining--a necessary business to one +who lives by his pen, but to one of his disposition an intolerable +trouble. It would, again, one thinks, have proved a profitable +speculation if some publisher had given him a small solid income in +return for having all his work. Consider: for the truly beautiful papers +on the country life which Jefferies wrote, there were the magazines in +which they might first appear, both American and English, and there was +the volume form afterwards. Would four hundred pounds a year--to +Jefferies it would have seemed affluence--have been too much to pay for +such a man? I think that from a commercial point of view, even including +the year when he was too ill to do any work, it might have paid so to +run Jefferies. As it was, he had no one to advise him. He drifted +helplessly from publisher to publisher. His name stood high, and rose +steadily higher, yet he made no more money by his books. The value of +his work rose no higher--it even fell lower. This curious fact--that +increase of fame should not bring increase of money--Jefferies did not +and could not understand. It constantly irritated and annoyed him. He +thought that he was being defrauded out of his just dues. On this point +I will, however, speak again immediately. + +The young couple remained at Swindon until February, 1877, when +Jefferies thought himself justified in giving up his post on the _North +Wilts Herald_, and in removing nearer London. But it must not be too +near London. He must only be near in the sense of ready access by train. +Therefore he took a house at Surbiton--it was at No. 2, Woodside. At +this semi-rural place one is near to the river, the fields, and the +woods. It is not altogether a desertion of the country. Jefferies +_could_ not leave the country altogether. It was necessary for him to +breathe the fresh air of the turf and the fragrance of the newly-turned +clods. He could not live, much less work, unless he did this. As for his +work, that was daily suggested and stimulated by this continual +communing with Nature. Poverty might prick him--it might make him uneasy +for the moment--it never made him unhappy--but unless his brain was full +to overflowing, he could not work. Out of the abundance of his heart his +mouth spoke. It seems, indeed, futile to regret that such a man as this +did not make a more practical advantage to himself out of his success. +He could not. If a man cannot, he cannot. Just as in scientific +observation there is a personal equation, so in the conduct of life +there is a personal limitation. Some unknown force holds back a man when +he has reached a certain point. The life of every man, rightly studied, +shows his personal limitation. But without the whole life of a man +spread out before us, it is not easy to understand where this personal +limitation begins. There is no more to be said when this is once +understood. It is a matter of personal limitation. Those kindly people +who continually occupy themselves with the concerns of their neighbours, +constantly go wrong because they do not understand the personal +limitation. What we call fate is often another word for limitation. Why +do I not write better English, and why have I not a nobler style, and +why cannot I become the greatest writer who ever lived? Because I cannot +rise above a certain level. If I am a wise man, I find out that level; I +reach it, and am content therewith. Why did not Jefferies make himself +rich with the opportunities he had? Because he could not. Because to +grasp an opportunity and to turn it to his own material interest was a +thing beyond his personal limitation. To seize Time by the forelock, +though he go ever so slowly, is to some men impossible. For while they +look on and hesitate, another steps in before them; or the world is +looking on and observes the situation, ready to sneer and snigger, and +there seems a kind of meanness in the act--very likely there _is_ +meanness; or to do so one must trample on one's neighbours; or one must +desert one's habits of life, throw over all that one loves, and make a +change of which the least that can be said is that it is certain to make +one uncomfortable for the remainder of life. + +Therefore, Jefferies suffered that forelock to be plucked by another, +and continued to wander about the fields. He had now indeed attained the +object of his ambition. He was not only a recognised and successful +writer, but his work was also looked for and loved. Happy that author +who knows that his work is expected before it is ready, and is loved +when it appears. Henceforth he made no more mistakes. He understood by +this time his personal limitation. His work, as well as his days, must +be concerning the fields and the wild life. Year after year that work +becomes more beautiful until the end. As for an income, it was mainly +secured by his contributions to the magazines and journals. He wrote, +during the last ten years of his life, for nearly all the magazines, +but especially for _Longman's_. He also contributed to the _Standard_, +the _St. James's_, the _Pall Mall_, the _Graphic_, the _World_, and +other papers. Most of these articles he gathered together as soon as +there were enough of them, and published them in a volume. In this way +he made a little more out of them. He even contrived to save a little +money. But his income was never very great. + +The first five of the works on the country life were published by +Messrs. Smith and Elder. These were the "Gamekeeper at Home," "Wild Life +in a Southern County," "The Amateur Poacher," "Greene Ferne Farm," and +"Round About a Great Estate." Then he did either a very foolish or a +very unfortunate thing. He left Messrs. Smith and Elder, and for the +rest of his life he went about continually changing his publisher, +always in the hope of getting a better price for his volumes, and always +chafing at the smallness of the pecuniary result. An author should never +change his publisher, unless he is compelled to do so by the misfortune +of starting with a shark, a thing which has happened unto many. The +very fact of having all his works in the same hands greatly assists +their sale. A reader who is delighted, for instance, with "Red Deer," +and would wish to get other books by the same author, finds the name of +Longmans on the back, but no list of those books published by Smith and +Elder, Chatto and Windus, Cassell and Co., and Sampson Low and Co. I +have myself found it very difficult to get a complete set of Jefferies' +books. At the London Library, even, they do not possess a complete set. +Then that reader lays down his book, and presently forgets his purpose. +I suppose that there are very few, even of Jefferies' greatest admirers, +who actually possess all his works. + +He was, as I have already said, bitter against publishers for the small +sums they offered him. He made the not uncommon mistake of supposing +that, because the reviews spoke of his works in terms so laudatory, +which, indeed, no reviewers could refrain from doing, the public were +eagerly buying them. I have, myself, had perhaps an exceptional +experience of authors, their grumblings, and their grievances, and I +know that this confusion of thought--this unwarranted conclusion--is +very widespread. An author, that is to say, reads a highly-complimentary +review of his work, and looks for an immense and immediate demand in +consequence for that work. Well, every good review helps a book, +undoubtedly, but to a much smaller extent, from the pecuniary point of +view, than is generally believed. The demand for a book is created in +quite other ways; partly by the author's previous works, which, little +by little, or, if he is lucky, at a single bound, create a _clientele_ +of those who like his style; partly by the talk of people who tell each +other what they have read, and recommend this or that book. Then, since +most books are read from the circulating library, and that kind of +personal recommendation, especially with a new writer, takes time, the +libraries are able to get along with a comparatively small number of +copies; in fact, an author may have a very considerable name, and yet +make, even with the honourable houses, quite a small sum of money by any +work. Again, this is not, one sorrowfully owns, a country which buys +books. My compatriots will buy everything and anything, except books. +They will lavish their money in every conceivable manner, except +one--they never commit extravagances in buying books. For the greater +part, the three-guinea subscription to the library is the whole of the +family expenditure for the greatest, the only unfailing, delight that +life has to offer them. + +Again, in the case of Richard Jefferies, the demand for his books was +confined to a comparatively small number of readers. I do not suppose +that his work will ever be widely popular, and yet I am certain that his +reputation will grow and increase. Of all modern writers, I know of none +of whom one can predict with such absolute certainty that he will live. +He will surely live. He draws, as no other writer has done, the actual +life of rural England under Queen Victoria. For the very fidelity of +these pictures alone he must live. No other writers, except Jefferies +and Thomas Hardy, have been able to depict this life. And, what is even +more, as the hills, and fields, and woods, and streams are ever with +us, whether we are savages or civilized beings, whatever our manners, +dress, fashions, laws or customs, the man who speaks with truth of these +speaks for all time and for all mankind. + +Yet he is not, and will never be, widely popular. There are many +persons, presumably persons of culture, who cannot read Jefferies. A +country parson--poor man!--observed to me in Swindon itself, that he +hoped the biography of Richard Jefferies would not prove so dry as the +works of Richard Jefferies. These, he said, with the cheerful dogmatism +of his kind, were as dry as a stick, and impossible to read. Now, this +good man was probably in some sort a scholar. He lives in the Jefferies +county. All round him are the hills and downs described in these works. +To us those hills and downs are now filled with life, beauty, and all +kinds of delightful things, entirely through those very books. The good +vicar finds them so dry that he cannot read them. Others there are who +complain that Jefferies is always "cataloguing." One understands what is +meant. To some of us the picture is always being improved by the +addition of another blade of grass, another dead leaf, or the ear of a +hare visible among the turnip-tops; others are fatigued by these little +details. Jefferies is too full for them. + +Another thing against him in the minds of the frivolous is that you +cannot skip in reading Jefferies. To take up a volume is to read it +right through from beginning to end. You can no more skip Jefferies than +you can skip Emerson. Now, most readers like to rush a volume. You +cannot rush Jefferies. I defy the most rapid reader to rush Jefferies. +You might as well try to rush the Proof of the Binomial Theorem. Others +there are who like to be made to laugh or to cry. This man never laughs. +You may, perhaps, put down the book and smile at the incongruities of +the rustic talk, but you do not laugh. Hardy's rustics will make you +laugh a whole summer's day through, but Jefferies' rustics never. He is +always in earnest. Hardy is a humorist; Jefferies is not. And, worst sin +of all in him who courts popularity, he makes his readers think. Men +who live alone, who walk about alone, who commune with Nature all day +long, do not laugh, and do not make others laugh. + +For these reasons, then, among others, Jefferies was never popular, +despite the laudatory reviews and the readiness with which editors +welcomed his work. + +As to the remuneration which he received. With these considerations in +our minds, let us next remember that publishing is a business +undertaken, not for love of literature or of authors, but for profit, +for a livelihood, for making money. It is, therefore, conducted upon +"business principles." Now, in business of every kind, the first rule is +that the business man must "make a profit on every transaction." You +must pay your publisher, if you engage one, just as you must pay your +solicitor. This is fair, just, and honest. You must pay him for his time +and his trouble. He must be paid either by the author, or out of the +books which he sells. The only question, therefore, not including +certain awkward points into which we need not here enter--I am speaking +only of honourable houses--is what proportion of a book's returns, or +what sum, should be paid to a publisher for his trouble. Now, I have +learned enough of the sale of Jefferies' books, and of the sums which he +received for them, to be satisfied that his publishers' services were by +no means exorbitantly paid by the sale of his books, and that no more, +from a business point of view, could have been given. That is to say, if +more had been given, it would have been as a free gift, or act of +charity, which this author would have spurned. All these things, +however, he could not understand, perhaps because they were never +explained to him. + +I have been told by one who knew Jefferies from boyhood that he was +indolent, and would never have worked had it not been for necessity. His +writings do not convey to me the idea of an indolent man. On the +contrary, they are those of a man of an intellect so active that he must +have been compelled to work. Yet one can understand that he could not +work, after making the grand discovery of what his work should be, until +his brain was overflowing with the subject. Generally it was a single +and a simple subject round which he wove his tapestry. The subject once +conceived, he could do nothing until his brain was charged and possessed +with it. + +His life has henceforth no incidents to record, except those of work and +illness. He worked, he walked, he wrote, he walked again, he read, he +watched and observed, he thought. That is his life, until illness fell +upon him. Always a silent man, always a man of few friends, always a man +of simple habits, in all weathers delighting to be out of doors, +refusing to put on a great-coat or to carry an umbrella. + +He changed his residence several times. From Surbiton, where he stayed +for five years, he went to West Brighton, to a house called "Savernake." +Did he himself christen it after the forest which he knew so well? +Thence, in 1884, he went to Eltham, where he took a house in the +Victoria Road. Then, I suppose, an irresistible yearning for some place +far from men seized him, for he moved again, and went to live at a +cottage two miles and a half from Crowborough Station, near Crowborough +Hill, the highest spot in Sussex. Again he stayed for a few weeks on +the Quantock Hills, Somerset. Lastly, he went to live at a house called +Sea View, at Goring, where he died. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE LONGMAN LETTERS. + + +Mr. Charles Longman, who for the last eight years of Jefferies' life was +one of his most constant friends, has lent me a packet of letters +written to him by Jefferies between the years 1878 and 1886. They form +by themselves, like the previous letters to Mrs. Harrild, a kind of +diary of his life during that period. + +"The papers on the 'Gamekeeper at Home,' in the _Pall Mall Gazette_," +Mr. Longman writes, "were the first things of Jefferies' that attracted +me. I thought at once that they seemed to me written by a man who could +see more of the secrets of nature than anyone whose work I had ever come +across. I wrote to Mr. George Smith, asking him to forward a letter to +the writer of the papers, whose name I did not know. In the letter I +proposed that he should write a complete work on Shooting, to be what +Hawker's work was forty years ago. He never did it; but this was the +beginning of my friendship with this most interesting man." + +"He never did it." Jefferies could never do anything which did not +spring from his own brain. He has written admirable pages on kindred +subjects--he was the very man to write such a book--and it would +undoubtedly have proved a most popular book. Why, there is not a +gentleman's house in the three kingdoms or the colonies which would not +desire to have a copy of such a work. But the work was proposed to him +by another man, therefore Jefferies could not see his way to put his +heart in it. However, he did think of it; he even went so far as to draw +up a scheme of the work. He would have chapters on the gun, the +gun-room, the art of shooting, etiquette of the field, the dog, the +various kinds of game, and so forth. Presently, we hear that the book is +actually begun; that there are difficulties about getting information +as to various points; that he has been occupied with the various kinds +of game, and so on. He also mentions with complacency pardonable and +even praiseworthy that he has received a proposal to write two books +from a leading Edinburgh firm. Nothing apparently came of this proposal. +It is, however, noticeable, and to young writers it should be very +encouraging, that no sooner did his first really good book appear--the +"Gamekeeper at Home"--than his genius was at once recognised, and the +best publishers began inviting him to write for them. He then offers a +novel--always a novel!--which Messrs. Longmans' reader does not advise +the house to accept. What was that novel? Perhaps one of those which had +already been refused by one publisher, if not by more. Pending the +writing and completion of the book on Shooting, he submits another +proposal. He says: + + "To carry out this volume I must partly lay aside some MSS. which I + had previously begun, and before writing it I should like to hear + your opinion on the subject. The provisional title of one for + which I have accumulated materials and ideas for some time is 'The + Proletariate: the Power of the Future.' It has been my lot to see a + great deal of the Labour Question, not only agricultural, but also + urban." Really? Urban? Where, how, and in what period of his life + did he get his urban experience? Was it on the streets of Swindon, + that great centre of life and thought? "And it seems to me that all + politics are slowly resolving into this one great point." He means + that the condition of the people all over the world is rapidly + becoming the dominant question. He was right; but he spoke ten + years too soon. "Religion, society, institutions of every kind are + affected. No doubt you saw the extraordinary account in the _Times_ + recently of the burial of a Socialist in Germany, and the marked + progress of their doctrines. There are several books on wages, + capital and labour, etc., but it seems to me that most thinkers and + writers treat the subject on grounds too narrow. Of wages I propose + to say very little. My idea is to point out how proletarian + influences are at work everywhere under the surface. The Church, + the Chapel, the Houses of Parliament, legislation, society, at + home; abroad, the same. Note the Nihilism in Russia, and the + railway insurrection in the United States lately. Everywhere the + masses are heaving and fermenting. In our own rural districts I + clearly foresee changes in the future through the education now + beginning of the cottagers. Personally, I have little feeling, and + my book will be absolutely free of party politics. I look at it + much as I should dissect and analyze a given period in the history + of ancient Rome." + +Nothing came of this proposal, and, indeed, one feels that Jefferies was +not the man to write such a book. Of the people in other countries he +knew nothing but what he read in the papers; of the people at home he +knew only the agricultural portion; and though he had read a great many +books he was in no sense an historical student. But he was still young, +and it still seemed to him, as to all young writers, that he could write +a book upon any subject which it interested him to read about in the +papers or elsewhere. + +The same letter contains another idea. It is that of a book on "The +History of the English Squire." This seems a very good subject for a +competent person. Perhaps someone will take up the idea and write the +history of the English squire before he becomes extinct. One would like +to see how, first, the yeoman added acre to acre, ousting his neighbour, +and so became the squire; then how, gradually, all over the country, +owing to the action of forces too strong for him, the yeoman began to +disappear; how the squire was able to add more acres, buying out yeoman +after yeoman, always on the look-out to buy more land, and therefore +always becoming more important; and how, presently, he got a title, +which he now "enjoys," claiming superiority of blood and descent, while +the ex-yeoman, once his equal, is now his tenant, and humbly doffs his +hat. Jefferies, one feels convinced, ought to have written a most +interesting and instructive volume upon this subject, if--which he has +never shown--he had the patience for historical research and +investigation. + +He presently forwards a specimen chapter for the Shooting-Book. That was +in September, 1878. In October he formally accepted the business +arrangements offered by the firm, undertook the work, and signed the +agreement. There follows here a gap of three years. When the letters are +resumed, Jefferies is living at West Brighton (December, 1882). He +offers to contribute to the new _Longman's Magazine_, and proposes an +article consisting of three short sketches. (1) The Acorn-gatherer; (2) +The Legend of a Gateway; and (3) A Roman Brook. This article, in fact, +appeared under the title of "Bits of Oak Bark." + +He presently speaks of his long illness, which has kept him out of the +world. "I see," he says, "that you have got out the Shooting-Book under +the title of 'The Dead Shot.'" This, however, was a reprint of an old +book. Mr. Longman's idea of a complete manual for shooting has since +been carried out in "The Badminton Library." "No wonder; I could not +expect anyone to be more patient than you were. But even now I hope some +day to send in a manuscript." + +He is also ready to write another book. This time it is to be a series +of "short story-sketches of life and character, incident and nature. I +want to express the deeper feelings with which observation of +life-histories has filled me, and I assure you I have as large a +collection of these facts and incidents--the natural history of the +heart--as I have ever written about birds and trees." In short, he +proposes to write a series which shall take the place in the magazine of +the novel, and says that he has enough material to carry him along until +the year 1890, or longer. "Why not let other contributors, besides the +novelist, occasionally give you a series? For myself, I have given up +English novels and taken to the French, which are at least bright, +short, dramatic, and amusing." The poor English novelist! He has to +endure a great deal. Whenever an editor is in want of a subject for a +leading article, or a critic for something to talk about, he has a fling +at the English novelist. The greatest artist and the smallest, most +insignificant story-teller; the master and the apprentice; the observer +of manners and the school-girl--all are lumped together by the critic +who has nothing else to write about, and discussed under the title of +"the English Novelist." And to think that Jefferies--Richard +Jefferies--should throw his stone! Oh! 'tis too much! But Nemesis fell +upon him, for he presently wrote "Green Ferne Farm," which is neither +short, bright, dramatic, nor amusing. That proposed series did not +appear. He says, a few days afterwards, that he has begun a paper asked +for by Mr. Longman on "The County Suffrage." This paper subsequently +appeared under the title of "After the County Suffrage." + +It was in June, 1883, that _Longman's Magazine_ contained the article +called "The Pageant of Summer." This fine paper, the best thing ever +written by Jefferies, glorified the whole of that number. There has +never been, I think, in any magazine any article like unto it, so +splendid in imagery and language, so perfectly truthful, so overflowing +with observation, so full of the deepest feeling, so tender and so +touching, so generous of thought and suggestion. In this paper Jefferies +reached his highest point. There are plenty of single pages and +detached passages in which he has equalled the "Pageant of Summer;" but +there is no one chapter, no single article, in which he has sustained +throughout the elevation of this noble paper. I will return to "The +Pageant of Summer" later on. + +Although he wrote this paper while in dire straits of poverty; although +he had already entered that valley whose gloomy sides continually +narrow; where the slopes become, little by little, precipices; where the +light grows dim, and where the spectre of death slowly rises before the +eyes and takes shape: although he lived poorly; although he continued +unknown to the mass of the reading world, who passed him by, everything, +to us, seems compensated by the splendid power which he had now acquired +of thinking such thoughts and expressing them in such language. I have +heard it said by some that Jefferies wrote too much. Not a single page +too much, beginning from the "Gamekeeper at Home," and thinking only of +the "Gamekeeper's" legitimate successors! That is to say, we are +prepared to surrender portions, but not all--saving great pieces, huge +cantles, here and there whole chapters--of "Bevis," "Wood Magic," "After +London," "Green Ferne Farm," "The Dewy Morn," and even "Amaryllis." We +will blot out everything that has to do with the ordinary figures, +conversations, and situations of what the writer called a novel. But of +the rest we will not part with one single line. Year after +year--generation after generation--the truth and fidelity and beauty of +these pages will sink deeper and deeper into the heart of the world. So +deeply will they sink, so long will they live, that he who writes a +memoir of this man trembles for thinking that when future ages ask who +and what was the man who wrote these things, the pages which contain his +life may seem unequal to the subject--too low, pedestrian, and creeping +for the greatness of the author he commemorates. + +I return to the packet of letters. They go on to offer articles, and to +explain how promised papers are getting on. He wrote nine papers in all +for _Longman's Magazine_--namely, three in 1883, two in 1884, one in +1885, one in 1886, and two, which appeared after his death, in the year +1887. + +In June of 1883 he offers a manuscript which, he says, he has been +meditating for seventeen years. In that case he must have begun to think +of it at eighteen. This, if one begins to consider, is by no means +improbable. On the contrary, I think it is extremely probable, and that +Jefferies meant his words to be taken literally. The thoughts of a boy +are long thoughts. Sometimes one remembers, by some strange trick of +memory--it shows how the past never dies, but may be recalled at any +moment--a train of thought which filled the mind on some day long passed +away, when one was a lad of eighteen; a child; almost an infant. At such +a moment one is astonished to remember that this thought filled the +brain so early. As for the age of adolescence, there is no time when the +brain is more active to question, to imagine, to create, to inform; +none, when the mind is more eager to arrive at certainty; none, more +hopeful of the future; none, more anxious to arrive at the truth. +Therefore, when Jefferies tells Mr. Longman that he has meditated "The +Story of My Heart" for eighteen years, I believe him: not that he then +consciously called the work by that or by any other name, but that the +book is the outcome of so long a period of thought and questioning. "It +is," he says, "a real record--unsparing to myself as to all +things--absolutely and unflinchingly true." + +The book was published with Longman's autumn list in October, 1883. I +have something to say about it in another chapter. + +Jefferies' industry at this time seems superhuman. The MS. of "The Story +of My Heart" is no sooner out of his hands, than he asks Mr. Longman if +he will look at another. This time it is his "Red Deer," which I really +believe to be the very best book of the kind ever produced. This is what +he says himself about it: + + "The title is 'Red Deer,' and it is a minute account of the natural + history of the wild deer of Exmoor, and of the modes of hunting + them. I went all over Exmoor a short time since on foot in order to + see the deer for myself, and in addition I had the advantage of + getting full information from the huntsman himself, and from others + who have watched the deer for twenty years past. The chase of the + wild stag is a bit out of the life of the fifteenth century brought + down to our own times. Nothing has ever interested me so much, and + I contemplate going down again. In addition, there are a number of + Somerset poaching tricks which were explained to me by gamekeepers + and by a landowner there, besides a few curious superstitions. + There seem to be no books about the deer--I mean the wild deer. A + book called 'Collyer's Chase of the Wild Red Deer' was published + many years ago, but is not now to be had." + +"Red Deer" was brought out by Longmans in 1884. + +In December, 1883, he offers "The Dewy Morn." The proposal came to +nothing. The book was published in the following year by Messrs. Chapman +and Hall. In February, 1884, he speaks of a letter written to him by +Lord Ebrington, master of the Devon and Somerset staghounds, upon his +"Red Deer." Certain small errors were pointed out for correction, but, +as he points out with satisfaction, no serious omission or fault had +been discovered. + +In a letter written in March he mentions that an anonymous correspondent +has been scourging him with Scripture texts on account of the "Story of +My Heart." That anonymous correspondent! How he lieth in wait for +everybody! how omniscient he is! how unsparing! how certain and sure of +everything! The texts which this person used to belabour poor Jefferies +were, however, singularly inappropriate. "O Lord," he quotes, "how +glorious are Thy works! Thy thoughts are very deep. An unwise man doth +not consider this, and a FOOL doth not understand it." The word "fool" +was doubly underlined, so that there should be no mistake as to the +practical application of the passage. The anonymous correspondent is, +indeed, always very particular on this point. But Jefferies had been all +his life commenting on the glory of those works, and endeavouring to +apprehend and to realize, if only a little, the meaning and the depth +of these thoughts. The cry of his heart all through the book is for +fuller insight--for a deeper understanding. + +He goes on to speak of his illness. It is not, he says, at all serious; +but it will make him go to London to see a physician, and it is likely +to prevent him from getting about. There is a paper (not one of these +letters) among his literary remains, in which he describes the symptoms +at length. + +In April he writes a long letter about many things, but especially his +"After London." + + "I have just put the finishing touch to my new book. It is in three + volumes." As published by Cassell and Co. it was in one volume, and + it leaves off with the story only half told. Perhaps the author cut + it down, perhaps the publishers refused to bring it out unless as a + short one-volume work. "It is called," he says, "'After London,' + with a second title, 'Chronicles of the House of Aquila.' The first + part describes the relapse of England into barbarism; how the roads + are covered with grass, how the brambles extend over the fields, + and in time woods occupy the country. These woods are filled with + wild animals--descendants of the dogs, cats, swine, horses, and + cattle that were left, and gradually returned to their original + wild nature. The rivers are choked, and a great lake forms in the + centre of the island. + + "Such inhabitants as remain are resident about the shores of the + lake--the forest being without roads, and their only communication + being by water. They have lost printing and gunpowder; they use the + bow and arrow, and wear armour, but retain some traces of the arts + and of civilization. At the same time, slavery exists, and moral + tyranny. There are numerous petty kingdoms and republics at war + with each other. Knights and barons possess fortified dwellings, + and exercise unbounded power within their stockaded + estates--stockaded against bushmen, forest savages, against bands + of gipsies, and against wild cattle and horses. + + "The Welsh issue from their mountains, claiming England as having + belonged to their ancestors. They succeed in conquering a section, + but are confronted by other invaders, for the Irish, thinking that + now is the time for their revenge, land at Chester. These invaders + to some degree neutralize each other, yet they form a standing + menace to the South, and more civilized portion. + + "The state of the site of London is fully described. It is, I + think, an original picture. + + "The second part, or 'Chronicles of the House of Aquila,' treats of + the manner of life, the hunting journeys through the forest, the + feasts and festivals, and, in short, the entire life of the time. + Ultimately, one of them starts on a voyage round the great inland + lake, and his adventures are followed. He assists at a siege, and + visits the site of London. + + "All these matters are purposely dealt with in minute detail so + that they may appear actual realities, and the incidents stand out + as if they had just happened. There is a love affair, but it is in + no sense a novel; more like a romance, but no romance of a real + character. + + "First, you see, I have to picture the condition of the country + 'After London,' and then to set my heroes to work, and fight, and + travel in it." + +This book was brought out, as stated above, by Cassell and Co. in 1886. +The idea is indeed truly original. Had it been more of a novel, with an +end, as well as a beginning, it would have proved more successful. + +"You tell me," Jefferies continues, "that I write too much. To me it +seems as if I wrote nothing, more especially since my illness; for this +is the third year I have been so weakened. To me, I say, it seems as if +I wrote nothing, for my mind teems with ideas, and my difficulty is to +know what to do with them. I not only sketch out the general plan of a +book almost instantaneously, but I can see every little detail of it +from the first page to the last. The mere writing--the handwriting--is +the only trouble; it is very wearying. At this moment I have several +volumes quite complete in my mind. Scarce a day goes by but I put down a +fresh thought. I have twelve note-books crammed full of ideas, plots, +sketches of papers, and so on." + +These are probably the note-books of which I have spoken, and from which +I have quoted. + +The following, dated January 29, 1885, refers to a copy of the Badminton +hunting-book sent him by Mr. Longman: + + "You have made me pretty miserable. I have just read the otter + chapter, and I can see it all so plainly--the rocks and the rush of + water, and the oaks of June above. Have you ever seen the Exe and + Barle? It is a land of Paradise. So you have made me miserable + enough, being on all-fours; literally not able to go even on three, + as the Sphynx said, but on four, crawling upstairs on hands and + knees, and nailed to the uneasy chair." + +He offers more work from Crowborough (May 1, 1884 or 1885, uncertain). +There is a new novel of which he speaks, called "A Bit of Human Nature," +which never appeared, and was probably never written. The rest of the +letters belong to the last few months of his life, and must be reserved +for the last chapter. + +Enough has been quoted from these letters to show the extraordinary +mental activity of the man. He is continually planning new work. He sees +a whole book spread out before him complete in all its details. To make +a book--that is to say, to imagine a book already made,--is nothing; +what troubles him is the writing it. This temperament, however, is fatal +to novel-writing, because characters cannot be seen at once; they must +be studied, they require time to grow in the brain. But Jefferies cannot +write enough. It seems to his fertile brain, fevered with long sickness, +as if he did nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE COUNTRY LIFE. + + +It was then, very slowly, and after many hesitations, false starts, +deviations, and mistakes, that Jefferies at last discovered himself and +his real powers. He had written, for obscure country papers, pages of +local descriptions: he had written feeble and commonplace novels, which +all fell dead at their birth, and of which none survive to reproach his +memory or to darken the splendour of his later work. He had also written +practical common-sense papers on agriculture, the farmer and the +farm-labourer. He thus worked his way slowly, first to the mere +mechanical art of writing, that is, to the expression, somehow or other, +of thought and ideas; next, when this was acquired, he endeavoured to +depict society, of which he knew nothing, and its manners, of which he +was completely ignorant; thirdly, after many years of blundering along +the wrong road, he advanced to the perception of the great truth that he +who would succeed in the great profession of letters must absolutely +write on some subject that he knows, and that he should understand his +own limitations. For instance, Jefferies, as we have seen, ardently +desired to become a novelist. If a man be habitually observant of his +fellow-men, if he have the eye of a humourist, a brain which is like a +store-house for capacity, a fair measure of the dramatic faculty, an +instinctive power of selection, and the faculty of getting away from his +own individuality altogether, he will perhaps do well to try the +profession of a novelist. But Jefferies possessed one only of these +faculties: he had a brain which would hold millions of facts, each +consigned to its proper place: but he had little or no humour: he had no +power of creating situation and incident: and he could never possibly +get outside himself and away from his own people. He could not, +therefore, become a novelist: that line of work--though he never +understood it--was closed to him from the beginning. Nature herself +stood before him, though he neither saw nor heard her, as Balaam could +not see the angel, and barred his way. But when he discovered his own +incomparable gift, which was not until he was nearly thirty years of +age, he sprang suddenly before the world as one who could speak of +Nature and her wondrous works in field and forest, as no man ever spake +before. + + * * * * * + +There is a passage in Thomas Hardy's "Woodlanders" which might have been +written of Richard Jefferies. The words, which could only have been +written by one who himself knows the country life, concern a pair, not +one: + + "The casual glimpses which the ordinary population bestowed upon + that wondrous world of sap and leaves called the Hintock woods had + been, with these two, a clear gaze. They had been possessed of its + finer mysteries as of commonplace knowledge; had been able to read + its hieroglyphs as ordinary writing; to them the sights and sounds + of night, winter, wind, storm, amid those dense boughs, were simple + occurrences whose origin, continuance, and laws they foreknew. They + had planted together, and together they had felled; together they + had, with the run of the years, mentally collected those remoter + signs and symbols which seen in few were of runic obscurity, but + all together made an alphabet. From the light lashing of the twigs + upon their faces when brushing through them in the dark, they could + pronounce upon the species of the tree whence they stretched; from + the quality of the wind's murmur through a bough they could in like + manner name its sort afar off. They knew by a glance at a trunk if + its heart were sound, or tainted with incipient decay; and by the + state of its upper twigs the stratum that had been reached by its + roots. The artifices of the seasons were seen by them from the + conjuror's own point of view, and not from that of the spectator." + +There are not in the whole of the English-speaking world, which now +numbers close upon a hundred million, more, I suppose, than forty +thousand who read Jefferies' works. Out of the forty thousand not +one-half have read them all. For some are contented with the "Gamekeeper +at Home," "Red Deer," and the "Amateur Poacher." Some have on their +shelves "The Life in the Fields," or "The Open Air." Few, indeed, have +read all those books which came from his brain in so full and clear a +stream. This stream may be likened unto the river by whose banks +Petrarch loved to wander; inasmuch as it springs full grown from the +foot of a great bare precipice. All around is tumbled rock. So, among +the heaped and broken rocks of disappointed hopes and baffled attempts, +this full, strong, and clear stream leaped forth triumphant. + +For the greater part of mankind Jefferies is too full. They cannot +absorb so much; they are more at their ease with the last century poets +who use to talk vaguely of the perfumed flowers, the rustling leaves, +the finny tribe, and the warbling of the birds in the bosky grove. It +fatigues them to read of so much that they can never see for themselves; +it irritates them, perhaps, even to think that there is so much; they +are more at home among their geraniums in the conservatory; they even +call his style a cataloguing. + +There is also another thing where Jefferies is outside the sympathies of +the multitude. This solitary, who was never so happy as when he wandered +alone upon the downs with no human creature in sight, is yet intensely +human. All kinds of injustice, and especially social injustice, the +grinding and robbery and oppression of the producer, the pride of caste +and class, the pretensions of rank and the insolence of money--these +things make him angry. Now, if there be one thing more lamentably sure +and certain than another, it is that injustice does not make the average +man angry. If money is to be made by injustice, he will be unjust. He +will call his injustice, unless he covers and hides it up, the custom of +the trade, and persuade himself that it is laudable and even Christian +so to act. When another man speaks the truth about these injustices, he +gets uncomfortable. Because, you see, he goes to church, and perhaps +bears a character for eminent piety. There were doubtless churchwardens +and sidesmen among those who, fifty years ago, used to send the little +children of six to work for fourteen hours in the dark coal-pit. +Jefferies had lived so little in towns and among men that he did not +know any sophistry of trade custom, and when he heard of these customs +his soul flamed up. It is not a side of his character which often comes +into view; but it comes often enough to irritate many excellent people +who live in great comfort by the exertions of other people, and plume +themselves mightily upon their virtues, hereditary or otherwise. +Jefferies could never have called himself a Socialist; but he +sympathized with that part of Socialism which claims for every man the +full profit of the labour of his hands. + + "Dim woodlands made him wiser far + Than those who thresh their barren thought + With flails of knowledge dearly bought, + Till all his soul shone like a star + That flames at fringe of Heaven's bar, + There breaks the surf of space unseen + Against Hope's veil that lies between + Love's future and the woes that are. + His soul saw through the weary years-- + Past war-bells' chimes and poor men's tears-- + That day when Time shall bring to birth + (By many a heart whose hope seems vain, + And many a fight where Love slays Pain) + True Freedom, come to reign on earth."[1] + + [1] These lines were communicated to me by the writer, + Mr. H.H. von Sturmer, of Cambridge. + +In thinking of Jefferies and the country life, one is continually +tempted to compare him with Thoreau. There are some points of +resemblance. Neither Thoreau nor Jefferies had a scientific training. I +do not gather from any page in the works of the latter that he was a +scientific botanist, entomologist, or ornithologist. Both were men of +few wants and simple habits. Neither went to church, yet in the heart of +each there was a profound sense of religion, which, in the case of +Jefferies, took the form of a firm faith in the future destiny of the +soul. Both men were impatient of authority and of imitation. Each +desired to be self-sufficient. What Emerson says of Thoreau in respect +of open air and exercise might have been written of Jefferies. "The +length of his walk uniformly made the length of his writing. If shut up +in the house he could not write at all." + +In both men there was to be observed a great strength of common-sense. +And again, there was this other point common to both, that no college--I +here imitate Emerson on Thoreau--ever offered either of them a diploma +or a professor's chair: no academy made either man its corresponding +secretary, its founder, or even its member. And the following passage, +written by Emerson of Thoreau, might be equally well written, _mutatis +mutandis_, of Jefferies: + + "Thoreau dedicated his genius with such entire love to the fields, + hills and waters of his native town, that he made them known and + interesting to all reading Americans, and to people over the sea. + The river on whose banks he was born and died he knew from its + springs to its confluence with the Merrimack. He had made summer + and winter observations on it for many years, and at every hour of + the day and night. Every fact which occurs in the bed, on the + banks, or in the air over it; the fishes, and their spawning and + nests, their manners, their food; the shad-flies which fill the air + on a certain evening once a year, and which are snapped at by the + fishes so ravenously that many of these die of repletion; the + conical heaps of small stones on the river-shallows; the huge nests + of small fishes, one of which will sometimes overfill a cart; the + birds which frequent the stream, heron, duck, sheldrake, loon, + osprey; the snake, muskrat, otter, woodchuck and fox, on the banks; + the turtle, frog, hyla, and cricket, which make the banks + vocal--were all known to him, and, as it were, townsmen and + fellow-creatures; so that he felt an absurdity or violence in any + narrative of one of these by itself apart, and still more of its + dimensions on an inch-rule, or in the exhibition of its skeleton, + or the specimen of a squirrel or a bird in brandy. He liked to + speak of the manners of the river, as itself a lawful creature, yet + with exactness, and always to an observed fact. As he knew the + river, so the ponds in this region." + +Again, though Thoreau was short of stature and Jefferies tall, there is +something similar in their faces: the lofty forehead; the full, serious +eye; the large nose--these are features common to both. And to both was +common--but Jefferies had, perhaps, the greater forbearance--a certain +impatience with the common herd of mankind who know not, and care not +for, Nature. + +There is another passage on Thoreau by a younger writer,[2] which might +just as well have been written, word for word, of Jefferies: + + "The quality which we should call mystery in a painting, and which + belongs so particularly to the aspect of the external world and to + its influence upon our feelings, was one which he was never weary + of attempting to reproduce in his books. The seeming significance + of nature's appearances, their unchanging strangeness to the + senses, and the thrilling response which they waken in the mind of + man, continued to surprise and stimulate his spirits. It appeared + to him, I think, that if we could only write near enough to the + facts, and yet with no pedestrian calm, but ardently, we might + transfer the glamour of reality direct upon our pages; and that, if + it were once thus captured and expressed, a new and instructive + relation might appear between men's thoughts and the phenomena of + nature. This was the eagle that he pursued all his life long, like + a schoolboy with a butterfly net. Hear him to a friend: 'Let me + suggest a theme for you--to state to yourself precisely and + completely what that walk over the mountains amounted to for you, + returning to this essay again and again until you are satisfied + that all that was important in your experience is in it.'" + + [2] Robert Louis Stevenson, "Men and Books: _Thoreau_." + Chatto and Windus, London. + +It was not until Jefferies had thoroughly mastered this lesson, and +saturated himself with its spirit, that he began to write well. No one +would believe that the same hand which wrote "The Scarlet Shawl" also +wrote "The Pageant of Summer." I firmly believe that it is not until a +man obtains the great gift of beautiful thought that he can even begin +to understand the beauty of style. To some such thoughts come early; to +others, late. When Jefferies left men for the fields, and not till then, +his mind became every day more and more charged with beauty of thought, +and his style grew correspondingly day by day more charged with beauty. +This beauty of thought grows in him out of the intense love, the +passionate love, which he has for everything in Nature: it is the child +of that love: it is Nature's reward for that love: he loves not only +flowers and trees, but every flower, every tree; he is even contented to +look upon the same trees, the same hedges filled with flowers every day: + + "I do not want change," he says; "I want the same old and loved + things, the same wildflowers, the same trees and soft ash-green; + the turtle-doves, the blackbirds, the coloured yellow-hammer sing, + sing, singing so long as there is light to cast a shadow on the + dial, for such is the measure of his song: and I want them in the + same place. Let me find them morning after morning, the + starry-white petals radiating, striving upwards to their ideal. + Let me see the idle shadows resting on the white dust; let me hear + the humble-bees, and stay to look down on the rich dandelion disk. + Let me see the very thistles opening their great crowns--I should + miss the thistles; the reed-grasses hiding the moorhen; the bryony + bine, at first crudely ambitious and lifted by force of youthful + sap straight above the hedgerow to sink of its own weight presently + and progress with crafty tendrils; swifts shot through the air with + outstretched wings like crescent-headed shaftless arrows darted + from the clouds; the chaffinch with a feather in her bill; all the + living staircase of the spring, step by step, upwards to the great + gallery of the summer--let me watch the same succession year by + year." + +Therefore, and in return for this great love, Nature rewarded him. +Jefferies began, as Thoreau recommends, by writing down everything that +he saw: he presently arrived at an inconceivable power of minute +observation. Pages might be quoted to show this wonderful closeness. It +is indeed the first, but not the finest, characteristic of Jefferies. It +was the point which most struck the critic in the "Gamekeeper at Home." +But it is not the point which most strikes the reader in his later and +more delicate work. Here the things which he loves speak to him: they +reply to his questioning; they support and raise his soul. "So it has +ever been to me," he says, "by day or by night, summer or winter: +beneath trees the heart feels nearer to that depth of life which the far +sky means. The rest of spirit found only in beauty, ideal and pure, +comes there because the distance seems within touch of thought." + +In Jefferies' later books the whole of the country life of the +nineteenth century will be found displayed down to every detail. The +life of the farmer is there; the life of the labourer; the life of the +gamekeeper; the life of the women who work in the fields, and of those +who work at home. If this were all, he would well deserve the gratitude +of the English-speaking race, because in any generation to get so great +a part of life described truthfully is an enormous boon. But it is far +from being the most considerable part of his work. He revealed Nature in +her works and ways; the flowers and the fields; the wild English +creatures; the hedges and the streams; the wood and coppice. He told +what may be seen everywhere by those who have eyes to see. He worked his +way, as we have seen, to this point. And, again, if this were all, he +would well deserve the gratitude which we willingly accord to a White of +Selborne. But this is not all. For next he took the step--the vast +step--across the chasm which separates the poetic from the vulgar mind, +and began to clothe the real with the colours and glamour of the unreal; +to write down the response of the soul to the phenomena of nature: to +interpret the voice of Nature speaking to the soul. Unto his last. And +then he died; his work, which might have gone on for ever, cut off +almost at the commencement. + +I desire in this chapter to show how Jefferies paints the country life; +to show him in his minuteness and fidelity first, and in his higher +flights afterwards. Even to those who know Jefferies there will be +something new in reading these scenes again. To those who know him not, +and yet can feel beauty and truth and simplicity--things so rare, so +very rare--these scenes will be like the entrance to some unknown +gallery filled with pictures exquisite, touching and tender. + +I select, first, a specimen of his early style. He is speaking of the +provision made by the oak for the creatures of the wood: + + "It is curious to note the number of creatures to whom the oak + furnishes food. The jays, for instance, are now visiting them for + acorns; in the summer they fluttered round the then green branches + for the chafers, and in the evenings the fern owls or goat-suckers + wheeled about the verge for these and for moths. Rooks come to the + oaks in crowds for the acorns; wood-pigeons are even more fond of + them, and from their crops quite a handful may sometimes be taken + when shot in the trees. + + "They will carry off at once as many acorns as old-fashioned + economical farmers used to walk about with in their pockets, + 'chucking' them one, two, or three at a time to the pigs in the + stye as a _bonne bouche_ and an encouragement to fatten well. Never + was there such a bird to eat as the wood-pigeon. Pheasants roam out + from the preserves after the same fruit, and no arts can retain + them at acorn time. Swine are let run out about the hedgerows to + help themselves. Mice pick up the acorns that fall, and hide them + for winter use, and squirrels select the best. + + "If there is a decaying bough, or, more particularly, one that has + been sawn off, it slowly decays into a hollow, and will remain in + that state for years, the resort of endless woodlice, snapped up by + insect-eating birds. Down from the branches in spring there descend + long, slender threads, like gossamer, with a caterpillar at the end + of each--the insect-eating birds decimate these. So that in various + ways the oaks give more food to the birds than any other tree. + Where there are oaks there are sure to be plenty of birds." + +After reading this, turn to the following, in quite a different style, +from the same volume. Could the same man, one asks, have written both +these passages? + + "The waves coming round the promontory before the west wind still + give the idea of a flowing stream, as they did in Homer's days. + Here beneath the cliff, standing where beach and sand meet, it is + still; the wind passes six hundred feet overhead. But yonder, every + larger wave rolling before the breeze breaks over the rocks; a + white line of spray rushes along them, gleaming in the sunshine; + for a moment the dark rock-wall disappears, till the spray sinks. + + "The sea seems higher than the spot where I stand, its surface on a + higher level--raised like a green mound--as if it could burst in + and occupy the space up to the foot of the cliff in a moment. It + will not do so, I know; but there is an infinite possibility about + the sea; it may do what it is not recorded to have done. It is not + to be ordered, it may overleap the bounds human observation has + fixed for it. It has a potency unfathomable. There is still + something in it not quite grasped and understood--something still + to be discovered--a mystery. + + "So the white spray rushes along the low broken wall of rocks, the + sun gleams on the flying fragments of the wave, again it sinks, and + the rhythmic motion holds the mind, as an invisible force holds + back the tide. A faith of expectancy, a sense that something may + drift up from the unknown, a large belief in the unseen resources + of the endless space out yonder, soothes the mind with dreamy hope. + + "The little rules and little experiences, all the petty ways of + narrow life, are shut off behind by the ponderous and impassable + cliff; as if we had dwelt in the dim light of a cave, but coming + out at last to look at the sun, a great stone had fallen and closed + the entrance, so that there was no return to the shadow. The + impassable precipice shuts off our former selves of yesterday, + forcing us to look out over the sea only, or up to the deeper + heaven. + + "These breadths draw out the soul; we feel that we have wider + thoughts than we knew; the soul has been living, as it were, in a + nutshell, all unaware of its own power, and now suddenly finds + freedom in the sun and the sky. Straight, as if sawn down from turf + to beach, the cliff shuts off the human world, for the sea knows no + time and no era; you cannot tell what century it is from the face + of the sea. A Roman trireme suddenly rounding the white edge-line + of chalk, borne on wind and oar from the Isle of Wight towards the + gray castle at Pevensey (already old in olden days), would not seem + strange. What wonder could surprise us coming from the wonderful + sea?" + +Here, again, is a specimen of what has been called his "cataloguing." He +describes a hedgerow. Cataloguing! Yes. But was ever observation more +minute? + + "A wild 'plum,' or bullace, grew in one place; the plum about twice + the size of a sloe, with a bloom upon the skin like the cultivated + fruit, but lacking its sweetness. Yet there was a distinct + difference of taste: the 'plum' had not got the extreme harshness + of the sloe. A quantity of dogwood occupied a corner; in summer it + bore a pleasing flower; in the autumn, after the black berries + appeared upon it, the leaves became a rich bronze colour, and some + when the first frosts touched them, curled up at the edge and + turned crimson. There were two or three guelder-rose bushes--the + wild shrub--which were covered in June with white bloom; not in + snowy balls like the garden variety, but flat and circular, the + florets at the edge of the circle often whitest, and those in the + centre greenish. In autumn the slender boughs were weighed down + with heavy bunches of large purplish berries, so full of red juice + as to appear on the point of bursting. As these soon disappeared + they were doubtless eaten by birds. + + "Besides the hawthorn and briar there were several species of + willow--the snake-skin willow, so called because it sheds its bark; + the 'snap-willow,' which is so brittle that every gale breaks off + its feeble twigs, and pollards. One of these, hollow and old, had + upon its top a crowd of parasites. A bramble had taken root there, + and hung over the side; a small currant-bush grew freely--both, no + doubt, unwittingly planted by birds--and finally the bines of the + noxious bitter-sweet or nightshade, starting from the decayed wood, + supported themselves among the willow-branches, and in autumn were + bright with red berries. Ash-stoles, the buds on whose boughs in + spring are hidden under black sheaths; nut-tree stoles, with + ever-welcome nuts--always stolen here, but on the downs, where they + are plentiful, staying till they fall; young oak growing up from + the butt of a felled tree. On these oak-twigs sometimes, besides + the ordinary round galls, there may be found another gall, larger, + and formed, as it were, of green scales one above the other. + + "Where shall we find in the artificial and, to my thinking, + tasteless pleasure-grounds of modern houses so beautiful a + shrubbery as this old hedgerow? Nor were evergreens wanting, for + the ivy grew thickly, and there was one holly bush--not more, for + the soil was not affected by holly. The tall cow-parsnip or 'gicks' + rose up through the bushes; the great hollow stem of the angelica + grew at the edge of the field, on the verge of the grass, but still + sheltered by the brambles. Some reeds early in spring thrust up + their slender green tubes, tipped with two spear-like leaves. The + reed varies in height according to the position in which it grows. + If the hedge has been cut it does not reach higher than four or + five feet; when it springs from a deep, hollow corner, or with + bushes to draw it up, you can hardly touch its tip with your + walking-stick. The leaders of the black bryony, lifting themselves + above the bushes, and having just there nothing to cling to, twist + around each other, and two bines thus find mutual support where one + alone would fall of its own weight. + + "In the watery places the sedges send up their dark flowers, dusted + with light yellow pollen, rising above the triangular stem with its + narrow, ribbed leaf. The reed-sparrow or bunting sits upon the + spray over the ditch with its carex grass and rushes; he is a + graceful bird, with a crown of glossy black. Hops climb the ash and + hang their clusters, which impart an aromatic scent to the hand + that plucks them; broad burdock leaves, which the mouchers put on + the top of their baskets to shield their freshly gathered + watercresses from the sunshine; creeping avens, with + buttercup-like flowers and long stems that straggle across the + ditch, and in autumn are tipped with a small ball of soft spines; + mints, strong-scented and unmistakable; yarrow, white and sometimes + a little lilac, whose flower is perhaps almost the last that the + bee visits. In the middle of October I have seen a wild bee on a + last stray yarrow." + +Again we are in the forest, and again 'cataloguing': + + "The beechnuts are already falling in the forest, and the swine are + beginning to search for them while yet the harvest lingers. The + nuts are formed by midsummer, and now, the husk opening, the brown + angular kernel drops out. Many of the husks fall, too; others + remain on the branches till next spring. Under the beeches the + ground is strewn with the mast, as hard almost to walk on as + pebbles. Rude and uncouth as swine are in themselves, somehow they + look different under trees. The brown leaves amid which they rout, + and the brown-tinted fern behind, lend something of their colour + and smooth away their ungainliness. Snorting as they work with very + eagerness of appetite, they are almost wild, approaching in a + measure to their ancestors, the savage boars. Under the trees the + imagination plays unchecked, and calls up the past as if yew bow + and broad arrow were still in the hunter's hands. So little is + changed since then. The deer are here still. Sit down on the root + of this oak (thinly covered with moss), and on that very spot it is + quite possible a knight fresh home from the Crusades may have + rested and feasted his eyes on the lovely green glades of his own + unsurpassed England. The oak was there then, young and strong; it + is here now, ancient, but sturdy. Rarely do you see an oak fall of + itself. It decays to the last stump; it does not fall. The sounds + are the same--the tap as a ripe acorn drops, the rustle of a leaf + which comes down slowly, the quick rushes of mice playing in the + fern. A movement at one side attracts the glance, and there is a + squirrel darting about. There is another at the very top of the + beech yonder, out on the boughs, nibbling the nuts. A brown spot a + long distance down the glade suddenly moves, and thereby shows + itself to be a rabbit. The bellowing sound that comes now and then + is from the stags, which are preparing to fight. The swine snort, + and the mast and leaves rustle as they thrust them aside. So little + is changed: these are the same sounds and the same movements, just + as in the olden time. + + "The soft autumn sunshine, shorn of summer glare, lights up with + colour the fern, the fronds of which are yellow and brown, the + leaves, the gray grass, and hawthorn sprays already turned. It + seems as if the early morning's mists have the power of tinting + leaf and fern, for so soon as they commence the green hues begin to + disappear. There are swathes of fern yonder, cut down like grass or + corn, the harvest of the forest. It will be used for litter and for + thatching sheds. The yellow stalks--the stubble--will turn brown + and wither through the winter, till the strong spring shoot comes + up and the anemones flower. Though the sunbeams reach the ground + here, half the green glade is in shadow, and for one step that you + walk in sunlight ten are in shade. Thus, partly concealed in full + day, the forest always contains a mystery. The idea that there may + be something in the dim arches held up by the round columns of the + beeches lures the footsteps onwards. Something must have been + lately in the circle under the oak where the fern and bushes remain + at a distance and wall in a lawn of green. There is nothing on the + grass but the upheld leaves that have dropped, no mark of any + creature, but this is not decisive; if there are no physical signs, + there is a feeling that the shadow is not vacant. In the thickets, + perhaps--the shadowy thickets with front of thorn--it has taken + refuge and eluded us. Still onward the shadows lead us in vain but + pleasant chase." + +Next let us rise with the rustic and follow him as he begins his day's +work: + + "The pale beams of the waning moon still cast a shadow of the + cottage, when the labourer rises from his heavy sleep on a winter's + morning. Often he huddles on his things and slips his feet into his + thick 'water-tights'--which are stiff and hard, having been wet + over-night--by no other light than this. If the household is + comparatively well managed, however, he strikes a match, and his + 'dip' shows at the window. But he generally prefers to save a + candle, and clatters down the narrow steep stairs in the + semi-darkness, takes a piece of bread and cheese, and steps forth + into the sharp air. The cabbages in the garden he notes are covered + with white frost, so is the grass in the fields, and the footpath + is hard under foot. In the furrows is a little ice--white because + the water has shrunk from beneath it, leaving it hollow--and on the + stile is a crust of rime, cold to the touch, which he brushes off + in getting over. Overhead the sky is clear--cloudless but pale--and + the stars, though not yet fading, have lost the brilliant glitter + of midnight. Then, in all their glory, the idea of their globular + shape is easily accepted; but in the morning, just as the dawn is + breaking, the absence of glitter conveys the impression of + flatness--circular rather than globular. But yonder, over the elms, + above the cowpens, the great morning star has risen, shining far + brighter, in proportion, than the moon; an intensely clear metallic + light--like incandescent silver. + + "The shadows of the trees on the frosted ground are dull. As the + footpath winds by the hedge the noise of his footstep startles the + blackbird roosting in the bushes, and he bustles out and flies + across the field. There is more rime on the posts and rails around + the rickyard, and the thatch on the haystack is white with it in + places. He draws out the broad hay-knife--a vast blade, wide at the + handle, the edge gradually curving to a point--and then searches + for the rubber or whetstone, stuck somewhere in the side of the + rick. At the first sound of the stone upon the steel the cattle in + the adjoining yard and sheds utter a few low 'moos,' and there is a + stir among them. Mounting the ladder, he forces the knife with both + hands into the hay, making a square cut which bends outwards, + opening from the main mass till it appears on the point of parting + and letting him fall with it to the ground. But long practice has + taught him how to balance himself half on the ladder, half on the + hay. Presently, with a truss unbound and loose on his head, he + enters the yard, and passes from crib to crib, leaving a little + here and a little there. For if he fills one first there will be + quarrelling among the cows, and besides, if the crib is too + liberally filled, they will pull it out and tread it under foot." + +Here is the portrait from his book of the Red Deer: + + "There is no more beautiful creature than a stag in his pride of + antler, his coat of ruddy gold, his grace of form and motion. He + seems the natural owner of the ferny coombes, the oak woods, the + broad slopes of heather. They belong to him, and he steps upon the + sward in lordly mastership. The land is his, and the hills; the + sweet streams and rocky glens. He is infinitely more natural than + the cattle and sheep that have strayed into his domains. For some + inexplicable reason, although they, too, are in reality natural, + when he is present they look as if they had been put there, and + were kept there by artificial means. They do not, as painters say, + shade in with the colours and shape of the landscape. He is as + natural as an oak, or a fern, or a rock itself. He is earth-born, + autochthon, and holds possession by descent. Utterly scorning + control, the walls and hedges are nothing to him; he roams where he + chooses, as fancy leads, and gathers the food that pleases him. + Pillaging the crops, and claiming his dues from the orchards and + gardens, he exercises his ancient feudal rights, indifferent to the + laws of house-people. Disturb him in his wild stronghold of oakwood + or heather, and as he yields to force, still he stops and looks + back proudly. He is slain, but never conquered. He will not cross + with the tame park deer; proud as a Spanish noble, he disdains the + fallow deer, and breeds only with his own race. But it is chiefly + because of his singular adaptation and fitness to the places where + he is found that he obtains our sympathy. The branching antlers + accord so well with the deep, shadowy boughs and the broad fronds + of the brake; the golden red of his coat fits to the foxglove, the + purple heather, and later on to the orange and red of the beech; + his easy-bounding motion springs from the elastic sward; his limbs + climb the steep hill as if it were level; his speed covers the + distance, and he goes from place to place as the wind. He not only + lives in the wild, wild woods and moors, he grows out of them as + the oak grows from the ground. The noble stag, in his pride of + antler, is lord and monarch of all the creatures left in English + forests and on English hills." + +What do we purblind mortals see when we walk through a wood in winter? +Listen to what Jefferies saw in January, when the woods are at their +very brownest, and all Nature seems wrapped in winter sleep: + + "Some little green stays on the mounds where the rabbits creep and + nibble the grasses. Cinquefoil remains green though faded, and wild + parsley the freshest looking of all; plantain leaves are found + under shelter of brambles, and the dumb nettles, though the old + stalks are dead, have living leaves at the ground. Gray-veined ivy + trails along, here and there is a frond of hart's-tongue fern, + though withered at the tip, and greenish-gray lichen grows on the + exposed stumps of trees. These together give a green tint to the + mound, which is not so utterly devoid of colour as the season of + the year might indicate. Where they fail, brown brake fern fills + the spaces between the brambles; and in a moist spot the bunches of + rushes are composed half of dry stalks, and half of green. Stems of + willow-herb, four feet high, still stand, and tiny long-tailed tits + perch sideways on them. Above, on the bank, another species of + willow-herb has died down to a short stalk, from which springs a + living branch, and at its end is one pink flower. A dandelion is + opening on the same sheltered bank; farther on the gorse is + sprinkled with golden spots of bloom. A flock of greenfinches + starts from the bushes, and their colour shows against the ruddy + wands of the osier-bed over which they fly. The path winds round + the edge of the wood, where a waggon-track goes up the hill; it is + deeply grooved at the foot of the hill. These tracks wear deeply + into the chalk just where the ascent begins. The chalk adheres to + the shoes like mortar, and for some time after one has left it each + footstep leaves a white mark on the turf. On the ridge the low + trees and bushes have an outline like the flame of a candle in a + draught--the wind has blown them till they have grown fixed in that + shape. In an oak across the ploughed field a flock of wood-pigeons + have settled; on the furrows there are chaffinches, and larks rise + and float a few yards farther away. The snow has ceased, and though + there is no wind on the surface, the clouds high above have opened + somewhat, not sufficient for the sun to shine, but to prolong the + already closing afternoon a few minutes. If the sun shines + to-morrow morning the lark will soar and sing, though it is + January, and the quick note of the chaffinch will be heard as he + perches on the little branches projecting from the trunks of trees + below the great boughs. Thrushes sing every mild day in December + and January, entirely irrespective of the season, also before + rain." + +Here is Cider-land: + + "The Lower Path, after stile and hedge and elm, and grass that + glows with golden buttercups, quietly leaves the side of the double + mounds and goes straight through the orchards. There are fewer + flowers under the trees, and the grass grows so long and rank that + it has already fallen aslant of its own weight. It is choked, too, + by masses of clogweed, that springs up profusely over the sight of + old foundations; so that here ancient masonry may be hidden under + the earth. Indeed, these orchards are a survival from the days when + the monks laboured in vineyard and garden, and mayhap even of + earlier times. When once a locality has got into the habit of + growing a certain crop, it continues to produce it for century + after century; and thus there are villages famous for apple or pear + or cherry, while the district at large is not at all given to such + culture. + + "The trunks of the trees succeed each other in endless ranks, like + columns that support the most beautiful roof of pink and white. + Here the bloom is rosy, there white prevails: the young green is + hidden under the petals that are far more numerous than leaves, or + even than leaves will be. Though the path really is in shadow as + the branches shut out the sun, yet it seems brighter here than in + the open, as if the place were illuminated by a million tiny lamps + shedding the softest lustre. The light is reflected and apparently + increased by the countless flowers overhead. + + "The forest of bloom extends acre after acre, and only ceases where + hedges divide, to commence again beyond the boundary. A + wicket-gate, all green with a film of vegetation over the decaying + wood, opens under the very eaves of a cottage, and the path goes by + the door--across a narrow meadow where deep and broad trenches, + green now, show where ancient stews or fishponds existed, and then + through a farmyard into a lane. Tall poplars rise on either hand, + but there seem to be no houses; they stand in fact a field's + breadth back from the lane, and are approached by footpaths that + every few yards necessitate a stile in the hedge. + + "When a low thatched farmhouse does abut upon the way, the blank + white wall of the rear part faces the road, and the front door + opens on precisely the other side. Hard by is a row of beehives. + Though the modern hives are at once more economical and humane, + they have not the old associations that cling about the straw domes + topped with broken earthenware to shoot off the heavy downfall of a + thunderstorm. + + "Everywhere the apple-bloom; the hum of bees; children sitting on + the green beside the road, their laps full of flowers; the song of + finches; and the low murmur of water that glides over flint and + stone so shadowed by plants and grasses that the sunbeams cannot + reach and glisten on it. Thus the straggling flower-strewn village + stretches along beneath the hill and rises up the slope, and the + swallows wheel and twitter over the gables where are their + hereditary nesting-places. The lane ends on a broad dusty road, + and, opposite, a quiet thatched house of the larger sort stands, + endways to the street, with an open pitching before the windows. + There, too, the swallows' nests are crowded under the eaves, + flowers are trained against the wall, and in the garden stand the + same beautiful apple-trees." + +Let us witness, with him, the dawn of a summer day: + + "The star went on. In the meadows of the vale far away doubtless + there were sounds of the night. On the hills it was absolute + silence--profound rest. They slept peacefully, and the moon rose to + the meridian. The pale white glow on the northern horizon slipped + towards the east. After a while a change came over the night. The + hills and coombes became gray and more distinct, the sky lighter, + the stars faint, the moon that had been ruddy became yellow, and + then almost white. + + "Yet a little while, and one by one the larks arose from the grass, + and first twittering and vibrating their brown wings just above the + hawthorn bushes, presently breasted the aerial ascent, and sang at + 'Heaven's Gate.' + + "Geoffrey awoke and leaned upon his arm; his first thought was of + Margaret, and he looked towards the copse. All was still; then in + the dawn the strangeness of that hoary relic of the past sheltering + so lovely a form came home to him. Next he gazed eastwards. + + "There a great low bank, a black wall of cloud, was rising rapidly, + extending on either hand, growing momentarily broader, darker, + threatening to cover the sky. He watched it come up swiftly, and + saw that as it neared it became lighter in colour, first gray, then + white. It was the morning mist driven along before the breeze, + whose breath had not reached him yet. In a few minutes the wall of + vapour passed over him as the waters rolled over Pharaoh. A puff of + wind blew his hair back from his forehead, then another and + another; presently a steady breeze, cool and refreshing. The mist + drove rapidly along; after awhile gaps appeared overhead, and + through these he saw broad spaces of blue sky, the colour growing + and deepening. The gaps widened, the mist became thinner; then + this, the first wave of vapour, was gone, creeping up the hillside + behind him like the rearguard of an army. + + "Out from the last fringe of mist shone a great white globe. Like + molten silver, glowing with a lusciousness of light, soft and yet + brilliant, so large and bright and seemingly so near--but just + above the ridge yonder--shining with heavenly splendour in the very + dayspring. He knew Eosphoros, the Light-Bringer, the morning star + of hope and joy and love, and his heart went out towards the beauty + and the glory of it. Under him the broad bosom of the earth seemed + to breathe instinct with life, bearing him up, and from the azure + ether came the wind, filling his chest with the vigour of the young + day. + + "The azure ether--yes, and more than that! Who that has seen it can + forget the wondrous beauty of the summer morning's sky? It is + blue--it is sapphire--it is like the eye of a lovely woman. A rich + purple shines through it; no painter ever approached the colour of + it, no Titian or other, none from the beginning. Not even the + golden flesh of Rubens' women, through the veins in whose limbs a + sunlight pulses in lieu of blood shining behind the tissues, can + equal the hues that glow behind the blue. + + "The East flamed out at last. Pencilled streaks of cloud high in + the dome shone red. An orange light rose up and spread about the + horizon, then turned crimson, and the upper edge of the sun's disk + lifted itself over the hill. A swift beam of light shot like an + arrow towards him, and the hawthorn bush obeyed with instant + shadow; it passed beyond him over the green plain, up the ridge and + away. The great orb, quivering with golden flames, looked forth + upon the world." + +The finest of all the papers written by Jefferies--as I have already +said--is that called "The Pageant of Summer." It came out in _Longman's +Magazine_. I know nothing in the English language finer, whether for the +sustained style or for the elevation of thought which fills it. Herein +Jefferies surpassed himself as well as all other writers who have +written upon Nature. This is perhaps because he fills the "Pageant" +which he describes with human love and human regrets. Without the life +and presence of man, what is the beauty of Nature worth? I should like +to quote it all--nay, to those who have read it again and again, the +words live in the memory like the lines of Wordsworth's "Ode to +Immortality," and like them they fill the heart with tenderness and the +eyes with tears. It is published in the last but one of his books, "The +Life of the Fields," which everybody should make haste to possess, if +only for this one paper. It opens quietly--with the rushes: + + "Green rushes, long and thick, standing up above the edge of the + ditch, told the hour of the year as distinctly as the shadow on the + dial the hour of the day. Green and thick and sappy to the touch, + they felt like summer, soft and elastic, as if full of life, mere + rushes though they were. On the fingers they left a green scent; + rushes have a separate scent of green, so, too, have ferns, very + different to that of grass or leaves. Rising from brown sheaths, + the tall stems enlarged a little in the middle, like classical + columns, and heavy with their sap and freshness, leaned against the + hawthorn sprays. From the earth they had drawn its moisture, and + made the ditch dry; some of the sweetness of the air had entered + into their fibres, and the rushes--the common rushes--were full of + beautiful summer. The white pollen of early grasses growing on the + edge was dusted from them each time the hawthorn boughs were shaken + by a thrush. These lower sprays came down in among the grass, and + leaves and grass-blades touched. + + "It was between the May and the June roses. The may-bloom had + fallen, and among the hawthorn boughs were the little green bunches + that would feed the redwings in autumn. High up the briars had + climbed, straight and towering while there was a thorn, or an ash + sapling, or a yellow-green willow to uphold them, and then curving + over towards the meadow. The buds were on them, but not yet open; + it was between the may and the rose. + + "As the wind, wandering over the sea, takes from each wave an + invisible portion, and brings to those on shore the ethereal + essence of ocean, so the air lingering among the woods and + hedges--green waves and billows--became full of fine atoms of + summer. Swept from notched hawthorn-leaves, broad-topped + oak-leaves, narrow ash sprays and oval willows; from vast elm + cliffs and sharp-taloned brambles under; brushed from the waving + grasses and stiffening corn, the dust of the sunshine was borne + along and breathed. Steeped in flower and pollen to the music of + bees and birds, the stream of the atmosphere became a living thing. + It was life to breathe it, for the air itself was life. The + strength of the earth went up through the leaves into the wind. Fed + thus on the food of the Immortals, the heart opened to the width + and depth of the summer--to the broad horizon afar, down to the + minutest creature in the grass, up to the highest swallow. Winter + shows us Matter in its dead form, like the primary rocks, like + granite and basalt--clear but cold and frozen crystal. Summer shows + us Matter changing into life, sap rising from the earth through a + million tubes, the alchemic power of light entering the solid oak; + and see! it bursts forth in countless leaves. Living things leap in + the grass, living things drift upon the air, living things are + coming forth to breathe in every hawthorn bush. No longer does the + immense weight of Matter--the dead, the crystallized--press + ponderously on the thinking mind. The whole office of Matter is to + feed life--to feed the green rushes, and the roses that are about + to be; to feed the swallows above, and us that wander beneath them. + So much greater is this green and common rush than all the Alps. + + "Fanning so swiftly, the wasp's wings are but just visible as he + passes; did he pause, the light would be apparent through their + texture. On the wings of the dragon-fly as he hovers an instant + before he darts there is a prismatic gleam. These wing textures are + even more delicate than the minute filaments on a swallow's quill, + more delicate than the pollen of a flower. They are formed of + matter indeed, but how exquisitely it is resolved into the means + and organs of life! Though not often consciously recognised, + perhaps this is the great pleasure of summer, to watch the earth, + the dead particles, resolving themselves into the living case of + life, to see the seed-leaf push aside the clod and become by + degrees the perfumed flower. From the tiny mottled egg come the + wings that by-and-by shall pass the immense sea. It is in this + marvellous transformation of clods and cold matter into living + things that the joy and the hope of summer reside. Every blade of + grass, each leaf, each separate floret and petal, is an inscription + speaking of hope. Consider the grasses and the oaks, the swallows, + the sweet blue butterfly--they are one and all a sign and token + showing before our eyes earth made into life. So that my hope + becomes as broad as the horizon afar, reiterated by every leaf, + sung on every bough, reflected in the gleam of every flower. There + is so much for us yet to come, so much to be gathered, and enjoyed. + Not for you or me, now, but for our race, who will ultimately use + this magical secret for their happiness. Earth holds secrets enough + to give them the life of the fabled Immortals. My heart is fixed + firm and stable in the belief that ultimately the sunshine and the + summer, the flowers and the azure sky, shall become, as it were, + interwoven into man's existence. He shall take from all their + beauty and enjoy their glory. Hence it is that a flower is to me so + much more than stalk and petals. When I look in the glass I see + that every line in my face means pessimism; but in spite of my + face--that is my experience--I remain an optimist. Time with an + unsteady hand has etched thin crooked lines, and, deepening the + hollows, has cast the original expression into shadow. Pain and + sorrow flow over us with little ceasing, as the sea-hoofs beat on + the beach. Let us not look at ourselves but onwards, and take + strength from the leaf and the signs of the field. He is indeed + despicable who cannot look onwards to the ideal life of man. Not to + do so is to deny our birthright of mind.... + + "It is the patient humble-bee that goes down into the forest of the + mowing-grass. If entangled, the humble-bee climbs up a sorrel stem + and takes wing, without any sign of annoyance. His broad back with + tawny bar buoyantly glides over the golden buttercups. He hums to + himself as he goes, so happy is he. He knows no skep, no cunning + work in glass receives his labour, no artificial saccharine aids + him when the beams of the sun are cold, there is no step to his + house that he may alight in comfort; the way is not made clear for + him that he may start straight for the flowers, nor are any sown + for him. He has no shelter if the storm descends suddenly; he has + no dome of twisted straw well thatched and tiled to retreat to. The + butcher-bird, with a beak like a crooked iron nail, drives him to + the ground, and leaves him pierced with a thorn; but no hail of + shot revenges his tortures. The grass stiffens at nightfall (in + autumn) and he must creep where he may, if possibly he may escape + the frost. No one cares for the humble-bee. But down to the + flowering nettle in the mossy-sided ditch, up into the tall elm, + winding in and out and round the branched buttercups, along the + banks of the brook, far inside the deepest wood, away he wanders + and despises nothing. His nest is under the rough grasses and the + mosses of the mound, a mere tunnel beneath the fibres and matted + surface. The hawthorn overhangs it, the fern grows by, red mice + rustle past.... + + "All the procession of living and growing things passes. The grass + stands up taller and still taller, the sheaths open, and the stalk + arises, the pollen clings till the breeze sweeps it. The bees rush + past, and the resolute wasps; the humble-bees, whose weight swings + them along. About the oaks and maples the brown chafers swarm, and + the fern-owls at dusk, and the blackbirds and jays by day, cannot + reduce their legions while they last. Yellow butterflies, and + white, broad red admirals, and sweet blues; think of the kingdom of + flowers which is theirs! Heavy moths burring at the edge of the + copse; green, and red, and gold flies: gnats, like smoke, around + the tree-tops; midges so thick over the brook, as if you could haul + a netful; tiny leaping creatures in the grass; bronze beetles + across the path; blue dragonflies pondering on cool leaves of + water-plantain. Blue jays flitting, a magpie drooping across from + elm to elm; young rooks that have escaped the hostile shot + blundering up into the branches; missel thrushes leading their + fledglings, already strong on the wing, from field to field. An egg + here on the sward dropped by a starling; a red ladybird creeping, + tortoise-like, up a green fern frond. Finches undulating through + the air, shooting themselves with closed wings, and linnets happy + with their young.... + + "Straight go the white petals to the heart; straight the mind's + glance goes back to how many other pageants of summer in old times! + When perchance the sunny days were even more sunny; when the stilly + oaks were full of mystery, lurking like the Druid's mistletoe in + the midst of their mighty branches. A glamour in the heart came + back to it again from every flower; as the sunshine was reflected + from them, so the feeling in the heart returned tenfold. To the + dreamy summer haze love gave a deep enchantment, the colours were + fairer, the blue more lovely in the lucid sky. Each leaf finer, and + the gross earth enamelled beneath the feet. A sweet breath on the + air, a soft warm hand in the touch of the sunshine, a glance in the + gleam of the rippled waters, a whisper in the dance of the shadows. + The ethereal haze lifted the heavy oaks and they were buoyant on + the mead, the rugged bark was chastened and no longer rough, each + slender flower beneath them again refined. There was a presence + everywhere though unseen, on the open hills, and not shut out under + the dark pines. Dear were the June roses then because for another + gathered. Yet even dearer now with so many years as it were upon + the petals; all the days that have been before, all the + heart-throbs, all our hopes lie in this opened bud. Let not the + eyes grow dim, look not back but forward; the soul must uphold + itself like the sun. Let us labour to make the heart grow larger as + we become older, as the spreading oak gives more shelter. That we + could but take to the soul some of the greatness and the beauty of + the summer! + + "I cannot leave it; I must stay under the old tree in the midst of + the long grass, the luxury of the leaves, and the song in the very + air. I seem as if I could feel all the glowing life the sunshine + gives and the south wind calls to being. The endless grass, the + endless leaves, the immense strength of the oak expanding, the + unalloyed joy of finch and blackbird; from all of them I receive a + little. Each gives me something of the pure joy they gather for + themselves. In the blackbird's melody one note is mine; in the + dance of the leaf shadows the formed maze is for me, though the + motion is theirs; the flowers with a thousand faces have collected + the kisses of the morning. Feeling with them, I receive some, at + least, of their fulness of life. Never could I have enough; never + stay long enough--whether here or whether lying on the shorter + sward under the sweeping and graceful birches, or on the + thyme-scented hills. Hour after hour, and still not enough. Or + walking the footpath was never long enough, or my strength + sufficient to endure till the mind was weary. The exceeding beauty + of the earth, in her splendour of life, yields a new thought with + every petal. The hours when the mind is absorbed by beauty are the + only hours when we really live, so that the longer we can stay + among these things so much the more is snatched from inevitable + Time. Let the shadow advance upon the dial--I can watch it with + equanimity while it is there to be watched. It is only when the + shadow is _not_ there, when the clouds of winter cover it, that the + dial is terrible. The invisible shadow goes on and steals from us. + But now, while I can see the shadow of the tree and watch it + slowly gliding along the surface of the grass, it is mine. These + are the only hours that are not wasted--these hours that absorb the + soul and fill it with beauty. This is real life, and all else is + illusion, or mere endurance. Does this reverie of flowers and + waterfall and song form an ideal, a human ideal, in the mind? It + does; much the same ideal that Phidias sculptured of man and woman + filled with a godlike sense of the violet fields of Greece, + beautiful beyond thought, calm as my turtle-dove before the lurid + lightning of the unknown. To be beautiful and to be calm, without + mental fear, is the ideal of nature. If I cannot achieve it, at + least I can think it." + +May we not say indeed, that never any man has heretofore spoken of +Nature as this man speaks? He has given new colours to the field and +hedge; he has filled them with a beauty which we never thought to find +there; he has shown in them more riches, more variety, more fulness, +more wisdom, more Divine order than we common men ever looked for or +dreamed of. He has taught us to look around us with new eyes; he has +removed our blindness; it is a new world that he has given to us. What, +what shall we say--what can we say--to show our gratitude towards one +who has conferred these wonderful gifts upon his fellow-men? + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +"THE STORY OF MY HEART." + + +In the history of literature one happens, from time to time, upon a book +which has been written because the author had no choice but to write it. +He was compelled by hidden forces to write it. There was no rest for +him, day or night, so soon as the book was complete in his mind, until +he sat down to write it. And then he wrote it at a white heat. For +eighteen years, Jefferies says, he pondered over this book--he means, +that he brooded over these and cognate subjects from the time of +adolescence. At last his mind was full, and then--but not till then--he +wrote it. + +Those who have not read it must understand at the outset that it is the +book of one who dares to question for himself on the most important +subject which can occupy the mind. To some men--very young men +especially--it seems an easy thing to question and to go on following +the questions to their logical end. An older man knows better; he has +learned, perhaps by his own experience, that to carry on unto the end +such an inquiry, fearless of whither it may lead, is an act requiring +very great courage, clearness and strength of mind, and carelessness of +other men's opinion. It is, in fact, an act which to begin and to carry +through is beyond the courage and the mental powers of most. I do not +mean the so-called intellectual process gone through by every young man +who takes up the common carping and girding at received forms of +religion, and boldly declares among an admiring circle that he renounces +them all--I mean a long, patient, and wholly reverent inquiry by +whatever line or lines may be possible to a man. For it must not be +forgotten that, though there are many lines of independent research and +inquiry, there are few men to whom even one is actually possible. This, +however, we do not openly acknowledge; every person, however illiterate +and untrained, considers himself, not only free, but also qualified, to +be an advocate, or an opponent, of religion. Freedom of thought is so +great a thing that one would not have it otherwise. As for the lines of +inquiry, scientific men, of whom there are few, apply scientific methods +to certain books held sacred by the Church, with whatever results may +happen; some scientific men, after this research, find that they can +remain Christians, others resigning, at least, the orthodox form of that +faith. Scholars of language, mythology, Oriental antiquities, of whom +also there are comparatively few, may approach the subject by these +lines. Others, like the late Mr. Cotter Morison, the like of whom are +rare, may consider the subject in relation to the history, development, +and proved effect of certain doctrines upon humanity. Others, again, +assuming that the pretensions of priests essentially belong to the +Christian religion, may compare these pretensions with those of other +and older religions. Again, the difficulty or impossibility of +reconciling statements in so-called inspired works, the incongruity of +ancient Oriental customs as compared with modern and European +ideas--these and many other points, all of which require a scholar to +deal with them, may furnish lines of investigation. But, indeed, the +modes of attack may be indefinitely varied. On all sides, doctrinal +religion has been, and is daily, attacked; at all points it has been, +and is daily, defended to the full satisfaction of the defenders. The +assailants can never perceive that they are beaten off at every point; +the defenders can never be made to understand that their stronghold has +been utterly demolished. + +The Religious Problem at the present moment has been, in fact, so far +advanced that research, defence, or attack by persons not qualified by +special education in one or other of these lines is absolutely futile. +For the greater number, dulness of perception, ignorance, want of early +training, self-conceit, and that sheer incapacity either to perceive or +to tell the truth which seems to be a special firmity of the age, make +research impossible, attack futile, and defence powerless. And even for +those who seem to have the right to lead, the fact that we are born into +the ideas of our time, as well as into its creeds and traditions, is a +dire obstacle to clearness of vision. We are surrounded, from birth +upwards, by a network of ideas, many false, many conventional, many mere +prejudices. But, such as they are, they tear the flesh if we try to +break through them; by reason of these bonds we cannot march straight, +we cannot see clearly. Education, reading, the literature, and the +common talk of the day, so far from helping us, seem only to raise up +thicker clouds about us which we cannot disperse, neither can we pass +through them. + +Does, then, this act of superlative courage, demanded by fearless +inquiry, always lead the man who has achieved it towards atheism or +agnosticism? Not so. The history of the Churches shows that there have +been many men who have embarked upon such an inquiry honestly and +boldly, and have come out of it armed and strengthened with a natural +religion upon which they have been able to graft a Christianity far +deeper, stronger, and more real than that which is commonly taught in +the pulpits, the schools, the catechisms, and the litanies of the +Churches. But, as we said before, such an inquiry is not possible for +every man. + +In Jefferies' "Story of My Heart" we have a tale half told. You may read +in it, if you will, the abandonment, rather than the loss, of his early +faith; you cannot read in it, but you shall hear, if you persist to the +end of this volume, how he found it again. But the man who has once +thrown off the old yoke of Authority can never put it on again. +Henceforth he stands alone, yet not alone, for he is face to face with +his God. + +Again, the network of custom and tradition which lies around us contains +all our friends as well as ourselves. Those who are unlucky (or lucky) +enough to break through and to get outside it have to separate +themselves from their friends; they have to find new friends--which is +difficult--new companions, at least. And then the novel position is a +kind of standing challenge to old friends. The old equality is gone, +because, if the new philosopher is right, he is intellectually far +above his associates. And since friendship cannot endure the loss of +equality, the ties of years are severed. Instead of the warmth of +friendship, one feels, with the coldness, the reproach of isolation. +This is a consideration, however, which would weigh little with +Jefferies, who lived, of free choice, in isolation. + +Again, many men find a sufficient support on the great questions of +faith--which they seldom or never formulate to themselves--in the fact +that certain men, whom they very deeply venerate, believe in certain +doctrines. That such a man as Dean Stanley, for instance--a scholar, a +man of unblemished life, whose purity of soul and natural nobility of +character lifted him high above the average of man--was also a devout +Christian, and a pillar of the Church of England, has been, and is +still, a solid guarantee to thousands who remember his example that the +religion which was able to light his feet through the valley of death, +and to sustain his heart while life was ebbing, must be true. This is a +kindly and a natural aid to faith. And it is another illustration of +the immense, the boundless influence of example. The mediaeval scholar +believed in the Christian religion because even the horrible scandals of +Rome could not destroy it. The modern Churchman modestly and humbly +believes his creed mainly because men very greatly his superiors in +learning and in elevation of soul believe it, and find in it their +greatest consolation, and their only hope. Jefferies had no such +reverence. The great leaders of the Church came not to the Wiltshire +Downs. His own reason should suffice for himself. Was he, therefore, +presumptuous? While any rags of Protestant independence and freedom of +thought yet linger among us, let us, a thousand times, say, No! + +Other men, as is well known, take refuge in Authority. This seems so +easy as to be elementary in its simplicity. Authority does not interfere +with the practical business of life, with the getting as much wealth as +we can, and as much enjoyment as we can, while life lasts. And after +death Authority kindly assures us that all shall be done for us to +ensure ultimate enjoyment of more good things. We cannot, certainly, +all seek into the origins and causes of things; some must listen and +obey. There is the Authority of example; there is also the Authority of +Church rule and discipline. But Jefferies was one of those who cannot +listen and obey. + +Most books which deal with the difficulties and the loss of faith deal +also largely at the outset with the bitterness and the agonies of the +soul when doubt begins; with the long discussions based upon premises +which are first questioned tentatively, and then wholly denied; with the +consequent estrangement of friends; with the laying down of one set of +shackles in order to take up another, as when a man, after infinite +heart-searchings, exchanges one little sect for another. + +Others, again, who think it necessary to put aside their religion, do so +with a curious rage. They vehemently despise, and have no words too +strong for their contempt of those who refuse to follow them. As for the +doctrines themselves, they are--these renegades cry aloud--unworthy the +consideration of any who have the least pretensions to intellect. +Everybody knows this kind. The pervert--the renegade--is the fiercest of +persecutors, the most intolerant in practice. The bitterness in his mind +is caused, or it is increased, by the galling fact that though he is a +rebel, he is always, whatever sect he has abandoned, an unsuccessful +rebel. His old king yet reigneth; he cannot dethrone that king; it is +impossible for him; at the most he can but seduce from their allegiance +a few, and for all his railing the loyal subjects of that king remain +loyal. + +Jefferies, for his part, has no agonies of soul to chronicle, nor does +he watch for and set down the stages of unbelief, nor does he tell us of +any arguments with friends. The local curate is never considered or +consulted; friends are neglected; and he is not in the least degree +angry with those who remain loyal to their old religion. + +In point of fact, this remarkable book never mentions the old religion +at all. This is a very singular--even an unique--method of treatment. +There is no question of the common lines of research: not one of them is +followed. The author begins, and he goes on, with the assumption that +there is no religion at all which need be considered. On the broad downs +the only bell ever heard is the distant sheep-bell, the only hymn of +praise is the song of the lark. He has wandered among these lonely hills +until he has forgotten the village church and all that he was taught +there. Everything has clean escaped his memory. It is not that the old +teaching no longer guides his conduct; the old teaching no longer lives +at all in his mind. + +He has communed so much with Nature that he is intoxicated with her +fulness and her beauty. Nothing else seems worth thinking of. He lies +upon the turf and feels the embrace of the great round world. + + "I used to lie down in solitary corners at full length on my back, + so as to feel the embrace of the earth. The grass stood high above + me, and the shadows of the tree-branches danced on my face. I + looked up at the sky, with half-closed eyes to bear the dazzling + light. Bees buzzed over, sometimes a butterfly passed, there was a + hum in the air, greenfinches sang in the hedge. Gradually entering + into the intense life of the summer days--a life which burned + around as if every grass-blade and leaf were a torch--I came to + feel the long-drawn life of the earth back into the dimmest past, + while the sun of the moment was warm on me.... This sunlight linked + me through the ages to that past consciousness." + +Again, he says that, wandering alone, he spoke in his soul to the earth, +the sun, the air, and the distant sea far beyond sight: + + "I thought of the earth's firmness--I felt it bear me up; through + the grassy couch there came an influence as if I could feel the + great earth speaking to me. I thought of the wandering air--its + pureness, which is its beauty; the air touched me and gave me + something of itself. I spoke to the sea, though so far, in my mind + I saw it, green at the rim of the earth and blue in deeper ocean; I + desired to have its strength, its mystery and glory." + +Everything is so full of life, everything around him, the grass-blades, +the flowers, the leaves, the grasshoppers, the birds; all the air is so +full of life that he himself seems to live more largely only by being +conscious of this multitudinous life. And at length he prays. He prays +for a deeper and a fuller soul, that he may take from all something of +their grandeur, beauty, and energy, and gather it to himself. In +answer--let us think--to this prayer there was granted unto him a +Vision. To every man who truly meditates and prays, there comes in the +end a Vision--a Vision of a Flying Roll; a Vision of Four Chariots; a +Vision of a Basket of Summer Fruit. To this man came the Vision, rarely +granted, of the infinite possibilities in man. He saw how much greater +and grander he might become, how his senses might be intensified, how +his frame might be perfected, how his soul might become fuller. Morning, +noon, and night he sees this Vision, and he prays continually for that +increased fulness of soul which is the chief splendour of his Vision. + + "Sometimes I went to a deep, narrow valley in the hills, silent and + solitary. The sky crossed from side to side, like a roof supported + on two walls of green. Sparrows chirped in the wheat at the verge + above, their calls falling like the twittering of swallows from the + air. There was no other sound. The short grass was dried gray as it + grew by the heat; the sun hung over the narrow vale as if it had + been put there by hand. Burning, burning, the sun glowed on the + sward at the foot of the slope where these thoughts burned into me. + How many, many years, how many cycles of years, how many bundles of + cycles of years, had the sun glowed down thus on that hollow? Since + it was formed how long? Since it was worn and shaped, groove-like, + in the flanks of the hills by mighty forces which had ebbed. Alone + with the sun which glowed on the work when it was done, I saw back + through space to the old time of tree-ferns, of the lizard flying + through the air, the lizard-dragon wallowing in sea foam, the + mountainous creatures, twice elephantine, feeding on land; all the + crooked sequence of life. The dragon-fly which passed me traced a + continuous descent from the fly marked on stone in those days. The + immense time lifted me like a wave rolling under a boat; my mind + seemed to raise itself as the swell of the cycles came; it felt + strong with the power of the ages. With all that time and power I + prayed: that I might have in my soul the intellectual part of it; + the idea, the thought. Like a shuttle the mind shot to and fro the + past and the present, in an instant." + + * * * * * + + "Full to the brim of the wondrous past, I felt the wondrous + present. For the day--the very moment I breathed, that second of + time then in the valley, was as marvellous, as grand, as all that + had gone before. Now, this moment, was the wonder and the glory. + Now, this moment, was exceedingly wonderful. Now, this moment, give + me all the thought, all the idea, all the soul expressed in the + cosmos around me. Give me still more, for the interminable + universe, past and present, is but earth; give me the unknown soul, + wholly apart from it, the soul of which I know only that when I + touch the ground, when the sunlight touches my hand, it is not + there. Therefore the heart looks into space to be away from earth. + With all the cycles, and the sunlight streaming through them, with + all that is meant by the present, I thought in the deep vale and + prayed." + +Presently, the vague yearning--this passionate prayer for the +realization of a splendid Vision--takes a more definite shape: + + "First, I desired that I might do or find something to exalt the + soul, something to enable it to live its own life, a more powerful + existence now. Secondly, I desired to be able to do something for + the flesh, to make a discovery or perfect a method by which the + fleshly body might enjoy more pleasure, longer life, and suffer + less pain. Thirdly, to construct a more flexible engine with which + to carry into execution the design of the will." + +As for the soul, his prayer was for the life beyond this. + + "Recognising my own inner consciousness, the psyche, so clearly, + death did not seem to me to affect the personality. In dissolution + there was no bridgeless chasm, no unfathomable gulf of separation; + the spirit did not immediately become inaccessible, leaping at a + bound to an immeasurable distance. Look at another person while + living; the soul is not visible, only the body which it animates. + Therefore, merely because after death the soul is not visible is no + demonstration that it does not still live. The condition of being + unseen is the same condition which occurs while the body is living, + so that intrinsically there is nothing exceptional, or + supernatural, in the life of the soul after death. Resting by the + tumulus, the spirit of the man who had been interred there was to + me really alive, and very close. This was quite natural, as natural + and simple as the grass waving in the wind, the bees humming, and + the larks' songs. Only by the strongest effort of the mind could I + understand the idea of extinction; that was supernatural, requiring + a miracle; the immortality of the soul natural, like earth. + Listening to the sighing of the grass I felt immortality as I felt + the beauty of the summer morning." + +Three things, he says, were found twelve thousand years ago by +prehistoric man: the existence of the soul, immortality, the Deity. +Since then, nothing further has been found. Well, he would find +something more. What is it he would find? It can only be discovered by +one who has that fulness of the soul for which he prays. + + "As I write these words, in the very moment, I feel that the whole + air, the sunshine out yonder lighting up the ploughed earth, the + distant sky, the circumambient ether, and that far space, is full + of soul-secrets, soul-life, things outside the experience of all + the ages. The fact of my own existence as I write, as I exist at + this second, is so marvellous, so miracle-like, strange, and + supernatural to me, that I unhesitatingly conclude I am always on + the margin of life illimitable, and that there are higher + conditions than existence. Everything around is supernatural; + everything so full of unexplained meaning." + +It is only by the soul that one lives. As for Nature, everything in her +is anti-human. Nothing in Nature cares for man. The earth would let him +perish, and would not trouble, for his sake, to bring forth food or +water. The sun would scorch and burn him. He cannot drink the sea. The +wild creatures would mangle and slay him. Diseases would rack him. The +very things which most he loves live for themselves, and not for him. If +all mankind were to die to-morrow, Nature would still go on, careless of +his fate. There is no spirit, no intelligence in Nature. And in the +events of human life, everything, he says, happens by pure chance. No +prudence in conduct, no wisdom or foresight, can effect anything. The +most trivial circumstance--the smallest accident is sufficient to upset +the deepest plan of the wisest mind. All things happen by chance. This, +then, is the melancholy outcome of all his passionate love of Nature. It +is to this conclusion that he has been brought by his solitary communion +with Nature. Man is quite alone, he says, without help and without hope +of guidance. The Deity--but, then, what does he mean by a Deity? He +means, I think, only the popular and vulgar conception--suffers +everything to take place by chance. Yet there is, there must be, because +he feels it and sees it, something higher and beyond. "For want of words +I write soul." + +The book is full of this Vision of the Life beyond the present; he +tries, but sometimes in vain, to clothe his Vision with words. It never +leaves him. It is with him in the heart of London, where the tides of +life converge to the broad area before the Royal Exchange. If he goes to +see the pictures in the National Gallery, it is with him. If he looks at +the old sculpture in the Museum, it is still with him. Always the dream +of the perfect man superior to death and to change; perfect in physical +beauty, perfect in mind. + + "I went down to the sea. I stood where the foam came to my feet, + and looked out over the sunlit waters. The great earth bearing the + richness of the harvest, and its hills golden with corn, was at my + back; its strength and firmness under me. The great sun shone + above, the wide sea was before me, the wind came sweet and strong + from the waves. The life of the earth and the sea, the glow of the + sun filled me; I touched the surge with my hand, I lifted my face + to the sun, I opened my lips to the wind. I prayed aloud in the + roar of the waves--my soul was strong as the sea and prayed with + the sea's might. 'Give me fulness of life like to the sea and the + sun, to the earth and the air; give me fulness of physical life, + mind equal and beyond their fulness; give me a greatness and + perfection of soul higher than all things, give me my inexpressible + desire which swells in me like a tide, give it to me with all the + force of the sea.' + + "Then I rested, sitting by the wheat; the bank of beach was between + me and the sea, but the waves beat against it; the sea was there, + the sea was present and at hand. By the dry wheat I rested; I did + not think; I was inhaling the richness of the sea; all the strength + and depth of meaning of the sea and earth came to me again. I + rubbed out some of the wheat in my hands, I took up a piece of clod + and crumbled it in my fingers--it was a joy to touch it--I held my + hand so that I could see the sunlight gleam on the slightly moist + surface of the skin. The earth and sun were to me like my flesh and + blood, and the air of the sea life. + + "With all the greater existence I drew from them I prayed for a + bodily life equal to it, for a soul-life beyond my thought, for my + inexpressible desire of more than I could shape even into idea. + There was something higher than idea, invisible to thought as air + to the eye; give me bodily life equal in fulness to the strength of + earth, and sun, and sea; give me the soul-life of my desire. Once + more I went down to the sea, touched it, and said farewell. So deep + was the inhalation of this life that day, that it seemed to remain + in me for years. This was a real pilgrimage." + +There is much more--a great deal more--in this remarkable book; but what +follows is mostly an amplification of what has gone before. He dwells +upon the striving after physical perfection, the sacred duty of every +man and woman to enrich and strengthen their physical life, by care, +exercise, and in every possible way. + + "I believe all manner of asceticism to be the vilest + blasphemy--blasphemy towards the whole of the human race. I believe + in the flesh and the body, which is worthy of worship--to see a + perfect human body unveiled causes a sense of worship. The ascetics + are the only persons who are impure. Increase of physical beauty is + attended by increase of soul beauty. The soul is the higher even by + gazing on beauty. Let me be fleshly perfect." + +Do not misunderstand him. This intense craving after physical +perfection, this yearning after beauty, is not a sensual craving. It is +not the Greek's love of perfect form, though Jefferies had this love, as +well. It is far more than this; it means, in the mind of this man, that +without perfection of the body there can be no perfect life of the soul. + +In that letter where the Apostle Paul speaks at length of Death and the +Resurrection, he concludes with the assurance--he writes for his own +consolation, I think, as well as that of his disciples--that the body, +as well as the soul, shall live again; but the body glorified, made +perfect and beautiful beyond human power of thought, to be wedded to the +soul purified beyond human power of understanding. Is it not strange +that this solitary questioner, longing and praying for a deeper and +fuller understanding--a fuller soul--should also have arrived at the +perception of the wonderful truth that the perfect soul demands the +perfect body? In his mind there are no echoes ringing of Paul's great +Vision--the whole of his old creed, all of it, has fallen from him and +is lost: it is his own Vision granted to himself. How? After long and +solitary meditation on the hillside, as in the old times great Visions +came to those who fasted in their lonely cells and solitary caves. Great +thoughts come not to those who seek them not. The mind which would +receive them must be first prepared. The example of Jefferies, whose +great thoughts only came to him after long years of meditation apart +from man, may make us understand the Visions which used to reward the +monk, the fakir, the hermit of the lonely laura. + +Then he goes back to his theory that everything happens by chance. So +long as men believe that everything is done for them, progress is +impossible. Once grasp the truth that nothing is done for man, and that +he has everything to do for himself, and all is possible. Still, this is +not a proof that chance rules the world. And, again, the fact that man, +alone of created beings, is able to grasp this, or any other truth, is +not that gift everything in itself? + + "Nothing whatsoever is done for us. We are born naked, and not even + protected by a shaggy covering. Nothing is done for us. The first + and strongest command (using the word to convey the idea only) that + nature, the universe, our own bodies give is to do everything for + ourselves. The sea does not make boats for us, nor the earth of her + own will build us hospitals. The injured lie bleeding, and no + invisible power lifts them up. The maidens were scorched in the + midst of their devotions, and their remains make a mound hundreds + of yards long. The infants perished in the snow, and the ravens + tore their limbs. Those in the theatre crushed each other to the + death-agony. For how long, for how many thousand years, must the + earth and the sea, and the fire and the air, utter these things and + force them upon us before they are admitted in their full + significance? + + "These things speak with a voice of thunder. From every human being + whose body has been racked by pain, from every human being who has + suffered from accident or disease, from every human being drowned, + burned, or slain by negligence, there goes up a + continually-increasing cry louder than the thunder. An + awe-inspiring cry dread to listen to, which no one dares listen to, + against which ears are stopped by the wax of superstition, and the + wax of criminal selfishness:--These miseries are your doing, + because you have mind and thought, and could have prevented them. + You can prevent them in the future. You do not even try. + + "It is perfectly certain that all diseases without exception are + preventible, or if not so, that they can be so weakened as to do no + harm. It is perfectly certain that all accidents are preventible; + there is not one that does not arise from folly or negligence. All + accidents are crimes. It is perfectly certain that all human beings + are capable of physical happiness. It is absolutely + incontrovertible that the ideal shape of the human being is + attainable to the exclusion of deformities. It is incontrovertible + that there is no necessity for any man to die but of old age, and + that if death cannot be prevented life can be prolonged far beyond + the farthest now known. It is incontrovertible that at the present + time no one ever dies of old age. Not one single person ever dies + of old age, or of natural causes, for there is no such thing as a + natural cause of death. They die of disease or weakness which is + the result of disease, either in themselves or in their ancestors. + No such thing as old age is known to us. We do not even know what + old age would be like, because no one ever lives to it." + +This remarkable book is a record almost, if not quite, unique. The +writer is not a man of science; he has not been trained in logic and +dialectics, he is not a scholar, though he has read much. But he can +think for himself, and he has the gift of carrying on the same line of +thought unwearied, persistent, like a bloodhound on the scent, year +after year. And as a record it is absolutely true; there are no +concealments in it, no affectations; it is all true. He has gone to +Nature--the Nature he loves so well--for an answer to the problems that +vex his soul. Nature replies with a stony stare; she has no answer. What +is man? She cares nothing for man. Everything, so far as she knows, and +so far as man is concerned, takes place by chance. Then he gets his +Vision of the Perfect Soul, and it fills his heart and makes him happy, +and seems to satisfy all his longings. And the old Christian teaching, +the prayer to the Father, the village church and its services, the quiet +churchyard--where are they? Out on the wild downs you do not see or hear +of them at all. They are not in the whisper of the air, or in the rustle +of the grass-blades; they are not in the sunshine; they are not in the +cloud; they are not in the depths of the azure sky. + +And so he concludes: + + "I have only just commenced to realize the immensity of thought + which lies outside the knowledge of the senses. Still, on the hills + and by the sea-shore, I seek and pray deeper than ever. The sun + burns southwards over the sea and before the wave runs its shadow, + constantly slipping on the advancing slope till it curls and covers + its dark image at the shore. Over the rim of the horizon waves are + flowing as high and wide as those that break upon the beach. These + that come to me and beat the trembling shore are like the thoughts + that have been known so long; like the ancient, iterated, and + reiterated thoughts that have broken on the strand of mind for + thousands of years. Beyond and over the horizon I feel that there + are other waves of ideas unknown to me, flowing as the stream of + ocean flows. Knowledge of facts is limitless, they lie at my feet + innumerable like the countless pebbles; knowledge of thought so + circumscribed! Ever the same thoughts come that have been written + down centuries and centuries. + + "Let me launch forth and sail over the rim of the sea yonder, and + when another rim arises over that, and again and onwards into an + ever-widening ocean of idea and life. For with all the strength of + the wave, and its succeeding wave, the depth and race of the tide, + the clear definition of the sky; with all the subtle power of the + great sea, there rises an equal desire. Give me life strong and + full as the brimming ocean; give me thoughts wide as its plain; + give me a soul beyond these. Sweet is the bitter sea by the shore + where the faint blue pebbles are lapped by the green-gray wave, + where the wind-quivering foam is loath to leave the lashed stone. + Sweet is the bitter sea, and the clear green in which the gaze + seeks the soul, looking through the glass into itself. The sea + thinks for me as I listen and ponder: the sea thinks, and every + boom of the wave repeats my prayer. + + "Sometimes I stay on the wet sands as the tide rises, listening to + the rush of the lines of foam in layer upon layer; the wash swells + and circles about my feet, I lave my hands in it, I lift a little + in my hollowed palm, I take the life of the sea to me. My soul + rising to the immensity utters its desire-prayer with all the + strength of the sea. Or, again, the full stream of ocean beats upon + the shore, and the rich wind feeds the heart, the sun burns + brightly;--the sense of soul-life burns in me like a torch. + + "Leaving the shore, I walk among the trees; a cloud passes, and the + sweet short rain comes mingled with sunbeams and flower-scented + air. The finches sing among the fresh green leaves of the beeches. + Beautiful it is, in summer days, to see the wheat wave, and the + long grass foam-flecked of flower yield and return to the wind. My + soul of itself always desires; these are to it as fresh food. I + have found in the hills another valley grooved in prehistoric + times, where, climbing to the top of the hollow, I can see the sea. + Down in the hollow I look up; the sky stretches over, the sun burns + as it seems but just above the hill, and the wind sweeps onward. As + the sky extends beyond the valley, so I know that there are ideas + beyond the valley of my thought; I know that there is something + infinitely higher than Deity. The great sun burning in the sky, + the sea, the firm earth, all the stars of night are feeble--all, + all the cosmos is feeble; it is not strong enough to utter my + prayer-desire. My soul cannot reach to its full desire of prayer. I + need no earth, or sea, or sun to think my thought. If my + thought-part--the psyche--were entirely separated from the body, + and from the earth, I should of myself desire the same. In itself + my soul desires; my existence, my soul-existence is in itself my + prayer, and so long as it exists so long will it pray that I may + have the fullest soul-life." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE CHILD WANDERS IN THE WOOD. + + +There is a very delightful old story which used to be given to children, +though I have not seen it for a long time in the hands of any children. +It was called "The Story without an End." A child wandered among the +flowers, who talked to him. That is the whole story. There were coloured +pictures in it. The story began without a beginning, and it came to a +sudden stop without an ending. + +It is perhaps upon a reminiscence of this old story that Jefferies has +based nearly all his own. They are very delightful, especially the +shorter stories; but they seldom have any end. There is sometimes, but +not often, a story; there is generally only a succession of +scenes--some delightful, all beautiful, and all original in the sense +that nobody except Jefferies could possibly have written any of them. +The child wanders. That is all. Some day, when the worth of this writer +is universally recognised, these scenes and stories will be detached +from the papers with which they are published, and issued in separate +form, as beautifully illustrated as the art of the next generation--this +will not take place for another generation--will allow. + +For instance, Guido--they called him Guido because they thought that in +childhood Guido the painter must have greatly resembled this boy--runs +along the grassy lane at the top of a bank between the fir-trees till he +comes to a wheat-field. Then he climbs down into this field, and sees +the most wonderful things: lovely azure corn-flowers--"curious flowers +with knobs surrounded with little blue flowers, like a lady's bonnet. +They were a beautiful blue, not like any other blue, not like the +violets in the garden, or the sky over the trees, or the geranium in the +grass, or the bird's-eyes by the path." Then he wanders on, starting a +rabbit, scaring a hawk, and listening to the birds. Presently he sits +down on the branch of an oak, with his feet dangling over a streamlet. +Then he remembers--children do remember things in the strangest +way--that if he wants to hear a story, or to talk with the grass, he +really must not try to catch the butterflies. So he touches the rushes +with his foot, and says, "Rush, rush, tell them I am here." Immediately +there follows a little wind, and the wheat swings to and fro, the +oak-leaves rustle, the rushes bow, and the shadows slip forwards and +back again. After this, of course, the nearest wheat-ear begins to talk. +Now the wheat has been so long growing for the use of man that it has +grown to love him. Think of that! And it pains the wheat to see so much +misery and needless labour among the people. Of course, we cannot expect +a wheat-ear to know that little boys do not understand the problems of +poverty and labour. + + "'There is one thing we do not like, and that is, all the labour + and the misery. Why cannot your people have us without so much + labour, and why are so many of you unhappy? Why cannot they be all + happy with us as you are, dear? For hundreds and hundreds of years + now the wheat every year has been sorrowful for your people, and I + think we get more sorrowful every year about it, because, as I was + telling you just now, the flowers go, and the swallows go, the old, + old oaks go, and that oak will go, under the shade of which you are + lying, Guido; and if your people do not gather the flowers now, and + watch the swallows, and listen to the blackbirds whistling, as you + are listening now while I talk, then Guido, my love, they will + never pick any flowers, nor hear any birds' songs. They think they + will, they think that when they have toiled, and worked a long + time, almost all their lives, then they will come to the flowers, + and the birds, and be joyful in the sunshine. But no, it will not + be so, for then they will be old themselves, and their ears dull, + and their eyes dim, so that the birds will sound a great distance + off, and the flowers will not seem bright. + + "'Of course, we know that the greatest part of your people cannot + help themselves, and must labour on like the reapers till their + ears are full of the dust of age. That only makes us more + sorrowful, and anxious that things should be different. I do not + suppose we should think about them had we not been in man's hand so + long that now we have got to feel with man. Every year makes it + more pitiful, because then there are more flowers gone, and added + to the vast numbers of those gone before, and never gathered, or + looked at, though they could have given so much pleasure. And all + the work and labour, and thinking, and reading, and learning that + your people do ends in nothing--not even one flower. We cannot + understand why it should be so. There are thousands of wheat-ears + in this field, more than you would know how to write down with your + pencil, though you have learned your tables, sir. Yet all of us + thinking, and talking, cannot understand why it is when we consider + how clever your people are, and how they bring ploughs, and + steam-engines, and put up wires along the roads to tell you things + when you are miles away, and sometimes we are sown where we can + hear the hum, hum, all day of the children learning in the school. + The butterflies flutter over us, and the sun shines, and the doves + are very, very happy at their nest, but the children go on hum, hum + inside this house, and learn, learn. So we suppose you must be very + clever, and yet you cannot manage this. All your work is wasted, + and you labour in vain--you dare not leave it a minute. + + "'If you left it a minute it would all be gone; it does not mount + up and make a store, so that all of you could sit by it and be + happy. Directly you leave off you are hungry, and thirsty, and + miserable like the beggars that tramp along the dusty road here. + All the thousand years of labour since this field was first + ploughed have not stored up anything for you. It would not matter + about the work so much if you were only happy; the bees work every + year, but they are happy; the doves build a nest every year, but + they are very, very happy. We think it must be because you do not + come out to us and be with us and think more as we do. It is not + because your people have not got plenty to eat and drink--you have + as much as the bees. Why, just look at us! Look at the wheat that + grows all over the world; all the figures that were ever written in + pencil could not tell how much, it is such an immense quantity. Yet + your people starve and die of hunger every now and then, and we + have seen the wretched beggars tramping along the road. We have + known of times when there was a great pile of us, almost a hill + piled up; it was not in this country, it was in another warmer + country, and yet no one dared to touch it--they died at the bottom + of the hill of wheat. The earth is full of skeletons of people who + have died of hunger. They are dying now this minute in your big + cities, with nothing but stones all round them, stone walls and + stone streets; not jolly stones like those you threw in the water, + dear--hard, unkind stones that make them cold and let them die, + while we are growing here, millions of us, in the sunshine with the + butterflies floating over us. This makes us unhappy; I was very + unhappy this morning till you came running over and played with + us. + + "'It is not because there is not enough: it is because your people + are so short-sighted, so jealous and selfish, and so curiously + infatuated with things that are not so good as your old toys which + you have flung away and forgotten. And you teach the children hum, + hum, all day to care about such silly things, and to work for them, + and to look to them as the object of their lives. It is because you + do not share us among you without price or difference; because you + do not share the great earth among you fairly, without spite and + jealousy and avarice; because you will not agree; you silly, + foolish people to let all the flowers wither for a thousand years + while you keep each other at a distance, instead of agreeing and + sharing them! Is there something in you--as there is poison in the + nightshade, you know it, dear, your papa told you not to touch + it--is there a sort of poison in your people that works them up + into a hatred of one another? Why, then, do you not agree and have + all things, all the great earth can give you, just as we have the + sunshine and the rain? How happy your people could be if they would + only agree! But you go on teaching even the little children to + follow the same silly objects, hum, hum, hum, all the day, and they + will grow up to hate each other, and to try which can get the most + round things--you have one in your pocket.' + + "'Sixpence,' said Guido. 'It's quite a new one.' + + "'And other things quite as silly,' the Wheat continued. 'All the + time the flowers are flowering, but they will go, even the oaks + will go. We think the reason you do not all have plenty, and why + you do not do only just a little work, and why you die of hunger if + you leave off, and why so many of you are unhappy in body and mind, + and all the misery is because you have not got a spirit like the + wheat, like us; you will not agree, and you will not share, and you + will hate each other, and you will be so avaricious, and you will + _not_ touch the flowers, or go into the sunshine (you would rather + half of you died among the hard stones first), and you will teach + your children hum, hum, to follow in some foolish course that has + caused you all this unhappiness a thousand years, and you will + _not_ have a spirit like us, and feel like us. Till you have a + spirit like us, and feel like us, you will never, never be happy.'" + +Was not that a fine talk for the child to have with the wheat-ear? And +there is more of it, a great deal more in this story without an end +which you will find in the book called "The Open Air." + +Again, another boy--not Guido by any means, nor in the least like +Guido--had been sent to gather acorns. He gathered a few, dropped them +into his bag, and lay down in the warm corner by the root of the tree to +sleep. There his grandmother found him, and there she beat him. + + "A wickeder boy never lived: nothing could be done with the + reprobate. He was her grandson--at least, the son of her daughter, + for he was not legitimate. The man drank, the girl died, as was + believed, of sheer starvation: the granny kept the child, and he + was now between ten and eleven years old. She had done and did her + duty, as she understood it. A prayer-meeting was held in her + cottage twice a week, she prayed herself aloud among them, she was + a leading member of the sect. Neither example, precept, nor the rod + could change that boy's heart. In time perhaps she got to beat him + from habit rather than from any particular anger of the moment, + just as she fetched water and filled her kettle, as one of the + ordinary events of the day. Why did not the father interfere? + Because if so he would have had to keep his son: so many shillings + a week the less for ale. + + "In the garden attached to the cottage there was a small shed with + a padlock, used to store produce or wood in. One morning, after a + severe beating, she drove the boy in there and locked him in the + whole day without food. It was no use, he was as hardened as ever. + + "A footpath which crossed the field went by the cottage, and every + Sunday those who were walking to church could see the boy in the + window with granny's Bible open before him. There he had to sit, + the door locked, under terror of stick, and study the page. What + was the use of compelling him to do that? He could not read. 'No,' + said the old woman, 'he won't read, but I makes him look at his + book.' + + "The thwacking went on for some time, when one day the boy was sent + on an errand two or three miles, and for a wonder started willingly + enough. At night he did not return, nor the next day, nor the next, + and it was as clear as possible that he had run away. No one + thought of tracking his footsteps, or following up the path he had + to take, which passed a railway, brooks, and a canal. He had run + away, and he might stop away: it was beautiful summer weather, and + it would do him no harm to stop out for a week. A dealer who had + business in a field by the canal thought indeed that he saw + something in the water, but he did not want any trouble, nor indeed + did he know that someone was missing. Most likely a dead dog; so he + turned his back and went to look again at the cow he thought of + buying. A barge came by, and the steerswoman, with a pipe in her + mouth, saw something roll over and come up under the rudder: the + length of the barge having passed over it. She knew what it was, + but she wanted to reach the wharf and go ashore and have a quart of + ale. No use picking it up, only make a mess on deck, there was no + reward--'Gee-up! Neddy.' The barge went on, turning up the mud in + the shallow water, sending ripples washing up to the grassy meadow + shores, while the moorhens hid in the flags till it was gone. In + time a labourer walking on the towing-path saw 'it,' and fished it + out, and with it a slender ash sapling, with twine and hook, a worm + still on it. This was why the dead boy had gone so willingly, + thinking to fish in the 'river,' as he called the canal. When his + feet slipped and he fell in, his fishing-line somehow became + twisted about his arms and legs, else most likely he would have + scrambled out, as it was not very deep. This was the end; nor was + he even remembered. Does anyone sorrow for the rook, shot, and hung + up as a scarecrow? The boy had been talked to, and held up as a + scarecrow all his life: he was dead, and that is all. As for + granny, she felt no twinge: she had done her duty." + +There is another chapter among these papers which is a real story. It +is, I am certain, a true story, because the plot is not at all in the +manner of Jefferies. It is called, grimly, "Field Play." The "Story of +Dolly" it should be called--of hapless Dolly--of Dolly the village +beauty. Would you like to see how Jefferies can describe a beautiful +woman? + + "So fair a complexion could not brown even in summer, exposed to + the utmost heat. The beams indeed did heighten the hue of her + cheeks a little, but it did not shade to brown. Her chin and neck + were wholly untanned, white and soft, and the blue veins roamed at + their will. Lips red, a little full perhaps; teeth slightly + prominent, but white and gleamy as she smiled. Dark-brown hair in + no great abundance, always slipping out of its confinement and + straggling, now on her forehead, and now on her shoulders, like + wandering bines of bryony. The softest of brown eyes under long + eyelashes; eyes that seemed to see everything in its gentlest + aspect, that could see no harm anywhere. A ready smile on the face, + and a smile in the form. Her shape yielded so easily at each + movement that it seemed to smile as she walked. Her nose was the + least pleasing feature--not delicate enough to fit with the + complexion, and distinctly upturned, though not offensively. But it + was not noticed; no one saw anything beyond the laughing lips, the + laughing shape, the eyes that melted so near to tears. The torn + dress, the straggling hair, the tattered shoes, the unmended + stocking, the straw hat split, the mingled poverty and + carelessness--perhaps rather dreaminess--disappeared when once you + had met the full untroubled gaze of those beautiful eyes. + Untroubled, that is, with any ulterior thought of evil or cunning; + they were as open as the day, the day which you can make your own + for evil or good. So, too, like the day, was she ready to the + making." + +The miserable, hapless fate of poor Dolly, the horrible tragedy of her +life and death, is told with relentless truth and fidelity. In Arcadia +such things may happen, and, I suppose, do constantly happen. The story +belongs properly to the chapter on English country life last quarter of +the nineteenth century, which, when it is written, will, I think, be +taken altogether from the works of Jefferies and Thomas Hardy. + +"The Story of Bevis" is the story of Guido writ large. It is also the +story of Jefferies himself as a boy. Observe, most writers of fiction, +if they were proposing to write the story of a boy, would first create +an imaginary boy, and then surround him with imaginary adventures, +invented on purpose for that boy. Jefferies does nothing of the kind. It +is not his method. He remembers his own boyhood--the most delightful +part of it--when he played with his brother and his cousin upon the +shores of the lake behind the farmhouse, and made his canoe, and paddled +about the water exploring the creeks and islets, the bays and harbours +of that wonderful coast. The boy, Bevis, is, in fact, himself. +Therefore, he does all the things that Jefferies and his brother did in +their boyhood. Bevis even makes a raft, and, when the raft is made, he +sails down the Mississippi as far as Central Africa, where, of course, +he encounters savages, and has to fight them. To discover an unknown +island on such a voyage is an adventure certain to be met with. To build +a hut, to provision a cave, and to dwell for a while upon that island is +another adventure equally certain when one goes to Central Africa, and +there is no reason at all why such a story should ever have any end. +Consequently, there is none--only a full stop, and then a line with +"Finis" written under it. In fact, there never was such a book of boy's +make-believe. Observe, if you please, a thing which shows the real +genius of the writer. It is that you feel, all the time you are reading +the book, the village itself only a quarter of a mile from Central +Africa. The bailiff, and the dogs, and the village lads are always +coming across us in the midst of the Central African jungle in the most +natural and absurd way. For boys, as Jefferies remembered, are never +quite carried away by their own imaginations. There are many very fine +passages in the book, which has only one fault--it is three times as +long as it should have been. The conception is delightful. In the +execution the author has not known when to stay his hand. Perhaps one of +those limitations of which I have spoken already was an imperfect +faculty of selection. For boys, the story should have been compressed +into one volume. One cannot understand, indeed, how his publishers +consented to put forth the book in three-volume novel form. Nobody, +after the first chapter, could possibly accept it as a three-volume +novel. But it contains many very striking and beautiful and poetic +pages. + +For instance, Bevis watches the sunrise: + + "The sun had not yet stood out from the orient, but his precedent + light shone through the translucent blue. Yet it was not blue, nor + is there any word, nor is a word possible to convey the feeling + unless one could be built up of signs and symbols like those in the + book of the magician, which glowed and burned to and fro the page. + For the blue of the precious sapphire is thick to it, the turquoise + dull: these hard surfaces are no more to be compared to it than + sand and gravel. They are but stones, hard, cold, pitiful: that + which gives them their lustre is the light. Through delicate + porcelain sometimes the light comes, and it is not the porcelain, + it is the light that is lovely. But porcelain is clay, and the + light is shorn, checked, and shrunken. Down through the beauteous + azure came the Light itself, pure, unreflected Light, untouched, + untarnished even by the dew-sweetened petal of a flower, + descending, flowing like a wind, a wind of glory sweeping through + the blue. A luminous purple glowing as Love glows in the cheek, so + glowed the passion of the heavens. + + "Two things only reach the soul. By touch there is indeed emotion. + But the light in the eye, the sound of the voice! the soul trembles + and like a flame leaps to meet them. So to the luminous purple + azure his heart ascended." + +In "Wood Magic" Jefferies carries on the story of "Bevis" and of +"Guido." The creatures all talk to the boy, which makes going into the +fields and woods a much more delightful thing than it is to other boys, +to whom they will not address one single word. There is a wicked weasel, +for instance, caught in a gin, who tells such abominable lies as one may +expect from a weasel. There is also a fable about a magpie and a jay, +which fails, somehow, to arrest the reader. But when you have got +through the business with the creatures--I do not care in the least for +them unless Bevis is with them--you presently arrive at a most +delightful chapter where Bevis is instructed by the wind. It is such a +wise, wise wind, it knows so much. If Bevis will only remember the half +of what the wind has taught him! + + "'Bevis, my love, if you want to know all about the sun, and the + stars, and everything, make haste and come to me, and I will tell + you, dear. In the morning, dear, get up as quick as you can, and + drink me as I come down from the hill. In the day go up on the + hill, dear, and drink me again, and stay there if you can till the + stars shine out, and drink still more of me. + + "'And by-and-by you will understand all about the sun, and the + moon, and the stars, and the Earth which is so beautiful, Bevis. It + is so beautiful, you can hardly believe how beautiful it is. Do not + listen, dear, not for one moment, to the stuff and rubbish they + tell you down there in the houses where they will not let me come. + If they say the Earth is not beautiful, tell them they do not speak + the truth. But it is not their fault, for they have never seen it, + and, as they have never drank me, their eyes are closed, and their + ears shut up tight. But every evening, dear, before you get into + bed, do you go to your window--the same as you did the evening the + Owl went by--and lift the curtain and look up at the sky, and I + shall be somewhere about, or else I shall be quiet in order that + there may be no clouds, so that you may see the stars. In the + morning, as I said before, rush out and drink me up. + + "'The more you drink of me, the more you will want, and the more I + shall love you. Come up to me upon the hills, and your heart will + never be heavy, but your eyes will be bright, and your step quick, + and you will sing and shout----' + + "'So I will,' said Bevis, 'I will shout. Holloa!' and he ran up on + to the top of the little round hill, to which they had now + returned, and danced about on it as wild as could be. + + "'Dance away, dear,' said the Wind, much delighted. 'Everybody + dances who drinks me. The man in the hill there----' + + "'What man?' said Bevis, 'and how did he get in the hill; just tell + him I want to speak to him.' + + "'Darling,' said the Wind, very quiet and softly, 'he is dead, and + he is in the little hill you are standing on, under your feet. At + least, he was there once, but there is nothing of him there now. + Still it is his place, and as he loved me, and I loved him, I come + very often and sing here.' + + "'When did he die?' said Bevis. 'Did I ever see him?' + + "'He died just about a minute ago, dear; just before you came up + the hill. If you were to ask the people who live in the houses, + where they will not let me in (they carefully shut out the sun, + too), they would tell you he died thousands of years ago; but they + are foolish, very foolish. It was hardly so long ago as yesterday. + Did not the Brook tell you all about that? + + "'Now this man, and all his people, used to love me and drink me, + as much as ever they could all day long and a great part of the + night, and when they died they still wanted to be with me, and so + they were all buried on the tops of the hills, and you will find + these curious little mounds everywhere on the ridges, dear, where I + blow along. There I come to them still, and sing through the long + dry grass, and rush over the turf, and I bring the scent of the + clover from the plain, and the bees come humming along upon me. The + sun comes, too, and the rain. But I am here most; the sun only + shines by day, and the rain only comes now and then.' + + * * * * * + + "'There never was a yesterday,' whispered the Wind presently, 'and + there never will be to-morrow. It is all one long to-day. When the + man in the hill was you were too, and he still is now you are here; + but of these things you will know more when you are older, that is + if you will only continue to drink me. Come, dear, let us race on + again.' So the two went on and came to a hawthorn-bush, and Bevis, + full of mischief always, tried to slip away from the Wind round the + bush, but the Wind laughed and caught him. + + "A little further and they came to the fosse of the old camp. Bevis + went down into the trench, and he and the Wind raced round along it + as fast as ever they could go, till presently he ran up out of it + on the hill, and there was the waggon underneath him, with the load + well piled up now. There was the plain, yellow with stubble; the + hills beyond it and the blue valley, just the same as he had left + it. + + "As Bevis stood and looked down, the Wind caressed him and said, + 'Good-bye, darling, I am going yonder, straight across to the blue + valley and the blue sky, where they meet; but I shall be back + again when you come next time. Now remember, my dear, to drink + me--come up here and drink me.' + + "'Shall you be here?' said Bevis; 'are you quite sure you will be + here?' + + "'Yes,' said the Wind, 'I shall be quite certain to be here; I + promise you, love, I will never go quite away. Promise me + faithfully, too, that you will come up and drink me, and shout and + race and be happy.' + + "'I promise,' said Bevis, beginning to go down the hill; 'good-bye, + jolly old Wind.' + + "'Good-bye, dearest,' whispered the Wind, as he went across out + towards the valley. As Bevis went down the hill, a blue harebell, + who had been singing farewell to summer all the morning, called to + him and asked him to gather her and carry her home, as she would + rather go with him than stay now autumn was near. + + "Bevis gathered the harebell, and ran with the flower in his hand + down the hill, and as he ran the wild thyme kissed his feet and + said, 'Come again, Bevis, come again.' At the bottom of the hill + the waggon was loaded now; so they lifted him up, and he rode home + on the broad back of the leader." + +There is one more story. I must not quote it, because it is too long, +but I cannot pass it over in silence. It will be found in "Nature Round +London." It is the story of a trout, and it has always filled me with +the most profound and most sincere admiration. So little did Jefferies +understand that he was here working out a picture of the most original +kind, of the deepest interest, that he actually divides it in two, goes +off to something else, and then returns to it. His inexhaustible mind +scattered its treasures about as lavishly as Nature herself scatters +abroad her flowers and her seeds, and with almost as little care about +arrangement, selection, and grouping. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CONCLUSION + + +I think that I have never read, in all the sad chronicles of hapless +authors, anything more pitiful than the history of the last years of +this life so short, yet so rich in its sheaves of golden grain and piles +of purple fruit. Everything possible of long-continued torture, +necessity of work, poverty, anxiety, and hope of recovery continually +deferred, are crammed into the miserable record which closes this +volume. + +Jefferies fell ill in December, 1881, five years and a half before the +end. He was attacked by a disease for which an operation of a very +severe and painful nature is the only cure. It is, however, one which, +in the hands of a skilful surgeon, is generally successful. Horrible to +relate, in his case, the operation proved unsuccessful, and had to be +repeated again and again. Four times in twelve months the dreadful +surgeon's knife was used upon this poor sufferer. For a whole year he +could do no work at all. The modest savings of the preceding years were +spent upon the physicians and the surgeons, and in the maintenance of +his household, while the pen of the breadwinner was perforce resting. +Before he was able to take pen in hand again, he was reduced to +something approaching destitution. You shall read directly how, when he +recovered, hope immediately returned, and he was once more happy in the +thought that now he could again work, though it was to begin the world +once more. Alas! the interval of hope was brief indeed. Another, and a +more mysterious disease attacked him. He felt an internal pain +constantly gnawing him; he could not eat without pain; he grew daily +weaker; he was at last no longer able to walk; he could only crawl. + +Henceforth his days and nights were a long struggle against suffering, +with a determination, however, to go on with his work. Nothing more +wonderful than the courage and resolution of this man. As in youth he +had resolved to succeed somehow, though as yet ignorant of the better +way, so now he _would_ not be beaten by pain. His very best work, the +work which will cause him to live, the work which places him among the +writers of his country, to be remembered and to be read long after the +men of his generation are dead and forgotten, was actually done while he +was in this suffering. The "Pageant of Summer," for example: well, the +"Pageant of Summer" reads as if it were the work of a man revelling in +the warmth of the quivering air; of a man in perfect health and +strength, body and mind at ease, surrendered wholly to the influence of +the flowers and the sunshine, at peace, save for the natural sadness of +one who communes much with himself on change, decay, and death. And yet +the "Pageant of Summer" was written while he was in deadly pain and +torture. Again, between 1883 and 1886 he published those collections of +papers called "Life in the Fields" and "The Open Air." He also wrote +"Red Deer," "Amaryllis," and a quantity of papers which have yet to be +collected and published. If, even for a moment, he had an interval of +strength, his busy pen began again to race over the paper, hasting to +set down the thoughts that filled his brain. + +His disease was discovered, after a period of intense suffering, to be +an ulceration of the small intestine. It was weakness induced by this +disease, which caused other complications, under which he gradually +sank. + +I suppose that Jefferies could never be considered a strong man. As a +boy, tall, active, nervous, he was muscularly weaker than his younger +brother. At the age of eighteen he showed symptoms which caused fear of +a decline. Perhaps his intense love of the open air indicated the kind +of medicine which he most needed. When he could no longer go into the +open air he died. Perhaps, too, the consciousness of physical weakness, +the sense of impending early death, caused him to yearn with so much +longing after physical perfection and the fuller life which he clearly +saw was possible. Those who are doomed to die young--as has been often +observed--have the deepest sense and the keenest enjoyment of life. + +Still, though not a strong man, he was apparently a healthy man. He +lived at all times a simple and a healthy life; there was nothing to +show that he was going to be struck down by so cruel an illness. + +The period of greatest suffering seems to have been in the year 1884. +The weakness following it set in some time during the year 1885. + +He writes to Mr. Charles Longman in May of the latter year: + + "Your suggestion"--that he should write a year-book of Nature--"of + a diary out of doors would no doubt make a good book, and I shall + give serious thought to it. My great difficulty is the physical + difficulty of writing. Since the spine gave way, there is no + position in which I can lie or sit so as to use a pen without + distress. Even a short letter like this is painful. Consequently, a + vast mass of ideas go into space, for I cannot write them down." + +In August he returns to the subject: + + "Many thanks for your kind letter and interest in my weakness. I + sometimes rather need moral support of this sort, for after so long + the spirits show signs of flagging, and the way seems endless. Such + sympathy, therefore, helps me very much.... I should have liked to + have written the book you proposed. I made several attempts, but it + never satisfied me. I am glad, at all events, that you have + forgiven my unintentional nonfulfilment of the promise. Even yet, + perhaps, I may do something in that direction. Professor Gamgee, + under whom I have been lately, says that complete recovery would + follow a few weeks' basking in South Africa, or, failing that, + Southern Europe. There is plenty of energy in me still. I sometimes + dream of using the rifle--a dream, indeed, to a man who can with + difficulty drag himself across a field." + +In June he writes to his friend, Mr. C.P. Scott, of the _Manchester +Guardian_: + + "Since I last wrote to you I have been very seriously ill. The + starvation went on and on, and no one could relieve it, till I had + to stay in the bedroom, and finally went to bed, fainting nearly + all day and night, and yet craving for food, half delirious, and in + the most dreadful state. How I endured I cannot tell. At last I had + Dr. Kidd down from London, and in forty-eight hours his treatment + checked the disease. I got downstairs, next, out of doors in a + Bath-chair, and now I can walk two hundred yards. But I am still + the veriest shadow of a man--my nerves are gone to pieces--and he + warns me that it will take months to effect a cure. Of that, + however, he is certain. Under his advice I have left Eltham, and am + staying here (Rotherfield, Sussex) till a cottage can be found for + me near Tunbridge Wells.... My last piece of MS. appears in + _Longman_ this month, and I have now no more left, having exhausted + all I wrote when able. At least, there remains but one + piece--'Nature in the Louvre.' It is about a beautiful statue that + interested me greatly, and which seems to have escaped notice in + England. I think you would like the ideas expressed in it." + +At this time it was suggested that he should make an application to the +Royal Literary Fund. He writes both to Mr. Longman and to Mr. Scott in +the strongest terms upon the subject. I do not, for my own part, in the +least agree with Jefferies in his wholesale condemnation of that useful +society, and therefore have the less hesitation in printing what he says +of it: + + 'August 18, 1885. + + "You have put before me a very great temptation. It is impossible + for you to know how great, for there can be no doubt that it is the + winter that is my enemy. Last winter I was indoors six months--in + fact, it was eight before I really got out of doors, most of this + time helpless, sitting in an easy chair before the fire, my feet on + a pillow, and legs wrapped up in a railway-rug, up and down stairs + on hands and knees, and unable even to dress myself. Even now it + tears me to pieces even to walk a short distance. So that to pass + next winter in warmth seems almost like life, besides the great + possibility of complete recovery. There would be also the pleasure + of the sights and scenes of Algiers or South Africa. In short, it + has been a very great temptation, and I am sure it was most kind of + you to think of me. But the Royal Literary Fund is a thing to + accept aid from which humiliates the recipient past all bounds; it + is worse than the workhouse. If long illness ultimately drove me to + the workhouse, I should feel no disgrace, having done my utmost to + fight with difficulties. Everyone has a right to that last relief. + If this fund were maintained by pressmen, authors, journalists, + editors, publishers, newspaper proprietors, and so on, that would + be quite another matter. There would be no humiliation--rather the + contrary--and in time one might subscribe some day and help someone + else. It is no such thing. It is kept up by dukes and marquises, + lords and titled people, with a Prince at their head, and a vast + quantity of trumpet-blowing, in order that these people may say + they are patrons of literature! Patrons of literature! Was there + ever such a disgrace in the nineteenth century? Patrons of + literature! The thing is simply abominable! I dare say if I were a + town-born man I should not think so, but to me it wears an aspect + of standing insult. + + "No doubt we ought to combine--all who have ever touched a + pen--then we could assist each other in a straightforward and manly + way. + + "The temptation to me is very great indeed, because there is no + question that I have been slowly sinking for years for want of some + such travel or stimulus working through the nervous system. But I + have made up my mind to say no. I would rather run the risk of + quitting this world altogether next winter than degrade myself in + that way. + + "I am trying all I can to move altogether to the neighbourhood of + the sea. Possibly, even Dorset or Devon might answer; or, failing + that, I may try to pay a short visit to Schwalbach, and see if the + natural iron medicine of a mineral spring may do what compound + physic cannot. But I fancy the sea residence would be preferable. + + "Change is the only thing that as yet has affected me, which seems + to point conclusively to an exhausted system rather than to + disease." + +To Mr. Scott he writes in a similar strain. It galls him to think of +being "patronized," and, indeed, if that were the view taken by the +council of the Royal Literary Fund, I, for one, should be the first to +agree with him. But it is not. Jefferies was wrong about the supporters +of the Fund which is, in fact, assisted by everybody who ever makes any +success in literature, and by every writer of any distinction either in +letters or in other fields. He adds, however, a paragraph in which I +cordially agree, and to the carrying out of the suggestion contained in +it some of us have, during the last three years, devoted a great deal of +time and effort. + + "We ought, of course, to have a real Literary Association, to which + subscription should be almost semi-compulsory. We ought to have + some organization. Literature is young yet--scarce fifty years + old. The legal and medical professions have had a start of a + thousand years. Our profession is young yet, but will be the first + of all in the time to come." + +He goes on to speak of his health: + + "Ever since Christmas I have been trying to move to the sea-coast, + but I cannot effect it. I cannot stick to work long enough to + produce any result, the extreme weakness will not let me, so that I + cannot do anything. Whatever I wish to do, it seems as if a voice + said, 'No, you shall not do it. Feebleness forbids.' I think I + should like a good walk. No. I think I should like to write. No. I + think I should like to rest. No. Always No to everything. Even + writing this letter has made the spine ache almost past endurance. + I cannot convey to you how miserable it is to be impotent; to feel + yourself full of ideas and work, and to be unable to effect + anything; to sit and waste the hours. It is absolutely maddening." + +In November he writes again. He is at Crowborough, where the fine air at +first seemed to be restoring him. He could walk about in the field at +the back of the house. + + "Suddenly I went down as if I had been shot. All the improvement + was lost, and now I have been indoors three months, steadily + becoming weaker and more emaciated every day. It is, in fact, + starvation. They cannot feed me, try what they will. No one would + believe what misery it is, and what extreme debility it produces. + The worst of all is the helplessness. Often I am compelled to sit + or lie for days and think, think, till I feel as if I should become + insane, for my mind seems as clear as ever, and the anxiety and + eager desire to do something is as strong as in my best days. There + is an ancient story of a living man tied to a dead one, and that is + like me; mind alive and body dead. I fear that my old friends will + give me up in time, because I cannot travel the path of friendship + now, and the Cymric proverb says that it soon grows covered with + briars." + +A letter, dated June 19, 1886, is too sad to be quoted. His dependence +on others, even for the putting on of his clothes, his longing for the +sea-coast, which he thinks is certain to do him good, his lament over +the poverty which, through no fault of his own, has fallen upon him, +fill up this melancholy letter. Day and night there is no cessation of +pain. + +Help of all kinds was forthcoming from friends whom one must not name: +money, the offer of a house on the sea-coast; but there was the +difficulty of travelling. How was he to be moved? This difficulty was +got over, and he went to Bexhill for a time, returning to Crowborough in +September. The sea had done him good. On the night of his return, he +enjoyed a tranquil sleep for some hours, and awoke without pain. + +Among the letters sent to me by Mr. Scott is one from a well-known +physician who had been consulted on the case. + + "There is no doubt," he says, "that there is some tuberculous + affection of his lungs, though, so far as I have been able to make + out, this does not seem to be at all in an active state. + + "The serious complaints which make his life a misery to him I + believe to be purely functional. He strikes me as being a very + marked example of hysteria in man, though in his case, as in many + among women, the commoner phenomena of hysteria are absent. I am + surprised to hear that he spoke warmly of my treatment, for he + would not admit to his ordinary attendant, nor to me, that his + symptoms had undergone any palliation whatever. He is prejudiced + against any treatment, and the result, according to him, always + agrees with his prediction." + +Evidently an extremely difficult and nervous patient to treat. But that +might be expected. In October of 1886, Mr. Scott proposed to raise a +fund among the friends and admirers of his works which should be devoted +to sending him to a warmer climate. He consented, though with pain and +bitterness of soul. "I have written," he says, "fourteen books." He +enumerates them. "Scarcely anyone living has done so much." Yet he +forgets to consider for how small and select an audience he has written. +"All of them have been praised by the reviews. I cannot help feeling it +hard, after so much work, to come to such disgrace." It was hard, it was +cruelly hard. While the pensions of the Civil List--a breach of trust if +ever there was one--are bestowed upon daughters of distinguished +officers and widows of civil servants, such a man as Jefferies, for +whose assistance the grant is yearly asked and voted, is left to starve. +It is indeed cruelly hard on literature that the rulers of the country +should be so blind, so deaf, so pitiless--so dishonest. They made Burns +a gauger. Well: that was something. Could they not have made Jefferies a +police-constable, for instance? They gave him nothing: it would have +been useless to ask any Government to give anything: they wanted all the +money for persons for whom it was never intended. There never has +been--there is not now--not even at a time when Prime Ministers and +ex-Cabinet Ministers write articles for monthly magazines, any +Government which has had the least concern for, knowledge of, or touch +with, literature, or its makers. Authors must develop and increase their +own Society, and then they will not have to ask the Government for any +Civil Pension list at all, and ministers may go on asking for the grant +for the support of science and letters, and giving it all to their own +creatures, and to the daughters, widows, and sisters of officers. It is +hard, it is cruelly hard, as Jefferies said: it is a hardship and a +disgrace to all of us that such a man as Jefferies should "come to such +disgrace." + +Well, the fund was raised, quietly, among the private friends of its +promoters. But it came too late for the Algerian or South African +expedition. The sick man was sent, however, to the seaside; to a house +at Goring, on the Sussex coast. From this place he wrote to Mr. Scott a +little history of his illness, the nature of which I have already +sketched. The description by a highly-sensitive man, then in a most +nervous condition, of the horrible pain which he had been enduring is +most terrible to read, and is altogether too terrible to be quoted. I +dare not quote the whole of this dreadful story of long-continued +agony. Take, however, the end of it. At last his wounds were somehow +made to heal. + + "Now imagine my joy. The wounds were well at last. I was free. I + could walk and sit--actually sit down. I could work. I was very + faint and ill, but fresh air would soon set that right. All these + expenses had swallowed up a large share of my savings, and I had + practically to begin life again. But I did not mind that. I went to + work joyously. + + "Now judge again of my disappointment. Within two months--in + February--I was seized with a mysterious wasting disease, + accompanied by much pain. I gradually wasted away to mere bones. By + degrees this pain increased till it became almost insupportable. I + can compare it to nothing but the flame of a small spirit lamp + continually burning within me. Sometimes it seemed like a rat + always gnaw, gnaw, night and day. I had no sleep. Everything I ate + or drank seemed to add fuel to the flame. The local doctors could + do nothing, so I went to London again, and in the course of the + two years and more that it lasted I was under five of the leading + London physicians. Altogether I had some forty prescriptions, and + took something like sixty drugs, besides being put on diet. It was + not the slightest use, and it became evident that they had no idea + what was really the matter with me. The pain went on, burn, burn, + burn. If I wrote a volume I could not describe it to you, this + terrible scorching pain, night and day. There is nothing in medical + books like it, except the pain that follows corrosive sublimate + which burns the tissues. It was at times so maddening that I + dreaded to go a few miles alone by rail lest I should throw myself + out of the window of the carriage. I worked and wrote all this + time, and some of my best work was done in this intense agony. I + received letters from New Zealand, from the United States, even + from the islands of the Pacific, from people who had read my + writings. It seemed so strange that I should read these letters, + and yet all the time, to be writhing in agony. + + "At last, in April, 1885, nature gave way, and I broke down + utterly, and could only lie on the sofa in a fainting condition. In + a few days I became so helpless and weak that there appeared little + chance of my living. Someone suggested that Dr. Kidd should be sent + for. He came on Sunday morning, and found me nearly ended. I was + fainting during the examination. He discovered that it was + ulceration of the intestines. You know how painful an ulcer is + anywhere--say on your lip--now for over two years this ulceration + had been burning its way in the intestines. + + "He put me on milk diet, malt bread, malt extract, malted food, + meat shredded and pounded in a mortar, raw beef, and so on. In + forty-eight hours the pain was better. For three weeks I improved + and hoped. I think that had the diet been then altered to the + ordinary food, I might have made a recovery; instead of which it + was kept up for nine weeks, at the end of which I had lost all the + improvement, and was so weak that I could but just crawl up and + down stairs. I attribute my subsequent exhaustion to the continued + use of milk, which has the effect of destroying nervous energy." + + * * * * * + + 'Oct. 22, 1886. + + "I have been obliged to set all aside from extreme feebleness. + During the last four weeks, indeed, the weakness and emaciation + have become very great, so much so that I almost fancy the bones + waste. But what I feel most is the loss of fresh air from inability + to go out. The last two days have been dry, so that I have been + able to get up and down by the house a little. + + "Still, I should have managed somehow to write to you were it not + for the great dislike I feel to this begging business. You must not + take offence at this, though you may think me very foolish. I keep + putting it off and putting it off, till now I suppose I must do it, + or stay the winter indoors in helplessness. To-day I have written + to obtain the information necessary to fill up the form you sent. + + "In September, 1885, my spine seemed suddenly to snap. It happened + in ten minutes--quite suddenly. It felt as if one of the vertebrae + had been taken away. It was no doubt a form of paralysis. I had to + take to the sofa again, and was confined to the house for over + seven months, quite helpless. I could not undress myself. At + Christmas, other troubles set in; the local doctor gave me up. He + told my wife that nothing could be done for me, and that the only + hope was in my keeping in good spirits. The misery of that dreadful + winter will never be forgotten. At length nature seemed to revive a + little, and I got downstairs, and soon after Miss Scott came to see + me, and you sent me to the sea. On returning from the sea I slowly + lost ground again. In the summer I had an attack of vomiting + blood--of itself enough to alarm most people. By October I was + confined indoors again. At last I got down here. + + "Besides all these sufferings I had another trial--a loss by + death--one that I cannot dwell upon;"--it was the death of his + youngest child--"but it broke me down very much. + + "Of the loss of all my savings I need not say much. But it is + difficult to begin the world afresh"--alas! he was just about to + end the world--"even with good health. + + "With truth I think I may say that there are few, very few, perhaps + none, living who have gone through such a series of diseases. There + are many dead--many who have killed themselves for a tenth part of + the pain--there are few living. + + "My wearied and exhausted system constantly craves rest. My brain + is always asking for rest. I never sleep. I have not slept now for + five years properly, always waking, with broken bits of sleep, and + restlessness, and in the morning I get up more weary than I went to + bed. Rest, that is what I need. You thought naturally that it was + work I needed; but I have been at work, and next time I will tell + you all of it. It is not work, it is _rest_ for the brain and the + nervous system. I have always had a suspicion that it was the + ceaseless work that caused me to go wrong at first. + + "It has taken me a long time to write this letter; it will take you + but a few minutes to read it. Had you not sent me to the sea in + the spring I do not think that I should have been alive to write + it." + +Was there ever a more miserable tale of slow torture? Parts of it--the +parts relating to his operations--I have omitted. Enough remains. +Picture to yourself this tall, gaunt man reduced to a skeleton, not able +to use his pen for more than a few minutes at a time, his spine broken +down, spitting blood, lying back on the sofa, his mind full of splendid +thoughts which he _cannot_ put upon paper, dictating sometimes when he +was strong enough, resolved on making money so as to save himself the +"disgrace" of applying to the Literary Fund, full of pain by day and +night, growing daily weaker, but never losing heart or hope--is there in +the whole calamitous history of authors a picture more full of sadness +and of pity than this? + +He writes again on January 10, 1887. He is no worse. The letter is about +money matters--that is to say, he has no money. + +On February 2 he writes again. He has been able to dictate a little. + + "I hope to be able to do more work after a time; when the weather + becomes sufficiently warm for me to sit out of doors. With me the + power to write is almost entirely dependent upon being out of + doors. Confined indoors, I have nothing to write, and I cannot + express my ideas if they do occur to me so boldly. You have no idea + what a difference it makes. A little air and movement seem to + brighten up the mind and give it play. I am in hope, too, that as + the warmth comes on the sea will help me more. Up to the present + the winter has gone well." + +The last letter to Mr. Scott was written on March 23. He is pleased and +surprised to hear that the fund raised for him amounts to so much. +Perhaps it will enable him to go abroad presently. Meantime, he has had +a relapse--an attack of haemorrhage--"and then so feeble that I have not +been able to dictate. This loss of time worries me more than I can tell +you." + +And so with thanks to this good friend, Richard Jefferies lays down his +pen for the last time. The busy hand which has written so much will +write no more. He can no longer dictate. His very feebleness will soon +be past, and he will be at rest, whether in the unconscious clay-cold +rest of the dark grave, or in that better life of the Fuller Soul of +which he had so great and glorious a Vision--who knoweth? + + * * * * * + +You have read the life of Richard Jefferies. You have seen how the +country lad, ill-educated, slenderly provided with books or friends, +formed in early life a resolution to succeed in letters. The resolution +was formed when as yet he had no knowledge or thought of style. You have +read how he fought long years against ill-success, against the ridicule +and coldness of his friends, but still kept up his courage; how he did +succeed at length, yet not at all in the way that at first he hoped. +That way would have taken him along the paths trodden by those who write +romances and stories to beguile their brothers and sisters, and to cheat +them into forgetfulness of their disappointments and anxieties; that +way, by which he wished to go, would have led him quickly to the ease +of fortune which at all times he ardently desired. It is foolish, and +worse than foolish, to pretend that any man--even the best of men, even +the most philosophic of men--desires poverty, which is dependence; +therefore one does not blame this man for desiring fortune. The way, +however, by which he succeeded was a far higher and a nobler way, though +he understood not that at first. + +You have seen, also, not only that his early life was that of an obscure +reporter for a little country paper, but that his first ambition was +altogether for the making of money rather than for the production of +good work. The love of good work, as such, grew gradually in him. At +first it is not apparent at all. At first we have nothing but a +commonplace lad, poor, and therefore eager to make money, and fondly +thinking that it can be made by writing worthless and commonplace +stories. Nothing in his early life has been concealed. You have read his +very words, where they could be recovered. They are in no way remarkable +words; they are generally, in fact, commonplace. Nothing, except a +steady and consistent belief in his own future, the nature of which he +does not even suspect, reveals the power latent in his mind. There is +nothing at all in these early utterances to show the depths of poetry in +his soul. Nay, I think there were none of these depths in him at first. +So long as he worked among men, and contemplated their ways, he felt no +touch of poetry, he saw no gleam of light. Mankind seemed to him sordid +and creeping; either oppressor or oppressed. Away from men, upon the +breezy down and among the woods, he is filled with thoughts which, at +first, vanish like the photographs of scenery upon the eye. Presently he +finds out the way to fix those photographs. Then he is transformed, but +not suddenly; no, not suddenly. When he discovers the Gamekeeper at +Home, he begins to be articulate; with every page that follows he +becomes more articulate. At first he draws a faithful picture of the +cottager, the farmer, the gamekeeper, the poacher; the pictures are set +in appropriate scenery; by degrees the figures vanish and the setting +remains. But it is no longer the same; it is now infused with the very +soul of the painter. The woods speak to us, through him; the very +flowers speak and touch our hearts, through him. The last seven years of +his life were full, indeed, of pain and bodily torture; but they were +glorified and hallowed by the work which he was enabled to do. Nay, they +even glorify and hallow all the life that went before. We no longer see +the commonplace young country reporter who tries to write commonplace +and impossible stories--we watch the future poet of the "Pageant of +Summer" whose early struggles we witness while he is seeking to find +himself. Presently he speaks. HE HAS FOUND HIMSELF; he has obtained the +prayer of his heart; he has been blessed with the FULLER SOUL. + + * * * * * + +At the last, during the long communings of the night when he lay +sleepless, happy to be free, if only for a few moments, from pain, the +simple old faith came back to him. He had arrived long before, as we +have seen, at the grand discovery: that the perfect soul wants the +perfect body, and that the perfect body must be inhabited by the +perfect soul. To this conclusion, you have seen, he was led by Nature +herself. Now he beheld clearly--perhaps more clearly than ever--the way +from this imperfect and fragmentary life to a fuller, happier life +beyond the grave. He had no need of priest; he wanted no other assurance +than the voice and words of Him who swept away all priests. The man who +wrote the "Story of My Heart;" the man who was filled to overflowing +with the beauty and order of God's handiwork; the man who felt so deeply +the shortness, and imperfections, and disappointments of life that he +was fain to cry aloud that all happens by chance; the man who had the +vision of the Fuller Soul, died listening with faith and love to the +words contained in the Old Book. + + * * * * * + +What follows is written by his friend, Mr. J.W. North, who was with him +during the last days. + + "It was in the early summer, two or three months before his death, + that I saw Jefferies for the last time alive. He had then been + living at Goring for some short time, and this was my first visit + to him there. I was pleased to find that his house was far + pleasanter than the dreary and bleak cottage which he had rented at + Crowborough. It had a view of the sea, a warm southern exposure, + and a good and interesting garden: in one corner a quaint little + arbour, with a pole and vane, and near the centre a genuine + old-fashioned draw-well. Poor fellow! Painfully, with short + breathing, and supported on one side by Mrs. Jefferies and on the + other by myself, he walked round this enclosure, noticing and + drawing our attention to all kinds of queer little natural objects + and facts. Between the well and the arbour was a heap of rough, + loose stones, overgrown by various creeping flowers. This was the + home of a common snake, discovered there by Harold, and poor + Jefferies stood, supported by us, a yard or so away and peered into + every little cranny and under every leaf with eyes well used to + such a search until some tiny gleam, some minute cold glint of + light, betrayed the snake. Weakness and pain seemed forgotten for + the moment--alas! only for the moment. Uneasily he sat in the + little arbour telling me how his disease seemed still to puzzle the + doctors; how he felt well able in mind to work, plenty of mental + energy, but so weak, _so fearfully weak_, that he could no longer + write with his own hand; that his wife was patient and good to help + him. He had nobody to come and talk with him of the world of + literature and art. Why couldn't I come and settle by? There was + plenty to paint. Though Goring itself was one of the ugliest places + in the world, there was Arundel, and its noble park, and river, and + castle close by. I must go and see it the very next day, and see + whether I could not work there, and come back every day and cheer + him. I was the best doctor, after all. + + "Poor fellow! I did not then know or believe that he was so utterly + without sympathetic society except his devoted wife. It was so. I + am one of the dullest companions in the world; but I had sympathy + with his work, and knowledge, too, of his subjects. Well, nothing + would do but that I must go to Arundel the next day, and Mrs. + Jefferies must show me the town. 'He would do well enough for one + day. A good neighbour would come in, and with little Phyllis and + the maid he would be safe.' + + "Therefore we went to Arundel (a short journey by train), and on + coming back found him standing against the door-post to welcome us. + + "I have seldom been more touched than by my experience of that + evening, finding, amongst other things, that he had partly planned + and insisted on this Arundel trip to get us away so that he might, + unrebuked, spend some of his latest hard earnings in a pint of + 'Perrier Jouet' for my supper. + + "Do you know Goring churchyard? It is one of those dreary, + over-crowded, dark spots where the once-gravelled paths are green + with slimy moss, and it was a horror to poor Jefferies. More than + once he repeated the hope that he might not be laid there, and he + chose the place where his widow at last left him--amongst the + brighter grass and flowers at Broadwater. + + "He died at Goring at half-past two on Sunday morning, August 14, + 1887. His soul was released from a body wasted to a skeleton by six + long weary years of illness. For nearly two years he had been too + weak to write, and all his delightful work, during that period, was + written by his wife from his dictation. Who can picture the torture + of these long years to him, denied as he was the strength to walk + so much as one hundred yards in the world he loved so well? What + hero like this, fighting with Death face to face so long, fearing + and knowing, alas! too well, that no struggles could avail, and, + worse than all, that his dear ones would be left friendless and + penniless. Thus died a man whose name will be first, perhaps for + ever, in his own special work." + + * * * * * + + 'Monday, Aug. 15, + + "... I went yesterday, expecting once more to speak with him. I + found him lying _dead, twelve hours dead_. I saw him with Mrs. + Jefferies and their little Phyllis. A pitiful sight to see them + kiss the poor cold face! God help them! All through his last days + his wife was with him _day and night_; a young country girl, who + behaved nobly all through, was her only help.... His long, long + illness of six years (four years before at Eltham he looked near + death)--this long, wearisome time had almost persuaded many who + knew him not intimately that his illness was partly imaginary. He + proved it otherwise. A soldier who in health, high spirits, and + excitement, rides to what appears certain death is called a hero: + glory and honours are heaped upon him; but what is that compared + with years of fighting without cessation, and the _absolute + certainty_ of defeat always present to the mind? I asked Mrs. + Jefferies if he had made a will. She said: 'No; surely it would + have been useless, we have nothing. A woman singly, strong as I am, + could rough it; but if something can be done for the children--.' + Something shall be done. I had to call at my framemaker's to put + off an appointment. I told him roughly what had happened to me + yesterday. He had never heard of Jefferies, and knew nothing of his + work; but he said, 'I shall be glad if anything can be done if you + will put us down for two guineas.' All those who are country born + and bred, and have a heart inside their body, have always + recognised and admired poor Jefferies' writing. Shall I say what I + think and _know_, that in all our literature until now he has never + had a rival, and that it is most likely he will never be equalled? + In a hundred years he will be only more truly appreciated than at + present. The number of men who combine the love and the knowledge + of literary work is more limited, perhaps, in this age than in any + previous one. Few people, again, of intelligence and refinement of + heart and mind live completely in the country, and much, very much + of his work, will be always unintelligible to those who cannot + exist in a country-house unless it is full of frequently-changing + guests. I have been trying by a different art for thirty + years--equal to almost the whole of his life on earth--to convey an + idea to others of some such subjects, and I feel with shame that in + the work of half a year I do not get so near the heart and truth of + Nature as he in one paragraph. With strict charge that it should + not leave my hands, Mrs. Jefferies lent me the proof of an article + which appeared in _Longman's Magazine_ in spring, 1886. It was the + very last copy he wrote with his own hand. Since then his wife + wrote from his dictation. Read this quotation from it, which + touched me greatly yesterday: + + "'I wonder to myself how they can all get on without me; how they + manage, bird and flower, without ME, to keep the calendar for them. + For I noted it so carefully and lovingly day by day.' + + "And this: + + "'They go on without me, orchis-flower and cowslip. I cannot number + them all. I hear, as it were, the patter of their feet--flower and + buds, and the beautiful clouds that go over, with the sweet rush of + rain and burst of sun glory among the leafy trees. They go on, and + I am no more than the least of the empty shells that strew the + sward of the hill.' + + "One thing I saw in one of his last note-books: 'Three great giants + are against me--disease, despair, and poverty.' + + "One thing more. His wife said that their time had been for long + spent in prayer together and reading St. Luke. + + "Almost his last intelligible words were, 'Yes, yes; that is so. + Help, Lord, for Jesus' sake. Darling, good-bye. God bless you and + the children, and save you all from such great pain.' + + * * * * * + + "He was buried at Broadwater, by Worthing, Sussex. + + "In the gentlest, sweet, soft, sunny rain he was borne along the + path to his grave in the grass, and when the last part of the + service for the dead had been read, well and solemnly, and we + turned away leaving him for ever on earth, the large tears from + heaven fell thick and fast, and over and over again came to me the + saying, 'Happy are the dead that the rain rains on.' The modest + home-made wreath of wild wood-clematis and myrtle my wife had sent + pleased me by happy symbolism--for as the myrtle is, so will his + memory be, 'for ever green.' + + "Mourn, little harebells, o'er the lea; + Ye stately foxgloves fair to see; + Ye woodbines hanging bonnilie + In scented bowers; + Ye roses on your thorny tree, + The first o' flowers. + + "Mourn, Spring, thou darling of the year; + Ilk cowslip-cup shall kep a tear; + Thou Summer, while each corny spear + Shoots up its head, + Thy gay, green, flowery tresses shear + For him that's dead." + + "J.W.N." + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +LIST OF JEFFERIES' WORKS. + + +(_The Dates of the First Editions only are given._) + +REPORTING, EDITING AND AUTHORSHIP. John Snow and Co., Ivy Lane; +Alfred Bull, Victoria Street, Swindon, 1873. Handbook. + +A MEMOIR OF THE GODDARDS OF NORTH WILTS. Published by the author, +Coate, Swindon, 1873. + +JACK BRASS, EMPEROR OF ENGLAND. T. Pettit, and Co., 23, Frith +Street, Soho, 1873. Pamphlet. + +THE SCARLET SHAWL. Tinsley Bros., 1874. 1 vol. novel. + +RESTLESS HUMAN HEARTS. Tinsley Bros., 1875. 3 vols. + +SUEZ-CIDE. John Snow and Co., Ivy Lane, 1876. Pamphlet. + +WORLD'S END. Tinsley Bros., 1877. 3 vols. + +GAME-KEEPER AT HOME. Smith and Elder, 1878. 1 vol. + +AMATEUR POACHER. Smith and Elder, 1881. + +WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. Smith and Elder, 1879. 1 vol. + +GREENE FERNE FARM. Smith and Elder, 1880. 1 vol. + +HODGE AND HIS MASTERS. Smith and Elder, 1880. 2 vols. + +ROUND ABOUT A GREAT ESTATE. Smith and Elder, 1880. 1 vol. + +WOOD MAGIC. Cassell, 1881. 1 vol. + +BEVIS. Sampson Low and Co., 1882. 3 vols. + +NATURE NEAR LONDON. Chatto and Windus, 1883. 1 vol. + +STORY OF MY HEART. Longmans, 1883. 1 vol. + +THE DEWY MORN. Chapman and Hall, 1884. 2 vol. novel. + +LIFE OF THE FIELDS. Chatto and Windus, 1884. 1 vol. + +RED-DEER. Longmans, 1884. 1 vol. + +AFTER LONDON. Cassell, 1885. 1 vol. + +THE OPEN AIR. Chatto and Windus, 1885. 1 vol. + +AMARYLLIS AT THE FAIR. Sampson Low and Co., 1887. 1 vol. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +LIST OF PAPERS STILL UNPUBLISHED. + + +MY OLD VILLAGE. _Longman's Magazine_, October, 1887. + +HOURS OF SPRING. _Longman's Magazine_, 1885. + +APRIL GOSSIP. _St. James's Gazette._ + +SOME APRIL SWEETS. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + +THE MAKERS OF SUMMER. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + +WALKS IN THE WHEATFIELDS. _English Illustrated Magazine._ + +SOMERSET IN JUNE. _English Illustrated Magazine_, October, 1887. + +BIRDS' NESTS. _St. James's Gazette._ + +FIELD SPORTS IN ART. _Art Journal._ + +NATURE IN THE LOUVRE. _Magazine of Art._ + +NATURE AND BOOKS. _Fortnightly Review._ + +BUCKHURST PARK. _Standard._ + +COUNTRY PLACES. _Manchester Guardian._ + +THE JULY GRASS. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + +THE COUNTRY-SIDE. _Manchester Guardian._ + +WINDS OF HEAVEN. _Chambers' Journal._ + +THE COUNTRY SUNDAY. _Longman's Magazine_, June, 1887. + +SWALLOW-TIME. _Standard._ + +HOUSE-MARTINS. _Standard._ + +AMONG THE NUTS. _Standard._ + +LOCALITY AND NATURE. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + +FIELD WORDS AND WAYS. _Chambers' Journal._ + +COTTAGE IDEAS. _Chambers' Journal._ + +STEAM ON COUNTRY ROADS. _Standard._ + +THE TIME OF YEAR. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + +MIXED DAYS OF MAY AND DECEMBER. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + +JUST BEFORE WINTER. _Chambers' Journal._ + +MY CHAFFINCH. _Pall Mall Gazette._ + + + +APPENDIX III. + +LETTER TO THE _TIMES_, NOVEMBER, 1872. + + +SIR,--The Wiltshire agricultural labourer is not so highly paid as those +of Northumberland, nor so low as those of Dorset; but in the amount of +his wages, as in intelligence and general position, he may fairly be +taken as an average specimen of his class throughout a large portion of +the kingdom. + +As a man, he is usually strongly built, broad-shouldered, and massive in +frame, but his appearance is spoilt by the clumsiness of his walk and +the want of grace in his movements. Though quite as large in muscle, it +is very doubtful if he possesses the strength of the seamen who may be +seen lounging about the ports. There is a want of firmness, a certain +disjointed style, about his limbs, and the muscles themselves have not +the hardness and tension of the sailor's. The labourer's muscle is that +of a cart-horse, his motions lumbering and slow. His style of walk is +caused by following the plough in early childhood, when the weak limbs +find it a hard labour to pull the heavy-nailed boots from the thick clay +soil. Ever afterwards he walks as if it were an exertion to lift his +legs. His food may, perhaps, have something to do with the deadened +slowness which seems to pervade everything he does--there seems a lack +of vitality about him. It consists chiefly of bread and cheese, with +bacon twice or thrice a week, varied with onions, and if he be a milker +(on some farms) with a good "tuck-out" at his employer's expense on +Sundays. On ordinary days he dines at the fashionable hour of six or +seven in the evening--that is, about that time his cottage scents the +road with a powerful odour of boiled cabbage, of which he eats an +immense quantity. Vegetables are his luxuries, and a large garden, +therefore, is the greatest blessing he can have. He eats huge onions +raw; he has no idea of flavouring his food with them, nor of making +those savoury and inviting messes or vegetable soups at which the French +peasantry are so clever. In Picardy I have often dined in a peasant's +cottage, and thoroughly enjoyed the excellent soup he puts upon the +table for his ordinary meal. To dine in an English labourer's cottage +would be impossible. His bread is generally good, certainly; but his +bacon is the cheapest he can buy at small second-class shops--oily, +soft, wretched stuff; his vegetables are cooked in detestable style, and +eaten saturated with the pot-liquor. Pot-liquor is a favourite soup. I +have known cottagers actually apply at farmers' kitchens, not only for +the pot-liquor in which meat has been soddened, but for the water in +which potatoes have been boiled--potato-liquor--and sup it up with +avidity. And this not in times of dearth or scarcity, but rather as a +relish. They never buy anything but bacon; never butcher's meat. +Philanthropic ladies, to my knowledge, have demonstrated over and over +again even to their limited capacities that certain parts of butchers' +meat can be bought just as cheap, and will make more savoury and +nutritive food; and even now, with the present high price of meat, a +certain portion would be advantageous. In vain; the labourers +obstinately adhere to the pig, and the pig only. When, however, an +opportunity does occur, the amount of food they will eat is something +astonishing. Once a year, at the village club dinner, they gormandize to +repletion. In one instance I knew of a man eating a plate of roast beef +(and the slices are cut enormously thick at these dinners), a plate of +boiled beef, then another of boiled mutton, and then a fourth of roast +mutton, and a fifth of ham. He said he could not do much to the bread +and cheese; but didn't he go into the pudding! I have even heard of men +stuffing to the fullest extent of their powers, and then retiring from +the table to take an emetic of mustard and return to a second gorging. +There is scarcely any limit to their power of absorbing beer. I have +known reapers and mowers make it their boast that they could lie on +their backs and never take the wooden bottle (in the shape of a small +barrel) from their lips till they had drunk a gallon, and from the feats +I have seen I verily believe it a fact. The beer they get is usually +poor and thin, though sometimes in harvest the farmers bring out a taste +of strong liquor, but not till the work is nearly over; for from this +very practice of drinking enormous quantities of small beer the labourer +cannot drink more than a very limited amount of good liquor without +getting tipsy. This is why he so speedily gets inebriated at the +alehouse. While mowing and reaping many of them lay in a small cask. + +They are much better clothed now than formerly. Corduroy trousers and +slops are the usual style. Smock-frocks are going out of use, except for +milkers and faggers. Almost every labourer has his Sunday suit, very +often really good clothes, sometimes glossy black, with the regulation +"chimney-pot." His unfortunate walk betrays him, dress how he will. +Since labour has become so expensive it has become a common remark among +the farmers that the labourer will go to church in broadcloth and the +masters in smock-frocks. The labourer never wears gloves--that has to +come with the march of the times; but he is particularly choice over his +necktie. The women must dress in the fashion. A very respectable draper +in an agricultural district was complaining to me the other day that the +poorest class of women would have everything in the fashionable style, +let it change as often as it would. In former times, if he laid in a +stock of goods suited to tradesmen, and farmers' wives and daughters, if +the fashion changed, or they got out of date, he could dispose of them +easily to the servants. Now no such thing. The quality did not matter so +much, but the style must be the style of the day--no sale for remnants. +The poorest girl, who had not got two yards of flannel on her back, must +have the same style of dress as the squire's daughter--Dolly Vardens, +chignons, and parasols for ladies who can work all day reaping in the +broiling sun of August! Gloves, kid, for hands that milk the cows! + +The cottages now are infinitely better than they were. There is scarcely +room for further improvement in the cottages now erected upon estates. +They have three bedrooms, and every appliance and comfort compatible +with their necessarily small size. It is only the cottages erected by +the labourers themselves on waste plots of ground which are open to +objection. Those he builds himself are indeed, as a rule, miserable +huts, disgraceful to a Christian country. I have an instance before me +at this moment where a man built a cottage with two rooms and no +staircase or upper apartments, and in those two rooms eight persons +lived and slept--himself and wife, grown-up daughters, and children. +There was not a scrap of garden attached, not enough to grow half a +dozen onions. The refuse and sewage was flung into the road, or filtered +down a ditch into the brook which supplied that part of the village with +water. In another case at one time there was a cottage in which twelve +persons lived. This had upper apartments, but so low was the ceiling +that a tall man could stand on the floor, with his head right through +the opening for the staircase, and see along the upper floor under the +beds! These squatters are the curse of the community. It is among them +that fever and kindred infectious diseases break out; it is among them +that wretched couples are seen bent double with rheumatism and +affections of the joints caused by damp. They have often been known to +remain so long, generation after generation, in these wretched hovels +that at last the lord of the manor having neglected to claim quit-rent, +they can defy him, and claim them as their own property, and there they +stick, eyesores and blots, the fungi of the land. The cottages erected +by farmers or by landlords are now, one and all, fit and proper +habitations for human beings; and I verily believe it would be +impossible throughout the length and breadth of Wiltshire to find a +single bad cottage on any large estate, so well and so thoroughly have +the landed proprietors done their work. On all farms gardens are +attached to the cottages, in many instances very large, and always +sufficient to produce enough vegetables for the resident. In villages +the allotment system has been greatly extended of late years, and has +been found most beneficial, both to owners and tenants. As a rule the +allotments are let at a rate which may be taken as L4 per annum--a sum +which pays the landlord very well, and enables the labourer to +remunerate himself. In one village which came under my observation the +clergyman of the parish has turned a portion of his glebe-land into +allotments--a most excellent and noble example, which cannot be too +widely followed or too much extolled. He is thus enabled to benefit +almost every one of his poor parishioners, and yet without destroying +that sense of independence which is the great characteristic of a true +Englishman. He has issued a book of rules and conditions under which +these allotments are held, and he thus places a strong check upon +drunkenness and dissolute habits, indulgence in which is a sure way to +lose the portions of ground. There is scarcely an end to the benefits of +the allotment system. In villages there cannot be extensive gardens, and +the allotments supply their place. The extra produce above that which +supplies the table and pays the rent is easily disposed of in the next +town, and places many additional comforts in the labourer's reach. The +refuse goes to help support and fatten the labourer's pig, which brings +him in profit enough to pay the rent of his cottage, and the pig, in +turn, manures the allotment. Some towns have large common lands, held +under certain conditions; such are Malmesbury, with 500 acres, and +Tetbury (the common land of which extends two miles): both these being +arable, etc. These are not exactly in the use of labourers, but they are +in the hands of a class to which the labourer often rises. Many +labourers have fruit trees in their gardens which, in some seasons, +prove very profitable. In the present year, to my knowledge, a labourer +sold L4 worth of apples; and another made L3 10s. of the produce of one +pear-tree, pears being scarce. + +To come at last to the difficult question of wages. In Wiltshire there +has been no extended strike, and very few meetings upon the subject, for +the simple reason that the agitators can gain no hold upon a county +where, as a mass, the labourers are well paid. The common day-labourer +receives 10s., 11s., and 12s. a week, according to the state of supply +and demand for labour in various districts, and, if he milks, 1s. more, +making 13s. a week, now common wages. These figures are rather below the +mark; I could give instances of much higher pay. To give a good idea of +the wages paid, I will take the case of a hill farmer (arable, +Marlborough Downs), who paid this last summer during harvest 18s. per +week per man. His reapers often earned 10s. a day; enough to pay their +year's rent in a week. These men lived in cottages on the farm, with +three bedrooms each, and some larger, with every modern appliance, each +having a garden of a quarter of an acre attached and close at hand, for +which cottage and garden they paid 1s. per week rent. The whole of these +cottages were insured by the farmer himself, their furniture, etc., in +one lump, and the insurance policy cost him, as nearly as possible, 1s. +3d. per cottage per year. For this he deducted 1s. per year each from +their wages. None of the men would have insured unless he had insisted +upon doing it for them. These men had from six to eight quarts of beer +per man (over and above their 18s. per week) during harvest every day. +In spring and autumn their wages are much increased by forced work, +hoeing, etc. In winter the farmer draws their coal for them in his +waggons, a distance of eight miles from the nearest wharf, enabling them +to get it at cost price. This is no slight advantage, for, at the +present high price of coal, it is sold, delivered in the villages, at +2s. per cwt. Many who cannot afford it in the week buy a quarter of a +cwt. on Saturday night to cook their Sunday's dinner with, for 6d. This +is at the rate of L2 per ton. Another gentleman, a large steam +cultivator in the Vale, whose name is often before the public, informs +me that his books show that he paid L100 in one year in cash to one +cottage for labour, showing the advantage the labourer possesses over +the mechanic, since his wife and child can add to his income. Many +farmers pay L50 and L60 a year for beer drunk by their labourers--a +serious addition to their wages. The railway companies and others who +employ mechanics do not allow them any beer. The allowance of a good +cottage and a quarter of an acre of garden for 1s. per week is not +singular. Many who were at the Autumn Manoeuvres of the present year +may remember having a handsome row of houses, rather than cottages, +pointed out to them as inhabited by labourers at 1s. per week. In the +immediate neighbourhood of large manufacturing towns 1s. 6d. a week is +sometimes paid; but then these cottages would in such positions readily +let to mechanics for 3s., 4s., and even 5s. per week. There was a great +outcry when the Duke of Marlborough issued an order that the cottages on +his estate should in future only be let to such men as worked upon the +farms where those cottages are situated. In reality this was the very +greatest blessing the Duke could have conferred upon the agricultural +labourer; for it insured him a good cottage at a nearly nominal rent and +close to his work; whereas in many instances previously the cottages on +the farms had been let at a high rate to the mechanics, and the labourer +had to walk miles before he got to his labour. Cottages are not erected +by landowners or by farmers as paying speculations. It is well known +that the condition of things prevents the agricultural labourer from +being able to pay a sufficient rent to be a fair percentage upon the sum +expended. In one instance a landlord has built some cottages for his +tenant, the tenant paying a certain amount of interest on the sum +invested by the landlord. Now, although this is a matter of arrangement, +and not of speculation--that is, although the interest paid by the +tenant is a low percentage upon the money laid out, yet the rent paid by +the labourers inhabiting these cottages to the tenant does not reimburse +him what he pays his landlord as interest--not by a considerable margin. +But then he has the advantage of his labourers close to his work, always +ready at hand. + +Over and above the actual cash wages of the labourer, which are now very +good, must be reckoned his cottage and garden, and often a small +orchard, at a nominal rent, his beer at his master's expense, +piecework, gleaning after harvest, etc., which alter his real position +very materially. In Gloucestershire, on the Cotswolds, the best-paid +labourers are the shepherds, for in that great sheep country much trust +is reposed in them. At the annual auctions of shearlings which are held +upon the low farms a purse is made for the shepherd of the flock, into +which everyone who attends is expected to drop a shilling, often +producing L5. The shepherds on the Wiltshire downs are also well paid, +especially in lambing time, when the greatest watchfulness and care are +required. It has been stated that the labourer has no chance of rising +from his position. This is sheer cant. He has very good opportunities of +rising, and often does rise, to my knowledge. At this present moment I +could mention a person who has risen from a position scarcely equal to +that of a labourer, not only to have a farm himself, but to place his +sons in farms. Another has just entered on a farm; and several more are +on the high-road to that desirable consummation. If a labourer possesses +any amount of intelligence he becomes head carter or head fagger, as the +case may be; and from that to be assistant or underbailiff, and finally +bailiff. As a bailiff he has every opportunity to learn the working of a +farm, and is often placed in entire charge of a farm at a distance from +his employer's residence. In time he establishes a reputation as a +practical man, and being in receipt of good wages, with very little +expenditure, saves some money. He has now little difficulty in obtaining +the promise of a farm, and with this can readily take up money. With +average care he is a made man. Others rise from petty trading, petty +dealing with pigs and calves, till they save sufficient to rent a small +farm, and make that the basis of larger dealing operations. I question +very much whether a clerk in a firm would not find it much more +difficult, as requiring larger capital, to raise himself to a level with +his employer than an agricultural labourer does to the level of a +farmer. + +Many labourers now wander far and wide as navvies, etc., and perhaps +when these return home, as most of them do, to agricultural labour, they +are the most useful and intelligent of their class, from a readiness +they possess to turn their hand to anything. I know one at this moment +who makes a large addition to his ordinary wages by brewing for the +small inns, and very good liquor he brews, too. They pick up a large +amount of practical knowledge. + +The agricultural women are certainly not handsome; I know no peasantry +so entirely uninviting. Occasionally there is a girl whose nut-brown +complexion and sloe-black eyes are pretty, but their features are very +rarely good, and they get plain quickly, so soon as the first flush of +youth is past. Many have really good hair in abundance, glossy and rich, +perhaps from its exposure to the fresh air. But on Sundays they plaster +it with strong-smelling pomade and hair-oil, which scents the air for +yards most unpleasantly. As a rule, it may safely be laid down that the +agricultural women are moral, far more so than those of the town. Rough +and rude jokes and language are, indeed, too common; but that is all. No +evil comes of it. The fairs are the chief cause of immorality. Many an +honest, hard-working servant-girl owes her ruin to these fatal mops and +fairs, when liquor to which she is unaccustomed overcomes her. Yet it +seems cruel to take from them the one day or two of the year on which +they can enjoy themselves fairly in their own fashion. The spread of +friendly societies, patronized by the gentry and clergy, with their +annual festivities, is a remedy which is gradually supplying them with +safer, and yet congenial, amusement. In what may be termed lesser morals +I cannot accord either them or the men the same praise. They are too +ungrateful for the many great benefits which are bountifully supplied +them--the brandy, the soup, and fresh meat readily extended without +stint from the farmer's home in sickness to the cottage are too quickly +forgotten. They who were most benefited are often the first to most +loudly complain and to backbite. Never once in all my observation have I +heard a labouring man or woman make a grateful remark; and yet I can +confidently say that there is no class of persons in England who receive +so many attentions and benefits from their superiors as the agricultural +labourers. Stories are rife of their even refusing to work at disastrous +fires because beer was not immediately forthcoming. I trust this is not +true; but it is too much in character. No term is too strong in +condemnation for those persons who endeavour to arouse an agitation +among a class of people so short-sighted and so ready to turn against +their own benefactors and their own interest. I am credibly informed +that one of these agitators, immediately after the Bishop of +Gloucester's unfortunate but harmlessly intended speech at the +Gloucester Agricultural Society's dinner--one of these agitators mounted +a platform at a village meeting and in plain language incited and +advised the labourers to duck the farmers! The agricultural women +either go out to field-work or become indoor servants. In harvest they +hay-make--chiefly light work, as raking; and reap, which is much harder +labour; but then, while reaping, they work their own time, as it is done +by the piece. Significantly enough, they make longer hours while +reaping. They are notoriously late to arrive, and eager to return home +on the hayfield. The children help both in haymaking and reaping. In +spring and autumn they hoe and do other piecework. On pasture farms they +beat clots or pick up stones out of the way of the mowers' scythes. +Occasionally, but rarely now, they milk. In winter they wear gaiters, +which give the ankles a most ungainly appearance. Those who go out to +service get very low wages at first from their extreme awkwardness, but +generally quickly rise. As dairymaids they get very good wages indeed. +Dairymaids are scarce and valuable. A dairymaid who can be trusted to +take charge of a dairy will sometimes get L20 besides her board +(liberal) and sundry perquisites. These often save money, marry +bailiffs, and help their husbands to start a farm. + +In the education provided for children Wiltshire compares favourably +with other counties. Long before the passing of the recent Act in +reference to education the clergy had established schools in almost +every parish, and their exertions have enabled the greater number of +places to come up to the standard required by the Act, without the +assistance of a School Board. The great difficulty is the distance +children have to walk to school, from the sparseness of population and +the number of outlying hamlets. This difficulty is felt equally by the +farmers, who, in the majority of cases, find themselves situated far +from a good school. In only one place has anything like a cry for +education arisen, and that is on the extreme northern edge of the +country. The Vice-Chairman of the Swindon Chamber of Agriculture +recently stated that only one-half of the entire population of Inglesham +could read and write. It subsequently appeared that the parish of +Inglesham was very sparsely populated, and that a variety of +circumstances had prevented vigorous efforts being made. The children, +however, could attend schools in adjoining parishes, not farther than +two miles, a distance which they frequently walk in other parts of the +country. + +Those who are so ready to cast every blame upon the farmer, and to +represent him as eating up the earnings of his men and enriching himself +with their ill-paid labour, should remember that farming, as a rule, is +carried on with a large amount of borrowed capital. In these days, when +L6 an acre has been expended in growing roots for sheep, when the +slightest derangement of calculation in the price of wool, meat, or +corn, or the loss of a crop, seriously interferes with a fair return for +capital invested, the farmer has to sail extremely close to the wind, +and only a little more would find his canvas shaking. It was only +recently that the cashier of the principal bank of an agricultural +county, after an unprosperous year, declared that such another season +would make almost every farmer insolvent. Under these circumstances it +is really to be wondered at that they have done as much as they have +for the labourer in the last few years, finding him with better +cottages, better wages, better education, and affording him better +opportunities of rising in the social scale. + + I am, Sir, faithfully yours, + RICHARD JEFFERIES. + + Coate Farm, Swindon, + _November 12_. + + +THE END + + +BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS. GUILDFORD + + + + + [_October, 1888_. + + [Illustration] + + _A LIST OF BOOKS_ + PUBLISHED BY + CHATTO & WINDUS, + 214, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W. + + _Sold by all Booksellers, or sent post free for the published price by + the Publishers._ + + + EDITION DE LUXE OF A FRENCH CLASSIC. + Abbe Constantin (The). By LUDOVIC HALEVY, of the French Academy. + Translated into English. With 36 Photogravure Illustrations by + GOUPIL & CO., after the Drawings of Madame MADELEINE LEMAIRE. 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BETHAM-EDWARDS._ + Felicia. + + _BY MRS. ANNIE EDWARDES._ + Archie Lovell. + + _BY PERCY FITZGERALD._ + Fatal Zero. + + _BY R.E. FRANCILLON._ + Queen Cophetua. + One by One. + A Real Queen. + King or Knave? _Prefaced by Sir BARTLE FRERE._ + Pandurang Hari. + + _BY EDWARD GARRETT._ + The Capel Girls. + + _BY CHARLES GIBBON._ + Robin Gray. + What will the World Say? + In Honour Bound. + Queen of the Meadow. + The Flower of the Forest. + A Heart's Problem. + The Braes of Yarrow. + The Golden Shaft. + Of High Degree. + Loving a Dream. + + _BY THOMAS HARDY._ + Under the Greenwood Tree. + + _BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE._ + Garth. + Ellice Quentin. + Sebastian Strome. + Dust. + Fortune's Fool. + Beatrix Randolph. + David Poindexter's Disappearance. + + _BY SIR A. HELPS._ + Ivan de Biron. + + _BY MRS. ALFRED HUNT._ + Thornicroft's Model. + The Leaden Casket. + Self-Condemned. + That other Person. + + _BY JEAN INGELOW._ + Fated to be Free. + + _BY R. ASHE KING._ + A Drawn Game. + The Wearing of the Green. + + _BY HENRY KINGSLEY._ + Number Seventeen. + + _BY E. LYNN LINTON._ + Patricia Kemball. + Atonement of Leam Dundas. + The World Well Lost. + Under which Lord? + "My Love!" + Ione. + Paston Carew. + + _BY HENRY W. LUCY._ + Gideon Fleyce. + + _BY JUSTIN McCARTHY._ + The Waterdale Neighbours. + A Fair Saxon. + Dear Lady Disdain. + Miss Misanthrope. + Donna Quixote. + The Comet of a Season. + Maid of Athens. + Camiola. + + _BY MRS. MACDONELL._ + Quaker Cousins. + + _BY FLORENCE MARRYAT._ + Open! Sesame! + Written In Fire. + + _BY D. CHRISTIE MURRAY._ + Life's Atonement. + Joseph's Coat. + A Model Father. + Coals of Fire. + Val Strange. + Hearts. + By the Gate of the Sea. + The Way of the World. + A Bit of Human Nature. + First Person Singular. + Cynic Fortune. + + _BY MRS. OLIPHANT._ + Whiteladies. + + _BY OUIDA._ + Held In Bondage. + Strathmore. + Chandos. + Under Two Flags. + Idalla. + Cecil Castlemaine's Gage. + Tricotrin. + Puck. + Folle Farine. + A Dog of Flanders. + Pascarel. + Signa. + Princess Napraxine. + Two Little Wooden Shoes. + In a Winter City. + Ariadne. + Friendship. + Moths. + Pipistrello. + A Village Commune. + Bimbi. + Wanda. + Frescoes. + In Maremma. + Othmar. + + _BY MARGARET A. PAUL._ + Gentle and Simple. + + _BY JAMES PAYN._ + Lost Sir Massingberd. + Walter's Word. + Less Black than We're Painted. + By Proxy. + High Spirits. + Under One Roof. + A Confidential Agent. + From Exile. + A Grape from a Thorn. + Some Private Views. + The Canon's Ward. + Talk of the Town. + Glow-worm Tales. + + _BY E.C. PRICE._ + Valentina. + Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. + The Foreigners. + + _BY CHARLES READE._ + It Is Never Too Late to Mend. + Hard Cash. + Peg Woffington. + Christie Johnstone. + Griffith Gaunt. + Foul Play. + The Double Marriage. + Love Me Little, Love Me Long. + The Cloister and the Hearth. + The Course of True Love. + The Autobiography of a Thief. + Put Yourself in His Place. + A Terrible Temptation. + The Wandering Heir. + A Simpleton. + A Woman-Hater. + Readiana. + Singleheart and Doubleface. + The Jilt. + Good Stories of Men and other Animals. + + _BY MRS. J.H. RIDDELL._ + Her Mother's Darling. + Prince of Wales's Garden Party. + Weird Stories. + + _BY F.W. ROBINSON._ + Women are Strange. + The Hands of Justice. + + _BY JOHN SAUNDERS._ + Bound to the Wheel. + Guy Waterman. + Two Dreamers. + The Lion in the Path. + + _BY KATHARINE SAUNDERS._ + Margaret and Elizabeth. + Gideon's Rock. + Heart Salvage. + The High Mills. + Sebastian. + + _BY T.W. SPEIGHT._ + The Mysteries of Heron Dyke. + + _BY R.A. STERNDALE._ + The Afghan Knife. + + _BY BERTHA THOMAS._ + Proud Maisie. + Cressida. + The Violin-Player + + _BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE._ + The Way we Live Now. + Frau Frohmann. + Marion Fay. + Kept in the Dark. + Mr. Scarborough's Family. + The Land Leaguers. + + _BY FRANCES E. TROLLOPE._ + Like Ships upon the Sea. + Anne Furness. + Mabel's Progress. + + _BY IVAN TURGENIEFF, &c._ + Stories from Foreign Novelists. + + _BY SARAH TYTLER._ + What She Came Through. + The Bride's Pass. + Saint Mungo's City. + Beauty and the Beast. + Noblesse Oblige. + Citoyenne Jacqueline. + The Huguenot Family. + Lady Bell. + Buried Diamonds. + + _BY C.C. FRASER-TYTLER._ + Mistress Judith. + + * * * * * + + + CHEAP EDITIONS OF POPULAR NOVELS. + + Post 8vo, illustrated boards, 2s. each. + + _BY EDMOND ABOUT._ + The Fellah. + + _BY HAMILTON AIDE._ + Carr of Carrlyon. + Confidences. + + _BY MRS. ALEXANDER._ + Maid, Wife, or Widow? + Valerie's Fate. + + _BY GRANT ALLEN._ + Strange Stories. + Philistia. + Babylon. + In all Shades. + The Beckoning Hand. + + _BY SHELSLEY BEAUCHAMP._ + Grantley Grange. + + _BY W. BESANT & JAMES RICE._ + Ready-Money Mortiboy. + With Harp and Crown. + This Son of Vulcan. + My Little Girl. + The Case of Mr. Lucraft. + The Golden Butterfly. + By Celia's Arbour. + The Monks of Thelema. + 'Twas In Trafalgar's Bay. + The Seamy Side. + The Ten Years' Tenant. + The Chaplain of the Fleet. + + _BY WALTER BESANT._ + All Sorts and Conditions of Men. + The Captains' Room. + All in a Garden Fair. + Dorothy Forster. + Uncle Jack. + Children of Gibeon. + + _BY FREDERICK BOYLE._ + Camp Notes. + Savage Life. + Chronicles of No-man's Land. + + _BY BRET HARTE._ + An Heiress of Red Dog. + The Luck of Roaring Camp. + Californian Stories. + Gabriel Conroy. + Flip. + Maruja. + A Phyllis of the Sierras. + + _BY ROBERT BUCHANAN._ + The Shadow of the Sword. + The Martyrdom of Madeline. + A Child of Nature. + Annan Water. + God and the Man. + The New Abelard. + Love Me for Ever. + Matt. + Foxglove Manor. + The Master of the Mine. + + _BY MRS. BURNETT._ + Surly Tim. + + _BY HALL CAINE._ + The Shadow of a Crime. + A Son of Hagar. + + _BY COMMANDER CAMERON._ + The Cruise of the "Black Prince." + + _BY MRS. LOVETT CAMERON._ + Deceivers Ever. + Juliet's Guardian. + + _BY MACLAREN COBBAN._ + The Cure of Souls. + + _BY C. ALLSTON COLLINS._ + The Bar Sinister. + + _BY WILKIE COLLINS._ + Antonina. + Queen of Hearts. + Basil. + My Miscellanies. + Hide and Seek. + Woman in White. + The Dead Secret. + The Moonstone. + Man and Wife. + Poor Miss Finch. + Miss or Mrs.? + New Magdalen. + The Frozen Deep. + Law and the Lady. + The Two Destinies. + Haunted Hotel. + The Fallen Leaves. + Jezebel's Daughter. + The Black Robe. + Heart and Science. + "I Say No." + The Evil Genius. + + _BY MORTIMER COLLINS._ + Sweet Anne Page. + Transmigration. + From Midnight to Midnight. + A Fight with Fortune. + + _BY MORTIMER & FRANCES COLLINS._ + Sweet and Twenty. + Frances. + Blacksmith and Scholar. + The Village Comedy. + You Play me False. + + _BY M.J. COLQUHOUN._ + Every Inch a Soldier. + + _BY MONCURE D. CONWAY._ + Pine and Palm. + + _BY DUTTON COOK._ + Leo. + Paul Foster's Daughter. + + _BY C. EGBERT CRADDOCK._ + The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains. + + _BY WILLIAM CYPLES._ + Hearts of Gold. + + _BY ALPHONSE DAUDET._ + The Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. + + _BY JAMES DE MILLE._ + A Castle In Spain. + + _BY J. LEITH DERWENT._ + Our Lady of Tears. + Circe's Lovers. + + _BY CHARLES DICKENS._ + Sketches by Boz. + Pickwick Papers. + Oliver Twist. + Nicholas Nickleby. + + _BY DICK DONOVAN._ + The Man-Hunter. + + _BY MRS. ANNIE EDWARDES._ + A Point of Honour. + Archie Lovell. + + _BY M. BETHAM-EDWARDS._ + Felicia. + Kitty. + + _BY EDWARD EGGLESTON._ + Roxy. + + _BY PERCY FITZGERALD._ + Bella Donna. + Never Forgotten. + The Second Mrs. Tillotson. + Polly. + Fatal Zero. + Seventy-five Brooke Street. + The Lady of Brantome. + + _BY ALBANY DE FONBLANQUE._ + Filthy Lucre. + + _BY R.E. FRANCILLON._ + Olympia. + One by One. + Queen Cophetua. + A Real Queen. + + _BY HAROLD FREDERIC._ + Seth's Brother's Wife. _Prefaced by Sir H. BARTLE FRERE._ + Pandurang Hari. + + _BY HAIN FRISWELL._ + One of Two. + + _BY EDWARD GARRETT._ + The Capel Girls. + + _BY CHARLES GIBBON._ + Robin Gray. + For Lack of Gold. + What will the World Say? + In Honour Bound. + In Love and War. + For the King. + In Pastures Green. + Queen of the Meadow. + A Heart's Problem. + The Flower of the Forest. + Braes of Yarrow. + The Golden Shaft. + Of High Degree. + Fancy Free. + Mead and Stream. + Loving a Dream. + A Hard Knot. + Heart's Delight. + + _BY WILLIAM GILBERT._ + Dr. Austin's Guests. + James Duke. + The Wizard of the Mountain. + + _BY JAMES GREENWOOD._ + Dick Temple. + + _BY JOHN HABBERTON._ + Brueton's Bayou. + Country Luck. + + _BY ANDREW HALLIDAY_ + Every-Day Papers. + + _BY LADY DUFFUS HARDY._ + Paul Wynter's Sacrifice. + + _BY THOMAS HARDY._ + Under the Greenwood Tree. + + _BY J. BERWICK HARWOOD._ + The Tenth Earl. + + _BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE._ + Garth. + Ellice Quentin. + Sebastian Strome. + Dust. + Prince Saroni's Wife. + Fortune's Fool. + Miss Cadogna. + Beatrix Randolph. + Love--or a Name. + + _BY SIR ARTHUR HELPS._ + Ivan de Biron. + + _BY MRS. CASHEL HOEY._ + The Lover's Creed. + + _BY TOM HOOD._ + A Golden Heart. + + _BY MRS. GEORGE HOOPER._ + The House of Raby. + + _BY TIGHE HOPKINS._ + 'Twixt Love and Duty. + + _BY MRS. ALFRED HUNT._ + Thornicroft's Model. + The Leaden Casket. + Self-Condemned. + That other Person. + + _BY JEAN INGELOW._ + Fated to be Free. + + _BY HARRIETT JAY._ + The Dark Colleen. + The Queen of Connaught. + + _BY MARK KERSHAW._ + Colonial Facts and Fictions. + + _BY R. ASHE KING._ + A Drawn Game. + The Wearing of the Green. + + _BY HENRY KINGSLEY._ + Oakshott Castle. + + _BY JOHN LEYS._ + The Lindsays. + + _BY MARY LINSKILL._ + In Exchange for a Soul. + + _BY E. LYNN LINTON._ + Patricia Kemball. + The Atonement of Leam Dundes. + The World Well Lost. + Under which Lord? + With a Silken Thread. + The Rebel of the Family. + "My Love!" + Ione. + + _BY HENRY W. LUCY._ + Gideon Fleyce. + + _BY JUSTIN McCARTHY._ + Dear Lady Disdain. + Miss Misanthrope. + The Waterdale Neighbours. + Donna Quixote. + The Comet of a Season. + My Enemy's Daughter. + Maid of Athens. + A Fair Saxon. + Camiola. + Linley Rochford. + + _BY MRS. MACDONELL._ + Quaker Cousins. + + _BY KATHARINE S. MACQUOID._ + The Evil Eye. + Lost Rose. + + _BY W.H. MALLOCK._ + The New Republic. + + _BY FLORENCE MARRYAT._ + Open! Sesame. + Fighting the Air. + A Harvest of Wild Oats. + Written in Fire. + + _BY J. MASTERMAN._ + Half-a-dozen Daughters. + + _BY BRANDER MATTHEWS._ + A Secret of the Sea. + + _BY JEAN MIDDLEMASS._ + Touch and Go. + Mr. Dorillion. + + _BY MRS. MOLESWORTH._ + Hathercourt Rectory. + + _BY D. CHRISTIE MURRAY._ + A Life's Atonement. + Hearts. + A Model Father. + Way of the World. + Joseph's Coat. + A Bit of Human Nature. + Coals of Fire. + By the Gate of the Sea. + First Person Singular. + Val Strange. + Cynic Fortune. + Old Blazer's Hero. + + _BY ALICE O'HANLON._ + The Unforeseen. + + _BY MRS. OLIPHANT._ + Whiteladies. + The Primrose Path. + The Greatest Heiress in England. + + _BY MRS. ROBERT O'REILLY._ + Phoebe's Fortunes. + + _BY OUIDA._ + Held In Bondage. + Strathmore. + Chandos. + Under Two Flags. + Idalia. + Cecil Castlemaine's Gage. + Tricotrin. + Puck. + Folle Farine. + A Dog of Flanders. + Pascarel. + Signa. + Princess Napraxine. + Two Little Wooden Shoes. + In a Winter City. + Ariadne. + Friendship. + Moths. + Pipistrello. + A Village Commune. + Bimbi. + Wanda. + Frescoes. + In Maremma. + Othmar. + + _BY MARGARET AGNES PAUL._ + Gentle and Simple. + + _BY JAMES PAYN._ + Lost Sir Massingberd. + A Perfect Treasure. + Bentinck's Tutor. + Murphy's Master. + A County Family. + At Her Mercy. + A Woman's Vengeance. + Cecil's Tryst. + Clyffards of Clyffe. + The Family Scapegrace. + Foster Brothers. + Found Dead. + Best of Husbands. + Walter's Word. + Halves. + Fallen Fortunes. + What He Cost Her. + Humorous Stories. + Gwendoline's Harvest. + L200 Reward. + Like Father, Like Son. + Marine Residence. + Married Beneath Him. + Mirk Abbey. + Not Wooed, but Won. + Less Black than We're Painted. + By Proxy. + Under One Roof. + High Spirits. + Carlyon's Year. + A Confidential Agent. + Some Private Views. + From Exile. + A Grape from a Thorn. + For Cash Only. + Kit: A Memory. + The Canon's Ward. + Talk of the Town. + Holiday Tasks. + + _BY C.L. PIRKIS._ + Lady Lovelace. + + _BY EDGAR A. POE._ + The Mystery of Marie Roget. + + _BY E.C. PRICE._ + Valentina. + The Foreigners. + Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. + Gerald. + + _BY CHARLES READE._ + It Is Never Too Late to Mend. + Hard Cash. + Peg Woffington. + Christie Johnstone. + Griffith Gaunt. + Put Yourself in His Place. + The Double Marriage. + Love Me Little, Love Me Long. + Foul Play. + The Cloister and the Hearth. + The Course of True Love. + Autobiography of a Thief. + A Terrible Temptation. + The Wandering Heir. + A Simpleton. + Readiana. + A Woman-Hater. + The Jilt. + Singleheart and Doubleface. + Good Stories of Men and other Animals. + + _BY MRS. J.H. RIDDELL._ + Her Mother's Darling. + Prince of Wales's Garden Party. + Weird Stories. + Fairy Water. + The Uninhabited House. + The Mystery in Palace Gardens. + + _BY F.W. ROBINSON._ + Women are Strange. + The Hands of Justice. + + _BY JAMES RUNCIMAN._ + Skippers and Shellbacks. + Grace Balmaign's Sweetheart. + Schools and Scholars. + + _BY W. CLARK RUSSELL._ + Round the Galley Fire. + On the Fo'k'sle Head. + In the Middle Watch. + A Voyage to the Cape. + + _BY BAYLE ST. JOHN._ + A Levantine Family. + + _BY GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA._ + Gaslight and Daylight. + + _BY JOHN SAUNDERS._ + Bound to the Wheel. + One Against the World. + Guy Waterman. + Two Dreamers. + The Lion In the Path. + + _BY KATHARINE SAUNDERS._ + Joan Merryweather. + Margaret and Elizabeth. + The High Mills. + Heart Salvage. + Sebastian. + + _BY GEORGE R. SIMS._ + Rogues and Vagabonds. + The Ring o' Bells. + Mary Jane's Memoirs. + Mary Jane Married. + + _BY ARTHUR SKETCHLEY._ + A Match in the Dark. + + _BY T.W. SPEIGHT._ + The Mysteries of Heron Dyke. + The Golden Hoop. + + _BY R.A. STERNDALE._ + The Afghan Knife. + + _BY R. LOUIS STEVENSON._ + New Arabian Nights. + Prince Otto. + + _BY BERTHA THOMAS._ + Cressida. + Proud Maisie. + The Violin-Player. + + _BY W. MOY THOMAS._ + A Fight for Life. + + _BY WALTER THORNBURY._ + Tales for the Marines. + + _BY T. ADOLPHUS TROLLOPE._ + Diamond Cut Diamond. + + _BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE._ + The Way We Live Now. + The American Senator. + Frau Frohmann. + Marion Fay. + Kept In the Dark. + Mr. Scarborough's Family. + The Land-Leaguers. + The Golden Lion of Granpere. + John Caldigate. + + _BY F. ELEANOR TROLLOPE._ + Like Ships upon the Sea. + Anne Furness. + Mabel's Progress. + + _BY J.T. TROWBRIDGE._ + Farnell's Folly. + + _BY IVAN TURGENIEFF, &c._ + Stories from Foreign Novelists. + + _BY MARK TWAIN._ + Tom Sawyer. + A Tramp Abroad. + A Pleasure Trip on the Continent of Europe. + The Stolen White Elephant. + Huckleberry Finn. + Life on the Mississippi. + The Prince and the Pauper. + + _BY C.C. FRASER-TYTLER._ + Mistress Judith. + + _BY SARAH TYTLER._ + What She Came Through. + The Bride's Pass. + Saint Mungo's City. + Beauty and the Beast. + Lady Bell. + Noblesse Oblige. + Citoyenne Jacquiline. + Disappeared. + + _BY J.S. WINTER._ + Cavalry Life. + Regimental Legends. + + _BY H.F. WOOD._ + The Passenger from Scotland Yard. + + _BY LADY WOOD._ + Sabina. + + _BY EDMUND YATES._ + Castaway. + The Forlorn Hope. + Land at Last. + + _ANONYMOUS._ + Paul Ferroll. + Why Paul Ferroll Killed his Wife. + + * * * * * + + + POPULAR SHILLING BOOKS. + + Jeff Briggs's Love Story. By BRET HARTE. + The Twins of Table Mountain. By BRET HARTE. + A Day's Tour. By PERCY FITZGERALD. + Mrs. Gainsborough's Diamonds. By JULIAN HAWTHORNE. + A Dream and a Forgetting. By ditto. + A Romance of the Queen's Hounds. By CHARLES JAMES. + Kathleen Mavourneen. By Author of "That Lass o' Lowrie's." + Lindsay's Luck. By the Author of "That Lass o' Lowrie's." + Pretty Polly Pemberton. By the Author of "That Lass o' Lowrie's." + Trooping with Crows. By C.L. PIRKIS. + The Professor's Wife. By L. GRAHAM. + A Double Bond. By LINDA VILLARI. + Esther's Glove. By R.E. FRANCILLON. + The Garden that Paid the Rent. By TOM JERROLD. + Curly. By JOHN COLEMAN. Illustrated by J.C. DOLLMAN. + Beyond the Gates. By E.S. PHELPS. + Old Maid's Paradise. By E.S. PHELPS. + Burglars in Paradise. By E.S. PHELPS. + Jack the Fisherman. By E.S. PHELPS. + Doom: An Atlantic Episode. By JUSTIN H. MCCARTHY, M.P. + Our Sensation Novel. Edited by JUSTIN H. MCCARTHY, M.P. + Bible Characters. By CHAS. READE. + The Dagonet Reciter. By G.R. SIMS. + Wife or No Wife? By T.W. SPEIGHT. + By Devious Ways. By T.W. SPEIGHT. + The Silverado Squatters. By R. LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + J. OGDEN AND CO. LIMITED, PRINTERS, GREAT SAFFRON HILL, E.C. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + + +Obvious typesetting errors have been corrected. Questionable or vintage +spelling has been left as printed in the original publication. +Inconsistencies in spelling have been normalized. + +Punctuation (commas, periods and colons) has been normalized or supplied +as needed for consistency in the formatting of the List of Books +following the main text. + +Page 203: A comma has been supplied, presumably missed in typesetting +(evidenced by a blank space in original publication). Shown in brackets +in the following: "... unequal to the subject--too low[,] pedestrian, +and creeping...." + +Page 229: Transcribed "this" as "his". As originially printed: "Unto +this last." + +Page 17 (List of Books): Transcribed "ARMOY" as "ARMORY". As originially +printed: "BY A.E. SWEET and J. 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