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diff --git a/44360-0.txt b/44360-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39e90f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/44360-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11053 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44360 *** + +THE AMENITIES OF BOOK-COLLECTING +AND +KINDRED AFFECTIONS + +[Illustration: CARICATURE OF TWO GREAT VICTORIANS W. M. THACKERAY AND +CHARLES DICKENS] + + + + +THE AMENITIES +OF BOOK-COLLECTING +AND +KINDRED AFFECTIONS + +BY +A. EDWARD NEWTON + +[Illustration: colophon] + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + +JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD +LONDON MCMXX + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +DEDICATION + + +_If, as Eugene Field suggests, womenfolk are few in that part of +paradise especially reserved for book-lovers I do not care. One woman +will be there, for I shall insist that eight and twenty years probation +entitles her to share my biblio-bliss above as she has shared it here +below. That woman is my wife._ + +A. EDWARD NEWTON + +OCTOBER, 1918 + + + + +ESSAY INTRODUCTORY + + +A man (or a woman) is the most interesting thing in the world; and next +is a book, which enables one to get at the heart of the mystery; and +although not many men can say why they are or what they are, any man who +publishes a book can, if he is on good terms with his publisher, secure +the use of a little space to tell how the book came to be what it is. + +Some years ago a very learned friend of mine published a book, and in +the introduction warned the "gentle reader" to skip the first chapter, +and, as I have always maintained, by inference suggested that the rest +was easy reading, which was not the case. In point of fact, the book was +not intended for the "gentle reader" at all: it was a book written by a +scholar for the scholar. + +Now, I have worked on a different plan. My book is written for the +"tired business man" (there are a goodly number of us), who flatters +himself that he is fond of reading; and as it is my first book, I may be +permitted to tell how it came to be published. + +One day in the autumn of 1913, a friend, my partner, with whom it has +been my privilege to be associated for so many years, remarked that it +was time for me to take a holiday, and handed me a copy of the +"Geographical Magazine." The number was devoted to Egypt; and, seduced +by the charm of the illustrations, on the spur of the moment I decided +on a trip up the Nile. + +Things moved rapidly. In a few weeks my wife and I were in the +Mediterranean, on a steamer headed for Alexandria. We had touched at +Genoa and were soon to reach Naples, when I discovered a feeling of +homesickness stealing over me. I have spent my happiest holidays in +London. Already I had tired of Egypt. The Nile has been flowing for +centuries and would continue to flow. There were books to be had in +London, books which would not wait. Somewhat shamefacedly I put the +matter up to my wife; and when I discovered that she had no insuperable +objection to a change of plan, we left the steamer at Naples, and after +a few weeks with friends in Rome, started _en grande vitesse_ toward +London. + +By this time it will have been discovered that I am not much of a +traveler; but I have always loved London--London with its wealth of +literary and historic association, with its countless miles of streets +lined with inessential shops overflowing with things that I don't want, +and its grimy old book-shops overflowing with things that I do. + +One gloomy day I picked up in the Charing Cross Road, for a shilling, a +delightful book by Richard Le Gallienne, "Travels in England." Like +myself, Le Gallienne seems not to have been a great traveler--he seldom +reached the place he started for; and losing his way or changing his +mind, may be said to have arrived at his destination when he has +reached a comfortable inn, where, after a simple meal, he lights his +pipe and proceeds to read a book. + +Exactly my idea of travel! The last time I read "Pickwick" was while +making a tour in Northern Italy. It is wonderful how conducive to +reading I found the stuffy smoking-rooms of the little steamers that +dart like water-spiders from one landing to another on the Italian +Lakes. + +It was while I was poking about among the old book-shops that it +occurred to me to write a little story about my books--when and where I +had bought them, the prices I had paid, and the men I had bought them +from, many of whom I knew well; and so, when my holiday was done, I +lived over again its pleasant associations in writing a paper that I +called "Book-Collecting Abroad." Subsequently I wrote +another,--"Book-Collecting at Home,"--it being my purpose to print these +papers in a little volume to be called "The Amenities of +Book-Collecting." I intended this for distribution among my friends, who +are very patient with me; and I sent my manuscript to a printer in the +closing days of July, 1914. A few days later something happened in +Europe, the end of which is not yet, and we all became panic-stricken. +For a moment it seemed unlikely that one would care ever to open a book +again. Acting upon impulse, I withdrew the order from my printer, put my +manuscript aside, and devoted myself to my usual task--that of making a +living. + +Byron says, "The end of all scribblement is to amuse." For some years I +have been possessed of an itch for "scribblement"; gradually this +feeling reasserted itself, and I came to see that we must become +accustomed to working in a world at war, and to realizing that life must +be permitted to resume, at least to some extent, its regular course; and +the idea of my little book recurred to me. + +It had frequently been suggested by friends that my papers be published +in the "Atlantic." What grudge they bore this excellent magazine I do +not know, but they always said the "Atlantic"; and so, when one day I +came across my manuscript, it occurred to me that it would cost only a +few cents to lay it before the editor. At that time I did not know the +editor of the "Atlantic" even by name. My pleasure then can be imagined +when, a week or so later, I received the following letter:-- + +_Oct. 30, 1914._ + +DEAR MR. NEWTON:-- + + The enthusiasm of your pleasant paper is contagious, and I find + myself in odd moments looking at the gaps in my own library with a + feeling of dismay. I believe that very many readers of the + "Atlantic" will feel as I do, and it gives me great pleasure to + accept your paper. + +Yours sincerely, +ELLERY SEDGWICK. + + + +Shortly afterward, a check for a substantial sum fluttered down upon my +desk, and it was impossible that I should not remember how much Milton +had received for his "Paradise Lost,"--the receipt for which is in the +British Museum,--and draw conclusions therefrom entirely satisfactory to +my self-esteem. My paper was published, and the magazine, having a hardy +constitution, survived; I even received some praise. There was nothing +important enough to justify criticism, and as a result of this chance +publication I made a number of delightful acquaintances among readers +and collectors, many of whom I might almost call friends although we +have never met. + +Not wishing to strain the rather precarious friendship with Mr. Sedgwick +which was the outcome of my first venture, it was several years before I +ventured to try him with another paper. This I called "A Ridiculous +Philosopher." I enjoyed writing this paper immensely, and although it +was the reverse of timely, I felt that it might pass editorial scrutiny. +Again I received a letter from Mr. Sedgwick, in which he said:-- + + Two days ago I took your paper home with me and spent a delightful + half-hour with it. Now, as any editor would tell you, there is no + valid reason for a paper on Godwin at this time, but your essay is + so capitally seasoned that I cannot find it in my heart to part + with it. Indeed I have been gradually making the editorial + discovery that, if a paper is sufficiently readable, it has some + claim upon the public, regardless of what the plans of the editor + are. And so the upshot of my deliberation is that we shall accept + your paper with great pleasure and publish it when the opportunity + occurs. + +The paper appeared in due course, and several more followed. The favor +with which these papers were received led the "Atlantic" editors to the +consideration of their reprint in permanent form, together with several +which now appear for the first time. All the illustrations have been +made from items in my own collection. I am thus tying a string, as it +were, around a parcel which contains the result of thirty-six years of +collecting. It may not be much, but, as the Irishman said of his dog, +"It's mine own." My volume might, with propriety, be called "Newton's +Complete Recreations." + +I have referred to my enjoyment in writing my "Ridiculous Philosopher." +I might say the same of all my papers. I am aware that my friend, Dr. +Johnson, once remarked that no man but a block-head writes a book except +for money. At some risk, then, I admit that I have done so. I have +written for fun, and my papers should be read, if read at all, for the +same purpose, not that the reader will or is expected to laugh loud. The +loud laugh, in Goldsmith's phrase, it may be remembered, bespeaks the +vacant mind. But I venture to hope that the judicious will pass a not +unpleasant hour in turning my pages. + +One final word: I buy, I collect "Presentation Books"; and I trust my +friends will not think me churlish when I say that it is not my +intention to turn a single copy of this, my book, into a presentation +volume. Whatever circulation it may have must be upon its own merits. +Any one who sees this book in the hands of a reader, on the library +table, or on the shelves of the collector, may be sure that some one, +either wise or foolish as the event may prove, has paid a substantial +sum for it, either in the current coin of the realm, or perchance in +thrift stamps. It may, indeed, be that it has been secured from a +lending library, in which case I would suggest that the book be returned +instantly. "Go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves." And +having separated yourself from your money, in the event that you should +feel vexed with your bargain, you are at liberty to communicate your +grievance to the publisher, securing from him what redress you may; and +in the event of failure there yet remains your inalienable right, which +should afford some satisfaction, that of damning + +THE AUTHOR. + +"OAK KNOLL," DAYLESFORD, PENNSYLVANIA, _April 7, 1918_. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + +I. BOOK-COLLECTING ABROAD 1 + +II. BOOK-COLLECTING AT HOME 36 + +III. OLD CATALOGUES AND NEW PRICES 65 + +IV. "ASSOCIATION" BOOKS AND FIRST EDITIONS 107 + +V. "WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN" 129 + +VI. JAMES BOSWELL--HIS BOOK 145 + +VII. A LIGHT-BLUE STOCKING 186 + +VIII. A RIDICULOUS PHILOSOPHER 226 + +IX. A GREAT VICTORIAN 249 + +X. TEMPLE BAR THEN AND NOW 267 + +XI. A MACARONI PARSON 292 + +XII. OSCAR WILDE 318 + +XIII. A WORD IN MEMORY 343 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +CARICATURE OF TWO GREAT VICTORIANS _Frontispiece in Color_ +W. M. Thackeray and Charles Dickens + +TITLE OF "PARADISE LOST." First Edition 6 + +TITLE OF FRANKLIN'S EDITION OF CICERO'S "CATO MAJOR" 9 + +LETTER OF THOMAS HARDY TO HIS FIRST PUBLISHER, +"OLD TINSLEY" 12 + +PAGE OF ORIGINAL MS. OF HARDY'S "FAR FROM THE +MADDING CROWD" 14 + +BERNARD QUARITCH 14 + +TITLE OF MS. OF "LYFORD REDIVIVUS" 16 + +BERNARD ALFRED QUARITCH 16 + +SAMUEL JOHNSON 20 +Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds about 1770, for Johnson's Step-Daughter, +Lucy Porter. Engraved by Watson + +PAGE OF PRAYER IN DR. JOHNSON'S AUTOGRAPH 23 + +TITLE OF KEATS'S COPY OF SPENSER'S WORKS 24 + +PORTRAIT OF TENNYSON READING "MAUD" TO THE BROWNINGS, +BY ROSSETTI 26 + +DR. JOHNSON'S CHURCH, ST. CLEMENT DANES 31 +From a pen-and-ink sketch by Charles G. Osgood + +INSCRIPTION TO MRS. THRALE IN DR. JOHNSON'S HAND 32 + +INSCRIPTION TO GENERAL SIR A. GORDON IN QUEEN VICTORIA'S +HAND 35 + +GEORGE D. SMITH 36 +Photographed by Genthe + +AUTOGRAPH MS. OF LAMB'S POEM, "ELEGY ON A QUID OF +TOBACCO" 40 + +DR. A. S. W. ROSENBACH 42 +Photographed by Genthe + +TITLE OF "ROBINSON CRUSOE." First Edition 45 + +TITLE OF "OLIVER TWIST" 47 +Presentation Copy to W. C. Macready + +ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION FOR "VANITY FAIR" 48 +Becky Sharp throwing Dr. Johnson's "Dixonary" out of the +carriage window, as she leaves Miss Pinkerton's School + +From the first pen-and-ink sketch, by Thackeray, afterwards +elaborated + +SPECIMEN PROOF-SHEET OF GEORGE MOORE'S "MEMOIRS +OF MY DEAD LIFE" 50 + +TITLE OF GEORGE MOORE'S "PAGAN POEMS" 51 +Presentation Copy to Oscar Wilde + +TITLE OF BLAKE'S "MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL" 52 + +CHARLES LAMB'S HOUSE AT ENFIELD 54 + +INSCRIPTION BY JOSEPH CONRAD IN A COPY OF "THE NIGGER +OF THE 'NARCISSUS'" 56 + +THE AUTHOR'S BOOK-PLATE 60 + +HENRY E. HUNTINGTON 72 + +STOKE POGES CHURCH 74 +A fine example of fore-edge painting + +TITLE OF BLAKE'S "SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE" 80 + +"A LEAF FROM AN UNOPENED VOLUME" 82 +Specimen page of an unpublished manuscript of Charlotte Brontë + +TITLE OF THE KILMARNOCK EDITION OF BURNS'S POEMS 85 + +FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH MS. ON VELLUM: +BOËTHIUS'S "DE CONSOLATIONE PHILOSOPHIÆ" 90 + +TITLE OF GEORGE HERBERT'S "THE TEMPLE." First Edition 97 + +FIRST PAGE OF A RARE EDITION OF "ROBINSON CRUSOE" 102 + +AUTOGRAPH MS. OF A POEM BY KEATS--"TO THE MISSES +M---- AT HASTINGS" 105 + +INSCRIPTION TO SWINBURNE FROM DANTE ROSSETTI 106 + +AUTOGRAPH INSCRIPTION BY STEVENSON, IN A COPY OF HIS +"INLAND VOYAGE" 109 + +TITLE OF A UNIQUE COPY OF STEVENSON'S "CHILD'S GARDEN +OF VERSES" 110 + +NEW BUILDING OF THE GROLIER CLUB 114 + +INSCRIPTION TO CHARLES DICKENS, JUNIOR, FROM CHARLES +DICKENS 116 + +ILLUSTRATION, "THE LAST OF THE SPIRITS," BY JOHN LEECH +FOR DICKENS'S "CHRISTMAS CAROL" 116 +From the original water-color drawing + +AUTOGRAPH DEDICATION TO DICKENS'S "THE VILLAGE +COQUETTES" 118 + +TITLE OF MEREDITH'S "MODERN LOVE," WITH AUTOGRAPH +INSCRIPTION TO SWINBURNE 121 + +INSCRIPTION BY DR. JOHNSON IN A COPY OF "RASSELAS" 125 + +INSCRIPTION BY WOODROW WILSON, IN A COPY OF HIS "CONSTITUTIONAL +GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES" 126 + +INSCRIPTION BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 128 + +CHARLES LAMB 130 + +FRANCES MARIA KELLY 132 + +MISS KELLY IN VARIOUS CHARACTERS 136 + +MS. DEDICATION OF LAMB'S WORKS TO MISS KELLY 137 + +AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF LAMB TO MISS KELLY 139 + +CHARLES AND MARY LAMB 144 + +JAMES BOSWELL OF AUCHINLECK, ESQR. 146 +Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved by John Jones + +SAMUEL JOHNSON IN A TIE-WIG 150 +Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved by Zobel + +INSCRIPTION TO REV. WILLIAM J. TEMPLE, FROM JAMES +BOSWELL 159 + +TITLE OF MASON'S "ELFRIDA." First Edition 163 + +MS. OF BOSWELL'S AGREEMENT WITH MR. DILLY, RECITING +THE TERMS AGREED ON FOR THE PUBLICATION OF +"CORSICA" 167 + +MS. INDORSEMENT BY BOSWELL ON THE FIRST PAPER DRAWN +BY HIM AS AN ADVOCATE 168 + +DR. JOHNSON IN TRAVELING DRESS, AS DESCRIBED IN +BOSWELL'S "TOUR" 174 +Engraved by Trotter + +INSCRIPTION TO JAMES BOSWELL, JUNIOR, FROM JAMES +BOSWELL 176 + +SAMUEL JOHNSON 184 +Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved by Heath + +INSCRIPTION TO EDMUND BURKE, BY JAMES BOSWELL 185 + +MRS. PIOZZI 186 +Engraved by Ridley from a miniature + +EXTRACT FROM MS. LETTER OF MRS. THRALE 191 + +TITLE OF MISS BURNEY'S "EVELINA." First Edition 199 + +MRS. THRALE'S BREAKFAST-TABLE 200 + +SAMUEL JOHNSON. THE "STREATHAM PORTRAIT" 204 +Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved by Doughty + +MS. INSCRIPTIONS BY MRS. THRALE 206 + +TITLE OF "THE PRINCE OF ABISSINIA" ("RASSELAS"). +First Edition 207 + +MS. OF THE LAST PAGE OF MRS. THRALE'S "JOURNAL OF A +TOUR IN WALES" 219 + +MISS AMY LOWELL, OF BOSTON 222 + +SAMUEL JOHNSON 225 + +WILLIAM GODWIN, THE RIDICULOUS PHILOSOPHER 227 + +CHARLES LAMB'S PLAY-BILL OF GODWIN'S "ANTONIO" 236 + +MS. LETTER FROM WILLIAM GODWIN 241 + +ANTHONY TROLLOPE 250 +From a photograph by Elliot and Fry + +TEMPLE BAR AS IT IS TO-DAY 268 + +OLD TEMPLE BAR: DEMOLISHED IN 1666 276 + +TEMPLE BAR IN DR. JOHNSON'S TIME 280 + +TEMPLE BAR 291 + +FIRST PAGE OF DR. JOHNSON'S PETITION TO THE KING ON +BEHALF OF DR. DODD 306 + +MR. ALLEN'S COPY OF THE LAST LETTER DR. DODD SENT +DR. JOHNSON 312 + +CARICATURE OF OSCAR WILDE 319 +From an original drawing by Aubrey Beardsley + +"OUR OSCAR" AS HE WAS WHEN WE LOANED HIM TO +AMERICA 326 +From a contemporary English caricature + +MS. INSCRIPTION TO J. E. DICKINSON, FROM OSCAR WILDE 342 + +HARRY ELKINS WIDENER 344 + +TITLE OF STEVENSON'S "MEMOIRS OF HIMSELF" 349 +Printed for private distribution only, by Mr. Widener + +BEVERLY CHEW 350 + +HENRY E. HUNTINGTON AMONG HIS BOOKS 352 +Photographed by Genthe + +HARRY ELKINS WIDENER'S BOOK-PLATE 355 + + + + +THE AMENITIES OF BOOK-COLLECTING + +AND + +KINDRED AFFECTIONS + + + + +I + +BOOK-COLLECTING ABROAD + + +If my early training has been correct, which I am much inclined to +doubt, we were not designed to be happy in this world. We were simply +placed here to be tried, and doubtless we are--it is a trying place. It +is, however, the only world we are sure of; so, in spite of our +training, we endeavor to make the best of it, and have invented a lot of +little tricks with which to beguile the time. + +The approved time-killer is work, and we do a lot of it. When it is +quite unnecessary, we say it is in the interest of civilization; and +occasionally work is done on so high a plane that it becomes sport, and +we call these sportsmen, "Captains of Industry." One of them once told +me that making money was the finest sport in the world. This was before +the rules of the game were changed. + +But for the relaxation of those whose life is spent in a persistent +effort to make ends meet, games of skill, games of chance, and kissing +games have been invented, and indoor and outdoor sports. These are all +very well for those who can play them; but I am like the little boy who +declined to play Old Maid because he was always "it." Having early +discovered that I was always "it" in every game, I decided to take my +recreation in another way. I read occasionally and have always been a +collector. + +Many years ago, in an effort to make conversation on a train,--a foolish +thing to do,--I asked a man what he did with his leisure, and his reply +was, "I play cards. I used to read a good deal but I wanted something to +occupy my mind, so I took to cards." It was a disconcerting answer. + +It may be admitted that not all of us can read all the time. For those +who cannot and for those to whom sport in any form is a burden not to be +endured, there is one remaining form of exercise, the riding of a +hobby--collecting, it is called; and the world is so full of such +wonderful things that we collectors should be as happy as kings. Horace +Greeley once said, "Young man, go West." I give advice as valuable and +more easily followed: I say, Young man, get a hobby; preferably get two, +one for indoors and one for out; get a pair of hobby-horses that can +safely be ridden in opposite directions. + +We collectors strive to make converts; we want others to enjoy what we +enjoy; and I may as well confess that the envy shown by our fellow +collectors when we display our treasures is not annoying to us. But, +speaking generally, we are a bearable lot, our hobbies are usually +harmless, and if we loathe the subject of automobiles, and especially +discussion relative to parts thereof, we try to show an intelligent +interest in another's hobby, even if it happen to be a collection of +postage-stamps. Our own hobby may be, probably is, ridiculous to some +one else, but in all the wide range of human interest, from +postage-stamps to paintings,--the sport of the millionaire,--there is +nothing that begins so easily and takes us so far as the collecting of +books. + +And hear me. If you would know the delight of book-collecting, begin +with something else, I care not what. Book-collecting has all the +advantages of other hobbies without their drawbacks. The pleasure of +acquisition is common to all--that's where the sport lies; but the +strain of the possession of books is almost nothing; a tight, dry closet +will serve to house them, if need be. + +It is not so with flowers. They are a constant care. Some one once wrote +a poem about "old books and fresh flowers." It lilted along very nicely; +but I remark that books stay old, indeed get older, and flowers do not +stay fresh: a little too much rain, a little too much sun, and it is all +over. + +Pets die too, in spite of constant care--perhaps by reason of it. To +quiet a teething dog I once took him, her, it, to my room for the night +and slept soundly. Next morning I found that the dog had committed +suicide by jumping out of the window. + +The joys of rugs are a delusion and a snare. They cannot be picked up +here and there, tucked in a traveling-bag, and smuggled into the house; +they are hard to transport, there are no auction records against them, +and the rug market knows no bottom. I never yet heard a man admit paying +a fair price for a rug, much less a high one. "Look at this Scherazak," +a friend remarks; "I paid only nine dollars for it and it's worth five +hundred if it's worth a penny." When he is compelled to sell his +collection, owing to an unlucky turn in the market, it brings +seventeen-fifty. And rugs are ever a loafing place for moths--But that's +a chapter by itself. + +Worst of all, there is no literature about them. I know very well that +there are books about rugs; I own some. But as all books are not +literature, so all literature is not in books. Can a rug-collector enjoy +a catalogue? I sometimes think that for the over-worked business man a +book-catalogue is the best reading there is. Did you ever see a +rug-collector, pencil in hand, poring over a rug-catalogue? + +Print-catalogues there are; and now I warm a little. They give +descriptions that mean something; a scene may have a reminiscent value, +a portrait suggests a study in biography. Then there are dimensions for +those who are fond of figures and states and margins, and the most +ignorant banker will tell you that a wide margin is always better than a +narrow one. Prices, too, can be looked up and compared, and results, +satisfactory or otherwise, recorded. Prints, too, can be snugly housed +in portfolios. But for a lasting hobby give me books. + +Book-collectors are constantly being ridiculed by scholars for the pains +they take and the money they spend on first editions of their favorite +authors; and it must be that they smart under the criticism, for they +are always explaining, and attempting rather foolishly to justify their +position. Would it not be better to say, as Leslie Stephen did of Dr. +Johnson's rough sayings, that "it is quite useless to defend them to any +one who cannot enjoy them without defense"? + +I am not partial to the "books which no gentleman's library should be +without," fashionable a generation or two ago. The works of Thomas +Frognall Dibdin do not greatly interest me, and where will one find room +to-day for Audubon's "Birds" or Roberts's "Holy Land" except on a +billiard-table or under a bed? + +The very great books of the past have become so rare, so high-priced, +that it is almost useless for the ordinary collector to hope ever to own +them, and fashion changes in book-collecting as in everything else. +Aldines and Elzevirs are no longer sought. Our interest in the Classics +being somewhat abated, we pass them over in favor of books which, we +tell ourselves, we expect some day to read, the books written by men of +whose lives we know something. I would rather have a "Paradise Lost" +with the first title-page,[1] in contemporary binding, or an "Angler," +than all the Aldines and Elzevirs ever printed. + +[Illustration: + +Paradise lost. + +A +POEM + +Written in +TEN BOOKS +By _JOHN MILTON_. + +Licensed and Entred according +to Order. + +_LONDON_ +Printed, and are to be sold by _Peter Parker_ +under _Creed,_ Church neer _Aldgate_; And by +_Robert Boulter_ at the _Turks Head_ in _Bishopsgate-Street_; +And _Matthias Walker_, under _St. Dunstons_ Church +in _Fleet-Street_, 1667. +] + +That this feeling is general, accounts, I take it, for the excessively +high prices now being paid for first editions of modern authors like +Shelley, Keats, Lamb, and, to come right down to our own day, Stevenson. +Would not these authors be amazed could they know in what esteem they +are held, and what fabulous prices are paid for volumes which, when they +were published, fell almost stillborn from the press? We all know the +story of Fitzgerald's "Rubaiyat": how a "remainder" was sold by Quaritch +at a penny the copy. It is now worth its weight in gold, and Keats's +"Endymion," once a "remainder" bought by a London bookseller at +fourpence, now commands several hundred dollars. I paid three hundred +and sixty dollars for mine--but it was once Wordsworth's and has his +name on the title-page. + +But it is well in book-collecting, while not omitting the present, never +to neglect the past. "Old books are best," says Beverly Chew, beloved of +all collectors; and I recall Lowell's remark: "There is a sense of +security in an old book which time has criticized for us." It was a +recollection of these sayings that prompted me, if prompting was +necessary, to pay a fabulous price the other day for a copy of +"Hesperides, or the Works both Humane and Divine of Robert Herrick, +Esq.," a beautiful copy of the first edition in the original sheep. + +We collectors know the saying of Bacon: "Some books are to be tasted, +others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested"; but the +revised version is, Some books are to be read, others are to be +collected. Mere reading books, the five-foot shelf, or the hundred best, +every one knows at least by name. But at the moment I am concerned with +collectors' books and the amenities of book-collecting; for, frankly,-- + + I am one of those who seek + What Bibliomaniacs love. + +Some subjects are not for me. Sydney Smith's question, "Who reads an +American book?" has, I am sure, been answered; and I am equally sure +that I do not know what the answer is. "Americana"--which was not what +Sydney Smith meant--have never caught me, nor has "black letter." It is +not necessary for me to study how to tell a Caxton. Caxtons do not fall +in my way, except single leaves now and then, and these I take as +Goldsmith took his religion, on faith. + +Nor am I the rival of the man who buys all his books from Quaritch. +Buying from Quaritch is rather too much like the German idea of hunting: +namely, sitting in an easy chair near a breach in the wall through which +game, big or little, is shooed within easy reach of your gun. No, my +idea of collecting is "watchful waiting," in season and out, in places +likely and unlikely, most of all in London. But one need not begin in +London: one can begin wherever one has pitched one's tent. + +I have long wanted Franklin's "Cato Major." A copy was found not long +ago in a farmhouse garret in my own county; but, unluckily, I did not +hear of it until its price, through successive hands, had reached three +hundred dollars. But if one does not begin in London, one ends there. It +is the great market of the world for collectors' books--the best market, +not necessarily the cheapest. + +[Illustration: + +M. T. CICERO's +_CATO MAJOR_ +OR HIS +DISCOURSE +OF +OLD-AGE: +With Explanatory NOTES. + +_PHILADELPHIA_: +Printed and sold by B. FRANKLIN, +MDCCXLIV. +] + +My first purchase was a Bohn edition of Pope's Homer, the Iliad and the +Odyssey in two volumes--not a bad start for a boy; and under my youthful +signature, with a fine flourish, is the date, 1882. + +I read them with delight, and was sorry when I learned that Pope is by +no means Homer. I have been a little chary about reading ever since. We +collectors might just as well wait until scholars settle these +questions. + +I have always liked Pope. In reading him one has the sense of progress +from idea to idea, not a mere floundering about in Arcady amid +star-stuff. When Dr. Johnson was asked what poetry is, he replied, "It +is much easier to say what it is not." He was sparring for time and +finally remarked, "If Pope is not poetry it is useless to look for it." + +Years later, when I learned from Oscar Wilde that there are two ways of +disliking poetry,--one is to dislike it, and the other, to like Pope,--I +found that I was not entirely prepared to change my mind about Pope. + +In 1884 I went to London for the first time, and there I fell under the +lure of Dr. Johnson and Charles Lamb. After that, the deluge! + +The London of 1884 was the London of Dickens. There have been greater +changes since I first wandered in the purlieus of the Strand and Holborn +than there were in the hundred years before. Dickens's London has +vanished almost as completely as the London of Johnson. One landmark +after another disappeared, until finally the County Council made one +grand sweep with Aldwych and Kingsway. But never to be forgotten are the +rambles I enjoyed with my first bookseller, Fred Hutt of Clement's Inn +Passage, subsequently of Red Lion Passage, now no more. Poor fellow! +when, early in 1914, I went to look him up, I found that he had passed +away, and his shop was being dismantled. He was the last of three +brothers, all booksellers. + +From Hutt I received my first lesson in bibliography; from him I bought +my first "Christmas Carol," with "Stave 1," not "Stave One," and with +the green end-papers. I winced at the price: it was thirty shillings. I +saw one marked twenty guineas not long ago. From Hutt, too, I got a copy +of Swinburne's "Poems and Ballads," 1866, with the Moxon imprint, and +had pointed out to me the curious eccentricity of type on page 222. I +did not then take his advice and pay something over two pounds for a +copy of "Desperate Remedies." It seemed wiser to wait until the price +reached forty pounds, which I subsequently paid for it. But I did buy +from him for five shillings an autograph letter of Thomas Hardy to his +first publisher, "old Tinsley." As the details throw some light on the +subject of Hardy's first book, I reproduce the letter, from which it +will be seen that Hardy financed the publication himself. + +When, thirty years ago, I picked up my Hardy letter for a few shillings, +I never supposed that the time would come when I would own the complete +manuscript of one of his most famous novels. Yet so it is. Not long +since, quite unexpectedly, the original draft of "Far from the Madding +Crowd" turned up in London. Its author, when informed of its discovery, +wrote saying that he had "supposed the manuscript had been pulped ages +ago." One page only was missing; Mr. Hardy supplied it. Then arose the +question of ownership, which was gracefully settled by sending it to the +auction-room, the proceeds of the sale to go to the British Red Cross. I +cannot say that the bookseller who bought it gave it to me exactly, but +we both agree that it is an item which does honor to any collection. +Although it is the original draft, there are very few corrections or +interlineations, the page reproduced (see next page) being fairly +representative. + +[Illustration: LETTER OF THOMAS HARDY TO HIS FIRST PUBLISHER, "OLD +TINSLEY" + +I paid five shillings for this letter many years ago, in London. Maggs, +in his last catalogue, prices at fifteen guineas a much less interesting +letter from Hardy to Arthur Symons, dated December 4, 1915, on the same +subject.] + +Only those who are trying to complete their sets of Hardy know how +difficult it is to find "Desperate Remedies" and "Under the Greenwood +Tree" "in cloth as issued." + +My love for book-collecting and my love for London have gone hand in +hand. From the first, London with its wealth of literary and historic +interest has held me; there has never been a time, not even on that +gloomy December day twenty years ago, when, with injuries subsequently +diagnosed as a "compound comminuted tibia and fibula," I was picked out +of an overturned cab and taken to St. Bartholomew's Hospital for +repairs, that I could not say with Boswell, "There is a city called +London for which I have as violent an affection as the most romantic +lover ever had for his mistress." + +The book-shops of London have been the subject of many a song in prose +and verse. Every taste and pocket can be satisfied, I have ransacked the +wretched little shops to be found in the by-streets of Holborn one day, +and the next have browsed in the artificially stimulated pastures of +Grafton Street and Bond Street, and with as much delight in one as in +the other. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF HARDY'S "FAR FROM THE MADDING +CROWD," MUCH REDUCED IN SIZE] + +[Illustration: BERNARD QUARITCH + +"The extensive literature of catalogues is probably little known to most +readers. I do not pretend to claim a thorough acquaintance with it but I +know the luxury of reading good catalogues and such are those of Bernard +Quaritch."--OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.] + +I cannot say that "I was 'broke' in London in the fall of '89," for the +simple reason that I was not in London that year; but I am never +long in London without finding myself as light in heart and pocket as +Eugene Field--the result of yielding to the same temptations. + +I knew the elder Quaritch well, and over a cup of tea one winter +afternoon years ago, in a cold, dingy little room filled with priceless +volumes in the old shop in Piccadilly, he confided to me his fears for +his son Alfred. This remarkable old man, who has well been called the +Napoleon of booksellers, was certain that Alfred would never be able to +carry on the business when he was gone. "He has no interest in books, he +is not willing to work hard as he will have to, to maintain the standing +I have secured as the greatest bookseller in the world." Quaritch was +very proud, and justly, of his eminence. + +How little the old man knew that this son, when the time came, would +step into his father's shoes and stretch them. Alfred, when he inherited +the business, assumed his father's first name and showed all his +father's enthusiasm and shrewdness. He probably surprised himself, as he +surprised the world, by adding lustre to the name of Bernard Quaritch, +so that, when he died, the newspapers of the English-speaking world gave +the details of his life and death as matters of general interest. + +The book-lovers' happy hunting-ground is the Charing Cross Road. It is a +dirty and sordid street, too new to be picturesque; but almost every +other shop on both sides of the street is a bookshop, and the patient +man is frequently rewarded by a find of peculiar interest. + +One day, a few years ago, I picked up two square folio volumes of +manuscript bound in old, soft morocco, grown shabby from knocking about. +The title was "Lyford Redivivus, or A Grandame's Garrulity." + +[Illustration: Title of MS. of "Lyford Redivivus"] + +Examination showed me that it was a sort of dictionary of proper names. +In one volume there were countless changes and erasures; the other was +evidently a fair copy. Although there was no name in either volume to +suggest the author, it needed no second glance to see that both were +written in the clear, bold hand of Mrs. Piozzi. The price was but +trifling, and I promptly paid it and carried the volumes home. Some +months later, I was reading a little volume, "Piozziana," by Edward +Mangin,--the first book about Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi,--when, to my surprise, +my eye met the following:-- + +[Illustration: BERNARD ALFRED QUARITCH + +"He probably surprised himself as he surprised the world by adding +lustre to the name of Bernard Quaritch."] + + Early in the year 1815, I called on her [Mrs. Piozzi] then resident + in Bath, to examine a manuscript which she informed me she was + preparing for the press. After a short conversation, we sat down to + a table on which lay two manuscript volumes, one of them, the fair + copy of her work, in her own incomparably fine hand-writing. The + title was "Lyford Redivivus"; the idea being taken from a + diminutive old volume, printed in 1657, and professing to be an + alphabetical account of the names of men and women, and their + derivations. Her work was somewhat on this plan: the Christian or + first name given, Charity, for instance, followed by its etymology; + anecdotes of the eminent or obscure, who have borne the + appellation; applicable epigrams, biographical sketches, short + poetical illustrations, &c. + + I read over twelve or fourteen articles and found them exceedingly + interesting; abounding in spirit, and novelty; and all supported by + quotations in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Celtic, and + Saxon. There was a learned air over all, and in every page, much + information, ably compressed, and forming what I should have + supposed, an excellent popular volume. She was now seventy-five; + and I naturally complimented her, not only on the work in question, + but on the amazing beauty and variety of her hand-writing. She + seemed gratified and desired me to mention the MS. to some London + publisher. This I afterwards did, and sent the work to one alike + distinguished for discernment and liberality, but with whom we + could not come to an agreement. I have heard no more of "Lyford + Redivivus" since, and know not in whose hands the MS. may now be. + +A moment later it was in mine, and I was examining it with renewed +interest. + +My secret is out. I collect, as I can, human-interest books--books with +a _provenance_, as they are called; but as I object to foreign words, I +once asked a Bryn Mawr professor, Dr. Holbrook, to give me an English +equivalent. "I should have to make one," he said. "You know the word +_whereabouts_, I suppose." I admitted that I did. "How would +_whenceabouts_ do?" I thought it good. + +In recent years, presentation, or association, books have become the +rage, and the reason is plain. Every one is unique, though some are +uniquer than others. My advice to any one who may be tempted by some +volume with an inscription of the author on its fly-leaf or title-page +is, "Yield with coy submission"--and at once. While such books make +frightful inroads on one's bank account, I have regretted only my +economies, never my extravagances. + +I was glancing the other day over Arnold's "Record of Books and +Letters." He paid in 1895 seventy-one dollars for a presentation Keats's +"Poems," 1817, and sold it at auction in 1901 for five hundred.[2] A few +years later I was offered a presentation copy of the work, with an +inscription to Keats's intimate friends, Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke, +for a thousand dollars, and while I was doing some preliminary financing +the book disappeared, and forever; and I have never ceased regretting +that the dedication copy of Boswell's "Life of Johnson," to Sir Joshua +Reynolds, passed into the collection of my lamented friend, Harry +Widener, rather than into my own. "I shall not pass this way again" +seems written in these volumes. + +But my record is not all of defeats. The "whenceabouts" of my +presentation "Vanity Fair" is not without interest--its story is told in +Wilson's "Thackeray in the United States." + + The great man took particular delight in schoolboys. When, during + his lecturing tour, he visited Philadelphia, he presented one of + these boys with a five-dollar gold-piece. The boy's mother objected + to his pocketing the coin, and Thackeray vainly endeavored to + convince her that this species of beneficence was a thing of course + in England. After a discussion the coin was returned, but three + months later the lad was made happy by the receipt of a copy of + "Vanity Fair," across the title-page of which he saw written, in a + curiously small and delicate hand, his name, Henry Reed, with W. M. + Thackeray's kind regards, April, 1856. + +One day, some years ago, while strolling through Piccadilly, my +attention was attracted by a newspaper clipping posted on the window of +a bookshop, which called attention to a holograph volume of Johnson-Dodd +letters on exhibition within. I spent several hours in careful +examination of it, and, although the price asked was not inconsiderable, +it was not high in view of the unusual interest of the volume. I felt +that I must own it. + +When I am going to be extravagant I always like the encouragement of my +wife, and I usually get it. I determined to talk over with her my +proposed purchase. Her prophetic instinct in this instance was against +it. She reminded me that the business outlook was not good when we left +home, and that the reports received since were anything but encouraging. +"That amount of money," she said, "may be very useful when you get +home." The advice was good; indeed, her arguments were so unanswerable +that I determined not to discuss it further, but to buy it anyhow and +say nothing. Early the next morning I went back, and to my great +disappointment found that some one more forehanded than I had secured +the treasure. My regrets for a time were keen, but on my return to this +country I found myself in the height of the 1907 panic. Securities +seemed almost worthless and actual money unobtainable; then I +congratulated my wife on her wisdom, and pointed out what a fine fellow +I had been to follow her advice. + +Six months later, to my great surprise, the collection was again offered +me by a bookseller in New York at a price just fifty per cent in advance +of the price I had been asked for it in London. The man who showed it to +me was amazed when I told him just when he had bought it and where, and +the price he had paid for it. I made a guess that it was ten per cent +below the figure at which it had been offered to me. "I am prepared," I +said, "to pay you the same price I was originally asked for it in +London. You have doubtless shown it to many of your customers and have +not found them as foolish in their enthusiasm over Johnson as I am. You +have had your chance to make a big profit; why not accept a small +one?" There was some discussion; but as I saw my man weakening, my +firmness increased, and it finally ended by my handing him a check and +carrying off the treasure. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF DR. JOHNSON BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. PAINTED +ABOUT 1770 FOR JOHNSON'S STEPDAUGHTER, LUCY PORTER + +_Engraved by Watson_] + +The collection consists of original manuscripts relating to the forgery +of Dodd, twelve pieces being in Dr. Johnson's handwriting. In 1778 Dr. +William Dodd, the "unfortunate" clergyman, as he came to be called, was +condemned to death for forging the name of his pupil, Lord Chesterfield, +to a bond for forty-two hundred pounds. Through their common friend +Edmund Allen, Johnson worked hard to secure Dodd's pardon, writing +letters, petitions, and addresses, to be presented by Dodd, in his own +or his wife's name, to the King, the Queen, and other important persons, +Johnson taking every care to conceal his own part in the matter. In all +there are thirty-two manuscripts relating to the affair. They were +evidently used by Sir John Hawkins in his "Life of Johnson," but it is +doubtful whether Boswell, although he quotes them in part, ever saw the +collection.[3] + +Pearson, from his shop in Pall Mall Place, issues catalogues which for +size, style, and beauty are unexcelled--they remind one more of +publications _deluxe_ than of a bookseller's catalogue. It is almost +vain to look for any item under a hundred pounds, and not infrequently +they run to several thousand. A catalogue now on my writing table tells +me of a Caxton: "Tully, His Treatises of Old Age and Friendship," one of +four known copies, at twenty-five hundred pounds; and I'd gladly pay it +did my means allow. + +From Pearson I secured my holograph prayer of Dr. Johnson, of which +Birkbeck Hill says: "Having passed into the cabinet of a collector it +remains as yet unpublished." It is dated Ashbourne, September 5, 1784 +(Johnson died on December 13 of that year), and reads:-- + + Almighty Lord and Merciful Father, to Thee be thanks, and praise + for all thy mercies, for the awakening of my mind, the continuance + of my life, the amendment of my health, and the opportunity now + granted of commemorating the death of thy Son Jesus Christ, our + Mediator and Redeemer. Enable me O Lord to repent truly of my + sins--enable me by thy Holy Spirit to lead hereafter a better life. + Strengthen my mind against useless perplexities, teach me to form + good resolutions and assist me that I may bring them to effect, and + when Thou shalt finally call me to another state, receive me to + everlasting happiness, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. + +Prayers in Dr. Johnson's hand are excessively rare. He wrote a large +number, modeled evidently upon the beautiful Collects--prose sonnets--of +the Church of England Prayer Book; but after publication by their first +editor, Dr. George Strahan, in 1785, most of the originals were +deposited in the Library of Pembroke College, Oxford; hence their +scarcity. + +[Illustration Page of Prayer in Dr. Johnson's Autograph] + +From Pearson, too, came my beautiful uncut copy of "A Journey to the +Western Islands of Scotland," with a receipt for one hundred pounds in +Johnson's handwriting on account of the copyright of the book, and, more +interesting still, a brief note to Mrs. Horneck (the mother of +Goldsmith's "Jessamy Bride"), reading: "Mr. Johnson sends Mrs. Horneck +and the young ladies his best wishes for their health and pleasure in +their journey, and hopes his Wife [Johnson's pet name for the young +lady] will keep him in her mind. Wednesday, June 13." The date completes +the story. Forster states that Goldsmith, in company with the Hornecks, +started for Paris in the middle of July, 1770. This was the dear old +Doctor's good-bye as the party was setting out. + +To spend a morning with Mr. Sabin, the elder, in his shop in Bond Street +is a delight never to be forgotten. The richest and rarest volumes are +spread out before you as unaffectedly as if they were the last +best-sellers. You are never importuned to buy; on the contrary, even +when his treasures are within your reach, it is difficult to get him to +part with them. One item which you particularly want is a part of a set +held at a king's ransom; some one has the refusal of another. It is +possible to do business, but not easy. + +[Illustration: JOHN KEATS'S COPY OF SPENSER'S WORKS] + +His son, Frank, occasionally takes advantage of his father's absence to +part with a volume or two. He admits the necessity of selling a book +sometimes in order that he may buy another. This, I take it, accounts +for the fact that he consented to part with a copy of "The Works of +that Famous English Poet, Mr. Edmond Spenser"--the fine old folio of +1679, with the beautiful title-page. A "name on title" ordinarily does +not add to a book's value; but when that name is "John Keats" in the +poet's hand, and in addition, "Severn's gift, 1818," one is justified in +feeling elated. + +John Keats! who in the realm of poetry stands next to the great +Elizabethans. It was Spenser's "Fairy Queen" which first fired his +ambition to write poetry, and his lines in imitation of Spenser are +among the first he wrote. At the time of the presentation of this +volume, Severn had recently made his acquaintance, and Keats and his +friends were steeped in Elizabethan literature. The finest edition of +the works of Spenser procurable was no doubt selected by Severn as a +gift more likely than any other to be appreciated by the poet. + +Remember that books from Keats's library, which was comparatively a +small one, are at the present time practically non-existent; that among +them there could hardly have been one with a more interesting +association than this volume of Spenser. Remember too that Keats's +poem,-- + + Sweet are the pleasures that to verse belong, + And doubly sweet a brotherhood in song,-- + +was addressed to my great-great-uncle, George Felton Mathew; and let me +refer to the fact that on my first visit to England I had spent several +days with his sister, who as a young girl had known Keats well, and it +will be realized that the possession of this treasure made my heart +thump. + +Stimulated and encouraged by this purchase, I successfully angled for +one of the rarest items of the recent Browning sale, the portrait of +Tennyson reading "Maud," a drawing in pen and ink by Rossetti, with a +signed inscription on the drawing in the artist's handwriting:-- + + I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood. + +Browning's inscription is as follows:-- + + Tennyson read his poem of Maud to E.B.B., R.B., Arabel and + Rossetti, on the evening of Thursday, Septr. 27, 1855, at 13 Dorset + St., Manchester Square. Rossetti made this sketch of Tennyson as he + sat reading to E.B.B., who occupied the other end of the sofa. + +R.B. March 6, '74. +19 Warwick Crescent. + + + +W. M. Rossetti and Miss Browning were also present on this famous +evening, which is vivaciously described by Mrs. Browning in an autograph +letter to Mrs. Martin inserted in the album. + + One of the pleasantest things which has happened to us here is the + coming down on us of the Laureate, who, being in London for three + or four days from the Isle of Wight, spent two of them with us, + dined with us, smoked with us, opened his heart to us (and the + second bottle of port), and ended by reading "Maud" through from + end to end, and going away at half-past two in the morning. If I + had had a heart to spare, certainly he would have won mine. He is + captivating with his frankness, confidingness, and unexampled + naïveté! Think of his stopping in "Maud" every now and + then--"There's a wonderful touch! That's very tender. How beautiful + that is!" Yes, and it was wonderful, tender, beautiful, and he read + exquisitely in a voice like an organ, rather music than speech. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF TENNYSON, READING "MAUD" TO ROBERT AND MRS. +BROWNING, BY ROSSETTI] + +Thus are linked indissolubly together the great Victorians: Browning, +Tennyson, Rossetti, and Mrs. Browning. It would be difficult to procure +a more interesting memento. + +At 27 New Oxford Street, West, is a narrow, dingy little shop, which you +would never take to be one of the most celebrated bookshops in +London--Spencer's. How he does it, where he gets them, is his business, +and an inquiry he answers only with a smile; but the fact is, there they +are--just the books you have been looking for, presentation copies and +others, in cloth and bound. Spencer owes it to book-collectors to issue +catalogues. They would make delightful reading. He has always promised +to do it, but he, as well as we, knows that he never will. + +But he is kind in another way, if kindness it is: he leaves you alone +for hours in that wonderful second-story room, subjected to temptation +almost too great to be resisted. Autograph letters, first drafts of +well-known poems, rare volumes filled with corrections and notes in the +hand of the author, are scattered about; occasionally, such an +invaluable item as the complete manuscript of "The Cricket on the +Hearth." + +It was from the table in this room that I picked up one day a rough +folder of cardboard tied with red tape and labeled "Lamb." Opening it, I +found a letter from Lamb to Taylor & Hessey, "acknowledging with thanks +receit of thirty-two pounds" for the copyright of "Elias (Alas) of last +year," signed and dated, June 9, 1824. I felt that it would look well in +my presentation "Elia," in boards, uncut, and was not mistaken. + +My acquaintance with Mr. Dobell I owe to a paragraph that I read many +years ago in Labouchere's "Truth." One day this caught my eye:-- + + From the catalogue of a West End Bookseller I note this: "Garrick, + David. 'Love in the Suds. A Town Eclogue,' first edition. 1772. + Very rare. 5 guineas." The next post brought me a catalogue from + Bertram Dobell, the well-known bookseller in the Charing Cross + Road. There I read, "Garrick, David. 'Love in the Suds. A Town + Eclogue,' first edition, 1772, boards, 18 pence." The purchaser of + the former might do well to average by acquiring Mr. Dobell's copy. + +Old Dobell is in a class by himself--scholar, antiquarian, poet, and +bookseller.[4] He is just the type one would expect to find in a shop on +the floor of which books are stacked in piles four or five feet high, +leaving narrow tortuous paths through which one treads one's way with +great drifts of books on either side. To reach the shelves is +practically impossible, yet out of this confusion I have picked many a +rare item. + +Don't be discouraged if, on your asking for a certain volume, Mr. Dobell +gently replies, "No, sorry." That means simply that he cannot put his +mental eye on it at the moment. It, or something as interesting, will +come along. Don't hurry; and let me observe that the prices of this +eighteenth-century bookshop are of the period. + +I once sought, for years, a little book of no particular value; but I +wanted it to complete a set. I had about given up all hope of securing a +copy when I finally found it in a fashionable shop on Piccadilly. It was +marked five guineas, an awful price; but I paid it and put the volume in +my pocket. That very day I stumbled across a copy in a better condition +at Dobell's, marked two and six. I bethought me of Labby's advice and +"averaged." + +From Dobell came Wordsworth's copy of "Endymion"; likewise a first +edition of the old-fashioned love-story, "Henrietta Temple," by +Disraeli, inscribed, "To William Beckford with the author's +compliments," with many pages of useless notes in Beckford's hand; he +seems to have read the volumes with unnecessary care. Nor should I +forget a beautiful copy of Thomson's "Seasons," presented by Byron "To +the Hon'ble Frances Wedderburne Webster," with this signed impromptu:-- + + Go!--volume of the Wintry Blast, + The yellow Autumn and the virgin Spring. + Go!--ere the Summer's zephyr's past + And lend to loveliness thy lovely Wing. + +The morning's mail of a busy man, marked "personal," takes a wide scope, +ranging all the way from polite requests for a loan to brief statements +that "a prompt remittance will oblige"; but at the bottom of the pile +are the welcome catalogues of the second-hand booksellers--for books, to +be interesting, must at least be second-hand. Indeed, as with notes +offered for discount, the greater the number of good indorsers the +better. In books, indorsements frequently take the form of bookplates. I +am always interested in such a note as this: "From the library of +Charles B. Foote, with his bookplate." + +Auction catalogues come, too. These also must be scanned, but they lack +the element which makes the dealers' catalogues so interesting--the +prices. With prices omitted, book-auction catalogues are too +stimulating. The mind at once begins to range. Doubt takes the place of +certainty. + +The arrival of a catalogue from the Sign of the Caxton Head, Mr. James +Tregaskis's shop in High Holborn, in the parish of +St.-Giles's-in-the-Fields, always suspends business in my office for +half an hour; and while I glance rapidly through its pages in search of +nuggets, I paraphrase a line out of Boswell, that "Jimmie hath a very +pretty wife." Why shouldn't a book merchant have a pretty wife? The +answer is simple: he has, nor are good-looking wives peculiar to this +generation of booksellers. + +Tom Davies, it will be remembered, who, in the back parlor of his little +bookshop in Russell Street, Covent Garden, first introduced Boswell to +Johnson, had a wife who, we are told, caused the great Doctor to +interrupt himself in the Lord's Prayer at the point, "Lead us not into +temptation," and whisper to her, with waggish and gallant good humor, +"You, my dear, are the cause of this." Like causes still produce like +effects. + +[Illustration: DR. JOHNSON'S CHURCH, ST. CLEMENT DANES + +_From a pen-and-ink sketch by Charles G. Osgood_] + +From Tregaskis I secured my "Memoirs of George Psalmanazar," 1764, an +interesting book in itself; but its chief value is the signature and +note, "Given to H. L. Thrale by Dr. Sam Johnson," I suppose about 1770. +Following Mrs. Thrale's usual practice, there are scattered through the +volume a number of notes and criticisms in her handwriting. It was +Psalmanazar, afterwards discovered to be a notorious old scamp, whose +apparent piety so impressed Dr. Johnson that he "sought" his company; +and of whom he said, "Sir, contradict Psalmanazar! I should as soon +think of contradicting a Bishop." + +[Illustration: Inscription to Mrs. Thrale in Dr. Johnson's Hand] + +Side by side with this volume on my shelves stands the "Historical and +Geographical Description of Formosa," a work of sheer imagination if +ever there was one. + +My "Haunch of Venison," 1776, in wrappers, uncut, with the rare portrait +of Goldsmith drawn by Bunbury (he married Goldsmith's Little Comedy, it +will be remembered), also came from him, as did my "London, A poem in +imitation of the third Satire of Juvenal," and the first edition of the +first book on London, Stow's "Survay," 1598. + +From another source came one of the last books on London, "Our House." +This book, delightful in itself, is especially interesting to me by +reason of the personal inscription of its charming and witty writer: "To +A.E.N., a welcome visitor to 'Our House,' from Elizabeth Robins +Pennell." + +Continuing along Holborn citywards, one comes to (and usually passes) +the Great Turnstile, a narrow court leading into Lincoln's Inn Fields. +Here is another bookshop that I frequent,--Hollings's,--not for the +rarest things, but for the choice little bits which seem almost +commonplace when you are buying them, and give so much pleasure when you +get them safely on your shelves at home. I never spend a few hours with +Mr. Redway, the manager, without thinking of the saying of one of our +most delightful essayists, Augustine Birrell, who, to our loss, seems to +have forsaken literature for politics: "Second-hand booksellers are a +race of men for whom I have the greatest respect; ... their catalogues +are the true textbooks of literature." + +One sometimes has the pleasure of running across some reference in a +catalogue to a book of which one has a better or more interesting copy +at half the price. For example, I saw quoted in a catalogue the other +day at eighty pounds a "Set of the Life of the Prince Consort, in _five_ +volumes, with an inscription in each volume in the autograph of Her +Majesty Queen Victoria. The first volume being published before Her +Majesty was proclaimed Empress of India, she signed as Queen; the other +four volumes Her Majesty signed as Queen-Empress." + +In my collection there are _seven_ volumes, the five mentioned above and +two additional volumes, the "Speeches and Addresses" and the "Biography +of the Prince Consort." My copies also are signed, but note: the volume +of "Speeches and Addresses" has this intensely personal inscription:-- + +To Major General, the Hon. A. Gordon, in recollection of his great, & +good master from the beloved Prince's broken hearted Widow + +VICTORIA R. + +OSBORNE +_Jan: 12. 1863_. + +The "Biography" has this:-- + + To Major General, The Hon. Alexander Gordon, C.B. in recollection + of his dear Master from the great Prince's affectionate and + sorrowing Widow, + +VICTORIA R. + + + +_April, 1867._ + +Volume one of the "Life" is inscribed:-- + + To Lieutenant General, The Hon. Sir Alexander Gordon, K.C.B., in + recollection of his dear Master, from + +VICTORIA R. + +_January 1875_. + +Volume two:-- + + To Lieut. General, The Hon. Sir Alexander Hamilton Gordon, K.C.B., + from + +VICTORIA R. + +_Dec. 1876_. + +Volume three:-- + + To General, The Hon. Sir Alex. H. Gordon, K.C.B., from + +VICTORIA R.I. + +_Dec. 1877_. + +The inscriptions in the last three volumes are identical, except for the +dates. All are written in the large, flowing hand with which we are +familiar, and indicate a declining scale of grief. Time heals all +wounds, and as these volumes appear at intervals, grief is finally +assuaged and Majesty asserts itself. + +[Illustration: Inscription to General Sir A. Gordon in Queen Victoria's +Hand] + + + + +II + +BOOK-COLLECTING AT HOME + + +In the preceding chapter I wrote of the amenities of book-collecting in +London, of my adventures in the shops of Bond Street and Piccadilly, of +Holborn and the Strand--almost as though this paradise of the +book-collector were his only happy hunting-ground. But all the good +hunting is not found in London: New York has a number of attractive +shops, Philadelphia at least two, while there are several in Chicago and +in unexpected places in the West. + +Where in all the world will you find so free a buyer, always ready to +take a chance to turn a volume at a profit, as George D. Smith? He holds +the record for having paid the highest price ever paid for a book at +auction: fifty thousand dollars for a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, +purchased for Mr. Henry E. Huntington at the Hoe sale; and not only did +he pay the highest price--he also bought more than any other purchaser +of the fine books disposed of at that sale. + +I have heard Smith's rivals complain that he is not a bookseller in the +proper sense of the word--that he buys without discretion and without +exact knowledge. Such criticism, I take it, is simply the natural result +of jealousy. George D. Smith has sold more fine books than perhaps any +two of his rivals. + +[Illustration: GEORGE D. SMITH + +"G. D. S." as he is known in the New York Auction Rooms. Like "G. B. S." +of London, he is something of an enigma. What are the qualities which +have made him, as he undoubtedly is, the greatest bookseller in the +world? + +_From a photograph by Arnold Genthe_] + +There is no affectation of dignity or of knowledge about him, and it is +well that there is not. No one knows all there is to know about books; a +man might know much more than he--such men there are--and yet lack the +qualities which have enabled him to secure and retain the confidence and +commissions of his patrons. He is practically the main support of the +auction-rooms in this country, and I have frequently seen him leave a +sale at which he had purchased every important book that came up. He had +knowledge and confidence enough for that, and I cannot see why his +frankness and lack of affectation should be counted against him. It +takes all kinds of men to make a world, and George is several kinds in +himself. + +Twenty-five years ago, in London, early in my book-collecting days, I +came across a bundle of dusty volumes in an old book-shop in the +Strand,--the shop and that part of the Strand have long since +disappeared,--and bought the lot for, as I remember, two guineas. +Subsequently, upon going through the contents carefully, I found that I +had acquired what appeared to be quite a valuable little parcel. There +were the following:-- + + "Tales from Shakespeare": Baldwin and Cradock, fifth edition, 1831. + + Lamb's "Prose Works": 3 volumes, Moxon, 1836. + + "The Letters of Charles Lamb": 2 volumes, Moxon, 1837; with the + inscription, "To J. P. Collier, Esq. from his friend H. C. + Robinson." + + Talfourd's "Final Memorials of Charles Lamb": 2 volumes, Moxon, + 1848. + +By the way, the last was Wordsworth's copy, with his signature on the +title-page of each volume; and I observed for the first time that the +book was dedicated to him. Loosely inserted in several of the volumes +were newspaper clippings, a number of pages of manuscript in John Payne +Collier's handwriting, a part of a letter from Mary Lamb addressed to +Jane Collier, his mother, and in several of the volumes were notes in +Collier's handwriting referring to matters in the text: as where, +against a reference to Lamb's "Essay on Roast Pig," Collier says, in +pencil, "My mother sent the pig to Lamb." Again, where Talfourd, +referring to an evening with Lamb, says, "We mounted to the top story +and were soon seated beside a cheerful fire: hot water and its better +adjuncts were soon before us," Collier writes, "Both Lamb and Talfourd +died of the 'Better Adjuncts.'" + +There was a large number of such pencil notes. The pages of manuscript +in Collier's heavy and, as he calls it, "infirm" hand begin:-- + + In relation to C. Lamb and Southey, Mr. Cosens possesses as + interesting a MS. as I know. It is bound as a small quarto, but the + writing of Lamb, and chiefly by Southey is post 8vo. They seem to + have been contributions to an "Annual Anthology" published by + Cottle of Bristol. + + The MS. begins with an "Advertisement" in the handwriting of + Southey, and it is followed immediately by a poem in Lamb's + handwriting headed "Elegy on a Quid of Tobacco," in ten stanzas + rhiming alternately thus:-- + + It lay before me on the close grazed grass + Beside my path, an old tobacco quid: + And shall I by the mute adviser pass + Without one serious thought? now Heaven forbid![5] + +The next day, Collier copied more of the poem, for on another sheet he +remarks, "As my hand is steadier to-day I have copied the remaining +stanzas." + +On still another sheet, referring to the Cosens MS., Collier writes:-- + + The whole consists of about sixty leaves chiefly in the handwriting + of Southey and it contains ... productions by Lamb, one a sort of + _jeu d'esprit_ called "The Rhedycinian Barbers" on the + hair-dressing of twelve young men of Christ Church College, and the + other headed, "Dirge for Him Who Shall Deserve It." This has no + signature but the whole is in Lamb's clear young hand, and it shows + very plainly that he partook not only of the poetical but of the + political feeling of the time. + + The signatures are various, Erthuryo, Ryalto, Walter, and so forth, + and at the end are four Love Elegies and a serious poem by Charles + Lamb, entitled, "Living without God in the World." + + How many of these were printed elsewhere, or in Cottle's + "Anthology," I do not know. I would willingly copy more did not my + hand fail me. + +J. P. C. + + + +[Illustration: Autograph MS. of Lamb's Poem, "Elegy on a Quid of +Tobacco"] + +Twenty years later, in New York one day, George D. Smith asked me if I +would care to buy an interesting volume of Southey MSS., and to my great +surprise handed me the identical little quarto which Collier had many +years before found so interesting that he had made excerpts from it. It +might not have made such instant appeal to my recollection of my +purchase in London had it not been for an inserted note, almost +identical with the one on the loose slip in my Lamb volume, obviously in +Collier's "infirm" hand, repeating briefly what he had said on the loose +sheets in my volumes at home. + +Mr. Cosens, the former owner of the manuscripts, had added a note: "In +1798 or 1799 Charles Lamb contributed to the 'Annual Anthology' which a +Mr. Cottle, a bookseller of Bristol, published jointly with Coleridge +and Southey. This manuscript is partly in the handwriting of Southey and +was formerly the property of Cottle of Bristol." + +Upon investigation I ascertained that the little volume of manuscript +verse had passed from Mr. Cosens's possession into that of Augustin +Daly, at whose sale it had been catalogued as a Southey MS., with small +reference to its Lamb interest. Although the price was high, the +temptation to buy was too strong to be resisted; so after many years the +small quarto of original poems by Lamb, Southey, and others, and +Collier's description of it, stand side by side in my library. For me +the three poems by Lamb outweigh in interest and value all others. The +volume is labeled, "Southey Manuscripts, a long time since the property +of a Mr. Cottle of Bristol." + +The most scholarly bookseller in this country to-day is Dr. +Rosenbach--"Rosy" as we who know him well call him. It was not his +original intention to deal in rare books, but to become a professor of +English, a calling for which few have a finer appreciation; but mere +scholars abound. He must have felt that we collectors needed some one to +guide our tastes and deplete our bank accounts. In both he is unequaled. + +His spacious second-floor room in Walnut Street is filled with the +rarest volumes. "Ask and it shall be given you"--with a bill at the end +of the month. It is a delightful place to spend a rainy morning, and you +are certain to depart a wiser if a poorer man. I once spent some hours +with the doctor in company with my friend Tinker--not the great Tinker +who plays ball for a bank president's wage, but the less famous Tinker, +Professor of English at Yale. We had been looking at Shakespeare folios +and quartos, and Spenser's and Herrick's and Milton's priceless volumes +of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when, looking out of the +window, Rosy remarked, "There goes John G. Johnson." "Oh!" said my +friend, "I thought you were going to say John Dryden. It would not have +surprised me in the least." + +[Illustration: DR. A. S. W. ROSENBACH + +_Photograph by Arnold Genthe_] + +Don't expect ever to "discover" anything at Rosenbach's, except how +ignorant you are. Rosy does all the discovering himself, as when, a few +years ago, he found in a volume of old pamphlets a copy of the first +edition of Dr. Johnson's famous "Prologue Spoken at the Opening of the +Theatre in Drury Lane." It will be remembered that this Prologue +contains several of the Doctor's most famous lines: criticisms of the +stage, as true to-day as when they were uttered; as where he says,-- + + The Drama's Laws, the Drama's patrons give, + For we that live to please, must please to live. + +It has also the line in which, speaking of Shakespeare, he says, "And +panting Time toil'd after him in vain." Garrick having criticized this +line, Johnson remarked, "Sir, Garrick is a prosaical rogue. The next +time I write I will make both Time and Space pant." + +The discovery by Dr. Rosenbach of this Prologue shows that the days of +romance in book-hunting are not over. It is not to be found in the +British Museum. So far as we know, it is the only copy in existence. +Rosy has declined to sell it, though tempting offers have been made, for +he is a booklover as well as a bookseller. + +That he is a rare judge of human nature, too, is evidenced by a little +card over his desk on which is printed the text,-- + +"It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he hath gone his +way then he boasteth."--PROVERBS XX. 14. + +That is exactly what I did when I secured from him my "Robinson Crusoe," +the first edition in two volumes, with the third, which may not be +Defoe's. It lacks one "point" perhaps: the word "apply," the last word +on page 1 of the preface, is correctly spelled, not spelled "apyly," as +in some copies I have seen. The matter, I believe, is not clear. The +type may have been correctly set at first and have become corrupted in +process of printing, or a few copies may have been so printed before the +error, being noted, was corrected.[6] After page 304, of Volume 1, the +paper is of thinner and poorer quality than in the pages preceding it. +The three volumes are clean, the binding contemporary calf, the folding +maps immaculate, and the first two volumes were once the property of +"Mr. William Congreve." Altogether it is a book of which this collector +"boasteth." + +For some unexplained reason I have never been able to buy as many books +from Walter Hill of Chicago as I should like. He is one of the most +amiable and reliable men in the business. His catalogues issued from +time to time are delightful. He once put me under an obligation which I +have not yet repaid and which I want to record. + +Several years ago I met him in the streets of Philadelphia and said to +him, "Hello! what are you doing here? Are you buying or selling?" + +"Both," said he; "I bought some nice books only a few minutes ago at +Sessler's." + +"Don't tell me," I cried, "that 'Oliver Twist,' that presentation copy +to Macready, was among them." + +"It was," said he; "why, did you want it?" + +"Want it!" said I; "I have just been waiting for my bank account to +recover from a capital operation, to buy it." + +[Illustration: Title of "Robinson Crusoe." First Edition] + +"All right," said he, "I'll turn it over at just what I paid for it, and +you can send me your check when you are ready." + +I was mean enough to accept his offer, and the book is to-day worth at +least twice what I paid. + +Yet, come to think of it, several nice volumes, "collated and perfect," +came from him. There is my "Vicar," not the first edition, with the +misprints in volume 2, page 159, paged 165; and page 95, "Waekcfield" +for "Wakefield,"--that came from North,--but the one with Rowlandson +plates. And "Evelina," _embellished with engravings_, and wretchedly +printed on vile paper; and "She Stoops to Conquer," with all the errors +just as they should be--a printer's carnival; and I have no doubt there +are many more. + +Sessler has some unexpectedly fine things from time to time. He goes +abroad every year with his pocket full of money, and comes back with a +lot of things that quickly empty ours. Dickens is one of his +specialties, and from him I have secured at least five of the twenty-one +presentation Dickenses that I boast of. A few years ago quite a number +came on the market at prices which to-day seem very low. In my last +book-hunting experience in London I saw only one presentation Dickens; +but as the price was about three times what I had accustomed myself to +pay Sessler, I let it pass. + +[Illustration: Title of "Oliver Twist"] + +Sessler studies his customer's weaknesses--that's where his strength +lies. When I came back from Europe some years ago, I discovered that he +had bought for me, in my absence, at the Lambert sale, one item which +he knew I could not resist. It was a little pen-and-ink drawing by +Thackeray, the first sketch, afterwards more fully elaborated, +illustrating "Vanity Fair," where, at the end of the first chapter, the +immortal Becky, driving away from Miss Pinkerton's school, throws Dr. +Johnson's "Dixonary" out of the window of the carriage as it drives off. + +I think that all who knew him will agree with me that Luther S. +Livingston was too much of a gentleman, too much of a scholar,--perhaps +I should add, too much of an invalid,--to take high rank as a +bookseller. + +His knowledge was profound. He was an appreciative bibliographer, +witness the work he did on Lamb for Mr. J. A. Spoor of Chicago; but I +always felt a trifle embarrassed when I asked him the _price_ of +anything he had to sell; one could ask him anything else, but to offer +money to Livingston seemed rather like offering money to your host after +an excellent dinner. + +[Illustration: BECKY SHARP THROWING DR. JOHNSON'S "DIXONARY" OUT OF THE +CARRIAGE WINDOW, AS SHE LEAVES MISS PINKERTON'S SCHOOL + +_From the first pen-and-ink sketch, by Thackeray, afterwards +elaborated_] + +He enjoyed the love and respect of all book-collectors and we all +congratulated him when he graduated from the bookshop to the library. +For many years in charge of the rare-book department of Dodd, Mead & +Company, and subsequently a partner of Robert Dodd, he was the first +custodian of the choice collection of books formed by the late Harry +Elkins Widener and bequeathed by the latter's mother to Harvard. A more +admirable selection could not have been made. A scholar and a +gentleman, he brought to that position just the qualities needed for a +post of such distinction, but, unhappily, he lived hardly long enough to +take possession of it. He died at Christmas, 1914, after a long and +painful illness. + +James F. Drake, in New York, specializes in association books and in +first editions of nineteenth-century authors. His stock I have +frequently laid under contribution. My Surtees and many other +colored-plate books came from him, and first editions innumerable of +authors now becoming "collected." + +I know of no bibliography of George Moore, but my set is, I think, +complete. Many are presentation copies. George Moore's many admirers +will remember that his volume, "Memoirs of My Dead Life," is much sought +in the first English edition. I have the proof sheets of the entire +volume, showing many corrections, as in the specimen on page 50. My +"Literature at Nurse,"--a pamphlet attacking the censorship of the novel +established by Mudie,--which was published at threepence, and now +commands forty dollars, is inscribed to Willie Wilde; while "Pagan +Poems" was a suitable gift "To Oscar Wilde with the author's +compliments." + +[Illustration: Specimen Proof-Sheet of George Moore's "Memoirs of My +Dead Life"] + +There is no halt in the constantly advancing value of first editions of +Oscar Wilde. That interest in the man still continues, is evidenced by +the steady stream of books about him. Ransome's "Oscar Wilde," +immediately suppressed; "Oscar Wilde Three Times Tried," and "The +First Stone," privately printed by the "Unspeakable Scot," already +difficult to procure, are among the latest. + +[Illustration: Title of George Moore's "Pagan Poems"] + +For books of the moment, published in small editions which almost +immediately become scarce, Drake's shop in Fortieth Street is +headquarters; and as my club in New York is near by, I find myself +frequently dropping in for a book and a bit of gossip. + +There are drawbacks as well as compensations to living in the country. +"Gossip about Book Collecting" has its charms, as William Loring Andrews +has taught us. It is sometimes difficult to get it, living as I do +"twelve miles from a lemon"; and so, when I am in New York and have +absorbed what I can at Drake's, who is very exact in the information he +imparts, I usually call on Gabriel Wells. How Wells receives you with +open arms and a good cigar, in his lofty rooms on the Avenue +overlooking the Library, is known to most collectors. Books in sets +are,--perhaps I should say, were,--his specialty; recently he has gone +in for very choice items, which, when offered, must be secured, or +anguish is one's portion thereafter. My last interview with him resulted +in my separating myself from a bunch of Liberty Bonds, which I had +intended as a solace for my old age; but a few words from Wells +convinced me that Dr. Johnson was right when he said, "It is better to +live rich than die rich"; and so I walked away with a copy of Blake's +"Marriage of Heaven and Hell," which is about as rare a book as one can +hope to find at the end of a busy day. + +It was, if I remember correctly, Ernest Dressel North who first aroused +my interest in Lamb, bibliographically. I had learned to love him in a +dumpy little green cloth volume, "Elia and Eliana," published by Moxon, +which I had picked up at Leary's, and which bears upon its title-page +the glaring inaccuracy,--"The Only Complete Edition." I have this +worthless little volume among my first editions; to me it is one, and it +is certainly the last volume of Lamb I would part with. + +It must be all of thirty years ago that I went to London with a list of +books by and about Charles Lamb--some twenty volumes in all--which North +had prepared for me. I came across this list not long ago, and was +amused at the prices that he suggested I might safely pay. Guineas where +his list gives shillings would not to-day separate the books from +their owners. + +[Illustration: Title of Blake's "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"] + +It was at this time, too, that I made my first Lamb pilgrimage, going to +every place of interest I could find, from Christ's Hospital, then in +Newgate Street, where I saw the Blue-Coat boys at dinner, to the +neglected grave in Edmonton Churchyard, where Charles and Mary Lamb lie +buried side by side. The illustration facing page 54 is made from a +negative I procured in 1890, of the house at Enfield in which Lamb lived +from October, 1829, until May, 1833. + +A good story is told of my friend, Edmund D. Brooks, the bookseller of +far-off Minneapolis. Brooks, who knows his way about London and is as +much at home with the talent there as any other man, set out one day to +make a "quick turn," in stock-market parlance. Armed with a large sum of +money, the sinews of book-buying as well as of war, he casually dropped +in on Walter Spencer, who was offering for sale the manuscript of +Dickens's "Cricket." The price was known to be pretty steep, but Brooks +was prepared to pay it. What he did not know was that, in an upper room +over Spencer's shop, another bookseller, also with a large sum in +pocket, was debating the price of this very item, raising his offer by +slow degrees. But it did not take Brooks long to discover that +negotiations were progressing and that quick action was necessary. +Calling Spencer aside, he inquired the price, paid the money, and took +the invaluable manuscript away in a taxi. The whole transaction had +occupied only a couple of minutes. Spencer then returned to his first +customer, who continued the attack until, to close the argument, Spencer +quietly remarked that the manuscript had been sold, paid for, and had +passed out of his possession. + +It reminds one of the story of how the late A. J. Cassatt, the master +mind of the railroad presidents of his time, bought the Philadelphia, +Wilmington & Baltimore Railway right under the nose of President Garrett +of the Baltimore & Ohio. There were loud cries of anguish from the +defeated parties on both occasions, but the book-selling story is not +over yet, for a few hours later Sabin, the bookseller _de luxe_, had the +Dickens manuscript displayed in his shop-window in Bond Street, and +Brooks had a sheaf of crisp Bank of England notes in his pocket, with +which to advance negotiations in other directions. + +I take little or no interest in bindings; I want the book as originally +published, in boards uncut, in old sheep, or in cloth, and as clean and +fair as may be. + +I am not without a sense for color, and the backs of books bound in +various colored leathers, suitably gilt, placed with some eye for +arrangement on the shelves, are to me as beautiful and suggestive as any +picture; yet, as one cannot have everything, I yield the beauty and +fragrance of leather for the fascination of the "original state as +issued." + +[Illustration: CHARLES LAMB'S HOUSE AT ENFIELD] + +Nor am I unmindful how invariably in binding a book, in trimming, be it +ever so little, and gilding its edges, one lops off no small part of +its value. This fact should be pointed out to all young collectors. They +should learn to let their books alone, and if they must patronize a +binder, have slip-cases or pull-cases made. They serve every purpose. +The book will be protected if it is falling apart and unpresentable, and +one's craving for color and gilt will be satisfied. As Eckel says in his +"Bibliography of Dickens," "The tendency of the modern collector has +steadily moved toward books in their original state,--books as they were +when created,--and it is doubtful if there will be much deviation from +this taste in the future." + +Only the very immature book-buyer will deprive himself of the pleasure +of "collecting," and buy a complete set of some author he much esteems, +in first editions, assembled and bound without care or thought other +than to produce a piece of merchandise and sell it for as much as it +will fetch. The rich and ignorant buyer should be made to confine his +attention to the purchase of "subscription" books. These are produced in +quantity especially for his benefit, and he should leave our books +alone. The present combination of many rich men and relatively few fine +books is slowly working my ruin; I know it is. We live in a law-full +age, an age in which it seems to be every one's idea to pass laws. I +would have a law for the protection of old books, and our legislators in +Washington might do much worse than consider this suggestion. + +[Illustration: INSCRIPTION IN A COPY OF "THE NIGGER OF THE 'NARCISSUS'"] + +One other form of book the collector should be warned against--the +extra-illustrated volume. The extra-illustration of a favorite author is +a tedious and expensive method of wasting money, and mutilating other +books the while. I confess to having a few, but I have bought them at a +very small part of what they cost to produce, and I do not encourage +their production. + +I know something of the art of inlaying prints. I had a distinguished +and venerable teacher, the late Ferdinand J. Dreer of Philadelphia, who +formed a priceless collection of autographs, which at his death he +bequeathed to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Mr. Dreer was a +collector of the old school. He was a friend of John Allan, one of the +earliest book-collectors in this country, of whom a "Memorial" was +published by the Bradford Club in 1864. Mr. Dreer spent the leisure of +years and a small fortune in inlaying plates and pages of text of such +books as he fancied. I remember well as a lad being allowed to pore over +his sumptuous extra-illustrated books, filled with autograph letters, +portraits, and views, for hours at a time. Little did I think that these +volumes, the object of such loving care, would be sold at auction. + +Many years after his death the family decided to dispose of a portion of +his library. Stan. Henkels conducted the sale. When the well-known +volumes came up, I was all in a tremble. It seemed hardly possible that +any of the famous Dreer books were to come within my grasp. But alas! +fashions change, as I have said before. A "History of the Bank of North +America," our oldest national bank, which enjoys the unique distinction +of not calling itself a national bank, went, not to an officer or +director of that sound old Philadelphia institution, but to George D. +Smith of New York, for a song--in a high key, but a song nevertheless. + +An "Oration in Carpenter's Hall" in Philadelphia brought close to a +thousand dollars; but, in addition to the rare portraits and views, +there were fifty-seven autograph letters in it. Sold separately, they +would have brought several times as much. Smith was the buyer. Then +there came a "History of Christ Church," full of most interesting +material, as "old Christ Church" is the most beautiful and interesting +colonial church in America. Where was the rector, where were the wardens +and the vestry thereof? No sign of them. Smith was the buyer. + +The books were going and for almost nothing, in every case to "Smith." +At last came the "Memoirs of Nicholas Biddle," of the famous old Bank of +the United States. Hear! ye Biddles, if any Biddles there be. There are, +in plenty, but not here. Smith, having bought all the rest, stopped when +he saw me bidding; the hammer fell, and I was the owner of the most +interesting volume in the whole Dreer collection,--the volume I had so +often coveted as a boy, with the letters and portraits of Penn, +Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, and so forth,--in all +twenty-eight of them, and mine for ten dollars apiece, book, portraits, +and binding thrown in. It is painful to witness the slaughter of +another's possessions; it makes one wonder--But that is not what we +collect books for. + +In the last analysis pretty much everything, including poetry, is +merchandise, and every important book sooner or later turns up in the +auction rooms. The dozen or fifty men present represent the bookbuyers +of the world--you are buying against them. When you sell a book at +auction the whole world is your market. This refers, of course, only to +important sales. At other times books are frequently disposed of at much +less than their real value. These sales it pays the book-collector to +attend, personally, if he can; or, better still, to entrust his bid to +the auctioneer or to some representative in whom he has confidence. Most +profitable of all for the buyer are the sales where furniture, pictures, +and rugs are disposed of, with, finally, a few books knocked down by one +who knows nothing of their value. + +Many are the volumes in my library which have been picked up on such +occasions for a very few dollars, and which are worth infinitely more +than I paid for them. I have in mind my copy of the first edition of +Boswell's "Corsica," in fine old calf, with the inscription "To the +Right Honourable, the Earl Marischal of Scotland, as a mark of sincere +regard and affection, from the Author, James Boswell." This stands me +only a few dollars. In London I should have been asked--and would have +paid--twenty pounds for it. + +Some men haunt the auction rooms all the time. I do not. I have a living +to make and I am not quick in making it; moreover, the spirit of +competition invariably leads me astray, and I never come away without +finding myself the owner of at least one book, usually a large one, +which should properly be entitled, "What Will He Do With It?" + + * * * * * + +No book-collector should be without a book-plate, and a book-plate once +inserted in a volume should never be removed. When the plate is that of +a good collector, it constitutes an indorsement, and adds a certain +interest and value to the volume. + +I was once going through the collection of a friend, and observing the +absence of a book-plate, I asked him why it was. He replied, "The +selection of a book-plate is such a serious matter." It is; and I should +never have been able to get one to suit me entirely had not my good +friend, Osgood of Princeton, come to my rescue. + +[Illustration: The book-plate illustrates an incident described in +Boswell. Johnson and Goldsmith were walking one day in the Poets' Corner +of Westminster Abbey. Looking at the graves, Johnson solemnly repeated a +line from a Latin poet, which might be freely translated, "Perchance +some day our _names_ will mingle with these." As they strolled home +through the Strand, Goldsmith's eye lighted upon the heads of two +traitors rotting on the spikes over Temple Bar. Remembering that Johnson +and he were rather Jacobitic in sentiment, pointing to the heads and +giving Johnson's quotation a twist, Goldsmith remarked, "Perhaps some +day our _heads_ will mingle with those."] + +He was working in my library some years ago on an exquisite appreciation +of Johnson, when, noticing on my writing-table a pen-and-ink sketch, he +asked, "What's this?" I replied with a sigh that it was a suggestion for +a book-plate which I had just received from London. I had described in a +letter exactly what I wanted--an association plate strictly in +eighteenth-century style. Fleet Street was to be indicated, with Temple +Bar in the background. It was to be plain and dignified in treatment. +What came was indeed a sketch of Fleet Street and very much more. +There were scrolls and flourishes, eggs and darts and _fleurs-de-lis_--a +little of everything. In a word it was impossible. "Let me see what I +can do," said Osgood. + +When I returned home that evening there was waiting for me an exquisite +pencil sketch, every detail faultless: Fleet Street with its tavern +signs, in the background Temple Bar with Johnson and Goldsmith, the +latter pointing to it and remarking slyly, "_Forsitan et nomen nostrum +miscebitur istis_." I was delighted, as I had reason to be. In due +course, after discussions as to the selection of a suitable motto, we +finally agreed on a line out of Boswell: "Sir, the biographical part of +literature is what I love most"; and the sketch went off to Sidney Smith +of Boston, the distinguished book-plate engraver. + +I have a fondness for college professors. I must have inherited it from +a rich old uncle, from whom I unluckily inherited nothing else, who had +a similar weakness for preachers. Let a man, however stupid, once get a +license to wear his collar backwards, and the door was flung wide and +the table spread. I have often thought what an ecstasy of delight he +would have been thrown into had he met a churchman whose rank permitted +him to wear his entire ecclesiastical panoply backwards. + +My weakness for scholars is just such a whimsy. As a rule they are not +so indulgent to collectors as they should be. They write books that we +buy and read--when we can. My lifelong friend, Felix Schelling (in +England he would be Sir Felix) is more lenient than most. My copy of his +"Elizabethan Drama," which has made him famous among students, is uncut +and, I am afraid, to some extent unopened. Frankly, it is too scholarly +to read with enjoyment. Indeed, I sometimes think that it was my protest +that led him to adopt the easier and smoother style apparent in his +later books, "English Literature during the Lifetime of Shakespeare," +and "The English Lyric." Be this as it may, he has shown that he can use +the scholarly and the familiar style with equal facility; and when he +chooses, he can turn a compliment like one of his own sixteenth-century +courtiers. + +I had always doubted that famous book-index story, "Mill, J. S., 'On +Liberty'; Ditto, 'On the Floss,'" until one day my friend Tinker sent me +a dedication copy of his "Dr. Johnson and Fanny Burney," in which I +read--and knew that he was poking fun at me for my bookish +weakness--this:-- + + This copy is a genuine specimen of the first edition, uncut and + unopened, signed and certified by the editor. + +CHAUNCEY BREWSTER TINKER. + + No copy is now known to exist of the suppressed first state of the + first edition--that in which, instead of the present entry in the + index, under Pope, Alexander, page 111, occurred the words, "Pope + Alexander 111." + +How much more valuable this copy would have been if this +blunder--"point," the judicious would call it--had not been corrected +until the second edition! + +The work of my office was interrupted one summer morning several years +ago by the receipt of a cable from London, apparently in code, which, I +was advised, would not translate. Upon its being submitted to me I found +that it did not require translating, but I was not surprised that it was +somewhat bewildering to others. It read, "_Johnson Piazza Dictionary +Pounds Forty Hut_." To me it was perfectly clear that Mrs. +Thrale-Piozzi's copy of Johnson's Dictionary in two volumes folio was to +be had from my friend Hutt for forty pounds. I dispatched the money and +in due course received the volumes. Inserted in one of them was a long +holograph letter to the Thrales, giving them some excellent advice on +the management of their affairs. + + I think it very probably in your power to lay up eight thousand + pounds a year for every year to come, increasing all the time, what + needs not be increased, the splendour of all external appearance, + and surely such a state is not to be put in yearly hazard for the + pleasure of keeping the house full, or the ambition of outbrewing + Whitbread. Stop now and you are safe--stop a few years and you may + go safely on thereafter, if to go on shall seem worth the while. + +Johnson's letters, like his talks, are compact with wisdom, and many of +them are as easy as the proverbial old shoe. Fancy Sam Johnson, the +great lexicographer, writing to Mrs. Thrale and telling her to come home +and take care of him and, as he says, to + + Come with a whoop, come with a call, + Come with a good will, or come not at all. + +I own thirty or forty Johnson letters, including the one in which he +describes what she called his "menagerie"--dependents too old, too poor, +or too peevish to find asylum elsewhere. He writes, "We have tolerable +concord at home, but no love. Williams hates everybody. Levet hates +Desmoulines, and does not love Williams. Desmoulines hates them both. +Poll loves none of them." + +But I must be careful. I had firmly resolved not to say anything which +would lead any one to suspect that I am Johnson-mad, but I admit that +such is the case. I am never without a copy of Boswell. What edition? +Any edition. I have them all--the first in boards uncut, for my personal +satisfaction; an extra-illustrated copy of the same, for display; +Birkbeck Hill's, for reference, and the cheap old Bohn copy which thirty +years ago I first read, because I know it by heart. Yes, I can truly say +with Leslie Stephen, "My enjoyment of books began and will end with +Boswell's 'Life of Johnson.'" + + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | "Thou fool! to seek companions in a crowd! | + | Into thy room and there upon thy knees, | + | Before thy bookshelves, humbly thank thy God, | + | That thou hast friends like these!" | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + + + + +III + +OLD CATALOGUES AND NEW PRICES + + +The true book-lover is usually loath to destroy an old book-catalogue. +It would not be easy to give a reason for this, unless it is that no +sooner has he done so than he has occasion to refer to it. Such +catalogues reach me by almost every mail, and I while away many hours in +turning over their leaves. Anatole France in his charming story, "The +Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard," makes his dear old book-collector say, +"There is no reading more easy, more fascinating, and more delightful +than that of a catalogue"; and it is so, for the most part; but some +catalogues annoy me exceedingly: those which contain long lists of books +that are not books; genealogies; county (and especially town) histories, +illustrated with portraits; obsolete medical and scientific books; books +on agriculture and diseases of the horse. How it is that any one can +make a living by vending such merchandise is beyond me--but so are most +things. + +Living, however, in the country, and going to town every day, I spend +much time on the trains, and must have something to read besides +newspapers,--who was it who said that reading newspapers is a nervous +habit?--and it is not always convenient to carry a book; so I usually +have a few catalogues which I mark industriously, thus presenting a fine +imitation of a busy man. One check means a book that I own, and I note +with interest the prices; another, a book that I would like to have; +while yet another indicates a book to which under no circumstances would +I give a place on my shelves. When my library calls for a ridding up, +these slim pamphlets are not discarded as they should be, but are stored +in a closet, to be referred to when needed, until at last something must +be done to make room for those that came to-day and those that will come +to-morrow. + +On one of these occasional house-clearings I came across a bundle of old +catalogues which I have never had it in me to destroy. One of them was +published in 1886, by a man I knew well years ago, Charles Hutt, of +Clement's Inn Gateway, Strand. Hutt himself has long since passed away; +so has his shop, the Gateway; and, indeed, the Strand itself--his part +of it, that is. I sometimes think that the best part of old London has +disappeared. Need I say that I refer to Holywell Street and the Clare +Market district which lay between the Strand and Lincoln's Inn Fields, +which Dickens knew and described so well? Hutt in his day was a man of +considerable importance. He was the first London bookseller to realize +the direction and value of the American market. Had he lived, my friends +Sabin and Spencer and Maggs would have had a serious rival. + +All the old catalogues before me are alike in one important respect, +namely, the uniformly low prices. From the standpoint of to-day the +prices were absurdly low--or are those of to-day absurdly high? I, for +one, do not think so. When a man puts pen to paper on the subject of the +prices of rare books, he feels--at least I feel--that it is a silly +thing to do,--and yet we collectors have been doing it always, or almost +always,--to point out that prices have about reached top notch, and that +the wise man will wait for the inevitable decline before he separates +himself from his money. + +Now, it is my belief that books, in spite of the high prices that they +are bringing in the shops and at auction, have only just begun their +advance, and that there is no limit to the prices they will bring as +time goes on. The only way to guess the future is to study the past; and +such study as I have been able to make leads me to believe that for the +really great books the sky is the limit. + +"The really great books!" What are they, and where are they? I am not +sure that I know; they do not often come my way, nor, when they do, am I +in a position to compete for them; but as I can be perfectly happy +without an ocean-going yacht, contenting myself with a motor-boat, so +can I make shift to get along without a Gutenberg Bible, without a first +folio of Shakespeare, or any of the quartos, in short, _sans_ any of +those books which no millionaire's library can be without. But this I +will say, that if I could afford to buy them, I would pay any price for +the privilege of owning them. + +A man may be possessed of relatively small means and yet indulge +himself in all the joys of collecting, if he will deny himself other +things not so important to his happiness. It is a problem in selection, +as Elia points out in his essay "Old China," when a weighing for and +against and a wearing of old clothes is recommended by his sister +Bridget, if the twelve or sixteen shillings saved is to enable one to +bring home in triumph an old folio. As a book-collector, Lamb would not +take high rank; but he was a true book-lover, and the books he liked to +read he liked to buy. And just here I may be permitted to record how I +came across a little poem, in the manuscript of the author, which +exactly voices his sentiments--and mine. + +I was visiting Princeton not long ago, that beautiful little city, with +its lovely halls and towers; and interested in libraries as I always am, +had secured permission to browse at will among the collections formed by +the late Laurence Hutton. After an inspection of his "Portraits in +Plaster,"--a collection of death-masks, unique in this country or +elsewhere,--I turned my attention to his association books. It is a +difficult lot to classify, and not of overwhelming interest; not to be +compared with the Richard Waln Meirs collection of Cruikshank, which has +just been bequeathed to the Library; but nothing which is a book is +entirely alien to me, and the Hutton books, with their inscriptions from +their authors, testifying to their regard for him and to his love of +books, are well worth examination. + +I had opened many volumes at random, and finally chanced upon Brander +Matthews's "Ballads of Books," a little anthology of bookish poems, for +many years a favorite of mine. Turning to the inscription, I found--what +I found; but what interested me particularly was a letter from an +English admirer, one Thomas Hutchinson, inclosing some verses, of which +I made a copy without the permission of any one. I did not ask the +librarian, for he might have referred the question to the trustees, or +something; but I did turn to a speaking likeness of "Larry" that hung +right over the bookcase and seemed to say, "Why, sure, fellow +book-lover; pass on the torch, print anything you please." And these are +the verses:-- + + BALLADE OF A POOR BOOK-LOVER + + I + + Though in its stern vagaries Fate + A poor book-lover me decreed, + Perchance mine is a happy state-- + The books I buy I like to read: + To me dear friends they are indeed, + But, howe'er enviously I sigh, + Of others take I little heed-- + The books I read I like to buy. + + II + + My depth of purse is not so great + Nor yet my bibliophilic greed, + That merely buying doth elate: + The books I buy I like to read: + Still e'en when dawdling in a mead, + Beneath a cloudless summer sky, + By bank of Thames, or Tyne, or Tweed, + The books I read--I like to buy. + + III + + Some books tho' tooled in style ornate, + Yet worms upon their contents feed, + Some men about their bindings prate-- + The books I buy I like to read: + Yet some day may my fancy breed + My ruin--it may now be nigh-- + They reap, we know, who sow the seed: + The books I read I like to buy. + + ENVOY + + Tho' frequently to stall I speed, + The books I buy I like to read; + Yet wealth to me will never hie-- + The books I read I like to buy. + +Two things there are which go to make the price of a book--first the +book itself, its scarcity, together with the urgency of the demand for +it (a book may be unique and yet practically valueless, because of the +fact that no one much cares to have it); and second, the plentifulness +of money, or the ease with which its owner may have acquired his +fortune. No one will suppose that, at the famous auction in London +something over a hundred years ago, when Earl Spencer bid two thousand, +two hundred and fifty pounds for the famous Boccaccio, and the Marquis +of Blandford added, imperturbedly, "ten," and secured the prize--no one +will suppose that either of the gentlemen had a scanty rent-roll. + +In England, the days of the great private libraries are over. For +generations, indeed for centuries, the English have had the leisure, the +inclination, and the means to gratify their taste. They once searched +the Continent for books and works of art, very much as we now go to +England for them. They formed their libraries when books were plentiful +and prices low. Moreover, there were fewer collectors than there are +to-day. We are paying big prices,--the English never sell except at a +profit,--but, all things considered, we are not paying more for the +books than they are worth. There are probably now in England as many +collectors as there ever were, but nevertheless the books are coming to +this country; and while we may never be able to rival the treasures of +the British Museum and the Bodleian, outside the great public libraries +the important collections are now in this country, and will remain here. + +And I am not sure how much longer the London dealers are going to retain +their preëminence. We hear of New York becoming the centre of the +financial world. It will in time become the centre of the bookselling +world as well, the best market in which to buy and in which to sell. +With the possible exception of Quaritch, George D. Smith has probably +sold as many rare books as any man in the world; while Dr. Rosenbach, on +the second floor of his shop in Philadelphia, has a stock of rare books +unequaled by any other dealer in this country. + +Ask any expert where the great books are, and you will be told, if you +do not know already, of the wonders of Mr. Morgan's collections; of how +Mr. Huntington has bought one library after another until he has +practically everything obtainable; of Mr. William K. Bixby's +manuscripts, of Mr. White's collection of the Elizabethans, and of Mr. +Folger's Shakespeares. + +There are as many tastes as there are collectors. Caxtons and incunabula +of any sort are highly regarded; even the possession of a set of the +Shakespeare folios makes a man a marked man, in spite of the fact that +Henrietta Bartlett says they are not rare; but then, Miss Bartlett has +been browsing on books rarer still, namely, the first quartos, of which +there are of "Hamlet" two copies only, one in this country with a +title-page, but lacking the last leaf, while the other copy, in the +British Museum, has the last leaf but lacks the title-page; and "Venus +and Adonis," of the first eight editions of which only thirteen copies +are known to exist. All of these are as yet in England, except one copy +of the second edition, which is owned by the Elizabethan Club of Yale +University. Of "Titus Andronicus" there is only one copy of the first +printing, this in the library of H. C. Folger of New York. Surely no one +will dispute Miss Bartlett's statement that the quartos are rare indeed. + +[Illustration: HENRY E. HUNTINGTON OF NEW YORK + +A few years ago he conceived the idea of forming the greatest private +library in the world. With the help of "G. D. S." and assisted by a +staff of able librarians, he has accomplished what he set out to do.] + +But why continue? Enough has been said: the point I want to make is that +fifty years from now someone will be regretting that he was not present +when a faultless first folio could have been had for the trifling sum of +twenty-five thousand dollars, at which figure a dealer is now offering +one. Or, glancing over a copy of "Book Prices Current" for 1918, bewail +the time when presentation copies of Dickens could have been had for +the trifling sum of a thousand dollars. Hush! I feel the spirit of +prophecy upon me. + +I sat with Harry Widener at Anderson's auction rooms a few years ago, on +the evening when George D. Smith, acting for Mr. Huntington, paid fifty +thousand dollars for a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. No book had ever +sold for so great a price, yet I feel sure that Mr. Huntington secured a +bargain, and I told him so; but for the average collector such great +books as these are mere names, as far above the ordinary man as the +moon; and the wise among us never cry for them; we content ourselves +with--something else. + +In collecting, as in everything else, experience is the best teacher. +Before we can gain our footing we must make our mistakes and have them +pointed out to us, or, by reading, discover them for ourselves. I have a +confession to make. Forty years ago I thought that I had the makings of +a numismatist in me, and was for a time diligent in collecting coins. In +order that they might be readily fastened to a panel covered with +velvet, I pierced each one with a small hole, and was much chagrined +when I was told that I had absolutely ruined the lot, which was worth, +perhaps, ten dollars. This was not a high price to pay for the discovery +I then made and noted, that it is the height of wisdom to leave alone +anything of value which may come my way; to repair, inlay, insert, +mount, frame, or bind as little as possible. + +This is not to suggest that my library is entirely devoid of books in +bindings. A few specimens of the good binders I have, but what I value +most is a sound bit of straight-grained crimson morocco covering the +"Poems of Mr. Gray" with one of the finest examples of fore-edge +painting I have ever seen, representing Stoke Poges Church Yard, the +scene of the immortal "Elegy." I was much pleased when I discovered that +this binding bore the stamp of Taylor & Hessey, a name I had always +associated with first editions of Charles Lamb. + +How many people have clipped signatures from old letters and documents, +under the mistaken notion that they were collecting autographs. I happen +to own the receipt for the copyright of the "Essays of Elia." It was +signed by Lamb twice, originally; one signature has been cut away. It is +a precious possession as it is, but I could wish that the "collector" in +whose hands it once was had not removed one signature for his +"scrapbook"--properly so called. Nor is the race yet dead of those who, +indulging a vicious taste for subscription books, think that they are +forming a library. My coins I have kept as an ever-present reminder of +the mistake of my early days. Luckily I escaped the subscription-book +stage. + +[Illustration: STOKE POGES CHURCH + +A fine example of fore-edge painting] + +What we collect depends as well upon our taste as upon our means, for, +given zeal and intelligence, it is surprising how soon one acquires a +collection of--whatever it may be--which becomes a source of +relaxation and instruction; and after a little one becomes, if not +exactly expert, at least wise enough to escape obvious pitfalls. When +experience directs our efforts the chief danger is past. But how much +there is to know! I never leave the company of a man like Dr. Rosenbach, +or A. J. Bowden, or the late Luther Livingston, without feeling a sense +of hopelessness coming over me. What wonderful memories these men have! +how many minute "points" about books they must have indexed, so to +speak, in their minds! And there are collectors whose knowledge is +equally bewildering. Mr. White, or Beverly Chew, for example; and Harry +Widener, who, had he lived, would have set a new and, I fear, hopeless +standard for us. + +Not knowing much myself, I have found it wise not to try to beat the +expert; it is like trying to beat Wall Street--it cannot be done. How +can an outsider with the corner of his mind compete with one who is +playing the game ever and always? The answer is simple--he can't; and he +will do well not to try. It is better to confess ignorance and rely upon +the word of a reliable dealer, than to endeavor to put one over on him. +This method may enable a novice to buy a good horse, although such has +not been my experience. I think it was Trollope who remarked that not +even a bishop could sell a horse without forgetting that he was a +bishop. I think I would rather trust a bookseller than a bishop. + +And speaking of booksellers, they should be regarded as Hamlet did his +players, as the abstract and brief chronicles of the time; and it would +be well to remember that their ill report of you while you live is much +worse than a bad epitaph after you are dead. Their stock in trade +consists, not only in the books they have for sale, but in their +knowledge. This may be at your disposal, if you use them after your own +honor and dignity; but to live, they must sell books at a profit, and +the delightful talk about books which you so much enjoy must, at least +occasionally, result in a sale. Go to them for information as a possible +customer, and you will find them, as Dr. Johnson said, generous and +liberal-minded men; but use them solely as walking encyclopædias, and +you may come to grief. + +I have on the shelves over yonder a set of Foxe's "Martyrs" in three +ponderous volumes, which I seldom have occasion to refer to; but in one +volume is pasted a clipping from an old newspaper, telling a story of +the elder Quaritch. A young lady once entered his shop in Piccadilly and +requested to see the great man. She wanted to know all that is to be +known of this once famous book, all about editions and prices and +"points," of which there are many. Finally, after he had answered +questions readily enough for some time, the old man became wise, and +remarked, "Now, my dear, if you want to know anything else about this +book, my fee will be five guineas." The transaction was at an end. Had +Quaritch been a lawyer and the young lady a stranger, her first question +would have resulted in a request for a retainer. + +But I am a long time in coming to my old catalogues. Let me take one at +random, and opening it at the first page, pick out the first item which +meets my eye. Here it is:-- + + ALKEN, HENRY--Analysis of the Hunting Field. Woodcuts and colored + illustrations. First edition, royal 8vo. original cloth, uncut. + Ackerman, 1846. £2. + +It was the last work but one of a man who is now "collected" by many +who, like myself, would as soon think of riding a zebra as a hunter. My +copy cost me $100, while my "Life of Mytton," third edition, I regarded +as a bargain at $50. Had I been wise enough to buy it five and thirty +years ago, I would have paid about as many shillings for it. + +With sporting books in mind it is quite natural to turn to Surtees. His +"Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities" is missing from this catalogue, but +here are a lot of them. "Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour" in full levant +morocco, extra, by Tout, for three guineas, and "Ask Mamma" in cloth, +uncut, for £2 15_s._ "Handley Cross" is priced at fifty shillings, and +"Facey Romford's Hounds" at two pounds--all first editions, mind you, +and for the most part just as you want them, in the original cloth, +uncut. My advice would be to forget these prices of yesteryear, and if +you want a set of the best sporting novels ever written (I know a +charming woman who has read every one of them) go at once to them that +sell. + +But while we are thinking of colored-plate books, let us see what it +would have cost us to secure a copy of À Beckett's "Comic History of +Rome." Here it is, "complete in numbers as originally published," four +guineas; while a "Comic History of England," two volumes, bound by +Riviere from the original parts, in full red levant morocco, extra, cost +five guineas. I have tried to read these histories--it cannot be done. +It is like reading the not very funny book of an old-time comic opera +(always excepting Gilbert's), which depended for its success on the +music and the acting--as these books depend on their illustrations by +Leech. It is on account of the humor of their wonderfully caricatured +portraits of historic personages, in anachronistic surroundings, that +these books live and deserve to live. What could be better than the +landing of Julius Cæsar on the shores of Albion, from the deck of a +channel steamer of Leech's own time? + +Did you observe that the "History of Rome" was bound up from the +original parts? This, according to modern notions, is a mistake. Parts +should be left alone--severely alone, I should say. I have no love for +books "in parts," and as this is admitted heresy, I should perhaps +explain. As is well known, some of the most desired of modern books, +"Pickwick" and "Vanity Fair" for example, were so published, and +particulars as to one will indicate the reason for my prejudice against +all books "in parts." + +In April, 1916, in New York, the Coggeshall Dickens collection was +dispersed, and a copy of "Pickwick" in parts was advertised, no doubt +correctly, as the most nearly perfect copy ever offered at a public +sale. Two full pages of the catalogue were taken up in a painstaking +description of the birthmarks of this famous book. It was, like most of +the other great novels, brought out "twenty parts in nineteen,"--that +is, the last number was a double number,--and with a page of the +original manuscript, it brought $5350. When a novel published less than +a century ago brings such a price, it must be of extraordinary interest +and rarity. Was the price high? Decidedly not! There are said to be not +ten such copies in existence. It was in superb condition, and manuscript +pages of "Pickwick" do not grow on trees. All the details which go to +make up a perfect set can be found in Eckel's "First Editions of Charles +Dickens." + +Briefly, in order to take high rank it is necessary that each part +should be clean and perfect and should have the correct imprint and +date; it should have the proper number of illustrations by the right +artist; and these plates must be original and not reëtched, and almost +every plate has certain peculiarities which will mislead the unwary. But +this is not all. Each part carried certain announcements and +advertisements. These must be carefully looked to, for they are of the +utmost value in determining whether it be an early or a later issue of +the first edition. An advertisement of "Rowland and Son's Toilet +Preparations" where "Simpson's Pills" should be, might lead to painful +discussion. + +But it is difficult to say whether the possession of a copy of +"Pickwick" like the Coggeshall copy is an asset or a liability. It must +be handled with gloves; the pea-green paper wrappers are very tender, +and not everyone who insists on seeing your treasures knows how to treat +such a pamphlet; and, horror of horrors! a "part" might get stacked up +with a pile of "Outlooks" on the library table, or get mislaid +altogether. So on the whole I am inclined to leave such books to those +whose knowledge of bibliography is more exact than mine, and who would +not regard the loss of a "part" as an irretrievable disaster. My +preference is to get, when I can, books bound in cloth or boards "as +issued." They are sufficiently expensive and can be handled with greater +freedom. My library is, in a sense, a circulating library: my books move +around with me, and a bound book, in some measure at least, takes care +of itself. Having said all of which, I looked upon that Coggeshall +"Pickwick," and lusted after it. + +There is, however, an even greater copy awaiting a purchaser at +Rosenbach's. It is a presentation copy in parts, the only one known to +exist. Each of the first fourteen parts has Dickens's autograph +inscription, "Mary Hogarth from hers most affectionately," variously +signed--in full, "Charles Dickens," with initials, or "The Editor." +After the publication of the fourteenth part Miss Hogarth, his +sister-in-law, a young girl in her eighteenth year, died suddenly, and +the shock of her death was so great that Dickens was obliged to +discontinue work upon "Pickwick" for two months. No doubt this is the +finest "Pickwick" in the world. It has all the "points" and to +spare--and the price, well, only a very rich or a very wise man could +buy it. + +[Illustration: "Blake being unable to find a publisher for his songs, +Mrs. Blake went out with half a crown, all the money they had in the +world, and of that laid out 1s. 10d. on the simple materials necessary +for setting in practice the new revelation. Upon that investment of 1s. +10d. he started what was to prove a principal means of support through +his future life.... The poet and his wife did everything in making the +book,--writing, designing, printing, engraving, everything except +manufacturing the paper. The very ink, or color rather, they did +make."--GILCHRIST.] + +But to return to my catalogue. Here is Pierce Egan's "Boxiana," five +volumes, 8vo, as clean as new, in the original boards, uncut,--that's my +style,--and the price, twelve pounds; three hundred and fifty dollars +would be a fair price to-day. And here is the "Anecdotes of the Life and +Transactions of Mrs. Margaret Rudd," a notorious woman who just escaped +hanging for forgery, of whom Dr. Johnson once said that he would have +gone to see her, but that he was prevented from such a frolic by his +fear that it would get into the newspapers. I have been looking for it +in vain for years; here it is, in new calf, price nine shillings, and +Sterne's "Sentimental Journey," first edition, in contemporary calf, for +thirty. + +Let us turn to poetry. Arnold, Matthew, not interesting; nothing, it +chances, by Blake; his "Poetical Sketches," 1783, has always been +excessively rare, only a dozen or so copies are known, and "Songs of +Innocence and of Experience," while not so scarce, is much more desired. +This lovely book was originally "Songs of Innocence" only; "Experience" +came later, as it always does. Of all the books I know, this is the most +interesting. It is in very deed "W. Blake, his book," the author being +as well the designer, engraver, printer, and illuminator of it. + +To attempt in a paragraph any bibliographical account of the "Songs" is +as impossible as to give the genealogy of a fairy. In the ordinary +sense the book was never published. Blake sold it to such of his friends +as would buy, at prices ranging from thirty shillings to two guineas. +Later, to help him over a difficulty (and his life was full of +difficulties), they paid him perhaps as much as twenty pounds and in +return got a copy glowing with colors and gold. Hence no two copies are +exactly alike. It is one of the few books of which a man fortunate +enough to own any copy may say, "I like mine best." The price to-day for +an average copy is about two thousand dollars. + +I can see clearly now that in order to be up to date there must be a new +edition of this book every minute. I had just suggested $2000 as the +probable price of the "Songs" when a priced copy of the Linnell +Catalogue of his Blake Collection reached me. This, the last and +greatest Blake collection in England, was sold at auction on March 15, +1918, and accustomed as I am to high prices I was bewildered as I turned +its pages. There were two copies of the "Songs"; each brought £735. The +"Poetical Sketches" was conspicuous by its absence, while the "Marriage +of Heaven and Hell" was knocked down for £756. The drawings for Dante's +"Divina Commedia," sixty-eight in all, brought the amazing price of +£7665. And these prices will be materially advanced before the +booksellers are done with them, as we shall see when their catalogues +arrive. We come back to earth with a thud after this lofty flight, in +the course of which we seem to have been seeing visions and dreaming +dreams, much as Blake himself did. + +[Illustration: "A LEAF FROM AN UNOPENED VOLUME" + +An unpublished manuscript in the autograph of Charlotte Brontë, written +in microscopical characters on sixteen pages measuring 3-1/2 by 4-1/2 +inches; in a wrapper of druggist's blue paper] + +Continuing to "beat the track of the alphabet," we reach Brontë and note +that now scarce item, "Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell," the +genuine first edition printed by Hasler in 1846, for Aylott & Jones, +before the title-page bore the Smith-Elder imprint; price two pounds +five. Walter Hill's last catalogue has a Smith-Elder copy at $12.50, but +the right imprint now makes a difference of several hundred dollars. +About a year ago Edmund D. Brooks, of Minneapolis, was offering +Charlotte Brontë's own copy of the book, with the Aylott and Jones +imprint, with some manuscript notes which made it especially interesting +to Brontë collectors, the most important of whom, by the way, is my +lifelong friend, H. H. Bonnell of Philadelphia, whose unrivaled Brontë +collection is not unworthy of an honored place in the Brontë Museum at +Haworth. I called his attention to it, but he already had a presentation +copy to Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn-Law rhymer. + +Burns: the first Edinburgh edition, for a song; no Kilmarnock +edition--that fine old item which every collector wants has always been +excessively scarce; and in this connection let me disinter a good story +of how one collector secured a copy. The story is told of John Allan, +from whom, as a collector, I am descended by the process of clasping +hands. My old friend, Ferdinand Dreer, for more than sixty years a +distinguished collector in Philadelphia, was an intimate friend of +Allan's, and passed on to me the collecting legends he had received from +him. Allan was an old Scotchman, living in New York when the story +begins, who by his industry had acquired a small fortune, much of which +he spent in the purchase of books. He collected the books of his period +and extra-illustrated them. Lives of Mary Queen of Scots, and Byron; +Dibdin, of course, and Americana; but Burns was his ruling passion. He +had the first Edinburgh edition, and longed for the Kilmarnock--as who +does not? He had a standing order for a copy up to seven guineas, which +in those days was considered a fair price, and finally one was reported +to him from London at eight. He ordered it out, but it was sold before +his letter arrived, and he was greatly disappointed. Some time afterward +a friend from the old country visited him, and as he was sailing, asked +if he could do anything for him at home. "Yes," said Allan, "get me, if +you possibly can, the Kilmarnock edition of Burns." His friend was +instructed as to its scarcity and the price he might have to pay for it. +On his return his friend, engaged as usual in his affairs, discovered +that one of his workmen was drunk. In those days it was not considered +good form to get drunk except on Saturday night. How could he get drunk +in the middle of the week? Where did he get the money? The answer was +that by pawning some books ten shillings had been raised. "And what +books had you?" "Oh, Burns and some others; every Scotchman has a copy +of Burns." Then, suddenly remembering his old friend in New York, he +asked, "What sort of a copy was it?" "The old Kilmarnock," was the +reply. Not to make the story too long, the pawn-ticket was secured for a +guinea, the books redeemed, and the Kilmarnock Burns passed into Allan's +possession. + +[Illustration: Title of the Kilmarnock Edition of Burns's Poems] + +After his death his books were sold at auction (1864). This was during +our Civil War, and several times the sale was suspended owing to the +noise of a passing regiment in the street. Notwithstanding that times +were not propitious for book-sales, his friends were astonished at the +prices realized: the Burns fetched $106. It was probably a poor copy. A +generation or two ago not as much care was paid to condition as now. +Very few uncut copies are known. One is owned by a man as shouldn't. +Another is in the Burns Museum in Ayrshire, which cost the Museum +Trustees a thousand pounds; the Canfield, which was purchased by Harry +Widener for six thousand dollars, and the Van Antwerp copy, which, at +the sale of his collection in London in 1907, brought seven hundred +pounds; but much bibliographical water has gone over the dam since 1907, +and for some reason the Van Antwerp books, with the exception of one or +two items, did not bring as good prices as they should have done. They +were sold at an unfortunate moment and perhaps at the wrong place. In +Walter Hill's current catalogue there is a Kilmarnock Burns, in an old +binding, which looks very cheap to me at $2600. At the Allan sale an +Eliot Bible brought the then enormous sum of $825. Supposing an Eliot +Bible were obtainable to-day, it would bring, no doubt, five thousand +dollars, perhaps more. + +This is a long digression. There are other desired volumes besides +Burns. Here is a "Paradise Lost," perhaps not so fine a copy as Sabin is +now offering for four hundred pounds; but the price is only thirty +pounds; and this reminds me that in Beverly Chew's copy, an +exceptionally fine one, as all the books of that fastidious collector +are, there is an interesting note made by a former owner to this effect: +"This is the first edition of this book and has the first title-page. It +is worth nearly ten pounds and is rising in value. 1857." + +Alphabetically speaking, it is only a step from Milton to Moore, George. +Here is his "Flowers of Passion," for which I paid fifteen dollars ten +or more years ago--priced at half a crown. + +But let us take up another catalogue, one which issued from the +world-famous shop in Piccadilly, Quaritch's. Forty years ago Quaritch +thought it almost beneath his dignity as a bookseller to offer for sale +any except the very rarest books in English; very much as, up to within +the last few years, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge did not +think it worth their while to refer more than casually to the glories of +English literature. When we open an old Quaritch catalogue, we step out +of this age into another, which leads me to observe how remarkable is +the change in taste which has come over the collecting world in the +last fifty years. Formerly it was the fashion to collect extensively +books of which few among us now know anything: books in learned or +painful languages, on Philosophy or Religion, as well as those which, +for the want of a better name, we call "Classics"; books frequently +spoken of, but seldom read. + +Such books, unless very valuable indeed, no longer find ready buyers. We +have come into our great inheritance. We now dip deep in our "well of +English undefyled"; Aldines and Elzevirs have gone out of fashion. Even +one of the rarest of them, "Le Pastissier François," is not greatly +desired; and I take it that the reason for this change is chiefly due to +the difference in the type of men who are prominent among the buyers of +fine books to-day. Formerly the collector was a man, not necessarily +with a liberal education, but with an education entirely different from +that which the best educated among us now receive. I doubt if there are +in this country to-day half a dozen important bookbuyers who can read +Latin with ease, let alone Greek. Of French, German, and Italian some of +us have a working knowledge, but most of us prefer to buy books which we +can enjoy without constant reference to a dictionary. + +The world is the college of the book-collector of to-day. Many of us are +busy men of affairs, familiar, it may be, with the price of oil, or +steel, or copper, or coal, or cotton, or, it may be, with the price of +the "shares" of all of these and more. Books are our relaxation. We make +it a rule not to buy what we cannot read. Some of us indulge the vain +hope that time will bring us leisure to acquaint ourselves fully with +the contents of all our books. We want books written in our own tongue, +and most of us have some pet author or group of authors, or period, it +may be, in which we love to lose ourselves and forget the cares of the +present. One man may have a collection of Pope, another of Goldsmith, +another of Lamb, and so on. The drama has its votaries who are never +seen in a theatre; but look into their libraries and you will find +everything, from "Ralph Roister Doister" to the "Importance of Being +Earnest." And note that these collections are formed by men who are not +students in the accepted sense of the word, but who, in the course of +years, have accumulated an immense amount of learning. Clarence S. +Bement is a fine example of the collector of to-day, a man of large +affairs with the tastes and learning of a scholar. It has always seemed +to me that professors of literature and collectors do not intermingle as +they should. They might learn much from each other. I yield to no +professor in my passion for English literature. My knowledge is +deficient and inexact, but what I lack in learning I make up in love. + +But we are neglecting the Quaritch catalogue. Let us open it at random, +as old people used to open their Bibles, and govern their conduct by the +first text which met their eyes. Here we are: "Grammatica Graeca," +Milan, 1476; the first edition of the first book printed in Greek; one +of six known copies. So it is possible for only six busy men to +recreate themselves after a hard day's work with a first Greek Grammar. +Too bad! Here is another: Macrobius, "The Saturnalia"--"a miscellany of +criticism and antiquities, full of erudition and very useful, similar in +their plan to the 'Noctes Atticæ' of Aulus Gellius." No doubt, but as +dead as counterfeit money. Here is another: Boethius, "De Consolatione +Philosophiæ." Boethius! I seem to have heard of him. Who was he? Not in +"Who's Who," obviously. Let us look elsewhere. Ah! "Famous philosopher +and official in the Court of Theodoric, born about 475 A.D., put to +death without trial about 524." They had a short way with philosophers +in those days. If William the Second to None in Germany had adopted this +method with his philosophers, the world might not now be in such a +plight. + +_Note_: A college professor to whom I was in confidence showing these +notes the other day, remarked, "I suggest that you soft-pedal that +Boethius business, my boy." (How we middle-aged men love to call each +other boys; very much as young boys flatter themselves with the phrase, +"old man.") "The 'Consolation of Philosophy' was the best seller for a +thousand years or so. Boethius's reputation is not in the making, as +yours is, and when yours is made, it will in all probability not last as +long." I thought I detected a slight note of sarcasm in this, but I may +have been mistaken. + +[Illustration: Fifteenth-century English manuscript on vellum, "De +Consolatione Philosophiæ." Rubricated throughout. Its chief interest is +the contemporary binding, consisting of the usual oak boards covered +with pink deerskin, let into another piece of deerskin which completely +surrounds it and terminates in a large knot. A clasp fastens the outer +cover. It was evidently intended to be worn at the girdle. The British +Museum possesses very few bindings of this character and these service +books. Lay books are of even greater rarity.] + +Let us look further. Here we are: "Coryat's Crudities, hastily +gobbled up in five Moneths Trauells." Tom Coryat was a buffoon and a +beggar and a braggart, who wrote what has come to be regarded as the +first handbook on travel. Browning thought very highly of it, as I +remember, and Walter Hill is at this very minute offering his copy of +the "Crudities" for five hundred dollars. The catalogues say there are +very few perfect copies in existence, in which case I should like to +content myself with Browning's imperfect copy. I love these old books, +written by frail human beings for human beings frail as myself. Clowns +are the true philosophers, and all vagabonds are beloved, most of all, +Locke's. Don't confuse my Locke with the fellow who wrote on the "Human +Understanding," a century or two ago. + +Here is the "Ship of Fools," another best seller of a bygone age. The +original work, by Sebastian Brandt, was published not long after the +invention of printing, in 1494. Edition followed edition, not only in +its original Swabian dialect, but also in Latin, French, and Dutch. In +1509 an English version,--it could hardly be called a translation,--by +Alexander Barclay, appeared from the press of Pynson--he who called +Caxton "worshipful master." For quite two hundred years it was the rage +of the reading world. In it the vices and weaknesses of all classes of +society were satirized in a manner which gave great delight; and those +who could not read were able to enjoy the fine, bold woodcuts with which +the work was embellished. No form of folly escaped. Even the mediæval +book-collector is made to say:-- + + Still am I busy bookes assemblynge, + For to have plentie it is a pleasaunt thynge, + In my conceyt and to have them ay in hande, + But what they mene do I not understande. + +This is one of the books which can usually be found in a Quaritch +catalogue, if it can be found anywhere. At the Hoe sale a copy brought +$1825; but the average collector will make shift to get along with an +excellent reprint which was published in Edinburgh forty years or so +ago, and which can be had for a few shillings, when he chances to come +across it. + +Here is a great book! The first folio of Shakespeare, the cornerstone of +every great Library. What's in a name? Did Shakespeare of Stratford +write the plays? The late Dr. Furness declined to be led into a +discussion of this point, wisely remarking, "We have the plays; what +difference does it make who wrote them?" But the question will not down. +The latest theory is that Bacon wrote the Psalms of David also, and to +disguise the fact tucked in a cryptogram, another name. If you have at +hand a King James's version of the Bible, and will turn to the +forty-sixth Psalm and count the words from the beginning to the +forty-sixth word, and will then count the words from the end until you +again come to the forty-sixth word, you may learn something to your +advantage. + +But, whoever wrote them, the first folio--the plays collected by Heming +and Condell, and printed in 1623, at the charges of Isaac Iaggard, and +Ed. Blount--is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, volume in all +literature. In it not less than twenty dramas, many of which rank among +the literary masterpieces of the world, were brought together for the +first time. Is it any wonder, therefore, that the first folio of +Shakespeare, Shakespeare! "not our poet, but the world's," is so highly +regarded? The condition and location of practically every copy in the +world is known and recorded. Originally the price is supposed to have +been a guinea, and a century passed before collectors and scholars +realized that it, like its author, was not for an age, but for all time. +In 1792 a copy brought £30, and in 1818 "an original copy in a genuine +state" changed hands at £121; but what shall be said of the price it +fetches to-day? + +When, a few years ago, a Philadelphia collector paid the record price of +almost twenty thousand dollars, people unlearned in the lore of books +expressed amazement that a book should bring so large a sum; but he +secured one of the finest copies in existence, known to collectors as +the Locker-Lampson copy, which had been for a short time in the +possession of William C. Van Antwerp, of New York, who, unluckily for +himself and for the book-collecting world, stopped collecting almost as +soon as he began. This splendid folio has now found a permanent resting +place in the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard. It is no doubt +inevitable that these notable books should at last come to occupy +honored niches in great mausoleums, as public libraries really are, but +I cannot escape the conviction that Edmond de Goncourt was right when he +said in his will:-- + +"My wish is that my drawings, my prints, my curiosities, my books--in a +word these things of art which have been the joy of my life--shall not +be consigned to the cold tomb of a museum, and subjected to the stupid +glance of the careless passer-by; but I require that they shall all be +dispersed under the hammer of the auctioneer, so that the pleasure which +the acquiring of each one of them has given me shall be given again, in +each case, to some inheritor of my own tastes." + +I wish that my friends, the Pennells, had followed this course when they +gave up their London apartments in the Adelphi and disposed of their +valuable Whistler collection. But no, with characteristic generosity the +whole collection goes to the nation as a gift--the Library of Congress +at Washington is to be its resting-place. The demand for Whistler is +ever increasing with his fame which, the Pennells say, will live +forever. Those who have a lot of Whistler material smile--the value of +their collections is enhanced. Those of us who, like the writer, have to +be content with two butterflies, or at most three, sigh and turn aside. + +Possession is the grave of bliss. No sooner do we own some great book +than we want another. The appetite grows by what it feeds on. The +Shakespeare folio is a book for show and to be proud of, but we want a +book to love. Here it is: Walton's "Compleat Angler," beloved by gentle +men, such as all collectors are. We welcome the peace and contentment +which it suggests, "especially," as its author says, "in such days and +times as I have laid aside business and gone a-fishing." + +Therein lies the charm of this book, for those of us who are wise enough +occasionally to lay aside business and go a-fishing or a-hunting, albeit +only book-hunting; for it is the spirit of sport rather than the sport +itself that is important. Old Isaak Walton counted fishermen as honest +men. I wonder did he call them truthful? If so, there has been a sad +falling off since his day, for I seem to remember words to this effect: +"The fisherman riseth up early in the morning and disturbeth the whole +household. Mighty are his preparations. He goeth forth full of hope. +When the day is far spent, he returneth, smelling of strong drink, and +the truth is not in him." + +I wish that some day I might discover an "Angler," not on the banks of a +stream, but all unsuspected on some book-stall. It is most unlikely; +those days are past. I shall never own a first "Angler." This little +book has been thumbed out of existence almost, by generations of readers +with coarse, wet hands who carried the book in their pockets or left it +lying by the river in the excitement of landing a trout. Five +impressions, all rare, were made before the author died in his +"neintyeth" year, and was buried in the South Transept of the Cathedral +of William of Wykeham. + +But Walton wrote of Fishers of Men as well as of fishing. His lives of +John Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's; of Richard Hooker, the "Judicious," +as he is usually called, when called at all; of George Herbert, and +several other men, honorable in their generation, are quaint and +charming. These lives, published originally at intervals of many years, +are not rare, nor is the volume of 1670, the first collected edition of +the Lives, unless it is a presentation copy. Such a copy sold twenty +years ago for fifteen pounds. Some years ago I paid just three times +this sum for a copy inscribed by Walton to the Lord Bishop of Oxford. I +did not then know that the Bishop of Oxford was also the famous Dr. John +Fell, the hero of the well-known epigram:-- + + I do not like you Dr. Fell, + The reason why I cannot tell; + But this I know and know full well, + I do not like you Dr. Fell,-- + +or I would willingly have paid more for it. + +But I am wandering from my text. To return to the "Angler." Fifty pounds +was a fair price for a fine copy fifty years ago. George D. Smith sold a +copy a few weeks since for five thousand dollars, and the Heckscher copy +a few years ago brought thirty-nine hundred dollars; but the record +price appears to have been paid for the Van Antwerp copy, which is +generally believed to be the finest in existence. It is bound in +original sheepskin, and was formerly in the library of Frederick +Locker-Lampson. It was sold in London some ten years ago and was +purchased by Quaritch for "an American," which was a sort of _nom de +guerre_ of the late J. P. Morgan, for £1290. + +[Illustration: The rare first edition, and, according to Mr. Livingston +in "The Bibliophile," the earlier issue of the two printed in that year. +A very large copy. From the Hagen collection. Said to be the finest copy +in existence. It is bound in contemporary vellum, and measures 3-1/2 × +6-1/8 inches.] + +When "Anglers" could be had for fifty pounds, "Vicars" brought ten, or +fifteen if in exceptionally fine condition, and the man who then spent +this sum for a "Vicar" chose as wisely as did the Vicar's wife her +wedding gown, "not for a fine glossy surface, but for qualities as would +wear well." These two little volumes, with the Salisbury imprint and a +required blunder or two, will soon be worth a thousand dollars. When I +paid £120 for mine some years ago, I felt that I was courting ruin, +especially when I recalled that Dr. Johnson thought rather well of +himself for having secured for Goldsmith just half this sum for the +copyright of it. Boswell's story of the sale of the manuscript of the +"Vicar of Wakefield," as Johnson related it to him, is as pretty a bit +of bibliographical history as we have. Those who know it will pardon the +intrusion of the story for the sake of the pleasure it may give others. + +"I received," said Johnson, "one morning a message from poor Goldsmith +that he was in great distress, and as it was not in his power to come to +me, begged that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a +guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon +as I was drest, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his +rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had +already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass +before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, +and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. +He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he +produced to me. I looked into it and saw its merit; told the landlady I +should soon return, and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty +pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not +without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill +... and Sir," continued Johnson, "it was a sufficient price, too, when +it was sold; for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been elevated, as it +afterwards was by his 'Traveller'; and the bookseller had such faint +hopes of profit by his bargain, that he kept the manuscript by him a +long time, and did not publish it till after 'The Traveller' had +appeared. Then, to be sure, it was accidentally worth more money." + +Here we have a characteristic sketch of the two men--the excitable, +amiable, and improvident Goldy, and the wise and kindly Johnson, +instantly corking the bottle and getting down to brass tacks, as we +should say. + +The first edition of "Robinson Crusoe" is another favorite book with +collectors; as why should it not be? Here is a copy in two volumes +(there should be three) in red morocco, super extra, gilt edges, by +Bedford. It should be in contemporary calf, but the price was only £46. +Turning to a bookseller's catalogue published a year or two ago, there +is a copy "3 vols. 8vo. with map and 2 plates, in original calf +binding," and the price is twenty-five hundred dollars. + +A note in one of Stan. Henkel's recent auction catalogues, and there are +none better, clears up a point which has always troubled me, and which I +will quote at length for the benefit of other collectors who may not +have seen it. + + The supposed "points," signifying the first issues of this famous + book, are stumbling-blocks to all bibliographers. + + Professor W. P. Trent, of Columbia University, undoubtedly the + foremost authority on Defoe, after extended research and the + comparison of many copies, states that he is of the opinion that + any purchaser entering Taylor's shop at the sign of the Ship, in + Pater Noster Row on April 25th, 1719 (usually taken as the date of + issue), might have been handed a copy falling under any of the + following categories:-- + + With "apply" in the preface, and "Pilot," on page 343, line 2. + + With "apply" in the preface, and "Pilate" on page 343. + + With "apyly" in the preface, and "Pilate" on page 343. + + With "apyly" in the preface, and "Pilot" on page 343. + + It is unquestionably wrong, in his opinion, to call any one of + these "first issue." Prof. Trent sees no reason to believe that + there was a re-issue with "apyly" corrected in the preface. Both + these mistakes were quite probably corrected while the sheets were + passing through the press, and it depends on how the sheets were + collated by the binder what category of the four given any special + copy belongs to. + +This is a great relief to me, as my copy, which was once Congreve's, +while leaving nothing to be desired in the matter of condition, binding, +and plates, has the word "apply" in the preface and "pilot" on page +343; but it is perfectly clear, having in mind the spacing of the types, +that the longer word has given way to the shorter. + +There is, however, another edition of "Robinson Crusoe" which, for +rarity, puts all first editions in the shade. So immediate was the +success of this wonderful romance that it was issued in a newspaper, +very much as popular novels are now run. It was published in the +"Original London Post," or "Heathcot's Intelligence," numbers from 125 +to 289, October 7, 1719, to October 19, 1720. This was publication in +parts with a vengeance. Of the entire series of 165 leaves, only one is +in facsimile. I see that I have not yet said that I own this copy. There +is a copy in the British Museum, but I am told that it is very +imperfect, and I know of no other. + +I was, a few evenings ago, looking over Arnold's "First Report of a +Book-Collector." I had just given an old-time year's salary for a +manuscript poem by Keats, and I was utterly bewildered by reading this: +"Only a few months after I began collecting, more than one hundred pages +of original manuscripts of Keats that were just then offered for sale +came in my way and were secured at one-fifth of their value." If the +price I paid for one page is any criterion as to the value of one +hundred pages, Mr. Arnold is by now a very rich man; and elsewhere in +his "Report" he gives a list of books sold at Sotheby's in 1896 at +prices which make one's mouth water. + + Chapman's Homer, 1616, £15; + Chaucer's Works, 1542, £15 10; + "Robinson Crusoe," 1719-20, £75; + Goldsmith's "Vicar," 1766, £65; + Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," 1770, £25; + Herrick's "Hesperides," 1648, £38; + Milton's "Paradise Lost," 1667, £90. + +But why continue? The point of it all is his comment: "If the beginner +is alarmed by these prices, let him remember that such are paid only for +well-known and highly prized rarities"; and remember, too, that this is +the comment of an astute collector upon the prices of only twenty years +ago. + +[Illustration: First Page of a Rare Edition of "ROBINSON CRUSOE"] + +It is, however, only proper to bear in mind, when referring to English +auction prices, that the "knockout" may have been, and probably was, in +operation. This time-honored and beneficent custom results in enriching +the London book-dealer at the expense of the owner or the estate whose +books are being sold. The existence of the "knockout" is pretty +generally admitted by the London dealers, but they usually couple the +admission with the statement that no reputable dealer will have anything +to do with its operations. It is always the other fellow who is in the +ring. Reduced to its simplest terms, a "knockout" consists of a clique +of men who agree that certain books (or anything else) shall be bought +at auction without competition. One book, or class of books, shall be +bought by A, B will buy another, C another, and so on. At some +convenient time or place after the books have been delivered, a second +auction is held and they are again put up. This time there is real +competition, but the profits go into a pool which is equally divided +among the members. This custom has taken such a strong hold on the trade +that it seems impossible to break it up. Should a private person bid at +a sale at which the scheme is intended to operate, he would get, either +nothing, or books at such a price as would cause him to remember the +sale to his dying day. There is nothing analogous to it in this country, +and it was to escape from its operations that it was decided to sell the +great Hoe collection at Anderson's in New York City a few years ago. + +Most of the books then sold realized the highest prices ever known. Many +of the London dealers were represented,--Quaritch, Maggs, and several +others came in person,--and the sale will long be remembered in the +annals of the trade. + +After the above explanation it is hardly necessary to say that "Book +Auction Records," published by Karslake in London, has no value whatever +as a guide to prices, in comparison with "American Book Prices Current," +to the compilation of which the late Luther S. Livingston devoted so +much of his time--time which we now know should have been spent in doing +original work in bibliography. + +Returning for a moment to Mr. Arnold and his contributions to +bibliography, he did the booksellers a good turn and helped collectors +justify their extravagance to their wives by publishing some years ago +"A Record of Books and Letters." Mr. Arnold devoted the leisure of six +years to forming a collection of books with perseverance and +intelligence; then he suddenly stopped and turned over to Bangs & +Company, the auctioneers, the greater part of his collection, and +awaited the result with interest. I say "with interest" advisedly, for +the result fully justified his judgment. In his "Record" he gives the +date of acquisition, together with the cost of each item, in one column, +and in another the selling price. He also states whether the item was +bought of a bookseller or a collector, or at auction. He had spent a +trifle over ten thousand dollars, and his profit almost exactly equalled +his outlay. I said his profit, but I have used the wrong word. His +profit was the pleasure he received in discovering, buying, and owning +the treasures which for a time were in his possession. The difference in +actual money between what he paid and what he received, some ten +thousand dollars, was the reward for his industry and courage in paying +what doubtless many people supposed to be extravagant prices for his +books. + +[Illustration: Autograph MS. of a Poem by Keats--"To the Misses M---- at +Hastings] + +[Illustration: signature] + +Let us examine one only. It is certainly not a fair example, but it +happens to interest me. He had a copy of Keats's "Poems," 1817, with an +inscription in the poet's handwriting: "My dear Giovanni, I hope your +eyes will soon be well enough to read this with pleasure and ease." +There were some other inscriptions in Keats's hand, and for this +treasure Arnold paid a bookseller, in 1895, seventy-one dollars. At the +auction in 1901 it brought five hundred dollars, and it subsequently +passed into the Van Antwerp collection, finally going back to London, +where it was sold in 1907 for ninety pounds, being bought by Quaritch. +Finally it passed into the possession of the late W. H. Hagen and, at +the sale of his library, in May, 1918, was knocked down to "G.D.S." for +$1950. From him I tried to secure it, but was "too late."[7] + +My copy of the Poems has, alas, no inscription, but it cost me in excess +of five hundred dollars; and a well-known collector has just paid +Rosenbach nine thousand dollars for Keats's three slender volumes, each +with inscriptions in the poet's hand. Three into nine is a simple +problem: even I can do it; but the volume of "Poems" is much rarer than +"Endymion" or "Lamia." + + + + +IV + +"ASSOCIATION" BOOKS AND FIRST EDITIONS + + +No books have appreciated more in value than presentation or association +volumes, and the reason is not far to seek. Of any given copy there can +hardly be a duplicate. For the most part presentation copies are first +editions--_plus_. Frequently there is a note or a comment which sheds +biographical light on the author. In the slightest inscription there is +the record of a friendship by means of which we get back of the book to +the writer. And speaking of association books, every one will remember +the story that General Wolfe, in an open boat on the St. Lawrence as he +was being rowed down the stream to a point just below Quebec, recited +the lines from Gray's "Elegy,"-- + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth, e'er gave + Await alike the inevitable hour. + The paths of glory lead but to the grave,"-- + +adding, "I would rather be the author of that piece than have the honor +of beating the French to-morrow." When Wolfe left England he carried +with him a copy of the "Elegy," the gift of his fiancée, Miss Katherine +Lowther. He learned the poem by heart, he underscored his favorite +lines, among them the passage quoted; he filled the book with his +notes. After his death the book and a miniature of the lady were +returned to her, and only a few days ago this book, a priceless volume +of unique association interest, was offered for sale. The first man who +saw it bought it. He had never bought a fine book before, but he could +not resist this one. When I heard of the transaction I was grieved and +delighted--grieved that so wonderful a volume had escaped me, delighted +that I had not been subjected to so terrible a temptation. What was the +price of it? Only the seller and the buyer know, but I fancy some +gilt-edged securities had to be parted with. + +How the prices of these books go a-soaring is shown by the continuous +advance in the price of a copy of Shelley's "Queen Mab." It is a notable +copy, referred to in Dowden's "Life of Shelley." On the fly leaf is an +inscription in Shelley's hand, "Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, from +P.B.S."; inside of the back cover Shelley has written in pencil, "You +see, Mary, I have not forgotten you"; and elsewhere in the book in +Mary's hand, we read, "This book is sacred to me, and as no other +creature shall ever look into it, I may write in it what I please. Yet +what shall I write? That I love the author beyond all powers of +expression and that I am parted from him"; and much more to the same +effect. At the Ives sale in 1891 this volume of supreme interest brought +$190; in 1897, at the Frederickson sale, it brought $615; and a year ago +a dealer sold it for $7500; and cheap at that, I say, for where will you +find another? + +I have before me a copy of Stevenson's "Inland Voyage." Pamphlets aside, +which, by reason of their manner of publication, are now rare, it may be +said to be the author's first book. It has an inscription, "My dear +Cummy: If you had not taken so much trouble with me all the years of my +childhood, this little book would never have been written. Many a long +night you sat up with me when I was ill; I wish I could hope by way of +return to amuse a single evening for you with my little book! But +whatever you may think of it, I know you will continue to think kindly +of the Author." I thought, when I gave four hundred dollars for it, that +I was paying a fabulous price; but as I have since been offered twice +that sum, Rosenbach evidently let me have a bargain. He tells me that it +is good business sometimes to sell a book for less than it is worth. He +regards it as bait. He angles for you very skilfully, does Rosy, and +lands you--me--every time. + +[Illustration: Autograph Inscription by Stevenson, in a Copy of his +"Inland Voyage] + +"A Child's Garden of Verses" is another book which has doubled in value +two or three times in the last few years. Gabriel Wells is now offering +a copy, with a brief inscription, for three hundred dollars, having sold +me not long ago, for twice this sum, a copy in which Stevenson's writing +is mingled with the type of the title-page so that it reads:-- + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + his copy of + A CHILD'S GARDEN OF + VERSES + and if it is [in] the hands of any one + else, explain it who can! + but not by the gift of + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + +That Stevenson afterward changed his mind and gave it to "E. F. Russell, +with hearty good will," is shown by another inscription. This copy was +purchased at the sale for the British Red Cross in London, shortly after +the outbreak of the war. It may be some time before it is worth what I +paid for it, or the price may look cheap to-morrow--who shall say? + +Watching the quotations of the first editions of Stevenson is rather +like looking at the quotations of stocks you haven't got, as they +recover from a panic. A point or two a day is added to their prices; but +Stevenson's move five or ten points at a time, and there has been no +reaction--as yet. Only a year or two ago I paid Drake fifty dollars for +a copy of "The New Arabian Nights"; and a few days ago I saw in the +papers that a copy had just been sold for fifty pounds in a London +auction room.[8] + +[Illustration: Title of a Unique Copy of Stevenson's "Child's Garden of +Verses"] + +I cannot quite understand Stevenson's immense vogue. Perhaps it is the +rare personality of the man. Try as we may, it is impossible to separate +the personality of a man from his work. Why is one author "collected" +and another not? I do not know. Practically no one collects Scott, or +George Eliot, or Trollope; but Trollope collectors there will be, and +"The Macdermots of Ballycloran" and "The Kellys and the O'Kellys" will +bring fabulous prices some of these days--five hundred dollars each; +more, a thousand, I should say; and when you pay this sum, look well for +the errors in pagination and see that Mortimer Street is spelt Morimer +on the title-page of volume three of the former. And remember, too, that +this book is so rare that there is no copy of it in the British +Museum--at least so I am told; but you will find one on my shelves, in +the corner over there, together with everything else this great +Victorian has written--of all novelists my favorite. Trollope proved the +correctness of Johnson's remark, "A man may write at any time if he will +set himself doggedly at it." This we know Trollope did, we have his word +for it. His personality was too sane, too matter of fact, to be +attractive; but his books are delightful. One doesn't read Trollope as +Coleridge did Shakespeare--by flashes of lighting (this isn't right, but +it expresses the idea); but there is a good, steady glow emanating from +the author himself, which, once you get accustomed to it, will enable +you to see a whole group of mid-Victorian characters so perfectly that +you come to know them as well as the members of your own family, and, I +sometimes think, understand them better. + +But for one collector who expresses a mild interest in Trollope, there +are a thousand who regard the brave invalid, who, little more than +twenty years ago, passed away on that lonely Samoan island in the +Pacific, as one of the greatest of the moderns, as certain of +immortality as Charles Lamb. They may be right. His little toy books and +leaflets, those which + + The author and the printer + With various kinds of skill + Concocted in the Winter + At Davos on the Hill, + +and elsewhere, are simply invaluable. The author and the printer were +one and the same--R. L. S., assisted, or perhaps hindered, by S. L. O., +Mrs. Stevenson's son, then a lad. Of these Stevensons, "Penny Whistles" +is the rarest. But two copies are known. One is in a private collection +in England; the other was bought at the Borden sale in 1913 by Mrs. +Widener, for twenty-five hundred dollars, in order to complete, as far +as might be, the Stevenson collection now in the Widener Memorial +Library. It was a privately printed forerunner of "A Child's Garden of +Verses," published several years later. + +It is a far cry from these bijoux to Stevenson's regularly published +volumes; but when it is remembered that these latter were printed in +fairly large editions and relatively only a few years ago, it will be +seen that no other author of yesterday fetches such high prices as +Stevenson. + +In recent years there have been published a number of bibliographies +without which no collector can be expected to keep house. We are +indebted to the Grolier Club for some of the best of these. Its members +have the books and are most generous in exhibiting them, and it must +indeed be a churlish scholar who cannot freely secure access to the +collections of its members. + +Aside from the three volumes entitled "Contributions to English +Bibliography," published and sold by the Club, the handbooks of the +exhibitions held from time to time are much sought, for the wealth of +information they contain. The Club's librarian, Miss Ruth S. Granniss, +working in coöperation with the members, is largely responsible for the +skill and intelligence with which these little catalogues are compiled. +The time and amount of painstaking research which enter into the making +of them is simply enormous. Indeed, no one quite understands the many +questions which arise to vex the bibliographer unless they have +attempted to make for themselves even the simplest form of catalogue. +Over the door of the room in which they work should be inscribed the +text, "Be sure your sin will find you out." Some blunders are redeemed +by the laughter they arouse. Here is a famous one:-- + + Shelley--Prometheus--unbound, etc. + " --Prometheus--bound in olive morocco, etc. + +But for the most part the lot of the bibliographer, as Dr. Johnson said +of the dictionary-maker, is to be exposed to censure without hope of +praise. + +That Oscar Wilde continues to interest the collector is proved, if proof +were necessary, by the splendid bibliography by Stuart Mason, in two +large volumes. Its editor tells us that it was the work of ten years, +which I can readily believe; and Robert Ross, Wilde's literary executor, +says in the introduction, that, in turning over the proof for ten +minutes, he learned more about Wilde's writings than Wilde himself ever +knew. It gave me some pleasure, when I first took the book up, to see +that Mason had used for his frontispiece the caricature of Wilde by +Aubrey Beardsley, the original of which now hangs on the wall near my +writing-table, together with a letter from Ross in which he says, "From +a technical point of view this drawing is interesting as showing the +artistic development of what afterwards was called his Japanese method +in the 'Salome' drawings. Here it is only in embryo, but this is the +earliest drawing I remember in which the use of dotted lines, a +peculiarity of Beardsley, can be traced."[9] + +[Illustration: THE NEW BUILDING OF THE GROLIER CLUB 47 EAST SIXTIETH +ST., NEW YORK] + +Another favorite bibliography is that of Dickens, by John C. Eckel. His +"First Editions of Charles Dickens" is a book which no lover of +Dickens--and who is not?--can do without. It is a book to be read, as +well as a book of reference. In it Mr. Eckel does one thing, however, +which is, from its very nature, hopeless and discouraging. He +attempts to indicate the prices at which first editions of his favorite +author can be secured at auction, or from the dealers in London and this +country. Alas, alas! while waiting to secure prizes at Eckel's prices I +have seen them soaring to figures undreamed of a few years ago. In his +chapter on "Presentation Copies," he refers to a copy of "Bleak House" +given by Dickens to Dudley Costello. "Some years ago," he says, "it sold +for $150.00. Eighteen months later the collector resold the book to the +dealer for $380.00, who made a quick turn and sold the book for ten per +cent advance, or $418.00." These figures Mr. Eckel considers +astonishing. I now own the book, but it came into my possession at a +figure considerably in excess of that named. + +A copy of "American Notes," with an inscription, "Thomas Carlyle from +Charles Dickens, Nineteenth October, 1842," gives an excellent idea of +the rise in the price of a book, interesting itself and on account of +its inscription. At auction, in London, in 1902, it sold for £45. After +passing through the hands of several dealers it was purchased by W. E. +Allis, of Milwaukee; and at the sale of his books in New York, in 1912, +it was bought by George D. Smith for $1050. Smith passed the book on to +Edwin W. Coggeshall; but its history is not yet at an end, for at his +sale, on April 25, 1916, it was bought by the firm of Dutton for $1850, +and by them passed on, the story goes, to a discriminating collector in +Detroit, a man who can call all the parts of an automobile by name. +Fortunately, while this book was in full flight, I secured a copy with +an inscription, "W. C. Macready from his friend Charles Dickens, +Eighteenth October, 1842." Now, what is my copy worth? + +[Illustration: Inscription to Charles Dickens, Junior, from Charles +Dickens] + +Seven years ago I paid Charles Sessler nine hundred dollars for three +books: a presentation "Carol," to Tom Beard, a "Cricket," to Macready, +and a "Haunted Man," to Maclise. At the Coggeshall sale a dealer paid a +thousand dollars for a "Carol," while I gave Smith ten per cent advance +on a thousand dollars for a "Chimes," with an inscription, "Charles +Dickens, Junior, from his affectionate father, Charles Dickens." This +copy at the Allis sale had brought seven hundred and seventy-five +dollars, at which time I was prepared to pay five hundred dollars for +it. + +[Illustration: AN ILLUSTRATION, "THE LAST OF THE SPIRITS," BY JOHN +LEECH, FOR DICKENS'S "CHRISTMAS CAROL" + +_From the original water-color drawing_] + +I always return from these all-star performances depressed in spirit and +shattered in pocket. "Where will it stop?" I say to myself. "When will +you stop?" my wife says to me. And both questions remain unanswered; +certainly not, while presentation Dickenses can be had and are lacking +from my collection. I now possess twenty-one, and it is with +presentation Dickenses as with elephants--a good many go to the dozen; +but I lack and sadly want--Shall I give a list? No, the prices are going +up fast enough without stimulation from me. Wait until my "wants" are +complete; then let joy be unconfined. + +A final word on Dickens: the prices are skyrocketing because everyone +loves him. Age cannot wither nor custom stale his infinite variety. As a +great creative genius he ranks with Shakespeare. He has given pleasure +to millions; he has been translated into all the languages of Europe. +"Pickwick," it is said, stands fourth in circulation among English +printed books, being exceeded only by the Bible, Shakespeare, and the +English Prayer-Book; and the marvel is that when Dickens is spoken of, +it is difficult to arrive at an agreement as to which is his greatest +book. + +But this paper is supposed to relate to prices rather than to books +themselves. Other seductive arguments having failed, one sometimes hears +a vendor of rare books add, in his most convincing manner, "And you +couldn't possibly make a better investment." The idea, I suppose, is +calculated to enable a man to meet his wife's reproachful glance, or +something worse, as he returns home with a book under his arm. But +when one is about to commit some piece of extravagance, such as buying a +book of which one already has several copies, one will grasp at any +straw, the more so as there may be some truth in the statement. + +[Illustration: DEDICATION TO "THE VILLAGE COQUETTES," BY CHARLES DICKENS + +_From the manuscript formerly in the Coggeshall collection, much reduced +in size_] + +There are, however, so many good reasons why we should buy rare books, +that it seems a pity ever to refer to the least of them. I am not sure +that I am called on to give any judgment in the matter; but my belief is +that the one best and sufficient reason for a man to buy a book is +because he thinks he will be happier with it than without it. I always +question myself on this point, and another which presses it closely--can +I pay for it? I confess that I do not always listen so attentively for +the answer to this second question; but I try so to live as to be able +to look my bookseller in the eye and tell him where to go. I govern +myself by few rules, but this is one of them--never to allow a book to +enter my library as a creditor. + +"Un livre est un ami qui ne change jamais"; I want to enjoy my friends +whenever I am with them. One would get very tired of a friend if, every +time one met him, he should suggest a touch for fifty or five hundred +dollars. On the shelves in my office are some books that are mine, some +in which there is at the moment a joint ownership, and some which will +be mine in the near future, I hope--and doubtless in this hope I am not +alone; but the books on the shelves around the room in which I write +are mine, all of them. + +The advice given by "Punch" to those about to marry--"Don't"--seems, +then, to be the best advice to a man who is tempted to buy by the hope +of making a profit out of his books; but I observe that this short and +ugly word deters very few from following their inclinations in the +matter of marriage, and this advice may fall, as advice usually falls, +on deaf ears. Only when a man is safely ensconced in six feet of earth, +with several tons of enlauding granite upon his chest, is he in a +position to give advice with any certainty, and then he is silent; but +it will nevertheless be understood that I do not recommend the purchase +of rare books as an investment, and this in spite of the fact that many +collectors have made handsome profits out of the books they have sold. +While a man may do much worse with his money than buy rare books, he +cannot be certain that he can dispose of them at a profit, nor is it +necessary that he should do so. He should be satisfied to eat his cake +and have it; books selected with any judgment will almost certainly +afford this satisfaction, and of what other hobby can this be said with +the same assurance? + +[Illustration: Title of Meredith's "Modern Love," with Autograph +Inscription to Swinburne] + +The possession of rare books is a delight best understood by the owners +of them. They are not called upon to explain. The gentle will +understand, and the savage may be disregarded. It is the scholar whose +sword is usually brandished against collectors; and I would not have him +think that, in addition to our being ignorant of our books, we are +speculators in them also. Let him remember that we have our uses. + + Unlearned men of books assume the care, + As eunuchs are the guardians of the fair. + +It may as well be admitted that we do not buy expensive books to read. +We may say that it is a delight to us to look upon the very page on +which appeared for the first time such a sonnet as "On First Looking +into Chapman's Homer," or to read that bit of realism unsurpassed, where +Robinson Crusoe one day, about noon, discovered the print of a man's +naked foot upon the sand; but when we sit down with a copy of Keats, we +do not ask for a first edition; much less when we want to live over +again the joys of our childhood, do we pick up a copy of Defoe which +would be a find at a thousand dollars. But first editions of Keats's +Poems, 1817, in boards, with the paper label if possible, and a Defoe +unwashed, in a sound old calf binding, are good things to have. They are +indeed a joy forever, and will never pass into nothingness. I cannot see +why the possession of fine books is more reprehensible than the +possession of valuable property of any other sort. + +In speaking of books as an investment, one implies first editions. First +editions are scarce; tenth editions, as Charles Lamb stutteringly +suggested, are scarcer, but there is no demand for them. Why, then, +first editions? The question is usually dodged; the truth may as well +be stated. There is a joy in mere ownership. It may be silly, or it may +be selfish; but it is a joy, akin to that of possessing land, which +seems to need no defense. We do not walk over our property every day; we +frequently do not see it; but when the fancy takes us, we love to forget +our cares and responsibilities in a ramble over our fields. In like +manner, and for the same reason, we browse with delight in a corner of +our library in which we have placed our most precious books. We should +buy our books as we buy our clothes, not only to cover our nakedness, +but to embellish us; and we should buy more books and fewer clothes. + +I am told that, in proportion to our numbers and our wealth, less money +is spent on books now than was spent fifty years ago. I suppose our +growing love of sport is to some extent responsible. Golf has taken the +place of books. I know that it takes time and costs money. I do not play +the game myself, but I have a son who does. Perhaps when I am his age, I +shall feel that I can afford it. My sport is book-hunting. I look upon +it as a game, a game requiring skill, some money, and luck. The pleasure +that comes from seeing some book in a catalogue priced at two or three +times what I may have paid for a copy, is a pleasure due to vindicated +judgment. I do not wish to rush into the market and sell and secure my +profit. What is profit if I lose my book? Moreover, if one thinks of +profit rather than of books, there is an interest charge to be +considered. A book for which I paid a thousand dollars a few years ago, +no longer stands me at a thousand dollars, but at a considerably greater +sum. A man neat at figures could tell with mathematical accuracy just +the actual cost of that book down to any given minute. I neither know +nor want to know. + +There is another class of collector with whom I am not in keen sympathy, +and that is the men who specialize in the first published volumes of +some given group of authors. These works are usually of relatively +little merit, but they are scarce and expensive: scarce, because +published in small editions and at first neglected; expensive, because +they are desired to complete sets of first editions. Anthony Trollope's +first two novels have a greater money value than all the rest of his +books put together--but they are hard to read. In like manner, a +sensational novel, "Desperate Remedies," by Hardy, his first venture in +fiction, is worth perhaps as much as fifty copies of his "Woodlanders," +one of the best novels of the last half century. George Gissing, when he +was walking our streets penniless and in rags, could never have supposed +that a few years later his first novel, "Workers in the Dawn," would +sell for one hundred and fifty dollars, but it has done so. I have a +friend who has just paid this price. + +Just here I would like to remark that for several years I have been +seeking, without success, a copy of the first edition of that very +remarkable book, Samuel Butler's "The Way of All Flesh." Booksellers +who jauntily advertise, "Any book got," will please make a note of this +one. + +Nor do I think it necessary to have every scrap, every waif and stray, +of any author, however much I may esteem him. My collection of Johnson +is fairly complete, but I have no copy of Father Lobo's "Abyssinia." It +was an early piece of hack-work, a translation from the French, for +which Johnson received five pounds. It is not scarce; one would hardly +want to read it. It was the recollection of this book, doubtless, that +suggested the "Prince of Abissinia" to Johnson years later, when he +wanted to write "fiction," as the dear old ladies in "Cranford" called +"Rasselas"; but it has never seemed necessary to my happiness to have a +copy of "Lobo." On the other hand I have "stocked" "Rasselas" pretty +considerably, and could supply any reasonable demand. Such are the +vagaries of collectors. + +[Illustration: IN A COPY OF "RASSELAS"] + +Only once, I think, have I been guilty of buying a book I did not +particularly want, because of its speculative value--that was when I +stumbled across a copy of Woodrow Wilson's "Constitutional Government in +the United States" with a long inscription in its author's cursive hand. +Even in this case I think it was my imagination rather than avarice +that led me to pay a fancy price for a book which some day when I am not +"among those present" will fetch as many thousands as I paid hundreds. +In 1909, when the inscription was written, its author was a relatively +unimportant man--to-day he is known throughout the world and is in a +position to influence its destinies as no other man has ever been. + +[Illustration: The constitution of the United States, like the +constitution of every living state, grows and is altered by force of +circumstances and changes in affairs. The effect of a written +constitution is only to render the growth more subtle, more studious, +more conservative, more a thing of carefully, almost unconsciously, +wrought sequences. Our statesmen must, in the midst of origination, have +the spirit of lawyers. + +Woodrow Wilson +Princeton, 18 Oct., '09. +] + +No paper dealing with the prices of books would be complete without the +remark that condition is everything. Any rare book is immensely more +valuable if in very fine condition. Imagine for a moment a book worth, +say, six hundred dollars in good condition,--for example, the "Vicar of +Wakefield,"--and then imagine--if you can--a copy of this same book in +boards uncut. Would twenty-five hundred dollars be too high a price for +such a copy? I think not. + +Another point to be remembered is that the price of a book depends, not +only on its scarcity, but also on the universality of the demand for it. +And once again I may take the "Vicar" as an example of what I mean. The +"Vicar" is not a scarce book. For from six to eight hundred dollars, +dependent upon condition, one could, I think, lay his hands on as many +as ten copies in as many weeks. It is what the trade call a +bread-and-butter book--a staple. There is always a demand for it and +always a supply at a price; but try to get a copy of Fanny Burney's +"Evelina," and you may have to wait a year or more for it. It was the +first book of an unknown young lady; the first edition was very small, +it was printed on poor paper, proved to be immensely popular, and was +immediately worn out in the reading; but there is no persistent demand +for it as there is for the "Vicar," and it costs only half as much. + +In reading over whatever I have written on the subject of the prices of +rare books, I am aware that my remarks may sound to some like a +whistle--a whistle to keep up my courage at the thought of the prices I +am paying. But so long as the "knockout" does not get a foothold in this +country,--and it would immediately be the subject of investigation if it +did, and be stopped, as other abuses have been,--the prices of really +great books will always average higher and higher. "Of the making of +many books there is no end," nor is there an end to the prices men will +be willing to pay for them. + +[Illustration: This first book of my writings is dearest to my soul, +Because all of 'em's bought called "The Old Swimmin' Hole." + +Ever thine, +{Benj. F. Johnson, Boone Co., Ind.-- +{James Whitcomb Riley. + +For--Wallace H. Cathcourt(?), Cleveland, Ohio Indianapolis, Jan. 23 +1899] + + + + +V + +"WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN" + + +On a cold, raw day in December, 1882, there was laid to rest in Brompton +Cemetery, in London, an old lady,--an actress,--whose name, Frances +Maria Kelly, meant little to the generation of theatre-goers, then busy +with the rising reputation of Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. She was a +very old lady when she died--ninety-two, to be exact; she had outlived +her fame and her friends, and few followed her to her grave. + +I have said that the day was cold and raw. I do not know certainly that +it was so; I was not there; but for my sins I have passed many Decembers +in London, and take the right, in Charles Lamb's phrase, to damn the +weather at a venture. + +Fanny Kelly, as she was called by the generations that knew her, came of +a theatrical family, and most of her long life had been passed on the +stage. She was only seven when she made her first appearance at Drury +Lane, at which theatre she acted for some thirty-six years, when she +retired; subsequently she established a school of dramatic art and gave +from time to time what she termed "Entertainments," in which she +sometimes took as many as fourteen different parts in a single evening. +With her death the last link connecting us with the age of Johnson was +broken. She had acted with John Philip Kemble and with Mrs. Siddons. By +her sprightliness and grace she had charmed Fox and Sheridan and the +generations which followed, down to Charles Dickens, who had acted with +her in private theatricals at her own private theatre in Dean +Street,--now the Royalty,--taking the part of Captain Bobadil in _Every +Man in his Humor_. + +Nothing is more evanescent than the reputation of an actor. Every age +lingers lovingly over the greatness of the actors of its own youth; thus +it was that the theatre-goer of the eighteen-eighties only yawned when +told of the grace of Miss Kelly's Ophelia, of the charm of her Lydia +Languish, or of her bewitchingness in "breeches parts." To some she was +the old actress for whom the government was being solicited to do +something; a few thought of her as the old maiden lady who was obsessed +with the idea that Charles Lamb had once made her an offer of marriage. + +It was well known that, half a century before, Lamb had been one of her +greatest admirers. Every reader of his dramatic criticisms and his +letters knew that; they knew, too, that in one of his daintiest essays, +perhaps the most exquisite essay in the language, "Dream Children, A +Reverie," Lamb, speaking apparently more autobiographically than usual +even for him, says:-- + +[Illustration: Charles Lamb] + +"Then I told how, for seven long years, in hope sometimes, sometimes in +despair, yet persisting ever, I courted the fair Alice W----n; and, +as much as children could understand, I explained to them what coyness, +and difficulty, and denial meant to maidens--when suddenly, turning to +Alice, the soul of the first Alice looked out at her eyes with such a +reality of re-presentment, that I became in doubt which of them stood +there before me, or whose that bright hair was; and while I stood +gazing, both the children gradually grew fainter to my view, receding +and still receding, till nothing at last but two mournful features were +seen in the uttermost distance, which, without speech, strangely +impressed upon me the effects of speech:-- + +"'We are not of Alice, nor of thee, nor are we children at all. The +children of Alice call Bartrum father. We are nothing; less than +nothing, and dreams. We are only what might have been.'" + +I am quoting, not from the printed text, but from the original +manuscript, which is my most cherished literary possession; and this +lovely peroration, if such it may be called, is the only part of the +essay which has been much interlineated or recast. It appears to have +occasioned Lamb considerable difficulty; there was obviously some +searching for the right word; a part of it, indeed, was entirely +rewritten. + +The coyness, the difficulty, and the denial of Alice: was it not +immortally written into the record by Lamb himself? Miss Kelly's +rejection of an offer of marriage from him must be a figment of the +imagination of an old lady, who, as her years approached a century, had +her dream-children, too--children who called Lamb father. + +There the matter rested. Fanny Kelly was by way of being forgotten; all +the facts of Lamb's life were known, apparently, and he had lain in a +curiously neglected grave in Edmonton Churchyard for seventy years. +Innumerable sketches and lives and memorials of him, "final" and +otherwise, had been written and read. His letters--not complete, +perhaps, but volumes of them--had been published and read by the +constantly increasing number of his admirers, and no one suspected that +Lamb had had a serious love-affair--the world accepting without reserve +the statement of one of his biographers that "Lamb at the bidding of +duty remained single, wedding himself to the sad fortunes of his +sister." + +Then, quite unexpectedly, in 1903, John Hollingshead, the former manager +of the Gaiety Theatre, discovered and published two letters of Charles +Lamb written on the same day, July 20, 1819. One, a long letter in +Lamb's most serious vein, in which he formally offers his hand, and in a +way his sister's, to Miss Kelly, and the other a whimsical, elfish +letter, in which he tries to disguise the fact that in her refusal of +him he has received a hard blow. + +[Illustration: Miss Frances Maria Kelly] + +By reason of this important discovery, every line that Lamb had written +in regard to Fanny Kelly was read with new interest, and an admirable +biography of him by his latest and most sympathetic critic, Edward +Verrall Lucas, appearing shortly afterwards, was carefully studied to +see what, if any, further light could be thrown upon this interesting +subject. But it appears that the whole story has been told in the +letters, and students of Lamb were thrown back upon the already +published references. + +In the Works of Lamb, published in 1818, he had addressed to Miss Kelly +a sonnet:-- + + You are not, Kelly, of the common strain, + That stoop their pride and female honor down + To please that many-headed beast, the town, + And vend their lavish smiles and tricks for gain; + By fortune thrown amid the actor's train, + You keep your native dignity of thought; + The plaudits that attend you come unsought, + As tributes due unto your natural vein. + Your tears have passion in them, and a grace + Of genuine freshness, which our hearts avow; + Your smiles are winds whose ways we cannot trace, + That vanish and return we know not how-- + And please the better from a pensive face, + And thoughtful eye, and a reflecting brow. + +And early in the following year he had printed in a provincial journal +an appreciation of her acting, comparing her, not unfavorably, with Mrs. +Jordan, who, in her day, then over, is said to have had no rival in +comedy parts. + +Lamb's earliest reference to Miss Kelly, however, appears to be in a +letter to the Wordsworths, in which he says that he can keep the +accounts of his office, comparing sum with sum, writing "Paid" against +one and "Unpaid" against t'other (this was long before the days of +scientific bookkeeping and muchvaunted efficiency), and still reserve a +corner of his mind for the memory of some passage from a book, or "the +gleam of Fanny Kelly's divine plain face." This is an always quoted +reference and seems correctly to describe the lady, who is spoken of by +others as an unaffected, sensible, clear-headed, warm-hearted woman, +plain but engaging, with none of the vanities or arrogance of the +actress about her. It will be recalled that Lamb had no love for +blue-stocking women, and speaking of one, said, "If she belonged to me I +would lock her up and feed her on bread and water till she left off +writing poetry. A female poet, or female author of any kind, ranks below +an actress, I think." This shortest way with minor poets has, perhaps, +much to recommend it. + +It was Lamb's whim in his essays to be frequently misleading, setting +his signals at full speed ahead when they should have been set at +danger, or, at least, at caution. Thus in his charming essay "Barbara +S----" (how unconsciously one invariably uses this adjective in speaking +of anything Lamb wrote), after telling the story of a poor little stage +waif receiving by mistake a whole sovereign instead of the half a one +justly due for a week's pay, and how she was tempted to keep it, but did +not, he adds, "I had the anecdote from the mouth of the late Mrs. +Crawford." Here seemed to be plain sailing, and grave editors pointed +out who Mrs. Crawford was: they told her maiden name, and for good +measure threw in the names of her several husbands. But Lamb, in a +letter to Bernard Barton in 1825, speaking of these essays, said: "Tell +me how you like 'Barbara S----.' I never saw Mrs. Crawford in my life, +nevertheless 'tis all true of somebody." And some years later, not long +before he died, to another correspondent he wrote: "As Miss Kelly is +just now in notoriety,"--she was then giving an entertainment called +"Dramatic Recollections" at the Strand Theatre,--"it may amuse you to +know that 'Barbara S----' is all of it true of her, being all +communicated to me from her own mouth. Can we not contrive to make up a +party to see her?" + +There is another reference to Miss Kelly, which, in the light of our +subsequent knowledge, is as dainty a suggestion of marriage with her as +can be found in the annals of courtship. It appeared in "The Examiner" +just a fortnight before Lamb's proposal. In a criticism of her acting as +Rachel in "The Jovial Crew," now forgotten, Lamb was, he says, +interrupted in the enjoyment of the play by a stranger who sat beside +him remarking of Miss Kelly, "What a lass that were to go a gypsying +through the world with!" + +Knowing how frequently Lamb addressed Elia, his other self, and Elia, +Lamb, may we not suppose that on this occasion the voice of the stranger +was the voice of Elia? Was it unlikely that Miss Kelly, who would see +the criticism, would hear the voice and recognize it as Lamb's? I love +to linger over these delicate incidents of Lamb's courtship, which was +all too brief. + +But what of Mary? I think she cannot but have contemplated the +likelihood of her brother's marriage and determined upon the line she +would take in that event. Years before she had written, "You will smile +when I tell you I think myself the only woman in the world who could +live with a brother's wife, and make a real friend of her, partly from +early observations of the unhappy example I have just given you, and +partly from a knack I know I have of looking into people's real +character, and never expecting them to act out of it--never expecting +another to do as I would in the same case." + +Mary Lamb was an exceptional woman; and even though her brother might +have thought he kept the secret of his love to himself, she would know +and, I fancy, approve. Was it not agreed between them that she was to +die first? and when she was gone, who would be left to care for Charles? + +Before I come to the little drama--tragedy one could hardly call it--of +Lamb's love-affair as told in his own way by his letters, I may be +permitted to refer to two letters of his to Miss Kelly, one of them +relatively unimportant, the other a few lines only, both unpublished, +which form a part of my own Lamb collection. These letters, before they +fell from high estate, formed a part of the "Sentimental Library" of +Harry B. Smith, to whom I am indebted for much information concerning +them. It will be seen that both these letters work themselves into the +story of Lamb's love-affair, which I am trying to tell. So far as is +known, four letters are all that he ever addressed to the lady: the two +above referred to, and the proposal and its sequel, in the collection of +Mr. Huntington of New York, where I saw them not long ago. I have held +valuable letters in my hand before, but these letters of Lamb! I confess +to an emotional feeling with which the mere book-collector is rarely +credited. + +[Illustration: Miss Kelly in Various Characters.] + +The earlier and briefer letter is pasted into a copy of the first +edition of the "Works of Charles Lamb," 1818, "in boards, shaken," which +occupies a place of honor on my shelves. It reads: "Mr. Lamb having +taken the liberty of addressing a slight compliment to Miss Kelly in his +first volume, respectfully requests her acceptance of the collection. +7th June, 1818." The compliment, of course, is the sonnet already +quoted. + +[Illustration: Mr Lamb having taken the liberty of addressing a +slight compliment to Mrs. Kelly in his first volume, respectfully +requests her acceptance of the Collection. + +7th June 1818] + +The second letter was written just ten days before Lamb asked Miss Kelly +to marry him. The bones playfully referred to were small ivory discs, +about the size of a two-shilling piece, which were allotted to leading +performers for the use of their friends, giving admission to the pit. +On one side was the name of the theatre; on the other the name of the +actor or actress to whom they were allotted. The letter reads: + +DEAR MISS KELLY,-- + + If your Bones are not engaged on Monday night, will you favor us + with the use of them? I know, if you can oblige us, you will make + no bones of it; if you cannot, it shall break none betwixt us. We + might ask somebody else; but we do not like the bones of any + strange animal. We should be welcome to dear Mrs. Liston's, but + then she is so plump, there is no getting at them. I should prefer + Miss Iver's--they must be ivory I take it for granted--but she is + married to Mr. ----, and become bone of his bone, consequently can + have none of her own to dispose of. Well, it all comes to this,--if + you can let us have them, you will, I dare say; if you cannot, God + rest your bones. I am almost at the end of my bon-mots. + +C. LAMB. + + 9th _July_, 1819. + +This characteristic note in Lamb's best punning manner ("I fancy I +succeed best in epistles of mere fun; puns and that nonsense") may be +regarded as a prologue to the drama played ten days later, the whole +occupying but the space of a single day. + +[Illustration: Dear Miss Kelly,-- + +If your Bones are not engaged on Monday night, will you favor us with +the use of them? I know, if you can oblige us, you will make no bones of +it; if you cannot, it shall break none betwixt us. We might ask somebody +else, but we do not like the bones of any strange animal. We should be +welcome to dear Mrs. Listons, but then she is so plump, there is no +getting at them. I should prefer Miss Iver's--they must be ivory I take +it for granted--but she is married to Mr. ----, and become bone of his +bone, consequently can have none of her own to dispose of. Well, it all +comes to this,--if you can let us have them, you will, I dare say; if +you cannot, God rest your bones. I am almost at the end of my bon-mots. + +C Lamb + +9th July, 1819] + +And now the curtain is lifted on the play in which Lamb and Miss Kelly +are the chief actors. Lamb is in his lodgings in Great Russell Street, +Covent Garden, the individual spot he likes best in all London. Bow +Street Police Court can be seen through the window, and Mary Lamb seated +thereby, knitting, glances into the busy street as she sees a crowd of +people follow in the wake of a constable, conducting a thief to his +examination. Lamb is seated at a table, writing. We, unseen, may glance +over his shoulder and see the letter which he has just finished. + +DEAR MISS KELLY,-- + + We had the pleasure, _pain_ I might better call it, of seeing you + last night in the new Play. It was a most consummate piece of + acting, but what a task for you to undergo! at a time when your + heart is sore from real sorrow! It has given rise to a train of + thinking which I cannot suppress. + + Would to God you were released from this way of life; that you + could bring your mind to consent to take your lot with us, and + throw off forever the whole burden of your Profession. I neither + expect nor wish you to take notice of this which I am writing, in + your present over-occupied & hurried state.--But to think of it at + your pleasure. I have quite income enough, if that were to justify + me for making such a proposal, with what I may call even a handsome + provision for my survivor. What you possess of your own would + naturally be appropriated to those for whose sakes chiefly you have + made so many hard sacrifices. I am not so foolish as not to know + that I am a most unworthy match for such a one as you, but you have + for years been a principal object in my mind. In many a sweet + assumed character I have learned to love you, but simply as F. M. + Kelly I love you better than them all. Can you quit these shadows + of existence, & come & be a reality to us? Can you leave off + harassing yourself to please a thankless multitude, who know + nothing of you, & begin at last to live to yourself & your friends? + + As plainly & frankly as I have seen you give or refuse assent in + some feigned scene, so frankly do me the justice to answer me. It + is impossible I should feel injured or aggrieved by your telling me + at once, that the proposal does not suit you. It is impossible that + I should ever think of molesting you with idle importunity and + persecution after your mind [is] once firmly spoken--but happier, + far happier, could I have leave to hope a time might come when our + friends might be your friends; our interests yours; our + book-knowledge, if in that inconsiderable particular we have any + little advantage, might impart something to you, which you would + every day have it in your power ten thousand fold to repay by the + added cheerfulness and joy which you could not fail to bring as a + dowry into whatever family should have the honor and happiness of + receiving _you_, the most welcome accession that could be made to + it. + + In haste, but with entire respect & deepest affection, I subscribe + myself + +C. LAMB. + + 20 _July_, 1819. + +No punning or nonsense here. It is the most serious letter Lamb ever +wrote--a letter so fine, so manly, so honorable in the man who wrote it, +so honoring to the woman to whom it was addressed, that, knowing Lamb as +we do, it can hardly be read without a lump in the throat and eyes +suffused with tears. + +The letter is folded and sealed and sent by a serving-maid to the lady, +who lives hard by in Henrietta Street, just the other side of Covent +Garden--and the curtain falls. + +Before the next act we are at liberty to wonder how Lamb passed the time +while Miss Kelly was writing her reply. Did he go off to the "dull +drudgery of the desk's dead wood" at East India House, and there busy +himself with the prices of silks or tea or indigo, or did he wander +about the streets of his beloved London? I fancy the latter. In any +event the curtain rises a few hours later, and Lamb and his sister are +seen as before. She has laid aside her knitting. It is late afternoon. +Lamb is seated at the table endeavoring to read, when a maid enters and +hands him a letter; he breaks the seal eagerly. Again we look over his +shoulder and read:-- + +HENRIETTA STREET, _July_ 20th, 1819. + + An early & deeply rooted attachment has fixed my heart on one from + whom no worldly prospect can well induce me to withdraw it, but + while I thus frankly & decidedly decline your proposal, believe me, + I am not insensible to the high honour which the preference of such + a mind as yours confers upon me--let me, however, hope that all + thought upon this subject will end with this letter, & that you + henceforth encourage no other sentiment towards me than esteem in + my private character and a continuance of that approbation of my + humble talents which you have already expressed so much and so + often to my advantage and gratification. + + Believe me I feel proud to acknowledge myself + +Your obliged friend +F. M. KELLY. + + + +Lamb rises from his chair and attempts to walk over to where Mary is +sitting; but his feelings overcome him, and he sinks back in his chair +again as the curtain falls. + +It moves quickly, the action of this little drama. The curtain is down +but a moment, suggesting the passage of a single hour. When it is +raised, Lamb is alone; he is but forty-five, but looks an old man. The +curtains are drawn, lighted candles are on the table. We hear the rain +against the windows. Lamb is writing, and for the last time we intrude +upon his privacy. + +Now poor Charles Lamb, now dear Charles Lamb, "Saint Charles," if you +will! Our hearts go out to him; we would comfort him if we could. But +read slowly one of the finest letters in all literature: a letter in +which he accepts defeat instantly, but with a smile on his face; tears +there may have been in his eyes, but she was not to see them. See Lamb +in his supreme rôle--_of a man_. How often had he urged his friends to +play that difficult part--which no one could play better than he. The +letter reads:-- + +DEAR MISS KELLY,-- + + _Your injunctions shall be obeyed to a tittle._ I feel myself in a + lackadaisical no-how-ish kind of a humor. I believe it is the rain, + or something. I had thought to have written seriously, but I fancy + I succeed best in epistles of mere fun; puns & that nonsense. You + will be good friends with us, will you not? Let what has past + "break no bones" between us. You will not refuse us them next time + we send for them? + +Yours very truly, +C. L. + + P.S. Do you observe the delicacy of not signing my full name? + + N.B. Do not paste that last letter of mine into your book. + +We sometimes, mistakenly, say that the English are not good losers. To +think of Charles Lamb may help us to correct that opinion. + +All good plays of the period have an epilogue. By all means this should +have one; and ten days later Lamb himself provided it. It appeared in +"The Examiner," where, speaking of Fanny Kelly's acting in "The +Hypocrite," he said,-- + +"She is in truth not framed to tease or torment even in jest, but to +utter a hearty Yes or No; to yield or refuse assent with a noble +sincerity. We have not the pleasure of being acquainted with her, but we +have been told that she carries the same cordial manners into private +life." + +The curtain falls! The play is at an end. + +[Illustration: Charles and Mary Lamb] + + + + +VI + +JAMES BOSWELL--HIS BOOK + + +Sitting one evening with my favorite book and enjoying the company of a +crackling wood fire, I was interrupted by a cheerful idiot who, entering +unheard, announced himself with the remark, "This is what I call a +library." Indifferent to a forced welcome, he looked about him and +continued, "I see you are fond of Boswell. I always preferred Macaulay's +'Life of Johnson' to Boswell's--it's so much shorter. I read it in +college." + +Argument would have been wasted on him. If he had been alone in his +opinion, I would have killed him and thus exterminated the species; but +he is only one of a large class, who having once read Macaulay's essay, +and that years ago, feel that they have received a peculiar insight into +the character of Samuel Johnson and have a patent to sneer at his +biographer. + +Having a case of books by and about the dear old Doctor, I have acquired +a reputation that plagues me. People ask to see my collection, not that +they know anything about it, or care, but simply to please me, as they +think. Climbing to unusual intellectual heights, when safe at the top, +where there is said to be always room, they look about and with a +knowing leer murmur, "Oh! rare Ben!" I have become quite expert at +lowering them from their dangerous position without showing them the +depths of their ignorance. This is a feat which demands such skill as +can be acquired only by long practice. + +Macaulay's essay is anathema to me. If it were a food-product, the +authorities would long since have suppressed it on account of its +artificial coloring matter; but prep.-school teachers and college +professors go on "requiring" its reading from sheer force of habit; and +as long as they continue to do so, the true Samuel Johnson and the real +James Boswell will both remain unknown. + +Out of a thousand who have read this famous essay and remember its +wonderfully balanced sentences, which stick in the memory like burrs in +the hair, perhaps not more than one will be able to recall the +circumstances under which it was written. Purporting to be a review of a +new edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson," edited by John Wilson +Croker, it is really a personal attack on a bitter political enemy. +Written at a time when political feeling ran high, it begins with a lie. +Using the editorial "We," Macaulay opens by saying, "We are sorry to be +obliged to say that the merits of Mr. Croker's performance are on a par +with those of a certain leg of mutton on which Dr. Johnson dined while +travelling from London to Oxford, and which he, with characteristic +energy, pronounced to be as bad as could be." + +[Illustration: JAMES BOSWELL OF AUCHINLECK, ESQR. + +_Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Engraved by John Jones_] + +Let us see how sorry Macaulay really was. In a letter written to his +sister just before Croker's book appeared he writes: "I am to review +Croker's edition of Bozzy.... I detest Croker more than cold boiled +veal.... See whether I do not dust the varlet's jacket in the next +number of the 'Edinburgh Review.'" And he did, and the cloud of dust he +then raised obscured Johnson, settled on Boswell, and for a time almost +smothered him. + +I suspect that Macaulay prepared himself for writing his smashing +article by reading Croker's book through in half a dozen evenings, +pencil in hand, searching for blemishes. After that, his serious work +began. Blinded by his hatred of the editor, he makes Johnson grotesque +and repulsive, and grossly insults Boswell. He started with the premise +that Boswell was mean, but that his book was great. Then the proposition +defined itself in his mind something like this: Boswell was one of the +smallest men that ever lived, yet his "Life of Johnson" is one of the +greatest books ever written. Boswell was always laying himself at the +feet of some eminent man, begging to be spit upon and trampled upon, yet +as a biographer he ranks with Shakespeare as a dramatist; and so he goes +on, until at last, made dizzy by the sweep of his verbal seesaw and the +lilt of his own brutal rhetoric, he finally reaches the conclusion that, +_because_ Boswell was a great fool, he was a very great writer. + +Absurdity can go no further. Well may we ask ourselves what Boswell had +done to be thus pilloried? Nothing! except that he had written a book +which is universally admitted to be the best book of its kind in any +language. + +What manner of a man was James Boswell? He was, more than most men, a +mass of contradictions. It would never, I think, have been easy to +answer this question. Since Macaulay answered it, in his cocksure way, +and answered it wrongly, to answer it rightly is most difficult. It is +so easy to keep ringing the changes on Macaulay. Any fool with a pen can +do it. Some time ago, apropos of the effort being made to preserve the +house in Great Queen Street, in London, in which Boswell lived when he +wrote the biography, some foolish writer in a magazine said, "Boswell +shrivels more and more as we look at him.... It would be absurd to +preserve a memorial to him alone."--"Shrivels!" Impossible! Johnson and +Boswell as a partnership have been too long established for either +member of the firm to "shrivel." Unconsciously perhaps, but consciously +I think, Boswell has so managed it that, when the senior partner is +thought of, the junior also comes to mind. Johnson's contribution to the +business was experience and unlimited common sense; Boswell made him +responsible for output: the product was words, merely spoken words, +either of wisdom or of wit. Distribution is quite as important as +production--any railroad man will tell you so. Boswell had a genius for +packing and delivering the goods so that they are, if anything, improved +by time and transportation. + +Let me have one more fling at Macaulay. He missed, and for his sins he +deserved to miss, two good things without which this world would be a +sad place. He had no wife and he had no sense of humor. Either would +have told him that he was writing sheer nonsense when he said, "The very +wife of his [Boswell's] bosom laughed at his fooleries." What are wives +for, I should like to know, if not to laugh at us? + +But reputation is like a pendulum, and it is now swinging from Macaulay. +James Boswell is coming into his own. The biographer will outlive the +essayist, brilliant and wonderful writer though he be; and I venture the +prophecy that, when the traveler from New Zealand takes his stand on the +ruined arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's, he will +have a pocket edition of Boswell with him, in which to read something of +the lives of those strange people who inhabited that vast solitude when +it was called London. + + * * * * * + +James Boswell was born in 1740. His father was a Scottish judge, with +the title of Lord Auchinleck. Auchinleck is in Ayrshire, and the estate +had belonged to the Boswells for over two hundred years when the +biographer of Johnson was born. As a young man, he was rather a trial to +his father, and showed his ability chiefly in circumventing the old +man's wishes. The father destined him for the law; but he was not a good +student, and was fond of society; so the choice of the son was for the +army. + +We, however, know Boswell better than he knew himself, and we know that +when he fancied that he heard the call to arms, what he really wanted +was to parade around in a scarlet uniform and make love to the ladies. +But even in those early days there must have been something attractive +about him, for when he and his father went up to London to solicit the +good offices of the Duke of Argyle to secure a commission for him, the +duke is reported to have declined, saying, "My Lord, I like your son. +The boy must not be shot at for three shillings and six-pence a day." + +Boswell was only twenty when he first heard of the greatness of Samuel +Johnson and formed a desire to meet him; but it was not until several +years later that the great event occurred. What a meeting it was! It +seems almost to have been foreordained. A proud, flippant, pushing young +particle, irresponsible and practically unknown, meets one of the most +distinguished men then living in London, a man more than thirty years +his senior and in almost every respect his exact opposite, and so +carries himself that, in spite of a rebuff or two at the start, we find +Johnson a few days later shaking him by the hand and asking him why he +does not come oftener to see him. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF DR. JOHNSON BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, PROBABLY +IDEALIZED. THE DOCTOR IS WEARING A TIE-WIG AND HOLDS A COPY OF "IRENE" + +_Engraved by Zobel_] + +The description of the first meeting between Johnson and Boswell, +written many years afterwards, is a favorite passage with all good +Boswellians. "At last, on Monday, the 16th of May[10] [1763], when I was +sitting in Mr. Davies' back parlour, after having drunk tea with him +and Mrs. Davies, Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr. +Davies, having perceived him through the glass-door in the room in which +we were sitting, advancing toward us,--he announced his aweful approach +to me, somewhat in the manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when +he addresses Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost, 'Look, my +Lord, it comes!'" + +This is a good example of Boswell's style. In the fewest possible words +he creates a picture which one never forgets. We not only hear the talk, +we see the company, and soon come to know every member of it. + +Without this meeting the world would have lost one of the most +delightful books ever written, Boswell himself would probably never have +been heard of, and Johnson to-day would be a mere name instead of being, +as he is, next to Shakespeare, the most quoted of English authors. As +Augustine Birrell has pointed out, we have only talk _about_ other +talkers. Johnson's is a matter of record. Johnson stamped his image on +his own generation, but it required the genius of Boswell to make him +known to ours, and to all generations to come. "Great as Johnson is," +says Burke, "he is greater in Boswell's books than in his own." That we +now speak of the "Age of Johnson" is due rather to Boswell than to the +author of the "Dictionary," "Rasselas," and endless "Ramblers." + +Someone has said that the three greatest characters in English +literature are Falstaff, Mr. Pickwick, and Dr. Johnson. Had James +Boswell created the third of this great trio, he would indeed rank with +Shakespeare and with Dickens; but Johnson was his own creation, and +Boswell, posing as an artist, painted his portrait as mortal man has +never been painted before. In his pages we see the many-sided Johnson, +the great burly philosopher, scholar, wit, and ladies' man--Boswell +makes him a shade too austere--more clearly than any other man who ever +lived. As a portrait-painter, Boswell is the world's greatest artist; +and he is not simply a portrait-painter--he is unsurpassed at +composition, atmosphere, and color. His book is like Rembrandt's Night +Watch--the canvas is crowded, the portraits all are faultless and +distinct, but there is one dominating figure standing out from the +rest--one masterly, unsurpassed, and immortal figure. + +Boswell, when he first met Johnson, was twenty-two years of age. A year +later he writes him: "It shall be my study to do what I can to render +your life happy; and if you die before me, I shall endeavor to do honor +to your memory." He kept his word. From that hour almost to the time of +Johnson's death (I say almost, for just before the end there seems to +have fallen upon their friendship a shadow, the cause of which has never +been fully explained), they were unreservedly friends. Superficially +they had little in common, but in essentials, all that was important; +and they supplemented each other as no two men have ever done before or +since. Reading the Life casually, as it is usually read, one would +suppose that they were very much together; but such is not the case. +Birkbeck Hill, Boswell's most painstaking editor, has calculated that, +including the time when Boswell and Johnson were together in the +Hebrides, they could have seen each other only for 790 days in all; and +this on the assumption that Boswell, when in London, was always in +Johnson's company, which we know was not the case; moreover, when they +were apart there were gaps of years in their correspondence. + +Boswell, however, weaves the story of Johnson's life so skillfully that +we come to have the feeling that whenever Johnson was going to say +anything important, Boswell was at his side. Johnson, in speaking of his +Dictionary once said, "Why, Sir, I knew very well how to go about it and +have done it very well." Boswell could have said the same of his great +work. We had no great biography before his, and in comparison we have +had none since. The combination of so great a subject for portraiture +and so great an artist had never occurred before and may never occur +again. Geniuses ordinarily do not run in couples. + +Boswell hoped that his book would bring him fame. Over it he labored at +a time when labor was especially difficult for him. For it he was +prepared to sacrifice himself, his friends, anything. Whatever would add +to his book's value he would include, at whatever cost. A more careful +and exact biographer never lived. Reynolds said of him that he wrote as +if he were under oath; and we all remember the reply he made to Hannah +More, who, when she heard he was engaged in writing the life of her +revered friend, urged him to mitigate somewhat the asperities of his +disposition: "No, madam, I will not cut his claws or make my tiger a cat +to please anyone." + +And for writing this book Boswell has been held up to almost universal +scorn. His defenders have been few and faint-hearted. I have never +derived much satisfaction from Boswell's rescue (the word is Lowell's) +by Carlyle. That unhappy old dyspeptic, unable to enjoy a good dinner +himself, could not forgive Boswell his gusto for the good things of +life. + +What were Boswell's faults above those of other men, that stones should +be thrown at him? He drank too much! True, but what of it? Who in his +day did not? Johnson records that many of the most respectable people in +his cathedral city of Lichfield went nightly to bed drunk. + +He was an unfaithful husband! Admitted; but Mrs. Boswell forgave him, +and why should not we? + +He was proud! He was, but the pride of race is not unheard of in the +scion of an old family; nor did he allow his pride to prevent his +attaching himself to an old man who admitted that he hardly knew who was +his grandfather. + +He had a taste for knowing people highly placed! He had, and he came to +number among his friends the greatest scholar, the greatest poet, the +greatest painter, the greatest actor, the greatest historian, and most +of the great statesmen of his day; and these men, though they laughed +with him frequently, and at him sometimes, did not think him altogether +a fool. + +He was vain and foolish! Yes, and inquisitive; yet while neither wise +nor witty himself, he had an exquisite appreciation of wit in others. He +carried repartees and arguments with accuracy. Mrs. Thrale very cleverly +said that his long-head was better than short-hand; yet, as some one has +pointed out, to follow the hum of conversation with so much intelligence +required unusual quickness of apprehension and cannot be reconciled with +the opinion that he was simply endowed with memory. + +He lived beyond his means and got into debt! I seem to have heard +something of this of other men whose fathers were not enjoying a +comfortable estate and whose children were not adequately provided for. + +Let there be an end to a discussion of the weaknesses of Boswell. They +have been sufficiently advertised and his good qualities overlooked. If +a man is a genius, let his personal shortcomings be absorbed in the +greatness of his work. The worst that can be fairly said of Boswell is +that he was vain, inquisitive, and foolish. Let us forget the silly +questions he sometimes put to Johnson, and remember how often he started +something which made the old Doctor perform at his unrivaled best. + +The difficulty is that Boswell told on himself. As he was speaking to +Johnson one day of his weaknesses, the old man admitted that he had +them, too, but added, "I don't tell of them. A man should be careful +not to tell tales of himself to his own disadvantage." It would have +been well if Boswell could have remembered this excellent bit of advice; +but Johnson's advice, whether sought or unsought, was too frequently +disregarded. + +One of his most intimate friends, Sir Joshua Reynolds, has testified to +his truthfulness, and even a casual reader of the Life will admit that +he was courageous. Tossed and gored by Johnson, as he frequently was, he +always came back; and, much as he respected the old man, he was never +overawed by him. He differed with him on the wisdom of taxing the +American Colonies, on the merits of the novels of Fielding, on the +poetry of Gray, and on many other subjects. To differ with Johnson +required courage and conversational ability of no common order. Indeed, +it may be doubted whether, next to Johnson himself, Boswell was not the +best talker in the circle--and Johnson's circle included the most +brilliant men of his time. He was sometimes very happy in his reference +to himself: as where, having brought Paoli and Johnson together, he +compares himself to an isthmus connecting two great continents. Indeed, +the great work is so famous as a biography of Johnson that few people +realize to what an extent and how subtly Boswell has made it his own +autobiography. + +Johnson once said, "Sir, the biographical part of literature is what I +love best." I am inclined to think that it is so with most of us. It +would have been impossible for Boswell, the biographer _par +excellence_, not to have told in one way or another the story of his +own life. He told it in his account of the island of Corsica, and in his +letters to his life-long friend, Temple. These deserve to be better +known than they are. They are indeed just such letters as Samuel Pepys +might have written in cipher to his closest friend, whom he had already +provided with a key. + +The first letter of this correspondence is dated Edinburgh, 29 July, +1758, when Boswell was eighteen years of age; and the last was on his +writing-desk in London when the shadow of death fell upon him, +thirty-seven years later. + +The manner in which these letters came to be published is interesting. +An English clergyman touring in France, having occasion to make some +small purchases at a shop in Boulogne, observed that the paper in which +they were wrapped was a fragment of an English letter. Upon inspection a +date and some well-known names were observed, and further investigation +showed that the piece of paper was part of a correspondence carried on +nearly a century before between Boswell and a friend, the Reverend +William Johnson Temple. On making inquiry, it was ascertained that this +piece of paper had been taken from a large parcel recently purchased +from a hawker, who was in the habit of passing through Boulogne once or +twice a year, for the purpose of supplying the different shops with +paper. Beyond this no further information could be obtained. The whole +contents of the parcel were immediately secured. + +At the death of the purchaser of these letters they passed into the +hands of a nephew, from whom they were obtained, and published in 1857, +after such editing and expurgating as was then fashionable. Who did the +work has never been discovered, nor does it matter, as the letters +fortunately passed into the collection of J. P. Morgan, and are now, +finally, being edited, together with such other letters as are +available, by Professor Tinker of Yale. Students of eighteenth-century +literature have good reason for believing that a volume of supreme +interest is in preparation for them; for such self-revealing letters, +such human documents as those of James Boswell, could have been written +only by their author, or by Samuel Pepys. As these letters are little +known, let me give a few excerpts from them as originally published. On +one of his journeys to London, Boswell writes:-- + + I have thought of making a good acquaintance in each town on the + road. No man has been more successful in making acquaintances + easily than I have been; I even bring people quickly on to a degree + of cordiality ... but I know not if I last sufficiently, though + surely, my dear Temple, there is always a warm place for you. + +Further along on the road he writes again:-- + + I am in charming health and spirits. There is a handsome maid at + this inn, who interrupts me by coming sometimes into the room. I + have no confession to make, my priest; so be not curious. + +On his way back to Edinburgh he goes somewhat out of his way to stop +again at this inn and have another look at the handsome +chambermaid,--her name was Matty,--and finds that she has disappeared, +as handsome chambermaids have a way of doing; but Boswell comforts +himself by reflecting that he can find mistresses wherever he goes. He +remembers also that he had promised Dr. Johnson to accept a chest of +books of the moralist's own selection, and to "read more and drink +less." + +[Illustration: James Boswell. + +Inner Temple, London 1769.-- + +A present from my worthy friend Temple. + +INSCRIPTION IN BOSWELL'S COPY OF MASON'S "ELFRIDA"] + +Again he writes from Edinburgh:-- + + I have talked a great deal of my sweet little mistress; I am, + however, uneasy about her. Furnishing a house and maintaining her + with a maid will cost me a great deal of money, and it is too like + marriage, or too much a settled plan of licentiousness; but what + can I do? I have already taken the house, and the lady has agreed + to go in at Whitsuntide; I cannot in honour draw back.... Nor am I + tormented because my charmer has formerly loved others. Besides she + is ill-bred, quite a rompish girl. She debases my dignity: she has + no refinement, but she is very handsome and very lively. What is it + to me that she has formerly loved? So have I. + +Temple's letters to Boswell have not been preserved, but he appears to +have warned him of the danger of his course, for Boswell comes back +with,-- + + I have a dear infidel, as you say; but don't think her unfaithful. + I could not love her if she was. There is a baseness in all deceit + which my soul is virtuous enough to abhor, and therefore I look + with horror on adultery. But my amiable mistress is no longer bound + to him who was her husband: he has used her shockingly ill; he has + deserted her, he lives with another. Is she not then free? She is, + it is clear, and no arguments can disguise it. She is now mine, and + were she to be unfaithful to me she ought to be pierced with a + Corsican poniard; but I believe she loves me sincerely. She has + done everything to please me; she is perfectly generous, and would + not hear of any present. + +Boswell seemed to enjoy equally two very different things, namely, going +to church and getting drunk. On Easter Sunday he "attends the solemn +service at St. Paul's," and next day informs Mr. Temple that he had +"received the holy sacrament, and was exalted in piety." But in the same +letter he reports that he is enjoying "the metropolis to the full," and +that he has had "too much dissipation." + +He resolves to do better when his book on Corsica appears, and he has +the reputation of a literary man to support. Meanwhile, he confesses:-- + + I last night unwarily exceeded my one bottle of old Hock; and + having once broke over the pale, I run wild, but I did not get + drunk. I was, however, intoxicated, and very ill next day. I ask + your forgiveness, and I shall be more cautious for the future. The + drunken manners of this country are very bad. + +Boswell's affairs with chambermaids, grass widows, and women of the town +moved along simultaneously with efforts to land an heiress. He asks +Temple to help him in an affair with a Miss Blair. Temple did his best +and failed. He reported his failure and Boswell was deeply dejected for +five minutes; then he writes: + + My dear friend, suppose what you please; suppose her affections + changed, as those of women too often are; suppose her offended at + my _Spanish stateliness_ [italics mine]; suppose her to have + resolved to be more reserved and coy in order to make me more in + love. + +Then he felt that he must have a change of scene, and off he was to +London. + + I got into the fly at Buckden [he says], and had a very good + journey. An agreeable young widow nursed me, and supported my lame + foot on her knee. Am I not fortunate in having something about me + that interests most people at first sight in my favour? + +In a letter to Mrs. Thrale, Johnson once wrote: "It has become so much +the fashion to publish letters that in order to avoid it, I put as +little into mine as I can." Boswell was not afraid of publication. His +fear, as he said, was that letters, like sermons, would not continue to +attract public curiosity, so he spiced his highly. Did he do or say a +foolish thing, he at once sat down and told Temple all about it, usually +adding that in the near future he intended to amend. His comment on his +contemporaries is characteristic. "Hume," he says, "told me that he +would give me half-a-crown for every page of Johnson's Dictionary in +which he could not find an absurdity, if I would give him half-a-crown +for every page in which he could find one." + +He announces Adam Smith's election to membership in the famous literary +club by saying: "Smith is now of our club--it has lost its select +merit." Of Gibbon he says: "I hear nothing of the publication of his +second volume. He is an ugly, affected, disgusting fellow, and poisons +our literary club to me." + +As he grows older and considers how unsuccessful his life has been, how +he had failed at the bar both in Scotland and in London, he begins to +complain. He can get no clients; he fears that, even were he entrusted +with cases, he would fail utterly. + + I am afraid [he says], that, were I to be tried, I should be found + so deficient in the forms, the quirks and the quiddities, which + early habit acquires, that I should expose myself. Yet the delusion + of Westminster Hall, of brilliant reputation and splendid fortune + as a barrister, still weighs upon my imagination. I must be seen in + the Courts, and must hope for some happy openings in causes of + importance. The Chancellor, as you observe, has not done as I + expected; but why did I expect it? I am going to put him to the + test. Could I be satisfied with being Baron of Auchinleck, with a + good income for a gentleman in Scotland, I might, no doubt, be + independent. What can be done to deaden the ambition which has ever + raged in my veins like a fever? + +But the highest spirits will sometimes flag. Boswell, the friendly, +obliging, generous roué, was getting old. He begins to speak of the +past. + + Do you remember when you and I sat up all night at Cambridge, and + read Gray with a noble enthusiasm; when we first used to read + Mason's "Elfrida," and when we talked of that elegant knot of + worthies, Gray, Mason and Walpole? + +"Elfrida" calls itself on the title-page, "A Dramatic Poem written on +the model of the Ancient Greek Tragedy." I happen to own and value +highly the very copy of this once famous poem, which Boswell and Temple +read together; on the fly leaf, under Boswell's signature, is a +characteristic note in his bold, clear hand: "A present from my worthy +friend Temple." + +[Illustration: TITLE OF MASON'S "ELFRIDA." First Edition] + +He becomes more than ever before the butt of his acquaintance. He tells +his old friend of a trick which has been played on him--only one of +many. He was staying at a great house crowded with guests. + + I and two other gentlemen were laid in one room. On Thursday + morning my wig was missing; a strict search was made, all in vain. + I was obliged to go all day in my nightcap, and absent myself from + a party of ladies and gentlemen who went and dined with an Earl on + the banks of the lake, a piece of amusement which I was glad to + shun, as well as a dance which they had at night. But I was in a + ludicrous situation. I suspect a wanton trick, which some people + think witty; but I thought it very ill-timed to one in my + situation. + +When his father dies and he comes into his estates, he is deeply in +debt; he hates Scotland, he longs to be in London, to enjoy the Club, to +see Johnson, to whom he writes of his difficulties, asking his advice. +Johnson gives him just such advice as might be expected. + + To come hither with such expectations at the expense of borrowed + money, which I find you know not where to borrow, can hardly be + considered prudent. I am sorry to find, what your solicitations + seem to imply, that you have already gone the length of your + credit. This is to set the quiet of your whole life at hazard. If + you anticipate your inheritance, you can at last inherit nothing; + all that you receive must pay for the past. You must get a place, + or pine in penury, with the empty name of a great estate. Poverty, + my dear friend, is so great an evil, that I cannot but earnestly + enjoin you to avoid it. Live on what you have; live, if you can, on + less; do not borrow either for vanity or pleasure; the vanity will + end in shame, and the pleasure in regret; stay therefore at home + till you have saved money for your journey hither. + +His wife dies and Johnson dies. One by one the props are pulled from +under him; he drinks, constantly gets drunk; is, in this condition, +knocked down in the streets and robbed, and thinks with horror of +giving up his soul, intoxicated, to his Maker. "Oh, Temple, Temple!" he +writes, "is this realizing any of the towering hopes which have so often +been the subject of our conversation and letters?" At last he begins a +letter which he is never to finish. "I would fain write you in my own +hand but really cannot." These were the last words poor Boswell ever +wrote. + + * * * * * + +But Boswell's life is chiefly interesting where it impinges upon that of +his great friend. A few months after the famous meeting in Davies's +book-shop, he started for the Continent, with the idea, following the +fashion of the time, of studying law at Utrecht, Johnson accompanying +him on his way as far as Harwich. + +After a short time at the University, during which he could have learned +nothing, we find him wandering about Europe in search of +celebrities,--big game,--the hunting of which was to be the chief +interest of his life. He succeeded in bagging Voltaire and +Rousseau,--there was none bigger,--and after a short stay in Rome he +turned North, sailing from Leghorn to Corsica, where he met Paoli, the +patriot, and finally returned home, escorting Thérèse Levasseur, +Rousseau's mistress, as far as London. Hume at this time speaks of him +as "a friend of mine, very good-humored, very agreeable and very mad." + +Meanwhile his father, Lord Auchinleck, who had borne with admirable +patience such stories as had reached him of his son's wild ways, +insisted that it was time for him to settle down; but Boswell was too +full of his adventures in the island of Corsica and his meeting with +Paoli, to begin drudgery at the law. His accounts of his travels made +him a welcome guest at London dinner-parties, and he had finally decided +to write a book of his experiences. + +At last the father, by a threat to cut off supplies, secured his son's +return; but his desire to publish a book had not abated, and while he +finally was admitted to the Scotch bar, we find him corresponding with +his friend Mr. Dilly, the publisher, in regard to the book upon which he +was busily employed. From an unpublished letter, which I was fortunate +enough to secure quite recently from a book-seller in New York, Gabriel +Wells, we may follow Boswell in his negotiations. + +EDINBURGH, _6 August, 1767_. + +SIR + + I have received your letter agreeing to pay me One Hundred Guineas + for the Copy-Right of my Account of Corsica, &c., the money to be + due three months after the publication of the work in London, and + also agreeing that the first Edition shall be printed in Scotland, + under my direction, and a map of Corsica be engraved for the work + at your Expence. + + In return to which, I do hereby agree that you shall have the sole + Property of the said work. Our Bargain therefore is now concluded + and I heartily wish that it may be of advantage to you. + + I am Sir + +Your most humble Servant +JAMES BOSWELL. + + TO MR. DILLY, Bookseller, London. + +[Illustration: COPY OF JAMES BOSWELL'S AGREEMENT WITH MR. DILLY, +RECITING THE TERMS AGREED ON FOR THE PUBLICATION OF "CORSICA"] + +Through the kindness of my fellow collector and generous friend, Judge +Patterson of Philadelphia, I own an interesting fragment of a brief in +Boswell's hand, written at about this period. It appears therefrom that +Boswell had been retained to secure the return of a stocking-frame of +the value of a few shillings, which had been forcibly carried off. The +outcome of the litigation is not known, but the paper bears the +interesting indorsement, "This was the first Paper drawn by me as an +Advocate. James Boswell." + +[Illustration: MS. INDORSEMENT BY BOSWELL ON THE FIRST PAPER DRAWN BY +HIM AS AN ADVOCATE] + +But I am allowing my collector's passion to carry me too far afield. The +preface of Boswell's "Account of Corsica" closes with an interesting bit +of self-revelation. He says, characteristically,-- + + For my part I should be proud to be known as an author; I have an + ardent ambition for literary fame; for of all possessions I should + imagine literary fame to be the most valuable. A man who has been + able to furnish a book which has been approved by the world has + established himself as a respectable character in distant society, + without any danger of having that character lessened by the + observation of his weaknesses. To preserve a uniform dignity among + those who see us every day is hardly possible; and to aim at it + must put us under the fetters of a perpetual restraint. The author + of an approved book may allow his natural disposition an easy play, + and yet indulge the pride of superior genius, when he considers + that by those who know him only as an author he never ceases to be + respected. Such an author in his hours of gloom and discontent may + have the consolation to think that his writings are at that very + time giving pleasure to numbers, and such an author may cherish the + hope of being remembered after death, which has been a great object + of the noblest minds in all ages. + +A brief contemporary criticism sums up the merits of "Corsica" in a +paragraph. "There is a deal about the Island and its dimensions that one +doesn't care a straw about, but that part which relates to Paoli is +amusing and interesting. The author has a rage for knowing anybody that +was ever talked of." + +Boswell thought that he was the first, but he proved to be the second +Englishman (the first was an Englishwoman) who had ever set foot upon +the island. He visited Paoli, and his accounts of his reception by the +great patriot and his conversation with the people are amusing in the +extreme. To his great satisfaction it was generally believed that he was +on a public mission. + + The more I disclaimed any such thing, the more they persevered in + affirming it; and I was considered as a very close young man. I + therefore just allowed them to make a minister of me, till time + should undeceive them.... The Ambasciadore Inglese--as the good + peasants and soldiers used to call me--became a great favorite + among them. I got a Corsican dress made, in which I walked about + with an air of true satisfaction. + +On another occasion:-- + + When I rode out I was mounted on Paoli's own horse, with rich + furniture of crimson velvet, with broad gold lace, and had my guard + marching along with me. I allowed myself to indulge a momentary + pride in this parade, as I was curious to experience what should + really be the pleasure of state and distinction with which mankind + are so strangely intoxicated. + +The success of this publication led Boswell into some absurd +extravagances which he thought were necessary to support his position as +a distinguished English author. Praise for his work he skillfully +extracted from most of his friends, but Johnson proved obdurate. He had +expressed a qualified approval of the book when it appeared; but when +Boswell in a letter sought more than this, the old Doctor charged him to +empty his head of "Corsica," which he said he thought had filled it +rather too long. + +Boswell wrote at least two of what we should to-day call press notices +of himself. One is reminded of the story of the man in a hired +dress-suit at a charity ball rushing about inquiring the whereabouts of +the man who puts your name in the paper. To such an one Boswell +presented this brief account of himself on the occasion of the famous +Shakespeare Jubilee. + + One of the most remarkable masks upon this occasion was James + Boswell, Esq., in the dress of an armed Corsican Chief. He entered + the amphitheatre about twelve o'clock. He wore a short + dark-coloured coat of coarse cloth, scarlet waistcoat and breeches, + and black spatter-dashes; his cap or bonnet was of black cloth; on + the front of it was embroidered in gold letters, "Viva la Liberta," + and on one side of it was a handsome blue feather and cockade, so + that it had an elegant as well as a warlike appearance. On the + breast of his coat was sewed a Moor's head, the crest of Corsica, + surrounded with branches of laurel. He had also a cartridge-pouch + into which was stuck a stiletto, and on his left side a pistol was + hung upon the belt of his cartridge-pouch. He had a fusee slung + across his shoulder, wore no powder in his hair, but had it plaited + at full length with a knot of blue ribbon at the end of it. He had, + by way of staff, a very curious vine all of one piece, with a bird + finely carved upon it emblematical of the sweet bard of Avon. He + wore no mask, saying that it was not proper for a gallant Corsican. + So soon as he came into the room he drew universal attention. The + novelty of the Corsican dress, its becoming appearance, and the + character of that brave nation concurred to distinguish the armed + Corsican Chief. + +May we not suppose that several bottles of "Old Hock" contributed to his +enjoyment of this occasion? Here is the other one:-- + + Boswell, the author, is a most excellent man: he is of an ancient + family in the West of Scotland, upon which he values himself not a + little. At his nativity there appeared omens of his future + greatness. His parts are bright, and his education has been good. + He has travelled in post-chaises miles without number. He is fond + of seeing much of the world. He eats of every good dish, especially + apple pie. He drinks Old Hock. He has a very fine temper. He is + somewhat of a humorist and a little tinctured with pride. He has a + good manly countenance, and he owns himself to be amorous. He has + infinite vivacity, yet is observed at times to have a melancholy + cast. He is rather fat than lean, rather short than tall, rather + young than old. His shoes are neatly made, and he never wears + spectacles. + +The success of "Corsica" was not very great, but it sufficed to turn +Boswell's head completely. He spent as much time in London as he could +contrive to, and led there the life of a dissipated man of fashion. He +quarreled with his father, and after a series of escapades with women of +the town and love-affairs with heiresses, he finally married his cousin, +Margaret Montgomerie, a girl without a fortune. Much to Boswell's +disgust, his father, on the very same day, married for the second time, +and married his cousin. + +For a time after marriage he seemed to take his profession seriously, +but he deceived neither his father nor his clients. The old man said +that Jamie was simply taking a toot on a new horn. Meanwhile Boswell +never allowed his interest in Johnson to cool for a moment. When he was +in London,--and he went there on one excuse or another as often as his +means permitted,--he was much with Johnson; and when he was at home, he +was constantly worrying Johnson for some evidence of his affection for +him. Finally Johnson writes, "My regard for you is greater almost than I +have words to express" (this from the maker of a dictionary); "but I do +not chuse to be always repeating it; write it down in the first leaf of +your pocketbook, and never doubt of it again." + +Neither wife nor father could understand the feeling of reverence and +affection which their Jamie had for Johnson. I always delight in the +story of his father saying to an old friend, "There's nae hope for +Jamie, mon. Jamie is gaen clean gyte. What do you think, mon? He's done +wi' Paoli--he's off wi' the land-louping scoundrel of a Corsican; and +whose tail do you think he has pinned himself to now, mon? A dominie, +mon--an auld dominie: he keeped a schule, and ca'd it an academy." + +Mrs. Boswell, a sensible, cold, rather shadowy person, saw but little of +Johnson, and was satisfied that it should be so. There is one good story +to her credit. Unaccustomed to the ways of genius, she caught Johnson, +who was nearsighted, one evening burnishing a lighted candle on her +carpet to make it burn more brightly, and remarked, "I have seen many a +bear led by a man, but never before have I seen a man led by a bear." +Boswell was just the fellow to appreciate this, and promptly repeated it +to Johnson, who failed to see the humor of it. + +In 1782 his father died and he came into the estate, but by his +improvident management he soon found himself in financial difficulties. +Johnson's death two years later removed a restraining influence that he +much needed. He tried to practice law, but he was unsuccessful. Never an +abstemious man, he now drank heavily and constantly, and as constantly +resolved to turn over a new leaf. + +Shortly after Johnson's death, Boswell published his "Journal of the +Tour of the Hebrides," which reached a third edition within the year and +established his reputation as a writer of a new kind, in which anecdotes +and conversation are woven into a narrative with a fidelity and skill +which were as easy to him as they were impossible to others. + +The great success of this book encouraged him to begin, and continue to +work upon, the great biography of Johnson on which his fame so securely +rests. Others had published before him. Mrs. Piozzi's "Anecdotes of the +Late Samuel Johnson" had sold well, and Hawkins, the "unclubable +Knight," as Johnson called him, had been commissioned by the booksellers +of London to write a formal biography, which appeared in 1787; while of +lesser publications there was seemingly no end; nevertheless, Boswell +persevered, and wrote his friend Temple that his + + mode of biography which gives not only a history of Johnson's + visible progress through the world, and of his publications, but a + view of his mind in his letters and conversations, is the most + perfect that can be conceived, and will be more of a life than any + work that has yet appeared. + +He had been preparing for the task for more than twenty years; he had, +in season and out, been taking notes of Johnson's conversations, and +Johnson himself had supplied him with much of the material. Thus in +poverty, interrupted by periods of dissipation, amid the sneers of many, +he continued his work. While it was in progress his wife died, and he, +poor fellow, justly upbraided himself for his neglect of her. + +[Illustration: DR. JOHNSON IN TRAVELING DRESS, AS DESCRIBED IN BOSWELL'S +TOUR + +_Engraved by Trotter_] + +Meanwhile, a "new horn" was presented to him. He had, or thought he had, +a chance of being elected to Parliament, or at least of securing a place +under government; but in all this he was destined to be disappointed. It +would be difficult to imagine conditions more unfavorable to sustained +effort than those under which Boswell labored. He was desperately hard +up. Always subject to fits of the blues, which amounted almost to +melancholia, he many a time thought of giving up the task from which he +hoped to derive fame and profit. He considered selling his rights in the +publication for a thousand pounds. But it would go to his heart, he +said, to accept such a sum; and again, "I am in such bad spirits that I +have fear concerning it--I may get no profit, nay, may lose--the public +may be disappointed and think I have done it poorly--I may make enemies, +and even have quarrels." Then the depression would pass and he could +write: "It will be, without exception, the most entertaining book you +ever read." When his friends heard that the Life would make two large +volumes quarto, and that the price was two guineas, they shook their +heads and Boswell's fears began again. + +At last, on May 16, 1791, the book appeared, with the imprint of Charles +Dilly, in the Poultry; and so successful was it that by August twelve +hundred copies had been disposed of, and the entire edition was +exhausted before the end of the year. The writer confesses to such a +passion for this book that of this edition he owns at present four +copies in various states, the one he prizes most having an inscription +in Boswell's hand: "To James Boswell, Esquire, Junior, from his +affectionate father, the Authour." Of other editions--but why display +one's weakness? + +"Should there," in Boswell's phrase, "be any cold-blooded and morose +mortals who really dislike it," I am sorry for them. To me it has for +thirty years been a never-ending source of profit--and pleasure, which +is as important. It is a book to ramble in--and with. I have never, I +think, read it through from cover to cover, as the saying is, but some +day I will; meanwhile let me make a confession. There are parts of it +which are deadly dull; the judicious reader will skip these without hint +from me. I have, indeed, always had a certain sympathy with George Henry +Lewes, who for years threatened to publish an abridgment of it. It could +be done: indeed, the work could be either expanded or contracted at +will; but every good Boswellian will wish to do this for himself; +tampering with a classic is somewhat like tampering with a will--it is +good form not to. + +[Illustration: To James Boswell Esq: Junior, from his affectionate +Father + +The Authour.] + +What is really needed is a complete index to the sayings of Johnson--his +_dicta_, spoken or written. It would be an heroic task, but heroic tasks +are constantly being undertaken. My friend Osgood, of Princeton, a ripe +scholar and an ardent Johnsonian, has been devoting the scanty leisure +of years to a concordance of Spenser. No one less competent than he +should undertake to supervise such a labor of love. + +It will be remembered that the Bible is not lacking in quotations, nor +is Shakespeare; but these sources of wisdom aside, Boswell, quoting +Johnson, supplies us more frequently with quotations than any other +author whatever. Could the irascible old Doctor come to earth again, and +with that wonderful memory of his call to mind the purely casual remarks +which he chanced to make to Boswell, he would surely be amazed to hear +himself quoted, and to learn that his _obiter dicta_ had become fixed in +the minds of countless thousands who perhaps have never heard his name. + +I chanced the other day to stop at my broker's office to see how much I +had lost in an unexpected drop in the market, and to beguile the time, +picked up a market letter in which this sentence met my eye: "The +unexpected and perpendicular decline in the stock of Golden Rod mining +shares has left many investors sadder if not wiser. When will the public +learn that investors in securities of this class are only indulging +themselves in proving the correctness of Franklin's [_sic_] adage, that +the expectation of making a profit in such securities is simply _the +triumph of hope over experience_?" Good Boswellians will hardly need to +be reminded that this is Dr. Johnson on marriage. He had something +equally wise to say, too, on the subject of "shares"; but in this +instance he was speaking of a man's second venture into matrimony, his +first having proved very unhappy. + + * * * * * + +Most men, when they write a book of memoirs in which hundreds of living +people are mentioned, discreetly postpone publication until after they +and the chief personages of the narrative are dead. Johnson refers to +Bolingbroke as a "cowardly scoundrel" for writing a book (charging a +blunderbuss, he called it) and leaving half a crown to a beggarly +Scotchman to pull the trigger after his death. Boswell spent some years +in charging his blunderbuss; he filled it with shot, great and small, +and then, taking careful aim, pulled the trigger. + +Cries of rage, anguish, and delight instantly arose from all over the +kingdom. A vast number of living people were mentioned, and their merits +or failings discussed with an _abandon_ which is one of the great charms +of the book to-day, but which, when it appeared, stirred up a veritable +hornets' nest. As some one very cleverly said, "Boswell has invented a +new kind of libel." "A man who is dead once told me so and so"--what +redress have you in law? None! The only thing to do is to punch his +head. + +Fortunately Boswell escaped personal chastisement, but he made many +enemies and alienated some friends. Mrs. Thrale, by this time Mrs. +Piozzi, quite naturally felt enraged at Boswell's contemptuous remarks +about her, and at his references to what Johnson said of her while he +was enjoying the hospitality of Streatham. The best of us like to +criticize our friends behind their backs; and Johnson could be frank, +and indeed brutal, on occasion. Mrs. Boscawen, the wife of the admiral, +on the other hand, had no reason to be displeased when she read: "If it +is not presumptuous in me to praise her, I would say that her manners +are the best of any lady with whom I ever had the happiness to be +acquainted." + +Bishop Percy, shrewdly suspecting that Boswell's judgment was not to be +trusted, when he complied with his request for some material for the +Life, desired that his name might not be mentioned in the work; to which +Boswell replied that it was his intention to introduce as many names of +eminent persons as he could, adding, "Believe me, my Lord, you are not +the only Bishop to grace my pages." We may suspect that he, like many +another, took up the book with fear and trembling, and put it down in a +rage. + +Wilkes, too, got a touch of tar, but little he cared; the best beloved +and the best hated man in England, he probably laughed, properly +thinking that Boswell could do little damage to his reputation. But what +shall we say of Lady Diana Beauclerk's feelings when she read the stout +old English epithet which Johnson had applied to her. Johnson's +authorized biographer, Sir John Hawkins, dead and buried "without his +shoes and stawkin's," as the old jingle goes, had sneered at Boswell and +passed on; verily he hath his reward. Boswell accused him of stupidity, +inaccuracy, and writing fatiguing and disgusting "rigmarole." His +daughter came to the rescue of his fame, and Boswell and she had a +lively exchange of letters; indeed Boswell, at all times, seemed to +court that which most men shrink from, a discussion of questions of +veracity with a woman. + +But on the whole the book was well received, and over his success +Boswell exulted, as well he might; he had achieved his ambition, he had +written his name among the immortals. With its publication his work was +done. He became more and more dissipated. His sober hours he devoted to +schemes for self-reform and a revision of the text for future editions. +He was engaged on a third printing when death overtook him. The last +words he wrote--the unfinished letter to his old friend Temple--have +already been quoted. The pen which he laid down was taken up by his son, +who finished the letter. From him we learn the sad details of his death. +He passed away on May 19, 1795, in his fifty-fifth year. + +Like many another man, Boswell was always intending to reform, and never +did. His practice was ever at total variance with his principles. In +opinions he was a moralist; in conduct he was--otherwise. Let it be +remembered, however, that he was of a generous, open-hearted, and loving +disposition. A clause in his will, written in his own hand, sheds +important light upon his character. "I do beseech succeeding heirs of +entail to be kind to the tenants, and not to turn out old possessors to +get a little more rent." + +What were the contemporary opinions of Boswell? Walpole did not like +him, but Walpole liked few. Paoli was his friend; with Goldsmith and +with Garrick he had been intimate. Mrs. Thrale and he did not get along +well together; he could not bear the thought that she saw more of +Johnson than he, and he was jealous of her influence over him. Fanny +Burney did not like him, and declined to give him some information which +he very naturally wanted for his book, because she wanted to use it +herself. Gibbon thought him terribly indiscreet, which, compared with +Gibbon, he certainly was. Reynolds and he were firm friends--the great +book is dedicated to Sir Joshua. + +Of Boswell, Johnson wrote during their journey in Scotland, "There is no +house where he is not received with kindness and respect"; and +elsewhere, "He never left a house without leaving a wish for his +return"; also, "He was a man who finds himself welcome wherever he goes +and makes friends faster than he can want them"; and "He was the best +traveling companion in the world." If there is a greater test than this, +I do not know it. It is summering and wintering with a man in a month. +Burke said of him that "good humor was so natural to him as to be +scarcely a virtue to him." I know many admirable men of whom this cannot +be said. + +Several years ago, being in Ayrshire, I found myself not far from +Auchinleck; and although I knew that Boswell's greatest editor, Birkbeck +Hill, had experienced a rebuff upon his attempt to visit the old estate +which Johnson had described as "very magnificent and very convenient," I +determined, out of loyalty to James Boswell, to make the attempt. I +thought that perhaps American nerve would succeed where English +scholarship had failed. + +We had spent the night at Ayr, and early next morning I inquired the +cost of a motor-trip to take my small party over to Auchinleck; and I +was careful to pronounce the word as though spelled Afflek, as Boswell +tells us to. + +"To where, sir?" + +"Afflek," I repeated. + +The man seemed dazed. Finally I spelled it for him, +"A-U-C-H-I-N-L-E-C-K." + +"Ah, sir, Auchinleck,"--in gutturals the types will not +reproduce,--"that would be two guineas, sir." + +"Very good," I said; "pronounce it your own way, but let me have the +motor." + +We were soon rolling over a road which Boswell must have taken many +times, but certainly never so rapidly or luxuriously. How Dr. Johnson +would have enjoyed the journey! I recalled his remark, "Sir, if I had no +duties and no reference to futurity, I would spend my life driving +briskly in a post-chaise with a pretty woman." Futurity was not +bothering me and I had a pretty woman, my wife, by my side. Moreover, to +complete the Doctor's remark, she was "one who could understand me and +add something to the conversation." We set out in high spirits. + +As we approached the house by a fine avenue bordered by venerable +trees,--no doubt those planted by the old laird, who delighted in such +work,--my courage almost failed me; but I had gone too far to retire. To +the servant who responded to my ring I stated my business, which seemed +trivial enough. + +I might as well have addressed a graven image. At last it spoke. "The +family are away. The instructions are that no one is to be admitted to +the house under pain of instant dismissal." + +Means elsewhere successful failed me here. + +"You can walk in the park." + +"Thanks, but I did not come to Scotland to walk in a park. Perhaps you +can direct me to the church where Boswell is buried." + +"You will find the tomb in the kirk in the village." + +Coal has been discovered on the estate, and the village, a mile or two +away, is ugly, and, to judge from the number of places where beer and +spirits could be had, their consumption would seem to be the chief +occupation of the population. I found the kirk, with door securely +locked. Would I try for the key at the minister's? I would; but the +minister was away for the day. Would I try the sexton? I would; but he, +too, was away, and I found myself in the midst of a crowd of barefooted +children who embarrassed me by their profitless attentions. It was cold +and it began to rain. I remembered that we were not far from Greenock +where "when it does not rain, it snaws." + +My visit had not been a success, I cannot recommend a Boswell +pilgrimage. I wished that I was in London, and bethought me of Johnson's +remark that "the noblest prospect in Scotland is the high-road that +leads to England." On that high-road my party made no objection to +setting out. + +I once heard an eminent college professor speak disparagingly of +Boswell's "Life of Johnson," saying that it was a mere literary +slop-pail into which Boswell dropped scraps of all kinds--gossip, +anecdotes and scandal, literary and biographical refuse generally. I +stood aghast for a moment; then my commercial instinct awakened. I +endeavored to secure this nugget of criticism in writing, with +permission to publish it over the author's name. In vain I offered a +rate per word that would have aroused the envy of a Kipling. My friend +pleaded "writer's cramp," or made some other excuse, and it finally +appeared that, after all, this was only one of the cases where I had +neglected, in Boswell's phrase, to distinguish between talk for the sake +of victory and talk with the desire to inform and illustrate. Against +this opinion there is a perfect chorus of praise rendered by a full +choir.[11] + +[Illustration: SAMUEL JOHNSON + +_Painted by Sir J. Reynolds. Engraved by Heath_] + +The great scholar Jowett confessed that he had read the book fifty +times. Carlyle said, "Boswell has given more pleasure than any other man +of this time, and perhaps, two or three excepted, has done the world +greater service." Lowell refers to the "Life" as a perfect granary of +discussion and conversation. Leslie Stephen says that his fondness for +reading began and would end with Boswell's "Life of Johnson." Robert +Louis Stevenson wrote: "I am taking a little of Boswell daily by way of +a Bible. I mean to read him now until the day I die." It is one of the +few classics which is not merely talked about and taken as read, but is +constantly being read; and I love to think that perhaps not a day goes +by when some one, somewhere, does not open the book for the first time +and become a confirmed Boswellian. + +"What a wonderful thing your English literature is!" a learned Hungarian +once said to me. "You have the greatest drama, the greatest poetry, and +the greatest fiction in the world, and you are the only nation that has +any biography." The great English epic is Boswell's "Life of Johnson." + +[Illustration: INSCRIPTION TO EDMUND BURKE, BY JAMES BOSWELL] + + + + +VII + +A LIGHT-BLUE STOCKING + + +Sometime, when seated in your library, as it becomes too dark to read +and is yet too light,--to ring for candles, I was going to say, but +nowadays we simply touch a button,--let your thoughts wander over the +long list of women who have made for themselves a place in English +literature, and see if you do not agree with me that the woman you would +like most to meet in the flesh, were it possible, would be Mrs. Piozzi, +born Hester Lynch Salusbury, but best known to us as Mrs. Thrale. + +Let us argue the matter. It may at first seem almost absurd to mention +the wife of the successful London brewer, Henry Thrale, in a list which +would include the names of Fanny Burney, Jane Austen, George Eliot, the +Brontës, and Mrs. Browning; but the woman I have in mind should unite +feminine charm with literary gifts: she should be a woman whom you would +honestly enjoy meeting and whom you would be glad to find yourself +seated next to at dinner. + +[Illustration: MRS. PIOZZI Engraved by Ridley from a miniature] + +The men of the Johnsonian circle affected to love "little Burney," but +was it not for the pleasure her "Evelina" gave them rather than for +anything in the author herself? According to her own account, she was so +easily embarrassed as to be always "retiring in confusion," or "on +the verge of swooning." It is possible that we would find this rather +limp young lady a trifle tiresome. + +Jane Austen was actually as shy and retiring as Fanny Burney affected to +be. She could hardly have presided gracefully in a drawing-room in a +cathedral city; much less would she have been at home among the wits in +a salon in London. + +Of George Eliot one would be inclined to say, as Dr. Johnson said of +Burke when he was ill, "If I should meet Burke now it would kill me." +Perhaps it would not kill one to meet George Eliot, but I suspect few +men would care for an hour's tête-à-tête with her without a preliminary +oiling of their mental machinery--a hateful task. + +The Brontës were geniuses undoubtedly, particularly Emily, but one would +hardly select the author of "Wuthering Heights" as a companion for a +social evening. + +Mrs. Browning, with her placid smile and tiresome ringlets, was too +deeply in love with her husband. After all, the woman one enjoys meeting +must be something of a woman of the world. She need not necessarily be a +good wife or mother. We are provided with the best of wives and at the +moment are not on the lookout for a good mother. + +It may at once be admitted that as a mother Mrs. Thrale was not a +conspicuous success; but she was a woman of charm, with a sound mind in +a sound body. Although she could be brilliant in conversation, she +would let you take the lead if you were able to; but she was quite +prepared to take it herself rather than let the conversation flag; and +she must have been a very exceptional woman, to steady, as she did, a +somewhat roving husband, to call Dr. Johnson to order, and upon occasion +to reprove Burke, even while entertaining the most brilliant society of +which London at the period could boast. + +At the time when we first make her acquaintance, she was young and +pretty, the mistress of a luxurious establishment; and if she was not +possessed of literary gifts herself, it may fairly be said that she was +the cause of literature in others. + +In these days, when women, having everything else, want the vote also +(and I would give it to them promptly and end the discussion), it may be +suggested that to shine by a reflected light is to shine not at all. +Frankly, Mrs. Thrale owes her position in English letters, not to +anything important that she herself did or was capable of doing, but to +the eminence of those she gathered about her. But her position is not +the less secure; she was a charming and fluffy person; and as firmly as +I believe that women have come to stay, so firmly am I of the opinion +that, in spite of all the well-meaning efforts of some of their sex to +prevent it, a certain, and, thank God, sufficient number of women will +stay charming and fluffy to the end of the chapter. + +On one subject only could Mrs. Thrale be tedious--her pedigree. I have +it before me, written in her own bold hand, and I confess that it seems +very exalted indeed. She would not have been herself had she not stopped +in transcribing it to relate how one of her ancestors, Katherine Tudor +de Berayne, cousin and ward of Queen Elizabeth and a famous heiress, as +she was returning from the grave of her first husband, Sir John +Salusbury, was asked in marriage by Maurice Wynne of Gwydir, who was +amazed to learn that he was too late, as she had already engaged herself +to Sir Richard Clough. "But," added the lady, "if in the providence of +God I am unfortunate enough to survive him, I consent to be the lady of +Gwydir." Nor does the tale end here, for she married yet another, and +having sons by all four husbands, she came to be called "Mam y +Cymry,"--Mother of Wales,--and no doubt she deserved the appellation. + +With such marrying blood in her veins it is easily understood that, as +soon as Thrale's halter was off her neck,--this sporting phrase, I +regret to say, is Dr. Johnson's,--she should think of marrying again; +and that having the first time married to please her family, she should, +at the second venture, marry to please herself. But this chapter is +moving too rapidly--the lady is not yet born. + + * * * * * + +Hester Lynch Salusbury's birthplace was Bodvel, in Wales, and the year, +1741. She was an only child, very precocious, with a retentive memory. +She soon became the plaything of the elderly people around her, who +called her "Fiddle." Her father had the reputation of being a scamp, +and it fell to her uncle's lot to direct, somewhat, her education. +Handed from one relation to another, she quickly adapted herself to her +surroundings. Her mother taught her French; a tutor, Latin; Quin, the +actor, taught her to recite; Hogarth painted her portrait; and the +grooms of her grandmother, whom she visited occasionally, made her an +accomplished horsewoman. In those days education for a woman was highly +irregular, but judging from the results in the case of Mrs. Thrale and +her friends, who shall say that it was ineffective? We have no Elizabeth +Carters nowadays, good at translating Epictetus, and--we have it on high +authority--better at making a pudding. + +Study soon became little Hester's delight. At twelve years she wrote for +the newspapers; also, she used to rise at four in the morning to study, +which her mother would not have allowed had she known of it. I have a +letter written many years afterwards in which she says: "My mother +always told me I ruined my Figure and stopt my Growth by sitting too +long at a Writing Desk, though ignorant how much Time I spent at it. +Dear Madam, was my saucy Answer,-- + + "Tho' I could reach from Pole to Pole + And grasp the Ocean with my Span, + I would be measur'd by my Soul. + The Mind's the Standard of the Man." + +She is quoting Dr. Watts from memory evidently, and improving, perhaps, +upon the original. + +But little girls grow up and husbands must be found for them. Henry +Thrale, the son of a rich Southwark brewer, was brought forward by her +uncle; while her father, protesting that he would not have his only +child exchanged for a barrel of "bitter," fell into a rage and died of +an apoplexy. Her _dot_ was provided by the uncle; her mother did the +courting, with little opposition on the part of the lady and no +enthusiasm on the part of the suitor. So, without love on either side, +she being twenty-two and her husband thirty-five, she became Mrs. +Thrale. "My uncle," she records in her journal, "went with us to the +church, gave me away, dined with us at Streatham after the ceremony, and +then left me to conciliate as best I could a husband who had never +thrown away five minutes of his time upon me unwitnessed by company till +after the wedding day was done." + +[Illustration: EXTRACT FROM MS. LETTER OF MRS. THRALE] + +More happiness came from this marriage than might have been expected. +Henry Thrale, besides his suburban residence, Streatham, had two other +establishments, one adjoining the brewery in Southwark, where he lived +in winter, and another, an unpretentious villa at the seaside. He also +maintained a stable of horses and a pack of hounds at Croydon; but, +although a good horsewoman, Mrs. Thrale was not permitted to join her +husband in his equestrian diversions; indeed, her place in her husband's +establishment was not unlike that of a woman in a seraglio. She was +allowed few pleasures, and but one duty was impressed upon her, namely, +that of supplying an heir to the estate; to this duty she devoted +herself unremittingly. + +In due time a child was born, a daughter; and while this was of course +recognized as a mistake, it was believed to be one which could be +corrected. + +Meanwhile Thrale was surprised to find that his wife could think and +talk--that she had a mind of her own. The discovery dawned slowly upon +him, as did the idea that the pleasure of living in the country may be +enhanced by hospitality. Finally the doors of Streatham Park were thrown +open. For a time her husband's bachelor friends and companions were the +only company. Included among these was one Arthur Murphy, who had been +_un maître de plaisir_ to Henry Thrale in the gay days before his +marriage, when they had frequented the green rooms and Ranelagh +together. It was Murphy who suggested that "Dictionary Johnson" might be +secured to enliven a dinner-party, and then followed some discussion as +to the excuse which should be given Johnson for inviting him to the +table of the rich brewer. It was finally suggested that he be invited to +meet a minor celebrity, James Woodhouse, the shoemaker poet. + +Johnson rose to the bait,--Johnson rose easily to any bait which would +provide him a good dinner and lift him out of himself,--and the dinner +passed off successfully. Mrs. Thrale records that they all liked each +other so well that a dinner was arranged for the following week, without +the shoemaker, who, having served his purpose, disappears from the +record. + +And now, and for twenty years thereafter, we find Johnson enjoying the +hospitality of the Thrales, which opened for him a new world. When he +was taken ill, not long after the introduction, Mrs. Thrale called on +him in his stuffy lodgings in a court off Fleet Street, and suggested +that the air of Streatham would be good for him. Would he come to them? +He would. He was not the man to deny himself the care of a young, rich, +and charming woman, who would feed him well, understand him, and add to +the joys of conversation. From that time on, whether at their residence +in Deadman's Place in Southwark, or at Streatham, or at Brighton, even +on their journeys, the Thrales and Johnson were constantly together; and +when he went on a journey alone, as was sometimes the case, he wrote +long letters to his mistress or his master, as he affectionately called +his friends. + +Who gained most by this intercourse? It would be hard to say. It is a +fit subject for a debate, a copy of Boswell's "Life of Johnson" to go to +the successful contestant. Johnson summed up his obligations to the lady +in the famous letter written just before her second marriage, probably +the last he ever wrote her. "I wish that God may grant you every +blessing, that you may be happy in this world ... and eternally happy in +a better state; and whatever I can contribute to your happiness I am +ready to repay for that kindness which soothed twenty years of a life +radically wretched." + +On the other hand, the Thrales secured what, perhaps unconsciously, they +most desired, social position and distinction. At Streatham they +entertained the best, if not perhaps the very highest, society of the +time. Think for a moment of the intimates of this house, whose +portraits, painted by Reynolds, hung in the library. There were my Lords +Sandys and Westcote, college friends of Thrale; there were Johnson and +Goldsmith; Garrick and Burke; Burney, and Reynolds himself, and a number +of others, all from the brush of the great master; and could we hear the +voices which from time to time might have been heard in the famous room, +we should recognize Boswell and Piozzi, Baretti, and a host of others; +and would it be necessary for the servant to announce the entrance of +the great Mrs. Siddons, or Mrs. Garrick, or Fanny Burney, or Hannah +More, or Mrs. Montagu, or any of the other ladies who later formed that +famous coterie which came to be known as the Blue-Stockings? + +But Johnson was the Thrales' first lion and remained their greatest. He +first gave Streatham parties distinction. The master of the house +enjoyed having the wits about him, but was not one himself. Johnson +said of him that "his mind struck the hours very regularly but did not +mark the minutes." It was his wife who, by her sprightliness and her wit +and readiness, kept the ball rolling, showing infinite tact and skill in +drawing out one and, when necessary, repressing another; asking--when +the Doctor was not speaking--for a flash of silence from the company +that a newcomer might be heard. + +But I am anticipating. All this was not yet. A salon such as she created +at Streatham Park is not the work of a month or of a year. + +If Mrs. Thrale had ever entertained any illusions as to her husband's +regard for her, they must have received a shock when she discovered, as +she soon did, that Mr. Thrale had previously offered his hand to several +ladies, coupling with his proposal the fact that, in the event of its +being accepted, he would expect to live for a portion of each year in +his house adjoining the brewery. The famous brewery is now Barclay & +Perkins's, and still stands on its original site, where the Globe +Theatre once stood, not far from the Surrey end of Southwark Bridge. A +more unattractive place of residence it would be hard to imagine, but +for some reason Mr. Thrale loved it. + +On the other hand, Streatham was delightful. It was a fine estate, +something over an hour's drive from Fleet Street in the direction of +Croydon. The house, a mansion of white stucco, stood in a park of more +than a hundred acres, beautifully wooded. Drives and gravel-walks gave +easy access to all parts of the grounds. There was a lake with a +drawbridge, and conservatories, and glass houses stocked with fine +fruits. Grapes, peaches, and pineapples were grown in abundance, and Dr. +Johnson, whose appetite was robust, was able for the first time in his +life to indulge himself in these things to his heart's content. In these +delightful surroundings the Thrales spent the greater part of each year, +and here assembled about them a coterie almost, if not quite, as +distinguished as that which made Holland House famous half a century +later. + +A few years ago Barrie wrote a delightful play, "What Every Woman +Knows"; and I hasten to say, for the benefit of those who have not seen +this play, that what every woman knows is how to manage a husband. In +this respect Mrs. Thrale had no superior. Making due allowance, the play +suggests the relationship of the Thrales. A cold, self-contained, and +commonplace man is married to a sprightly and engaging wife. With her to +aid him, he is able so to carry himself that people take him for a man +of great ability; without her, he is utterly lost. To give point to the +play, the husband is obliged to make this painful discovery. Mrs. +Thrale, mercifully, never permitted her husband to discover how +commonplace he was. Could he have looked in her diary he might have read +this description of himself, and, had he read it, he would probably have +made no remark. He spoke little. + +"Mr. Thrale's sobriety, and the decency of his conversation, being +wholly free from all oaths, ribaldry and profaneness, make him +exceedingly comfortable to live with; while the easiness of his temper +and slowness to take offence add greatly to his value as a domestic man. +Yet I think his servants do not love him, and I am not sure that his +children have much affection for him. With regard to his wife, though +little tender of her person, he is very partial to her understanding; +but he is obliging to nobody, and confers a favor less pleasingly than +many a man refuses one." + +Elsewhere she refers to him as the handsomest man in London, by whom she +has had thirteen children, two sons and eleven daughters. Both sons and +all but three of the daughters died either in infancy or in early +childhood. Constantly in that condition in which ladies wish to be who +love their lords, Mrs. Thrale, by her advice and efforts, once, at +least, saved her husband from bankruptcy, and frequently from making a +fool of himself. She grew to take an intelligent interest in his +business affairs, urged him to enter Parliament, successfully +electioneered for him, and in return was treated with just that degree +of affection that a man might show to an incubator which, although +somewhat erratic in its operations, might at any time present him with a +son. + + * * * * * + +Such was the household of which Dr. Johnson became a member, and which, +to all intents and purposes, became his home. Retaining his lodgings in +a court off Fleet Street, he established in them what Mrs. Thrale +called his menagerie of old women: dependents too poor and wretched to +find asylum elsewhere. To them he was at all times considerate, if not +courteous. It was his custom to dine with them two or three times each +week, thus insuring them an ample dinner; but the library at Streatham +was especially devoted to his service. When he could be induced to work +on his "Lives of the Poets," it became his study; but for the most part +it was his arena, where, in playful converse or in violent discussion, +he held his own against all comers. + +In due time, under the benign influence of the Thrales, he overcame his +repugnance to clean linen. Mr. Thrale suggested silver buckles for his +shoes, and he bought them. As he entered the drawing-room, a servant +might have been seen clapping on his head a wig which had not been badly +singed by a midnight candle as he tore the heart out of a book. The +great bear became bearable. One of his most intimate friends, Baretti, a +highly cultivated man, was secured as a tutor for the Thrale children, +of whom the eldest, nicknamed "Queenie," was Johnson's favorite. + +Henry Thrale's table was one of the best in London. By degrees it became +known that at Streatham one might always be sure of an excellent dinner +and the best conversation in England. Dr. Johnson voiced, not only his +own, but the general opinion, that to smile with the wise and to feed +with the rich was very close upon human felicity; and he would have +admitted, had his attention been called to it, that there was at least +one house in London in which people could enjoy themselves as much as at +a capital inn. + +[Illustration: TITLE OF MISS BURNEY'S "EVELINA." First Edition] + +And people did. For the best description of life at Streatham we must +turn to the pages of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay). Her diary is a work +of art, but that part of it which pleases most is where the art is so +concealed that one feels that the daily entries are intended for no +other eye than the writer's. It is its confidential character which is +its greatest charm. As the years pass, it loses this quality, and to the +extent that it does so it becomes less interesting to us. "Evelina" has +just been published and Fanny has become a welcome guest at the Thrales' +when the record opens. "I have now to write an account of the most +consequential day I have spent since my birth; namely, my Streatham +visit," is an early entry. Johnson is there and "is very proud to sit by +Miss Burney at dinner." Mrs. Thrale, described as a very pretty woman, +gay and agreeable, without a trace of pedantry, repeats some lines in +French, and Dr. Johnson quotes Latin which Mrs. Thrale turns into +excellent English. + +Then the talk is of Garrick, who, some one says, appears to be getting +old, on which Johnson remarks that it must be remembered that his face +has had more wear and tear than any other man's. Then Mrs. Montagu is +mentioned, and the merits of her book on Shakespeare are discussed, and +Reynolds and his art, and finally the talk drifts back again to +"Evelina," and Dr. Johnson, stimulated by the gayety of an excellent +dinner in such surroundings, cries, "Harry Fielding never drew so good a +character.... There is no character better drawn anywhere--in any book, +by any author"; and Fanny pinches herself in delight, under the table, +as she had a right to do, for was not the great Cham of literature +praising her? + +And so with talks and walks and drives and dinners and tea-drinkings +unceasing, with news, gossip, and scandal at retail, wholesale, and for +exportation, it was contrived that life at Streatham was as delightful +as life can be made to be. Occasionally there was work to be done. Dr. +Johnson was called on for an introduction to something, or the +proof-sheets of "The Lives of the Poets" arrived, and it became Mrs. +Thrale's duty to keep the Doctor up to his work--no easy task when a +pretty woman was around, and there were always several at Streatham. +Breakfast was always served in the library, and tea was pouring +incessantly. Thanks to Boswell and to "Little Burney," we know this life +better than we know any other whatever; and what life elsewhere is so +intimate and personal, so well worth knowing? + +[Illustration: MRS. THRALE'S BREAKFAST-TABLE] + +One morning Mrs. Thrale, entering the library and finding Johnson there, +complained that it was her birthday, and that no one had sent her any +verses. She admitted to being thirty-five, yet Swift, she said, fed +Stella with them till she was forty-six. Thereupon Johnson without +hesitation began to compose aloud, and Mrs. Thrale to write at his +dictation,-- + + "Oft in danger, yet alive, + We are come to thirty-five; + Long may better years arrive, + Better years than thirty-five. + Could philosophers contrive + Life to stop at thirty-five, + Time his hours should never drive + O'er the bounds of thirty-five. + High to soar, and deep to dive, + Nature gives at thirty-five. + Ladies, stock and tend your hive, + Trifle not at thirty-five; + For howe'er we boast and strive, + Life declines from thirty-five; + He that ever hopes to thrive + Must begin by thirty-five; + And all who wisely wish to wive + Must look on Thrale at thirty-five,"-- + +adding, as he concluded, "And now, my dear, you see what it is to come +for poetry to a dictionary-maker. You may observe that the rhymes run in +alphabetical order exactly." + +But life is not all cakes and ale. Mr. Thrale's ample income was +constantly in jeopardy from his business speculations. He was led by a +charlatan to spend a fortune in the endeavor to brew without hops; this +failing, he sought to recoup himself by over-brewing, despite the +protests of his wife, seconded by Dr. Johnson, who was becoming an +excellent man of affairs. Listen to the man whose boast was that he was +bred in idleness and the pride of literature. "The brewhouse must be the +scene of action.... The first consequence of our late trouble ought to +be an endeavor to brew at a cheaper rate, an endeavor not violent and +transient, but steady and continual, prosecuted with total contempt of +censure or wonder, and animated by resolution not to stop while more can +be done. Unless this can be done, nothing can help us; and if this is +done we shall not want help. Surely there is something to be saved; +there is to be saved whatever is the difference between vigilance and +neglect, between parsimony and profusion." + +It is proper to observe that it is Dr. Johnson, and not Andrew Carnegie, +who is speaking, and in Mrs. Thrale's copy of the Dictionary, which I +happen to own, his gift to her, there is pasted in the book a letter in +Dr. Johnson's autograph written about this time, one paragraph of which +reads, "I think it very probably in your power to lay up eight thousand +pounds a year for every year to come, increasing all the time, what +needs not be increased, the splendour of all external appearance; and +surely such a state is not to be put in yearly hazard for the pleasure +of keeping the house full, or the ambition of outbrewing Whitbread. +Stop now and you are safe--stop a few years and you may go safely on +thereafter, if to go on shall seem worth the while." + +Meanwhile, Mr. Thrale was quietly digging his grave with his teeth. +Warned by his physician and his friends that he must exercise more and +eat less, he snapped his fingers at them, I was going to say; but he did +nothing so violent. He simply disregarded their advice and gave orders +that the best and earliest of everything should be placed upon his table +in profusion. His death was the result, and at forty Mrs. Thrale found +herself a widow, wealthy, and with her daughters amply provided for. +She, with Dr. Johnson and several others, was an executor of the estate, +and promptly began to grapple with the problems of managing a great +business. Not long after Thrale's death we find this entry in her +journal: "I have now appointed three days a week to attend at the +counting-house. If an angel from Heaven had told me twenty years ago +that the man I knew by the name of Dictionary Johnson should one day +become partner with me in a great trade, and that we should jointly or +separately sign notes, drafts, etc., for three or four thousand pounds, +of a morning, how unlikely it would have seemed ever to happen! Unlikely +is not the word, it would have seemed incredible, neither of us then +being worth a groat, and both as immeasurably removed from commerce as +birth, literature, and inclination could get us." + +The opinion was general that Mrs. Thrale had been a mere sleeping +partner, and her friends were amazed at the insight the sparkling little +lady showed in the management of a great business. "Such," says Mrs. +Montagu, "is the dignity of Mrs. Thrale's virtue, and such her +superiority in all situations of life, that nothing now is wanting but +an earthquake to show how she will behave on that occasion." + +But this state of things was not long to continue. A knot of rich +Quakers came along, and purchased the enterprise for a hundred and +thirty-five thousand pounds. Dr. Johnson was not quite clear that the +property ought to be sold; but when the sale was finally decided upon, +he did his share toward securing a good price. Capitalization of earning +power has never been more succinctly described than when, in going over +the great establishment with the intending purchasers, he made his +famous remark, "We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, +but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice." + +For Mrs. Thrale and her daughters the affair was a matter of great +moment; excitement ran high. Fanny Burney was staying at Streatham while +the business was pending, and it was arranged that on the day the +transaction was to be consummated, if all went well, Mrs. Thrale would, +on her return from town, wave a white pocket-handkerchief out of the +coach window. Dinner was at four; no Mrs. Thrale. Five came, and no Mrs. +Thrale. At last the coach appeared and out of the window fluttered a +handkerchief. + +[Illustration: THE BEST-KNOWN PORTRAIT OF DR. JOHNSON, BY SIR JOSHUA +REYNOLDS. ORIGINALLY IN THE LIBRARY AT STREATHAM. SOLD IN 1816 FOR £378. +PASSED EVENTUALLY INTO THE NATIONAL GALLERY. + +_Engraved by Doughty_] + +Mrs. Thrale's own notes are amusing. She was glad to bid adieu to the +brewhouse and to the Borough--the business had been a great burden. Her +daughters were provided for, and she did not much care for money for +herself. By the bargain she had purchased peace, and, as she said, +"restoration to her original rank in life"; recording in her journal, +"Now that it is all over I'll go to church and give God thanks and +forget the frauds, follies and inconveniences of commercial life; as for +Dr. Johnson, his honest heart was cured of its incipient passion for +trade by letting him into _some_ and _only some_ of its mysteries." + +A final word on the subject of the Thrale brewhouse, which still exists. +A year or two ago I spent a morning looking for Deadman's Place, which +has disappeared, but the great enterprise dominates the whole district, +which is redolent with the odor of malt and hops. Johnson's connection +with the business is immortalized by his portrait--the famous one so +generally known--being used as its trademark. The original picture is in +the National Gallery, but an excellent copy hangs in the directors' room +of the brewery. The furnishings of this room are of the simplest. I +doubt if they would fetch at auction a five-pound note, were it not for +the fact that Johnson's chair and desk are among them. In this room a +business running annually into millions is transacted. The English love +to leave old things as they are. With them history is always in the +making. + +[Illustration: MS. INSCRIPTIONS BY MRS. THRALE] + +Not many Sundays after Mrs. Thrale's thanksgiving she had a visitor at +Streatham--a visitor who, when he left, carried with him as a token of +her regard two little calf-bound volumes, in one of which was the +inscription, "These books written by Dr. Samuel Johnson were presented +to Mr. Gabbrielle Piozzi by Hester-Lynch Thrale. Streatham, Sunday 10 +June, 1781"; with a further note in an equally clear and flowing hand: +"And Twenty Eight Years after that Time presented again to his Nephew +John Piozzi Salusbury by Hester Lynch Piozzi. Brynbella 1st August, +1809." + +[Illustration: TITLE OF "THE PRINCE OF ABISSINIA" ("RASSELAS"). First +Edition] + +I am able to be exact in this small matter, for the volumes in question +were given me not long ago by a friend who understands my passion for +such things. The book was the first edition of the "Prince of Abissinia" +(it was not known as "Rasselas" until after Dr. Johnson's death), and +Mrs. Thrale at the time did not know Piozzi sufficiently well to spell +his name correctly; but she was soon to learn, and to learn, too, that +she was in love with him and he with her. + +She had first met Piozzi about a year before, at a musicale at the house +of Dr. Burney, Fanny's father. On this occasion she had taken advantage +of his back being turned to mimic him as he sat at the piano. For this +she was reprimanded by Dr. Burney, and she must have felt that she +deserved the correction, for she took it in good part and behaved with +great decorum during the rest of the evening. + +After a year in her widow's weeds,--which must have tormented Johnson, +for he hated the thought of death and liked to see ladies dressed in gay +colors,--she laid aside her severe black and began to resume her place +in society. The newspapers marked the change, and every man who entered +her house was referred to as a possible husband for the rich and +attractive widow. Finally she was obliged to write to the papers and ask +that they would let the subject alone. + +But it soon became evident to Johnson and to the rest of the world that +Piozzi was successfully laying siege to the lady; as why should he not? +The fact that he was a Catholic, an Italian, and a musician could hardly +have appeared to him as reasons why he should not court a woman of rare +charm and distinction, with whom he had been on terms of friendship for +several years; a woman who was of suitable age, the mistress of a fine +estate and three thousand pounds a year, and whose children were no +longer children but young ladies of independent fortune. That she +should marry some one seemed certain. Why not Piozzi? Her daughters +protested that their mother was disgracing herself and them, and the +world held up its hands in horror at the thought; the co-executors of +the estate became actually insulting, and Fanny Burney was so shocked at +the idea that she finally gave up visiting Streatham altogether. Society +ranged itself for and against the lady--few for, many against. + +There were other troubles, too: a lawsuit involving a large sum was +decided against her, and Johnson, ill, querulous, and exacting, behaved +as an irritable old man would who felt his influence in the family +waning. I am a Johnsonian,--Tinker has called me so and Tinker may be +depended upon to know a Johnsonian when he sees one,--but I am bound to +admit that Johnson had behaved badly and was to behave worse. Johnson +was very human and the lady was very human, too. They had come to a +parting of the ways. + +It was inevitable that the life at Streatham must be terminated. Its +glory had departed, and the expense of its upkeep was too great for the +lady; so a tenant was secured and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson prepared +to leave the house in which so many happy years had been spent. Dr. +Johnson was once more to make his lodgings in Bolt Court, and Mrs. +Thrale, after a visit to Brighton, was to go to Bath to repose her +purse. The engagement, or understanding, or whatever it was, with Piozzi +was broken off, and Italy was proposed as a place of residence for him. +Broken hearts there were in plenty. + +Life for Mrs. Thrale at Bath proved to be impossible. If concealment did +not feed on the damask of her cheek, love did, and at last it became +evident, even to the young ladies, that their mother was pining away for +Piozzi, and they gave their consent that he be recalled. + +He came at once. Mrs. Thrale, on his departure, had sent him a poem +which reached him at Dover. She now sent him another which was designed +to reach him on his return, at Calais. + + Over mountains, rivers, vallies, + See my love returns to Calais, + After all their taunts and malice, + Ent'ring safe the gates of Calais. + While Delay'd by winds he dallies, + Fretting to be kept at Calais, + Muse, prepare some sprightly sallies + To divert my dear at Calais; + Say how every rogue who rallies + Envies him who waits at Calais + For her that would disdain a Palace + Compar'd to Piozzi, Love and Calais. + +Pretty poor poetry those who know tell me; but if Piozzi liked it, it +served its purpose. And now Mrs. Thrale announced her engagement in a +circular letter to her co-executors under the Thrale will, sending, in +addition, to Johnson a letter in which she says, "The dread of your +disapprobation has given me some anxious moments, and I feel as if +acting without a parent's consent till you write kindly to me." + +Johnson's reply is historic:-- + + MADAM,--If I interpret your letter right, you are ignominiously + married: if it is yet undone, let us once more talk together. If + you have abandoned your children and your religion, God forgive + your wickedness; if you have forfeited your fame and your country, + may your folly do no further mischief. If the last act is yet to + do, I who have loved you, esteemed you, reverenced you, and served + you, I who long thought you the first of womankind, entreat that, + before your fate is irrevocable, I may once more see you. I was, I + once was, Madam, most truly yours, + +SAM JOHNSON. + + _July 2, 1784._ + +It was a smashing letter, and showed that the mind which had composed +the famous letter to Chesterfield and another, equally forceful, to +Macpherson had not lost its vigor. But those letters had brought no +reply. His letter to Mrs. Thrale did, and one at once dignified and +respectful. The little lady was no novice in letter-writing, and I can +imagine that upon the arrival of her letter the weary, heartsick old man +wept. Remember that his emotions were seldom completely under his +control, and that he had nothing of the bear about him but its skin. + + Sir [she wrote]; I have this morning received from you so rough a + letter in reply to one which was both tenderly and respectfully + written, that I am forced to desire the conclusion of a + correspondence which I can bear to continue no longer. The birth of + my second husband is not meaner than that of my first; his + sentiments are not meaner; his profession is not meaner; and his + superiority in what he professes acknowledged by all mankind. Is + it want of fortune, then, that is ignominious? The character of the + man I have chosen has no other claim to such an epithet. The + religion to which he has been always a zealous adherent will, I + hope, teach him to forgive insults he has not deserved; mine will, + I hope, enable me to bear them at once with dignity and patience. + To hear that I have forfeited my fame is indeed the greatest insult + I ever yet received. My fame is as unsullied as snow, or I should + think it unworthy of him who must henceforth protect it. + +Johnson, she says, wrote once more, but the letter has never come to +light; the correspondence, which had continued over a period of twenty +years, was at an end. An interesting letter of Thomas Hardy on this +subject came into my possession recently. In it he says, "I am in full +sympathy with Mrs. Thrale under the painful opposition to her marriage +with Piozzi. The single excuse for Johnson's letter to her on that +occasion would be that he was her lover himself, and hoped to win her, +otherwise it was simply brutal." I do not think that Johnson was her +lover, and I am afraid I must agree that Johnson was brutal. In +extenuation I urge that he was a very weary, sick old man. + +At the time Mrs. Thrale's detractors were many and her defenders few. +Two dates were given as to the time of her marriage, which started some +wandering lies, much to her disadvantage. The fact is that both dates +were correct, for she was married to Piozzi once by a Catholic and +several weeks later by a Church of England ceremony. In her journal she +writes under date of July 25, 1784, "I am now the wife of my faithful +Piozzi ... he loves me and will be mine forever.... The whole Christian +Church, Catholic and Protestant, all are witnesses." + +For two years they traveled on the continent. No marriage could have +been happier. Piozzi, by comparison with his wife, is a rather shadowy +person. He is described as being a handsome man, a few months older than +she, with gentle, pleasant, unaffected manners, very eminent in his +profession; nor was he, as was so frequently stated, a man without a +fortune. The difference in their religious views was the cause of no +difficulty. Each respected the religion of the other and kept his or her +own. "I would preserve my religious opinions inviolate at Milan as my +husband did his at London," is an entry in her journal. + +She was staying at Milan when tidings of Johnson's death reached her. +All of her correspondents hastened to apprize her of the news. I have a +long letter to her from one Henry Johnson,--who he was, I am unable to +determine,--written one day after the funeral, describing the procession +forming in Bolt Court; the taking of mourning coaches in Fleet Street +and "proceeding to Westminster Abbey where the corpse was laid close to +the remains of David Garrick, Esquire." + +That Madam Piozzi, as we must now call her, was deeply affected, we +cannot doubt. Only a few days before the news of his death reached her, +we find her writing to a friend, urging him not to neglect Dr. Johnson, +saying, "You will never see any other mortal so wise or so good. I keep +his picture constantly before me." Before long she heard, too, that +several of her old friends had engaged to write his life, and Piozzi +urged her to be one of the number. The result was the "Anecdotes of the +late Samuel Johnson during the last Twenty Years of his Life." It is not +a great work, but considering the circumstances under which it was +written, her journals being locked up in England while she was writing +at Florence, greater faults than were found in it could have been +overlooked. It provided Boswell with some good anecdotes for his great +book, and it antedated Hawkins's "Life of Johnson" by about a year. + +The public appetite was whetted by the earlier publication of Boswell's +"Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides," in which he had given a taste of +his quality, and the "Anecdotes" appeared at a time when everything +which related to Johnson had a great vogue. The book was published by +Cadell, and so great was the demand, that the first edition was +exhausted on the day of publication; so that, when the King sent for a +copy in the evening, on the day of its publication, the publisher had to +beg for one from a friend. + +Bozzy and Piozzi thus became rival biographers in the opinion of the +public, and the public got what pleasure it could out of numerous +caricatures and satires with which the bookshops abounded, many of these +being amusing and some simply scurrilous, after the fashion of the +time. + +Meanwhile, the Piozzis had become tired of travel and wished again to +enjoy the luxury of a home. "Prevail on Mr. Piozzi to settle in +England," had been Dr. Johnson's parting advice. It was not difficult to +do so, and on their return, after a short stay in London, they took up +residence in Bath. + +Here Madam Piozzi, encouraged by the success of the "Anecdotes," devoted +herself to the publication of two volumes of "Letters to and from the +late Samuel Johnson." Their preparation for the press was somewhat +crude: it consisted largely in making omissions here and there, and +substituting asterisks for proper names; but the copyright was sold for +five hundred pounds, and the letters showed, if indeed it was necessary +to show, how intimate had been the relationship between the Doctor and +herself. + +As time went on, there awakened in Madam Piozzi a longing for the larger +life of Streatham, and her husband, always anxious to accomplish her +wishes, decided that she should return to the scene of her former +triumphs; but Dr. Johnson, the keystone of her social arch, was gone, +and there was no one to take his place. Her husband was a cultured +gentleman, but he was not to the English manner born. + +The attempt was made, however, and on the seventh anniversary of their +wedding day Streatham was thrown open. Seventy people sat down to +dinner, the house and grounds were illuminated, and the villagers were +made welcome. A thousand people thronged through the estate. One might +have supposed that a young lord had come into his own. + +It was a brave effort, but it was soon seen to be unavailing. A man's +fame may be like a shuttle-cock, having constantly to be struck to +prevent its falling; but not a woman's. She had lost caste by her +marriage. It was not forgotten that her husband was "a foreigner," that +he had been a "fiddler"; while his wife had been the object of too much +ridicule, the subject of too many lampoons. + +But the lady had resources within herself; she was an inveterate reader +and she had tasted the joys of authorship. She now published a volume of +travels and busied herself with several other works, the very names of +which are forgotten except by the curious in such matters. + +While she was thus engaged a bitter and scandalous attack was made upon +her by Baretti. Now, Baretti was a liar, and in proof of her good sense +and forgiving disposition, I offer in evidence the entry that she made +in her journal when she heard of his death. "Baretti is dead. Poor +Baretti!... he died as he lived, less like a Christian than a +philosopher, leaving no debts (but those of gratitude) undischarged and +expressing neither regret for the past nor fear for the future.... A wit +rather than a scholar, strong in his prejudices, haughty in spirit, +cruel in anger. He is dead! So is my enmity." + +On another occasion she contrived to quiet a hostile critic who had +ridiculed her in verse; much damage may be done by a couplet, as she +well knew, and the lines,-- + + See Thrale's grey widow with a satchel roam + And bring in pomp laborious nothings home,-- + +were not nice, however true they might be. Madam Piozzi determined to +take him in hand. She contrived at the house of a friend to get herself +placed opposite to him at a supper-table, and after observing his +perplexity with amusement for a time, she raised her wine-glass to him +and proposed the toast, "Good fellowship for the future." The critic was +glad to avail himself of the dainty means of escape from an awkward +situation. + +However, it was evident that life at Streatham could not be continued on +the old scale. Funds were not as plentiful as in the days of the great +brewmaster; so after a few years, when her husband suggested their +retiring to her native Wales, she was glad to fall in with the idea. A +charming site was selected, and a villa built in the Italian style after +her husband's design. It was called "Brynbella," meaning beautiful brow; +half Welsh and half Italian, like its owners. I fancy their lives were +happier here than they had been elsewhere, for they built upon their own +foundation. Piozzi had his piano and his violin, and the lady busied +herself with her books; while the monotony of existence was pleasantly +broken by occasional visits to Bath, where they had many friends. + +And during these years, letters and notes, comment and criticism, +dropped from her pen like leaves from a tree in autumn. She lived over +again in memory her life in London, reading industriously, and busy in +the pleasant and largely profitless way which tends to make days pass +into months and months into years and leave no trace of their passing. +She must always have had a pen in her hand: it goes without saying that +she had kept a diary; in those days everyone did, and most had less than +she to record. It was Dr. Johnson who suggested that she get a little +book and write in it all the anecdotes she might hear, observations she +might make, or verse that might otherwise be lost. These instructions +were followed literally, but no little book sufficed. She filled many +large quarto volumes, six of which, entitled "Thraliana," passed through +the London auction rooms in 1908, bringing £2050. One volume, which +perhaps does not belong to the series, but which in every way accords +with Dr. Johnson's suggestion, formed part of the late A. M. Broadley's +collection until, at his death, it passed with several other items, into +that of the writer. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE, MUCH REDUCED IN SIZE, OF THE LAST PAGE OF MRS. +THRALE'S "JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN WALES," UNDERTAKEN IN THE COMPANY OF DR. +JOHNSON IN THE SUMMER OF 1774.] + +Mr. Broadley took an ardent interest in everything that related to Mrs. +Thrale, and published, a few years ago, her "Journal of the Welsh Tour," +undertaken in the summer of 1774. Dr. Johnson also kept a diary on this +journey, but his is bald and fragmentary, while that of the lady is an +intimate and consecutive narrative. The original manuscript volume, in +its original dark, limp leather binding is before me. It comprises +ninety-seven pages in Mrs. Thrale's beautiful hand, beginning, "On +Tuesday, 5th July, 1774, I began my journey through Wales. We set out +from Streatham in our coach and four post horses, accompanied by Dr. +Johnson and our eldest daughter. Baretti went with us as far as London, +where we left him and hiring fresh horses they carried us to the Mitre +at Barnet"; and so on throughout the whole tour, until she made this, +her final entry:-- + + September 30th. When I rose Mr. Thrale informed me that the + Parliament was suddenly dissolved and that all the world was + bustle; that we were to go to Southwark, not to Streatham, and + canvass away. I heard the first part of this report with pleasure, + the latter with pain; nothing but a real misfortune could, I think, + affect me so much as the thoughts of going to Town thus to settle + for the Winter before I have had any enjoyment of Streatham at all; + and so all my hopes of pleasure blow away. I thought to have lived + in Streatham in quiet and comfort, have kissed my children and + cuffed them by turns, and had a place always for them to play in; + and here I must be shut up in that odious dungeon, where nobody + will come near me, the children are to be sick for want of air, and + I am never to see a face but Mr. Johnson's. Oh, what a life that + is! and how truly do I abhor it! At noon however I saw my Girls and + thought Susan vastly improved. At evening I saw my Boys and liked + them very well too. How much is there always to thank God for! But + I dare not enjoy poor Streatham lest I should be forced to quit it. + +I value this little volume highly, as who, interested in the lady, would +not? It is an unaffected record of a journey, of interesting people who +met interesting people wherever they went, and its publication by +Broadley was a pious act. But that the Broadley volume, published a few +years ago, gets its chief value from the sympathetic introduction by +Thomas Seccombe, must, I think, be admitted. + +It is no longer the fashion to "blush as well as weep for Mrs. Thrale." +This silly phrase is Macaulay's. Rather, as Sir Walter Raleigh remarked +to me in going over some of her papers in my library, "What a dear, +delightful person she was! I have always wanted to meet her." In the +future, what may be written of Mrs. Thrale will be written in better +taste. At this time of day why should she be attacked because she +married a man who did not speak English as his mother tongue, and who +was a musician rather than a brewer? One may be an enthusiastic admirer +of Dr. Johnson--I confess I am--and yet keep a warm place in one's heart +for the kindly and charming little woman. Admit that she was not the +scholar she thought she was, that she was "inaccurate in narration": +what matters it? She was a woman of character, too. She was not +overpowered by Dr. Johnson, as was Fanny Burney, to such a degree that +at last she came to write like him, only more so. Mrs. Thrale, by her +own crisp, vigorous English, influenced the Doctor finally to write as +he talked, naturally, without that undue elaboration which was +characteristic of his earlier style. + +If Johnson mellowed under the benign influence of the lady, she was the +gainer in knowledge, especially in such knowledge as comes from books. +It was Mrs. Thrale rather than her husband who formed the Streatham +library. Her taste was robust, she baulked at no foreign language, but +set about to study it. I have never seen a book from her library--and I +have seen many--which was not filled with notes written in her clear and +beautiful hand. These volumes, like the books which Lamb lent Coleridge, +and which he returned with annotations tripling their value, are +occasionally offered for sale in those old book-shops where our +resolutions not to be tempted are writ in so much water; or they turn up +at auction sales and astonish the uninitiated by the prices they bring. + +Several of these volumes are in the collection of the writer: her +Dictionary, the gift of Dr. Johnson, for instance, and a "Life of +Psalmanazar," another gift from the same source; but the book which, +above all others, every Johnsonian would wish to own is the property of +Miss Amy Lowell of Boston, a poet of rare distinction, a critic, and +America's most distinguished woman collector. Who does not envy her the +possession of the first edition of Boswell's "Life of Johnson," filled +with the marginalia of the one person in the world whose knowledge of +the old man rivaled that of the great biographer himself? And to hear +Miss Lowell quote these notes in a manner suggestive of the charm of +Madam Piozzi herself, is a delight never to be forgotten. + +[Illustration: MISS AMY LOWELL, OF BOSTON, POET, CRITIC, AND AMERICA'S +MOST DISTINGUISHED WOMAN COLLECTOR] + +About the time of the Piozzis' removal to Wales, they decided to +adopt a nephew, the son of Piozzi's brother, who had met with financial +reverses in Italy. The boy had been christened John Salusbury in honor +of Mrs. Piozzi, and she became greatly attached to the lad and decided +to leave him her entire fortune. He was brought up as an English boy, +and his education was a matter which gave her serious concern. + +Meanwhile, the years that had touched the lady so lightly had left their +impress upon her husband, who does not seem to have been strong. He was +a great sufferer from gout, and finally died, and was buried in the +parish church of Tremeirchion, which years before he had caused to be +repaired, and had built there a burial vault in which his remains were +placed. They had lived in perfect harmony for twenty-five years, thus +effectually overturning the prophecies of their friends. She continued +to reside at Brynbella until the marriage of her adopted son, when she +generously gave him the estate and removed to Bath, that lovely little +city where so many celebrities have gone to pass the closing years of +eventful lives. + +As a "Bath cat" she continued her interest in men, women, and books +until the end. Having outlived all her old friends, she proceeded to +make new; and when nearly eighty astonished everyone by showing great +partiality for a young and handsome actor,--and, if reports be true, a +very bad actor,--named Conway. There was much smoke and doubtless some +fire in the affair: letters purporting to be hers to him were published +after her death. They may not be genuine, and if they are they show +simply, as Leslie Stephen says, that at a very advanced age she became +silly. + +On her eightieth birthday she gave a ball to six or seven hundred people +in the Assembly Rooms at Bath, and led the dancing herself with her +adopted son (who by this time was Sir John Salusbury Piozzi), very much +to her satisfaction. + +A year later she met with an accident, from the effects of which she +died. She was buried in Tremeirchion Church beside her husband. A few +years ago, on the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Johnson, a +memorial tablet was erected in the quaint old church, reading,-- + + _Near this place are interred the remains of_ + HESTER LYNCH PIOZZI + DR. JOHNSON'S MRS. THRALE + _Born 1741, died 1821_ + +Mrs. Piozzi's life is her most enduring work. Trifles were her serious +business, and she was never idle. Always a great letter-writer, she set +in motion a correspondence which would have taxed the capacity of a +secretary with a typewriter. To the last she was a great reader, and +observing a remark in Boswell on the irksomeness of books to people of +advanced age, she wrote on the margin, "Not to me, at eighty." Her +wonderful memory remained unimpaired until the last. She knew English +literature well. She spoke French and Italian fluently. Latin she +transcribed with ease and grace; of Greek she had a smattering, and she +is said to have had a working knowledge of Hebrew; but I suspect that +her Hebrew would have set a scholar's hair on end. With all these +accomplishments, she was not a pedant, or, properly speaking, a +Blue-Stocking, or if she was, it was of a very light shade of blue. She +told a capital story, omitted everything irrelevant and came to the +point at once; in brief, she was a man's woman. + +And to end the argument where it began,--for arguments always end where +they begin,--I came across a remark the other day which sums up my +contention. It was to the effect that, in whatever company Mrs. Piozzi +found herself, others found her the most charming person in the room. + +[Illustration: SAMUEL JOHNSON] + + + + +VIII + +A RIDICULOUS PHILOSOPHER + + +I am not sure that I know what philosophy is; a philosopher is one who +practices it, and we have it on high authority that "there was never yet +philosopher that could endure the toothache patiently." + +There is an old man in Wilkie Collins's novel, "The Moonstone," the best +novel of its kind in the language, who, when in doubt, reads "Robinson +Crusoe." In like manner I, when in doubt, turn to Boswell's "Life of +Johnson," and there I read that the fine, crusty old doctor was hailed +in the Strand one day by a man who half a century before had been at +Pembroke College with him. It is not surprising that Johnson did not at +first remember his former friend, and he was none too well pleased to be +reminded that they were both "old men now." "We are, sir," said Dr. +Johnson, "but do not let us discourage one another"; and they began to +talk over old times and compare notes as to where they stood in the +world. + +Edwards, his friend, had practiced law and had made money, but had spent +or given away much of it. "I shall not die rich," said he. "But, sir," +said Johnson, "it is better to live rich than to die rich." And now +comes Edwards's immortal remark, "You are a philosopher, Dr. Johnson. I +have tried, too, in my time to be a philosopher; but, I don't know +how, cheerfulness was always breaking in." + +[Illustration: WILLIAM GODWIN, THE RIDICULOUS PHILOSOPHER] + +With the word "cheerfulness," Edwards had demolished the scheme of life +of most of our professed philosophers, who have no place in their +systems for the attribute that goes furthest toward making life worth +while to the average man. + +Cheerfulness is a much rarer quality than is generally supposed, +especially among the rich. It was not common even before we learned +that, in spite of Browning, though God may be in his heaven, +nevertheless, all is wrong with the world. + +If "most men lead lives of quiet desperation," as Thoreau says they do, +it is, I suspect, because they will not allow cheerfulness to break in +upon them when it will. A good disposition is worth a fortune. Give +cheerfulness a chance and let the professed philosopher go hang. + +But it is high time for me to turn my attention, and yours, if I may, to +the particular philosopher through whom I wish to stick my pen, and +whom, thus impaled, I wish to present for your edification--say, rather, +amusement. His name was William Godwin; he was the husband of Mary +Wollstonecraft and the father-in-law of Shelley. + +Godwin was born in Cambridgeshire in 1756, and came of preaching stock. +It is related that, when only a lad, he used to steal away, not to go in +swimming or to rob an orchard, but to a meeting-house to preach; this at +the age of ten. The boy was father to the man: to the end of his life +he never did anything else. He first preached orthodoxy, later +heterodoxy, but he was always a preacher. I do not like the tribe. I am +using the word as indicating one who elects to teach by word rather than +by example. + +When a boy he had an attack of smallpox. Religious scruples prevented +him from submitting to vaccination, for he said he had no wish to run +counter to the will of God. In this frame of mind he did not long +remain. He seems to have been a hard student--what we would call a +grind. He read enormously, and by twenty he considered that he was fully +equipped for his life's work. He was as ready to preach as an Irishman +is to fight, for the love of it; but he was quarrelsome as well as +pious, and, falling out with his congregation, he dropped the title of +Reverend and betook himself to literature and London. + +At this time the French Revolution was raging, and the mental churning +which it occasioned had its effect upon sounder minds than his. Godwin +soon became intimate with Tom Paine and others of like opinions. +Wherever political heresy and schism was talked, there Godwin was to be +found. He stood for everything which was "advanced" in thought and +conduct; he joined the school which was to write God with a small g. All +the radical visionaries in London were attracted to him, and he to them. +He thought and dreamed and talked, and finally grew to feel the need of +a larger audience. The result was "An Enquiry Concerning Political +Justice," a book which created a tremendous sensation in its day. It +seemed the one thing needed to bring political dissent and +dissatisfaction to a head. + +Much was wrong at the time, much is still wrong, and doubtless reformers +of Godwin's type do a certain amount of good. They call attention to +abuses, and eventually the world sets about to remedy them. A "movement" +is in the air; it centres in some man who voices and directs it. For the +moment the man and the movement seem to be one. Ultimately the movement +becomes diffused, its character changes; frequently the man originally +identified with it is forgotten--so it was with Godwin. + +"Political Justice" was published in 1793. In it Godwin fell foul of +everything. He assailed all forms of government. The common idea that +blood is thicker than water, is wrong: all men are brothers; one should +do for a stranger as for a brother. The distribution of property is +absurd. A man's needs are to be taken as the standard of what he should +receive. He that needs most is to be given most--by whom, Godwin did not +say. + +Marriage is a law and the worst of all laws: it is an affair of +property, and like property must be abolished. The intercourse of the +sexes is to be like any other species of friendship. If two men happen +to feel a preference for the same woman, let them both enjoy her +conversation and be wise enough to consider sexual intercourse "a very +trivial object indeed." + +I have a copy of "Political Justice," before me, with Tom Paine's +signature on the title-page. What a whirlwind all this once created, +especially with the young! Its author became one of the most-talked-of +men of his time, and Godwin's estimate of himself could not have been +higher than that his disciples set upon him. Compared with him, "Paine +was nowhere and Burke a flashy sophist." He gloried in the reputation +his book gave him, and he profited by it to the extent of a thousand +pounds; to him it was a fortune. + +Pitt, who was then Prime Minister, when his attention was called to the +book, wisely remarked, "It is not worth while to prosecute the author of +a three-guinea book, because at such a price very little harm can be +done to those who have not three shillings to spare." + +The following year Godwin published his one other book that has escaped +the rubbish heap of time--"The Adventures of Caleb Williams," a novel. +It is the best of what might be called "The Nightmare Series," which +would begin with "The Castle of Otranto," include his own daughter's +"Frankenstein," and end, for the moment, with Bram Stoker's "Dracula." +"Caleb Williams" has genuine merit; that it is horrible and unnatural +may be at once admitted, but there is a vitality about it which holds +your interest to the last; unrelieved by any flash of sentiment or +humor, it is still as entirely readable as it was once immensely +popular. Colman, the younger, dramatized it under the name of "The Iron +Chest," and several generations of playgoers have shuddered at the +character of Falkland, the murderer, who, and not Caleb Williams, is +the chief character. His other novels are soup made out of the same +stock, as a _chef_ would say, with a dash of the supernatural added. + +Godwin had now written all that he was ever to write on which the dust +of years has not settled, to be disturbed only by some curious student +of a forgotten literature; yet he supposed that he was writing for +posterity! + +Meanwhile he, who had been living with his head in the clouds, became +aware of the existence of "females." It was an important, if belated, +discovery. He was always an inveterate letter-writer, and his curious +letters to a number of women have been preserved. He seems to have had +more than a passing fancy for Amelia Alderson, afterward Mrs. Opie, the +wife of the artist. He was intimate with Mrs. Robinson, the "Perdita" of +the period, in which part she attracted the attention of the Prince of +Wales. Mrs. Inchbald and Mrs. Reveley were also friends, with whom he +had frequent misunderstandings. His views on the subject of marriage +being well known, perhaps these ladies, merely to test the philosopher, +sought to overcome his objection to "that worst of institutions." If so, +their efforts were unsuccessful. + +Godwin, however, seems to have exerted a peculiar fascination over the +fair sex, and he finally met one with whom, as he says, "friendship +melted into love." Godwin, saying he would ne'er consent, consented. +Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of the "Rights of Woman," now calling +herself Mrs. Imlay, triumphed. Her period of romance, followed fast by +tragedy, was for a brief time renewed with Godwin. She had had one +experience, the result of which was a fatherless infant daughter, Fanny; +and some time after she took up with Godwin, she urged upon him the +desirability of "marriage lines." + +Godwin demurred for a time; but when Mary confided to him that she was +about to become a mother, a private wedding in St. Pancras Church took +place. Separate residence was attempted, in order to conform to Godwin's +theory that too close familiarity might result in mutual weariness; but +Godwin was not destined to become bored by his wife. She had +intelligence and beauty; indeed, it seems likely that he loved her as +devotedly as it was possible for one of his frog-like nature to do. +Shortly after the marriage a daughter was born, and christened Mary; and +a few days later the remains of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin were interred +in the old graveyard of St. Pancras, close by the church which she had +recently left as a bride. + +No sketch of Godwin's life would be complete without the well-known +story of the expiring wife's exclamation: "I am in heaven"; to which +Godwin replied, "No, my dear, you only mean that your physical +sensations are somewhat easier." + +Thus, by that "divinity that shapes our ends rough," Godwin, who did not +approve of marriage and who had no place in his philosophy for the +domestic virtues, became within a few months a husband, a widower, a +stepfather, and a father. Probably no man was less well equipped than he +for his immediate responsibilities. He had been living in one house and +his wife in another, to save his face, as it were, and also to avoid +interruptions; but this scheme of life was no longer possible. A +household must be established; some sort of a family nurse became an +immediate necessity. One was secured, who tried to marry Godwin out of +hand. To escape her attentions he fled to Bath. + +But his objections to marriage as an institution were waning, and when +he met Harriet Lee, the daughter of an actor, and herself a writer of +some small distinction, they were laid aside altogether. His courtship +of Miss Lee took the form of interminable letters. He writes her: "It is +not what you are but what you might be that charms me"; and he chides +her for not being prepared faithfully to discharge the duties of a wife +and mother. Few women have been in this humor won; Miss Lee was not +among them. + +Godwin finally returned to London. He was now a man approaching middle +age, cold, methodical, dogmatic, and quick to take offense. He began to +live on borrowed money. The story of his life at this time is largely a +story of his squabbles. A more industrious man at picking a quarrel one +must go far to find; and that the record might remain, he wrote +letters--not short, angry letters, but long, serious, disputatious +epistles, such as no one likes to receive, and which seem to demand and +usually get an immediate answer. + +Ritson writes him: "I wish you would make it convenient to return to me +the thirty pounds I loaned you. My circumstances are by no means what +they were at the time I advanced it, nor did I, in fact, imagine you +would have retained it so long." And again: "Though you have not the +ability to repay the money I loaned you, you might have integrity enough +to return the books you borrowed. I do not wish to bring against you a +railing accusation, but am compelled, nevertheless, to feel that you +have not acted the part of an honest man." + +Godwin seems to have known his weakness, for he writes of himself: "I am +feeble of tact and liable to the grossest mistakes respecting theory, +taste, and character." And again: "No domestic connection is fit for me +but that of a person who should habitually study my gratification and +happiness." This sounds ominous from one who was constantly looking for +a "female companion"; and it was to prove so. + + * * * * * + +It is with a feeling of relief that we turn, for a moment, from the +sordid life of Godwin the philosopher to Godwin the dramatist. He was +sadly in need of funds, and, following the usual custom of an author in +distress, had written a tragedy, for which Charles Lamb had provided the +epilogue. + +John Philip Kemble, seduced by Godwin's flattery and insistence, had +finally been prevailed upon to put it on the stage. Kemble had made up +his mind that all the good tragedies that could be written had been +written, and had not his objections been overruled, the tragedy, +"Antonio," would never have been produced, and one of Lamb's most +delightful essays, in consequence, never written. + +With the usual preliminaries, and after much correspondence and +discussion, the night of the play came. It was produced at the Theatre +Royal, Drury Lane--what a ring it has! Lamb was there in a box next to +the author, who was cheerful and confident. + +It is a pity to mutilate Lamb's account of it, but it is too long to +quote except in fragments. + + The first act swept by solemn and silent ... applause would have + been impertinent, the interest would warm in the next act.... The + second act rose a little in interest, the audience became + complacently attentive.... The third act brought the scene which + was to warm the piece progressively to the final flaming forth of + the catastrophe, but the interest stood stone still.... + + It was Christmas time and the atmosphere furnished some pretext for + asthmatic affections. Some one began to cough, his neighbors + sympathized with him, till it became an epidemic; but when from + being artificial in the pit the cough got naturalized on the stage, + and Antonio himself seemed more intent upon relieving his own lungs + than the distress of the author, then Godwin "first knew fear," and + intimated that, had he been aware that Mr. Kemble labored under a + cold, the performance might possibly have been postponed. + + In vain did the plot thicken. The procession of verbiage stalked + on, the audience paid no attention whatever to it, the actors + became smaller and smaller, the stage receded, the audience was + going to sleep, when suddenly Antonio whips out a dagger and stabs + his sister to the heart. The effect was as if a murder had been + committed in cold blood, with the audience betrayed into being + accomplices. The whole house rose in clamorous indignation--they + would have torn the unfortunate author to pieces if they could have + got him. + +[Illustration: CHARLES LAMB'S PLAY-BILL OF "ANTONIO," BY GODWIN. "DAMNED +WITH UNIVERSAL CONSENT"] + +The play was hopelessly and forever damned, and the epilogue went down +in the crash. + +Over my writing-table hangs a dark oak frame containing a souvenir of +this performance--the programme which Charles Lamb used on this fateful +evening. It is badly crumpled, crumpled no doubt by Elia in his agony. +No reference is made to the play being by Godwin except a note in +Charles Lamb's handwriting which reads, "By Godwin," with the +significant words, "Damned with universal consent." + +Godwin bore his defeat with philosophic calm. He appealed to friends for +financial assistance and to posterity for applause. But it was really a +serious matter. He was on the verge of ruin, and now did what many +another man has done when financial difficulties crowded thick and +fast--he married again. + +A certain Mrs. Clairmont fell in love with Godwin even before she had +spoken to him. She was a fat, unattractive widow, and apparently did all +the courting. She took lodgings close by Godwin's, and introduced +herself--"Is it possible that I behold the immortal Godwin?" + +This is flattery fed with a knife. When a widow makes up her mind to +marry, one of two things must be done, and quickly--her victim must run +or submit. Godwin was unable to run and a marriage was the result. Like +his first wedding, it was for a time kept a profound secret. + +An idea of Godwin and his wife at this period is to be had from Lamb's +letters. He refers constantly to Godwin as the Professor, and to his +wife as the Professor's Rib, who, he says, "has turned out to be a +damned disagreeable woman, so much so as to drive Godwin's old +cronies"--among whom was Lamb--"from his house." + +It was a difficult household. Mrs. Godwin had two children by her first +husband: a daughter whose right name was Mary Jane, but who called +herself Claire--she lived to become the mistress of Lord Byron and the +mother of his daughter Allegra; also a son, who was raised a pet and +grew up to be a nuisance. Godwin's immediate contribution to the +establishment was the illegitimate daughter of his first wife, who +claimed Imlay for her father, and his own daughter Mary, whose mother +had died in giving her birth. In due course there was born another son, +christened William, after his father. + +Something had to be done, and promptly. Godwin began a book on Chaucer, +of whose life we know almost as little as of Shakespeare's. In dealing +with Chaucer, Godwin introduced a method which subsequent writers have +followed. Actual material being scanty, they fill out the picture by +supposing what he might have done and seen and thought. Godwin filled +two volumes quarto with musings about the fourteenth century, and called +it a "Life of Chaucer." + +Mrs. Godwin--who was a "managing woman"--had more confidence in trade +than in literature. She opened a bookshop in Hanway Street under the +name of Thomas Hodgkins, the manager; subsequently in Skinner Street, +under her own name, M. J. Godwin. From this shop there issued children's +books, the prettiest and wisest, for "a penny plain and tuppence +colored," and more. "The Children's Book-Seller," as he called himself, +was presently successful, and parents presented his little volumes to +their children, with no suspicion that the lessons of piety and goodness +which charmed away selfishness were published, revised, and sometimes +written by a philosopher whom they would scarcely venture to name. It +was Godwin who suggested to Charles Lamb and his sister that the "Tales +from Shakespeare" be written. Godwin's own contributions were produced +under the name of Baldwin. + +Lamb writes: "Hazlitt has written some things and a grammar for Godwin, +but the gray mare is the better horse. I do not allude to Mrs. Godwin, +but to the word grammar, which comes near gray mare, if you observe." It +would certainly surprise Godwin could he know that, while his own +"works" are forgotten, some of the little publications issued by the +"Juvenile Library," 41 Skinner Street, Snow Hill, are worth their weight +in gold. + +The years passed on. Godwin lived more or less in constant terror of his +wife, of whom Lamb writes: "Mrs. Godwin grows every day in disfavor with +God and man. I will be buried with this inscription over me: 'Here lies +Charles Lamb, the woman-hater, I mean that hated one woman. For the +rest, God bless 'em, and when He makes any more, make 'em prettier.'" + +As he grew older Godwin moderated his views of men somewhat, so that "he +ceased to be disrespectful to any one but his Maker"; and he once so far +forgot himself as to say "God bless you" to a friend, but quickly added, +"to use a vulgar expression." He remained, however, always prepared to +sacrifice a friend for a principle. He seemed to feel that truth had +taken up its abode in him, and that any question which he had submitted +to the final judgment of his own breast had been passed upon finally and +forever. + +This search for truth has a great fascination for a certain type of +mind. It does not appear dangerous: all one has to do is thrust one's +feet in slippers and muse; but it has probably caused as much misery as +the search for the pole. The pole has now been discovered and can be +dismissed, but the search for truth continues. It will always continue, +for the reason that its location is always changing. Every generation +looks for it in a new place. + +[Illustration: LETTER FROM WILLIAM GODWIN + +I bought this letter one hundred years to a day after it had been +written, for a sum which would have amazed its writer, and temporarily, +at least, have relieved him of his financial difficulties.] + +One night Lamb, dropping in on Godwin, found him discussing with +Coleridge his favorite problem, "Man as he is and man as he ought to +be." The discussion seemed interminable. "Hot water and its better +adjuncts" had been entirely overlooked. Finally Lamb stammered out, +"Give me man as he ought _not_ to be, and something to drink." It must +have been on one of these evenings that Godwin remarked that he wondered +why more people did not write like Shakespeare; to which Lamb replied +that he could--if he had the mind to. + +The older generation was passing away. Long before he died Godwin was +referred to as though he were a forgotten classic; but there was to be a +revival of interest in him, due entirely to the poet Shelley. The mere +mention of Shelley's name produced an explosion. He had been expelled +from Oxford for atheism. Reading revolutionary books, as well as writing +them, he had come across "Political Justice" and was anxious to meet the +author. + +He sought him out, eventually made the acquaintance of his daughter +Mary, by this time a beautiful and interesting girl of seventeen years, +and in due course eloped with her, deserting his wife Harriet. Where was +Godwin's philosophy now? we may well ask. At no time in his long life +was Godwin so ridiculous as in his relations with Shelley. + +In their flight, Shelley and Mary had taken with them Mrs. Godwin's +daughter Claire. The mother made after the runaways post-haste and +overtook them in Calais, her arrival creating consternation in the camp +of the fugitives; but they all declined to return. In such scorn was +Shelley generally held, that the rumor that he had bought both Godwin's +daughter and his step-daughter for a sum in hand created no amazement, +the pity rather than the possibility of it being most discussed. + +Financial affairs, too, in Skinner Street were going badly. From the +record of notes given and protested at maturity, one might have supposed +that Godwin was in active business in a time of panic. + +"Don't ask me whether I won't take none or whether I will, but leave the +bottle on the chimleypiece and let me put my lips to it when I am so +dispoged." Such was the immortal Mrs. Gamp's attitude toward gin. +Godwin's last manner in money matters was much the same: money he would +take from any one and in any way when he must, but, like Mrs. Gamp, he +was "dispoged" to take it indirectly. + +Indignant with Shelley, whose views on marriage were largely of his +teaching, Godwin refused to hold any communication with him except such +as would advance his (Godwin's) fortunes at Shelley's expense. Their +transactions were to be of a strictly business character (business with +Shelley!). We find Godwin writing him and returning a check for a +thousand pounds because it was drawn to his order. How sure he must have +been of it! "I return your cheque because no consideration can induce me +to utter a cheque drawn by you and containing my name. To what purpose +make a disclosure of this kind to your banker? I hope you will send a +duplicate of it by the post which will reach me on Saturday morning. +You may make it payable to Joseph Hume or James Martin or any other name +in the whole directory." And then Godwin would forge the name of "Joseph +Hume or James Martin or any other name in the whole directory," and +guarantee the signature by his own indorsement, and the business +transaction would be complete. Pretty high finance this, for a +philosopher! + +Not until after the death of Harriet, when Shelley's connection with +Mary was promptly legalized, would Godwin consent to receive them. He +then expressed his great satisfaction, and wrote to his brother in the +country that his daughter had married the eldest son of a wealthy +baronet. + +If this world affords true happiness, it is to be found in a home where +love and confidence increase with years, where the necessities of life +come without severe strain, where luxuries enter only after their cost +has been carefully considered. We are told that wealth is a test of +character--few of us have to submit to it. Poverty is the more usual +test. It is difficult to be very poor and maintain one's self-respect. +Godwin found it impossible. + +He, whose chief wish it had been to avoid domestic entanglements and who +wanted his gratification and happiness studied habitually, was living in +a storm-centre of poverty, misery, and tragedy. Claire was known to have +had a baby by Lord Byron, who had deserted her; Harriet Shelley had +drowned herself in the Serpentine; Fanny Godwin, his step-daughter, +took poison at Bristol. The philosopher, almost overcome, sought to +conceal his troubles with a lie. To one of his correspondents he refers +to Fanny's having been attacked in Wales with an inflammatory fever +"which carried her off." + +Meanwhile, the sufferings of others he bore with splendid fortitude. In +a very brief letter to Mary Shelley, answering hers in which she told +him of the death of her child, he said, "You should recollect that it is +only persons of a very ordinary sort and of a pusillanimous disposition +that sink long under a calamity of this nature." But he covered folio +sheets in his complainings to her, counting on her sensitive heart and +Shelley's good-nature for sympathy and relief. + +With the death of Shelley, Godwin's affairs became desperate. Taking +advantage of some defect in the title of the owner of the property which +he had leased, he declined for some time to pay any rent, meanwhile +carrying on a costly and vexatious lawsuit. Curiously enough, in the +end, justice triumphed. Godwin was obliged to pay two years' arrears of +rent and the costs of litigation. Of course, he looked upon this as an +extreme hardship, as another indication of the iniquity of the law. But +he was now an old man; very little happiness had broken in upon him, and +his friends took pity on him. Godwin was most ingenious in stimulating +them to efforts on his behalf. A subscription was started under his +direction. He probably felt that he knew best how to vary his appeals +and make them effective. So much craft one would not have suspected in +the old beggar. + +One thing he always was--industrious. He finished a wretched novel and +at once began a "History of the Commonwealth." He finished "The Lives of +the Necromancers," and promptly began a novel; but with all his writings +he has not left one single phrase with which his name can be associated, +or a single thought worth thinking. + +It is almost superfluous to say that he had no sense of humor. With his +head in the clouds and his feet in his slippers, he mused along. + +Hazlitt tells a capital story of him. Godwin was writing a "Life of +Chatham," and applied to his acquaintances to furnish him with +anecdotes. Among others, a Mr. Fawcett told him of a striking passage in +a speech by Lord Chatham on General Warrants, at the delivery of which +he (Mr. Fawcett) had been present. "Every man's house has been called +his castle. And why is it called his castle? Is it because it is +defended by a wall, because it is surrounded with a moat? No, it may be +nothing more than a straw-built shed. It may be open to all the +elements; the wind may enter it, the rain may enter--but the king cannot +enter." + +Fawcett thought that the point was clear enough; but when he came to +read the printed volume, he found it thus: "Every man's house is his +castle. And why is it called so? Is it because it is defended by a wall, +because it is surrounded with a moat? No, it may be nothing more than a +straw-built shed. It may be exposed to all the elements; the rain may +enter into it, all the winds of heaven may whistle around it, but the +king cannot,"--and so forth. + +Things were going from bad to worse. Most of his friends were dead or +estranged from him. He had made a sad mess of his life and he was very +old. Finally, an appeal on his behalf was made to the government, the +government against which he had written and talked so much. It took pity +on him. Lord Grey conferred on him the post of Yeoman Usher of the +Exchequer, whatever that may be, with a residence in New Palace Yard. +The office was a sinecure, "the duties performed by menials." For this +exquisite phrase I am indebted to his biographer, C. Kegan Paul. It +seems to suggest that a "menial" is one who does his duty. Almost +immediately, however, a reformed Parliament abolished the office, and +Godwin seemed again in danger; but men of all creeds were now disposed +to look kindly on the old man. He was assured of his position for life, +and writing to the last, in 1836 he died, at the age of eighty, and was +buried by the side of Mary Wollstonecraft in St. Pancras Churchyard. + +If there is to be profit as well as pleasure in the study of biography, +what lesson can be learned from such a life? + +Many years before he died Godwin had written a little essay on +"Sepulchres." It was a proposal for erecting some memorial to the dead +on the spot where their remains were interred. Were one asked to +suggest a suitable inscription for Godwin's tomb it might be + + HOW NOT TO DO IT. + +In the ever-delightful "Angler," speaking of the operation of baiting a +hook with a live frog, Walton finally completes his general instructions +with the specific advice to "use him as though you loved him." In +baiting my hook with a dead philosopher I have been unable to accomplish +this. I do not love him; few did; he was a cold, hard, self-centred man +who did good to none and harm to many. As a husband, father, friend, he +was a complete failure. His search for truth was as unavailing as his +search for "gratification and happiness." He is all but forgotten. It is +his fate to be remembered chiefly as the husband of the first +suffragette. + +What has become of the + + Wonderful things he was going to do + All complete in a minute or two? + +Where are now his novel philosophies and theories? To ask the question +is to answer it. + +Constant striving for the unobtainable frequently results in neglect of +important matters close at hand--such things as bread and cheese and +children are neglected. Some happiness comes from the successful effort +to make both ends meet habitually and lap over occasionally. My +philosophy of life may be called smug, but it can hardly be called +ridiculous. + + + + +IX + +A GREAT VICTORIAN + + +For a time after the death of any author, the world, if it has greatly +admired that author, begins to feel that it has been imposed upon, +becomes a little ashamed of its former enthusiasm and ends by neglecting +him altogether. This would seem to have been Anthony Trollope's case, to +judge from the occasional comment of English critics, who, if they refer +to him at all, do so in some such phrase as, "About this time Trollope +also enjoyed a popularity which we can no longer understand." From one +brief paper purporting to be an estimate of his present status, these +nuggets of criticism are extracted:-- + + Mr. Trollope was not an artist. + + Trollope had something of the angry impatience of the middle-class + mind with all points of view not his own. + + "Tancred" is as far beyond anything that Trollope wrote as "Orley + Farm" is superior to a Chancery pleading. + + We have only to lay "Alroy" on the same table with "The Prime + Minister" to see where Anthony Trollope stands. + + It is not likely that Trollope's novels will have any vogue in the + immediate future; _every page brings its own flavor of unreality_. + [Italics mine.] + +And in referring to Plantagenet Palliser, who figures largely in so many +of his novels, the author says:-- + + Some nicknames are engaging; "Planty Pall" is not one of these. The + man is really not worth writing about. + + "Is He Popenjoy?" is perhaps the most readable of all Mr. + Trollope's works. It is shorter than many. + +Finally, when it is grudgingly admitted that he did some good work, the +answer to the question, "Why is such work neglected?" is, "Because the +world in which Trollope lived has passed away." It would seem that +absurdity could go no further. + +American judgment is in general of a different tenor, although Professor +Phelps, of Yale, in his recent volume, "The Advance of the English +Novel," dismisses Trollope with a single paragraph, in which is embedded +the remark, "No one would dare call Trollope a genius." Short, sharp and +decisive work this; but Professor Phelps is clearing the decks for +Meredith, to whom he devotes twenty or more pages. I respect the opinion +of college professors as much as Charles Lamb respected the equator; +nevertheless, I maintain that, if Trollope was not a genius, he was a +very great writer; and I am not alone. + +Only a few days ago a cultivated man of affairs, referring to an +interesting contemporary caricature of Dickens and Thackeray which bore +the legend, "Two Great Victorians," remarked, "They were great +Victorians, indeed, but I have come to wonder in these later years +whether Anthony Trollope will not outlive them both." And while the mere +book-collector should be careful how he challenges the opinion of "one +who makes his living by reading books and then writing about +them,"--the phrase is Professor Phelps's,--nevertheless, when one's +opinion is supported, as mine is, by the authority of such a novelist as +our own Howells, he may perhaps be forgiven for speaking up. + +[Illustration: FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MESS^{RS} ELLIOT & FRY] + +Mr. Howells not long ago, in a criticism of the novels of Archibald +Marshall, refers to him as a "disciple of Anthony Trollope," whom he +calls "the greatest of the Victorians." This is high praise--perhaps too +high. Criticism is, after all, simply the expression of an opinion; the +important question is, whether one has a right to an opinion. It is easy +to understand why the author of "Silas Lapham" should accord high place +to Trollope. + +Trollope can never be popular in the sense that Dickens is popular, nor +is it so necessary to have him on the shelves as to have Thackeray; but +any one who has not made Trollope's acquaintance has a great treat in +store; nor do I know an author who can be read and re-read with greater +pleasure. But to fall completely under the lure of his--genius, I was +going to say, but I must be careful--he should be read quietly--and +thoroughly: that is to say, some thirty or forty volumes out of a +possible hundred or more. + +It may at once be admitted that there are no magnificent scenes in +Trollope as there are in Thackeray; as, for example, where Rawdon +Crawley in "Vanity Fair," coming home unexpectedly, finds Becky +entertaining the Marquis of Steyne. On the other hand, you will not +find in any of his best stories anything so deadly dull as the endless +talk about Georgie Osborne, aged variously five, seven, or ten years, in +the same volume. How often have I longed to snatch that infant from his +nurse and impale him on the railings of St. James's Park! + +For the most part, people in Trollope's stories lead lives very like our +own, dependent upon how our fortunes may be cast. They have their +failures and their successes, and fall in love and fall out again, very +much as we do. At last we begin to know their peculiarities better than +we know our own, and we think of them, not as characters in a book, but +as friends and acquaintances whom we have grown up with. Some we like +and some bore us exceedingly--just as in real life. His characters do +not lack style,--the Duke of Omnium is a very great person indeed,--but +Trollope himself has none. He has little or no brilliancy, and we like +him the better for it. The brilliant person may become very fatiguing to +live with--after a time. + +It is, however, in this country rather than in England that Trollope +finds his greatest admirers. To-day the English call him +"mid-Victorian." Nothing worse can be said. Even Dickens and Thackeray +have to fight against an injunction to this effect, which I cannot +believe is to be made permanent. Nothing is more seductive and dangerous +than prophecy, but one more forecast will not greatly increase its bulk, +and so I venture to say that, Dickens and Thackeray aside, Trollope +will outlive all the other novelists of his time. Dickens has come to +stay; Thackeray will join the immortals with two novels under his arm, +and perhaps one novel of George Eliot and one by Charles Reade will +survive; but Beaconsfield, Bulwer-Lytton, Kingsley, and a host of others +once famous, will join the long procession headed for oblivion, led by +Ann Radcliffe. + +And if it be Trollope's fate to outlast all but the greatest of his +contemporaries, it will be due to the simplicity and lack of effort with +which he tells his tale. There is no straining after effect--his +characters are real, live men and women, without a trace of caricature +or exaggeration. His humor is delicious and his plots sufficient, +although he has told us that he never takes any care with them; and +aside from his character-drawing, he will be studied for the lifelike +pictures of the upper-and middle-class English society of his time. Not +one only, but all of his novels might be called "The Way We Live Now." +Someone has said that he is our greatest realist since Fielding; he has +been compared with Jane Austen, lacking her purity of style, but dealing +with a much larger world. + +"I do not think it probable that my name will remain among those who in +the next century will be known as the writers of English prose fiction." +So wrote Trollope in the concluding chapter of his autobiography. And he +adds: "But if it does, that permanency of success will probably rest on +the characters of Plantagenet Palliser, Lady Glencora, and the Reverend +Mr. Crawley." Now it is as certain that Trollope is remembered as it is +that we are in the next century; but it is not so much for any single +character, or group of characters, or, indeed, any single book, that he +is remembered, as it is for the qualities I have referred to. We may not +love the English people, but we all love England; we love to go there +and revel in its past; and the England that Trollope described so +accurately is rapidly passing away; it was going perhaps more quickly +than the English people themselves knew, even before this war began. + +To read Trollope is to take a course in modern English history--social +history to be sure, but just as important as political, and much more +interesting. He has written a whole series of English political novels, +it is true, but their interest is entirely aside from politics. It may +be admitted that there are dreary places in Trollope, as there are +dreary reaches on the lovely Thames, but they can be skipped, and more +rapidly; and, as Dr. Johnson says, "Who but a fool reads a book +through?" + +The reason so many American girls marry, or at least used to marry, +Englishmen, was because they found them different from the men whom they +had grown up with; not finer, not as fine, perhaps, but more +interesting. It is for some such reason as this that we get more +pleasure out of Trollope than we do out of Howells, whose work, in some +respects, resembles his. And Trollope, although he frequently stops the +progress of his story to tell us what a fine thing an English gentleman +is, never hesitated to "Paint the warts," and it is not altogether +unpleasant to see the warts--on others. + +Trollope takes, or appears to take, no care with his plots. The amazing +thing about him is that he sometimes gives his plot away; but this seems +to make no difference. In the dead centre of "Can You Forgive Her?" +Trollope says that you must forgive her if his book is written aright. +Lady Mason, in "Orley Farm," confesses to her ancient lover that she is +guilty of a crime; but when she comes to be tried for it, the interest +in her trial is intense; so in "Phineas Redux," where Phineas is tried +for murder, the reader is assured that he is not guilty and that it will +come out all right in the end; but this does not in the least detract +from the interest of the story. Compare with this Wilkie Collins's +"Moonstone," probably the best plot in English fiction. The moment that +you know who stole the diamond and how it was stolen, the interest is at +an end. + +I have referred to the trial in "Orley Farm." It is, in my judgment, the +best trial scene in any novel. I made this statement once to a well-read +lawyer, and he was inclined to dispute the point, and of course +mentioned "Pickwick." I reminded him that I had said the best, not the +best known. Bardell vs. Pickwick is funny, inimitably funny, never to be +forgotten, but burlesque. The trial in "A Tale of Two Cities" is heroic +romance; but the trial in "Orley Farm" is real life. The only trial +which can be compared to it is Effie Deans's, which I confess is +infinitely more pathetic, too much so to be thoroughly enjoyed. + +In "Orley Farm" one can see and hear Mr. Furnival, with his low voice +and transfixing eye; one knows that the witness in his hands is as good +as done for; and as for Mr. Chaffanbrass,--and did Dickens ever invent a +better name?--he knew his work was cut out for him, and he did it with +horrible skill. One sees plainly that the witnesses were trying to tell +the truth, but that Chaffanbrass, intent on winning his case, would not +let them: he was fighting, not for the truth, but for victory. The +sideplay is excellent, the suppressed excitement in the court-room, the +judge, the lawyers, are all good. + +At last Mr. Furnival rises: "Gentlemen of the jury," he said, "I never +rose to plead a client's cause with more confidence than I now feel in +pleading that of my friend, Lady Mason." And after three hours he closes +his great speech with this touching bit: "And now I shall leave my +client's case in your hands. As to the verdict which you will give, I +have no apprehension. You know as well as I do that she has not been +guilty of this terrible crime. That you will so pronounce I do not for a +moment doubt. But I do hope that the verdict will be accompanied by some +expression on your part which may show to the world at large how great +has been the wickedness displayed in the accusation." + +And Trollope adds: "And yet as he sat down he knew that she had been +guilty! To his ear her guilt had never been confessed; but yet he knew +that it was so, and knowing that, he had been able to speak as though +her innocence were a thing of course. That those witnesses had spoken +the truth he also knew, and yet he had been able to hold them up to the +execration of all around them as though they had committed the worst of +crimes from the foulest of motives! And more than this, stranger than +this, worse than this,--when the legal world knew,--as the legal world +soon did know,--that all this had been so, the legal world found no +fault with Mr. Furnival, conceiving that he had done his duty by his +client in a manner becoming an English barrister and an English +gentleman." + +I have frequently heard people say that they would like to attend a +trial. It is not worth while: trials are either shocking or stupid; the +best way to see a trial is to read "Orley Farm." + +Those of us who love Trollope love him for those very qualities which +cause fatigue in others. Our lives, it may be, are fairly strenuous; it +is hardly necessary for us to have our feelings wrung of an evening. +When the day is done and I settle down in my arm-chair by the crackling +wood fire, I am no longer inclined to problems, real or imaginary. I +suppose the average man does his reading with what comfort he may after +dinner; it is the time for peace--and Trollope. It may be that the +reader falls asleep. What matter? Better this, I should say, than that +he should be kept awake by the dissection of a human soul. This +vivisection business is too painful. No, give me those long descriptions +of house-parties, those chapters made up of dinner conversations, of +endless hunting scenes, of editorials from newspapers, of meetings of +the House, of teas on the Terrace, and above all, give me the +clergy--not in real life for a minute, but in the pages of Trollope. + +But nothing happens, you say. I admit that there is very little blood +and no thunder; but not all of us care for blood and thunder. Trollope +interests one in a gentler way; in fact, you may not know that you have +been interested until you look at your watch and find it past midnight. +And you can step from one book to another almost without knowing it. The +characters, the situations repeat themselves over and over again; your +interest is not always intense, but it never entirely flags. You are +always saying to yourself, I'll just read one more chapter. + +After you have read fifteen or twenty of his novels,--and you will +surely read this number if you read him at all,--you will find that you +are as intimate with his characters as you are with the members of your +own family, and you will probably understand them a great deal better. +Professor Phelps says that he is constantly besieged with the question: +"Where can I find a really good story?" I would recommend that he keep a +list of Trollope's best novels at hand. Surely they are in accord with +his own definition of what a novel should be--a good story well told. I +will make such a list for him if he is in any difficulty about it. + +I am told by those who know, that Trollope's sporting scenes are +faultless. Never having found a horse with a neck properly adjusted for +me to cling to, I have given up riding. Seated in my easy-chair, novel +in hand, in imagination I thrust my feet into riding-boots and hear the +click of my spurs on the gravel, as I walk to my mount; for some one has +"put me up"; forgetful of my increasing girth, I rather fancy myself in +my hunting clothes. Astride my borrowed mount, following a pack of +hounds, I am off in the direction of Trumpeton Wood. + +Fox-hunting, so fatiguing and disappointing in reality, becomes a +delight in the pages of Trollope. The fox "breaks" at last, the usual +accident happens, someone misjudges a brook or a fence and is thrown. If +the accident is serious, they have a big man down from London. I know +just who he will be before he arrives; and when the services of a +solicitor or man of business are required, he turns out to be an old +friend. + +Although I have never knowingly killed a grouse or a partridge, being +utterly unfamiliar with the use of shooting irons of any kind, Trollope +makes me long for the first of August, that I may tell my man to pack my +box and take places in the night mail for Scotland. + +And then comes the long hoped-for invitation to spend a week end at +Matching Priory; or, it may be that the Duke of Omnium's great +establishment, Gatherum Castle, is to be open to me. Dukes and +duchesses, lords and ladies, M.P.'s, with the latest news from town, of +ministries falling and forming--I have been through it all before. I +know the company; when a man enters the room, I know in advance just +what turn the gossip will take. + +But, above all, the clergy! Was there ever a more wonderful gallery of +portraits? Balzac, you will say. I don't know--perhaps; but beginning +with the delightful old Warden, his rich, pompous, but very human +son-in-law, Archdeacon Grantley, Bishop Proudie and his shrewish lady, +and that Uriah Heep of clergymen, Mr. Slope--it is a wonderful +assemblage of living men and women leading everyday lives without +romance, almost without incident. + +Trollope was the painter, perhaps I should say the photographer, _par +excellence_ of his time. He set up his camera and took his pictures from +every point of view. Possibly he was not a very great artist, but he was +a wonderfully skillful workman. As he says of himself, he was at his +writing-table at half-past five in the morning; he required of himself +250 words every quarter of an hour; his motto was _nulla dies sine +linea_--no wet towel around his brow. He went "doggedly" at it, as Dr. +Johnson says, and wrote an enormous number of books for a total of over +seventy thousand pounds. He looked upon the result as comfortable, but +not splendid. + +"You are defied to find in Trollope a remark or an action out of +keeping with the character concerned. I would give a pound for every +such instance found by an objector, if he would give me a penny for +every strictly consistent speech or instance I might find in return." I +am quoting from a little book of essays by Street; and it seems to me +that he has here put his finger upon one of Trollope's most remarkable +qualities: his absolute faithfulness. He was a realist, if I understand +the word, but he did not care to deal much with the disagreeable or the +shocking, as those whom we call realists usually do. + +His pictures of the clergy, of whom he says that, when he began to +write, he really knew very little, delighted some and offended others. +An English critic, Hain Friswell, a supreme prig, says they are a +disgrace, almost a libel; but the world knows better. On the whole his +clergy are a very human lot, with faults and weaknesses just like our +own. To my mind Mrs. Proudie, the bishop's lady, is a character worthy +of Dickens at his very best. There is not a trace of caricature or +exaggeration about her, and the description of her reception is one of +the most amusing chapters ever written. In another vein, and very +delicate, is the treatment of Mrs. Proudie's death. The old Bishop feels +a certain amount of grief: his mainstay, his lifelong partner has been +taken from him; but he remembers that life with her was not always easy; +one feels that he will be consoled. + +Trollope tells an amusing story of Mrs. Proudie. He was writing one day +at the Athenæum Club when two clergymen entered the room, each with a +novel in his hand. Soon they began to abuse what they were reading, and +it turned out that each was reading one of his novels. Said one, "Here +is that Archdeacon whom we have had in every novel that he has ever +written." "And here," said the other, "is that old Duke whom he talked +about till everyone is tired of him. If I could not invent new +characters I would not write novels at all." Then one of them fell foul +of Mrs. Proudie. It was impossible for them not to be overheard. +Trollope got up and, standing between them, acknowledged himself to be +the culprit; and as to Mrs. Proudie, said he, "I'll go home and kill her +before the week is out." + +"The biographical part of literature is what I love most." After his +death in 1882, his son published an autobiography which Trollope had +written some years before. Swinburne calls it "exquisitely comical and +conscientiously coxcombical." Whatever this may mean, it is generally +thought to have harmed his reputation somewhat. In it he speaks at +length of his novels: tells us how and when and where he wrote them; +expressing his opinion as dispassionately as if he were discussing the +work of an author he had never seen. Painstaking and conscientious he +may have been, but in his autobiography he shows no sign of it--on the +contrary, he stresses quantity rather than quality. + +For this very reason a set--what the publishers call a "definitive +edition"--of Trollope will never be published. There is no demand for +one. Editions of him in sumptuous binding, gilt-top, with uncut (and +unopened) edges, under glass, will not be found in the houses of those +who select their books at the same time they make their choice of the +equipment of their billiard-room. The immortality of morocco Trollope +will never have; but on the open shelves of the man or woman whose +leisure hours are spent in their libraries, who know what is best in +English fiction, there will be found invariably six or ten of his novels +in cloth, by this publisher or that, worn and shapeless from much +reading. + +There is frequently some discussion as to the sequence in which +Trollope's books should be read. Especially is this true of what his +American publishers, Dodd, Mead & Co., call the "Barsetshire" series and +the "Parliamentary" series. The novels forming what they term the "Manor +House" series have no particular connection with each other. They +recommend the following order:-- + + THE BARSETSHIRE NOVELS + + The Warden + Barchester Towers + Dr. Thorne + Framley Parsonage + The Small House at Allington + The Last Chronicle of Barset + + THE PARLIAMENTARY NOVELS + + The Eustace Diamonds + Can You Forgive Her? + Phineas Finn + Phineas Redux + The Prime Minister + The Duke's Children + + THE MANOR-HOUSE NOVELS + + Orley Farm + The Vicar of Bullhampton + Is He Popenjoy? + John Caldigate + The Belton Estate + +Good stories all of them; and the enthusiastic Trollopian may wish also +to read "The Three Clerks," in which Chaffanbrass is introduced for the +first time; "The Bertrams," of which Trollope says, "I do not remember +ever to have heard even a friend speak well of it"; "Castle Richmond," +which is hard going: "Miss MacKenzie," in which there is a description +of a dinner-party _à la Russe_, not unworthy of the author of Mrs. +Proudie's reception in "Barchester Towers." + +The list is by no means complete, but by this time we may have enough +and not wish to make Lotta Schmidt's acquaintance, or give a hoot "Why +Frau Frohman Raised Her Prices." I once knew but have forgotten. + +Personally, Trollope was the typical Englishman: look at his portrait. +He was dogmatic, self-assertive, rather irritable and hard to control, +as his superiors in the Post-Office, in which he spent the greater part +of his life, well knew; not altogether an amiable character, one would +say. His education was by no means first-class, and his English is the +English we talk rather than the English we write; but he was able to use +it in a way sufficient for his purpose. + +Listen to the conclusion of his Autobiography:-- + + It will not, I trust, be supposed by any reader that I have + intended in this so-called autobiography to give a record of my + inner life. No man ever did so truly--and no man ever will. + Rousseau probably attempted it, but who doubts but that Rousseau + has confessed in much the thoughts and convictions, rather than the + facts, of his life? If the rustle of a woman's petticoat has ever + stirred my blood; if a cup of wine has been a joy to me; if I have + thought tobacco at midnight in pleasant company to be one of the + elements of an earthly paradise; if, now and again, I have somewhat + recklessly fluttered a five-pound note over a card-table--of what + matter is that to any reader? I have betrayed no woman. Wine has + brought me no sorrow. It has been the companionship of smoking that + I have loved, rather than the habit. I have never desired to win + money, and I have lost none. To enjoy the excitement of pleasure, + but to be free from its vices and ill effects--to have the sweet, + and leave the bitter untasted--that has been my study. The + preachers tell us that this is impossible. It seems to me that + hitherto I have succeeded fairly well. I will not say that I have + never scorched a finger--but I carry no ugly wounds. + + For what remains to me of life I trust for my happiness still + chiefly to my work--hoping that when the power of work is over with + me, God may be pleased to take me from a world in which, according + to my view, there can be no joy; secondly, to the love of those who + love me; and then to my books. That I can read and be happy while I + am reading, is a great blessing. Could I remember, as some men do, + what I read, I should have been able to call myself an educated + man. + +To trust for happiness chiefly to work and books,--to taste the sweet +and leave the bitter untasted,--some may call such a scheme of life +commonplace; but the most eventful lives are not the happiest--probably +few authors have led happier lives than Anthony Trollope. + +One final word I am forced to say. Since this awful war broke out, I +read him in a spirit of sadness. The England that he knew and loved and +described with such pride is gone forever. It will, to the coming +generation, seem almost as remote as the England of Elizabeth. The +Church will go, the State will change, and the common people will come +into their own. The old order of things among the privileged class, much +pay for little work, will be reversed. It will be useless to look for +entailed estates and a leisure class--for all that made England a +delightful retreat to us. If England is to continue great and powerful, +as I earnestly hope and believe she is, England must be a better place +for the poor and not so enervating for the rich, or both rich and poor +are valiantly fighting her battles in vain. + + +-------------------------------------+ + | For the row that I prize is yonder, | + | Away on the unglazed shelves, | + | The bulged and the bruised octavos, | + | The dear and the dumpy twelves. | + | | + | Austin Dobson. | + +-------------------------------------+ + + + + +X + +TEMPLE BAR THEN AND NOW + + +The King of England is not a frequent visitor to the City of London, +meaning by "the City" that square mile or so of old London whose +political destinies are in the keeping of the Lord Mayor, of which the +Bank of England is almost the exact centre, St. Paul's the highest +ground, and Temple Bar the western boundary. + +It might be said that the King is the only man in England who has no +business in the City. His duties are in the West End--in Westminster; +but to the City he goes on state occasions; and it so happened that +several years ago I chanced to be in London on one of them. + +I had reached London only the night before, and I did not know that +anything out of the ordinary was going on, until over my breakfast of +bacon and eggs--and such bacon!--I unfolded my "Times" and learned that +their Majesties were that morning going in state to St. Paul's Cathedral +to give thanks for their safe return from India. It was not known that +they had been in any great peril in India; but royal progresses are, I +suppose, always attended with a certain amount of danger. At any rate +the King and Queen had reached home safely, and wanted to give thanks, +according to historic precedent, in St. Paul's; and the ceremony was set +for that very morning. + +Inquiring at the office of my hotel in Pall Mall, I learned that the +Royal procession would pass the doors in something over an hour, and +that the windows of a certain drawing-room were at my disposal. It would +have been more comfortable to view the Royal party from a drawing-room +of the Carlton; but what I wanted to see would take place at Temple Bar; +so, my breakfast dispatched, I sallied forth to take up my position in +the crowded street. + +It was in February--a dark, gloomy, typical London morning. The bunting +and decorations, everywhere apparent, had suffered sadly from the +previous night's rain and were flapping dismally in the cold, raw air; +and the streets, though crowded, wore a look of hopeless dejection. + +I am never so happy as in London. I know it well, if a man can be said +to know London well, and its streets are always interesting to me; but +the Strand is not my favorite street. It has changed its character sadly +in recent years. The Strand no longer suggests interesting shops and the +best theatres, and I grieve to think of the ravages that time and Hall +Caine have made in the Lyceum, which was once Irving's, where I saw him +so often in his, and my, heyday. However, my way took me to the Strand, +and, passing Charing Cross, I quoted to myself Dr. Johnson's famous +remark: "Fleet Street has a very animated appearance; but the full tide +of human existence is at Charing Cross." As I neared the site of +Temple Bar, however, I observed that, for this morning, at any rate, the +tide was setting toward the City. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE BAR AS IT IS TO-DAY] + +My progress through the crowd was slow, but I finally reached my +objective point, the Griffin, which marks the spot where for many +centuries Temple Bar stood. Taking up my position just in front of the +rather absurd monument, which forms an "island" in the middle of the +street, I waited patiently for the simple but historic and picturesque +ceremony to begin. + +Before long the city dignitaries began to arrive. First came the +Sheriffs and Aldermen in coaches of state, wearing their +scarlet-and-ermine robes. Finally, a coach appeared, out of the window +of which protruded the end of the great mace, emblem of City authority; +and at last the Lord Mayor himself, in all his splendor, in a coach so +wonderful in its gold and color that one might have supposed it had been +borrowed from Cinderella for the occasion. + +While I was wondering how many times and under what varying conditions +this bit of pageantry had been enacted on this very spot, a slight wave +of cheering down the Strand apprised me of the approach of the Royal +procession. The soldiers who lined both sides of the street became, at a +word of command, more immovable than ever, standing at "attention," if +that is the word which turns men into statues. At the same time a band +began the national anthem, and this seemed the signal for the Mayor and +his attendants to leave their coaches and group themselves just east of +the monument. A moment later the Royal party, in carriages driven by +postilions with outriders, swept by; but the state carriage in which sat +the King and Queen was brought to a halt immediately in front of the +City party. + +The Lord Mayor, carrying his jeweled sword in his hand, bowed low before +his sovereign, who remained seated in the open carriage. Words, I +presume, were spoken. I saw the Lord Mayor extend his greetings and +tender his sword to the King, who, saluting, placed his hand upon its +hilt and seemed to congratulate the City upon its being in such safe +keeping. The crowd cheered--not very heartily; but history was in the +making, and the true Londoner, although he might not like to confess it, +still takes a lively interest in these scenes which link him to the +past. + +While the City officials, their precious sword--it was a gift from Queen +Elizabeth--still in their keeping, were returning to their coaches and +taking their places, there was a moment's delay, which gave me a good +opportunity of observing the King and his consort, who looked very much +like the pictures of them we so frequently see in the illustrated +papers. The King looked bored, and I could not help noticing that he was +not nearly as interested in me as I was in him. I felt a trifle hurt +until I remembered that his father, King Edward, had in the same way +ignored Mark Twain, that day when the King was leading a procession in +Oxford Street, and Mark was on top of an omnibus, dressed to kill in +his new top-coat. Evidently kings do not feel bound to recognize men in +the street whom they have never seen before. + +The Lord Mayor and his suite, having resumed their places, were driven +rapidly down Fleet Street toward St. Paul's, the Royal party following +them. The whole ceremony at Temple Bar, the shadow of former ceremonies +hardly more real, had not occupied much over five minutes. The crowd +dispersed, Fleet Street and the Strand immediately resumed their wonted +appearance except for the bunting and decorations, and I was left to +discuss with myself the question, what does this King business really +mean? + +Many years ago Andrew Carnegie wrote a book, "Triumphant Democracy," in +which, as I vaguely remember, he likened our form of government to a +pyramid standing on its base, while a pyramid representing England was +standing on its apex. There is no doubt whatever that a pyramid looks +more comfortable on its base than on its apex; but let us drop these +facile illustrations of strength and weakness and ask ourselves, "In +what way are we better off, politically, than the English?" + +In theory, the king, from whom no real authority flows, may seem a +little bit ridiculous, but in practice how admirably the English have +learned to use him! If he is great enough to exert a powerful influence +on the nation for good, his position gives him an immense opportunity. +How great his power is, we do not know,--it is not written down in +books,--but he has it. If, on the other hand, he has not the full +confidence of the people, if they mistrust his judgment, his power is +circumscribed: wise men rule and Majesty does as Majesty is told to do. + +"We think of our Prime Minister as the wisest man in England for the +time being," says Bagehot. The English scheme of government permits, +indeed, necessitates, her greatest men entering politics, as we call it. +Is it so with us? + +Our plan, however excellent it may be in theory, in practice results in +our having constantly to submit ourselves--those of us who must be +governed--to capital operations at the hands of amateurs who are +selected for the job by drawing straws. That we escape with our lives is +due rather to our youth and hardy constitution than to the skill of the +operators. + +To keep the king out of mischief, he may be set the innocuous task of +visiting hospitals, opening expositions, or laying corner-stones. +Tapping a block of granite with a silver trowel, he declares it to be +"well and truly laid," and no exception can be taken to the masterly +manner in which the work is done. Occasionally, once a year or so, plain +Bill Smith, who has made a fortune in the haberdashery line, say, bends +the knee before him and at a tap of a sword across his shoulder arises +Sir William Smith. Bill Smith was not selected for this honor by the +king himself; certainly not! the king probably never heard of him; but +the men who rule the nation, those in authority, for reasons sufficient +if not good, selected Smith for "birthday honors," and he is given a +stake in the nation. + +And so it goes. The knight may become a baronet, the baronet a baron, +the baron a duke--this last not often now, only for very great service +rendered the Empire; and with each advance in rank comes increases of +responsibility--in theory, at least. Have our political theories worked +out so well that we are justified in making fun of theirs as we +sometimes do? I think not. After our country has stood as well as +England has the shocks which seven or ten centuries may bring it, we may +have the right to say, "We order these things better at home." + + * * * * * + +While musing thus, the Strand and Temple Bar of a century and a half ago +rise up before me, and I notice coming along the footway a tall, burly +old man, walking with a rolling gait, dressed in a brown coat with metal +buttons, knee-breeches, and worsted stockings, with large silver buckles +on his clumsy shoes. He seems like a wise old fellow, so I approach him +and tell him who I am and of my perplexities. + +"What! Sir, an American? They are a race of convicts and ought to be +thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging." And then, seeing +me somewhat disconcerted, he adds less ferociously: "I would not give +half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another." +Saying which, he turns into a court off Fleet Street and is lost to +view. + +It was only after he had disappeared that I realized that I had been +speaking to Dr. Johnson. + +Just when the original posts, bars, and chains gave way to a building +known as Temple Bar, we have no means of knowing. Honest John Stow, +whose effigy in terra cotta still looks down on us from the wall of the +Church of St. Andrew Undershaft, published his famous "Survay of +[Elizabethan] London" in 1598. In it he makes scant mention of Temple +Bar; and this is the more remarkable because he describes so accurately +many of the important buildings, and gives the exact location of every +court and lane, every pump and well, in the London of his day. + +Stow assures his readers that his accuracy cost him many a weary mile's +travel and many a hard-earned penny, and his authority has never been +disputed. He refers to the place several times, but not to the gate +itself. "Why this is, I have not heard, nor can I conjecture," to use a +phrase of his; but we know that a building known as Temple Bar must have +been standing when the "Survay" appeared; for it is clearly indicated in +Aggas's pictorial map of London, published a generation earlier; +otherwise we might infer that in Stow's time it was merely what he terms +it, a "barre" separating the liberties of London from Westminster--the +city from the shire. It is obvious that it gets its name from that large +group of buildings known as the Temple, which lies between Fleet Street +and the river, long the quarters of the Knights Templar, and for +centuries past the centre of legal learning in England. + +Referring to the "new Temple by the Barre," Stow tells us that "over +against it in the high streets stand a payre of stockes"; and adds that +the whole street "from the Barre to the Savoy was commanded to be paved +in the twenty-fourth year of the reign of King Henry the Sixt" (this +sturdy lad, it will be remembered, began to "reign" when he was only +nine months old), with "tole to be taken towards the charges thereof." +This practice of taking "tole" from all non-freemen at Temple Bar +continued until after the middle of the nineteenth century, and fine +confusion it must have caused. The charge of two pence each time a cart +passed the City boundary finally aroused such an outcry against the +"City turnpike" that it was done away with. Whoever received this +revenue must have heartily bewailed the passing of the good old days; +for a few years before the custom was abandoned, the toll collected +amounted to over seven thousand pounds per annum. + +[Illustration: OLD TEMPLE BAR + +Demolished in 1666] + +The first reference which seems to suggest a building dates back to the +time when "Sweet Anne Bullen" passed from the Tower to her coronation at +Westminster, at which time the Fleet Street conduit poured forth red +wine, and the city waits--or minstrels--"made music like a heavenly +noyse." We know, too, that it was "a rude building," and that it was +subsequently replaced by a substantial timber structure of classic +appearance, with a pitched roof, spanning the street and gabled at each +end. Old prints show us that it was composed of three arches--a large +central arch for vehicular traffic, with smaller arches, one on each +side, over the footway. All of the arches were provided with heavy oaken +doors, studded with iron, which could be closed at night, or when unruly +mobs, tempted to riot, threatened--and frequently carried out their +threat--to disturb the peace of the city. + +The City proper terminated at Lud Gate, about halfway up Ludgate Hill; +but the jurisdiction of the City extended to Temple Bar, and those +residing between the two gates were said to be within the liberties of +the City and enjoyed its rights and privileges, among them that of +passing through Temple Bar without paying toll. Although Lud Gate was +the most important gate of the old city, originally forming a part of +the old London wall, from time immemorial Temple Bar has been the great +historic entrance to the City. At Temple Bar it was usual, upon an +accession to the throne, the proclamation of a peace, or the overthrow +of an enemy, for a state entry to be made into the City. The sovereign, +attended by his trumpeters, would proceed to the closed gate and demand +entrance. From the City side would come the inquiry, "Who comes here?" +and the herald having made reply, the Royal party would be admitted and +conducted to the lord mayor. + +With the roll of years this custom became slightly modified. When Queen +Elizabeth visited St. Paul's to return thanks for the defeat of the +Spanish Armada, we read that, upon the herald and trumpeters having +announced her arrival at the Gate, the Lord Mayor advanced and +surrendered the city sword to the Queen, who, after returning it to him, +proceeded to St. Paul's. On this occasion--as on all previous +occasions--the sovereign was on horseback, Queen Elizabeth having +declined to ride, as had been suggested, in a vehicle drawn by horses, +on the ground that it was new-fangled and effeminate. For James I, for +Charles I and Cromwell and Charles II, similar ceremonies were enacted, +the coronation of Charles II being really magnificent and testifying to +the joy of England in again having a king. + +Queen Anne enters the City in a coach drawn by eight horses, "none with +her but the Duchess of Marlborough, in a very plain garment, the Queen +full of jewels," to give thanks for the victories of the duke abroad; +and so the stately historic procession winds through the centuries, +always pausing at Temple Bar, right down to our own time. + + * * * * * + +But to return to the actual "fabrick," as Dr. Johnson would have called +it. We learn that, soon after the accession of Charles II, old Temple +Bar was marked for destruction. It was of wood, and, although "newly +paynted and hanged" for state occasions, it was felt that something more +worthy of the great city, to which it gave entrance, should be erected. +Inigo Jones was consulted and drew plans for a new gate, his idea being +the erection of a really triumphant arch; but, as he died soon after, +his plan was abandoned. Other architects with other plans came forward. +At length the King became interested in the project and promised money +toward its accomplishment; but Charles II was an easy promiser, and as +the money he promised belonged to someone else, nothing came of it. +While the project was being thus discussed, the plague broke out, +followed by the fire which destroyed so much of old London, and public +attention was so earnestly directed to the rebuilding of London itself +that the gate, for a time, was forgotten. + +Temple Bar had escaped the flames, but the rebuilding of London +occasioned by the fire gave Christopher Wren his great opportunity. A +new St. Paul's with its "mighty mothering dome," a lasting monument to +his genius, was erected, and churches innumerable, the towers and spires +of which still point the way to heaven--instructions which, we may +suspect, are neglected when we see how deserted they are; but they +serve, at least, to add charm and interest to a ramble through the City. + +Great confusion resulted from the fire, but London was quick to see that +order must be restored, and it is much to be regretted that Wren's +scheme for replanning the entire burned district was not carried out. +Fleet Street was less than twenty-four feet wide at Temple Bar--not from +curb to curb, for there was none, but from house to house. This was the +time to rebuild London; although something was done, much was neglected, +and Wren was finally commissioned to build a new gate of almost the +exact dimensions of the old one. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE BAR IN DR. JOHNSON'S TIME] + +The work was begun in 1670 and progressed slowly, for it was not +finished until two years later. What a fine interruption to traffic its +rebuilding must have occasioned! Constructed entirely of Portland +stone, the same material as St. Paul's, it consisted, like the old one, +of three arches--a large flattened centre arch, with small semicircular +arches on either side. Above the centre arch was a large window, which +gave light and air to a spacious chamber within; while on either side of +the window were niches, in which were placed statues of King James and +his Queen, Anne of Denmark, on the City side and of Charles I and +Charles II on the Westminster side. + +The curious may wish to know that the mason was Joshua Marshall, whose +father had been master-mason to Charles I; that the sculptor of the +statues was John Bushnell, who died insane; and that the cost of the +whole, including the statues at four hundred and eighty pounds, was but +thirteen hundred and ninety-seven pounds, ten shillings. + +The fog and soot and smoke of London soon give the newest building an +appearance of age, and mercifully bring it into harmony with its +surroundings. Almost before the new gate was completed, it had that +appearance; and before it had a chance to grow really old, there arose a +demand for its removal altogether. Petitions praying for its destruction +were circulated and signed. Verse, if not poetry, urging its retention +was written and printed. + + If that Gate is pulled down, 'twixt the Court and the City, + You'll blend in one mass, prudent, worthless and witty. + If you league cit and lordling, as brother and brother, + You'll break order's chain and they'll war with each other. + Like the Great Wall of China, it keeps out the Tartars + From making irruptions, where industry barters, + Like Samson's Wild Foxes, they'll fire your houses, + And madden your spinsters, and cousin your spouses. + They'll destroy in one sweep, both the Mart and the Forum, + Which your fathers held dear, and their fathers before 'em. + +But, attacked by strong city men and defended only by sentiment, Temple +Bar still continued to impede traffic and shut out light and air, while +the generations who fought for its removal passed to their rest. It +became the subject of jokes and conundrums. Why is Temple Bar like a +lady's veil? it was asked; the answer being that both must be raised +(razed) for busses. The distinction between a buss and a kiss, suggested +by Herrick, of whom the eighteenth-century City man never heard, would +have been lost; but we know that-- + + Kissing and bussing differ both in this, + We buss our wantons and our wives we kiss. + +No account of Temple Bar would be complete without reference to the iron +spikes above the centre of the pediment, on which were placed +occasionally the heads of persons executed for high treason. This +ghastly custom continued down to the middle of the eighteenth century, +and gave rise to many stories, most of them legendary, but which go to +prove, were proof necessary, that squeamishness was not a common fault +in the days of the Georges. + +To refer, however briefly, to the taverns which clustered east and west +of Temple Bar and to the authors who frequented them, would be to stop +the progress of this paper--and begin another. Dr. Johnson only voiced +public opinion when he said that a tavern chair is a throne of human +felicity. For more than three centuries within the shadow of Temple Bar +there was an uninterrupted flow of wine and wit and wisdom, with, +doubtless, some wickedness. From Ben Jonson, whose favorite resort was +The Devil, adjoining the Bar on the south side, down to Tennyson, who +frequented The Cock, on the north, came the same cry, for good talk and +good wine. + + O plump head-waiter at the Cock, + To which I most resort, + How goes the time? 'Tis five o'clock-- + Go fetch a pint of port. + +This does not sound like the author of "Locksley Hall," but it is; and +while within the taverns, "the chief glory of England, its authors," +were writing and talking themselves into immortality, just outside there +ebbed and flowed beneath the arches of Temple Bar, east in the morning +and west at night, the human stream which is one of the wonders of the +world. + +[Illustration: CLIPPING FROM A NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN 1767] + +Meanwhile the importance of Temple Bar as a city gate was lessening; "a +weak spot in our defenses," a wit calls it, and points out that the +enemy can dash around it through the barber's shop, one door of which +opens into the City, and the other into the "suburbs"; but down to the +last it continued to play a part in City functions. In 1851 it is lit +with twenty thousand lamps as the Queen goes to a state ball in +Guildhall. A few months later, it is draped in black as the remains of +the Iron Duke pause for a moment under its arches, on the way to their +final resting-place in St. Paul's Cathedral. In a few years we see it +draped with the colors of England and Prussia, when the Princess Royal, +as the bride of Frederick William, gets her "Farewell" and "God bless +you" from the City, on her departure for Berlin. Five years pass and the +young Prince of Wales and his beautiful bride, Alexandra, are received +with wild applause by the mob as their carriage halts at Temple Bar; and +once again when, in February, 1872, Queen Victoria, the Prince and +Princess of Wales, and their Court go to St. Paul's to return thanks for +the Prince's happy recovery from a dangerous illness. + +With this event the history of Temple Bar in its old location +practically ceases. It continued a few years longer a "bone in the +throat of Fleet Street"; but at last its condition became positively +dangerous, its gates were removed because of their weight, and its +arches propped up with timbers. Finally, in 1877, its removal was +decided upon, by the Corporation of London, and Temple Bar, from time +immemorial one of London's most notable landmarks, disappears and the +Griffin on an "island" rises in its stead. + +"The ancient site of Temple Bar has been disfigured by Boehm with +statues of the Queen and the Prince of Wales so stupidly modeled that +they look like statues out of Noah's Ark. It is bad enough that we +should have German princes foisted upon us, but German statues are +worse." + +In this manner George Moore refers to the Memorial commonly called the +Griffin, which, shortly after the destruction of the old gate, was +erected on the exact spot where Temple Bar formerly stood. + +It is not a handsome object; indeed, barring the Albert Memorial, it may +be said to represent Victorian taste at its worst. It is a high, +rectangular pedestal, running lengthwise with the street, placed on a +small island which serves as a refuge for pedestrians crossing the busy +thoroughfare. On either side are niches in which are placed the lifesize +marble figures described by Moore. But this is not all: there are bronze +tablets let into the masonry, showing in _basso-rilievo_ incidents in +the history of old Temple Bar, with portraits, medallions, and other +things. This base pedestal, if so it may be called, is surmounted by a +smaller pedestal on which is placed a heraldic dragon or griffin,--a +large monster in bronze,--which is supposed to guard the gold of the +City. + +We do not look for beauty in Fleet Street, and we know that only in the +Victorian sense is this monument a work of art; but it has the same +interest for us as a picture by Frith--it is a human document. Memories +of the past more real than the actual present crowd upon us, and we +turn under an archway into the Temple Gardens, glad to forget the +artistic sins of Boehm and his compeers. + + * * * * * + +Ask the average Londoner what has become of old Temple Bar, and he will +look at you in blank amazement, and then, with an effort of memory, say, +"They've put it up somewhere in the north." And so it is. + +On its removal the stones were carefully numbered, with a view to +reërection, and there was some discussion as to where the old gate +should be located. It is agreed now that it should have been placed in +the Temple Gardens; but for almost ten years the stones, about one +thousand in number, were stored on a piece of waste ground in the +Farrington Road. Finally, they were purchased by Sir Henry Meux, the +rich brewer, whose brewery, if out of sight, still indicates its +presence by the strong odor of malt, at the corner of Oxford Street and +Tottenham Court Road. Sir Henry Meux was the owner of a magnificent +country seat, Theobald's Park, near Waltham Cross, about twelve miles +north of London; and he determined to make Temple Bar the principal +entrance gate to this historic estate. + +So to Theobald's Park, anciently Tibbals, I bent my steps one morning. +Being in a reminiscent mood, I had intended to follow in the footsteps +of Izaak Walton, from the site of his shop in Fleet Street just east of +Temple Bar, and having, in the words of the gentle angler, "stretched +my legs up Tottenham Hill," to take the high road into Hertfordshire; +but the English spring having opened with more than its customary +severity, I decided to go by rail. It was raining gently but firmly when +my train reached its destination, Waltham Cross, and I was deprived of +the pleasure I had promised myself of reaching Temple Bar on foot. An +antique fly, drawn by a superannuated horse, was secured at the railway +station, and after a short drive I was set down before old Temple Bar, +the gates of which were closed as securely against me as ever they had +been closed against an unruly mob in its old location. + +Driving along a flat and monotonous country road, one comes on the old +gate almost suddenly, and experiences a feeling, not of disappointment +but of surprise. The gate does not span the road, but is set back a +little in a hedge on one side of it, and seems large for its setting. +One is prepared for a dark, grimy portal, whereas the soot and smoke of +London have been erased from it, and, instead, one sees an antique, +creamy-white structure tinted and toned with the green of the great +trees which overhang it. + +Prowling about in the drenching rain, I looked in vain for some sign of +life. I shouted to King James, who looked down on me from his niche; and +receiving no reply, addressed his consort, inquiring how I was to secure +admittance. + +A porter's lodge on one side, almost hidden in the trees, supplied an +answer to my question, and on my giving a lusty pull at the bell, the +door was opened and a slatternly woman appeared and inquired my +business. "To look over Temple Bar," I replied. "Hutterly himpossible," +she said; and I saw at once that tact and a coin were required. I used +both. "Go up the drive to the great 'ouse and hask for the clerk +[pronounced clark] of the works, Mr. 'Arrison; 'e may let ye hover." + +I did as I was told and had little difficulty with Mr. Harrison. The +house itself was undergoing extensive repairs and alterations. It has +recently passed, under the will of Lady Meux, to its present owner, +together with a fortune of five hundred thousand pounds in money. + +Many years ago Henry Meux married the beautiful and charming Valerie +Langton, an actress,--a Gaiety girl, in fact,--but they had had no +children, and when he died in 1900, the title became extinct. Thereafter +Lady Meux, enormously wealthy, without relatives, led a retired life, +chiefly interested in breeding horses. A chance courtesy paid her by the +wife of Sir Hedworth Lambton, who had recently married, together with +the fact that he had established a reputation for ability and courage, +decided her in her thought to make him her heir. + +Sir Hedworth, a younger son of the second Earl of Durham, had early +adopted the sea as his profession. He had distinguished himself in the +bombardment of Alexandria, and had done something wonderful at +Ladysmith. He was a hero, no longer a young man, without means--who +better fitted to succeed to her wealth and name? In 1911 Lady Meux died, +and this lovely country seat, originally a hunting-lodge of King James, +subsequently the favorite residence of Charles I, and with a long list +of royal or noble owners, became the property of the gallant sailor. All +that he had to do was to forget that the name of Meux suggested a +brewery and exchange his own for it, and the great property was his. It +reads like a chapter out of a romance. Thus it was that the house was +being thoroughly overhauled for its new owner at the time of my visit. + +But I am wandering from Temple Bar. Armed with a letter from Mr. +Harrison, I returned to the gate. First, I ascertained that the span of +the centre arch, the arch through which for two centuries the traffic of +London had passed, was but twenty-one feet "in the clear," as an +architect would say; next, that the span of the small arches on either +side was only four feet six inches. No wonder that there was always +congestion at Temple Bar. + +I was anxious also to see the room above, the room in which formerly +Messrs. Child, when it had adjoined their banking-house, had stored +their old ledgers and cash-books. Keys were sought and found, and I was +admitted. The room was bare except for a large table in the centre, on +which were quill pens and an inkstand in which the ink had dried up +years before. One other thing there was, a visitor's book, which, like a +new diary, had been started off bravely years before, but in which no +signature had recently been written. I glanced over it and noticed a few +well-known names--English names, not American, such as one usually +finds, for I was off the beaten track of the tourist. The roof was +leaking here and there, and little pools of water were forming on the +floor. It was as cold as a tomb. I wished that a tavern, the Cock, the +Devil, or any other, had been just outside, as in the old days when +Temple Bar stood in Fleet Street. + +The slatternly woman clanked her keys; she too was cold. I had seen all +there was to see. The beauty of Temple Bar is in its exterior, and, most +of all, in its wealth of literary and historic associations. I could +muse elsewhere with less danger of pneumonia, so I said farewell to the +kings in their niches, who in this suburban retreat seemed like monarchs +retired from business, and returned to my cab. + +The driver was asleep in the rain. I think the horse was, too. I roused +the man and he roused the beast, and we drove almost rapidly back to the +station; no, not to the station, but to a public house close by it, +where hot water and accompaniments were to be had. + +"When is the next train up to London?" I asked an old man at the +station. + +"In ten minutes, but you'll find it powerful slow." + +I was not deceived; it took me over an hour to reach London. + +As if to enable me to bring this story to a fitting close, I read in the +papers only a few days ago: "Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe was to-day +promoted to the rank of Admiral, and Sir Hedworth Meux, who until now +has been commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, was appointed Admiral of the +Home Fleet."[12] + +Good luck be with him! Accepting the burdens which properly go with rank +and wealth, he is at this moment cruising somewhere in the cold North +Sea, in command of perhaps the greatest fleet ever assembled. Upon the +owner of Temple Bar, at this moment, devolves the duty of keeping watch +and ward over England. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE BAR] + + + + +XI + +A MACARONI PARSON + + +It will hardly be questioned that the influence of the priesthood is +waning. Why this is so, it is not within the province of a mere +book-collector to discuss; but the fact will, I think, be admitted. In +the past, however, every country and almost every generation has +produced a type of priest which seems to have been the special product +of its time. The soothsayer of old Rome, concealed, perhaps, in a hollow +wall, whispered his warning through the marble lips of a conveniently +placed statue, in return for a suitable present indirectly offered; +while to-day Billy Sunday, leaping and yelling like an Apache Indian, +shrieks his admonitions at us, and takes up a collection in a +clothes-basket. It is all very sad and, as Oscar Wilde would have said, +very tedious. + +Priests, prophets, parsons, or preachers! They are all human, like the +rest of us. Too many of them are merely insurance agents soliciting us +to take out policies of insurance against fire everlasting, for a fee +commensurate, not with the risk, but with our means. It is a +well-established trade, in which the representatives of the old-line +companies, who have had the cream of the business, look with disapproval +upon new methods, as well they may, their own having worked so well for +centuries. The premiums collected have been enormous, and no evidence +has ever been produced that the insurer took any risk whatever. + +And the profession has been, not only immensely lucrative, but highly +honorable. In times past priests have ranked with kings: sometimes +wearing robes of silk studded with jewels; on fortune's cap the topmost +button, exhibit Wolsey; sometimes appearing in sackcloth relieved by +ashes; every man in his humor. But it is not my purpose to inveigh +against any creed or sect; only I confess my bewilderment at the range +of human interest in questions of doctrine, while simple Christianity +stands neglected. + +The subject of this paper, however, is not creeds in general or in +particular, but an eighteenth-century clergyman of the Church of +England. It will not, I think, be doubted by those who have given the +subject any attention that religious affairs in England in the +eighteenth century were at a very low ebb indeed. Carlyle, as was his +habit, called that century some hard names; but some of us are glad +occasionally to steal away from our cares and forget our present +"efficiency" in that century of leisure. Perhaps not for always, but +certainly for a time, it is a relief to + +... live in that past Georgian day + When men were less inclined to say + That "Time is Gold," and overlay + +And to quote Austin Dobson again, with a slight variation:-- + + Seventeen hundred and twenty-nine:-- + That is the date of this tale of mine. + + First great George was buried and gone; + George the Second was plodding on. + + Whitefield preached to the colliers grim; + Bishops in lawn sleeves preached at him; + + Walpole talked of "a man and his price"; + Nobody's virtue was over-nice:-- + +certainly not that of the clergyman of whom I am about to speak. + +And now, without further delay, I introduce William Dodd. Doctor Dodd, +he came to be called; subsequently, the "unfortunate Doctor Dodd," which +he certainly considered himself to be, and with good reason, as he was +finally hanged. + +William Dodd was born in Lincolnshire, in 1729, and was himself the son +of a clergyman. He early became a good student, and entering Clare Hall, +Cambridge, at sixteen, attracted some attention by his close application +to his studies. But books alone did not occupy his time: he attained +some reputation as a dancer and was noted for being very fond of dress. +He must have had real ability, however, for he was graduated with +honors, and his name appears on the list of wranglers. Immediately after +receiving his Arts degree, he set out to make a career for himself in +London. + +Young Dodd was quick and industrious: he had good manners and address, +made friends quickly, and was possessed of what, in those days, was +called "a lively imagination," which seems to have meant a fondness for +dissipation; with friends to help him, he soon knew his way about the +metropolis. Its many pitfalls he discovered by falling into them, and +the pitfalls for a gay young blade in London in the middle of the +eighteenth century were many and sundry. + +But whatever his other failings, of idleness Dodd could not be accused. +He did not forget that he had come to London to make a career for +himself. He had already published verse; he now began a comedy, and the +death of the Prince of Wales afforded him a subject for an elegy. From +this time on he was prepared to write an ode or an elegy at the drop of +a hat. The question, should he become author or minister, perplexed him +for some time. For success in either direction perseverance and a patron +were necessary. Perseverance he had, but a patron was lacking. + +While pondering these matters, Dodd seemed to have nipped his career in +the bud by a most improvident marriage. His wife was a Mary Perkins, +which means little to us. She may have been a servant, but more likely +she was the discarded mistress of a nobleman who was anxious to see her +provided with a husband. In any event, she was a handsome woman, and his +marriage was not his greatest misfortune. + +Shortly after the wedding, we hear of them living in a small +establishment in Wardour Street, not then, as now, given over to +second-hand furniture shops, but rather a good quarter frequented by +literary men and artists. Who supplied the money for this venture we do +not know; it was probably borrowed from someone, and we may suspect that +Dodd already was headed the wrong way--or that, at least, his father +thought so; for we hear of his coming to London to persuade his son to +give up his life there and return to Cambridge to continue his studies. + +Shortly after this time he published two small volumes of quotations +which he called "Beauties of Shakespeare." He was the first to make the +discovery that a book of quotations "digested under proper heads" would +have a ready sale. Shakespeare in the dead centre of the eighteenth +century was not the colossal figure that he is seen to be as we +celebrate the tercentenary of his death. I suspect that my friend Felix +Schelling, the great Elizabethan scholar, feels that anyone who would +make a book of quotations from Shakespeare deserves Dodd's end, namely, +hanging; indeed, I have heard him suggest as much; but we cannot all be +Schellings. The book was well received and has been reprinted right down +to our own time. In the introduction he refers to his attempt to present +a collection of the finest passages of the poet, "who was ever," he +says, "of all modern authors, my first and greatest favorite"; adding +that "it would have been no hard task to have multiplied notes and +parallel passages from Greek, Latin and English writers, and thus to +have made no small display of what is commonly called learning"; but +that he had no desire to perplex the reader. There is much good sense +in the introduction, which we must also think of as coming from a young +man little more than a year out of college. + +As it was his first, so he thought it would be his last, serious venture +into literature, for in his preface he says: "Better and more important +things henceforth demand my attention, and I here, with no small +pleasure, take leave of Shakespeare and the critics: as this work was +begun and finish'd before I enter'd upon the sacred function in which I +am now happily employ'd." + +Dodd had already been ordained deacon and settled down as a curate in +West Ham in Essex, where he did not spare himself in the dull round of +parochial drudgery. So passed two years which, looking back on them from +within the portals of Newgate Prison, he declared to have been the +happiest of his life. But he soon tired of the country, his yearning for +city life was not to be resisted, and securing a lectureship at St. +Olave's, Hart Street, he returned to London and relapsed into +literature. + +A loose novel, "The Sisters," is credited to him. Whether he wrote it or +not is a question, but he may well have done so, for some of its pages +seem to have inspired his sermons. Under cover of being a warning to the +youth of both sexes, he deals with London life in a manner which would +have put the author of "Peregrine Pickle" to shame; but as nobody's +virtue was over-nice, nobody seemed to think it particularly strange +that a clergyman should have written such a book. In many respects he +reminds us of his more gifted rival, Laurence Sterne. + +Dodd's great chance came in 1758, when a certain Mr. Hingley and some of +his friends got together three thousand pounds and established an asylum +for Magdalens, presumably penitent. The scheme was got under way after +the usual difficulties; and as, in the City, the best way to arouse +public interest is by a dinner, so in the West End a sermon may be made +to serve the same purpose. Sterne had talked a hundred and sixty pounds +out of the pockets of his hearers for the recently established Foundling +Hospital; Dodd, when selected to preach the inaugural sermon at Magdalen +House, got ten times as much. Who had the greater talent? Dodd was +content that the question should be put. The charity became immensely +popular. "Her Majesty" subscribed three hundred pounds, and the cream of +England's nobility, feeling a personal interest in such an institution, +and perhaps a personal responsibility for the urgent need of it, made +large contributions. The success of the venture was assured. + +Dodd was made Chaplain. At first this was an honorary position, but +subsequently a small stipend was attached to it. The post was much to +his liking, and it became as fashionable to go to hear Dodd and see the +penitent magdalens on Sunday, as to go to Ranelagh and Vauxhall with, +and to see, impenitent magdalens during the week. Services at Magdalen +House were always crowded: royalty attended; everybody went. + +Sensational and melodramatic, Dodd drew vivid pictures of the life from +which the women and young girls had been rescued: the penitents on +exhibition and the impenitents in the congregation, alike, were moved to +tears. Frequently a woman swooned, as was the fashion in those days, and +her stays had to be cut; or someone went into hysterics and had to be +carried screaming from the room. Dodd must have felt that he had made no +mistake in his calling. Horace Walpole says that he preached very +eloquently in the French style; but it can hardly have been in the style +of Bossuet, I should say. The general wantonness of his subject he +covered by a veneer of decency; but we can guess what his sermons were +like, without reading them, from our knowledge of the man and the texts +he chose. "These things I command you, that ye love one another," packed +the house; but his greatest effort was inspired by the text, "Whosoever +looketh on a woman." It does not require much imagination to see what he +would make out of that! + +But for all his immense popularity Dodd was getting very little money. +His small living in the country and his hundred guineas or so from the +Magdalen did not suffice for his needs. He ran into debt, but he had +confidence in himself and his ambition was boundless; he even thought of +a bishopric. Why not? It was no new way to pay old debts. Influence in +high places was his; but first he must secure a doctor's degree. This +was not difficult. Cambridge, if not exactly proud of him, could not +deny him, and Dodd got his degree. The King was appealed to, and he was +appointed a Royal Chaplain. It was a stepping-stone to something better, +and Dodd, always industrious, now worked harder than ever. He wrote and +published incessantly: translations, sermons, addresses, poems, odes, +and elegies on anybody and everything: more than fifty titles are +credited to him in the British Museum catalogue. + +And above all things, Dodd was in demand at a "city dinner." His +blessings--he was always called upon to say grace--were carefully +regulated according to the scale of the function. A brief "Bless, O +Lord, we pray thee" sufficed for a simple dinner; but when the table was +weighted down, as it usually was, with solid silver, and the glasses +suggested the variety and number of wines which were to follow one +another in orderly procession until most of the company got drunk and +were carried home and put to bed, then Dodd rose to the occasion, and +addressed a sonorous appeal which began, "Bountiful Jehovah, who has +caused to groan this table with the abundant evidences of thy goodness." + +The old-line clergy looked askance at all these doings. Bishops, secure +in their enjoyment of princely incomes, and priests of lesser degree +with incomes scarcely less princely, regarded Dodd with suspicion. Why +did he not get a good living somewhere, from someone; hire a poor wretch +to mumble a few prayers to half-empty benches on a Sunday while he +collected the tithes? Why this zeal? When a substantial banker hears of +an upstart guaranteeing ten per cent interest, he awaits the inevitable +crash, certain that, the longer it is postponed, the greater the crash +will be. In the same light the well-beneficed clergyman regarded Dodd. + +Dodd himself longed for tithes; but as they were delayed in coming, he, +in the meantime, decided to turn his reputation for scholarship to +account, and accordingly let it be known that he would board and +suitably instruct a limited number of young men; in other words, he fell +back upon the time-honored custom of taking pupils. He secured a country +house at Ealing and soon had among his charges one Philip Stanhope, a +lad of eleven years, heir of the great Earl of Chesterfield, who was so +interested in the worldly success of his illegitimate son, to whom his +famous letters were addressed, that he apparently gave himself little +concern as to the character of instruction that his lawful son received. + +Dodd's pupils must have brought a substantial increase of his small +income, which was also suddenly augmented in another way. About the time +he began to take pupils, a lady to whom his wife had been a sort of +companion died and left her, quite unexpectedly, fifteen hundred pounds. +Nor did her good fortune end there. As she was attending an auction one +day, a cabinet was put up for sale, and Mrs. Dodd bid upon it, until, +observing a lady who seemed anxious to obtain it, she stopped bidding, +and it became the property of the lady, who in return gave her a +lottery ticket, which drew a prize of a thousand pounds for Mrs. Dodd. + +With these windfalls at his disposal, Dodd embarked upon a speculation +quite in keeping with his tastes and abilities. He secured a plot of +ground not far from the royal palace, and built upon it a chapel of ease +which he called Charlotte Chapel, in honor of the Queen. Four pews were +set aside for the royal household, and he soon had a large and +fashionable congregation. His sermons were in the same florid vein which +had brought him popularity, and from this venture he was soon in receipt +of at least six hundred pounds a year. With his increased income his +style of living became riotous. He dined at expensive taverns, set up a +coach, and kept a mistress, and even tried to force himself into the +great literary club which numbered among its members some of the most +distinguished men of the day; but this was not permitted. + +For years Dodd led, not a double, but a triple life. He went through the +motions of teaching his pupils. He preached, in his own chapels and +elsewhere, sermons on popular subjects, and at the same time managed to +live the life of a fashionable man about town. No one respected him, but +he had a large following and he contrived every day to get deeper into +debt. + +It is a constant source of bewilderment to those of us who are obliged +to pay our bills with decent regularity, how, in England, it seems to +have been so easy to live on year after year, paying apparently nothing +to anyone, and resenting the appearance of a bill-collector as an +impertinence. When Goldsmith died, he owed a sum which caused Dr. +Johnson to exclaim, "Was ever poet so trusted before?" and Goldsmith's +debts were trifling in comparison with Dodd's. But, at the moment when +matters were becoming really serious, a fashionable living--St. +George's--fell vacant, and Dodd felt that if he could but secure it his +troubles would be over. + +The parish church of St. George's, Hanover Square, was one of the best +known in London. It was in the centre of fashion, and then, as now, +enjoyed almost a monopoly of smart weddings. Its rector had just been +made a bishop. Dodd looked upon it with longing eyes. What a plum! It +seemed beyond his reach, but nothing venture, nothing have. On +investigation Dodd discovered that the living was worth fifteen hundred +pounds a year and that it was in the gift of the Lord Chancellor. The +old adage, "Give thy present to the clerk, not to the judge," must have +come into his mind; for, not long after, the wife of the Chancellor +received an anonymous letter offering three thousand pounds down and an +annuity of five hundred a year if she would successfully use her +influence with her husband to secure the living for a clergyman of +distinction who should be named later. The lady very properly handed the +letter to her husband, who at once set inquiries on foot. The matter was +soon traced to Dodd, who promptly put the blame on his wife, saying that +he had not been aware of the officious zeal of his consort. + +The scandal became public, and Dodd thought it best to go abroad. His +name was removed from the list of the King's chaplains. No care was +taken to disguise references to him in the public prints. Libel laws in +England seem to have been circumvented by the use of asterisks for +letters: thus, Laurence Sterne would be referred to as "the Rev. L. +S*****," coupled with some damaging statement; but in Dodd's case +precaution of this sort was thought unnecessary. He was bitterly +attacked and mercilessly ridiculed. Even Goldsmith takes a fling at him +in "Retaliation," which appeared about this time. It remained, however, +for Foote, the comedian, to hold him up to public scorn in one of his +Haymarket farces, in which the parson and his wife were introduced as +Dr. and Mrs. Simony. The satire was very coarse; but stomachs were +strong in those good old days, and the whole town roared at the humor of +the thing, which was admitted to be a great success. + +On Dodd's return to London his fortunes were at a very low ebb indeed. A +contemporary account says that, although almost overwhelmed with debt, +his extravagance continued undiminished until, at last, "he descended so +low as to become the editor of a newspaper." My editorial friends will +note well the depth of his infamy. + +After a time the scandal blew over, as scandal will when the public +appetite has been appeased, and Dodd began to preach again: a +sensational preacher will always have followers. Someone presented him +to a small living in Buckinghamshire, from which he had a small addition +to his income; but otherwise he was almost neglected. + +At last he was obliged to sell his interest in his chapel venture, which +he "unloaded," as we should say to-day, on a fellow divine by misstating +its value as a going concern, so that the purchaser was ruined by his +bargain. But he continued to preach with great pathos and effect, when +suddenly the announcement was made that the great preacher, Dr. Dodd, +the Macaroni Parson, had been arrested on a charge of forgery; that he +was already in the Compter; that he had admitted his guilt, and that he +would doubtless be hanged. + +The details of the affair were soon public property. It appears that, at +last overwhelmed with debt, Dodd had forged the name of his former +pupil, now the Earl of Chesterfield, to a bond for forty-two hundred +pounds. The bond had been negotiated and the money paid when the fraud +was discovered. A warrant for his arrest was at once made out, and Dodd +was taken before Justice Hawkins (Johnson's first biographer), who sat +as a committing magistrate, and held him for formal trial at the Old +Bailey. Meanwhile all but four hundred pounds of the money had been +returned; for a time it seemed as if this small sum could be raised and +the affair dropped. This certainly was Dodd's hope; but the law had been +set in motion, and justice, rather than mercy, was allowed to take its +course. The crime had been committed early in February. At the trial a +few weeks later, the Earl of Chesterfield, disregarding Dodd's plea, +appeared against him, and he was sentenced to death; but some legal +point had been raised in his favor, and it was several months before the +question was finally decided adversely to him. + +Dodd was now in Newgate Prison. There he was indulged in every way, +according to the good old custom of the time. He was plentifully +supplied with money, and could secure whatever money would buy. Friends +were admitted to see him at all hours, and he occupied what leisure he +had with correspondence, and wrote a long poem, "Thoughts in Prison," in +five parts. He also projected a play and several other literary +ventures. + +Meanwhile a mighty effort was set on foot to secure a pardon. Dr. +Johnson was appealed to, and while he entertained no doubts as to the +wisdom of capital punishment for fraud, forgery, or theft, the thought +of a minister of the Church of England being publicly haled through the +streets of London to Tyburn and being there hanged seemed horrible to +him, and he promised to do his best. He was as good as his word. With +his ready pen he wrote a number of letters and petitions which were +conveyed to Dodd, and which, subsequently copied by him, were presented +to the King, the Lord Chancellor, to any one, in fact, who might have +influence and be ready to use it. He even went so far as to write a +letter which, when transcribed by Mrs. Dodd, was presented to the Queen. +One petition, drawn by Johnson, was signed by twenty-three thousand +people; but the King--under the influence of Lord Mansfield, it is +said--declined to interest himself. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PAGE OF DR. JOHNSON'S PETITION TO +THE KING ON BEHALF OF DR. DODD] + +And this brings me to a point where I must explain my peculiar interest +in this thoroughgoing scoundrel. I happen to own a volume of manuscript +letters written by Dodd, from Newgate Prison, to a man named Edmund +Allen; and as not every reader of Boswell can be expected to remember +who Edmund Allen was, I may say that he was Dr. Johnson's neighbor and +landlord in Bolt Court, a printer by trade and an intimate friend of the +Doctor. It was Allen who gave the dinner to Johnson and Boswell which +caused the old man to remark, "Sir, we could not have had a better +dinner had there been a Synod of Cooks." The Dodd letters to Allen, +however, are only a part of the contents of the volume. It contains also +a great number of Johnson's letters to Dodd, and the original drafts of +the petitions which he drew up in his efforts to secure mitigation of +Dodd's punishment. The whole collection came into my possession many +years ago, and has afforded me a subject of investigation on many a +winter's evening when I might otherwise have occupied myself with +solitaire, did I happen to know one card from another. + +Allen appears to have been an acquaintance of Dodd's, and, I judge from +the letters before me, called on Johnson with a letter from a certain +Lady Harrington, who for some reason which does not appear, was greatly +interested in Dodd's fate. Boswell records that Johnson was much +agitated at the interview, walking up and down his chamber saying, "I +will do what I can." Dodd was personally unknown to Johnson and had only +once been in his presence; and while an elaborate correspondence was +being carried on between them, Johnson declined to go to see the +prisoner, and for some reason wished that his name should not be drawn +into the affair; but he did not relax his efforts. Allen was the +go-between in all that passed between the two men. In the volume before +me, in all of Dodd's letters to Allen, Johnson's name has been carefully +blotted out, and Johnson's letters intended for Dodd are not addressed +to him, but bear the inscription, "This may be communicated to Dr. +Dodd." Dodd's letters to Johnson were delivered to him by Allen and were +probably destroyed, Allen having first made the copies which are now in +my possession. Most of Dodd's letters to Allen appear to have been +preserved, and Johnson's letters to Dodd, together with the drafts of +his petitions, were carefully preserved by Allen, Dodd being supplied +with unsigned copies. Allen in this way carried out Johnson's +instructions to "tell nobody." + +Dodd's letters seem for the most part to have been written at night. The +correspondence began early in May, and his last letter was dated June +26, a few hours before he died. None of Dodd's letters seem to have been +published, and Johnson's, although of supreme interest, do not appear to +have been known in their entirety either to Hawkins, Boswell, or +Boswell's greatest editor, Birkbeck Hill. The petitions, so far as they +have been published, seem to have been printed from imperfect copies of +the original drafts. Boswell relates that Johnson had told him he had +written a petition from the City of London, but they _mended_ it. In the +original draft there are a few _repairs_, but they are in Dr. Johnson's +own hand. The petition to the King evidently did not require mending, as +the published copies are almost identical with the original. + +In the petition which he wrote for Mrs. Dodd to copy and present to the +Queen, Johnson, not knowing all the facts, left blank spaces in the +original draft for Mrs. Dodd to fill when making her copy; thus the +original draft reads:-- + +TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY + + MADAM:-- + + It is most humbly represented by ---- Dodd, the Wife of Dr. William + Dodd, now lying in prison under Sentence of death. + + That she has been the Wife of this unhappy Man for more + than--years, and has lived with him in the greatest happiness of + conjugal union, and the highest state of conjugal confidence. + + That she has been therefore for--years a constant Witness of his + unwearied endeavors for publick good and his laborious attendance + on charitable institutions. Many are the Families whom his care has + relieved from want; many are the hearts which he has freed from + pain, and the Faces which he has cleared from sorrow. + + That therefore she most humbly throws herself at the feet of the + Queen, earnestly entreating that the petition of a distressed Wife + asking mercy for a husband may be considered as naturally exciting + the compassion of her Majesty, and that when her Wisdom has + compared the offender's good actions with his crime, she will be + graciously pleased to represent his case in such terms to our most + gracious Sovereign, as may dispose him to mitigate the rigours of + the law. + +The case of the unfortunate Dr. Dodd was by now the talk of the town. If +agitation and discussion and letters and positions could have saved him, +saved he would have been, for all London was in an uproar, and efforts +of every kind on his behalf were set in motion. He can hardly have been +blamed for feeling sure that they would never hang him. Johnson was not +so certain, and warned him against over-confidence. + +Rather curiously, merchants, "city people," who, one might suppose, +would be inclined to regard the crime of forgery with severity, were +disposed to think that Dodd's sufferings in Newgate were sufficient +punishment for any crime he had committed. After all, it was said, the +money, most of it, had been returned; so they signed a monster petition; +twenty-three thousand names were secured without difficulty. But the +West End was rather indifferent, and Dr. Johnson finally came to the +conclusion that, while no effort should be relaxed (in a letter to Mr. +Allen he says, "Nothing can do harm, let everything be tried"), it was +time for Dodd to prepare himself for his fate. He thereupon wrote the +following letter, which we may suppose Allen either transcribed or read +to the unfortunate prisoner:-- + + SIR:-- + + You know that my attention to Dr. Dodd has incited me to enquire + what is the real purpose of Government; the dreadful answer I have + put into your hands. + + Nothing now remains but that he whose profession it has been to + teach others to dye, learn how to dye himself. + + It will be wise to deny admission from this time to all who do not + come to assist his preparation, to addict himself wholly to prayer + and meditation, and consider himself as no longer connected with + the world. He has now nothing to do for the short time that + remains, but to reconcile himself to God. To this end it will be + proper to abstain totally from all strong liquors, and from all + other sensual indulgences, that his thoughts may be as clear and + calm as his condition can allow. + + If his Remissions of anguish, and intervals of Devotion leave him + any time, he may perhaps spend it profitably in writing the history + of his own depravation, and marking the gradual declination from + innocence and quiet to that state in which the law has found him. + Of his advice to the Clergy, or admonitions to Fathers of families, + there is no need; he will leave behind him those who can write + them. But the history of his own mind, if not written by himself, + cannot be written, and the instruction that might be derived from + it must be lost. This therefore he must leave if he leaves + anything; but whether he can find leisure, or obtain tranquillity + sufficient for this, I cannot judge. Let him however shut his doors + against all hope, all trifles and all sensuality. Let him endeavor + to calm his thoughts by abstinence, and look out for a proper + director in his penitence, and May God, who would that all men + shall be saved, help him with his Holy Spirit, and have mercy on + him for Jesus Christ's Sake. + + I am, Sir, + +Your most humble Servant, +SAM JOHNSON. + + _June 17, 1777._ + +Then, in response to a piteous appeal, Johnson wrote a brief letter for +Dodd to send to the King, begging him at least to save him from the +horror and ignominy of a public execution; and this was accompanied by a +brief note. + +SIR:-- + + I most seriously enjoin you not to let it be at all known that I + have written this letter, and to return the copy to Mr. Allen in a + cover to me. I hope I need not tell you that I wish it success, but + I do not indulge hope. + +SAM JOHNSON. + + + +As the time for Dodd's execution drew near, he wrote a final letter to +Johnson, which, on its delivery, must have moved the old man to tears. +It was written at midnight on the 25th of June, 1777. + + Accept, thou great and good heart, my earnest and fervent thanks + and prayers for all thy benevolent and kind efforts in my behalf. + Oh! Dr. Johnson! as I sought your knowledge at an early hour in + life, would to heaven I had cultivated the love and acquaintance of + so excellent a man! I pray God most sincerely to bless you with the + highest transports--the infelt satisfaction of humane and + benevolent exertions! And admitted, as I trust I shall be, to the + realms of bliss before you, I shall hail your arrival there with + transports, and rejoice to acknowledge that you were my Comforter, + my Advocate and my Friend! God be ever with you! + +[Illustration: MR. ALLEN'S COPY OF THE LAST LETTER DR. DODD SENT DR. +JOHNSON. DODD WAS HANGED ON JUNE 27, 1777] + +The original letter in Dodd's handwriting was kept by Johnson, who +subsequently showed it to Boswell, together with a copy of his reply +which Boswell calls "solemn and soothing," giving it at length in the +"Life." My copy is in Allen's hand, but there is a note to Allen in +Dodd's hand which accompanied the original, reading: "Add, dear sir, to +the many other favors conferred on your unfortunate friend that of +delivering my dying thanks to the worthiest of men. W. D." + +Two other things Johnson did: he wrote a sermon, which Dodd delivered +with telling effect to his fellow convicts, and he prepared with +scrupulous care what has been called Dr. Dodd's last solemn declaration. +It was without doubt intended to be read by Dodd at the place of +execution, but unforeseen circumstances prevented. Various versions have +been printed in part. The original in Johnson's hand is before me and +reads:-- + + To the words of dying Men regard has always been paid. I am brought + hither to suffer death for an act of Fraud of which I confess + myself guilty, with shame such as my former state of life naturally + produces; and I hope with such sorrow as The Eternal Son, he to + whom the Heart is known, will not disregard. I repent that I have + violated the laws by which peace and confidence are established + among men; I repent that I have attempted to injure my fellow + creatures, and I repent that I have brought disgrace upon my order, + and discredit upon Religion. For this the law has sentenced me to + die. But my offences against God are without name or number, and + can admit only of general confession and general repentance. + Grant, Almighty God, for the Sake of Jesus Christ, that my + repentance however late, however imperfect, may not be in vain. + + The little good that now remains in my power, is to warn others + against those temptations by which I have been seduced. I have + always sinned against conviction; my principles have never been + shaken; I have always considered the Christian religion, as a + revelation from God, and its Divine Author, as the Saviour of the + world; but the law of God, though never disowned by me, has often + been forgotten. I was led astray from religious strictness by the + Vanity of Show and the delight of voluptuousness. Vanity and + pleasure required expense disproportionate to my income. Expense + brought distress upon me, and distress impelled me to fraud. + + For this fraud, I am to die; and I die declaring that however I + have offended in practice, deviated from my own precepts, I have + taught others to the best of my knowledge the true way to eternal + happiness. My life has been hypocritical, but my ministry has been + sincere. I always believed and I now leave the world declaring my + conviction, that there is no other name under heaven by which we + can be saved, but only the name of the Lord Jesus, and I entreat + all that are here, to join with me, in my last petition that for + the Sake of Christ Jesus my sins may be forgiven. + +Anything more gruesome and demoralizing than an eighteenth-century +hanging it would be impossible to imagine. We know from contemporary +accounts of Dodd's execution that it differed only in detail from other +hangings, which were at the time a common occurrence. His last night on +earth was made hideous by the ringing of bells. Under the window of his +cell a small bell was rung at frequent intervals by the watch, and he +was reminded that he was soon to die, and that the time for repentance +was short. At daybreak the great bell of St. Sepulchre's Church just +over the way began to toll, as was customary whenever prisoners in +Newgate were being rounded up for execution. + +"Hanging Days" were usually holidays. Crowds collected in the streets, +and as the day wore on, they became mobs of drunken men, infuriated or +delighted at the proceedings, according to their interest in the +prisoners. At nine o'clock the Felon's Gate was swung open and the +prisoners were brought out. On this occasion, there were only two; +frequently there were more--once indeed as many as fifteen persons were +hanged on the same day. This was counted a great event. + +Dodd was spared the ignominy of the open cart in which the ordinary +criminal was taken to the gallows, and a mourning coach drawn by four +horses was provided for him by some of his friends. This was followed by +a hearse with an open coffin. The streets were thronged. After the usual +delays the procession started, but stopped again at St. Sepulchre's, +that he might receive a nosegay which was presented him, someone having +bequeathed a fund to the church so that this melancholy custom could be +carried out. Farther on, at Holborn Bar, it was usual for the cortège to +stop, that the condemned man might be regaled with a mug of ale. + +Ordinarily the route from Newgate to Tyburn was very direct, through +and along the Tyburn Road, now Oxford Street; but on this occasion it +had been announced that the procession would follow a roundabout course +through Pall Mall. Thus the pressure of the crowd would be lessened and +everyone would have an opportunity of catching a glimpse of the +unfortunate man; and everyone did. The streets were thronged, stands +were erected and places sold, windows along the line of march were let +at fabulous prices. In Hyde Park soldiers--two thousand of them--were +under arms to prevent a rescue. The authorities were somewhat alarmed at +the interest shown, and it was thought best to be on the safe side; the +law was not to be denied. + +Owing to the crowds, the confusion, and the out-of-the-way course +selected, it was almost noon when the procession reached Tyburn. We do +not often think, as we whirl in our taxis along Oxford Street in the +vicinity of Marble Arch, that this present centre of wealth and fashion +was once Tyburn. There is nothing now to suggest that it was, a century +or two ago, an unlovely and little-frequented outskirt of the great +city, given over to "gallows parties." + +At Tyburn the crowd was very dense and impatient: it had been waiting +for hours and rain had been falling intermittently. As the coach came in +sight, the crowd pressed nearer; Dodd could be seen through the window. +The poor man was trying to pray. More dead than alive, he was led to the +cart, on which he was to stand while a rope was placed about his neck. +There was a heavy downpour of rain, so there was no time for the +farewell address which Dr. Johnson had so carefully prepared. A sudden +gust of wind blew off the poor man's hat, taking his wig with it: it was +retrieved, and someone clapped it on his head backwards. The crowd was +delighted; this was a hanging worth waiting for. Another moment, and Dr. +Dodd was swung into eternity. + +Let it be said that there were some who had their doubts as to the +wisdom of such exhibitions. Might not such frequent and public +executions have a bad effect upon public taste and morals? "Why no, +sir," said Dr. Johnson; "executions are intended to draw spectators. If +they do not draw spectators they do not answer their purpose. The old +method is satisfactory to all parties. The public is gratified by a +procession, the criminal is supported by it." And his biographer, +Hawkins, remarks complacently: "We live in an age in which humanity is +the fashion." + + * * * * * + +"And so they have hanged Dodd for forgery, have they?" casually remarked +the Bishop of Bristol, from the depths of his easy-chair. "I'm sorry to +hear it." + +"How so, my Lord?" + +"Because they have hanged him for the least of his crimes." + + + + +XII + +OSCAR WILDE + + +My interest in Oscar Wilde is a very old story: I went to hear him +lecture when I was a boy, and, boy-like, I wrote and asked him for his +autograph, which he sent me and which I still have. + +It seems strange that I can look back through thirty years to his visit +to Philadelphia, and in imagination see him on the platform of old +Horticultural Hall. I remember, too, the discussion which his visit +occasioned, preceded as it was by the publication in Boston of his +volume of poems, the English edition having been received with greater +cordiality than usually marks a young poet's first production--for such +it practically was. + +At the time of his appearance on the lecture platform he was a large, +well-built, distinguished-looking man, about twenty-six years old, with +rather long hair, generally wearing knee-breeches and silk stockings. +Any impressions which I may have received of this lecture are now very +vague. I remember that he used the word "renaissance" a good deal, and +that at the time it was a new word to me; and it has always since been a +word which has rattled round in my head very much as the blessed word +"Mesopotamia" did in the mind of the old lady, who remarked that no +one should deprive her of the hope of eternal punishment. + +[Illustration: CARICATURE OF OSCAR WILDE + +_From an original drawing by Aubrey Beardsley_] + +Now, it would be well at the outset, in discussing Oscar Wilde, to +abandon immediately all hope of eternal punishment--for others. My +subject is a somewhat difficult one, and it is not easy to speak of +Wilde without overturning some of the more or less fixed traditions we +have grown up with. We all have a lot of axioms in our systems, even if +we are discreet enough to keep them from our tongues; and to do Wilde +justice, it is necessary for us to free ourselves of some of these. To +make my meaning clear, take the accepted one that genius is simply the +capacity for hard work. This is all very well at the top of a copy-book, +or to repeat to your son when you are didactically inclined; but for the +purposes of this discussion, this and others like it should be +abandoned. Having cleared our minds of cant, we might also frankly admit +that a romantic or sinful life is, generally speaking, more interesting +than a good one. + +Few men in English literature have lived a nobler, purer life than +Robert Southey, and yet his very name sets us a-yawning, and if he lives +at all it is solely due to his little pot-boiler, become a classic, the +"Life of Nelson." The two great events in Nelson's life were his meeting +with Lady Emma Hamilton and his meeting with the French. Now, disguise +it as we may, it still remains true that, in thinking of Nelson, we +think as much of Lady Emma as we do of Trafalgar. Of course, in saying +this I realize that I am not an Englishman making a public address on +the anniversary of the great battle. + +Southey's life gives the lie to that solemn remark about genius being +simply a capacity for hard work: if it were so, he would have ranked +high; he worked incessantly, produced his to-day neglected poems, +supported his family and contributed toward the support of the families +of his friends. He was a good man, and worked himself to death; but he +was not a genius. + +On the other hand, Wilde was; but his life was not good, it was not +pure; he did injury to his friends; and to his wife and children, the +greatest wrong a man could do them, so that she died of a broken heart, +and his sons live under an assumed name; yet, notwithstanding all this, +perhaps to some extent by reason of it, he is a most interesting +personality, and no doubt his future place in literature will be to some +extent influenced by the fate which struck him down just at the moment +of his greatest success. + +Remembering Dr. Johnson's remark that in lapidary work a man is not upon +oath, it has always seemed to me that something like the epitaph he +wrote for Goldsmith's monument in Westminster Abbey might with equal +justice have been carved upon Wilde's obscure tombstone in a neglected +corner of Bagneux Cemetery in Paris. The inscription I refer to +translates: "He left scarcely any style of writing untouched and touched +nothing that he did not adorn." + +I am too good a Goldsmithian to compare Goldsmith, with all his faults +and follies, to Wilde, with his faults and follies, and vices +superadded; but Wilde wrote "Dorian Gray," a novel original and powerful +in conception, as powerful as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"; and remembering +that Wilde was also an essayist, a poet, and a dramatist, I think we may +fairly say that he too touched nothing that he did not adorn. + +But, to begin at the beginning. Wilde was not especially fortunate in +his parents. His father was a surgeon-oculist of Dublin, and was +knighted by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland--just why, does not appear, +nor is it important; his son always seemed a little ashamed of the +incident. His mother was the daughter of a clergyman of the Church of +England. She was "advanced" for her time, wrote prose and verse, under +the _nom de plume_ of "Speranza," which were published frequently in a +magazine, which was finally suppressed for sedition. If Lady Wilde was +emancipated in thought, of her lord it may be said that he put no +restraint whatever upon his acts. They were a brilliant, but what we +would call to-day a Bohemian, couple. I have formed an impression that +the father, in spite of certain weaknesses of character, was a man of +solid attainments, while of the mother someone has said that she +reminded him of a tragedy queen at a suburban theatre. This is awful. + +Oscar Wilde was a second son, born in Dublin, on the 16th of October, +1854. He went to a school at Enniskillen, afterwards to Trinity +College, Dublin, and finally to Magdalen College, Oxford. He had already +begun to make a name for himself at Trinity, where he won a gold medal +for an essay on the Greek comic poets; but when, in June, 1878, he +received the Newdigate Prize for English verse for a poem, "Ravenna," +which was recited at the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, it can fairly be +said that he had achieved distinction. + +While at Magdalen, Wilde is said to have fallen under the influence of +Ruskin, and spent some time in breaking stones on the highways, upon +which operation Ruskin was experimenting. It may be admitted that the +work for its own sake never attracted Wilde: it was the reward which +followed--breakfast-parties, with informal and unlimited talk, in +Ruskin's rooms. + +One does not have to read much of Wilde to discover that he had as great +an aversion to games, which kept him in the open, as to physical labor. +Bernard Shaw, that other Irish enigma, who in many ways of thought and +speech resembles Wilde, when asked what his recreations were, replied, +"Anything except sport." Wilde said that he would not play cricket +because of the indecent postures it demanded; fox-hunting--his phrase +will be remembered--was "the unspeakable after the uneatable." But he +was the leader, if not the founder, of the æsthetic cult, the symbols of +which were peacock-feathers, sunflowers, lilies, and blue china. His +rooms, perhaps the most talked about in Oxford, were beautifully +paneled in oak, decorated with porcelain supposed to be very valuable, +and hung with old engravings. From the windows there was a lovely view +of the River Cherwell and the beautiful grounds of Magdalen College. + +He soon made himself the most talked-of person in the place: abusing his +foes, who feared his tongue. His friends, as he later said of someone, +did not care for him very much--no one cares to furnish material for +incessant persiflage. + +When he left Oxford Oscar Wilde was already a well-known figure: his +sayings were passed from mouth to mouth, and he was a favorite subject +for caricature in the pages of "Punch." Finally, he became known to all +the world as Bunthorne in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera, "Patience." From +being the most talked-of man in Oxford, he became the most talked-of man +in London--a very different thing: many a reputation has been lost on +the road between Oxford and London. His reputation, stimulated by long +hair and velveteen knee-breeches, gave Whistler a chance to say, "Our +Oscar is knee plush ultra." People compared him with Disraeli. When he +first became the talk of the town, great things were expected of him; +just what, no one presumed to say. To keep in the going while the going +was good, Wilde published his volume of Poems (1881); it followed that +everyone wanted to know what this singular young man had to say for +himself, and paid half a guinea to find out. The volume immediately +went through several editions, and, as I have mentioned, was reprinted +in this country. + +Of these poems the "Saturday Review" said,--and I thank the "Saturday +Review" for teaching me these words, for I think they fitly describe +nine tenths of all the poetry that gets itself published,--"Mr. Wilde's +verses belong to a class which is the special terror of the reviewers, +the poetry which is neither good nor bad, which calls for neither praise +nor blame, and in which one searches in vain for any personal touch of +thought or music." + +It was at this point in his career that Wilde determined to show himself +to us: he came to America to lecture; was, of course, interviewed on his +arrival in New York, and spoke with the utmost disrespect of the +Atlantic. + +[Illustration: "OUR OSCAR" AS HE WAS WHEN WE LOANED HIM TO AMERICA + +_From a contemporary English caricature_] + +Considering how little ballast Wilde carried, his lectures here were a +great success: "Nothing succeeds like excess." He spoke publicly over +two hundred times, and made what was, for him, a lot of money. Looking +back, it seems a daring thing to do; but Wilde was always doing daring +things. To lecture in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston was all very +well; but it would seem to have required courage for Wilde, fresh from +Oxford, his reputation based on impudence, long hair, knee-breeches, a +volume of poems, and some pronounced opinions on art, to take himself, +seriously, west to Omaha and Denver, and north as far as Halifax. +However, he went and returned alive, with at least one story which +will never die. It was Wilde who said that he had seen in a dance-hall +in a mining-camp the sign, "Don't shoot the pianist; he is doing his +best." The success of this story was instant, and probably prompted him +to invent the other one, that he had heard of a man in Denver who, +turning his back to examine some lithographs, had been shot through the +head, which gave Wilde the chance of observing how dangerous it is to +interest one's self in bad art. He remarked also that Niagara Falls +would have been more wonderful if the water had run the other way. + +On his return to England he at once engaged attention by his remark, +"There is nothing new in America--except the language." Of him, it was +observed that Delmonico had spoiled his figure. From London he went +almost immediately to Paris, where he found sufficient reasons for +cutting his hair and abandoning his pronounced habiliments. Thus he +arrived, as he said of himself, at the end of his second period. + +Wilde spoke French fluently and took steps to make himself at home in +Paris; with what success, is not entirely clear. He made the +acquaintance of distinguished people, wrote verses, and devoted a good +deal of time to writing a play for Mary Anderson, "The Duchess of +Padua," which was declined by her and was subsequently produced in this +country by Lawrence Barrett and Minna Gale. In spite of their efforts, +it lived for but a few nights. + +Meanwhile it cost money to live in Paris, especially to dine at +fashionable cafés, and Wilde decided to return to London; but making +ends meet is no easier there than elsewhere. He wrote a little, lectured +when he could, and having spent the small inheritance he had received +from his father, it seemed that "Exit Oscar" might fairly be written +against him. + +But to the gratification of some, and the surprise of all, just about +this time came the announcement of his marriage to a beautiful and +charming lady of some fortune, Constance Lloyd, the daughter of a +deceased barrister. Whistler sent a characteristic wire to the church: +"May not be able to reach you in time for ceremony; don't wait." Indeed, +it may here be admitted that in an encounter between these wits it was +Jimmie Whistler who usually scored. + +Of Whistler as an artist I know nothing. My friends the Pennells, at the +close of their excellent biography, say, "His name and fame will live +forever." This is a large order, but of Whistler, with his rapier-like +wit, it behooved all to beware. In a weak moment Wilde once voiced his +appreciation of a good thing of Whistler's with, "I wish I had said +that." Quick as a flash, Jimmie's sword was through him, and forever: +"Never mind, Oscar, you will." It may be that the Pennells are right. + +But to return. With Mrs. Wilde's funds, her husband's taste, and +Whistler's suggestions, a house was furnished and decorated in Tite +Street, Chelsea, and for a time all went well. But it soon became +evident that some fixed income, certain, however small, was essential; +fugitive verse and unsigned articles in magazines afford small resource +for an increasing family. Two sons were born, and, driven by the spur of +necessity, Wilde became the Editor of "The Woman's World," and for a +time worked as faithfully and diligently as his temperament permitted; +but it was the old story of Pegasus harnessed to the plough. + +Except for editorial work, the next few years were unproductive. "Dorian +Gray," Wilde's one novel, appeared in the summer of 1890. It is +exceedingly difficult to place: his claim that it was the work of a few +days, written to demonstrate to some friends his ability to write a +novel, may be dismissed as untrue--there is internal evidence to the +contrary. It was probably written slowly, as most of his work was. In +its first form it appeared in "Lippincott's Magazine" for July, 1890; +but it was subjected to careful revision for publication in book form. +Wilde always claimed that he had no desire to be a popular novelist--"It +is far too easy," he said. + +"Dorian Gray" is an interesting and powerful, but artificial, +production, leaving a bitter taste, as of aloes in the mouth: one feels +as if one had been handling a poison. The law compels certain care in +the use of explosives, and poisons, it is agreed, are best kept in +packages of definite shape and color, that they may by their external +appearance challenge the attention of the thoughtless. Only Roosevelt +can tell without looking what book should and what should not bear the +governmental stamp, "Guaranteed to be pure and wholesome under the food +and drugs act." Few, I think, would put this label on "Dorian Gray." +Wilde's own criticism was that the book was inartistic because it has a +moral. It has, but it is likely to be overlooked in its general +nastiness. In "Dorian Gray" he betrays for the first and perhaps the +only time the decadence which was subsequently to be the cause of his +undoing. + +I have great admiration for what is called, and frequently ridiculed as, +the artistic temperament, but I am a believer also in the sanity of true +genius, especially when it is united, as it was in the case of Charles +Lamb, with a fine, manly, honest bearing toward the world and the things +in it; but alone it may lead us to yearn with Wilde + + To drift with every passion till my soul + Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play. + +It has been suggested on good authority that it is very unpleasant to +wear one's heart upon one's sleeve. To expose one's soul to the +elements, however interesting in theory, must be very painful in +practice: Wilde was destined to find it so. + +Why the story escaped success at the hands of the adapter for the stage, +I never could understand. The clever talk of the characters in the novel +should be much more acceptable in the quick give-and-take of a society +play than it is in a narrative of several hundred pages; moreover, it +abounds in situations which are intensely dramatic, leading up to an +overwhelming climax; probably it was badly done. + +It is with a feeling of relief that one turns from "Dorian Gray"--which, +let us agree, is a book which a young girl would hesitate to put in the +hands of her mother--to Wilde's other prose work, so different in +character. Of his shorter stories, his fairy tales and the rest, it +would be a delight to speak: many of them are exquisite, and all as pure +and delicate as a flower, with as sweet a perfume. They do not know +Oscar Wilde who have not read "The Young King and the Star Child," and +the "Happy Prince." That they are the work of the same brain that +produced "Dorian Gray" is almost beyond belief. + +What a baffling personality was Wilde's! Here is a man who has really +done more than William Morris to make our homes artistic, and who is at +one with Ruskin in his effort that our lives should be beautiful; he had +a message to deliver, yet, by reason of his flippancy and his love of +paradox, he is not yet rated at his real worth. It is difficult for one +who is first of all a wit to make a serious impression on his listeners. +I think it is Gilbert who says, "Let a professed wit say, 'pass the +mustard,' and the table roars." + +Wilde was a careful and painstaking workman, serious as an artist, +whatever he may have been as a man; and in the end he became a great +master of English prose, working in words as an artist does in color, +trying first one and then another until he had secured the desired +effect, the effect of silk which Seccombe speaks of. But he affected +idleness. A story is told of his spending a week-end at a country house. +Pleading the necessity of working while the humor was on, he begged to +be excused from joining the other guests. In the evening at dinner his +hostess asked him what he had accomplished, and his reply is famous. +"This morning," he said, "I put a comma in one of my poems." Surprised +and amused, the lady inquired whether the afternoon's work had been +equally exhausting. "Yes," said Wilde, passing his hand wearily over his +brow, "this afternoon I took it out again." + +Just about the time that London had made up its mind that Wilde was +nothing but a clever man about town, welcome as a guest because of the +amusement he afforded, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" appeared in the +"Fortnightly Magazine" for February, 1891. London was at once challenged +and amazed. This essay opens with a characteristic statement, one of +those peculiarly inverted paradoxes for which Wilde was shortly to +become famous. "Socialism," he says, "would relieve us from the sordid +necessity of living for others"; and what follows is Wilde at his very +best. + +What is it all about? I am not sure that I know: it seems to be a plea +for the individual, perhaps it is a defense of the poor; it is said to +have been translated into the languages of the downtrodden, the Jew, the +Pole, the Russian, and to be a comfort to them; I hope it is. Do such +outpourings do any good, do they change conditions, is the millennium +brought nearer thereby? I hope so. But if it is comforting for the +downtrodden, whose wants are ill supplied, it is a sheer delight for the +downtreader who, free from anxiety, sits in his easy-chair and enjoys +its technical excellence. + +I know nothing like it: it is as fresh as paint, and like fresh paint it +sticks to one; in its brilliant, serious, and unexpected array of +fancies and theories, in truths inverted and distorted, in witticisms +which are in turn tender and hard as flint, one is delighted and +bewildered. Wilde has only himself to blame if this, a serious and +beautiful essay, was not taken seriously. "The Soul of Man Under +Socialism" is the work of a consummate artist who, taking his ideas, +disguises and distorts them, polishing them the while until they shine +like jewels in a rare and unusual setting. Naturally, almost every other +line in such a work is quotable: it seems to be a mass of quotations +which one is surprised not to have heard before. + +Interesting as Wilde's other essays are, I will not speak of them; with +the exception of "Pen, Pencil and Poison," a study of Thomas Griffiths +Wainewright, the poisoner, they will inevitably be forgotten. + +Of Wilde's poems I am not competent to speak: they are full of Arcady +and Eros; nor am I of those who believe that "every poet is the +spokesman of God." A book-agent once called on Abraham Lincoln and +sought to sell him a book for which the President had no use. Failing, +he asked Lincoln if he would not write an indorsement of the work which +would enable him to sell it to others. Whereupon the President, always +anxious to oblige, with a humor entirely his own, wrote, "Any one who +likes this kind of book will find it just the kind of book they like." +So it is with Wilde's poetry: by many it is highly esteemed, but I am +inclined to regard it as a part of his "literary wild oats." + +After several attempts in the field of serious drama, in which he was +unsuccessful, by a fortunate chance he turned his attention to the +lighter forms of comedy, in which he was destined to count only the +greatest as his rivals. Pater says these comedies have been unexcelled +since Sheridan; this is high praise, though not too high; but it is +rather to contrast than to compare such a grand old comedy as the +"School for Scandal" with, say, "The Importance of Being Earnest." They +are both brilliant, both artificial; they both reflect in some manner +the life and the atmosphere of their time; but the mirror which Sheridan +holds up to nature is of steel and the picture is hard and cold; Wilde, +on the other hand, uses an exaggerating glass, which seems specially +designed to reflect warmth and fluffiness. + +Wilde was the first to produce a play which depends almost entirely for +its success on brilliant talk. In this field Shaw is now conspicuous: he +can grow the flower now because he has the seed. It was Wilde who taught +him how, Wilde who, in four light comedies, gave the English stage +something it had been without for a century. His comedies are +irresistibly clever, sparkle with wit, with a flippant and insolent +levity, and withal have a theatrical dexterity which Shaw's are almost +entirely without. While greatly inferior in construction to Pinero's, +they are as brilliantly written; the plots amount to almost nothing: +talk, not the play, is the thing; and but for their author's eclipse +they would be as constantly on the boards to-day in this country and in +England as they are at present on the Continent. + +The first comedy, "Lady Windermere's Fan," was produced at the St. +James's, February 22, 1892. Its success, despite the critics, was +instant: full of saucy repartee, overwrought with epigrams of the +peculiar kind conspicuous in the "Soul of Man," it delighted the +audience. "Punch" made a feeble pun about Wilde's play being tame, +forgetting the famous dictum that the great end of a comedy is to make +the audience merry; and this end Wilde had attained, and he kept his +audiences in the same humor for several years--until the end. Of his +plays this is, perhaps, the best known in this country. It was +successfully given in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, only a year +or two ago. It might, I think, be called his "pleasant play": for a time +it looks as if a pure wife were going astray, but the audience is not +kept long in suspense: the plot can be neglected and the lines enjoyed, +with the satisfactory feeling that it will all come out right in the +end. + +"A Woman of No Importance" is in my judgment the least excellent of his +four comedies; it might be called his "unpleasant" play: it is two acts +of sheer talk, in Wilde's usual vein, and two acts of acting. The plot +is, as usual, insignificant. A certain lazy villain in high official +position meets a young fellow and offers him a post as his secretary. +The boy, much pleased, introduces his mother, and the villain discovers +that the boy is his own son. The son insists that the father should +marry his mother, but she declines. The father offers to make what +amends he can, loses his temper, and refers to the lady as a woman of no +importance; for which he gets his face well smacked. The son marries a +rich American Puritan. This enables Wilde to be very witty at the +expense of American fathers, mothers, and daughters. Tree played the +villain very well, it is said. + +Never having seen Wilde's next play acted, I once innocently framed this +statement for the domestic circle: "I have never seen 'An Ideal +Husband'"; and when my wife sententiously replied that she had never +seen one either, I became careful to be more explicit in future +statements. No less clever than the others, it has plot and action, and +is interesting to the end. Of all his plays it is the most dramatic. On +its first production it was provided with a splendid cast, including +Lewis Waller, Charles Hawtrey, Julia Neilson, Maude Millett, and Fanny +Brough. In the earlier plays all the characters talked Oscar Wilde; in +this Wilde took the trouble, for it must have been to him a trouble, to +conceal himself and let his people speak for themselves: they stay in +their own characters in what they do as well as in what they say. "An +Ideal Husband" was produced at the Haymarket early in 1895, and a few +weeks later, at the St. James's, "The Importance of Being Earnest." + +Wilde called this a trivial comedy for serious people. It is clever +beyond criticism; but, as one critic says, one might as well sit down +and gravely discuss the true inwardness of a soufflé. In it Wilde fairly +lets himself loose; such talk there never was before; it fairly bristles +with epigram; the plot is a farce; it is a mental and verbal +extravaganza. Wilde was at his best, scintillating as he had never done +before, and doing it for the last time. He is reported to have said that +the first act is ingenious, the second beautiful, and the third +abominably clever. Ingenious it is, but its beauty and cleverness are +beyond praise. To have seen the lovely Miss Millard as Cecily, the +country girl, to have heard her tell Gwendolen, the London society queen +(Irene Vanbrugh), that "flowers are as common in the country as people +are in London," is a delight never to be forgotten. + +Wilde was now at the height of his fame. That the licenser of the stage +had forbidden the performance of "Salome" was a disappointment; but +Sarah Bernhardt had promised to produce it in Paris, and, not thinking +that when his troubles came upon him she would break her word, he was +able to overcome his chagrin. + +Only a year or two before, he had been in need, if not in abject +poverty. He was now in receipt of large royalties. No form of literary +effort makes money faster than a successful play. Wilde had two, running +at the best theatres. His name was on every lip in London; even the +cabbies knew him by sight; he had arrived at last, but his stay was only +for a moment. Against the advice and wishes of his friends, with "fatal +insolence," he adopted a course which, had he been capable of thought, +he must have seen would inevitably lead to his destruction. + +To those mental scavengers, the psychologists, I leave the determination +of the exact nature of the disease which was the cause of Wilde's +downfall: it is enough for me to know that whom the gods would destroy +they first make mad. + +The next two years Wilde spent in solitary and degrading seclusion; his +sufferings, mental and physical, can be imagined. Many have fallen from +heights greater than his, but none to depths more humiliating. Many +noble men and dainty women have been subjected to greater indignities +than he, but they have been supported by their belief in the justice or +honor of the cause for which they suffered. + +Wilde was not, however, sustained by the consciousness of innocence, nor +was he so mentally dwarfed as to be unable to realize the awfulness of +his fate. The literary result was "De Profundis." Written while in +prison, in the form of a letter to his friend Robert Ross, it was not +published until five years after his death: indeed, only about one +third of the whole has as yet appeared in English. + +"De Profundis" may be in parts offensive, but as a specimen of English +prose it is magnificent; it is by way of becoming a classic: no student +of literature can neglect this cry of a soul lost to this world, intent +upon proving--I know not what--that art is greater than life, perhaps. +Much has been written in regard to it: by some it is said to show that +even at the time of his deepest degradation he did not appreciate how +low he had fallen; that to the last he was only a _poseur_--a +phrase-maker; that, genuine as his sorrow was, he nevertheless was +playing with it, and was simply indulging himself in rhetoric when he +said, "I, once a lord of language, have no words in which to express my +anguish and my shame." + +One would say that it was not the sort of book which would become +popular; nevertheless, more than twenty editions have been published in +English, and it has been translated into French, German, Italian, and +Russian. + +It was inevitable that "De Profundis" should become the subject of +controversy: Oscar Wilde's sincerity has always been challenged; he was +called affected. His answer to this charge is complete and conclusive: +"The value of an idea has nothing whatever to do with the sincerity of +the man who expresses it." + +For many years, indeed until quite recently, his name cast a blight over +all his work. This was inevitable, but it was inevitable also that the +work of such a genius should sooner or later be recognized. + +Only a few years ago I heard a cultured lady say, "I never expected to +hear his name mentioned in polite society again." But the time is +rapidly approaching when Oscar Wilde will come into his own, when he +will be recognized as one of the greatest and most original writers of +his time. When shall we English-speaking people learn that a man's work +is one thing and his life another? + +It is much to be regretted that Wilde's life did not end with "De +Profundis"; but his misfortunes were to continue. After his release from +prison he went to France, where he lived under the name of Sebastian +Melmoth: but as Sherard, his biographer, says, "He hankered after +respectability." It was no longer the social distinction which the +unthinking crave when they have all else: this great writer, he who had +been for a brief moment the idol of cultured London, sought mere +respectability, and sought it in vain. + +Only when he was neglected and despised, miserable and broken in spirit, +sincere feeling at last overcame the affectation which was his real +nature and he wrote his one great poem, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol." No +longer could the "Saturday Review" "search in vain for the personal +touch of thought and music": the thought is there, very simple and +direct and personal without a doubt: the music is no longer the +modulated noise of his youth. The Ballad is an almost faultless work of +art. What could be more impressive than the description of daybreak in +prison:-- + + At last I saw the shadowed bars, + Like a lattice wrought in lead, + Move right across the whitewashed wall + That faced my three-plank bed, + And I knew that somewhere in the world + God's dreadful dawn was red. + +The life begun with such promise drew to a close: an outcast, deserted +by his friends, the few who remained true to him he insulted and abused. +He became dissipated, wandered from France to Italy and back again. In +mercy it were well to draw the curtain. The end came in Paris with the +close of the century he had done so much to adorn. He died on November +30, 1900, and was buried, by his faithful friend, Robert Ross, in a +grave which was leased for a few years in Bagneux Cemetery. + +The kindness of Robert Ross to Oscar Wilde is one of the most touching +things in literary history. The time has not yet come to speak of it at +length, but the facts are known and will not always be withheld. Owing +largely to his efforts, a permanent resting-place was secured a few +years ago in the most famous cemetery in France, the Père Lachaise. +There, in an immense sarcophagus of granite, curiously carved, were +placed the remains of him who wrote:-- + +"Society, as we have constituted it, will have no place for me, has none +to offer; but Nature, whose sweet rains fall on unjust and just alike, +will have clefts in the rock where I may hide, and sweet valleys in +whose silence I may weep undisturbed. She will hang the night with stars +so that I may walk abroad in the darkness without stumbling, and send +the wind over my footprints so that none may track me to my hurt; she +will cleanse me in great waters and with bitter herbs make me whole." + +It is too early to judge Wilde's work entirely apart from his life: to +do so will always be difficult: we could do so the sooner if we had a +Dr. Johnson among us to speak with authority and say, "Let not his +misfortunes be remembered, he was a very great man." + +[Illustration: MS. INSCRIPTION TO J. E. DICKINSON, FROM OSCAR WILDE] + + + + +XIII + +A WORD IN MEMORY + + +To have been born and lived all his life in Philadelphia, yet to be best +known in London and New York; to have been the eldest son of a rich man +and the eldest grandson of one of the richest men in America, yet of so +quiet and retiring a disposition as to excite remark; to have been but a +few years out of college, yet to have achieved distinction in a field +which is commonly supposed to be the browsing-place of age; to have been +relatively unknown in his life and to be immortal in his death--such are +the brief outlines of the career of Harry Elkins Widener. + +It is a curious commentary upon human nature that the death of one +person well known to us affects us more than the deaths of hundreds or +thousands not known to us at all. It is for this reason, perhaps, at a +time when the papers bring us daily their record of human suffering and +misery from the war in Europe, that I can forget the news of yesterday +and live over again the anxious hours which followed the brief +announcement that the Titanic, on her maiden voyage, the largest, +finest, and fastest ship afloat, had struck an iceberg in mid-ocean, and +that there were grave fears for the safety of her passengers and crew. +There the first news ceased. + +The accident had occurred at midnight; the sea was perfectly calm, the +stars shone clearly; it was bitter cold. The ship was going at full +speed. A slight jar was felt, but the extent of the injury was not +realized and few passengers were alarmed. When the order to lower the +boats was given there was little confusion. The order went round, "Women +and children first." Harry and his father were lost, his mother and her +maid were rescued. + +In all that subsequently appeared in the press,--and for days the +appalling disaster was the one subject of discussion,--the name of Harry +Elkins Widener appeared simply as the eldest son of George D. Widener. +Few knew that, quite aside from the financial prominence of his father +and the social distinction and charm of his mother, Harry had a +reputation which was entirely of his own making. He was a born student +of bibliography. Books were at once his work, his recreation, and his +passion. To them he devoted all his time; but outside the circle of his +intimate friends few understood the unique and lovable personality of +the man to whom death came so suddenly on April 15, 1912, shortly after +he had completed his twenty-seventh year. + +[Illustration: HARRY ELKINS WIDENER] + +His knowledge of books was truly remarkable. In the study of rare books, +as in the study of an exact science, authority usually comes only with +years. With Harry Widener it was different. He had been collecting only +since he left college, but his intense enthusiasm, his painstaking care, +his devotion to a single object, his wonderful memory, and, as he +gracefully says in the introduction to the catalogue of some of the more +important books in his library, "The interest and kindness of my +grandfather and my parents," had enabled him in a few years to secure a +number of treasures of which any collector might be proud. + +Harry Elkins Widener was born in Philadelphia on January 3, 1885. He +received his early education at the Hill School, from which he was +graduated in 1903. He then entered Harvard University, where he remained +four years, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1907. It was while a +student at Harvard that he first began to show an interest in +book-collecting; but it was not until his college days were over that, +as the son of a rich man, he found, as many another man has done, that +the way to be happy is to have an occupation. + +He lived with his parents and his grandfather in their palatial +residence, Lynnewood Hall, just outside Philadelphia. He was proud of +the distinction of his relatives, and used to say, "We are a family of +collectors. My grandfather collects paintings, my mother collects silver +and porcelains, Uncle Joe collects everything,"--which indeed he +does,--"and I, books." + +Book-collecting soon became with him a very serious matter, a matter to +which everything else was subordinated. He began, as all collectors do, +with unimportant things at first; but how rapidly his taste developed +may be seen from glancing over the pages of the catalogue of his +library, which, strictly speaking, is not a library at all--he would +have been the last to call it so. It is but a collection of perhaps +three thousand volumes; but they were selected by a man of almost +unlimited means, with rare judgment and an instinct for discovering the +best. Money alone will not make a bibliophile, although, I confess, it +develops one. + +His first folio of Shakespeare was the Van Antwerp copy, formerly Locker +Lampson's, one of the finest copies known; and he rejoiced in a copy of +"Poems Written by Wil. Shakespeare, Gent," 1640, in the original +sheepskin binding. His "Pickwick," if possibly inferior in interest to +the Harry B. Smith copy, is nevertheless superb: indeed he had two, one +"in parts as published, with all the points," another a presentation +copy to Dickens's friend, William Harrison Ainsworth. In addition he had +several original drawings by Seymour, including the one in which the +shad-bellied Mr. Pickwick, having with some difficulty mounted a chair, +proceeds to address the Club. The discovery and acquisition of this +drawing, perhaps the most famous illustration ever made for a book, is +indicative of Harry's taste as a collector. + +One of his favorite books was the Countess of Pembroke's own copy of Sir +Philip Sidney's "Arcadia," and it is indeed a noble volume; but Harry's +love for his mother, I think, invariably led him, when he was showing +his treasures, to point out a sentence written in his copy of Cowper's +"Task." The book had once been Thackeray's, and the great novelist had +written on the frontispiece, "A great point in a great man, a great love +for his mother. A very fine and true portrait. Could artist possibly +choose a better position than the above? W. M. Thackeray." "Isn't that a +lovely sentiment?" Harry would say; "and yet they say Thackeray was a +cynic and a snob." His "Esmond" was presented by Thackeray to Charlotte +Brontë. His copy of the "Ingoldsby Legends" was unique. In the first +edition, by some curious oversight on the part of the printer, page 236 +had been left blank, and the error was not discovered until a few sheets +had been printed. In a presentation copy to his friend, E. R. Moran, on +this blank page, Barham had written:-- + + By a blunder for which I have only myself to thank, + Here's a page has been somehow left blank. + Aha! my friend Moran, I have you. You'll look + In vain for a fault in one page of my book! + +signing the verse with his _nom de plume_, Thomas Ingoldsby. + +Indeed, in all his books, the utmost care was taken to secure the copy +which would have the greatest human interest: an ordinary presentation +copy of the first issue of the first edition would serve his purpose +only if he were sure that the dedication copy was unobtainable. His +Boswell's "Life of Johnson" was the dedication copy to Sir Joshua +Reynolds, with an inscription in the author's hand. + +He was always on the lookout for rarities, and Dr. Rosenbach, in the +brief memoir which serves as an introduction to the Catalogue of his +Stevenson collection, says of him:-- + +"I remember once seeing him on his hands and knees under a table in a +bookstore. On the floor was a huge pile of books that had not been +disturbed for years. He had just pulled out of the débris a first +edition of Swinburne, a presentation copy, and it was good to behold the +light in his face as he exclaimed, 'This is better than working in a +gold mine.' To him it was one." + +His collection of Stevenson is a monument to his industry and patience, +and is probably the finest collection in existence of that much-esteemed +author. He possessed holograph copies of the Vailima Letters and many +other priceless treasures, and he secured the manuscript of, and +published privately for Stevenson lovers, in an edition of forty-five +copies, an autobiography written by Stevenson in California in the early +eighties. This item, under the title of "Memoirs of Himself," has an +inscription, "Given to Isobel Stewart Strong ... for future use, when +the underwriter is dead. With love, Robert Louis Stevenson." The +catalogue of his Stevenson collection alone, the painstaking work of his +friend and mentor, Dr. Rosenbach, makes an imposing volume and is an +invaluable work of reference for Stevenson collectors. + +Harry once told me that he never traveled without a copy of "Treasure +Island," and knew it practically by heart. I, myself, am not averse to +a good book as a traveling companion; but in my judgment, for constant +reading, year in and year out, it should be a book which sets you +thinking, rather than a narrative like "Treasure Island," but--_chacun à +son goût._ + +[Illustration: TITLE OF STEVENSON'S "MEMOIRS OF HIMSELF"] + +But it were tedious to enumerate his treasures, nor is it necessary. +They will ever remain, a monument to his taste and skill as a collector, +in the keeping of Harvard University--his Alma Mater. It is, however, +worth while to attempt to fix in some measure the individuality, the +rare personality of the man. I cannot be mistaken in thinking that many, +looking at the wonderful library erected in Cambridge by his mother in +his memory, may wish to know something of the man himself. + +There is in truth not much to tell. A few dates have already been given, +and when to these is added the statement that he was of retiring and +studious disposition, considerate and courteous, little more remains to +be said. He lived with and for his books, and was never so happy as when +he was saying, "Now if you will put aside that cigar for a moment, I +will show you something. Cigar ashes are not good for first editions"; +and a moment later some precious volume would be on your knees. What +collector does not enjoy showing his treasures to others as appreciative +as himself? Many delightful hours his intimates have passed in his +library, which was also his bedroom,--for he wanted his books about him, +where he could play with them at night and where his eye might rest on +them the first thing in the morning,--but this was a privilege extended +only to true book-lovers. To others he was unapproachable and almost +shy. Of unfailing courtesy and an amiable and loving disposition, his +friends were very dear to him. "Bill," or someone else, "is the salt of +the earth," you would frequently hear him say. + +"Are you a book-collector, too?" his grandfather once asked me across +the dinner-table. + +Laughingly I said, "I thought I was, but I am not in Harry's class." + +To which the old gentleman replied,--and his eye beamed with pride the +while,--"I am afraid that Harry will impoverish the entire family." + +I answered that I should be sorry to hear that, and suggested that he +and I, if we put our fortunes together, might prevent this calamity. + +[Illustration: BEVERLY CHEW, OF NEW YORK, WHO COMBINES A PROFOUND LOVE +OF ENGLISH LITERATURE WITH AN INEXHAUSTIBLE KNOWLEDGE OF FIRST EDITIONS] + +His memory was most retentive. Once let him get a fact or a date +imbedded in his mind and it was there forever. He knew the name of +every actor he had ever seen, and the part he had taken in the play last +year and the year before. He knew the name of every baseball player and +had his batting and running average. When it came to the chief interest +of his life, his thirst for knowledge was insatiable. I remember one +evening when we were in New York together, in Beverly Chew's library, +Harry asked Mr. Chew some question about the eccentricities of the +title-pages of the first edition of Milton's "Paradise Lost." Mr. Chew +began rolling off the bibliographical data, like the ripe scholar that +he is, when I suggested to Harry that he had better make a note of what +Mr. Chew was saying. He replied, "I should only lose the paper; while if +I get it in my head I will put it where it can't be lost; that is," he +added, "as long as I keep my head." + +And his memory extended to other collections than his own. For him to +see a book once was for him to remember it always. If I told him I had +bought such and such a book, he would know from whom I bought it and all +about it, and would ask me if I had noticed some especial point, which, +in all probability, had escaped me. + +He was a member of several clubs, including the Grolier Club, the most +important club of its kind in the world. The late J. P. Morgan had sent +word to the chairman of the membership committee that he would like +Harry made a member. The question of his seconder was waived: it was +understood that Mr. Morgan's endorsement of his protégé's +qualifications was sufficient. + +It was one night, when we were in New York together during the first Hoe +sale, that I had a conversation with Harry, to which, in the light of +subsequent events, I have often recurred. We had dined together at my +club and had gone to the sale; but there was nothing of special interest +coming up, and after a half hour or so, he suggested that we go to the +theatre. I reminded him that it was quite late, and that at such an hour +a music-hall would be best. He agreed, and in a few moments we were +witnessing a very different performance from the one we had left in the +Anderson auction rooms; but the performance was a poor one. Harry was +restless and finally suggested that we take a walk out Fifth Avenue. +During this walk he confessed to me his longing to be identified and +remembered in connection with some great library. He expanded this idea +at length. He said: "I do not wish to be remembered merely as a +collector of a few books, however fine they may be. I want to be +remembered in connection with a great library, and I do not see how it +is going to be brought about. Mr. Huntington and Mr. Morgan are buying +up all the books, and Mr. Bixby is getting the manuscripts. When my time +comes, if it ever does, there will be nothing left for me--everything +will be gone!" + +We spent the night together, and after I had gone to bed he came to my +room again, and calling me by a nick-name, said, "I have got to do +something in connection with books to make myself remembered. What +shall it be?" + +[Illustration: MR. HUNTINGTON AMONG HIS BOOKS] + +I laughingly suggested that he write one, but he said it was no jesting +matter. Then it came out that he thought he would establish a chair at +Harvard for the study of bibliography in all its branches. He was much +disturbed by the lack of interest which great scholars frequently evince +toward his favorite subject. + +With this he returned to his own room, and I went to sleep; but I have +often thought of this conversation since I, with the rest of the world, +learned that his mother was prepared, in his memory, to erect the great +building at Harvard which is his monument. His ambition has been +achieved. Associated with books, his name will ever be. The great +library at Harvard is his memorial. In its _sanctum sanctorum_ his +collection will find a fitting place. + +We lunched together the day before he sailed for Europe, and I happened +to remark at parting, "This time next week you will be in London, +probably, lunching at the Ritz." + +"Yes," he said, "very likely with Quaritch." + +While in London Harry spent most of his time with that great bookseller, +the second to bear the name of Quaritch, who knew all the great +book-collectors the world over, and who once told me that he knew no man +of his years who had the knowledge and taste of Harry Widener. "So many +of your great American collectors refer to books in terms of steel +rails; with Harry it is a genuine and all-absorbing passion, and he is +so entirely devoid of side and affectation." In this he but echoed what +a friend once said to me at Lynnewood Hall, where we were spending the +day: "The marvel is that Harry is so entirely unspoiled by his fortune." + +Harry was a constant attendant at the auction rooms at Sotheby's in +London, at Anderson's in New York, or wherever else good books were +going. He chanced to be in London when the first part of the Huth +library was being disposed of, and he was anxious to get back to New +York in time to attend the final Hoe sale, where he hoped to secure some +books, and bring to the many friends he would find there the latest +gossip of the London auction rooms. + +Alas! Harry had bought his last book. It was an excessively rare copy of +Bacon's "Essaies," the edition of 1598. Quaritch had secured it for him +at the Huth sale, and as he dropped in to say good-bye and give his +final instructions for the disposition of his purchases, he said: "I +think I'll take that little Bacon with me in my pocket, and if I am +shipwrecked it will go with me." And I know that it was so. In all the +history of book-collecting this is the most touching story. + +The death of Milton's friend, Edward King, by drowning, inspired the +poet to write the immortal elegy, "Lycidas." + + Who would not sing for Lycidas?-- + He must not float upon his watery bier + Unwept. + +When Shelley's body was cast up by the waves on the shore near Via +Reggio, he had a volume of Keats's poems in his pocket, doubled back at +"The Eve of St. Agnes." And in poor Harry Widener's pocket there was a +Bacon, and in this Bacon we might have read, "The same man that was +envied while he lived shall be loved when he is gone." + +[Illustration: HARRY ELKINS WIDENER'S BOOK-PLATE] + + + + +INDEX + + +À BECKET, GILBERT, _Comic History of Rome_, 78; + _Comic History of England_, 78. + +ADAM, ROBERT B., 184 _n._ + +ADAMS, JOHN, 58. + +ADVERTISEMENTS, importance of, in verifying first + editions of certain books, 79. + +AINSWORTH, W. H., 346. + +ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT. _See_ MARTIN, SIR THEODORE. + +ALBERT MEMORIAL, 285. + +ALDERSON, AMELIA (Mrs. Opie), 232. + +ALDINES, 5, 88. + +ALEXANDRA, PRINCESS OF WALES, 284. + +ALKEN, HENRY, _Analysis of the Hunting Field_, and _Life + of John Mytton_, illustrated by, 77. + +ALLAN, JOHN, 83, 84, 85. + +ALLEN, EDMUND, 21, 307 _ff._ + +ALLEN, JOHN, _Memorial_ of, 57. + +ALLIS, WILLIAM E., 115, 116. + +_American Book Prices Current_, 103. + +ANDERSON, MARY, 327. + +ANDERSON'S AUCTION ROOMS, 103, 354. + +ANDREWS, WILLIAM LORING, _Gossip about Book-collecting_, 51. + +ANNE, QUEEN, 278. + +ANNE OF DENMARK, Queen of James I, 280. + +ARBLAY, MADAME D'. _See_ Burney, Fanny. + +ARGYLE, ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, Duke of, 150. + +ARNOLD, WILLIAM HARRIS, _Record of Books and Letters_, 18, 103-106; + _First Report of a Book-collector_, 101, 102. + +ASSOCIATION BOOKS 1, 107 _ff._ + +_Athenæum, The_, 106 _n._ + +AUCHINLECK, ALEXANDER BOSWELL, LORD, his Death, 173; + mentioned, 150, 165, 166, 172. + +AUCHINLECK, Boswell's birthplace, the author's visit to, 181-184. + +AUCTION CATALOGUES, 30. + +AUCTION SALES, 59, 60. + +AUDUBON, JOHN J., _Birds of North America_, 5. + +AULUS GELLIUS, _Noctes Atticæ_, 90. + +AUSTEN, JANE, 186, 187, 253. + + +BACON, FRANCIS, LORD, quoted, 7; + and Shakespeare, 92; + _Essaies_ (1598), Widener's last purchase, 354, 355. + +BAGEHOT, WALTER, 272. + +BANGS & CO., 104. + +_Bank of North America, History of the_, 57, 58. + +BARCLAY, ALEXANDER, 91. + +BARCLAY and PERKINS'S, 195. + +BARETTI, GIUSEPPE M. A., attacks Mrs. Piozzi, 216; + mentioned, 194, 198. + +BARHAM, THOMAS, _Ingoldsby Legends_, unique presentation copy + of first edition, 347. + +BARRETT, LAWRENCE, 327. + +BARRIE, SIR JAMES M., _What Every Woman Knows_, 196. + +BARTLETT, HENRIETTA, 72. + +BARTON, BERNARD, 135. + +BEACONSFIELD, BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Earl of. _See_ Disraeli. + +BEARD, TOM, presentation copy of _A Christmas Carol_ to, 116. + +BEARDSLEY, AUBREY, caricature of O. Wilde, 114, 319. + +BEAUCLERK, LADY DIANA, 179. + +BECKFORD, WILLIAM, presentation copy of Disraeli's _Henrietta + Temple_ to, 29. + +BELL, CURRER, ELLIS, and ACTON, _Poems_, 83. _See_ Brontë Sisters. + +BEMENT, CLARENCE S., 89. + +BERAYNE, KATHERINE TUDOR DE ("Mam y Cymry"), 189. + +BERNHARDT, SARAH, 337. + +BIBLE, the, Shakespeare "cryptogram" in, 92, 117. _See_ Gutenberg Bible. + +BIBLIOGRAPHIES, 113 _ff._ + +_Biddle, Nicholas, Memoirs of_, 58. + +BINDINGS, 54, 55, 74. + +BIRRELL, AUGUSTINE, quoted, 33, 151. + +BIXBY, WILLIAM K., 72, 352. + +BLAIR, MISS, 161. + +BLAKE, WILLIAM, _Marriage of Heaven and Hell_, 52, 82; + _Poetical Sketches_, 81, 82; + _Songs of Innocence and Experience_, 81, 82; + Linnell collection, sale of, 82. + +BLANDFORD, MARQUIS OF. _See_ Spencer, George. + +BLOUNT, EDWARD, 93. + +"BLUE-STOCKINGS, THE", 194. + +BOCCACCIO, GIOVANNI, the _Decameron_, 70. + +BOEHM, SIR J. E., 285, 286. + +BOETHIUS, _De Consolatione Philosophiæ_ (MS.), 90, 91. + +BOLEYN, ANNE, 275. + +BOLINGBROKE, HENRY ST. JOHN, Viscount, 177. + +BONNELL, H. H., 83. + +_Book Auction Records_, 103. + +_Book Prices Current_, 72. + +BOOK-COLLECTING, delights of, 2 _ff._; + changing fashions in, 5. + +BOOK-PLATES, 60, 61. + +BOOKS, "as originally published," 54, 55; + advancing prices of, 66 _ff._, 70 _ff._ _See_ Association Books, + Bindings, Extra-illustrated Books, Presentation Books, Subscription Books. + +BOOKSELLERS, Second-hand, catalogues of, 30 _ff._ + +BOSCAWEN, MRS. EDWARD, 179. + +BOSWELL, JAMES, quoted, on London, 13; + Macaulay's characterization of, refuted, 148, 149; + early years, 149, 150; + first meeting with Johnson, 150, 151; + his style, 151; + portraiture of Johnson, 152; + devotion to Johnson, 152; + not very much in Johnson's company, 153; + qualities as a biographer, 153, 154; + weaknesses considered, 154 _ff._, 159 _ff._; + Carlyle on, 154; + conversational powers, 156; + Life of Johnson, largely his own autobiography, 156, 157; + letters to Temple, 157 _ff._; + last days and death, 164, 165, 180; + wanderings about Europe, 165, 166; + letter to Dilly, 166; + first paper drawn by, as an advocate, 168; + "press notices" of himself, 170-172; + marries Margaret Montgomerie, 172; + continued interest in Johnson, 172, 173; + death of his father, 173; + financial difficulties, 173; + effect of Johnson's death on, 173; + publishes the _Journal of the Tour to the Hebrides_, 174; + its success encourages him to undertake Johnson's life, 174; + the _Life_ published (1791), 175, 176; + wife's death, 174; + thinks of running for Parliament, 175; + contemporary opinions of, 181; + Johnson on, 181; + mentioned, 21, 30, 174, 201, 214, 226. + _Life of Samuel Johnson_, dedication copy, to Sir Joshua + Reynolds, 18, 19, 347; + divers editions of, 64; + Macaulay's essay on, considered and criticized, 145 _ff._; + merits of, in general, 153; + its success, 175; + presentation copy of, to James Boswell, Jr., 176; + effect of its publication, 178-180; + almost universally praised, 184, 185; + the great English epic, 185; + Mrs. Thrale's copy of, 222; + mentioned, 61, 98, 307, 308, 309. + _An Account of Corsica_, 166-170, 172; + presentation copy of, 59. + +BOSWELL, JAMES, JR., 176, 180. + +BOSWELL, MRS. MARGARET, her _bon mot_ on Johnson, 173; + her death, 174; + mentioned, 154, 164, 172. + +BOWDEN, A. J., 75. + +BRADFORD CLUB, 57. + +BRANDT, SEBASTIAN, _The Ship of Fools_, 91, 92. + +BRISTOL, BISHOP OF, 317. + +BRITISH MUSEUM, 43, 101, 111. + +BROADLEY, A. M., published Mrs. Thrale's _Journal of a + Tour in Wales_, 218, 221. + +BRONTË, CHARLOTTE, presentation copy of _Henry Esmond_ to, 347; + mentioned, 83. + +BRONTË, EMILY, 187. + +BRONTË MUSEUM, 83. + +BRONTË SISTERS, 186, 187. _See_ Bell, Currer, etc. + +BROOKS, EDMUND D., bookseller, 53, 54, 83. + +BROUGH, FANNY, 336. + +BROWNING, ARABEL, 26. + +BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT, letter of, 26, 27; + mentioned, 186, 187. + +BROWNING, ROBERT, _Pauline_, 103; + mentioned, 26, 27, 91, 228. + +BULWER-LYTTON, SIR EDWARD, 253. + +BUNBURY, HENRY W., 32. + +BURKE, EDMUND, inscription to, from Boswell, 185; + mentioned, 151, 181, 187, 188, 194, 221. + +BURNEY, DR. CHARLES, 194, 208. + +BURNEY, FANNY (Madame d'Arblay), _Evelina_, 46, 127, 199, 200; + her _Diary_, quoted, on life at Streatham Park, 199 _ff._; + mentioned, 186, 187, 204, 209, 221. + +BURNS, ROBERT, _Poems_, first Edinburgh edition, 83, 84; + Kilmarnock edition, 83-86, 103. + +BURNS MUSEUM, 86. + +BUSHNELL, JOHN, 281. + +BUTLER, SAMUEL, _The Way of all Flesh_, 124. + +BYRON, ALLEGRA, 238, 244. + +BYRON, GEORGE GORDON, LORD, copy of Thomson's _Seasons_ + presented by, to Frances W. Webster, 29; + mentioned, 238. + + +CAINE, HALL, 268. + +CARLTON HOTEL, London, 268. + +CARLYLE, THOMAS, presentation copy of Dickens's _American Notes_ to, 115; + on Boswell, 154; + mentioned, 185, 293. + +CARNEGIE, ANDREW, _Triumphant Democracy_, quoted, 271. + +CASSATT, A. J., 54. + +CATALOGUES of second-hand books, 30 _ff._, 65 _ff._; + amusing blunders in, 62, 113. + +CAXTON, WILLIAM, his books in general, 8, 72; + his edition of _Tully, his Treatises on Old Age and Friendship_, 22; + mentioned, 91. + +CAXTON HEAD, Sign of the, 30. + +CHAFFANBRASS, MR., 256, 264. + +CHAPMAN, GEORGE, translation of Homer, 102. + +CHARING CROSS, 268. + +CHARING CROSS ROAD, the book-lover's happy hunting-ground, 15, 16. + +CHARLES I, 278, 281. + +CHARLES II, 278, 282. + +CHARLOTTE, Queen of George III, Dodd's letter to, 309; + mentioned, 21, 306. + +CHATHAM, WILLIAM PITT, Earl of, 246. + +CHAUCER, GEOFFREY, _Works_, 102. + +CHESTERFIELD, PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, fourth Earl of, 21, 301. + +CHESTERFIELD, PHILIP STANHOPE, fifth Earl of, 305, 306. + +CHEW, BEVERLY, 7, 75, 87, 102, 103, 351. + +_Christ Church, History of_, 58. + +CHRIST'S HOSPITAL, 53. + +CICERO, _Cato Major_, Franklin's edition of, 9; + _Treatises of Old Age and Friendship_ (Caxton), 22. + +"CITY" OF LONDON, royal visit to, 266 _ff._; + physical boundaries and jurisdiction of, 277. + +CLAIRMONT, MRS. M. J., Godwin's second wife, 237. _See_ Godwin, Mrs. M. J. + +CLAIRMONT, MARY JANE (Claire), Lord Byron's mistress, 238, 242, 243, 244. + +CLARKE, CHARLES COWDEN, 18. + +CLARKE, MARY COWDEN, 18. + +CLASSICS, THE, collectors' waning interest in, 5. + +CLOUGH, SIR RICHARD, 189. + +COCK (tavern), THE, 283. + +COGGESHALL, EDWIN W., sale of his Dickens collection, 78, 79, 115, 116. + +COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR, 111, 222. + +COLLIER, JANE, 38. + +COLLIER, JOHN PAYNE, 37, 38, 39, 41. + +COLLINS, W. WILKIE, _The Moonstone_, 226, 255. + +COLMAN, GEORGE, JR., 231. + +COMMON PRAYER, Book of, 117. + +CONGREVE, WILLIAM, 44. + +CONRAD, JOSEPH, inscription in _The Nigger of the Narcissus_, 56. + +_Contributions to English Bibliography_, 113. + +CONWAY, W. A., and Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi, 23, 224. + +CORSICA, Boswell's visit To, and its results, 165, 166. + +CORYAT, THOMAS, _Coryat's Crudities_, 90, 91. + +COSENS, F. W., his Lamb and Southey MSS., 38-41. + +COSTELLO, DUDLEY, 115. + +COTTLE, JOSEPH, _Annual Anthology_, 38, 39 and _n._, 41. + +COWPER, WILLIAM, _The Task_, Thackeray's copy of, with + inscription, 346, 347. + +"CRAWFORD, MRS.," 134, 135. + +CROKER, JOHN WILSON, his edition of Boswell's _Life_ and Macaulay, 146, 147. + +CROMWELL, OLIVER, 278. + +CRUIKSHANK, GEORGE, 68. + + +DALY, AUGUSTIN, 41. + +DAVIES, THOMAS, bookseller, 30, 150, 151, 165. + +DAVIES, MRS. THOMAS, 31, 151. + +DEFOE, DANIEL, _Robinson Crusoe_, first edition, 43, 44, 99-101, 102; + rare newspaper edition of, 101; + mentioned, 122, 126. + +DEVIL TAVERN, THE, 282, 283. + +DIBDIN, THOMAS FROGNALL, 5. + +DICKENS, CHARLES, disappearance of his London, 10; + the author's presentation copies of various works of, 46; + Eckel's _First Editions of Charles Dickens_, 55, 79, 114, 115; + value of presentation copies of, 73; + Coggeshall collection of his works, 78, 115, 116; + why prices of early editions continue to advance, 117; + and Miss Kelly, 130; + mentioned, 66, 152, 250, 251, 252, 253, 261. + _A Christmas Carol_, first edition, 10, 11; + presentation copies of, 116. + _The Cricket on the Hearth_, manuscript of, 27, 53, 54; + presentation copy of, to Macready, 116. + _Oliver Twist_, presentation copy of, to Macready, 44, 46. + _Pickwick Papers_, in parts (Coggeshall copy), 78-80; + copy of, inscribed to Mary Hogarth, 80, 81; + fourth in circulation among printed books, 117; + "in parts as published," 346; + presentation copy of, to W. H. Ainsworth, 346; 255. + _Bleak House_, presentation copy of, to D. Costello, 115. + _American Notes_, presentation copies of, to Carlyle, 115, + and to Macready, 116. + _The Haunted Man_, presentation copy of, to Maclise, 116. + _The Chimes_, presentation copy of, to C. Dickens, Jr., 116. + _The Village Coquette_, dedication of, 118. + _A Tale of Two Cities_, 255. + +DICKENS, CHARLES, JR., presentation copy of _The Chimes_ to, 116. + +DICKINSON, JOHN EHRET, inscription from O. Wilde to, 342. + +DILLY, CHARLES, publisher of _Corsica_, + letter of Boswell to, 166, 167; + publishes the _Life of Johnson_, 175, 176. + +DISRAELI, BENJAMIN, _Henrietta Temple_, presentation + copy of, to W. Beckford, 29; + mentioned, 253, 324. + +DOBELL, BERTRAM, Bookseller, 28 and _n._, 29. + +DOBSON, AUSTIN, quatrain by, 266; + quoted, 293. + +DODD, MRS. MARY, 295, 301, 302, 306, 309. + +DODD, ROBERT, 48. + +DODD, WILLIAM (the "Macaroni Parson"), the Johnson-Dodd + letters, 19-21, 306 _ff._; + his history, 294 _ff._; + _Beauties of Shakespeare_, 296, 297; + _The Sisters_, 297; + chaplain at Magdalen House, 298; + character of his preaching, 299; + made a royal chaplain, 300; + tutor to Lord Chesterfield's son, 301; + builds Charlotte Chapel and becomes prosperous and extravagant, 302; + leads a triple life, 302; + tries to purchase living of St. George's, Hanover Square, 303; + and is disgraced, 304; + convicted of forgery and sentenced to death, 305, 306; + _Thoughts in Prison_, 306; + Dr. Johnson's aid enlisted to obtain his pardon, 306, 310, 311; + his execution, 315-317. + +DODD, REV. MR., father of William, 294, 296. + +DODD, MEAD & CO., 48. + +DONNE, JOHN, Walton's _Life_ of, 96. + +DOWDEN, EDWARD, _Life of Shelley_, 108. + +DRAKE, JAMES F., bookseller, 49, 51, 110. + +DREER, FERDINAND J., 57, 58, 83. + +DUTTON, E. P., & CO., 115. + + +ECKEL, JOHN C., _First Editions of Charles Dickens_, 55, 79, 114 _ff._ + +_Edinburgh Review_, 147. + +EDMONTON CHURCHYARD, 53. + +EGAN, PIERCE, _Boxiana_, 81. + +_Elia and Eliana_, 52. + +ELIOT, GEORGE. _See_ Evans, Mary Ann. + +"ELIOT" BIBLE, 86. + +ELIZABETH, QUEEN, 189, 270, 277, 278. + +ELIZABETHAN CLUB, 72. + +ELLIOTT, EBENEZER, 83. + +ELZEVIRS, 5, 88. + +ENGLAND, dispersion of great private libraries in, 70, 71. + +ENGLISH LITERATURE, three greatest characters in, 151. + +EVANS, MARY ANN, 111, 186, 187, 253. + +_Examiner, The_, 135, 143. + +EXECUTIONS, public, in England, in 18th century, 314, 315. + +EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, 55, 57. + + +FELL, JOHN, Bishop of Oxford, 96. + +FIELD, EUGENE, 15. + +FIELDING, HENRY, 156, 253. + +FITZGERALD, EDWARD, _Rubaiyat_, 7. + +FLEET STREET, in author's book-plate, 61. + +FOLGER, H. C., 72. + +FOOTE, SAMUEL, 304. + +FORE-EDGE PAINTING, fine example of, 74. + +FORMAN, H. BUXTON, 106. + +_Formosa, Historical and Geographical Description of_, 32. + +FORSTER, JOHN, 24. + +_Fortnightly Magazine_, 332. + +FOX, CHARLES JAMES, 130. + +FOXE, JOHN, _The Book of Martyrs_, 76. + +FRANCE, ANATOLE, _The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard_, 65. + +FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, his edition of the _Cato Major_, 9; + mentioned, 58, 177. + +FREDERICK WILLIAM, Crown Prince of Prussia, 284. + +FRENCH REVOLUTION, 229. + +FRISWELL, HAIN, 261. + +FURNESS, HORACE H., 92. + + +GALE, MINNA, 327. + +GAMP, SAIREY, 243. + +GARRETT, MR., President of B. & O. Railroad, 54. + +GARRICK, DAVID, _Love in the Suds_, 28; + mentioned, 43, 194, 200. + +GARRICK, MRS. DAVID, 194. + +GASKELL, ELIZABETH C., _Cranford_, 125. + +GEORGE III, 21, 214, 306, 307, 309. + +GEORGE V, 266, 270. + +GIBBON, EDWARD, 162, 181. + +GILBERT, WILLIAM S., 78, 331. + +GILBERT and SULLIVAN, _Patience_, Wilde caricatured in, 324. + +GISSING, GEORGE, _Workers in the Dawn_, 124. + +GODWIN, FANNY, illegitimate daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, 244, 245. + +GODWIN, M. J., Godwin's second wife, Lamb's comments on, 238, 239, 240; + her bookshop on Skinner St., 239; + pursues Shelley and his companions, 242, 243. + +GODWIN, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, Godwin's First Wife, dies in childbirth, 233; + mentioned 232, 238. + +GODWIN, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, 2d, copy of _Queen Mab_ inscribed to, 108; + marries Shelley, 244, 245. + _See_ Shelley, Mary W. + +GODWIN, WILLIAM, sketch of his life, 228 _ff._; + a political heretic and schismatic, 229; + _Enquiry concerning Political Justice_, 229, 230; + _Adventures of Caleb Williams_, 231, 232; + fascination for the fair sex, 232; + relations with Mary Wollstonecraft, 232, 233: + marries her, 233; + her death, 233; + courts Harriet Lee, 234; + financial troubles, 234, 235; + quarrelsomeness, 234; + his tragedy, _Antonio_, "damned with universal consent," 235-237; + marries Mrs. Clairmont, 237, 238; + _Life of Chaucer_, 238, 239; + books for children, 239; + suggests _Tales from Shakespeare_ to the Lambs, 239; + his opinions become less advanced, 240; + revival of interest in, through Shelley, 242; + absurd relations with Shelley, 243, 244; + his financial troubles thicken, 243, 244, 245; + his later literary work, 246; + Hazlitt's anecdote of, 246; + becomes Yeoman Usher of the Exchequer, 247; + death, 247; + essay on "Sepulchres," 247, 248; + the "husband of the first suffragette," 248. + +GOLDSMITH, OLIVER, _A Haunch of Venison_ (1776), 32; + _The Vicar of Wakefield_, "points" of first edition, 46, 98, 102, 127; + edition with Rowlandson plates, 46; + _She Stoops to Conquer_, 46, 103; + Johnson's story of the sale of MS. of the _Vicar_, 98, 99; + _The Traveller_, 99; + _The Deserted Village_, 102; + mentioned, 8, 24, 61, 89, 194, 303, 304, 321, 322. + +GONCOURT, EDMOND DE, 94. + +GORDON, GEN. SIR ALEXANDER, presentation copies of Martin's + _Life of the Prince Consort_ to, from Queen Victoria, 33, 34. + +_Grammatica Groeca_, 89, 90. + +GRANNISS, RUTH S., 113. + +GRAY, THOMAS, _Poems_, 74: + the _Elegy_, 103; + Gen. Wolfe's copy of the _Elegy_, 107, 108; + mentioned, 156, 163. + +GREELEY, HORACE, 2. + +GRIFFIN, THE, on the Site of Temple Bar, 269, 284, 285. + +GROLIER CLUB, bibliographies published by, 113 _ff._; + exhibitions of, 113; + mentioned, 351, 352. + +GUTENBERG BIBLE, record price paid by H. E. Huntington + for, at Hoe sale, 36, 67; + mentioned, 73. + + +Hagen, W. H., his copy of _Paradise Lost_, 5 _n._; + sale of his collection, 102, 103, 106; + mentioned, 97. + +HAMILTON, LADY EMMA, 320. + +HARDY, THOMAS, _Desperate Remedies_, 11, 13, 124; + letter of, to "old Tinsley," 11, 12; + _Far from the Madding Crowd_, MS. of, 11, 13, 14; + _Under the Greenwood Tree_, 13; + _The Woodlanders_, 124; + quoted, 212. + +HARRINGTON, LADY, 307, 308. + +HARRISON, MR., at Theobald's Park, 288, 289. + +HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Harry E. Widener graduated at, 345; + his collection now in keeping of, 349; + the Widener Memorial Library, 353. + +HAWKINS, SIR JOHN, _Life of Johnson_, 21, 174, 214; + Boswell and, 179, 180; + mentioned, 305, 309, 317. + +HAWTREY, CHARLES, 336. + +HAZLITT, WILLIAM, Anecdote of Godwin, 246, 247; + mentioned, 239. + +HEATH, JAMES, engraver, 184 _n._ + +HEMING and CONDELL, 92. + +HENKELS, STAN, 57, 100. + +HENRY VI, 275. + +HERBERT, GEORGE, Walton's _Life_ of, 96; + _The Temple_, 97. + +HERRICK, ROBERT, _Hesperides_, first edition, 7, 102, 103. + +HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK, editor of Boswell, 22, 64, 153, 181, 309. + +HILL, WALTER, bookseller, 44, 46, 83, 91. + +HINGLEY, MR., 298. + +HODGKINS, THOMAS, 239. + +HOE, ROBERT, sale of his collection, 36, 92, 103, 352, 354. + +HOGARTH, MARY, presentation copy of _Pickwick Papers_ in parts to, 80, 81. + +HOGARTH, WILLIAM, 190. + +HOLBROOK, RICHARD T., 18. + +HOLLINGS, FRANK, bookseller, 33. + +HOLLINGSWORTH, JOHN, 132. + +HOMER, Pope's translation of, 9; + Chapman's, 102. + +HOOKER, RICHARD, Walton's _Life_ of, 96. + +HORNECK, MISS, 24. + +HORNECK, MRS., 24. + +HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN, 251, 254. + +HUME, DAVID, 161, 165. + +HUNTINGTON, HENRY E., pays record price for Gutenberg Bible, 36; + mentioned, 71, 72, 73, 352. + +HUTCHINSON, THOMAS, _Ballad of a Poor Book-Lover_ (MS.), 69. + +HUTH, ALFRED, sale of his collection, 354. + +HUTT, CHARLES, bookseller, 66. + +HUTT, FRED, bookseller, 10, 11, 63. + +HUTTON, LAURENCE, his collection of death-masks, 68; + mentioned, 69. + + +IAGGARD, ISAAC, 93. + +IMLAY, MRS. GILBERT. _See_ Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft. + +INCUNABULA, 72. + +IRVING, HENRY, 129, 268. + +IVES, BRAYTON, his copy of Shelley's _Queen Mab_, 108. + + +JAMES I, 278, 280, 287. + +JEFFERSON, THOMAS, 58. + +JELLICOE, SIR JOHN (Viscount), 291. + +JOHNSON, HENRY, 213. + +JOHNSON, JOHN G., 42. + +JOHNSON, SAMUEL, on poetry and Pope, 10; + holograph prayer of, 22; + many prayers written by, 22; + _Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland_, 23, 24; + letter to Mrs. Horneck, 22; + and Mrs. Davies, 31; + Psalmanazar _Memoirs_, inscribed by, to Mrs. Thrale, 31, 32; + _Prologue Spoken at the Opening of the Theatre in Drury Lane_, 42, 43; + and the author's book-plate, 60, 61; + Mrs. Thrale's copy of the _Dictionary_, 63; + letter to the Thrales, 63; + his letters considered, 63, 64; + his story of the sale of the MS. of _The Vicar of Wakefield_, 98; + translator of Lobo's _Abyssinia_, 125; + _The Prince of Abissinia (Rasselas)_, 125, 206, 207; + and Jonson, 145; + Macaulay's representation of, 147; + first meeting with Boswell, 150, 151; + what his fame owes to Boswell, 151, 152; + his advice to Boswell, 166; + on Boswell's _Corsica_, 170; + effect of his death on Boswell, 173; + Mrs. Thrale's _Anecdotes_, 174; + Hawkins's _Life_ of, 174; + need of an index to his _dicta_, 176, 177; + on Boswell, 181; + introduced +to the Thrales by Murphy, 192; + growth and long continuance of the intimacy, 193; + their first and greatest lion, 194, 195; + practically a member of the Thrale household, 197, 198; + his "menagerie of old women," 198; + at Streatham, 199, 200; + verses to Mrs. Thrale, 201; + business adviser to the Thrales, 202; + executor of Thrale's estate, 203, 204; + Streatham portrait of, 204, 205; + presentation copy of _The Prince of Abissinia_ to Mrs. Thrale, 206, 207; + violent letter to Mrs. Thrale on her engagement to + Piozzi, and her reply, 211, 212; + effect of his death on Mrs. Thrale-Piozzi, 213, 214; + author's imaginary meeting with, 273, 274; + his efforts to obtain a reprieve for Dr. Dodd, 306 _ff._; + letter of ghostly counsel to Dodd, and prayer for him, 311, 312; + writes "gallows speech" for Dodd (undelivered), 313, 314, 317; + on public executions, 317; + mentioned, 5, 52, 76, 80, 111, 114, 130, 155, 184, 187, 188, + 189, 208, 215, 218, 221, 222, 226, 260, 268, 278, 282, + 303, 321, 342. + _See_ Boswell, James; Dodd, William; Thrale-Piozzi, Hester Lynch. + +JONES, INIGO, 278. + +JONSON, BEN, 145, 282. + +JORDAN, DOROTHEA, 133. + +JOWETT, BENJAMIN, 185. + + +KARSLAKE, FRANK, 103. + +Keats, John, _Endymion_, Wordsworth's copy of, 7, 29, 106; + _Poems_ (1817), presentation copies of, 18, 104, 106, and _n._, 122; + his copy of Spenser's _Works_, presented by Severn, 24, 25; + influence of Spenser on, 25; + rarity of books from his library, 25; + prices of MSS. of his works, 101; + _To the Misses M---- at Hastings_ (MS.), 105, 106 _n._; + _Lamia_, 106; + _The Eve of St. Agnes_, 355. + +KELLY, FRANCES MARIA, relations with Lamb, 129-144; + as an actress, 129, 130; + Lamb's admiration for, 130, 131; + his offer of marriage, 132 _ff._, 138 _ff._; + the original of his "Barbara S----," 135; + Lamb's earlier letters to, 136-138; + her reply to his offer of marriage, 142. + +KEMBLE, JOHN PHILIP, 130, 235, 236. + +KENNERLEY, MITCHELL, 103. + +KING, EDWARD, 354. + +KINGSLEY, CHARLES, 253. + +"KNOCKOUT, THE," at London auctions, 102, 103. + + +LABOUCHERE, HENRY, _Truth_, 28. + +LAMB, CHARLES, autograph letter to Taylor & Hessey, 28; + receipt for copyright of _Elia_, 28, 74; + _Elia_, presentation copy of, 28; + _Prose Works_ (1836), 37; + _Letters_ (1837), 37; + _Elegy on a Quid of Tobacco_, 38, 39 _n._, 40; + in the Cosens MSS., 38, 39, 41; + birth and growth of the author's interest in, 52, 53; + his burial-place, 53; + his house at Enfield, 53; + _Old China_, 68; + as book-collector and book-lover, 68; + admiration for Miss Kelly, 130 _ff._; + _Dream Children_ reminiscent of her, 130, 131; + resurrection of his letter offering marriage to her, 132 _ff._; + sonnet to her, 133; + on Blue-stockings, 134; + "Barbara S----," 134, 135; + writes Epilogue to Godwin's _Antonio_, 235; + describes its first performance and damnation, 236, 237; + his copy of the play-bill, with comments, 237; + on Mrs. Godwin, 239, 240; + _bon mots_ of, 241; + mentioned, 7, 48, 89, 112, 122, 129, 222, 239, 330. + _See_ Kelly, Frances Maria. + +LAMB, CHARLES and MARY, _Tales from Shakespeare_, 7, 239. + +LAMB, MARY, and her brother's courtship of Miss Kelly, 136, 138, 141, 142; + mentioned, 38, 53, 239. + +LAMBERT, WILLIAM H., sale of his collection, 48. + +LAMBTON, SIR HEDWORTH, assumes name of Meux and inherits + Lady Meux's estates, 288, 289; + on active service in the late war, 291 and _n._ + _See_ Temple Bar. + +LEE, HARRIET, courted by Godwin, 234. + +LEECH, JOHN, illustration for _A Christmas Carol_, 116; 78. + +LEVASSEUR, THÉRÈSE, 165. + +LEWES, GEORGE HENRY, 176. + +LINCOLN, ABRAHAM, 333. + +LINNELL, JOHN, his Blake collection, 82. + +_Lippincott's Magazine_, 329. + +LIVINGSTON, LUTHER S., 48, 49, 75, 97, 103. + +LLOYD, CONSTANCE, Marries Wilde, 328. + +LOBO, FATHER, his _Abyssinia_ translated by Dr. Johnson, 125. + +LOCKE, JOHN, 91. + +LOCKE, WILLIAM J., _The Belovèd Vagabond_, 91. + +LOCKER-LAMPSON, FREDERICK, his copy of the first folio of Shakespeare, 93; + and of the _Compleat Angler_, first edition, 96; + mentioned, 346. + +LONDON, the great market of the world for collectors' books, 8 _ff._; + and Dickens, 10; + bookshops of, 13 _ff._; + Stow's _Survay_ of, 32, 274, 275; + changes in, 66, 268, 269; + preëminence of, as a book-market, passing to New York? 71; + Aggas's pictorial map of, 274; + the plague and the great fire, 279. + +_London_, a poem, 32. + +LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL, 10. + +LOWELL, AMY, 222. + +LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL, 7, 154, 185. + +LOWTHER, KATHERINE, and Gen. Wolfe's copy of Gray's _Elegy_, 107. + +LUCAS, EDMUND V., 132, 133. + +LUD GATE, 277. + + +MACAULAY, HANNAH MORE, 146. + +MACAULAY, THOMAS BABINGTON, LORD, his essay on Boswell's + _Johnson_ criticized, 145 _ff._ + +MACLISE, DANIEL, presentation copy of Dickens's _The Haunted Man_, to, 116. + +MACPHERSON, JAMES, 211. + +MACREADY, WILLIAM C., presentation copies to, of _Oliver Twist_, 44, 46, 47, + _American Notes_, 116, + and _The Cricket on the Hearth_, 116. + +MACROBIUS, _Saturnalia_, 90. + +MADISON, JAMES, 58. + +MAGDALEN HOUSE, Dodd chaplain at, 298, 299. + +MAGGS, THE BROTHERS, booksellers, 66, 103. + +MANGIN, EDWARD, _Piozziana_, quoted, 17. + +MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, EARL OF, 307. + +MARLBOROUGH, SARAH, DUCHESS OF, 278. + +MARSHALL, ARCHIBALD, 251. + +MARSHALL, JOHN, 58. + +MARSHALL, JOSHUA, 281. + +MARTIN, SIR THEODORE, _Life of the Prince Consort_, + inscribed presentation copy of, to Gen. Sir A. Gordon, 33, 34. + +MARTIN, MRS., Letter of Mrs. Browning to, 26. + +MARY, Queen of George V, 267, 270. + +MASON, STUART, _Bibliography of Oscar Wilde_, 114. + +MASON, WILLIAM, _Elfrida_, Boswell's copy of, 159, 163. + +MATHEW, CAROLINE, 25. + +MATHEW, GEORGE FELTON, poem of Keats addressed to, 25; 106 _n._ + +MATTHEWS, BRANDER, _Ballads of Books_, 69. + +MEIRS, RICHARD WALN, 68. + +MELMOTH, SEBASTIAN, name assumed by Wilde in Paris, 340. + +MEREDITH, GEORGE, _Modern Loves_, inscribed to Swinburne, 121; + mentioned, 250. + +MEUX, SIR HEDWORTH. _See_ Lambton, Sir Hedworth. + +MEUX, LADY HENRY, makes Sir H. Lambton her heir, 288, 289. + +MEUX, SIR HENRY, buys Temple Bar and sets it up at Theobald's Park, 286. + +MILLARD, EVELYN, 337. + +MILLETT, MAUDE, 336. + +MILTON, JOHN, _Paradise Lost_, first edition, with + first title-page, 5 and _n._, 6, 87, 102, 103; + _Lycidas_, 103, 354. + +MONTAGU, ELIZABETH, 194, 200, 204. + +MONTGOMERIE, MARGARET. _See_ Boswell, Margaret. + +MOORE, GEORGE, _Memoirs of My Dead Life_, proof-sheets of, 49, 50; + _Literature at Nurse_, and _Pagan Poems_, presentation copies of, 49, 51; + _Flowers of Passion_, 87; + quoted, on the Griffin, 285. + +MORAN, E. R., 347. + +MORE, HANNAH, 153, 154, 194. + +MORGAN, JOHN PIERPONT, acquires Boswell's letters to Temple, 158; + mentioned, 71, 98, 351, 352. + +MORLEY, CHRISTOPHER, 150 _n._ + +MORRIS, WILLIAM, 331. + +MUDIE'S LENDING LIBRARY, 49. + +MURPHY, ARTHUR, introduces Johnson to the Thrales, 192, 193. + + +NEILSON, JULIA, 336. + +NELSON, HORATIO, LORD, 320, 321. + +NEW YORK, and the rare-book market, 71. + +NEWTON, A. EDWARD, book-plate of, 60, 61; + visit to Auchinleck, 181-184; + imaginary meeting with Dr. Johnson, 273, 274; + visit to Theobald's Park (Temple Bar), 286-290. + +NORTH, ERNEST D., bookseller, 46, 52. + + +_Oration in Carpenter's Hall_ (Philadelphia), 58. + +_Original London Post_, _Robinson Crusoe_ published serially in, 101. + +OSBOURNE, S. LLOYD, 112. + +OSGOOD, CHARLES G., 60, 61, 176, 177. + + +PAINE, THOMAS, 229, 230, 231. + +PAOLI, PASCAL, 156, 165, 166, 169, 170. + +PATER, WALTER, quoted, on Wilde's comedies, 334. + +_Patissier, François, Le_, 88. + +PATTERSON, JOHN M., 168. + +PAUL, C. KEGAN, 247. + +PEARSON, MR., bookseller, 21-23. + +PEMBROKE, MARY (SIDNEY) HERBERT, COUNTESS OF, 346. + +PEMBROKE COLLEGE (Oxford), 22. + +PENN, WILLIAM, 58. + +PENNELL, ELIZABETH ROBINS, _Our House_, presentation + copy of, to the author, 32, 94, 328. + +PENNELL, JOSEPH, 94, 328. + +PEPYS, SAMUEL, 158. + +PERCY, HUGH (Bishop), 179. + +PERCY, MRS., presentation copy of _Rasselas_ to, 125. + +PERKINS, MARY. _See_ Dodd, Mary. + +PHELPS, WILLIAM LYON, on Trollope, 250, 251, 258. + +PICKWICK, MR., Seymour's original drawing of, 346. + +PINERO, SIR A., 335. + +PIOZZI, GABRIEL, copy of Johnson's _Prince of + Abissinia (Rasselas)_ presented to, by Mrs. Thrale, 206, 207; + his acquaintance with Mrs. T., 207-209; + becomes engaged to her, 210; + their marriage, 212, 213; + his death, 223; + mentioned, 194, 214, 217. + +PIOZZI, HESTER LYNCH. _See_ Thrale-Piozzi, Hester Lynch. + +PLAGUE, THE, in London, 279. + +POPE, ALEXANDER, his _Homer_, 9; + Dr. Johnson, and O. Wilde, on, 10; + mentioned, 89. + +PRESENTATION BOOKS, 107. + +PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, 68. + +PRINTS, collecting, 4; + inlaying, 57. + +PSALMANAZAR, GEORGE, _Memoirs_, association +copy of, 31; + Johnson and, 31, 32. + +_Punch_, 120, 335. + +PYNSON, RICHARD, 91. + + +QUARITCH, BERNARD, the Napoleon of booksellers, 15; + his catalogues, 87 _ff._; + mentioned, 7, 76. + +QUARITCH, BERNARD ALFRED, a worthy son of his father, 15; + on Widener, 353, 354; + mentioned, 8, 71, 98, 103. + +QUIN, JAMES, 190. + + +RADCLIFFE, ANN, 253. + +_Ralph Roister Doister_, 89. + +RANSOME, ARTHUR, _Oscar Wilde_, 49. + +READE, CHARLES, 253. + +REDWAY, W. E., manager of Hollings's, 33. + +REED, HENRY, Copy of _Vanity Fair_ presented to, by Thackeray, 19. + +REMBRANDT, H. VAN RIJN, 152. + +REVELEY, MRS., 232. + +REYNOLDS, SIR JOSHUA, dedication copy of Boswell's _Johnson_ to, 18; + mentioned, 153, 156, 181, 184 _n._, 194, 200, 347. + +RICE, MRS. HAMILTON, builds Widener Memorial Library, 353; + mentioned, 48, 112, 346. + +ROBERTS, _The Holy Land_, 5. + +ROBINSON, MARY DARBY ("Perdita"), 232. + +ROBINSON, HENRY CRABBE, 37. + +ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, 329. + +ROSENBACH, A. S. W. ("Rosy"), bookseller, 41-44; + quoted, on Widener, 348; + his catalogue of Widener's Stevenson collection, 348; + mentioned, 71, 75, 80, 106, 109. + +ROSS, ROBERT, quoted, 114; + and Wilde, 341, 342. + +ROSSETTI, DANTE G., his sketch of Tennyson reading _Maud_, 26, 27; + inscription to Swinburne, 106. + +ROSSETTI, W. M., 26. + +ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES, 165. + +RUDD, MARGARET, _Anecdotes of the Life and Transactions of_, 81. + +RUG-COLLECTING, 3, 4. + +RUSKIN, JOHN, 323, 331. + +RUSSELL, E. F., 110. + + +SABIN, FRANK, 24, 25. + +SABIN, F. T., bookseller, 24, 54, 66, 87. + +ST. GEORGE'S, Hanover Square, 303. + +ST. PAUL'S, London, thanksgiving service in, 267, 268; + rebuilt by Wren after the great fire, 279. + +SALUSBURY, HESTER LYNCH. _See_ Thrale-Piozzi, Hester Lynch. + +SALUSBURY, SIR JOHN, 189. + +SALUSBURY, MRS. JOHN, 190. + +SALUSBURY, JOHN PIOZZI, 206, 207, 223, 224. + +SANDYS, LORD, 194. + +_Saturday Review_, quoted, on Wilde's poetry, 325. + +SCHELLING, FELIX, _Elizabethan Drama_ and other books, 62; + mentioned, 296. + +SCOTT, SIR WALTER, _The Heart of Midlothian_, 256; + mentioned, 111. + +SESSLER, CHARLES, bookseller, 44, 46, 47, 116. + +SEVERN, JOSEPH, copy of Spenser's _Works_ presented by, to Keats, 25. + +SEYMOUR, ROBERT, original drawings for _Pickwick Papers_, 346. + +SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM, folios and quartos, 67, 72; + _Hamlet_, first quartos of, 72; + _Venus and Adonis_, early editions of, 72; + _Titus Andronicus_, 72; + the first folio, 92, 93, 346; + _Poems written by Wil. Shakespeare, Gent._ (1640), 346; + mentioned, 43, 117, 152, 296. + +SHAW, G. BERNARD, 323, 324. + +SHELLEY, MRS. HARRIET, deserted by Shelley, 242; + her death, 244. + +SHELLEY, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT, _Frankenstein_, 231. + _See_ Godwin, Mary W., 2d. + +SHELLEY, PERCY B., _Queen Mab_, presentation copy of, + to Mary W. Godwin, 108; + and Godwin, 242; + elopes with Mary W. Godwin, 242; + marries her, 244; + death, 245, 355; + mentioned, 7, 228. + +SHERARD, ROBERT H., biographer of Wilde, 340. + +SHERIDAN, RICHARD B., 130, 334. + +SIDDONS, SARAH, 130, 194. + +SIDNEY, SIR PHILIP, _Arcadia_, Countess of Pembroke's copy of, 346. + +SKELTON, JOHN, _Poems_, 102, 103. + +SMITH, ADAM, 162. + +SMITH, GEORGE D., bookseller, 36 _ff._, 58, 71, 73, 96, 106, 115. + +SMITH, HARRY B., his "Sentimental Library," 136; + mentioned, 346. + +SMITH, SIDNEY, engraver, 61. + +SMITH, SYDNEY, 8. + +SMITH, ELDER & CO., 83. + +SMOLLETT, TOBIAS, 297. + +SOTHEBY'S AUCTION ROOMS, 101, 354. + +SOUTHEY, ROBERT, _Life of Nelson_, 320; + mentioned, 38, 39 and _n._, 41, 321. + +SOUTHWARK, Thrale brewery in, 191, 195. + +SPENCER, GEORGE, MARQUIS OF BLANDFORD, 70. + +SPENCER, GEORGE JOHN, EARL, 70. + +SPENCER, WALTER, bookseller, 27, 28, 53, 54, 66. + +SPENSER, EDMUND, copy of his _Works_ presented to Keats by Severn, 24, 25; + his influence on Keats, 25; + mentioned, 177. + +SPOOR, J. A., 48. + +STANHOPE, PHILIP, pupil to Dr. Dodd, 301. + _See_ Chesterfield, fifth Earl of. + +STEPHEN, SIR LESLIE, 5, 64, 185. + +STERNE, LAURENCE, _A Sentimental Journey_, 81; + mentioned, 298, 304. + +STEVENSON, ISOBEL S., 112. + +STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS, _Inland Voyages_, inscribed copy of, 109; + _A Child's Garden of Verses_, unique copy of, 109, 110, 111; + prices of first editions of, 110, 112, 113; + _The New Arabian Nights_, 110; + his popularity, 111; + _Penny Whistles_, 112; + Widener's collection of his works, 112, 348, 349; + _Vailima Letters_ (holographs) 348; + _Memoirs of Himself_ (MS.), privately printed by H. E. Widener, 348, 349; + _Treasure Island_, 348, 349; + mentioned, 7, 185. + +STOKE POGES CHURCH YARD, 74. + +STOKER, BRAM, _Dracula_, 231. + +STOW, JOHN, _Survay of London_, first edition, 32; + quoted, 274, 275. + +STRAHAN, GEORGE, 22. + +STREATHAM PARK, the Thrales' country seat, 192, 194, 195, 196; + life at, described by Fanny Burney, 199 _ff._; + closed, 209; + reopened, 215, 216. + +STRONG, ISOBEL STEWART, 348. + +SUBSCRIPTION BOOKS, 55. + +SULLIVAN, SIR ARTHUR. _See_ Gilbert and Sullivan. + +SUNDAY, "BILLY," 292. + +SURTEES, R. S., his sporting novels, 49, 77. + +SWINBURNE, ALGERNON C., _Poems and Ballads_, first edition, 11; + inscription to, by Rossetti, 106; + Moore's _Modern Love_, inscribed to, 121; + mentioned, 262. + + +TALFOURD, THOMAS NOON, _Final Memorials of Charles Lamb_, 37, 38. + +TAYLOR AND HESSEY, 28, 74. + +TEMPLE, REV. WILLIAM J., Boswell's letters to, + history of the collection, 157, 158; + extracts from the letters, 158-165; + his letters to B. not preserved, 159; + mentioned, 180. + +TEMPLE BAR, in the author's book-plate, 61; + the western boundary of the "City," 267; + history of, 274 _ff._; + the first structure, 275-279; + the second, built by Wren in 1670 and after, 279-281; + demand for its removal, 281, 282; + iron spikes on, 282; + taverns surrounding, 282, 283; + lessening importance of, 283, 284; + last functions in which it played a part, 284; + removed in 1877, 284; + purchased by Sir H. Meux, and removed to Theobald's Park, 286; + a visit to, described, 286-290. + +TEMPLE, THE, 274. + +TENNYSON, ALFRED, sketch of, reading _Maud_, 26, 27; + mentioned, 283. + +TERRY, ELLEN, 129. + +THACKERAY, WILLIAM M., copy of _Vanity Fair_ presented by, + to Henry Reed, 19; + sketch for illustration of _Vanity Fair_, 48, 49; + _Vanity Fair_, in parts, 78, 251, 252; + sentence written in his copy of Cowper's _The Task_, 347; + copy of _Henry Esmond_, presented by, to Charlotte Brontë, 347; + mentioned, 250, 253. + +THEOBALD'S PARK, Temple Bar now set up at, 286 _ff._ + +THOMSON, JAMES, _The Seasons_, copy of, presented + by Lord Byron to F. W. Webster, 29. + +THRALE, HENRY, marries Hester L. Salusbury, 191; + their ménage, 191 _ff._; + parties at Streatham, 194, + the brewery, 195; + described by his wife, 196, 197; + elected to Parliament, 197; + his table among the best in London, 198; + business troubles, 202; + advised by Johnson, 202, 203; + death, 203; + mentioned, 186, 189. + _See_ Thrale-Piozzi, Hester Lynch. + +THRALE, HESTER LYNCH. _See_ Thrale-Piozzi. + +THRALE, "QUEENIE," 198. + +THRALE-PIOZZI, HESTER LYNCH, _Lyford Redivivus_ (MS.), 16, 17; + Psalmanazar's _Memoirs_ inscribed by Johnson to, 31, 32; + her copy of the _Dictionary_, 63, 202; + _Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson_, 174, 214; + and Boswell's _Johnson_, 178, 179; + her qualities, in general, 187, 188; + her pedigree, 188, 189; + birth, early years and education, 189, 190; + marries Thrale, 191; + their ménage, 191 _ff._; + her one duty, 192; + Johnson introduced to, 192; + beginning of their long-enduring familiar intercourse, 193, 194; + relations with Thrale, 196, 197; + her numerous progeny, 197; + business ability, 197, 204; + life at Streatham, 199 _ff._; + Johnson's verses to, 201; + coexecutor with Johnson of Thrale's estate, 203; + sells the brewery, 204, 205; + acquaintance with Piozzi, 207, 209; + verses to Piozzi, 210; + engaged to him, 210; + Johnson's violent letter to, and her reply, 211, 212; + marries Piozzi, 212, 213; + effect of Johnson's death on, 213, 214; + _Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson_, 215; + other works published by, 216; + Baretti's attack on, 216; + builds Brynbella, 217; + busy with her pen, 218; + _Thraliana_, 218; + _Journal of a Tour in Wales_, MS. of, 218-221; + Macaulay's "silly phrase" concerning, 221; + modern opinion of, 221; + her influence on Johnson, 221; + literary taste, 222; + her copy of Boswell's _Johnson_, 222; + death of Piozzi, 223; + last days, at Bath, 223, 224; + death and burial, 224; + last words on, 224, 225; + mentioned, 155, 161, 181. + +THURLOW, EDWARD, LORD, 162. + +TINKER, CHAUNCEY B., _Dr. Johnson and Fanny Burney_, dedication copy, 62; + mentioned, 42, 158, 210. + +TITANIC, steamship, loss of, 343, 344, 355. + +TREGASKIS, JAMES, bookseller, 30-32. + +TRENT, WILLIAM P., 100. + +TROLLOPE, ANTHONY, quoted, 75; + _The MacDermots of Ballycloran_, and _The Kellys + and the O'Kellys_, 111, 124; + his novels considered, 111, 112, 251 _ff._, 257 _ff._; + later criticism of, 249, 250; + his simplicity, 253; + his autobiography, quoted, 253, 265; + his plots, 255; + _Can You Forgive Her?_, 255; + _Orley Farm_, 255, 256, 257; + _Phineas Redux_, 255; + the photographer _par excellence_ of his time, 260; + his clerical gallery, 260; + Mrs. Proudie, 261, 262; + his autobiography, 262; + suggested order of reading his novels, 263; + a typical Englishman, 264; + effect of the war on the England he wrote of, 266. + +TROLLOPE, HENRY M., 262. + +TYBURN, execution of Dodd at, 315-317. + + +UNITED STATES, book-shops in, 36 _ff._ + +"UNSPEAKABLE SCOT, THE," _The First Stone_, 51. + + +VAN ANTWERP, WILLIAM C., 86, 93, 96, 106, 346. + +VANBRUGH, IRENE, 337. + +VICTORIA, PRINCESS ROYAL, 284. + +VICTORIA, QUEEN, inscribed copy of Martin's _Life + of the Prince Consort_ presented by, to Gen. Sir A. Gordon, 33, 34; + mentioned, 284. + + +WAINEWRIGHT, T. G., 333. + +WALES, PRINCE OF (afterward George IV), 232. + +WALES, PRINCE OF (afterward Edward VII), 284. + +WALLER, LEWIS, 336. + +WALPOLE, HORACE, _The Castle of Otranto_, 231; + mentioned, 181, 299. + +WALTON, IZAAK, _The Compleat Angler_, 7, 95, 96, 98, 248; + his _Lives_ of Donne, etc., 96; + mentioned, 286, 287. + +WATTS, ISAAC, 190. + +WEBSTER, FRANCES W., copy of Thomson's _The Seasons_ + presented by Lord Byron to, 29. + +WELLINGTON, ARTHUR WELLESLEY, DUKE OF, 284. + +WELLS, GABRIEL, bookseller, 51, 52, 110, 166. + +WESTCOTE, LORD, 194. + +WHISTLER, JAMES, Pennell collection of his works, 94; + and Wilde, 324, 328. + +WHITE, W. A., 72, 75. + +WIDENER, GEORGE D., 344, 345. + +WIDENER, MRS. GEORGE D. _See_ Rice, Mrs. Hamilton. + +WIDENER, HARRY ELKINS, his collection given to Harvard + University by his mother, 48; + sketch of his life, 343, 345; + lost on the Titanic, 344, 355; + devotion to, and knowledge of, books, 344, 345; + as a book-collector, 345, 346; + some of his treasures, 346 _ff._; + Stevenson collection, 348; + personality and characteristics, 348, 349; + and the Grolier Club, 350; + his ambition to be remembered in connection with a + great library, 352, 353; + at the Huth sale, 354; + his last purchase, Bacon's _Essaies_, 354, 355; + mentioned, 19, 73, 75, 86. + +WIDENER, PETER A. B., 350. + +WIDENER MEMORIAL LIBRARY, 93, 112, 353. + +WILDE, CONSTANCE, 328. + +WILDE, OSCAR, on poetry and Pope, 10; + presentation copy of Moore's _Pagan Poems_ to, 49, 51; + advancing value of first editions of, 49; + multiplicity of books about him, 49, 51; + _The Importance of Being Earnest_, 89, 334, 337; + bibliography of, 114; + Beardsley's caricature of, 114, 319; + lectures in U.S., 318, 325, 327; + personal appearance, 318; + difficulties of discussing him, 320; + his place in literature as influenced by his character, 321, 322; + _Dorian Gray_, 322, 329-331; + early life, 322, 323; + leads the "æsthetic cult," 323, 324; + at Oxford, and in London, 323, 324; + _Poems_ (1881), 324, 325; + _The Duchess of Padua_, 327; + _The Woman's World_, 329; + fairy tales, 331; + _The Soul of Man under Socialism_, 332, 333; + _Pen, Pencil, and Poison_, 333; + his poems, 333, 334; + his dramatic works--_Lady Windermere's Fan_, 335; + _A Woman of No Importance_, 335, 336; + _An Ideal Husband_, 336, 337; + _Salome_, 337; + success of the plays, 338; + his downfall, 338, 339; + in prison, 338; + _De Profundis_, 338, 339; + effect of his reputation on his works, 339, 340; + in Paris under assumed name, 340; + _The Ballad of Reading Gaol_, 340; + death, 341; + Robert Ross and, 341, 342; + mentioned, 292. + +_Wilde, Oscar, Three Times Tried_, 49. + +WILDE, WILLIE, 49. + +WILDE, LADY ("Speranza"), 322. + +WILKES, JOHN, 179. + +WILSON, WOODROW, _Constitutional History of the + United States_, with inscription, 125, 126. + +WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL, 95. + +WOLFE, GENERAL JAMES, sale of his copy of Gray's _Elegy_, 107, 108. + +WOLLSTONECRAFT, MARY, becomes Godwin's mistress, 232, 233; + marries him, 233, 228. + _See_ Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft. + +WOODHOUSE, JAMES, 192, 193. + +WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM, his copy of _Endymion_, 7, 29, 106; + mentioned, 38, 133. + +WREN, CHRISTOPHER, builds new Temple Bar, 279, 280. + +WYKEHAM, WILLIAM OF, 95. + +WYNNE, MAURICE, OF GWYDIR, 189. + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE·MASSACHUSETTS + +U. S. A. + + * * * * * + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The facsimile (page 6) is from the first edition, with the first +title-page. From the Hagen collection. Mr. Hagen has written on the +fly-leaf, "Rebound from original calf binding which was too far gone to +repair." In the process of binding it was seen that the title-page was +part of a signature and not a separate leaf as in the case of the issue +with the "Second" title, 1667, which would seem to settle the priority +of these two titles. + +[2] See _infra_, chapter III, p. 104, where the further +adventures of this book are related, and where its price at the Hagen +sale, May 14, 1918, becomes $1950, with A. E. N. as the bidder-up. + +[3] See _infra_, chapter XI, pp. 307_ff._ + +[4] I had a letter from Mr. Dobell early in the war, telling me that +business was very bad in his line, and that he had taken to writing bad +war-poems, which, he said, was a harmless pastime for a man too old +to fight. I am not sure that the writing of bad poetry is a harmless +pastime, and I was just about to write and tell him so, when I read in +the _Athenæum_ that he had passed away quite suddenly. + +[5] The facsimile is from the original manuscript by Charles Lamb. +First published in 1799 in what is usually referred to as Cottle's +"Annual Anthology." The poem is generally attributed to Southey, but it +sounds like Lamb, who liked tobacco, whereas Southey did not. The MS., +in ten stanzas, is undoubtedly in Lamb's handwriting. + +[6] See Professor Trent's remarks on this "point," in chapter +III, p. 100. + +[7] The facsimile on page 105 is from the original manuscript of John +Keats's "To some Ladies," published in Keats's first volume (1817). The +ladies were the sisters of George Felton Mathew, to whom Keats also +addressed a poem. It will be observed that in the second verse he used +the word "gushes" at the end of the third as well as the first line. +This error does not occur in the printed text. On the other hand the +MS. shows a correction which has never been made in the printed text, +where the word "rove" is corrected to "muse." There is an interesting +communication in the Athenæum, April 16, 1904, by H. Buxton Forman, +anent this holograph. + +[8] In Walter Hill's recent catalogue a copy is priced at $350. + +[9] See _infra_, page 319. + +[10] I received a note some time ago from Christopher Morley, saying, +"Let us hereafter and forever drink tea together on this date in +celebration of this meeting." + +[11] The original of the portrait opposite was owned by Boswell, who +used the engraving as the frontispiece of his "Life of Johnson." Now +in the Johnson collection of Robert B. Adam, Esq., of Buffalo. There +is a proof plate with an inscription in Boswell's hand: "This is the +first impression of the Plate after Mr. Heath the engraver thought it +was finished. He went with me to Sir Joshua Reynolds who suggested that +the countenance was too young and not thoughtful enough. Mr. Heath +thereupon altered it so much to its advantage that Sir Joshua was quite +satisfied and Heath then saw such a difference that he said he would +not for a hundred pounds have had it remain as it was." + +[12] This was written in April, 1915. Sir Hedworth Meux is not now in +active service. + + * * * * * + +Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: + +rememberd that=> remembered that {pg 42} + +A 'Becket=> À Becket {pg 359} + +Bronté=> Brontë {pg 361} + +GRANNIS, RUTH S., 113.=> GRANNISS, RUTH S., 113. {pg 364} + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amenities of Book-Collecting and +Kindred Affections, by A. 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