diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-07 08:25:01 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-07 08:25:01 -0800 |
| commit | 9d04799d7857969f4b0e446607e839b0947b45ea (patch) | |
| tree | eb79d279bb1b498d637fb7f7d5599b9f7e71a858 | |
| parent | 1b8b3bf7a3bea60c520ec2221b76af14d4c99edb (diff) | |
91 files changed, 17 insertions, 12591 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a47fbb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #54696 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54696) diff --git a/old/54696-0.txt b/old/54696-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c492685..0000000 --- a/old/54696-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5035 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Happy England, by Marcus B. Huish - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Happy England - -Author: Marcus B. Huish - -Illustrator: Helen Allingham - -Release Date: May 10, 2017 [EBook #54696] -[Most recently updated: December 31, 2020] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: MaMFR, Adrian Mastronardi, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Teamrtin - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY ENGLAND *** - - - - -HAPPY ENGLAND - - - AGENTS IN AMERICA - THE MACMILLAN COMPANY - 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK - -[Illustration: 1. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST - - _Fradelle & Young._ - - H. Allingham (signature)] - - - - - Beautiful Britain - - HAPPY ENGLAND - - BY HELEN ALLINGHAM, - R.W.S. TEXT - BY MARCUS B. HUISH - - ROYAL CANADIAN EDITION - - LIMITED TO 1000 SETS - - [Illustration] - - CAMBRIDGE CORPORATION, LIMITED - MONTREAL - - A. & C. BLACK, LONDON - - - - -Contents - - - CHAPTER I - - Page - - Our Title 1 - - CHAPTER II - - Paintresses, Past and Present 13 - - CHAPTER III - - The Artist's Early Work 27 - - CHAPTER IV - - The Artist's Surrey Home 67 - - CHAPTER V - - The Influence of Witley 81 - - CHAPTER VI - - The Woods, the Lanes, and the Fields 98 - - CHAPTER VII - - Cottages and Homesteads 118 - - CHAPTER VIII - - Gardens and Orchards 151 - - CHAPTER IX - - Tennyson's Homes 168 - - CHAPTER X - - Mrs. Allingham and her Contemporaries 181 - - - - -List of Illustrations - - - 1. Portrait of the Artist _Frontispiece_ - - - CHAPTER I - - Owner of Original. Facing page - - 2. In the Farmhouse Garden _Mrs. Allingham_ 8 - - 3. The Market Cross, Hagbourne _Mrs. E. Lamb_ 10 - - 4. The Robin _Mr. S. H. S. Lofthouse_ 12 - - - CHAPTER II - - 5. Milton's House, Chalfont _Mrs. J. A. Combe_ 22 - St. Giles - - 6. The Waller Oak, Coleshill _Mrs. Allingham_ 24 - - 7. Apple and Pear Blossom _Mr. Theodore Uzielli_ 26 - - - CHAPTER III - - 8. The Young Customers _Miss Bell_ 50 - - 9. The Sand-Martins' Haunt _Miss Marian James_ 54 - - 10. The Old Men's Gardens, _Mr. C. Churchill_ 56 - Chelsea Hospital - - 11. The Clothes-Line _Miss Marian James_ 58 - - 12. The Convalescent _Mr. R. S. Budgett_ 60 - - 13. The Goat Carriage _Sir F. Wigan, Bt._ 62 - - 14. The Clothes-Basket _Mr. C. P. Johnson_ 62 - - 15. In the Hayloft _Miss Bell_ 64 - - 16. The Rabbit Hutch _Mr. C. P. Johnson_ 64 - - 17. The Donkey Ride _Sir J. Kitson, Bt., M.P._ 66 - - CHAPTER IV - - 18. A Witley Lane _Mr. H. W. Birks_ 74 - - 19. Hindhead from Witley Common _The Lord Chief Justice of 76 - England_ - - 20. In Witley Village _Mr. Charles Churchill_ 76 - - 21. Blackdown from Witley Common _Lord Davey_ 78 - - 22. The Fish-Shop, Haslemere _Mr. A. E. Cumberbatch_ 80 - - - CHAPTER V - - 23. The Children's Tea _Mr. W. Hollins_ 86 - - 24. The Stile _Mr. Alfred Shuttleworth_ 88 - - 25. "Pat-a-Cake" _Sir F. Wigan, Bt._ 90 - - 26. Lessons _Mr. C. P. Johnson_ 90 - - 27. Bubbles _Mr. H. B. Beaumont_ 92 - - 28. On the Sands--Sandown, _Mrs. Francis Black_ 92 - Isle of Wight - - 29. Drying Clothes _Mr. C. P. Johnson_ 94 - - 30. Her Majesty's Post Office _Mr. H. B. Beaumont_ 94 - - 31. The Children's Maypole _Mrs. Dobson_ 96 - - - CHAPTER VI - - 32. Spring on the Kentish Downs _Mrs. Beddington_ 102 - - 33. Tig Bridge _Mr. E. S. Curwen_ 104 - - 34. Spring in the Oakwood _Mrs. Allingham_ 106 - - 35. The Cuckoo _Mr. A. Hugh Thompson_ 106 - - 36. The Old Yew Tree _Mrs. Allingham_ 108 - - 37. The Hawthorn Valley, Brocket _Lord Mount-Stephen_ 108 - - 38. Ox-eye Daisies, near _Mrs. Allingham_ 110 - Westerham, Kent - - 39. Foxgloves _Mrs. C. A. Barton_ 112 - - 40. Heather on Crockham Hill, Kent _Mrs. Allingham_ 114 - - 41. On the Pilgrims' Way " " 114 - - 42. Night-jar Lane, Witley _Mr. E. S. Curwen_ 116 - - - CHAPTER VII - - 43. Cherry-tree Cottage, _The Lord Chief Justice of 130 - Chiddingfold England_ - - 44. Cottage at Chiddingfold _Mr. H. L. Florence_ 130 - - 45. A Cottage at Hambledon _Mr. F. Pennington_ 132 - - 46. In Wormley Wood _Mrs. Le Poer Trench_ 134 - - 47. The Elder Bush, Brook Lane, _Mr. Marcus B. Huish_ 136 - Witley - - 48. The Basket Woman _Mrs. E. F. Backhouse_ 138 - - 49. Cottage at Shottermill, _Mr. W. D. Houghton_ 140 - near Haslemere - - 50. Valewood Farm _Mrs. Allingham_ 142 - - 51. An Old House at West Tarring " " 142 - - 52. An Old Buckinghamshire House _Mr. H. W. Birks_ 142 - - 53. The Duke's Cottage _Mr. Maurice Hill_ 144 - - 54. The Condemned Cottage _Mrs. Allingham_ 144 - - 55. On Ide Hill _Mr. E. W. Fordham_ 146 - - 56. A Cheshire Cottage, _Mr. A. S. Littlejohns_ 146 - Alderley Edge - - 57. The Six Bells _Mr. George Wills_ 148 - - 58. A Kentish Farmyard _Mr. Arthur R. Moro_ 150 - - - CHAPTER VIII - - 59. Study of a Rose Bush _Mrs. Allingham_ 156 - - 60. Wallflowers _Mr. F. G. Debenham_ 156 - - 61. Minna _The Lord Chief Justice of 158 - England_ - - 62. A Kentish Garden _Mrs. Allingham_ 158 - - 63. Cutting Cabbages _Mr. E. W. Fordham_ 160 - - 64. In a Summer Garden _Mr. W. Newall_ 160 - - 65. By the Terrace, Brocket Hall _Lord Mount-Stephen_ 162 - - 66. The South Border _Mrs. Allingham_ 164 - - 67. The South Border _W. Edwards, Jun._ 164 - - 68. Study of Leeks _Mrs. Allingham_ 166 - - 69. The Apple Orchard _Mrs. Dobson_ 166 - - - CHAPTER IX - - 70. The House, Farringford _Mr. J. Mackinnon_ 176 - - 71. The Kitchen-Garden, Farringford _Mrs. Combe_ 176 - - 72. The Dairy, Farringford _Mr. Douglas Freshfield_ 176 - - 73. One of Lord Tennyson's _Mr. E. Marsh Simpson_ 176 - Cottages, Farringford - - 74. A Garden in October, Aldworth _Mr. F. Pennington_ 176 - - 75. Hook Hill Farm, Freshwater _Sir J. Kitson, Bt., M.P._ 176 - - 76. At Pound Green, Freshwater _Mr. Douglas Freshfield_ 178 - - 77. A Cottage at Freshwater Gate _Sir Henry Irving_ 178 - - - CHAPTER X - - 78. A Cabin at Ballyshannon _Mrs. Allingham_ 196 - - 79. The Fairy Bridges " " 198 - - 80. The Church of Sta. Maria _Mr. C. P. Johnson_ 200 - della Salute, Venice - - 81. A Fruit Stall, Venice " " 202 - - -_The illustrations in this volume have been engraved and printed by the -Hentschel Colourtype Company._ - - - - -Happy England - - - - -CHAPTER I - -OUR TITLE - - -To choose a title that will felicitously fit the lifework of an artist -is no easy matter, especially when the product is a very varied one, -and the producer is disposed to take a modest estimate of its value. - -In the present case the titles that have suggested themselves to one -or other of those concerned in the selection have not been few, and a -friendly contest has ensued over the desire of the artist on the one -hand to belittle, and of author and publishers on the other to fairly -appraise, both the ground which her work covers and the qualities which -it contains. - -The first point to be considered in giving the volume a name was -that it forms one of a series in which an endeavour--and, to judge -by public appreciation, a successful endeavour--has been made to -illustrate in colour an artist's impressions of a particular country: -as, for instance, Mr. John Fulleylove's of the Holy Land, Mr. Talbot -Kelly's of Egypt, and Mr. Mortimer Menpes's of Japan. Now Mrs. -Allingham throughout her work has been steadfast in her adherence to -the portrayal of one country only. She has never travelled or painted -outside Europe, and within its limits only at one place outside the -British Isles, namely, Venice. Even in her native country her work has -been strictly localised. Neither Scotland nor Wales has attracted her -attention since the days when she first worked seriously as an artist, -and Ireland has only received a scanty meed, and that due to family -ties. England, therefore, was the one and only name under which her -work could be included within the series, and that has very properly -been assigned to it. - -But it will be seen that to this has been added the prefix "Happy," -thereby drawing down the disapprobation of certain of the artist's -friends, who, recognising her as a resident in Hampstead, have -associated the title with that alliterative one which the northern -suburbs have received at the hands of the Bank Holiday visitant; and -they facetiously surmise that the work may be called "'Appy England! By -a Denizen of 'Appy 'Ampstead!" - -But a glance at the illustrations by any one unacquainted with Mrs. -Allingham's residential qualifications, and by the still greater number -ignorant even of her name (for these, in spite of her well-earned -reputation, will be the majority, taking the countries over which this -volume will circulate), must convince such an one that the "England" -requires and deserves not only a qualifying but a commendatory prefix, -and that the best that will fit it is that to which the artist has now -submitted. - -We say a "qualifying" title, because within its covers we find only -a one-sided and partial view of both life and landscape. None of the -sterner realities of either are presented. In strong opposition to the -tendency of the art of the later years of the nineteenth century, the -baser side of life has been studiously avoided, and nature has only -been put down on paper in its happiest moods and its pleasantest array. -Storm and stress in both life and landscape are altogether absent. -We say, further, a "commendatory" title, because as regards both life -and landscape it is, throughout, a mirror of halcyon days. If sickness -intrudes on a single occasion, it is in its convalescent stage; if old -age, it is in a "Haven of Rest"; the wandering pedlar finds a ready -market for her wares, the tramp assistance by the wayside. In both life -and landscape it is a portrayal of youth rejoicing in its youth. For -the most part it represents childhood, and, if we are to believe Mr. -Ruskin, for the first time in modern Art; for in his lecture on Mrs. -Allingham at Oxford, he declared that "though long by academic art -denied or resisted, at last bursting out like one of the sweet Surrey -fountains, all dazzling and pure, you have the radiance and innocence -of reinstated infant divinity showered again among the flowers of -English meadows of Mrs. Allingham." - -This healthiness, happiness, and joy of life, coupled with an idyllic -beauty, reveals itself in every figure in Mrs. Allingham's story, so -that even the drudgery of rural life is made to appear as a task to be -envied. - -And the same joyous and happy note is to be found in her landscapes. -Every scene is - - Full in the smile of the blue firmament. - -One feels that - - Every flower - Enjoys the air it breathes. - -Rain, wind, or lowering skies find no place in any of them, but each -calls forth the expression - - What a day - To sun one and do nothing! - -No attempt is made to select the sterner effects of landscape which -earlier English painters so persistently affected. With the rough -steeps of Hindhead at her door, the artist's feet have almost -invariably turned towards the lowlands and the reposeful forms of the -distant South Downs. Cottages, farmsteads, and flower gardens have been -her choice in preference to dales, crags, and fells. - -And in so selecting, and so delineating, she has certainly catered for -the happiness of the greater number. - -What does the worker, long in city pent, desire when he cries - - 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair - And open face of heaven? - -And what does the banished Englishman oftenest turn his thoughts to, -even although he may be dwelling under aspects of nature which many -would think far more beautiful than those of his native land? Browning -in his "Home Thoughts from Abroad" gives consummate expression to the -homesickness of many an exile:-- - - Oh! to be in England - Now that April's there! - - * * * * * - - All will be gay when noontide wakes anew - The Buttercups, the little children's dower, - Far brighter than this gaudy melon flower! - -And Keats also-- - - Happy is England! I could be content - To see no other verdure than its own, - To feel no other breezes than are blown - Through its tall woods, with high romances blent. - -These, the poets' longings, suggested the prefix for which so lengthy -an apology has been made, and which, in spite of the artist's demur, -we have pressed upon her acceptance, confident that the public verdict -will be an acquittal against any charge either of exaggeration, or that -he who excuses himself accuses himself. - -If an apology is due it is in respect of the letterpress. The necessity -of maintaining the size to which the public has been accustomed in the -series of which this forms a part, and of interleaving the numerous -illustrations which it contains, means the provision of a certain -number of words. Now an artist's life that has been passed amid such -pleasant surroundings as has that of Mrs. Allingham, cannot contain a -sufficiency of material for the purpose. Indulgence must, therefore, be -granted when it is found that much of the contents consists merely of -the writer's descriptions of the illustrations, a discovery which might -suggest that they were primarily the _raison d'être_ of the volume. - -As regards the illustrations, a word must be said. - -The remarkable achievements in colour reproduction, through what is -known as the "three-colour process," have enabled the public to be -placed in possession of memorials of an artist's work in a way that -was not possible even so recently as a year or two ago. Hitherto -self-respecting painters have very rightly demurred to any colour -reproductions of their work being made except by processes whose cost -and lengthy procedure prohibited quantity as well as quality. Mrs. -Allingham herself, in view of previous attempts, was of the same -opinion until a trial of the process now adopted convinced her to the -contrary. Now she is happy that a leap forward in science has enabled -renderings in little of her water-colours to be offered to thousands -who did not know them previously. - -The water-colours selected for reproduction have been brought together -from many sources, and at much inconvenience to their owners. Both -artist and publishers ask me to take this opportunity of thanking -those whose names will be found in the List of Illustrations, for the -generosity with which they have placed the originals at their disposal. - -It was Mrs. Allingham's wish that the illustrations should be placed -in order of date, and this has been done as far as possible; but this -and the following chapter being in a way introductory, it has been -deemed advisable to interleave them with three or four which do not -fall in with the rest as regards subject or locality. For reasons of -convenience the description of each drawing is not inserted in the -body, but at the end of the chapter in which it appears. - -[Illustration: -2. IN THE FARMHOUSE GARDEN -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1903.] - -A portrait of Vi, the daughter of the farmer at whose house in Kent -Mrs. Allingham stays. - -Mrs. Allingham was tempted to take up again her disused practice of -portrait-painting, by the attraction of the combination of the yellow -of the child's hair and hat, the red of the roses, and the blue of the -distant hillside. - -[Illustration: -3. THE MARKET CROSS, HAGBOURNE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. E. Lamb._ -Painted 1898.] - -Berkshire, in spite of its notable places and situation, does not -boast of much in the way of county chronicles, and little can be -learnt by one whose sole resource is a Murray's _Guide_ concerning the -interesting village where the scene of this drawing is laid, for it is -there dismissed in a couple of lines. - -Hagbourne, or Hagborne, is one of the many "bornes" which (in the -counties bordering on the Thames, as elsewhere) takes its Saxon affix -from one of the burns or brooks which find their way from thence into -the neighbouring river. It lies off the Great Western main line, and -its fine church may be seen a mile away to the southward just before -arriving at Didcot. This proximity to a considerable railway junction -has not disturbed much of its old-world character. - -The buildings and the Cross, which make a delightful harmony in greys, -probably looked much the same when Cavalier and Puritan harried this -district in the Civil War, for with Newbury on one side and Oxford on -the other, they must oftentimes have been up and down this, the main -street of the village. The Cross has long since lost its meaning. The -folk from the countryside no longer bring their butter, eggs, and -farm produce for local sale. The villagers have to be content with -margarine, French eggs, and other foreign commodities from the local -"stores," and the Cross steps are now only of use for infant energies -to practise their powers of jumping from. So, too, the sun-dial on the -top, which does not appear to have ever been surmounted by a cross, -is now useless, for everybody either has a watch or is sufficiently -notified as to meal times by a "buzzer" at the railway works hard -by. - -Mrs. Allingham says that most of her drawings are marked in her memory -by some local comment concerning them. In this case a bystander -sympathetically remarked that it seemed "a mighty tedious job," in -that of "Milton's House" that "it was a foolish little thing when -you began"--the most favourable criticism she ever encountered only -amounting to "Why, it's almost worth framing!" - -[Illustration: -4. THE ROBIN -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. S. H. S. Lofthouse._ -Painted 1898.] - -One of the simplest, and yet one of the most satisfying of Mrs. -Allingham's compositions. - -It is clearly not a morning to stay indoors with needlework which -neither in size nor importance calls for table or chair. Besides, -at the cottage gate there is a likelier chance of interruption and -conversation with occasional passers-by. But, at no time numerous on -this Surrey hillside, these are altogether lacking at the moment, -and the pink-frocked maiden has to be content with the very mild -distraction afforded by the overtures of the family robin, who is -always ready to open up converse and to waste his time also in -manœuvres and pretended explorations over ground in her vicinity, which -he well knows to be altogether barren of provender. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -PAINTRESSES, PAST AND PRESENT - - Man took advantage of his strength to be - First in the field: some ages have been lost; - But woman ripens earlier, and her life is longer-- - Let her not fear. - - -The fair sex is so much in evidence in Art to-day (the first census of -this century recording the names of nearly four thousand who profess -that calling) that we are apt to forget that the lady artist, worthy of -a place amongst the foremost of the other sex, is a creation of modern -growth. - -Paintresses--to call them by a quaint and agreeable name--there have -been in profusion, and an author, writing a quarter of a century ago, -managed to fill two bulky volumes[1] with their biographies; but the -majority of these have owed both their practice and their place in Art -to the fact of their fathers or husbands having been engaged in that -profession. - -History has recorded but little concerning the women artists who worked -in the early days of English Art. The scanty records which, however, -have come down to us prove that if they lived uneventful lives they -did so in comfort. For instance, it is noted of the first that passes -across the pages of English history, namely Susannah Hornebolt (all -the early names were foreign), that she lived for many years in great -favour and esteem at the King's Court, and died rich and honoured: of -the next, Lavinia Teerlinck, that she also died rich and respected, -having received in her prime a higher salary than Holbein, and from -Queen Elizabeth, later on in life, a quarterly wage of £41. Farther on -we find Charles I. giving to Anne Carlisle and Vandyck, at one time, -as much ultramarine as cost him £500, and Anna Maria Carew obtaining -from Charles II. in 1662 a pension of £200 a year. About the same time -Mary Beale, who is described as passing a tranquil, modest existence, -full of sweetness, dignity, and matronly purity, earned the same amount -from her brush, charging £5 for a head, and £10 for a half-length. She -died in 1697, and was buried under the communion table in St. James's, -Piccadilly, a church which holds the remains of other paintresses. - -Another, Mary Delaney, described as "lovely in girlhood and old age," -and who must have been a delightful personage from the testimonies -which have come down to us concerning her, lived almost through the -eighteenth century, being born in 1700, and dying in 1788, and being, -also, buried in St. James's. She has left on record that "I have been -very busy at my usual presumption of copying beautiful nature"; but the -many copies of that kind that she must have made during this long life -are all unknown to those who have studied Art a hundred years later. - -Midway in the eighteenth century we come across the great and unique -event in the annals of Female Art, namely the election of two ladies -to the Academic body, in the persons of Angelica Kauffman--who was one -of the original signatories of the memorial to George III., asking him -to found an Academy, and who passed in as such on the granting of that -privilege--and Mary Moser, who probably owed her election to the fact -that her father was Keeper of the newly-founded body. - -The only other lady artists who flit across the stage during the latter -half of that century--in the case of whom any attempt at distinction -or recognition is possible--were Frances Reynolds, the sister of the -President, and the "dearest dear" of Dr. Johnson, and Maria Cosway, the -wife of the miniaturist. These kept up the tradition of ladies always -being connected with Art by parentage or marriage. - -The Academy catalogues of the first half of the nineteenth century may -be searched in vain for any name whose fame has endured even to these -times, although the number of lady exhibitors was considerable. In the -exhibitions of fifty years ago, of 900 names, 67, or 7 per cent, were -those of the fair sex, the majority being termed in the alphabetical -list "Mrs. ----, as above"; that is to say, they bore the surname and -lived at the same addresses as the exhibitor who preceded them.[2] - -The admission of women to the Royal Academy Schools in 1860 must not -only have had much to do with increasing the numbers of paintresses, -but in raising the standard of their work. In recent years, at the -annual prize distributions of that institution, when they present -themselves in such interesting and serried ranks, they have firmly -established their right to work alongside of the men, by carrying off -many of the most important awards.[3] - -The Royal Female School of Art, the Slade School, and Schools of Art -everywhere throughout the country each and all are now engaged in -swelling the ranks of the profession with a far greater number of -aspirants to a living than there is any room for. - -This invasion of womankind into Art, which has also shown itself in a -remarkable way in poetry and fiction, is in no way to be decried. On -the contrary, it has come upon the present generation as a delightful -surprise, as a breath of fresh and sweet-scented air after the heavy -atmosphere which hung over Art in the later days of the nineteenth -century. To mention a few only: Miss Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler), -Lady Alma Tadema, Mrs. Jopling, Miss Dicksee, Mrs. Henrietta Rae, Miss -Kemp Welch, and Miss Brickdale in oil painting; Mrs. Angell, Miss -Clara Montalba, Miss Gow, Miss Kate Greenaway, and Mrs. Allingham in -water-colours have each looked at Art in a distinguished manner, and -one quite distinct from that of their fellow-workers of the sterner -sex. - -The ladies named all entered upon their profession with a due sense of -its importance. Many of them may perhaps be counted fortunate in having -commenced their careers before the newer ideas came into vogue, by -virtue of which anybody and everybody may pose as an artist, now that -it entails none of that lengthy apprenticeship which from all time has -been deemed to be a necessary preliminary to practice. Even so lately -as the date when Mrs. Allingham came upon the scene, draftsmanship -and composition were still regarded as a matter of some importance if -success was to be achieved. Nature, as represented in Art, was still -subjected to a process of selection, a selection, too, of its higher -in preference to its lower forms. The same pattern was not allowed to -serve for every tree in the landscape whatever be its growth, foliage, -or the local influences which have affected its form. A sufficient -study of the human and of animal forms to admit of their introduction, -if needful, into that landscape was not deemed superfluous. Most -important of all, beauty still held the field, and the cult of -unvarnished ugliness had not captured the rising generation. - -The endeavours of women in what is termed very erroneously the higher -branch of the profession, have not as yet received the reward that -is their due. Placed at the Royal Academy under practically the same -conditions as the male sex whilst under tuition, both as regards -fortune and success, their pictures, when they mount from the Schools -in the basement to the Exhibition Galleries on the first floor of -Burlington House, carry with them no further possibility of reward, -even although, as they have done, they hold the pride of place there. -It is true that as each election to the Academic body comes round -rumours arise as to the chances of one or other of the fair sex -forcing an entrance through the doors that, with the two exceptions -we have named, have been barred to them since the foundation of the -Institution. The day, however, when their talent in oil painting, or -any other art medium, will be recognised by Academic honours has yet to -come. - -To their honour be it said, the undoubted capacities of ladies have not -passed unrecognised by water-colour painters. Both the Royal Society -and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours have enrolled -amongst their ranks the names of women who have been worthy exponents -of the Art. - -The practice of water-colour art would appear to appeal especially to -womankind, as not only are the constituents which go to its making of -a more agreeable character than those of oil, but the whole machinery -necessary for its successful production is more compact and capable -of adaptation to the ordinary house. The very methods employed have a -certain daintiness about them which coincides with a lady's delicacy. -The work does not necessitate hours of standing, with evil-smelling -paints, in a large top-lit studio, but can be effected seated, in any -living room which contains a window of sufficient size. There is no -need to leave all the materials about while the canvasses dry, and no -preliminary setting of palettes and subsequent cleaning off. - -Yet in spite of this the water-colour art during the first century of -its existence was practised almost solely by the male sex, and it was -not until the middle of the Victorian reign that a few women came on -to the scene, and at once showed themselves the equals of the male -sex, not only so far as proficiency but originality was concerned. In -the case of no one of these was there any imitation or following of a -master; but each struck out for herself what was, if not a new line, -certainly a presentation of an old one in a novel form. Mrs. Angell, -better known perhaps as Helen Coleman, took up the portrayal of flowers -and still life, which had been carried to such a pitch of minute finish -by William Hunt, and treated it with a breadth, freedom, and freshness -that delighted everybody. It secured for her at once a place amid a -section of water-colourists who found it very difficult to obtain these -qualities in their work. Miss Clara Montalba went to Venice and painted -it under aspects which were entirely different from those of her -predecessors, such as James Holland; and she again has practically held -the field ever since as regards that particular phase of atmospheric -effect which has attracted attention to her achievement. The kind of -work and the subjects taken up by Mrs. Allingham will be dealt with at -greater length hereafter, but I may premise by saying that she, too, -ultimately settled into methods that are entirely her own, and such as -no one can accuse her of having derived from anybody else. - - * * * * * - -The following illustrations find a place in this chapter:-- - -[Illustration: -5. MILTON'S HOUSE, CHALFONT ST. GILES -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. J. A. Combe._ -Painted 1898.] - -The popularity of a poet can hardly be gauged by the number of -visitors to the haunts wherein he passed his day. Rather are they -numbered by the proximity of a railroad thereto. Consequently it -is not surprising that the pilgrims to the little out-of-the-way -Buckinghamshire village where Milton completed his _Paradise Lost_ are -an inconsiderable percentage of those who journey to Stratford-on-Avon. -For though Chalfont St. Giles lies only a short distance away from the -twenty-third milestone on the high-road from London to Aylesbury, it is -some three miles from the nearest station--a station, too, where few -conveyances are obtainable. Motor cars which will take the would-be -pilgrim in an hour from a Northumberland Avenue hotel may increase its -popularity, but at present the village of the "pretty box," as Milton -called the house, is as slumberous and as little changed as it was in -the year 1665, when Milton fled thither from his house in Artillery -Ground, Bunhill Row, before the terror of the plague.[4] Milton -was then fifty-seven, and is described as a pale, but not cadaverous -man, dressed neatly in black, with his hands and fingers gouty, and -with chalk-stones. He loved a garden, and would never take a house, not -even in London, without one, his habit being to sit in the sun in his -garden, or in the colder weather to pace it for three or four hours at -a stretch. Many of his verses he composed or pruned as he thus walked, -coming in to dictate them to his amanuensis, and it was from the vernal -to the autumnal equinox that his intermittent inspiration bore its -fruit. His only other recreation besides conversation was music, and he -sang, and played either the organ or the bass viol. It was at Chalfont -that Milton put into the hands of Ellwood his completed _Paradise -Lost_, with a request that he would return it to him with his judgment -thereupon. It was here also that on receiving Ellwood's famous opinion, -"Thou hast said much here of Paradise Lost, but what hast thou to say -of Paradise Found?" he commenced his _Paradise Regained_. He returned -to London after the plague abated, in time to see it again devastated -by the fresh calamity of the great fire. - -An engraving of this house appears in Dunster's edition of _Paradise -Regained_, and an account in Todd's _Life of Milton_, p. 272; also in -Jesse's _Favourite Haunts_, p. 62. - -[Illustration: -6. THE WALLER OAK, COLESHILL -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - -That several of Mrs. Allingham's drawings should illustrate scenes -connected with Great Britain's poets is not remarkable, seeing that her -life has been so intimately bound up with one of them, but it is at -first somewhat startling to find that the two selected for illustration -here should treat of Milton and Waller, for was it not the latter who -said of _Paradise Lost_ that it was distinguished only by its length. -The accident that has brought them together here is perhaps that the -two scenes are near neighbours, and, may be, the artist was tempted to -paint the old oak through kindly sentiments towards the author of the -sweet-smelling lines, "Go, Lovely Rose," by which his name endures. - -Coleshill, where the oak stands, is a "woody hamlet" near Amersham, and -a mile or two away from Chalfont St. Giles. The tree which bears his -name, and under which he is said to have composed much of his verse, -dates from long anterior to the late days of the Monarchy, when he -was more engaged in hatching plots than in writing verse. If, as is -probable, he viewed and sought its comforting shade, he can hardly have -believed that it would survive the fame of him who received such praise -from his contemporaries as to be acclaimed "inter poetas sui temporis -facile princeps." - -[Illustration: -7. APPLE AND PEAR BLOSSOM -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Theodore Uzielli._ -Painted 1901.] - -A charming little picture made out of the simplest details is this -spring scene in an Isle of Wight lane. But if the details are of the -simplest character, as much cannot be said for the methods employed -by the artist in their treatment. These are so intricate that the -drawing was perhaps the most difficult of any to reproduce, owing to -the impossibility of accurately translating the subtle gradations which -distinguish the tender greenery of trees, hedgerow, and bank. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE ARTIST'S EARLY WORK - - -Mrs. Allingham, whose maiden name was Helen Paterson, was born on -September 26, 1848, near Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, where her father, -Alexander Henry Paterson, M.D., had a medical practice. As her name -implies, she is of Scottish descent on the paternal side. A year after -her birth her family removed to Altrincham in Cheshire, where her -father died suddenly, in 1862, of diphtheria, caught in attending a -patient. - -This unforeseen blow broke up the Cheshire household, and the widow -shortly afterwards wended her way with her young family to Birmingham, -where the next few years, the most impressionable of our young artist's -life, were to be spent amid surroundings which at that date were in no -wise conducive to influencing her in the direction of Art of any kind. - -Scribbling out of her head on any material she could lay hold of (not -even sparing the polished surfaces of the Victorian furniture) had -been her chief pleasure as a child; and as she grew older she drew -from Nature with interest and ease, especially during family visits -to Kenilworth and other country and seaside places. Some friends in -Birmingham started a drawing club which met each month at houses of -the different members, and the young student was kindly invited to -join it. Subjects were fixed upon and the drawings were shown and -discussed at each meeting. More good resulted from this than might -have been expected, for some of the members were not only persons of -taste but were collectors of fine examples in Art, which were also -seen and considered at the meetings. Helen Paterson, finding that -her pen-and-ink productions were more satisfactory than her colour -attempts, came to hope that she might gradually qualify herself for -book illustration, instead of earning a living by teaching, as she at -first anticipated her future would be. - -Two influences greatly helped the girl in her artistic desires at this -time. - -Helen Paterson's mother's sister, Laura Herford, had taken up Art as -a profession. Although her name does not often appear in Exhibition -records, the sisterhood of artists owe her a very enduring debt. For to -her was due that opening of the Royal Academy Schools to women to which -I have already referred, and which she obtained through another's slip -of the tongue, aided by a successful subterfuge. - -Lord Lyndhurst, at a Royal Academy banquet, in singing the praises of -that institution, claimed that its schools offered free tuition to -_all_ Her Majesty's subjects. Within a few days he received from Miss -Herford a communication pointing out the inaccuracy of his statement, -inasmuch as tuition was only given to the male and not to the female -sex, which comprised the majority of Her Majesty's subjects. She -therefore appealed to him to use his influence with the Government to -obtain the removal of the restriction. He did so, and the Government, -on addressing Sir Charles Eastlake, the President of the Royal Academy, -found in him one altogether in sympathy with such a reform. He replied -to the Government that there was no _written_ law against the admission -of women, and after an interview with the lady he connived at a drawing -of hers being sent in as a test of her capability for admission as -a probationer, under the initials merely of her Christian names. A -few days subsequently a notification that he had passed the test and -obtained admission arrived at her home addressed to A. L. Herford, Esq. -There was of course a demonstration when the lady presented herself -in answer to the summons to execute a drawing in the presence of the -Keeper; and her claim to stay and do this was vehemently combated by -the Council, to whom it was of course referred. But the President -demonstrated the absurdity of the situation, and so strongly advocated -the untenability of the position that the door was opened once and for -all to female students. This lady, who had a strong character in many -other directions, constituted herself Art-adviser-in-chief to her young -niece from the time of her father's death. - -The other influence under which Helen Paterson came at this critical -period was that of a capable and sympathetic master at Birmingham. -In Mr. Raimbach, the head of the Birmingham School of Design, she -encountered a man who was a teacher, born not made, and who, not -being hidebound with the old dry-as-dust traditions, saw and fostered -whatever gifts were to be found in his pupils. He it was who, -interesting himself in her desire to learn to draw the human figure, -and to study more of its anatomy than could be gained from the casts -of the School of Design and from the lifeless programme which existed -there, encouraged her to go to London for wider study, in the hope -of gaining entrance into the Academy Schools, and taking up Art as a -profession under her aunt's auspices. - -She followed his advice, gave up a single pupil she had acquired, and -passed into the Academy Schools in April 1867 after a short preliminary -course at the Female School of Art, Queen's Square. - -British Art may congratulate itself that in Helen Paterson's case, as -in that of so many others, "there's a divinity that shapes our ends, -rough-hew them how we will." It is very certain that had the fates -ordained that she should remain in Birmingham her talent would never -have flowed into the channel which has made possible a memoir of her -Art under the title of "Happy England." The environments of that great -city are such that it would have been practically impossible for her -artistic training to have been as her divinity decreed it should be, -or to place means of exercising it within her grasp should she have -desired them. - -During the first year or two at the Royal Academy Helen Paterson worked -in the antique school, where the study of drawing, proportion of the -figure, with some anatomy, precluded the thought of painting. When -raised to the painting school she, like many another capable student -then as now, was at first driven hither and thither by the variety -of and apparently contradictory advice that she received from her -masters. For one month she was under a visitor with strongly defined -ideas in one direction, and the next under some one else who was -equally assertive in another, and it was some time before she could -strike a balance for her own understanding. But, for reasons which -those who know her well will recognise, she received help and kindness -from all, and, as she gratefully remembers, from none more than from -Millais, Frederick Leighton, Frederick Goodall, Fred Walker, Stacy -Marks, and John Pettie. Millais especially could in a minute or two -impart something which was never afterwards forgotten, whilst the -encouragement of all was most stimulating to a beginner. Another artist -who has been a life-long adviser and the kindest of friends, was Briton -Riviere, with whom and whose family an intimacy began even in her -student days. An invitation to stay with them at St. Andrews on the -coast of Fife in the summer of 1872 inaugurated Miss Paterson's first -serious work from Nature. The result was deemed to be satisfactory by -Mr. Riviere, who helped to dissipate a certain despondency and fear -which had sprung up in the young artist's mind as regards her colour -powers. It was not, however, in the grey houses and uninteresting -streets of this old northern university town, to which she first -turned, that the true relations between tone and colour discovered -themselves to her longing eye, but amongst the sandbanks, seaweed, and -blue water which fringe its noted golf-links. For the first time the -artist felt herself happy in attempting to work in any other medium -than black and white. Just prior to this fortunate visit she had in -the spring of the year been taken by an old friend of the family to -Rome, where she had worked assiduously at Nature, but with little -satisfaction so far as she herself was concerned. - -She had by this time fully made up her mind to embark on a career in -which she was determined, and was in fact obliged, to earn a living; -and as her colour work at present had no market, there was nothing for -it but to procure a livelihood by black and white. Wood engraving, -although nearing the end of its existence, was still the only medium -of cheap illustration. Photography later on came to its aid to a -certain extent, but the majority of the original drawings continued to -be drawn directly on to the wood block. There were still close upon a -hundred wood engravers employed in London, working for the most part -under master engravers, into whose hands the publishers of magazines, -illustrated periodicals, and books entrusted, not only the cutting of -the block, but the selection of the artist to make the drawing upon it. - -It was to these that Helen Paterson had to look for work, and it -was upon a round of their offices that in the autumn of 1869 she -diffidently started with a portfolio full of drawings. Employment did -not come at once, and the list of seventy names with which she started -had been considerably reduced before, to her great satisfaction, a -drawing out of her sheaf was taken by Mr. Joseph Swain, to whom she -had an introduction, for submission to the proprietors of _Once a -Week_. It was accepted, and she copied it on to the wood. Gradually she -obtained work for other magazines, including _Little Folks_, published -by Cassell, and _Aunt Judy_, by George Bell, the drawings for _Aunt -Judy_ illustrating Mrs. Ewing's _A Flat Iron for a Farthing_, _Jan of -the Windmill_, and _Six to Sixteen_. - -The first alteration of any magnitude of the custom to which reference -has been made, namely, of the artist having to look to the engraver -for work, occurred when the _Graphic_ newspaper was started in the -year 1870. Mr. W. L. Thomas, to whom the credit of this improvement -in the status of the worker in black and white was due, was himself -an artist and a member of the Institute of Painters in Water Colours. -As such he was not only in touch with, but capable of appreciating -the unusual amount of budding talent of abundant promise which was -just then presenting itself. This he enlisted in the service of the -_Graphic_ upon what may be termed co-operative terms, for those who -liked could have half their payment in cash and half in shares in the -venture. Many, the majority we believe, unfortunately could not afford -the latter proposition. Unfortunately indeed, for the paper embarked -on a career which has yielded dividends, at times of over a hundred -per cent, and has kept the shares at a premium, which few companies in -existence can boast of. This phenomenal success was in a large measure -the result of the personal interest that was brought to bear upon -every department, and that every employé took in his share in it. The -illustrations, upon which success mainly depended, were not the product -of a formulated system, working in a groove, where blocks were served -out to artists as to a machine, without any regard to their fitness for -the particular piece of work. Artists of capacity, whose names are now -to be found amongst the most noted in the academic roll, were selected -for the particular illustration that suited them, and were well paid -for it. The public was not only astonished at, but grateful for, the -result, and showed their appreciation by at once placing the _Graphic_ -in the high position which it deserved and has since enjoyed. - -Helen Paterson was so fortunate as to be brought into touch with -Mr. Thomas shortly after the first appearance of the paper. She had -obtained some work from one Harrall, an engraver, with whom Mr. Thomas -had had business connections in the past, and it was at Harrall's -suggestion that she went to Mr. Thomas, who at once offered her a -place on the staff of the _Graphic_, a place which she retained until -her marriage in 1874. It was indeed a godsend to her, for it meant -not only regular work but handsome pay. Twelve guineas for a full, -and eight for a half page, and at least one of these a week, meant -not merely maintenance, but a reserve against that rainy day which, -fortunately, the subject of our memoir has never had to contend with. - -The subjects which Miss Paterson was called upon to produce were of the -most diversified character, but all of them had figures as their main -feature. To properly limn these she had to employ regular models, but -she also enlisted the aid of her fellow-students, for she was still at -the Royal Academy, and her sketch-books of that time, of which she has -many, are full of studies of artists, no few of whom have since become -celebrated in the world of Art. - -Looking through the pages of the _Graphic_ with the artist, it is -interesting to note the variety of episodes upon which Mr. Thomas -employed her. Her drawings were not always from her own sketches, being -at times from originals that had been sent to the paper in an embryo -condition necessitating entire revision, or from rapid notes by artists -sent to represent the paper at important functions. But on occasions -she was also deputed to attend at these, and in consequence underwent -some novel experiences for a young girl. A meeting at Mr. Gladstone's, -Fashions in the Park, Flower Shows at the Botanical Gardens, Archery -at the Toxophilite Society's,--these formed the lighter side of her -work, the more serious being the illustration of novels by novelists of -note. This was at the time a new feature in journalism. Amongst those -entrusted to her were _Innocent_, by Mrs. Oliphant, and _Ninety-Three_, -by Victor Hugo. For the murder trial in the former she had to visit -the Central Criminal Court, and through so doing was more accurate -than the authoress, who admittedly had not been there, and whose work -consequently showed several glaring mistakes, such as the prisoner -addressing the judge by name. She was also employed upon a novel of -Charles Reade's in conjunction with Mr. Luke Fildes and Mr. Henry -Woods. This she undertook with extreme diffidence, for Reade had sent -round a circular saying that he greatly disliked having his stories -illustrated at all; but as it had to be in this case, he begged to -notify that _he_ gave _situations_, whilst George Eliot and Anthony -Trollope only gave conversations, and he requested that good use should -be made of these situations. Meeting him some years afterwards, the -author paid her the compliment of saying he liked her illustration of -the heroine in his story the best of any. - -Nor was Miss Paterson entirely dependent upon the _Graphic_, whose -illustrations, oftentimes given out in a hurry, had to be finished -within a period limited by hours. She was fortunate to be numbered -amongst the select few who worked for the _Cornhill_, for which she -was, through Mr. Swain's kind offices, asked to illustrate Hardy's _Far -from the Madding Crowd_, which was at first attributed to George Eliot. -The author was fairly complimentary as to the result, although he said -it was difficult for two minds to imagine scenes in the same light. -Later on she had the pleasant task of illustrating Miss Thackeray's -_Miss Angel_ in the same magazine. The drawing of Sir Joshua Reynolds -asking Angelica to marry him, perhaps the best of the series, was one -of the first to be signed with the name of Allingham, by which she has -since been known. - -A very interesting acquaintance with Sir Henry Irving, which has lasted -ever since, was commenced in the early seventies through her having to -visit the Lyceum for the _Graphic_ to delineate him and Miss Isabel -Bateman in _Richelieu_. Mr. Bateman, who was then the manager, placed -a box at her disposal, which she occupied for several nights whilst -making the drawing. One of the cottage drawings reproduced here (Plate -77) belongs to Sir Henry. - -Although working regularly and almost continuously at black and white -during these years she managed to intersperse it with some work in -colour, and at the exhibitions of the old Dudley Gallery Art Society, -which had been recently founded, and which had proved a great boon to -rising and amateur art, she exhibited water-colours under the title of -"May," "Dangerous Ground," and "Soldiers' Orphans watching a bloodless -battle at Aldershot," painted in the studio from a _Graphic_ drawing. - -In the autumn of the year 1874 Miss Paterson was married to Mr. William -Allingham, the well-known poet, editor of _Fraser's Magazine_, and -friend of so many of the celebrities in literature, science, and art of -the middle of the last century, amongst whom may be mentioned Carlyle, -Ruskin, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Browning, and Tennyson. It was to be -near the first named that the newly married couple went to reside in -Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, where they passed the next seven years of -their married life, namely until 1881. - -To Carlyle Mrs. Allingham had the privilege of frequent and familiar -access during his last years; and when he found that he was not -expected to pose to her, and that she had, as he emphatically declared, -a real talent for portraiture (the only form of pictorial art in which -he took any interest), he became very kind and complaisant, and she -was able to make nearly a dozen portraits of him in water-colours. -An early one, which he declared made him "look like an old fool," -was painted in the little back garden of No. 5 Cheyne Row, which was -not without shade and greenery in the summer time. There, in company -with his pet cat "Tib," and a Paisley churchwarden ("no pipe good -for anything," according to him, "being get-at-able in England"), -he indulged in smoking, the only creature comfort that afforded him -any satisfaction. In these portraits he is depicted sitting in his -comfortable dressing-gown faded to a dim slaty grey, refusing to wear -a gorgeous oriental garment that his admirers had presented to him. -An etching of one of these drawings appeared in the _Art Journal_ for -1882. Other portraits were painted in the winter of 1878-79, in his -long drawing-room with its three windows looking out into the street. - -Rossetti she never saw, although he had been an intimate friend of -her husband's for twenty years[5] and was then living in Chelsea, for -he was just entering on that unfortunate epoch preceding his death, -when he was induced to cut himself adrift from all his old circle -of acquaintances. The fact is regrettable, for it would have been -interesting to note his opinion of a lady's work with which he must -have been in full sympathy. - -Mr. Allingham had known Ruskin for many years. His wife's acquaintance -began in interesting fashion at the Old Water-Colour Society's. She -happened to be there during the Exhibition of 1877 at a time when the -room was almost empty. Mr. Ruskin had been looking at her drawing of -Carlyle, and introducing himself, asked her why she had painted Carlyle -like a lamb, when he ought to be painted like a lion, as he was, and -whether she would paint the sage as such for him? To this she had to -reply that she could only paint him as she saw him, which was certainly -not in leonine garb. One afternoon soon afterwards, Mr. Allingham -chanced to meet Ruskin at Carlyle's, and brought him round to see her -work. She was at the time engaged on the drawing of "The Clothes-Line" -(Plate 11), and he objected to the scarlet of the handkerchief, and -also to the woman, who he said ought to have been a rough workwoman, -an opinion which Mrs. Allingham did not share with him at the time, -but which she has since felt to be a correct one. He also saw another -drawing with a grey sky, and asked her why she did not make her skies -blue. To her reply that she thought there was often great beauty in -grey skies, he growled, "The devil sends grey skies." - -Browning, an old friend of her husband's, Mrs. Allingham sometimes had -the privilege of seeing during her residence in London. One occasion -was typical of the man. He had been asked to come and see her work, -which was at the time arranged at one end of a room at Trafalgar -Square, Chelsea, before sending in to the Exhibition. The drawings were -naturally small ones, and Browning appeared to be altogether oblivious -to their existence. Turning round, with his back to them, he at once -commenced a story of some one who came to see an artist's work, and the -artist was very huffed because his visitor never took the slightest -notice of his pictures, but talked to him of other subjects all the -time. This, Browning considered, was no sufficient ground for his -huffiness. His obliviousness to Mrs. Allingham's drawings may have been -due to his having been accustomed to the pictures of his son, which -were of large size, and in comparison with which Mrs. Allingham's would -be quite invisible. Against this theory, however, I may mention that on -one occasion I happened to have the good fortune to be present in his -son's studio when Tennyson was announced. Browning at once advanced to -the door to meet him, bent low, and addressed him as "Magister Meus," -and although the Laureate had come to see the paintings, and stayed -some time, neither of the two poets, so long as I was present, noticed -them in any way. - -Whilst Mrs. Allingham was painting Carlyle, Browning came to see him, -and they held a most interesting and delightful conversation on the -subject of the great French writers. The alteration in Browning's -demeanour from his usual bluff and breezy manner to a quiet, -deferential tone during the conversation was very notable. - -Of her intimacy with Tennyson I may speak later when we come to the -drawings which illustrate his two houses in Sussex and the Isle of -Wight. - -The year of her marriage was also a landmark in Mrs. Allingham's -career, through the Royal Academy accepting and hanging two -water-colours, one entitled "The Milkmaid," the other, "Wait for Me," -the subject of the latter being a young lady entering a cottage whilst -a dog watched her outside the gate. It would have been interesting to -have been able to insert a reproduction of either of these in this -volume, for they would probably have shown that her fear as to her -inability to master colour was entirely without basis, but I have not -been able to trace them. The drawings were not only well hung, but were -sold during the Exhibition. - -It was, however, by another drawing that Mrs. Allingham won her name. - -In the year 1875 she was commissioned by Mr. George Bell to make a -water-colour from one of the black-and-white drawings which she had -done some years before for Mrs. Ewing's _A Flat Iron for a Farthing_. -We shall have occasion to describe at length, later on, this delightful -little picture that is reproduced in Plate 8. It is only necessary for -our purpose here to state that it was seen early in 1875 by that prince -of landscape water-colourists, Mr. Alfred Hunt. - -He was an old friend of Mr. Allingham's, and being told that his wife -was thinking of trying for election at the Royal Society of Painters in -Water Colours, kindly offered to go through her portfolios. The From -these he made a selection, and promised to propose her at an election -which was about to take place. The result fully proved the soundness -of his choice, for the candidate not only secured the rare distinction -of being elected on the first time of asking, but the still rarer one -of securing her place in that body, so notable for its diversity of -opinion when candidates are in question, with hardly a dissentient vote. - -Ladies were not admitted to the rank of full members of the Society -until the year 1890, when she was, to her great pleasure and -astonishment, elected a full member. She deserved it; for much of the -charm of these exhibitions had been due to the presence of the work -which she has contributed to every Exhibition held since her election -save two, one of these rare absences being due to her having mistaken -the date for sending in. - -This election, and the fact that after her marriage she could afford to -do without the monetary aid derived from black-and-white work, decided -her to embark upon water-colours; although in these she still confined -her work to figure subjects, more than one of which continued to be -founded on her previous work in monochrome. - -The last book in which her name as an illustrator appeared was, -appropriately enough, _Rhymes for the Young Folk_, by her husband, -published in _Cassell's_ in 1885, to which she contributed most of -the illustrations. She relinquished black-and-white work without any -regret, for although she was much indebted to it, it never held her -sympathies, and she always longed to express herself in colour, the -medium in which she instinctively felt she had ultimately the best -chance of success. - -Although we are only separated from the Chelsea of Mrs. Allingham's -days by little more than a quarter of a century, its artistic -associations were then of a very different order to those that are -in evidence nowadays. The era of vast studios in which duchesses and -millionaires find adequate surroundings for their portraits was not -yet. Whistler was close to old Chelsea Church, a few doors only from -where he recently died. Tite Street, with which his name will always be -connected, was not yet built. He was still engaged on those remarkable, -but at that time insufficiently appreciated, canvases of scenes which -have now passed away, such as "Fireworks at Cremorne," and "Nocturnes" -dimly disclosing old Battersea Bridge. Seymour Haden was etching the -picturesque façade of the Walk, with his brother-in-law's house as a -principal object in it, and without the respectable embankment which -now makes it more reputable from a hygienic, but less admirable from -an artistic point of view. Rossetti was practically the only other -artist of note in the quarter. But with one exception Mrs. Allingham's -work was not reminiscent of the place. That exception, however, -disclosed to her a field in which she foresaw much delight and abundant -possibilities. In the old Pensioners' Garden at Chelsea Hospital were -to be found tenderly-cared-for borders of humble flowers. The garden -itself was a haven of repose for the old warriors, and a show-place for -their visitors. Mrs. Allingham, like another artist, Hubert Herkomer, -about the same time, was touched by the pathos of the surroundings, -and, chiefly on the urgency of her husband, she ventured on a drawing -of more importance than any hitherto attempted. The subject, which we -shall speak of again later, was finished in 1877, and was the first -large drawing exhibited by her at the Society of Painters in Water -Colours. - -Painters--good, bad, and indifferent--of the garden are nowadays such -a numerous body that one is apt to forget that the time is quite -recent when to paint one with its flowers was a new departure. It is -nevertheless the fact, and in taking it up, especially those that -are associated with the humbler type of cottages, Mrs. Allingham -was practically the originator of a new subject. To the pensioners' -patches at Chelsea we are indebted for the sweet portraits of humble -flower-steads which are now cherished by so many a fortunate possessor, -and charm every beholder. Thus Chelsea aroused a desire to attack -gardens possessing greater possibilities than a town-stunted patch, a -desire that was not, however, gratified until two years later when, -during a visit in the spring of 1879 to Shere, the first of many -cottages and flowers was painted from nature. - -In 1881, after the death of Carlyle, Chelsea had attractions for -neither husband nor wife, and with a young family growing up and -calling for larger and healthier quarters, the house in Trafalgar -Square was given up for one at Witley in Surrey, a hamlet close to -Haslemere, which she had visited the year before, and in the midst -of a country which Birket Foster had already done much to popularise, -having resided at a beautiful house there for many years. - - * * * * * - -The water-colours of this first period, namely from 1875 to 1880, that -are reproduced here, are the following:-- - -[Illustration: -8. THE YOUNG CUSTOMERS -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Miss Bell._ -Painted 1875.] - -The drawing by which, as we have said, Mrs. Allingham made her name, -obtained election at the Society of Painters in Water Colours, was -represented at her first appearance there in 1875, and also at -the Paris Exposition in 1878, and through which she obtained the -recognition of Ruskin, who thus wrote concerning it in the _Notes_ -which he was at that time in the habit of compiling each year on the -Summer Exhibitions. - - It happens curiously that the only drawing of which the memory remains - with me as a possession out of the Old Water-Colour Exhibition of this - year--Mrs. Allingham's "Young Customers"--should not only be by an - accomplished designer of woodcuts, but itself the illustration of a - popular story. The drawing, with whatever temporary purpose executed, - is for ever lovely--a thing which I believe Gainsborough would have - given one of his own paintings for, old fashioned as red-tipped - daisies are, and more precious than rubies. - -Later on, in 1883, in his lectures at Oxford on Mrs. Allingham he again -referred to it as "The drawing which some years ago riveted, and ever -since has retained the public admiration--the two deliberate housewives -in their village toyshop, bent on domestic utilities and economies, -and proud in the acquisition of two flat irons for a farthing--has -become, and rightly, a classic picture, which will have its place -among the memorable things in the Art of our time, when many of its -loudly-trumpeted magnificences are remembered no more." - -The black-and-white drawing on which it was founded, a somewhat thin -and immature performance, was one of twelve illustrations made by Mrs. -Allingham for Mrs. Ewing's _A Flat Iron for a Farthing_,[6] where it -appears as illustrating the following episode. It will be seen that -Mrs. Allingham's version of the story differs in many points from that -of the authoress, which is thus told by Reginald, the only son:-- - - As I looked, there came down the hill a fine, large, sleek donkey, - led by an old man-servant, and having on its back what is called a - Spanish saddle, in which two little girls sat side by side, the whole - party jogging quietly along at a foot's pace in the sunshine. I was - so overwhelmed and impressed by the loveliness of these two children, - and by their quaint, queenly little ways, that time has not dimmed one - line in the picture that they then made upon my mind. I can see them - now as clearly as I saw them then, as I stood at the tinsmith's door - in the High Street of Oakford--let me see, how many years ago? - - The child who looked the older, but was, as I afterwards discovered, - the younger of the two, was also the less pretty. And yet she had - a sweet little face, hair like spun gold, and blue-grey eyes with - dark lashes. She wore a grey frock of some warm material, below - which peeped her indoors dress of blue. The outer coat had a quaint - cape like a coachman's, which was relieved by a broad white crimped - frill round her throat. Her legs were cased in knitted gaiters of - white wool, and her hands in the most comical miniatures of gloves. - On her fairy head she wore a large bonnet of grey beaver, with a - frill inside. But it was her sister who shone on my young eyes like - a fairy vision. She looked too delicate, too brilliant, too utterly - lovely, for anywhere but fairyland. She ought to have been kept in - tissue-paper, like the loveliest of wax dolls. Her hair was the true - flaxen, the very fairest of the fair. The purity and vividness of the - tints of red and white in her face I have never seen equalled. Her - eyes were of speedwell blue, and looked as if they were meant to be - always more or less brimming with tears. To say the truth, her face - had not half the character which gave force to that of the other - little damsel, but a certain helplessness about it gave it a peculiar - charm. She was dressed exactly like the other, with one exception--her - bonnet was of white beaver, and she became it like a queen. - - At the tinsmith's shop they stopped, and the old man-servant, after - unbuckling a strap which seemed to support them in their saddle, - lifted each little miss in turn to the ground. Once on the pavement - the little lady of the grey beaver shook herself out, and proceeded - to straighten the disarranged overcoat of her companion, and then, - taking her by the hand, the two clambered up the step into the shop. - The tinsmith's shop boasted of two seats, and on to one of these she - of the grey beaver with some difficulty climbed. The eyes of the other - were fast filling with tears, when from her lofty perch the sister - caught sight of the man-servant, who stood in the doorway, and she - beckoned him with a wave of her tiny finger. - - "Lift her up, if you please," she said on his approach. And the other - child was placed on the other chair. - - The shopman appeared to know them, and though he smiled, he said very - respectfully, "What articles can I show you this morning, ladies?" - - The fairy-like creature in the white beaver, who had been fumbling - in her miniature glove, now timidly laid a farthing on the counter, - and then turning her back for very shyness on the shopman, raised one - small shoulder, and inclining her head towards it, gave an appealing - glance at her sister out of the pale-blue eyes. That little lady, thus - appealed to, firmly placed another farthing on the board, and said in - the tiniest but most decided of voices, - - "TWO FLAT IRONS, IF YOU PLEASE." - - Hereupon the shopman produced a drawer from below the counter, and - set it before them. What it contained I was not tall enough to see, - but out of it he took several flat irons of triangular shape, and - apparently made of pewter, or some alloy of tin. These the grey beaver - examined and tried upon a corner of her cape, with inimitable gravity - and importance. At last she selected two, and keeping one for herself, - gave the other to her sister. - - "Is it a nice one?" the little white-beavered lady inquired. - - "Very nice." - - "Kite as nice as yours?" she persisted. - - "Just the same," said the other firmly. And having glanced at the - counter to see that the farthings were both duly deposited, she rolled - abruptly over on her seat, and scrambled off backwards, a manœuvre - which the other child accomplished with more difficulty. The coats and - capes were then put tidy as before, and the two went out of the shop - together, hand in hand. - - Then the old man-servant lifted them into the Spanish saddle, - and buckled the strap, and away they went up the steep street, and - over the brow of the hill, where trees and palings began to show, the - beaver bonnets nodding together in consultation over the flat irons. - -The commission to paint this water-colour being unfettered in every -way, the artist felt herself at liberty to create a colour scheme -of her own--hence the changes in the dresses, etc.; also to put an -old woman (after a Devonshire cottager) in place of the shopman, and -to make the shop a toyshop instead of a tinsmith's. The little girl -ironing was painted from a study of a Mr. Hennessy's eldest little -daughter; the fair little maiden from Mr. Briton Riviere's eldest -daughter. - -[Illustration: -9. THE SAND-MARTINS' HAUNT -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Miss James._ -Painted 1876.] - - I passed an inland cliff precipitate; - From tiny caves peeped many a soot-black poll. - In each a mother-martin sat elate, - And of the news delivered her small soul: - "Gossip, how wags the world?" "Well, gossip, well." - -Interesting not only as the earliest example here of Mrs. Allingham's -landscape work, having been painted at Limpsfield, Surrey, in May -1876, and as such full of promise of better things to come, but as an -instance of a preference for a complex and very difficult effect, which -the artist, on obtaining greater experience, very wisely abandoned. -There is little doubt that she was tempted by the glorious wealth of -colouring which a low sun threw upon the warm quarry side, the pine -wood, and the huge cumuli which banked them up--a magnificent but a -fleeting effect, which could only be placed on record from very rapid -notes. The result could be successful only in the hands of a practised -adept, and it is not surprising, therefore, that in those of an artist -just embarking on her career it was not entirely so. The difficulties -of the task may have afforded her a useful lesson, for we have seen no -further attempts on her part at their repetition. - -If the landscape foretells little concerning the future of the artist, -the figures standing on the brink of the quarry, the elder with her -arm placed lovingly and protectingly round the neck of the younger, -whilst they watch the martins rejoicing in the warm summer evening, are -eminently suggestive of the success which Mrs. Allingham was to achieve -in the addition of figures to landscape composition. - -[Illustration: -10. THE OLD MEN'S GARDENS, CHELSEA HOSPITAL -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Charles Churchill._ -Painted 1876.] - -Contemporary criticism is not, as a rule, palatable to an artist, for -amongst the varied views which the art critics bring to their task -there are always to be found some that are not seen from the same -standpoint as his. Besides, for some occult reason, the balance always -trends in the direction of fault-finding rather than praise, probably -because it is so much the easier, for work always has and will have -imperfections that are not difficult to distinguish. But in the case -of the water-colour before us the critics' chorus must have been very -exhilarating to the young artist, especially as, at the time of its -exhibition at the Royal Water-Colour Society, in the spring of 1877, -she was by no means in good health. The _Spectator_, for instance, -wrote that artists would have to look to their laurels when ladies -began to paint in a manner little inferior to Walker. The _Athenæum_ -gave it the exceptional length of a column, considering it "one of the -few pictures by which the exhibition in question would be remembered." -Tom Taylor in the _Times_ wrote as follows:-- - - Of all the newly associated figure painters there is none whose - work has more of the rare quality that inspires interest than Mrs. - Allingham. She has only two drawings here, a pretty little child's - head and a large and exquisitely finished composition, "The Old Men's - Gardens, Chelsea Hospital," where some hundred and forty little garden - plots are parcelled out among as many of the old pensioners, each of - whom is free to follow his own fancies in his gardening. - - In the hush of a calm summer evening, two graceful girls in white - dresses accept a nosegay from one of the veterans, a Guardsman of - the _vieille cour_, by his look and bearing. All around are plots - of sweet, bright flowers all aglow with variegated petals. Here and - there under the shade of the old trees sit restful groups of the old - veterans, with children about them; one little fellow reverentially - lifts and examines one of the medals on a war-worn breast. Behind, the - thickly-clothed fronds of a drooping ash spread to the declining sun, - and the level roofs of the old Hospital rise ruddy against the warm - and cloudless sky. No praise can be too high for the exquisiteness - with which the flowers are drawn, coloured, and combined, or for the - skill with which they are blended into an artistic whole with the - suggestive and graceful group in the foreground. The drawing deserves - to take its place as a pendant of Walker's "Haven of Rest." - -It is curious that all the critics seem to have misinterpreted -the main meaning of the artist's motive, namely, that whilst the -Pensioners naturally, in the first place, wish to sell their posies, -they are always ready to give them to those who cannot afford to buy. -The well-to-do ladies are purchasing the flowers, the little group of -mother, boy, and baby, on the right, who can ill afford to buy, are -having a posy graciously offered to them. The drawing represented Mrs. -Allingham at the Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester, 1887, and the Loan -Water-Colour Exhibition at the Guildhall, London, in 1896. It is of the -large size, for this artist's work, of 25 inches by 15 inches. - -[Illustration: -11. THE CLOTHES-LINE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Miss James._ -Painted 1879.] - -How considerable and rapid an advance now took place in Mrs. -Allingham's powers may be seen from the two drawings which are dated -two years later, namely, in 1879. In figure draftsmanship there is no -comparison between the timid and haltingly painted children of "The -Sand-Martins' Haunt" and the seated baby in "The Clothes-Line." In -the first the capacity to draw was no doubt present, but the power to -express it through the medium of water-colour was as yet unacquired. -But after two years' study, knowledge is present in its fulness, -and from now onwards the only changes in Mrs. Allingham's work are -a greater precision, breadth, facility of handling, and harmony of -colour. The figure of the woman still smacks somewhat too much of -the studio, and she is a lady-like model,[7] certainly not the type -one would expect to see hanging out the washing of such a clearly -limited and humble wardrobe as in this case. The figure again detaches -itself too much from the rest of the picture, and Mrs. Allingham, -we are sure, would now never introduce such a jarring note as the -scarlet and primrose handkerchief, to which Mr. Ruskin objected at -the time it was painted. The blanket, clothes-line, clothes-basket, -and other accessories are painted with a minuteness which was an -admirable prelude to the breadth that was to follow; but are -singularly constrained in comparison with the yellow gorse bushes, most -difficult of any shrubs to limn, but which here are noteworthy for -unusual easiness of touch. Even with these qualifications the picture -is a delightful one, replete with grace and beauty, and complete in -its portrayal of the little incident of the baby, a less robust little -body than Mrs. Allingham would now paint, capturing as many of the -clothes-pegs that her mother needs as her small fingers and arms can -embrace. - -[Illustration: -12. THE CONVALESCENT -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. R. S. Budgett._ -Painted 1879.] - -This, like "The Young Customers," was founded on previous work, namely, -a black-and-white drawing made for the _Graphic_, as an illustration to -Mrs. Oliphant's _Innocent_. But in the story the patient dies from an -over-dose administered in mistake by Innocent, who is nursing her. Some -years afterwards the poisoning comes to light, and Innocent is tried -and acquitted. Mrs. Allingham would never have voluntarily repeated -such a subject as this, and her temperament is shown in her having -utilised the material for one in which refreshing sleep promises a -speedy recovery. - -[Illustration: -13. THE GOAT CARRIAGE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir F. Wigan._ -Painted 1880.] - -Painted at Broadstairs, and containing portraits of Mrs. Allingham's -children. Noticeable as being one of a few drawings where the artist -has introduced animals of any size into her compositions, but showing -that, had she minded, she might have animated her landscapes with them -with as conspicuous success as she has with her human figures. Perhaps -an incident which happened whilst this picture was being painted -deterred her. Billy being tied up so as to keep him in somewhat the -same position, managed to gnaw through his rope, and, irate at his -detention, he made for the lady to whom he thought his captivity was -due, and nearly upset her, paintbox, and picture. The exhibition of -this and kindred portraits of her children under such titles as "The -Young Artist" and "The Donkey Ride," led to strangers wishing for -portraits of their offspring under similar winsome conditions. -But Mrs. Allingham never cared for the restraint imposed by portrait -painting, and the few that she did in this manner were undertaken more -from friendship than from pleasure. - -[Illustration: -14. THE CLOTHES-BASKET -_From the Water-colour the property of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ -Painted 1880.] - -It is very seldom that Mrs. Allingham has treated her public to -drawings with low horizons or sunsets, perhaps for the reason that -little of her life has been spent away in the flatter counties, where -the latter are so noticeable and full of charm and beauty. This -water-colour, the first large landscape that the artist exhibited, was -painted from studies made in the Isle of Thanet, whilst staying at -Broadstairs. - -[Illustration: -15. IN THE HAYLOFT -_From the Water-colour the property of Miss Bell._ -Painted 1880.] - -This is practically the last of the water-colours which were the -outcome of earlier pictures executed in black and white for the -illustration of books. - -The story is from _Deborah's Drawer_, by Eleanor Grace O'Reilly, for -which, as Helen Paterson, our artist had made nine drawings in 1870, -at a time when she was so inexperienced in drawing on the wood that in -more than one instance her monogram appears turned the wrong way. Mr. -Bell, the publisher of the book, subsequently commissioned her to make -a companion water-colour to "The Young Customers," and suggested one of -the illustrations called "Ralph's Girls" as the basis for a subject. - -The little black-robed girls were twins, whose mother had recently -died, and who had been placed under the care of a grandmother, who -forgot their youth and spirits. They were imaginative children, and -indulged in delightfully original games. One (that of personating a -sportsman named Jenkins and a dog called Tubbs, who together went -partridge-shooting through a big field of cabbages laden with dew) -they had just been taking part in. Tired out with it, they decided -to be themselves again, and to mount to the hayloft and play another -favourite game, that of "remembering." This meant taking them back -over their short lives, which ended up with their most recent -remembrance, their mother's death. Whilst talking over this they are -summoned from their retreat, and have to appear with their black -dresses soaked with the dew from the cabbages, and with hay adhering -everywhere to their deep crape trimmings. Hence much penance! - -[Illustration: -16. THE RABBIT HUTCH -_From the Drawing the property of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ -Painted 1880.] - -Painted in London, but from sketches made near Broadstairs, the house -seen over the wall being one of those that are to be found along the -east coast, which bear a decided evidence of Dutch influence in their -architecture. Here again we have evidence that Mrs. Allingham might, -had she been so minded, have succeeded with animals as well as she has -with human figures and landscape. A little play is being enacted; the -dog, evidently a rival of the inhabitants of the hutch, has to be kept -at a distance while their feeding is going on, lest his jealousy might -find an outlet in an onslaught upon them. - -[Illustration: -17. THE DONKEY RIDE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir James Kitson, Bart., -M.P._ -Painted 1880.] - -This drawing was executed just at the turning of the ways, when London -was to be exchanged for country life, and studio for out-of-door -painting. What an increased power came about through the change will -be seen by a comparison between this "Donkey Ride" and the "Children's -Tea" (Plate 23). Only two years separate them in date; but whilst -in the one we have timidity and hesitancy, in the other the end -is practically assured. In "The Donkey Ride" we have evidences of -experiments, especially in the direction of finicking stippling (all -over the sea and sky) and of the use of body-colour (in the baby's -bonnet and the flowers), which were abandoned later on, to the artist's -exceeding great benefit. What we expect to find, and do find, is the -pure sentiment, and the dainty freshness, which is never absent from -the earliest efforts onwards. - -The scene is the cliffs near Broadstairs, Mrs. Allingham's two eldest -children occupying the panniers. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE ARTIST'S SURREY HOME - - -There are few fairer counties in England than Surrey, and of Surrey -the fairest portion is admittedly the extreme south-western edge which -skirts Sussex to the south and Hampshire to the west. Travellers -from London to Portsmouth by the London and South-Western Railway on -leaving Guildford pass through the middle of the right angle which this -corner makes, and cut the corner two miles beyond Haslemere almost -exactly at the point where the three counties meet. As the steep rise -of nearly 300 feet which has to be surmounted in the six miles which -divide Witley from Haslemere is being negotiated by the train, the most -unobservant passenger must be struck by the singularly beautiful wooded -character of the country on either side, and by the far-extended view -which is unfolded as the eye looks southward over the Weald of Sussex. - -It was to Sandhills, near Witley, that Mrs. Allingham came to live -in 1881 with her growing family, and it was in this corner of Surrey -that she found ample material for almost all her work during the next -few years; and it is there that she has returned at intervals for the -majority of those cottage subjects which the public has called for, -ever since her first portrayal of them shortly after her commencement -of landscape painting in these parts. - -Witley consists of groups of irregularly-dotted-about houses, which -hardly constitute a village, and would perhaps be better designated -by the proper name--Witley Street. A few years ago every one of the -houses counted their ages by centuries, and were fitting companions -of the ancient oaks and elms that shaded them. Some few are left, but -the majority are gone, many so long before the term of their natural -existence had run that it was a troublesome piece of work to destroy -them. There is also an old "Domesday Book" Church. Drawings of almost -all of the cottages, from the hand of Mrs. Allingham, are in existence -somewhere or other, but she never seems to have painted this or other -churches, having apparently little liking for them, as had Birket -Foster. In the present case the omission to do so arose from the fact -that in painting it she would have formed one of the occupants of -half-a-dozen outspread white umbrellas, all taking a stiffly-composed -subject from the same point of view. - -Sandhills, where our artist lived, is on the Haslemere side of Witley, -on a sloping common of heather and gorse, topped with fir trees. From -thence the view, looking southwards, extends far and wide over the -Weald of Surrey and Sussex, Hindhead, a mountain-like hill rising -behind, and Blackdown, a spur stretching out on to the Sussex Valley -to the right. In the distance are to be seen the rising grounds near -Midhurst and Petworth, Chanctonbury Ring with its tuft of trees, called -locally "The Squire's Hunting Cap," and on a clear day the downs as far -as Brighton and Lewes. - -It is indeed a healthy and bracing spot, and one calculated to induce -a painter to energetic work, and a delight in doing it. Subjects lay -close at hand, the Sandhills garden furnishing many a one. "Master -Hardy's," a charming cottage tenanted by a charming old man, was -within a stone's throw, and received attention inside and out. Of the -Hindhead Road, which passes south-west, a single Exhibition, that of -1886, contained six subjects, all of them wayside cottages, but no -one of which, when the Exhibition opened, was as depicted, having in -that short time been "done up" by local builders at the bidding of -Philistine owners. - -The neighbourhood round is, or perhaps we should say was, also prolific -in subjects--Haslemere, four miles south-west, with its pleasant wide -old streets, and with fields tilted up at the end of it, furnished its -Fish-Shop, and other thoroughly English village scenes. - -Some two miles south of Haslemere was Aldworth, Lord Tennyson's -house, a mile over the Sussex border, although always spoken of as -his "Surrey" residence. To Mrs. Allingham's work there we shall have -occasion to refer later on. - -The varied summits of Hindhead (painted a century earlier by Turner and -Rowlandson, and at that time adorned with a gibbet for the benefit of -the highwaymen who infested the Portsmouth Road, which passes over it), -in one place bare moor, in another crested with fir trees, lay some -distance northward of Haslemere; but our artist did not often depict -them, although they presented themselves under many a charming aspect, -and never more glorious than at sunset in their robes of violet and -gold. A thoroughly characteristic view of them is however given in the -Lord Chief Justice's drawing (Plate 19). - -To the southward of Sandhills stretches, as we have said, the Weald. -To this district Mrs. Allingham made frequent excursions, not only for -cottages, which she found at Hambledon, Chiddingfold, and Wisborough, -but for spring and autumn subjects in the oak woods and copses which to -this day probably bear much the same aspect as did the ancient Forest -of Anderida (whose site they occupy) in the time of the Heptarchy. - -Oak is the tree of the wealden clay on the lower levels, but elms grow -to a grand size on the higher ground, where ashes are also numerous. -Spanish chestnuts "encamp in state" on certain slopes, and many of the -hills are "fringed and pillared" with pines. The interminable hazel -copses are interspersed with long labyrinthine paths, the intricacies -of which are only known to the countryside folk. Not so long ago the -cutting down at intervals of the young wood for the purposes of hop -poles, hurdles, and kindling, brought in a handsome revenue to the -owners; but of late years wire has taken the place of wood for the two -first of these objects, and the labourers prefer dear coal to wood, -even as a gift, for it does not entail cutting up. As railway rates to -bring it to the metropolis are prohibitive, it is hard to say what the -consequences will be in a few years, but the probabilities actually -point to a return to the primitive conditions which existed in the -Saxon times to which we have referred. - -In the spring the country round is decked with primroses, bluebells, -and cowslips in the woods, hedgerows, and fields, being fortunately -outside the range of the marauders from London; and it is indeed -pleasurable to ramble from copse to field, and back again. But in -autumn and winter the deep clay soil makes it heavy travelling in the -deep-cut roads and lanes, cumbered with the redolent decay of the -leafage from the trees. - -The cottars were, when the majority of these drawings were made, rural -and old-fashioned, and many had lived hereabouts through numerous -generations. A quiet, taciturn folk, contented with moderate comforts, -on good terms with their wealthier neighbours, not often feeling the -pinch of poverty. - -Maybe all are not so good-looking as Mrs. Allingham has depicted -them, but they vary much, some being flaxen Saxons, others as dark -complexioned as gipsies. - -As will be seen, they have a taste and enjoyment for colour, if not -for change, in the gardens with which their cottages are fairly -well supplied. These are bright at one or other season of the year -with snowdrop, crocus, and daffodil, lilac, sweetwilliam, and pink, -sunflower, Michaelmas daisy, and chrysanthemum. - - * * * * * - -The following drawings have been selected as illustrating the -neighbourhood of Mrs. Allingham's home at Sandhills:-- - -[Illustration: -18. A WITLEY LANE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. W. Birks._ -Painted 1887.] - -It is very seldom that we encounter a drawing of Mrs. Allingham that -deals with Nature in winter's garb. In this respect she differs from -Birket Foster, who rightly considered that trees were oftentimes as -beautiful in their nude as in their clothed array. Especially did he -delight in the towering framework of the elm, which he regarded as the -most typical of English trees. - -Nor is it often that we see Mrs. Allingham afield so early in the -spring as in this lane scene, where the elms are clothed only in their -"ruddy hearted blossom flakes."[8] Perhaps this absence is due to -prudential reasons, to avoid the rheumatism which appears to be the -only ailment which the landscapist runs against in his healthy outdoor -profession. - -Those who have seen the woods of Surrey and Sussex at this time of -year know what a lovely colour they assume in the budding stage, a -colour that makes the view over the Weald from such a vantage-ground -as Blackdown a sea of ravishing violet hues, almost equalling that of -the oak forests as seen in February from the Terrace at Pau, which -stretch away to the snow-clad range of the Pyrenees--perhaps the most -delicately perfect view in Europe. But the day selected for this sketch -was evidently a warm one for the time of year, or we should not -see that unusual occurrence, an open bedroom window in a labourer's -cottage. - -The flowering whin is no index to the season, for we know the old -adage-- - - When the whin's in bloom, my love's in tune. - -But the catkins on the hazel, and the primroses on the banks, must -place it round that elastic date, Eastertide. - -These wayside primroses remind one of a strongly expressed opinion of -Mrs. Allingham's, that wayside flowers should never be gathered, but -left for the enjoyment of the passers-by--a liberal one, which was -first instilled into her by her husband, who wrote verses upon it, from -which I cull the following lines:-- - - Pluck not the wayside flower, - It is the traveller's dower; - A thousand passers-by - Its beauties may espy. - - * * * * * - - The primrose on the slope - A spot of sunshine dwells, - And cheerful message tells. - - * * * * * - - Then spare the wayside flower! - It is the traveller's dower. - -[Illustration: -19. HINDHEAD FROM WITLEY COMMON -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Lord Chief Justice of -England._ -Painted 1888.] - -When this drawing appeared in the Exhibition of 1889 there were some -who called in question the truthfulness of the colour of distant -Hindhead, affirming that it was too blue. But when the air comes up -in August from the southward, laden with a salty moisture, and the -shadows are cast by hurrying clouds over the distance, it is altogether -and exactly of the hue set down here. Had the effect been incorrect -it would hardly have been acquired by so critical a collector as Lord -Alverstone, nor would it have been hung in his Surrey home, where it -invites daily comparison with Nature under similar aspects. The drawing -was painted on the spot, from just behind the artist's house, and is -one of the few instances where she has added to the charm of her work -by a sky of some intricacy. In her cottage and other drawings, where -buildings or other landscape objects are of primary importance, she has -felt that the simpler the treatment of the sky the better, and with -good reason. Here, where a large expanse calls for interesting -forms to cover it, she has shown her complete ability to introduce them. - -Mrs. Allingham's house at Sandhills was below the foreground slope, to -the right of the cottages whose roofs rise from the ling. The highest -point of Hindhead seen here is Hurt Hill, some nine hundred feet above -sea-level, a name which Mr. Allingham always held to be a corruption of -Whort Hill, from the whortleberries with which its slopes are covered, -and which in these, as in other parts are called "wurts." - -[Illustration: -20. IN WITLEY VILLAGE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Charles Churchill._ -Painted 1884.] - -This drawing was in The Fine Art Society's Exhibition in 1886, the -catalogue stating that the cottage had disappeared in the spring of -1885. It was pulled down by its owner to be replaced by buildings whose -monotonous symmetry, to his eye no doubt, appeared in better taste. -The cottage was still far from the natural term of its existence, -as evidenced by the troublesome piece of work it was to dislocate -the sound, firm old oaken beams of which its framework was built -up. Mr. Birket Foster, who equally with Mrs. Allingham mourned its -disappearance, regretted that he could not rebuild it in his own -grounds. - -The blackening elms, and the ripe bracken carried home by the cottar, -show that the time when this picturesque dwelling was painted was late -summer, probably that of 1884. Mrs. Allingham was clearly then not of -Ruskin's opinion concerning the wrongness of painting trees in full -leaf, for she found the blue-black of the trees a harmonious background -to her red and russet roof. - -The work throughout shows a loving fidelity to Nature, as if the artist -had felt that she was looking upon the likeness of an old friend for -the last time, and wished to perpetuate every lineament and feature. - -[Illustration: -21. BLACKDOWN FROM WITLEY COMMON -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Lord Davey._ -Painted 1886.] - -This view is taken from the same bridle-path as is seen in Lord -Alverstone's "Hindhead," but at a lower elevation, and looking -some points more to the south; also at a later time of year, probably -in early October, to judge by the browning hazels. The bracken-covered -elevation in the distance is Grays Wood Common, which lies to the south -of the railway, and the spur of blue hill seen in the distance is -Blackdown. Aldworth, Lord Tennyson's seat, lies just this side of where -the hill falls away. The drawing is one of three only in the whole -collection where Mrs. Allingham has introduced a draught animal. - -[Illustration: -22. THE FISH-SHOP, HASLEMERE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. A. E. Cumberbatch._ -Painted 1887.] - -One can well understand the local builder in his daily round past -this picturesque little tenement casting longing eyes upon its uneven -roof, its diamond-paned lattices, its projecting shop front, and its -spoutless eaves, which allowed the damp to rise up from the foundations -and the green lichen to grow upon its walls, and that he rested not -until he had set hands upon it, and taken one more old-world feature -from the main thoroughfare at Haslemere. Such was actually the case -here, for the shop has long ago disappeared, but it was not until, much -to its owner's regret, interference was necessary. Were it not that it -indeed was the fish-shop of Haslemere, it might well have served for -the toyshop in which the scene of "The Young Customers" was laid. In -the days when this was painted the accommodation provided was probably -sufficient for the intermittent supply of an inland village, for -Haslemere was not, until the last few years, a country resort for those -who seek fine air and beautiful scenery, and can afford to pay a high -price for it. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE INFLUENCE OF WITLEY - - -It will be readily understood that such a beneficial change in her life -surroundings as that from Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, to Sandhills, -Witley, was not without its effect upon Mrs. Allingham's Art. Hitherto -her work had, by the exigencies of fortune, lain almost wholly and -entirely in the direction of the figure. It was studio work, done for -the most part under pressure of time, the selection of subject being -none of hers, and therefore oftentimes altogether unsympathetic. -Finding herself now in the presence of Nature of a kind that appealed -to her, and which she could appreciate untrammelled by any conditions, -it is not surprising that--unwittingly, no doubt, at first--the -preference was given to that side of Art which presented itself under -so much more favourable conditions. - -The delight of painting _en plein air_ had first been tasted at Shere -in the spring and summer of 1878, where she was passionately happy in -watching the changes and developments of the seasons, being in the -fields, lanes, and copses all day and every day.[9] Almost as full a -feast had followed at Haslemere in 1880. When these were succeeded by -a permanent residence in front of Nature, studio work became more and -more trying and unsatisfactory. - -To most people of an artistic temperament the abandonment of the -figure for landscape would never have been the subject of a moment's -consideration, for it would have appeared to them the desertion of -a higher for a lower grade of Art. But from the time of her arrival -in the country there seems to have never been any doubt in Mrs. -Allingham's mind as to the direction which her Art should take. The -pleasure to which we have referred of sitting down in the open air -before Nature, whose aspects and moods she could select at her own -will, and at her own time, was infinitely preferable to the toil and -trouble of either illustrating the ideas of others, or building up -scenes, oftentimes improbable ones, of her own creation. From this -time onwards, then, we find her drifting away from the figure, but not -altogether, or at once, for as her family grew up, scenes in her house -life passed across her view which she enjoyed to place on record, and -for which the world thanks her: scenes of infant life in the nursery, -such as "Pat-a-cake" and "The Children's Tea"; in the schoolroom, such -as "Lessons"; and out of school hours, such as "Bubbles" and "The -Children's Maypole." In one and all of these it is her own family who -are the chief actors. - -The portrayal of her children in heads of a larger size than her usual -work was at this time seen by friends and others, who pressed upon -her commissions for effigies of their own little ones, a branch of -work which promptly drew down upon her the disapproval of Ruskin, who -wrote: "I am indeed sorrowfully compelled to express my regret that she -should have spent unavailing pains in finishing single heads, which are -at the best uninteresting miniatures, instead of fulfilling her true -gift, and doing what the Lord made her for in representing the gesture, -character, and humour of charming children in country landscapes." - -But this change naturally did not pass over her work all at once, -or even in a single year. Mrs. Allingham's presentations of the -countryside commenced in earnest shortly after her settling down at -Witley in 1881; but as will be seen by the dates of the pictures which -illustrate this chapter, the figure as the dominant feature continues -for another six years; in fact, during the whole of her seven and a -half years at Witley we find it now and again, and do not part with -it as such until 1890. Since then hardly a single example has come -from her brush. Mrs. Allingham gives as her reason for the change that -she came to the conclusion that she could put as much interest into a -figure two or three inches high as in one three times as large, and -that she could paint it better; for in painting large figures out of -doors it was always a difficulty in making them look anything else than -they were, namely, "posing models." - -But if the figure ceases to occupy the foremost position, it is still -there, and is always present to add a charming vitality to all that -she does. To people a landscape with figures, of captivating mien, -each taking its proper position, and each adding to the interest of -the whole, is a gift which is the property of but few landscapists. It -is indeed a gift, for we have before us the example of the greatest -landscapist of all, who the more he strove the more he failed. But -it is a gift which we believe many more might obtain by strenuous -endeavour. It is always a matter of surprise to the ignorant public -how it comes to pass that an artist who can draw nature admirably -should never attempt to learn the draftsmanship of the human figure, -by the omission of which from his work he deprives it of half its -interest and value. He often goes a step further, and shows not his -inability but his indolence by producing picture after picture, upon -the face of which no single instance occurs of the introduction of -man, beast, or bird, save and except a single unpretentious creature -of the lowest grade of the feathered creation; this, however, he -will draw sufficiently well to prove that he could, an he would, -double the interest in his landscapes. To the outsider this appears -incomprehensible in the person of those who apparently are thorough -artists, ardent in their profession. One meets such an one at table, -and even between the courses he cannot refrain from taking out his -pencil and covering the menu with his scribblings; but the same man -appears before Nature without a note-book, in which he might be storing -so many jottings, which would be of untold value to his work. - -Mrs. Allingham's case has been the entire contrary to this; she has, I -will not say toiled, for the garnering must be a pleasure, but stored, -many a time and oft, for future use, a mass of valuable material, so -that she is never at a loss for the right adjunct to fit the right -place. Her so doing was, in the first instance, due entirely to her -husband. He said, truly, that the introduction of animals and birds, -in fact, any form of life, gave scale and interest to a picture, and -he urged her to begin making studies from the first. There is not the -slightest doubt that she owed very much to him that habit of thinking -out fitting figures, as she has always tried, and with exceptional -success, as accessories to every landscape. - -Her sketch-books, consequently, are full not only of men, women, and -children, and their immediate belongings, but of most of the animal -life which follows in their train. I say "most," because for some -reason, which I have not elicited from her, she has preferences. -Horses, cattle, and sheep she will have but little of, only -occasionally introducing them in distant hay or harvest fields. The -only instances of anything akin to either in this book are the animals -in "The Goat Carriage," and "The Donkey Ride." Nor will she have much -to say to dogs, but for cats she has a great fondness, and they -animate a large number of her scenes. Fowls, pigeons, and the like she -paints to the life, and she apparently is thoroughly acquainted with -their habits; but other winged creatures, save an occasional robin, she -avoids. Rabbits, wild and tame, she often introduces. - -Her pictures being always typical of repose, she avoids much motion -in her figures. Her children even, seldom indulge in violent action, -unlike those of Birket Foster, who run races down hill, use the -skipping-rope, fly kites, and urge the horses in the lane out of their -accustomed foots-pace. - - * * * * * - -As typical examples of the drawings made in the early days at Witley, -and whilst the figure was the main object, we have selected the -following:-- - -[Illustration: -23. THE CHILDREN'S TEA -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. W. Hollins._ -Painted 1882.] - -This is the most important, and, to my mind, the most delightful of any -of Mrs. Allingham's creations; quite individual, and quite unlike the -work of any one else. Not only is the subject a charming one, but the -actors in it all hold one's attention. It is certainly destined in the -future to hold a high place among the examples of English water-colour -art. - -The scene is laid in Mrs. Allingham's dining-room at Sandhills, Witley, -and contains portraits of her children. The incidents are slight but -original. The mother is handing a cup of tea, but no one notices it, -for the eldest girl's attention is taken up with the old cat lapping -its milk, her younger sister, with her back to the window, is occupied -in feeding her doll, propped up against a cup, from a large bowl of -bread and milk, and the two other children are attracted to a sulphur -butterfly which has just alighted on a glass of lilies of the valley. -The _etceteras_ are painted as beautifully as the bigger objects; -note, for instance, the bowl of daffodils on the old oak cupboard, the -china on the table, and even the buns and the preserves. The whole -is suffused with the warmth of a spring afternoon, the season being -ascertainable by the budding trees outside, and the spring flowers -inside. Exception may be taken to the faces not being more in shadow -from a light which, although reflected from the tablecloth, is -apparently behind them, and to the tablecloth being whiter than the -sky, which it would not be. The fact, as regards the former, is that -the faces were also lit from a window behind the spectator, whilst the -latter is a permissible licence. - -[Illustration: -24. THE STILE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Alfred Shuttleworth._ -Painted 1883.] - -The effort of negotiating a country stile, such as the one here -depicted, which has no aids in the way of subsidiary steps, always -induces a desire to rest by the way. Especially is this the case when a -well-worn top affords a substantial seat. Time is evidently of little -importance to the two sisters, for they have lingered in the hazel -copse gathering hyacinths and primroses. Besides, the little one has -asserted her right to a meal, and that would of itself be a sufficient -excuse for lingering on the journey. The dog seems of the same way of -thinking, and is evidently eagerly weighing the chances as to how much -of the slice of bread and butter will fall to its share. - -The drawing is a rich piece of colouring, but the hedgerow bank, -with its profusion and variety of flowers, shows just that lack of a -restraining hand which is so evident in Mrs. Allingham's fully-matured -work. It was painted entirely in the open air, close to Sandhills, and -the model who sat for the little child is now the artist's housemaid. - -[Illustration: -25. "PAT-A-CAKE" -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir F. Wigan, Bt._ -Painted 1884.] - -This drawing, although painted later than "The Children's Tea," would -seem to be the prelude to a set in which practically the same figures -take a part. - -The motive here, as in all Mrs. Allingham's subjects, is of the -simplest kind. The young girl reads from nursery rhymes that -time-honoured one of "Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake, Baker's Man." It is -apparently her younger brother's first introduction to the bye-play of -patting, which should accompany its recitation, for the child regards -the performance with some doubt, and has to be trained by the nurse as -to how its hands should be manœuvred. - -The drawing is full of details, such as the workbox, scissors, thimble, -primroses, and anemones in the bowl, the china in the cupboard, and -the coloured engraving on the wall, which, as we have seen in the case -of other painters who have practised it, opens up in fuller maturity a -power of painting which is never possible to those who have neglected -such an education. - -[Illustration: -26. LESSONS -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ -Painted 1885.] - -The relations between the teacher and the taught appear to be somewhat -strained this summer morning, for the little girl in pink is evidently -at fault with her lessons, and the boy, while presumably figuring up a -sum on his slate, has his eyes and ears open for a break in the silence -which fills the room for the moment. However, in a short time it will -be halcyon weather for all the actors, for the sun is streaming in at -the window, the roses show that it is high summer, and a day on which -the sternest teacher could not condemn the most intractable child to -lengthy indoor imprisonment. - -This drawing is of the same importance as regards size as "The -Children's Tea," and is full of charm in every part. - -[Illustration: -27. BUBBLES -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. B. Beaumont._ -Painted 1886.] - -Lessons are over, a stool has been brought from the schoolroom, the -kitchen has been invaded, and the dish of soapsuds having been placed -upon it the fun has begun. Who, that has enjoyed it, will forget the -acrid taste of the long new churchwarden (where do the children of the -present day find such pipes if they ever condescend to the fascinating -game of bubble-blowing?) that one naturally sucked away at long before -the watery compound was ready, the still more pungent taste of the -household soap, the delight of seeing the first iridescent globe -detach itself from the pipe and float upwards on the still air, or of -raising a hundred globules by blowing directly into the basin, as the -smocked youngster is doing here. Such joys countervailed the smarts -which befell one's eyes when the burst bubble scattered its fragments -into them, or when the suds came to an end, not through their -dissipation into air, but over one's clothes. - -[Illustration: -28. ON THE SANDS--SANDOWN, ISLE OF WIGHT -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Francis Black._ -Painted about 1886.] - -The family of young children that was now growing up round our artist -naturally necessitated the summer holiday assuming a visit to the -seaside, and much of Mrs. Allingham's time was, no doubt, spent on the -shore in their company. It is little matter for surprise that this -pleasure was combined with that of welding them into pictures; and, if -an excuse must be made for Mrs. Allingham oftentimes robing her little -girls in pink, it is to be found in the fact that the models were -almost invariably her own children, who were so attired. It certainly -will not be one of the least agreeable incidents for those who saunter -over the illustrations of this volume to distinguish them and trace -their growth from the cradle onwards, until they pass out of the stage -of child models. - -This drawing was painted on the shore at Sandown, Isle of Wight, where -the detritus of the Culver chalk cliffs afforded, in combination with -the sand, splendid material for the early achievements in architecture -and estate planning which used to yield so healthy an occupation to -youngsters. - -It was a hazardous task to attempt success with such a variety of tones -of white as here presented themselves, but the result is entirely -satisfactory. In fact the drawing shows how readily and with what -success the painter took up another phase of outdoor work, not easy -of accomplishment. In those collections which include these seashore -subjects they single themselves out from all their neighbours by the -aptitude with which figures and a limpid sea are painted in sunshine. -This, again, is no doubt due to their having been entirely out-of-doors -work. - -[Illustration: -29. DRYING CLOTHES -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ -Painted 1886.] - -This important drawing, in which the figure is on a large scale, -makes one regret that Mrs. Allingham abandoned her portraiture, for a -more captivating life study it is hard to imagine. Flattery -apart, one may say that Frederick Walker never drew a more ideal -figure or conceived a more charming colour scheme. The only feature -which would perhaps have been omitted from a later work is that of -the foxgloves in the corner, which appears to be rather an artificial -introduction. The note of the little child behind the gate is charming. -It is evidently not allowed to wander in the field, although the -well-worn path shows that here is the main road to the cottage, and it -feels that a joy is denied it not to be allowed to participate in the -ceremony of gathering in of the family washing, as it was in younger -days when the clothes were hung out. - -[Illustration: -30. HER MAJESTY'S POST OFFICE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. B. Beaumont._ -Painted 1887.] - -This, at the time it was painted, was the only Post Office of which -Bowler's Green, near Haslemere, boasted, and from its appearance it -might well have served during the reigns of several of Her Majesty's -predecessors. It speaks much for the absence of ill-disposed persons -in the neighbourhood that letters were for so long entrusted to its -care, as it seems far removed from the days of the scarlet funnel which -probably now replaces it. I opine that the young gentleman whom we saw -a short while ago engaged in bubble-blowing has been entrusted here -with the posting of a letter. - -[Illustration: -31. THE CHILDREN'S MAYPOLE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Dobson._ -Painted 1886.] - -May Day still lingers in some parts of the country, for only last year -in an out-of-the-way lane in Northamptonshire the writer encountered a -band of children decked in flowers, and their best frocks and ribbons, -singing an old May ditty. But lovers have long ago ceased to plant -trees before their mistresses' doors, and to dance with them afterwards -round the maypole on the village green, which we too are old enough to -remember in Leicestershire. The ceremony that Mrs. Allingham's children -are taking a part in was doubtless the recognition by a poet of his -illustrious predecessor Spenser's exhortation:-- - - Youths folke now flocken in everywhere - To gather May baskets, and smelling briere; - And home they hasten, the postes to dight - With hawthorne buds, and sweet eglantine, - And girlonds of roses, and soppes in wine. - -The scene is laid in the woods at Witley. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE WOODS, THE LANES, AND THE FIELDS - - I've been dreaming all night, and thinking all day, of the hedgerows - of England; - They are in blossom now, and the country is all like a garden; - Thinking of lanes and of fields, and the song of the lark and the - linnet. - - -When Mrs. Allingham finally, I will not say determined to cut herself -away from figure painting, but by the influence of her surroundings -drifted away from it, she did not, as so many do, become the -delineator of a single phase of landscape art. Her journeyings in -search of subjects for some years were neither many nor extensive, -for a paintress with a family growing up around her has not the same -opportunities as a painter. He can leave his incumbrances in charge of -his wife, and his work will probably benefit by an occasional flitting -from home surroundings. But a mother's work would not thrive away from -her children even if absence was possible, which it probably was not in -Mrs. Allingham's case. Hence we find that the ground she has covered -has been almost entirely confined to what are termed the Home Counties, -with an occasional diversion to the Isle of Wight, Dorsetshire, -Gloucestershire, and Cheshire. In the Home Counties, Surrey and Kent -have furnished most of her material, the former naturally being -oftenest drawn upon during her life at Witley, and the latter since she -lived in London, whither she returned in the year 1888. This inability -to roam about whither she chose was doubtless helpful in compelling -her to vary her subjects, for she would of necessity have to paint -whatever came within her reach. But her energy also had its share, for -it enabled her to search the whole countryside wherever she was, and -gather in a dozen suitable scenes where another might only discover one. - -As evidence of this we may instance the case of the corner of Kent -whither she has gone again and again of late, and where in the present -year she has still been able to find ample material to her liking. -A visit to this somewhat out-of-the-way spot, which lies in Kent in -an almost identically similar position to that which Witley does in -Surrey, namely, in the extreme south-west corner, shows how she has -found material everywhere. In the mile that separates the station from -the farmhouse where she encamps, she shows a cottage that she has -painted from every side, a brick kiln that she has her eye on, an old -yew, and a clump of elms that has been most serviceable. Arriving at -the farm-gate she points to the modest floral display in front that -has sufficed for "In the Farmhouse Garden" (Plate 2), whilst over the -way are the buildings of "A Kentish Farmyard" (Plate 58). Entering the -house the visitor may not be much impressed with the view from her -sitting-room window, but under the artist's hands it has become the -silvern sheet of daisies reproduced in Plate 38. "On the Pilgrims' Way" -(Plate 41) is a field or so away, whilst a short walk up the downs -behind the house finds us in the presence of the originals of Plates 32 -and 36. A drive across the vale and we have Crockham Hill, whence comes -Plate 40, and Ide Hill, Plate 55. - -A ramble round these scenes, whilst a most enjoyable matter to any -one born to an appreciation of the country, was in truth not the -inspiration that would be imagined to the writer of the text, for he -had seen, for instance, the daintily conceived water-colour of "Ox-eye -Daisies" (Plate 38), painted a year ago, and he arrived at the field -to find this year's crop a failure, and on a day in which the distant -woods were hardly visible; the scene of the "Foxgloves" had all the -underwood grown up, and only a stray spike suggestive of the glory -of past years; gipsy tramps on the road to "berrying" (strawberry -gathering) conjured up no visions of the tenant of Mrs. Allingham's -"Spring on the Kentish Downs," but only a horrible thought of the -strawberries defiled by being picked by their hands. - -This description of the variety of the artist's work within a single -small area will show that it is somewhat difficult to classify it for -consideration. However, one or two arrangements and rearrangements of -the drawings which illustrate these phases of the artist's output seem -to bring them best into the following divisions: woods, lanes, and -fields; cottages; and gardens. These we shall therefore consider in -this and the following chapters, dealing here with the first of them. - -Midway in her life at Witley, The Fine Art Society induced Mrs. -Allingham to undertake, as the subject for an Exhibition, the portrayal -of the countryside under its four seasonal aspects of spring, summer, -autumn, and winter. She completed her task, and the result was shown -in 1886 in an Exhibition, but a glance at the catalogue shows in which -direction her preference lay; for whilst spring and summer between -them accounted for more than fifty pictures, only seven answered for -autumn, and six, of which one half were interiors, illustrated winter. -These proportions may not perhaps have represented the ratio of her -affections, but of her physical ability to portray each of the seasons. -Autumn leaves and tints no doubt appealed to her artistic eye as much -as spring or summer hues, but for some reason, perhaps that of health, -illustrations were few and far between of the time of year - - When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang - Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, - Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. - -In so selecting she differed from Mr. Ruskin, who has laid it down that -"a tree is never meant to be drawn with all its leaves on, any more -than a day when its sun is at noon. One draws the day in its morning -or eventide, the tree in its spring or autumn dress." This naturally -exaggerated dictum is the contrary of Mrs. Allingham's practice. She -almost invariably waits for the trees until they have completely -donned their spring garb, and leaves them ere they doff their summer -dress. - -The drawings of the woods, lanes, and fields which Mrs. Allingham has -selected for illustration here comprise six of spring, three of summer, -and two of autumn, winter being unrepresented. They are culled as to -seven from Kent, three from Surrey, and a single one from Hertfordshire. - -Taking them in their seasonal order we may discuss them as follows:-- - -[Illustration: -32. SPRING ON THE KENTISH DOWNS -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Beddington._ -Painted 1900.] - - Out of the city, far away - With spring to-day! - Where copses tufted with primrose - Give one repose. - WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. - -That the joy of spring is a never-failing subject for poets, any one -may see who turns over the pages of the numerous compilations which -now treat of Nature. I doubt, however, whether they receive a higher -pleasure from it than does the townsman who can only walk afield at -rare intervals, and whose first visit to the country each year is taken -at Eastertide. He probably has no eye save for the contrasts which he -experiences to his daily life, of scene, air, and vitality, but these -will certainly infect him with a healthier love of life than is enjoyed -by those who live amongst them and see them come and go. - -Fortunate is the man who can visit these Kentish downs at a time when -the breath of spring is touching everything, when the eastern air makes -one appreciate the shelter that the hazel copses fringing their sides -afford, an appreciation which is shared by the firs which hug their -southern slopes. - -It is very early spring in this drawing. The highest trees show no sign -of it save at their outermost edges. Hazels alone, and they only in the -shelter, have shed their flowery tassels, and assumed a leafage which -is still immature in colour. The sprawling trails of the traveller's -joy, which rioted over everything last autumn, are still without any -trace of returning vitality. - -[Illustration: -33. TIG BRIDGE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. E. S. Curwen._ -Painted 1887.] - - Here the white ray'd anemone is born, - Wood-sorrel, and the varnish'd buttercup; - And primrose in its purfled green swathed up, - Pallid and sweet round every budding thorn. - WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. - -This little sequestered bridge would hardly seem to be of sufficient -importance to deserve a name, nor for the matter of that the streamlet, -the Tigbourne, which runs beneath it, but on the Hindhead slope -streams of any size are scarce, and therefore call for notice. Bridges -resemble stiles in being enforced loitering places, for whilst there -is no effort which compels a halt in crossing bridges, as there is -with stiles, there is the sense of mystery which underlies them, and -expectancy as to what the water may contain. Especially is this so for -youth; and so here we have boy and girl who pause on their way from -bluebell gathering, whilst the former makes belief of fishing with the -thread of twine which youngsters of his age always find to hand in one -or other of their pockets. - -[Illustration: -34. SPRING IN THE OAKWOOD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1903.] - -We have elsewhere remarked on the rare occasions on which Mrs. -Allingham utilises sunlight and shadow. Here, however, is one of them, -and one which shows that it is from no incapacity to do so, for it is -now introduced with a difficult effect, namely, blue flowers under -a low raking light. The artist's eye was doubtless attracted by the -unusual visitation of a bright warm sun on a spring day, and determined -to perpetuate it. - -The wood in which the scene is laid is on the Kentish Downs, where, as -the distorted boughs show, the winds are always in evidence. - -The juxtaposition of the two primaries, blue and yellow, is always a -happy one in nature, but specially is it so when we have such a mass of -sapphire blue. - - Blue, gentle cousin of the forest green, - Married to green in all the sweetest flowers-- - Forget-me-not, the bluebell, and that queen - Of secrecy the violet. - -[Illustration: -35. THE CUCKOO -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. A. Hugh Thompson._ -Painted about 1887.] - -In a recent "One Man Exhibition" by that refined artist Mr. Eyre -Walker, there was a very unusual drawing entitled "Beauty for Ashes." -The entire foreground was occupied with a luxuriant growth of purple -willow loosestrife, intermixed with the silvery white balls of down -from seeding nipplewort. Standing gaunt from this intermingling, -luxuriant crop, were the charred stems of burnt fir trees, whilst -the living mass of their fellows formed an agreeable background. The -subject must have attracted many travellers on the South-Western -Railway as they passed Byfleet; it did so in Mr. Walker's case to the -extent that he stayed his journey and painted it. - -In that case this beautiful display had, as the title to the picture -hints, arisen from the ashes of a forest. A spark from a train had set -fire to the wood, and had apparently destroyed every living thing in -its course. But such is Nature that out of death sprang life. So it has -been with the coppice here, and in the oakwood scene which preceded -it. The cutting down and clearing of the wood has brought sun, air, and -rain to the soil, and as a consequence have followed the - - Sheets of hyacinth - That seem the heavens upbreaking thro' the earth. - -The drawing takes its name from the cuckoo whose note has arrested the -children's attention. - -[Illustration: -36. THE OLD YEW TREE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1903.] - - The sad yew is seen - Still with the black cloak round his ancient wrongs. - WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. - -One of many that are dotted about the southern slopes of the Westerham -Downs, and that, not only here but all along the line of the Pilgrims' -Way, are regarded as having their origin in these devotees. The drawing -was made in the early part of the present year, when the primroses and -violets were out, but before there was anything else, save the blossom -of the willow, to show that - - The spring comes slowly up this way, - Slowly, slowly! - To give the world high holiday. - -[Illustration: -37. THE HAWTHORN VALLEY, BROCKET -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Lord Mount-Stephen._ -Painted 1898.] - -It is somewhat remarkable that the most impressive flower-show that -Nature presents to our notice, namely, when, as May passes into June, -the whole countryside is decked with a bridal array of pure white, -should have taken hold of but few of our poets. - -Shakespeare, of course, recognised it in lines which make one smile at -the idea that they could ever have been composed by a town-bred poet:-- - - O what a life were this! How sweet, how lovely! - Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade - To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep, - Than doth a rich embroidered canopy - To kings that fear their subjects' treachery. - -Another, in the person of Mrs. Allingham's husband, penned a sonnet -upon it containing the following happy description:-- - - Cluster'd pearls upon a robe of green, - And broideries of white bloom. - -The scene of this drawing is laid in the park at Brocket Hall, to which -reference is made in connection with a subsequent illustration (Plate -65). The park is full of ancient timber, one great oak on the border of -the two counties (Herts and Beds) being mentioned in Doomsday Book, and -another going by the name of Queen Elizabeth's oak, from the tradition -that the Princess was sitting under it when the news reached her that -she was Queen of England.[10] The Hawthorn Valley runs for nearly a -mile from one of the park entrances towards the more woodland part of -the estate, and was formerly used as a private race-course. - -The artist has treated a very difficult subject with success, as any -one, especially an amateur, who has tried to portray masses of hawthorn -blossom will readily admit. Any attempt to draw the flowers and fill in -the foliage is hopeless, and it can only be done, as in this case, by -erasure. Hardly less difficult to accomplish are the delicate fronds of -the young bracken, unfolding upwards by inches a day, which can only -be treated suggestively. In the original, which is on a somewhat large -scale, the middle distance is enlivened with browsing rabbits, but the -very considerable reduction of the drawing has reduced these to a size -which renders them hardly distinguishable. - -[Illustration: -38. OX-EYE DAISIES, NEAR WESTERHAM, KENT -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - -Whilst no Exhibition passes nowadays which has not one or more -representations of the "blithe populace" of daisies, the fashion has -only come in of late years. Even the Flemings, who were so partial to -the flowers of the field, seem to have considered it beneath their -notice--a strange occurrence, because one can hardly turn over the -pages of any missal of a corresponding epoch without coming upon many a -faithful representation of the rose-encircled orb. - -Chaucer extolled it - - Above all the flow'res in the mead - Then love I most these flow'res white and red, - Such that men callen daisies in our town. - -And much content it gave him - - To see this flow'r against the sunne spread. - When it upriseth early by the morrow - That blissful sight softeneth all my sorrow. - -He recognised its name of "day's eye," because it opens and closes its -flower with the daylight, in the lines-- - - The daisie or els the eye of the daie, - The emprise and the floure of floures alle. - -In fact it was a favourite with English poets long before it came under -the notice of English painters. Witness Milton's well-known line-- - - Meadows trim with daisies pied. - -It was not until the epoch of the pre-Raphaelite brethren that the -daisies which pie the meadows seemed worthy of perpetuation, and it was -reserved to Frederick Walker, in his "Harbour of Refuge," to limn them -on a lawn falling beneath the scythe. - -The flower that Mrs. Allingham has painted with so much skill--for -it is a very difficult undertaking to suggest a mass of daisies -without too much individualising--is not, of course, the field daisy -(_bellis perennis_) but the ox-eye, or moon daisy, which is really -a chrysanthemum (_chrysanthemum leucanthemum_), a plant which seems -to have increased very much of late years, especially on railway -embankments, maybe because it has come into vogue, and actually -been advanced to a flower worthy of gathering and using as a table -decoration, an honour that would never have been bestowed on it a -quarter of a century ago. - -The drawing was made from the window of the farmhouse in Kent, to -which, as we have said, Mrs. Allingham runs down at all seasons. It -was evidently made on a glorious summer day, when every flower had -expanded to its utmost under the delicious heat of a ripening sun. The -bulbous cloudlet which floats in front of the whiter strata, and the -blueness of the distant woods may augur rain in the near future, but -for the moment everything appears to be in a serenely happy condition, -except perhaps the farmer, who would fain see a crop in which there was -less flower and more grass. - -[Illustration: -39. FOXGLOVES -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. C. A. Barton._ -Painted 1898.] - -Foxgloves have appealed to Mrs. Allingham for portrayal in more than -one locality in England, but never in greater luxuriance than on -this Kentish woodside, where their spikes overtop the sweet little -sixteen-year-old faggot-carrier. It happens to be another instance of a -magnificent crop springing up the first year after a growth of saplings -have been cleared away, and not to be repeated even in this year of -grace (1903) when the newspapers have been full of descriptions of the -unwonted displays of foxgloves everywhere, and have been taunting the -gardeners upon their poor results in comparison with Nature's. - -[Illustration: -40. HEATHER ON CROCKHAM HILL, KENT -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - -It is perhaps a fallacy, or at least heresy, to assert that English -heather bears away the palm for beauty over that of the country with -which it is more popularly associated. But many, I am sure, will agree -with me that nowhere in Scotland is any stretch of heather to be found -which can eclipse in its magnificence of colour that which extends -for mile after mile over Surrey and Kentish commonland in mid August. -In the summer in which this drawing was painted it was especially -noticeable as being in more perfect bloom than it had been known to be -for many seasons. - -[Illustration: -41. ON THE PILGRIMS' WAY -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - -I was taken to task by Mrs. Allingham a while ago for saying that her -affections were not so set upon the delineation of harvesting -as were those of most landscapists, and she stated that she had painted -the sheafed fields again and again. But I held to my assertion, and -proof comes in this drawing just handed to me. Not one artist in ten -would, I am certain, have sat down to his subject on this side of the -hedge, but would have been over the stile, and made his foreground -of the shorn field and stacked sheaves, breaking their monotony of -form and colour by the waggon and its attendant labourers. But Mrs. -Allingham could not pass the harvest of the hedge, and was satisfied -with just a peep of the corn through the gap formed by the stile. It -is not surprising, for who that is fond of flowers could pass such a -gladsome sight as the display which Nature has so lavishly offered -month after month the summer through to those who cared to notice it. -In May the hedge was white with hawthorn, in June gay with dog-roses -and white briar, in July with convolvuli and woodbine, and now again in -August comes the clematis and the blackberry flower. - -[Illustration: -42. NIGHT-JAR LANE, WITLEY -_From the Drawing in the possession of Mr. E. S. Curwen._ -Painted 1887.] - -One of those steep self-made roads which the passage of the seasons -rather than of man has furrowed and deepened in "the flow of the deep -still wood," a lodgment for the leaves from whose depths that charming -lament of the dying may well have arisen,-- - - Said Fading Leaf to Fallen Leaf, - "I toss alone on a forsaken tree, - It rocks and cracks with every gust that rocks - Its straining bulk: say! how is it with thee?" - - Said Fallen Leaf to Fading Leaf, - "A heavy foot went by, an hour ago; - Crush'd into clay, I stain the way; - The loud wind calls me, and I cannot go." - -The name "Night-Jar," by which this lane is known, is unusual, and -probably points to its having been a favourite hunting-ground for a -seldom-seen visitant, for which it seems well-fitted. The name may -well date back to White of Selborne's time, who lived not far away, -and termed the bird "a wonderful and curious creature," which it must -be if, as he records, it commences its jar, or note, every evening -so exactly at the close of day that it coincided to a second with the -report--which he could distinguish in summer--of the Portsmouth evening -gun. - -Night-jars are most deceptive in their flight, one or two giving an -illusion of many by their extremely rapid movements and turns; and they -may well have been very noticeable to persons in the confined space -of this gully, especially as the observer in his evening stroll would -probably stir up the moths, which are the bird's favourite food, and -which would attract it into his immediate vicinity. How much interest -would be added to a countryside were the lanes all fitted with titles -such as this. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -COTTAGES AND HOMESTEADS - -The ancient haunts of men have numberless tongues for those who know -how to hear them speak. - - -It was not until some fifteen years of Mrs. Allingham's career as -a painter in water-colour had been accomplished that she found the -subject with which her name has since been so inseparably linked. -Looking through the ranks of her associates in the Art it is in -rare instances that we encounter so complete a departure out of a -long-practised groove, or one which has been so amply justified. But -in selecting English Cottages and Homesteads, and peopling them with a -comely tenantry, she happened upon a theme that was certain not only -to obtain the suffrages of the ordinary exhibition visitors, but of -those who add to seeing, admiration and acquisition. Thus it has come -to pass that in the other fifteen years which have elapsed since she -first began to paint them, "Mrs. Allingham's Cottages" have become a -household word amongst connoisseurs of English water-colours, and no -representative collection has been deemed to be complete without an -example of them. - -This appreciation is very assuredly a sound one, as the value of -these pictures does not consist solely in their beauty as works of -Art, but in their recording in line and colour a most interesting but -unfortunately vanishing phase of English domestic architecture. For the -cottages are almost without exception veritable portraits, the artist -(whilst naturally selecting those best suited to her purpose) having -felt it a duty to present them with an accuracy of structural feature -which is not always the case in creations of this kind, where the -painter has had other views, and considered that he could improve his -picture by an addition here and an omission there. - -So many of Mrs. Allingham's drawings of cottages have been taken from -the counties of Surrey and Sussex, that it may interest not only -the owners of those here reproduced, but others who possess similar -subjects, to read a short description of the features that distinguish -the buildings in these districts. - -One is perhaps too apt to pass these lowlier habitations of our -fellow-men, whether we see them in reality or in their counterfeits, -without a thought as to their structure, or an idea that it is an -evolution which has grown on very marked lines from primitive types, -and which in almost every instance has been influenced by local -surroundings. - -In the early days of housebuilding the use of local materials was -naturally a distinctive feature of dwellings of every kind, but more -especially in those where expenditure had to be kept within narrow -limits. But even in such a case the style of architecture affected in -the better built houses influenced and may be traced in the more humble -ones. Change amongst our forefathers was even less hastily assumed than -in these days, and a style which experience had proved to be convenient -was persevered in for generation after generation, individuality seldom -having any play, although a necessary adaptation to the site gave to -most buildings a distinction of their own. One of the earliest forms, -and one still to be found even in buildings which have now descended -to the use of yeomen's dwellings, was that of a large central room -having on one side of it the smaller living and sleeping rooms, and on -the other the kitchens and servants' apartments, the wings projecting -sometimes both to back and front, sometimes only to the latter. -In later times, as such a house fell into less well-to-do hands, -necessity usually compelled the splitting-up of the house into various -tenements, in which event the central room was generally divided into -compartments, often into a complete dwelling. Types of this kind may be -found in most villages in the south-eastern counties, and examples will -be seen in "The Six Bells" (Plate 57) and the house at West Tarring, -near Worthing (Plate 51), where the central portion falls back from the -gabled ends. This arrangement of a central hall used for a living room, -after going out of favour for some centuries, is curiously enough once -more coming into fashion. - -Local materials having, as we have said, much to do with the structure, -the type of dwelling that we may expect to find in counties where -wood was plentiful, and the cost of preparing and putting it on the -ground less than that of quarrying, shaping, and carrying stone, is the -picturesque, timber-formed cottage. Those interested in the plan of -construction, which was always simple, of these will find full details -in Mr. Guy Dawber's Introduction to _Old Cottages and Farm Houses in -Kent and Sussex_, as well as many illustrations of examples that occur -in these counties. - -The materials other than wood used for the framework, and which were -necessary to fill up the interstices, were, in the better class of -dwellings, bricks; in others, a consistency formed of chopped straw and -clay, an outward symmetry of appearance being gained by a covering of -plaster where it was not deemed advisable to protect the woodwork, and -of boarding or tiles where the whole surface called for protection. -Several of the cottages illustrated in this volume have been protected -by these tilings on some part or another, perhaps only on a gable end, -most often on the upper story, sometimes over the whole building, but -of course, principally, where it was most exposed to the weather (see -Cherry-Tree Cottage, Plate 43; Chiddingfold, Plate 44; Shottermill, -Plate 49; and Valewood Farm, Plate 50). This purpose of the tile in -the old houses, and its use only for protection, distinguishes them -from the modern erections, where it is oftentimes affixed in the most -haphazard style, and clearly without any idea of fitting it where it -will be most serviceable. - -The space in the interior was very irregularly apportioned, whilst the -cubic space allotted to living rooms, both on the ground and first -floors, was singularly insufficient for modern hygienic views. A -reason for the small size of the rooms may have been that it enabled -them to be more readily warmed, either by the heat given off by the -closely-packed indwellers, or by the small wood fires which alone could -be indulged in. Little use was made of the large space in the roof, but -this omission adds much to the picturesqueness of the exterior, for the -roofs gain in simplicity by their unbroken surface and treatment. It -is somewhat astonishing that the old builders did not recognise this -costly disregard of space. - -The roofs, like the framework, testify to the geological formation and -agricultural conditions of the district. - -The roof-tree was always of hand-hewn oak, and this it was, according -to Birket Foster, which gave to many of the old roofs their pleasant -curves away from the central chimney. The ordinary unseasoned sawn deal -of the modern roof may swag in any direction. - -The roof-covering where the land was chiefly arable, or the distance -from market considerable, was usually wheaten thatch, which was -certainly the most comfortable, being warm in winter and cool in -summer, just the reverse of the tiles or slates that have practically -supplanted it.[11] In other districts the cottages are covered with -what are known as stone slates, thick and heavy. Roofs to carry the -weight of these had always to be flattened, with the result that they -require mortaring to keep out the wet. The West Tarring cottage (Plate -51) is an instance of a stone roofing. - -The red tiles, which were used for the most part, are certainly the -most agreeable to the artistic eye, for their seemingly haphazard -setting, due in part to the builder and in part to nature, affords that -pleasure which always arises from an unstudied irregularity of line. -Roof tiles were made thicker and less carefully in the old days, and -our artist's truth in delineation may be detected in almost any drawing -by examining where the weight has swagged away the tiles between the -main roof beams. - -Unlike chimneys erected by our cottage builders of to-day, which appear -to issue out of a single mould, those of the untutored architects of -the past present every variety of treatment and appearance. - -The old solidly built chimney seen in many of Mrs. Allingham's cottages -(Chiddingfold, Plate 44) is worthy of note as a type of many sturdy -fellows which have resisted the ravages of time, and have stood for -centuries almost without need of repair. In old days the chimney was -regarded not only as a special feature but as an ornament, and not as -a necessary but ugly excrescence. Although probably it only served -for one room in the house, that service was an important one, and so -materials were liberally used in its construction. - -In Kent and Sussex many of the chimneys are of brick, although the -house and the base of the chimney-stack are of stone. This arose from -the stone not lending itself to thin slabs, and consequently being -altogether too cumbrous and bulky. - -The windows in the old cottages were naturally small when glass was a -luxury, and became fewer in number when a tax upon light was one of -the means for carrying on the country's wars. They were usually filled -with the smallest panes, fitted into lead lattice, so that breakages -might be reduced to the smallest area. Not much of this remains, but a -specimen of it is to be seen in the Old Buckinghamshire House (Plate -52). One of the few alterations that Mrs. Allingham allows herself is -the substitution of these diamond lattices throughout a house where she -finds a single example in any of the lights, or if, as she has on more -than one occasion found, that they have been replaced by others, and -are themselves stacked up as rubbish. She has in her studio some that -have been served in this way, and which have now become useful models. - -It would be imagined that the sense of pride in these, the last traces -of their village ancestors, would have prompted their descendants, -whether of the same kin or not, to deal reverently with them, and -endeavour to hand on as long as possible these silent witnesses to -the honest workmanship of their forbears. Such, unfortunately, is -but seldom the case. If any one will visit Witley with this book in -his hand, and compare the present state of the few examples given -there, not twenty years after they were painted, he will see what is -taking place not only in this little village but through the length -and breadth of England. It is not always wilful on the part of the -landlord, but arises from either his lack of sympathy, time, or -interest. - -He probably has a sense of his duty to "keep up" things, and so sends -his agent to go round with an architect and settle a general plan -for doing up the old places (usually described as "tumbling down" or -"falling to pieces"). Thereupon a village builder makes an estimate -and sends in a scratch pack of masons and joiners, and between them -they often supplant fine old work, most of it as firm as a rock, -with poor materials and careless labour, and rub out a piece of old -England, irrecoverable henceforth by all the genius in the world and -all the money in the bank. The drainage and water supply, points where -improvement is often desirable, may be left unattended to. But whatever -else is decided on, no uneven tiled roofs, with moss and houseleek, -must remain; no thatch on any pretence, nor ivy on the wall, nor vine -along the eaves. The cherry or apple tree, that pushed its blossoms -almost into a lattice, will probably be cut down, and the wild rose and -honeysuckle hedge be replaced by a row of pales or wires. The leaden -lattice itself and all its fellows, however perfect, must inevitably -give place to a set of mean little square windows of unseasoned wood, -though perhaps on the very next property an architect is building -imitation old cottages with lattices! With the needful small repairs, -most of the real old cottages would have lasted for many generations -to come, to the satisfaction of their inhabitants and the delight of -all who can feel the charm of beauty combined with ancientness--a -charm once lost, lost for ever. And unquestionably the well-repaired -old cottages would generally be more comfortable than the new or the -done-up ones, to say nothing of the "sentiment" of the cottager. -An old man, who was in a temporary lodging during the doing-up of -his cottage, being asked, "When shall you get back to your house?" -answered, "In about a month, they tells me; but it won't be like going -home." At the same time it is fair to add that many of the "doings-up" -in Mrs. Allingham's country are of good intention and less ruthless -execution than may be seen elsewhere, and that certain owners show a -real feeling of wise conservatism. It would perhaps be a low estimate, -however, to say that a thousand ancient cottages are now disappearing -in England every twelvemonth, without trace or record left--many that -Shakespeare might have seen, some Chaucer; while the number "done up" -is beyond computation. - -The baronial halls have had abundant recognition and laudation at the -hands of the historian and the painter; the numerous manor-houses, less -pretentious, often more lovely, very little; the old cottages next -to none, even the local chronicler running his spectacles over them -without a pause. - -It really looks as if we were, one and all, constituted as a poet has -seen us:-- - - For, don't you mark, we're made so that we love - First when we see them painted, things we have passed - Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see; - And so they are better, painted--better to us, - Which is the same thing. Art was given for that-- - God uses us to help each other so, - Lending our minds out. - -Had Mrs. Allingham done nothing else for her country, she has justified -her career as a recorder of this altogether overlooked phase of -English architecture--a phase which will soon be a thing of the past. - -I remember once being accosted by a bystander in Angers, as I was -wrestling with the perspective of a beautiful old house, with the -remark, "Ah, you had better hurry more than you are doing and finish -the roof of that house, for it will be off to-morrow and the whole -down in three days." That has often been the case with Mrs. Allingham. -More than once a cottage limned one summer has disappeared before the -drawing was exhibited the following spring. Year in and year out the -process has been at work during the quarter of a century during which -the artist has been garnering, and it has almost come to be a joke that -were she to paint as long again as she has, she might have to cease -from actual lack of material. - - * * * * * - -Our illustrations of cottages divide themselves into, first the -examples in the immediate neighbourhood of Sandhills; and secondly, -those farther afield in Kent, Buckingham, Dorset, the Isle of Wight, -and Cheshire. - -Those near Sandhills form points in the circumference of a -circle of which it is the centre, the most southern being Chiddingfold, -where we start on our survey. - -[Illustration: -43. CHERRY-TREE COTTAGE, CHIDDINGFOLD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Lord Chief Justice of -England._ -Painted 1885.] - -The old hamlet of Chiddingfold lies about as far to the south as Witley -does to the north of the station on the London and South-Western -Railway which bears their joint names. It boasts of a very ancient -inn, "The Crown,"--formed, it is said, in part out of a monastic -building,--and a large village green. Cherry-Tree Cottage is, as will -be seen, the milk shop of the place, and, if we may judge from the -coming and going in Mrs. Allingham's picture, carries on an animated, -prosperous trade at certain times of the day. - -[Illustration: -44. COTTAGE AT CHIDDINGFOLD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. L. Florence._ -Painted 1889.] - -We have here a March day, or rather one of the type associated with -that month, but which usually visits us with increasing severity as -April and May and the summer progress. Wind in the east, with the sky -a cold, steely blue in the zenith, greying even the young elm shoots a -stone's-throw distant. The cottage almanack, Old Moore's, will foretell -that night frosts will prevail, and the cottager will be fearsome of -its effect upon his apple crop, always so promising in its blossom, -so scanty in its fulfilment. Splendid weather for the full-blooded -lassies, who can tarry to gossip without fear of chills, and also for -drying clothes on the hedgerow, but nipping for the old beldame who -tends them, and who has to wrap up against it with shawl and cap. - - Laburnum, rich - In streaming gold, - -competes in colour with the spikes of the broom, which the artist must -have been thankful to the hedgecutter for sparing as he passed his -shears along its surface when last he trimmed it. For some reason the -broom bears an ill repute hereabouts as bringing bad luck, although -in early times it was put to a desirable use, as Gerard tells us that -"that worthy Prince of famous memory, Henry VIII. of England, was wont -to drink the distilled water of Broome floures." Wordsworth also -gives it[12] a special word in his lines-- - - Am I not - In truth a favour'd plant? - On me such bounty summer showers, - That I am cover'd o'er with flowers; - And when the frost is in the sky, - My branches are so fresh and gay, - That you might look on me and say-- - "This plant can never die." - -The cottage contains a typical example of the massive central chimney, -and also an end one, which it is unusual to find in company with the -other in so small a dwelling. Note also the weather tiling round the -gable end and the upper story. - -[Illustration: -45. A COTTAGE AT HAMBLEDON -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. F. Pennington._ -Painted 1888.] - -For those who read between the lines there are plenty of pretty -allegories connected with these drawings. This, for instance, might -well be termed "Youth and Age." The venerable cottage in its declining -years, so appropriately set in a framework of autumn tints and -flowers, supported on its colder side by the tendrils of ivy, almost of -its own age, but on its warmer side maturing a fruitful vine, emblem -of the mother and child which gather at the gate, and of the brood of -fowls which busily search the wayside. - -[Illustration: -46. IN WORMLEY WOOD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Le Poer Trench._ -Painted 1886.] - -Half a century ago most of the old dwellings on the Surrey border were -thatched with good wheaten straw from the Weald of Sussex, but thatch -will soon be a thing of the past, partly for the reason that there -are no thatchers (or "thackers" as they are called in local midland -dialect) left, principally because the straw, of which they consumed -a good deal, and which used to be a cheap commodity and not very -realisable, in villages whose access to market was difficult, now finds -a ready sale. Locomotion has also enabled slates to be conveyed from -hundreds of miles away, and placed on the ground at a less rate than -straw. - -Thus the old order changeth, and without any regard to the comfort of -the tenant, whose roof, as I have already said, instead of consisting -of a covering which was warm in winter and cool in summer, is now one -which is practically the reverse. Strawen roofs are easy of repair or -renewal, and look very trim and cosy when kept in condition. - -At the time when this drawing was painted this cottage, lying snugly in -the recesses of Wormley Wood (whose pines always attract the attention -as the train passes them just before Witley station is reached), was -the last specimen of thatch in the neighbourhood, and it only continued -so to be through the intervention of a well-known artist who lived not -far off. That artist is dead, and probably in the score of years which -have since elapsed the thatch has gone the way of the rest, and the -harmony of yellowish greys which existed between it and its background -have given way to a gaudy contrast of unweathered red tiles or cold -unsympathetic blue slates. - -The cottage itself may well date back to Tudor times, and the -sweetwilliams, pansies, and lavender which border the path leading -to it may be the descendants of far-away progenitors, culled by a -long-forgotten labourer in his master's "nosegay garden," which at -that time was a luxury of the well-to-do only. - -Many of the flowers found in this plot of ground were in early days -conserved in the gardens of the simple folk rather for their medicinal -use than their decorative qualities. Such was certainly the case with -lavender. "The floures of lavender do cure the beating of the harte," -says one contemporary herbal; and another written in Commonwealth times -says, "They are very pleasing and delightful to the brain, which is -much refreshed with their sweetness." It was always found in the garden -of women who pretended to good housewifery, not only because the heads -of the flowers were used for "nosegays and posies," but for putting -into "linen and apparel." - -[Illustration: -47. THE ELDER BUSH, BROOK LANE, WITLEY -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Marcus Huish._ -Painted 1887.] - -Those who are ingenious enough to see the inspiration of another hand -in every work that an artist produces would probably raise an outcry -against anybody infringing the copyright which they consider that -Collins secured more than half a century ago for the children swinging -on a gate in his "Happy as a King." But who that examines with any -interest or care the figures in this water-colour could for a moment -believe that Mrs. Allingham had ever had Collins even unconsciously -in her mind when she put in these happy little mortals as adjuncts to -her landscape. Having enjoyed at ages such as theirs a swing on many a -gate, one can testify that these children must have been seen, studied, -and put in from the life and on the spot. See how the elder girl leans -over the gate, with perfect self-assurance, directing the boy as to -how far back the gate may go; how the younger one has to climb a rung -higher than her sister in order to obtain the necessary purchase with -her arms, and even then she can only do so with a strain and with a -certain nervousness as to the result of the jar when the gate reaches -the post on its return. Again, some one has to do the swinging, and -Mrs. Allingham has given the proper touch of gallantry by making the -second in age of the party, a boy, the first to undertake this part of -the business. The excitement of the moment has communicated itself to -the youngest of the family, who raises his stick to cheer as the gate -swings to. Although painted within thirty miles of London, the age of -cheap rickety perambulators had not reached the countryside when this -drawing was made nearly twenty years ago, and so we see the youngest in -a sturdy, hand-made go-cart. - -The country folk who passed the artist when she was making this -drawing wondered doubtless at her selection of a point of sight where -practically nothing but roof and wall of the building were visible, -when a few steps farther on its front door and windows might have made -a picture; but the charm of the drawing exists in this simplicity -of subject, the greatest pleasure being procurable from the least -important features, such, for instance, as the lichen-covered and -leek-topped wall, and the untended, buttercup-flecked bank on which it -stands. The locality of the drawing is Brook Lane, near Witley, and -the drawing was an almost exact portrait of the cottage as it stood in -1886, but since then it has been modernised like the majority of its -fellows, and though the oak-timbered walls, tiled roof, and massive -chimney still stand, the old curves of the roof-tree have gone, and -American windows have replaced the old lattices. The other side of -the house, as it then appeared, has been preserved to us in the next -picture. - -[Illustration: -48. THE BASKET WOMAN -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Backhouse._ -Painted 1887.] - -The art critic of _The Times_, in speaking of the Exhibition where this -drawing was exhibited, singled it out as "taking rank amongst the very -best of Mrs. Allingham's work, and the very model of what an English -water-colour should be, with its woodside cottage, its tangled hedges, -its background of sombre fir trees, and figures of the girl with -basket, and of the cottagers to whom she is offering her wares, showing -as it does intense love for our beautiful south country landscape, with -the power of seizing its most picturesque aspects with truth of eye and -delicacy of hand." - -To my mind the most remarkable feature of the drawing is the way in -which the long stretch of hedge has been managed. In most hands it -would either be a monotonous and uninteresting feature or an absolute -failure, for the difficulty of lending variety of surface and texture -to so large a mass is only known to those who have attempted it; it -could only be effected by painting it entirely from nature and on the -spot, as was the case here. Many would have been tempted to break it -up by varieties of garden blooms, but Mrs. Allingham has only relieved -it by a stray spray or two of wild honeysuckle, which never flowers in -masses, and a few white convolvuli. - -That we are not far removed from the small hop district which is to -be found west and northward of this part is evidenced by the hops -which the old woman was in course of plucking from the pole when her -attention was arrested by the wandering pedlar. This and the apples -ripening on the straggling apple tree show the season to be early -autumn, whereas the elder bush in the companion drawing puts its season -as June. - -[Illustration: -49. COTTAGE AT SHOTTERMILL, NEAR HASLEMERE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. W. D. Houghton._ -Painted 1891.] - -Each of three counties may practically claim this cottage for one of -its types, for it lies absolutely at the junction of Surrey, Sussex, -and Hampshire. - -For a single tenement it is particularly roomy, and a comfortable -one to boot, for its screen of tiles is carried so low down. - -It was a curious mood of the artist's to sit down square in front of it -and paint its paling paralleling across the picture, a somewhat daring -stroke of composition to carry on the line of white tiling with one of -white clothes. The sky displays an unusual departure from the artist's -custom, as the whole length of it is banked up with banks of cumuli. - -The figures and the empty basket point to a little domestic episode. -Boy and girl have been sent on an errand, but have not got beyond the -farther side of the gate before they betake themselves to a loll on -the grass, which has lengthened out to such an extent that the old -grand-dame comes to the cottage door to look for their return, little -witting that they are quietly crouched within a few feet of her, hidden -behind the paling, over which lavender, sweet-pea, roses, peonies, and -hollyhocks nod at them. They are even less conscious of wrong-doing and -of impending scoldings than the cat, which sneaks homewards after a -lengthened absence on a poaching expedition. - -[Illustration: -50. VALEWOOD FARM -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1903.] - -Valewood is over the ridge which protects Haslemere on the south, and -is a very pretty vale of sloping meadows fringed with wood, all under -the shadow of Blackdown, to which it belongs. This is distinguished -from most houses hereabouts in boasting a stream, the headwater of -a string of ponds, whence starts the river Wey northwards on its -tortuous journey round the western slopes of Hindhead. When Mrs. -Allingham painted the house, which was inhabited by well-to-do yeomen -from Devonshire, the dairying and the milking were still conducted by -desirable hands, namely, those of milkmaids. - -[Illustration: -51. AN OLD HOUSE AT WEST TARRING -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1900.] - -Worthing has been termed "a dull and dreary place, the only relief -to which is its suburb of West Tarring." This happening to have been -one of the "peculiars" of the Archbishops of Canterbury, -has buildings and objects of considerable antiquarian interest. The -cottages which Mrs. Allingham selected for her drawing may be classed -amongst them, for they are a type, as good as any in this volume, of -the well-built, substantial dwelling-house of our progenitors of many -centuries ago--one in which all the features that we have pointed -out are to be found. The house has in course of time clearly become -too big for its situation, and has consequently been parcelled out -into cottages; this has necessitated some alteration of the front of -the lower story, but otherwise it is an exceptionally well-preserved -specimen. Long may it remain so. - -[Illustration: -52. AN OLD BUCKINGHAMSHIRE HOUSE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. W. Birks._ -Painted 1899.] - -This is a somewhat rare instance of the artist selecting for -portraiture a house of larger dimensions than a cottage. It is a -singular trait, perhaps a womanly trait, that we never find her choice -falling upon the country gentleman's seat, although their formal -gardening and parterres of flowers must oftentimes have tempted her. -Her selection, in fact, never rises beyond the wayside tenement, which -in that before us no doubt once housed a well-to-do yeoman, but was, -when Mrs. Allingham limned it, only tenanted in part by a small farmer -and in part by a butcher. But it is planned and fashioned on the old -English lines to which we have referred, and which in the days when it -was built governed those of the dwelling of every well-to-do person. - -[Illustration: -53. THE DUKE'S COTTAGE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Maurice Hill._ -Painted 1896.] - -The trend of the trees indicates that this scene is laid where the -winds are not only strong, but blow most frequently from one particular -quarter. It is, in fact, on the coast of Dorset, at Burton, a little -seaside resort of the inhabitants of Bridport, when they want a change -from their own water-side town. The English Channel comes up to one -side of the buttercup-clad field, and was behind the artist as she sat -to paint the carrier's cottage, a man of some local celebrity, who took -the artist to task for not painting his home from a particular -point of view, saying, "I've had it painted many a time, and theyse -always took it from there." He was a man accustomed to boss the village -in a kindly but firm way, never allowing any controversy concerning -his charges, which were, however, always reasonable. Hence he had -come to be nicknamed "The Duke," and as such did not understand Mrs. -Allingham's declining at once to recommence her sketch at the spot he -indicated. - -The Dorsetshire cottages, for the most part, differ altogether from -their fellows in Surrey and Sussex, for their walls are made of what -would seem to be the flimsiest and clumsiest materials,--dried mud, -intermixed with straw to give it consistency, entering mainly into -their composition. Many are not far removed from the Irish cabins, of -which we see an example in Plate 78. - -[Illustration: -54. THE CONDEMNED COTTAGE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - -In speaking of Duke's Cottage, I dwelt upon the poor materials of -which it and its Dorsetshire fellows were made, and this, coupled -with Mrs. Allingham presenting a picture of one that is too decayed -to live in, may raise a suggestion as to their instability. But such -is not the case. The lack of substance in the material is made up by -increased thickness, and the cottage before us has stood the wear and -tear of several hundred years, and now only lacks a tenant through its -insanitary condition. A robin greeted the artist from the topmost of -the grass-grown steps, glad no doubt to see some one about the place -once more. - -[Illustration: -55. ON IDE HILL -_From the Drawing in the possession of Mr. E. W. Fordham._ -Painted 1900.] - -Ide Hill is to be found in Kent, on the south side of the Westerham -Valley, and the old cottage is the last survival of a type, every one -of which has given place to the newly built and commonplace.[13] The -view from hereabouts is very fine--so fine, indeed, that Miss Octavia -Hill has, for some time, been endeavouring, and at last with success, -to preserve a point for the use of the public whence the best -can be seen. - -[Illustration: -56. A CHESHIRE COTTAGE, ALDERLEY EDGE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. A. S. Littlejohns._ -Painted 1898.] - -The almost invariable rule of the south, that cottages are formed out -of the local material that is nearest to hand, is clearly not practised -farther north, to judge by this example of a typical Cheshire cottage. - -Stone is apparently so ready to hand that not only is the roadway paved -with it, but even the approach to the cottage, whilst the large blocks -seen elsewhere in the picture show that it is not limited in size. Yet -the only portion of the building that is constructed of stone, so far -as we can see, is the lean-to shed. - -The cottage itself differs in many respects from those we have been -used to in Surrey and Sussex. The roof is utilised, in fact the level -of the first floor is on a line almost with its eaves, and a large bay -window in the centre, and one at the end, show that it is well lighted. -Heavy barge-boards are affixed to the gables, which is by no means -always the case down south, and the wooden framework has at one time -been blackened in consonance with a custom prevalent in Cheshire and -Lancashire, but which is probably only of comparatively recent date; -for gas-tar, which is used, was not invented a hundred years ago, and -there seems no sense in a preservative for oak beams which usually are -almost too hard to drive a nail into. The fashion is probably due to -the substitution of unseasoned timber for oak. - -[Illustration: -57. THE SIX BELLS -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. G. Wills._ -Painted 1892.] - -This beautiful old specimen of a timbered house was discovered by -Mrs. Allingham by accident when staying with some artistic friends at -Bearsted, in Kent, who were unaware of its existence. Although the -weather was very cold and the season late, she lost no time in painting -it, as its inmates said that it would be pulled down directly its -owner, an old lady of ninety-two, who was very ill, died. Having spent -a long day absorbed in putting down on paper its intricate details, she -went into the house for a little warmth and a cup of tea, only -to find a single fire, by which sat a labourer with his pot of warmed -ale on the hob. Asking whether she could not go to some other fire, she -was assured that nowhere else in the house could one be lit, as water -lay below all the floors, and a fire caused this to evaporate and fill -the rooms with steam. - -As we have said, Mrs. Allingham alters her compositions as little as -possible when painting from Nature, but in this case she has omitted -a church tower that stood just to the right of the inn, and added the -tall trees behind it. The omission was due to a feeling that the house -itself was the point, and a quite sufficient point of interest, that -would only be lessened by a competing one. The addition of the trees -was made in order to give value to the grey of the house-side, which -would have been considerably diminished by a broad expanse of sky. - -[Illustration: -58. A KENTISH FARMYARD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Arthur R. Moro._ -Painted 1900.] - -Farmyards are out of fashion nowadays, and a Royal Water-Colour -Society's Exhibition, which in the days of Prout and William Hunt -probably contained a dozen of them, will now find place for a single -example only from the hand of Mr. Wilmot Pilsbury, who alone faithfully -records for us the range of straw-thatched buildings sheltering an -array of picturesque waggons and obsolete farming implements. But this -"stead" is just opposite to the farm in which Mrs. Allingham stays, and -it has often attracted her on damp days by its looking like "a blaze -of raw sienna." We can understand the tiled expanse of steep-pitched, -moss-covered roof affording her some of that material on which her -heart delights, and which she has felt it a duty to hand down to -posterity before it gives place to some corrugated iron structure which -must, ere long, supplant this old timber-built barn. - -What was originally a study has been transformed by her, through the -human incidents, into a picture: the milkmaid carrying the laden -pail from the byre; the cock on the dunghill, seemingly amazed that -his wives are too busily engaged on its contents to admire him; the -lily-white ducks waddling to the pool to indulge in a drink, the gusto -of which seems to increase in proportion to the questionableness of its -quality. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -GARDENS AND ORCHARDS - -One is nearer God's heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth. - - -The practice of painting gardens is almost as modern as that of -painting by ladies. The Flemings of the fifteenth century, it is true, -introduced in a delightful fashion conventional borders of flowers -into some of their pictures, probably because they felt that ornament -must be presented from end to end of them, and that in no way could -they do this better than by adding the gaiety of flowers to their -foregrounds. But all through the later dreary days no one touched the -garden, for the conglomeration of flowers in the pieces of the Dutchmen -of the seventeenth century cannot be treated as such. Flowers certainly -flourished in the gardens of the well-to-do in England in the century -between 1750 and 1850, but none of the limners of the drawings of -noblemen or of gentlemen's seats which were produced in such quantities -during that period ever condescended to introduce them. Even so -late as fifty years ago, if we may judge from the titles, the Royal -Academy Exhibition of that date did not contain a single specimen of -a flower-garden. The only probable one is a picture entitled "Cottage -Roses," and any remotely connected with the garden appear under such -headings as "Early Tulips," "Geraniums," "Japonicas and Orchids," "Will -you have this pretty rose, Mamma?" or "The Last Currants of Summer"! -Taste only half a century ago was different from ours, and asked for -other provender. Thus, the original owner of the catalogue from which -these statistics were taken was an energetic amateur critic, who has -commended, or otherwise, almost every picture, commendations being -signified by crosses and disapproval by noughts. The only work with -five crosses is one illustrating the line, "Now stood Eliza on the -wood-crown'd height." On the other hand, Millais' "Peace Concluded" -stands at the head of the bad marks with five, his "Blind Girl" with -two, which number is shared with Leighton's "Triumph of Music." Holman -Hunt's "Scapegoat," in addition to four bad marks, is described as -"detestable and profane." These pre-Raphaelites, Millais, Holman -Hunt, and their followers, then so little esteemed, may in truth be -said to have been the originators of the "garden-drawing cult," chief -amongst their followers being Frederick Walker. To the example of the -last-named more especially are due the productions of the numerous -artists--good, bad, and indifferent--who have seized upon a delightful -subject and almost nauseated the public with their productions. The -omission of gardens from the painter's _rôle_ in later times may in -a measure have been due to the gardens themselves, or, to speak more -correctly, to those under whose charge they were maintained. The ideal -of a garden to the true artist must always have differed from these as -to its ordering, even in these very recent days when the edict has gone -forth that Nature is to be allowed a hand in the planning. - -The gardener, no matter whether the surroundings favour a formal -garden or not, insists upon his harmonies or contrasts of brilliant -colourings. If he takes these from a manual on gardening he will adopt -what is termed a procession of colouring somewhat as follows: strong -blues, pale yellow, pink, crimson, strong scarlet, orange, and bright -yellow. He is told that his colours are to be placed with careful -deliberation and forethought, as a painter employs them in his picture, -and not dropped down as he has them on his palette! Alfred Parsons and -George Elgood have on occasions grappled with creations such as these, -when placed in settings of yew-trimmed hedges, or as surroundings of a -central statue, or sundial; but who will say that the results have been -as successful as those where formality has been merely a suggestion, -and Nature has had her say and her way. Surroundings must, of course, -play a prominent part in any garden scheme. However much we may -dislike a stiff formality, it is sometimes a necessity. For instance, -herbaceous plants, with annuals of mixed colours, would have looked out -of place on the lawn in front of Brocket Hall (Plate 65), which calls -for a mass of plants of uniform colours. The lie of the ground, too, -must, as in such a case, be taken into account: there it is a sloping -descent facing towards the sun, and so is not easy to keep in a moist -condition. Geraniums and calceolarias, which stand such conditions, are -therefore almost a necessity. - -When this book was proposed to Mrs. Allingham her chief objection -was her certainty that no process could reproduce her drawings -satisfactorily. Her method of work was, she believed, entirely opposed -to mechanical reproduction, for she employed not only every formula -used by her fellow water-colourists, but many that others would not -venture upon. Amongst those she tabulated was her system of obtaining -effects by rubbing, scrubbing, and scratching. But the process was not -to be denied, and she was fain to admit that even in these it has been -a wonderfully faithful reproducer. Now nowhere are these methods of -Mrs. Allingham's more utilised, and with greater effect, than in her -drawings of flower-gardens. The system of painting flowers in masses -has undergone great changes of late. The plan adopted a generation or -so ago was first to draw and paint the flowers and then the foliage. -This method left the flowers isolated objects and the foliage without -substantiality. Mrs. Allingham's method is the reverse of this. Take, -for instance, the white clove pinks in the foreground of Mrs. Combe's -drawing of the kitchen-garden at Farringford (Plate 71). These are -so admirably done that their perfume almost scents the room. They -have been simply carved out of a background of walk and grey-green -spikes, and left as white paper, all their drawing and modelling -being achieved by a dexterous use of the knife and a wetted and rubbed -surface. The poppies, roses, columbines, and stocks have all been -created in the same way. The advantage is seen at once. There are no -badly pencilled outlines, and the blooms blend amongst themselves and -grow naturally out of their foliage. - -[Illustration: -59. STUDY OF A ROSE BUSH -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted about 1887.] - -A very interesting series of studies of various kinds might have been -included in this volume, which would have shown the thoroughness -with which our artist works, and it was with much reluctance that we -discarded all but two, in the interests of the larger number of our -readers, who might have thought them better fitted for a manual of -instruction. The Gloire de Dijon rose, however, is such a prime old -favourite, begotten before the days of scentless specimens to which -are appended the ill-sounding names of fashionable patrons of the -rose-grower, that we could not keep our hands off it when we came -across it in the artist's portfolio. - -This rose tree, or one of its fellows, will be seen in the background -of two of the drawings of Mrs. Allingham's garden at Sandhills, namely, -Plates 61 and 64. - -[Illustration: -60. WALLFLOWERS -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. F. G. Debenham._ -Painted about 1893.] - -Of the denizens of the garden there is perhaps none which appeals to -a countryman who has drifted into the city so much as the wallflower. -His senses both of sight and smell have probably grown up under its -influence, and it carries him back to the home of his childhood, for it -is of never-to-be-forgotten sweetness both in colour and in scent, and -it conjures up old days when the rare warmth of an April sun extracted -its perfume until all the air in its neighbourhood was redolent of it. - -If my reader be a west countryman, like the author, he may best know it -as the gilliflower, but he will do so erroneously, for the name rightly -applies to the carnation, and was so used even in Chaucer's time-- - - Many a clove gilofre - To put in ale; - -and again in Culpepper-- - - The great clove carnation Gillo-Floure. - -But as a "rose by any other name would smell as sweet," every true -flower-lover cherishes his wallflower, which returns to him so -bountifully the slightest attention, which accepts the humblest -position, which thrives on the scantiest fare, which is amongst the -first to welcome us in the spring, and, with its scantier second bloom, -amongst the last to bid adieu in the autumn, sometimes even striving to -gladden us with its blossom year in and year out if winter's cold be -not too stark. - -Old names give place to new, and in nurserymen's catalogues we search -in vain for its pleasant-sounding title, and fail to distinguish either -its reproduction in black and white, or its designation under that of -cheiranthus. - -[Illustration: -61. MINNA -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Lord Chief Justice of -England._ -Painted about 1886.] - -This, and the drawing of a "Summer Garden" (Plate 64), are taken almost -from the same spot in Mrs. Allingham's garden at Sandhills. -Both are simple studies of flowers without any more elaborate effort -at arrangement or composition than that which gives to each a purposed -scheme of colour--a scheme, however, that is, with set purpose, hidden -away, so that the flowers may look as if they grew, as they appear -to do, by chance. The flowers, too, are old-fashioned inhabitants: -pansies, sea-pinks, marigolds, sweetwilliams, snap-dragons, -eschscholtzias, and flags, with a background of rose bushes; all of -them (with the exception, perhaps, of the flag) flowers such as Spenser -might have had in his eye when he penned the lines-- - - No daintie flowre or herbe that growes on grownd, - No arborett with painted blossomes drest - And smelling sweete, but there it might be fownd - To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al arownd. - -[Illustration: -62. A KENTISH GARDEN -_From the Drawing in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1903.] - -This scene may well be compared with that of Tennyson's garden at -Aldworth, reproduced in Plate 74, as it illustrates even more -appositely than does that, the lines in "Roses on the Terrace" -concerning the contrast between the pink of the flower and the blue -of the distance. But here the interval between the colours is not the -exaggerated fifty miles of the poem, but one insufficient to dim the -shapes of the trees on the opposite side of the valley. Of all the -gardens here illustrated none offers a greater wealth of colour than -this Kentish garden, situated as it is with an aspect which makes it a -veritable sun-trap. - -[Illustration: -63. CUTTING CABBAGES -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. E. W. Fordham._ -Painted about 1884.] - -The cabbage is probably to most people the most uninteresting tenant of -the kitchen-garden, and yet its presence there was probably the motive -which set Mrs. Allingham to work to make this drawing, for it is clear -that in the first instance it was conceived as a study of the varied -and delicate mother-of-pearl hues which each presented to an artistic -eye. As a piece of painting it is extremely meritorious through its -being absolutely straight-forward drawing and brush work, -the high lights being left, and not obtained by the usual method of -cutting, scraping, or body colour. The buxom mother of a growing family -selecting the best plant for their dinner is just the personal note -which distinguishes each and every one of our illustrations. - -[Illustration: -64. IN A SUMMER GARDEN -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. William Newall._ -Painted about 1887.] - -I cannot refrain from drawing attention to this reproduction as one -of the wonders of the "three colour process." If my readers could see -the three colours which produce the result when superimposed, first -the yellow, then the red, and lastly the blue--aniline hues of the -most forbidding character--they would indeed deem it incredible that -any resemblance to the original could be possible. It certainly passes -the comprehension of the uninitiated how the differing delicacies of -the violet hues of the flowers to the left could be obtained from -a partnership which produced the blue black of the flowers in the -foreground, the light pinks of the Shirley poppies, and the rich -reds of the sweetwilliams. Again, what a marvel must the photographic -process be which refuses to recognise the snow-white campanula, and -leaves it to be defined by the untouched paper, and yet records -the faint pink flush which has been breathed upon the edges of the -sweetwilliam. It is indeed a tribute to the inventive genius of the -present day, genius which will probably enable the "press the button -and we do the rest photographer" before many days are past to reel off -in colour what he now can only accomplish in monochrome. - -[Illustration: -65. BY THE TERRACE, BROCKET HALL -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Lord Mount-Stephen._ -Painted 1900.] - -Portraiture of time-worn cottages where Nature has its way, and -cottars' gardens where flowers come and go at their own sweet will, is -a very different thing from portraiture of a well-kept house, where the -bricklayer and the mason are requisitioned when the slightest decay -shows itself, and of gardens where formal ribbon borders are laid out -by so-called landscape gardeners, whose taste always leans to -bright colours not always massed in the happiest way. In portraits of -houses license is hardly permissible even for artistic effects, for not -only may associations be connected with every slope and turn of a path, -but the artist always has before him the possibility that the drawing -will be hung in close proximity to the scene, for comparison by persons -who may not always be charitably disposed to artistic alterations. It -speaks well, therefore, for Mrs. Allingham in the drawing of the garden -at Brocket that she has produced a drawing which, without offending -the conventions, is still a picture harmonious in colour, and probably -very satisfying to the owner. There are few who would have cared to -essay the very difficult drawing of cedars, and have accomplished it -so well, or have laboured with so much care over the plain-faced house -and windows. As to these latter she has been happy in assisting the -sunlight in the picture by the drawn-down blinds at the angles which -the sun reaches. The scene has clearly been pictured in the full blaze -of summer. - -Brocket Hall is a mansion some three miles north of Hatfield, -Hertfordshire, and a short distance off the Great North Road. It is one -of a string of seats hereabouts which belong to Earl Cowper, but has -been tenanted by Lord Mount-Stephen for some years. The house, which, -as will be seen, has not much architectural pretensions, was built in -the eighteenth century, but it is, to cite an old chronicle, "situate -on a dry hill in a fair park well wooded and greatly timbered" through -which the river Lea winds picturesquely. It is notable as having -been the residence of two Prime Ministers, Lord Melbourne and Lord -Palmerston. The drawing of "The Hawthorn Valley" (Plate 37) is taken -from a part of the park. - -[Illustration: -66. THE SOUTH BORDER -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - -This is one of the borders designed on the graduated doctrine as -practised by Miss Jekyll in her garden at Munstead near Godalming. Here -we have the colours starting at the far end in grey leaves, whites, -blues, pinks, and pale yellows, towards a gorgeous centre of reds, -oranges, and scarlets, the whites being formed of yuccas, the -pinks of hollyhocks, the reds and yellows of gladioli, nasturtiums, -African marigolds, herbaceous sunflowers, dahlias, and geraniums. -Another part of the scheme is seen in the drawing which follows. - -[Illustration: -67. THE SOUTH BORDER -_From the Water-colour in the possession of W. Edwards, Jun._ -Painted 1900.] - -A further illustration of the same border in Miss Jekyll's garden, -but painted a year or two earlier, and representing it at its farther -end, where cool colours are coming into the scheme. The orange-red -flowers hanging over the wall are those of the _Bignonia grandiflora_; -the bushes on either side of the archway with white flowers are -choisyas, and the adjoining ones are red and yellow dahlias, flanked by -tritonias (red-hot pokers); the oranges in front are African marigolds -(hardly reproduced sufficiently brightly), with white marguerites; the -grey-leaved plant to the left is the _Cineraria maritima_. Miss Jekyll -does not entirely keep to her arrangement of masses of colour; whilst, -as an artist, she affects rich masses of colour, she is not above -experimenting by breaking in varieties. - -[Illustration: -68. STUDY OF LEEKS -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1902.] - - I like the leeke above all herbes and flowers, - When first we wore the same the field was ours. - The Leeke is White and Greene, whereby is ment - That Britaines are both stout and eminent; - Next to the Lion and the Unicorn, - The Leeke's the fairest emblym that is worne. - -When Mrs. Allingham in wandering round a garden came upon this bed of -flowering leeks, and, "singularly moved to love the lovely that are -not beloved," at once sat down to paint it in preference to a more -ambitious display in the front garden that was at her service, her -friends probably considered her artistic perception to be peculiar, -and some there may be who will deem the honour given to it by -introduction into these pages to be more than its worth. But it has -more than one claim to recognition here, for it is unusual in subject, -delicate in its violet tints, not unbecoming in form, and is here -disassociated from the disagreeable odour which usually accompanies the -reality. - -[Illustration: -69. THE APPLE ORCHARD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Dobson._ -Painted about 1877.] - -Originally, no doubt, a study of one of those subjects which artists -like to attack, a misshapen tree presenting every imaginable contortion -of foreshortened curvature to harass and worry the draughtsman,--a -tree, specimens of which are too often to be found in old orchards -of this size, whose bearing time has long departed, and who now only -cumber the ground, and with their many fellows have had much to do with -the gradual decay of the English apple industry. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -TENNYSON'S HOMES - - -Few poets have been so fortunate in their residences as was the great -Poet Laureate of the Victorian era in the two which he for many years -called his own. Selected in the first instance for their beauty and -their seclusion, they had other advantages which fitted them admirably -to a poet's temperament. - -Farringford, at the western end of the Isle of Wight, was the first to -be acquired, being purchased in 1853; it was Tennyson's home for forty -years, and the house wherein most of his best-known works were written. -At the time when it came into his hands communication with the mainland -was of the most primitive description, and the poet and his wife had -to cross the Solent in a rowing-boat. So far removed was he from -intrusion there that he could indulge in what to him were favourite -pastimes--sweeping up the leaves, mowing the grass, gravelling the -walks, and digging the beds--without interruption. Many of the visitors -which railway and steamship facilities brought to the neighbourhood in -later years felt that he set the boundary within which no foot other -than his own and that of his friends should tread at an extreme limit. -Golfers over the Needles Links--persons who, perhaps, are prone to -consider that whatever is capable of being made into a course should be -so utilised--were wont to look with covetous eyes over a portion of the -downs that would have formed a much-needed addition to their course, -but over which no ball was allowed to be played. But the pertinacity of -the crowd, in endeavouring to get a sight of the Laureate, necessitated -an inexorable rule if the retreat was to be what it was intended, -namely, a place for work and for rest. - -Mrs. Tennyson thus described "her wild house amongst the pine trees":-- - - The golden green of the trees, the burning splendour of Blackgang - Chine, and the red bank of the primeval river contrasted with the - turkis blue of the sea (that is our view from the drawing-room) make - altogether a miracle of beauty at sunset. We are glad that Farringford - is ours. - -Although at times the weather can be cold and bleak enough in this -sheltered corner of the Isle of Wight, and - - The scream of a madden'd beach - Dragged down by the wave - -must oftentimes have "shocked the ear" in the Farringford house, the -climate is too relaxing an one for continued residence, and Tennyson's -second house, Aldworth, was well chosen as a contrast. Aubrey Vere thus -describes it:-- - - It lifted England's great poet to a height from which he could gaze on - a large portion of that English land which he loved so well, see it - basking in its most affluent beauty, and only bound by the inviolate - sea. - -The house stands at an elevation of some six hundred feet above the -sea, on the spur of Blackdown, which is the highest ground in Sussex, -on a steep side towards the Weald, just where the greensand hills break -off. It is some two miles from Haslemere, and just within the Sussex -border. - -Two of the drawings connected with these houses, which are reproduced -here, were painted before Tennyson's death, namely, in 1890. - -The house at Farringford was drawn in the spring, when the lawn was -pied with daisies, and the Laureate required his heavy cloak to guard -him from the keenness of the April winds. - -The kitchen-garden at Farringford, which somewhat belies its name, for -flowers encroach everywhere upon the vegetables, and the apple trees -rise amidst a parterre of blossom, was painted in its summer aspect, -when it was gay with pinks, stocks, rockets, larkspurs, delphiniums, -aubrietias, eschscholtzias, and big Oriental poppies. Tennyson visited -it almost daily to take the record of the rain-gauge and thermometer, -which can be descried in the drawing about half-way down the path. - -The kitchen-garden at Aldworth opens up a very different prospect to -the banked-up background of trees at Farringford. Standing at a very -considerable elevation, it commands a magnificent view over the Weald -of Sussex. The spot is referred to in the poem "Roses on the Terrace" -in the volume entitled _Demeter_, thus-- - - This red flower, which on our terrace here, - Glows in the blue of fifty miles away; - -as also in the lines-- - - Green Sussex fading into blue, - With one grey glimpse of sea. - -It was this view that the dying poet longed to see once again on his -last morning when he cried, "I want the blinds up! I want to see the -sky and the light!" - -The time of year when Mrs. Allingham painted it was October, and a wet -October too, for two umbrellas even could not keep her from getting wet -through. - -It is rare for Mrs. Allingham to set her flowers so near the horizon as -in this case,--in fact I only remember having seen another instance of -it,--but no doubt the same feeling that appealed to the poet's eye, and -impelled him to pen the lines we have quoted, fascinated the artist's, -namely, the beautiful appearance of the varied hues of flowers against -a background of delicate blue. - -October is the saddest time of year for the garden, but a basket full -of gleanings at that time is more cherished than one in the full -heyday of its magnificence. Here the apple tree has already shed most -of its leaves, the hollyhock stems are baring, and autumnal flowers, -in which yellow so much predominates, as, for instance, the great -marigold, the herbaceous sunflower, and the calliopsis, are much in -evidence. Nasturtiums and every free-growing creeper have long ere this -trailed their stems over the box edging, and made an untidiness which -forebodes their early destruction at the hands of the gardener. Of -sweet-scented flowers only a few peas and mignonette remain. - -Mr. Allingham knew the Poet Laureate for many years, having at one time -lived at Lymington, which is the port of departure for the western end -of the Isle of Wight, and whence he often crossed to Farringford. The -artist's first meeting with Tennyson was soon after her marriage. He -and his son Hallam had come up to town, and had walked over from Mr. -James Knowles's house at Clapham, where they were staying, to Chelsea. -He invited Mrs. Allingham to Aldworth, an invitation which was accepted -shortly afterwards. The poet was very proud of the country which framed -his house, and during this visit he took her his special walks to -Blackdown, to Fir Tree Corner (whence there is a wide view over the -Weald towards the sea), and to a great favourite of his, the Foxes' -Hole, a lovely valley beyond his own grounds. Whilst on this last-named -ramble he suddenly turned round and chided the artist for "chattering -instead of looking at the view." During this visit he read to her a -part of his _Harold_, and the wonder of his voice and whole manner of -reading or chanting she will never forget. - -When the Allinghams came to live at Witley they were able to get to and -from Aldworth in an afternoon, and so were frequent visitors there. One -day in the autumn of 1881 Mrs. Allingham went over alone, owing to her -husband's absence, and after lunch the poet walked with her to Foxes' -Hole, where they sat on bundles of peasticks, she painting an old -cottage since pulled down, and he watching her. After a time he said -slowly, "I should like to do that. It does not look very difficult." -Years later he showed her some water-colour drawings he had made, -from imagination, of Mount Ida clad in dark fir groves, which were -undoubtedly very clever in their suggestiveness. - -Lord Tennyson's Isle of Wight home Mrs. Allingham did not see until -after she returned to live in London, when Mr. Hallam Tennyson, in -conversing with her about her drawings, told her that if she would -come to the Isle of Wight he could show her some fine old cottages. -She accordingly went at the Easter of 1890 to Freshwater, when he was -as good as his word, and she at once began drawings of "The Dairy" -and the cottage "At Pound Green." Miss Kate Greenaway, who had come -to stay with her, also painted them. The next spring, and many springs -afterwards, Mrs. Allingham went to Freshwater, generally after the -Easter holidays. - -During one of these stays she accompanied Birket Foster to Farringford, -and the poet asked the two artists to come for a walk with him. There -happened to be a boy of the party in a sailor costume with a bright -blue collar and a scarlet cap, and Birket Foster, who was at the moment -walking behind with Mrs. Allingham, said, "Why is that red and blue so -disagreeable?" Tennyson's quick ear caught something, and he turned -on them, setting his stick firmly in the ground, and asked Mr. Foster -to explain himself. "Well," Mr. Foster said, "I only know that the -effect of the contrast is to make cold water run down my spine." Mrs. -Allingham cordially agreed with Mr. Birket Foster, but Tennyson could -not feel the "cold water," although he saw their point, and said it -was doubtless with painters as with himself in poetry, namely, that -some combinations of sound gave intense pleasure, whilst others grated, -and he quoted certain lines as being so to him. On another occasion, -whilst walking with him at Freshwater, he said something which led -Mrs. Allingham to mention that she generally kept her drawings by her -for a long time, often for years, working on them now and again and -considering about figures and incidents for them,[14] upon which he -remarked that it was the same in the case of poems, and that he used -generally to keep his by him, often in print, for a considerable time -before publishing. - - * * * * * - -The following drawings have been sufficiently described in the text:-- - -[Illustration: -70. THE HOUSE, FARRINGFORD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. John Mackinnon._ -Painted 1890.] - -[Illustration: -71. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, FARRINGFORD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Combe._ -Painted 1894.] - -[Illustration: -72. THE DAIRY, FARRINGFORD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Douglas Freshfield._ -Painted 1890.] - -[Illustration: -73. ONE OF LORD TENNYSON'S COTTAGES, FARRINGFORD -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. E. Marsh Simpson._ -Painted 1900.] - -[Illustration: -74. A GARDEN IN OCTOBER, ALDWORTH -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. F. Pennington._ -Painted 1891.] - -The next three water-colours find a place here, as having been painted -during visits to the Island. - -[Illustration: 75. -75. HOOK HILL FARM, FRESHWATER -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir James Kitson, Bt., M.P._ -Painted 1891.] - -An old farmhouse on the other side of the Yar Valley to Farringford, -but one which Tennyson often made an object for a walk. It possessed -a fine yard and old thatch-covered barn, which, however, has passed -out of existence, but not before Mrs. Allingham had perpetuated it in -water-colour. This group of buildings has been painted by the artist -from every side, and at other seasons than that represented here, when -pear, apple, and lilac trees, primroses, and daisies vie with one -another in heralding the coming spring. - -[Illustration: -76. AT POUND GREEN, FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Douglas Freshfield._ -Painted about 1891.] - -To the cottage-born child of to-day the name of the "Pound" has little -significance, but even in the writer's recollection it not only had a -fascination but a feeling almost akin to terror, being deemed, in very -truth, to be a prison for the dumb animals who generally, through no -fault of their own, were impounded there. Both it and its tenants too -were always suggestive of starvation. When (following, at some interval -of time, the village stocks) it passed out of use, the countryside, in -losing both, forgot a very cruel phase of life. - -A child of to-day has, with all its education, not acquired many -amusements to replace that of teasing the tenants of the Pound on -the Green, so he never tires of pulling anything with the faintest -similitude to the cart which he will probably spend much of his later -life in driving. Here the youngster has evidently been making -stabling for his toy under a seat whose back is formed out of some -carved relic of an old sailing-ship that was probably wrecked at the -Needles, and whose remains the tide carried in to Freshwater Bay. - -[Illustration: -77. A COTTAGE AT FRESHWATER GATE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir Henry Irving._ -Painted 1891.] - -Tramps are usually few and far between in the Isle of Wight, for the -reason that the island does not rear many, and those from the mainland -do not care to cross the Solent lest, should they be tempted to -wrong-doing, there may be a difficulty in avoiding the arm of the law -or the confines of the island. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, to -find the only flaw in our title of _Happy England_ in such a locality. -But here it is, on this spring day, when apple, and pear, and primrose -blossoms make one - - Bless His name - That He hath mantled the green earth with flowers. - -We have the rift, making the discordant note, of want, in the person of -a woman, dragged down with the burden of four children, sending the -eldest to beg a crust at a house which cannot contain a superfluity of -the good things of this world. - -A singular interest attaches to Mrs. Allingham's drawing of this -cottage. She had nearly completed it on a Saturday afternoon, and was -asked by a friend whether she would finish it next day. To this she -replied that she never sketched in public on Sunday. On Monday the -cottage was a heap of ruins, having been burnt down the previous night. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MRS. ALLINGHAM AND HER CONTEMPORARIES - - -That a true artist is always individual, and that his work is always -affected by some one or other of his predecessors or contemporaries, -would appear to be a paradox: nevertheless it is a proposition that -few will dispute. Art has been practised for too long a period, and by -too many talented professors, for entirely novel views or treatments -of Nature to be possible, and whilst an artist may be entirely unaware -that he has imbibed anything from others, it is certain that if he has -had eyes to see he must have done so. - -I have already stated that Mrs. Allingham's work, whether in subject or -execution, is, so far as she is aware, entirely her own, and it would, -perhaps, be quite sufficient were I to leave the matter after having -placed that assertion on record. To go farther may perhaps lay oneself -open to the charge, _qui s'excuse s'accuse_. I trust not, and that I -may be deemed to be only doing my duty if I deal at some length with -comparisons that have been made between her work and that of certain -other artists. - -The two names with whose productions those of Mrs. Allingham are most -frequently linked are Frederick Walker and Birket Foster: the first in -connection with her figures, the latter with her cottage subjects. - -As regards these two artists it must be remembered that both their and -her early employment lay in the same direction, namely, that of book -illustration, and therefore each started with somewhat similar methods -of execution and subject, varied only by leanings towards the style of -any work they came in contact with, or by their own individuality. - -That both had much in common is well known; in fact, Mrs. Allingham -used to tell Mr. Foster that she considered him, as did others, the -father of Walker and Pinwell. - -In the case of Frederick Walker, his career was at its most interesting -phase whilst Mrs. Allingham was a student. Her first visit to the Royal -Academy was probably in 1868, when his "Vagrants" was exhibited, to -be followed in 1869 by "The Old Gate," in 1870 by "The Plough," and in -1872 by "The Harbour of Refuge." - -It must not be forgotten that the name of Frederick Walker was at this -time in every one's mouth, that is, every one who could be deemed to be -included in the small Art world of those days. The painter visitors to -the Academy schools sang his praises to the students, and he himself -fascinated and charmed them with his boyish and graceful presence. As -Mrs. Allingham says, everybody in the schools "adored" him and his -work, and on the opening of the Academy doors on the first Monday in -May the students rushed to his picture first of all. - -To contradict a dictum of Walker's in those days was the rankest heresy -in a student. Mrs. Allingham remembers an occasion when a painter was -holding forth on the right methods of water-colour work, asserting -that the paper should be put flat down on a table, as was the custom -with the old men, and the colour should be laid on in washes and left -to dry with edges, and if Walker taught any other method he was wrong. -Mrs. Allingham and her fellow-students were furious at their hero being -possibly in fault, and asked for the opinion of an Academician. His -reply was: "And _who_ is Mr. ----, and how does _he_ paint that _he_ -should lay down the law? If Walker _is_ all wrong with his methods, he -paints like an angel." - -Mrs. Allingham's confession of faith is this: "I _was_ influenced, -doubtless, by his work. I adored it, but I never consciously copied -it. It revealed to me certain beauties and aspects of Nature, as du -Maurier's had done, and as North's and others have since done, and -then I saw like things for myself in Nature, and painted them, I truly -think, in my own way--not the best way, I dare say, but in the only way -_I_ could." - -Those, therefore, who discover not the reflection but the inspiration -of Walker in the idyllic grace of Mrs. Allingham's figures, and in her -treatment of flowers, place her in a company which she readily accepts, -and is proud of. - -But it is with Birket Foster that our artist's name has been more -intimately linked by the critics, some even going to the length of -asserting that without him there would have been no Mrs. Allingham. - -Having had the pleasure of an intimacy with Birket Foster, which -extended to writing his biography (_Birket Foster: His Life and -Work_, Virtue and Co., 1890), I can emphatically assert that he never -held that opinion, but stated that she had struck out a line which -was entirely her own, and, as he generously added, "with much more -modernity in it than mine." - -There are, however, so many similarities between their artistic careers -that I may be excused for dwelling on some of them, for they no doubt -unconsciously influenced not only the method of their work but the -subject of it. - -Drawing in black and white on wood in each case formed the groundwork -of their education, and was only followed by colour at a subsequent -stage. - -Both, having determined to support themselves, were fain to seek -out the engravers and obtain from them a livelihood. Birket Foster -at sixteen was fortunate enough to meet in Landells one who at once -recognised his capabilities, whilst Mrs. Allingham found a similar -friend in Joseph Swain. Again, book illustration was as much in vogue -in 1870 as it was in 1842; and by another coincidence both years -witnessed the birth of an illustrated weekly, for Birket Foster, in -1842, was employed upon the infant _Illustrated London News_, while -Mrs. Allingham was the only lady to whom Mr. Thomas allotted some of -the early work on the _Graphic_. Differences there were in their -opportunities, and these were not always in the lady's favour. Birket -Foster found in Landells a man who looked after his youngster's -education, and, convinced that Nature was his best mistress, sent -him to her with these instructions: "Now that work is slack in these -summer months, spend them in the fields; take your colours and copy -every detail of the scene as carefully as possible, especially trees -and foreground plants, and come up to me once a month and show me what -you have done." A splendid memory aided Foster in his studies all too -well, for he learnt to draw with such absolute fidelity every detail -that he required, that he never again required to go to Nature. That he -did so we know from his repeated visits to every part of Europe--visits -resulting in delightful work; but what the world saw was entirely -studio work, and this tended to a repetition which oftentimes marred -the entire satisfaction that one otherwise derived from his drawings. -Mrs. Allingham herself, although living close to and engaged on the -same subjects, never came across him painting out of doors, and only -once saw him note-book in hand. - -Chance influenced the two careers also in another way, which might -have made any similarity between them altogether out of question. The -first commission to illustrate a book which Miss Paterson obtained -was a prose work, in which figures and household scenes entirely -predominated,--in fact, all her black-and-white work was of this homely -nature,--and for some years she had no call for the delineation of -landscape. With Foster it was not very different. It is true that his -first commission was _The Boys Spring and Summer Book_, in which he had -to draw the seasons, and to draw them afield. But this might not have -attracted him to landscape work, for his patron's next commission was -quite in another direction. I may be excused for referring to it at -length, for the little-known incident is of some interest now that the -actors in it have each achieved such world-wide reputations. Certain -of the young pre-Raphaelites, including Rossetti, Burne-Jones, and -Millais, had been entrusted with the illustration of _Evangeline_. -The result was a perfect staggerer to the publisher Bogue, who was -altogether unable to appreciate their revolutionary methods. "What -shall I do with them?" he was asked by the engraver to whom he showed -the blocks on which most elaborate designs had been most lovingly -drawn. "This," said Bogue, and wetting one of them he erased the -drawing with the sleeve of his coat, serving each in turn in the same -way. - -After this drastic treatment the _Evangeline_ commission was handed -over to Birket Foster. It can be easily imagined with what trepidation -he, knowing these facts, approached and carried out his task, and his -delight when even the _Athenæum_ could say, "A more lovely book than -this has rarely been given to the public." The success of the work -was enormous. His career was apparently henceforth marked out as an -illustrator of verse in black and white, for his popularity continued -until it was not a question of giving him commissions, but of what book -there was for him to illustrate; and he used laughingly to say that -finally there was nothing left for him but Young's _Night Thoughts_ and -Pollok's _Course of Time_.[15] - -Thus we see that Birket Foster's art work was for long confined to -subjects as to which he had no voice, but which certainly influenced -his art, and it says much for his temperament that throughout it -warranted the term "poetical." In like manner it is much to Mrs. -Allingham's credit that her prosaic start did not prevent the same -quality welling up and being always in evidence in her productions. - -If I have not wearied the reader I would like to point out some further -coincidences in their careers which are of interest. - -Birket Foster became a water-colourist through the chance that he -could not sell his oil-paintings, which consequently cumbered his -small working-room to such an extent that one night he cut them all -from their stretchers, rolled them up, and sneaking out, dropped them -over Blackfriars Bridge into the Thames; water-colours cost less to -produce and took up less space, so he adopted them. Mrs. Allingham -abandoned oils after a year or two's work in them at the Royal Academy -Schools, because she gradually became convinced that she could express -herself better in water-colours. But she considered that it was a great -advantage to have worked, even for the short time, in the stronger -medium. It was this practice in oils that made her for some time -(until, indeed, Walker's lessons to her at the Royal Academy) use a -good deal of body-colour. - -Both artists aspired to obtain the highest rank which then, as now, -is open to the water-colourist, namely, membership of The Royal -Water-Colour Society, but whilst Birket Foster only attained it in -1860, in his thirty-fifth year, and at his second attempt, Mrs. -Allingham followed him in 1875, when only twenty-six, and at her first -essay. Both promptly at once gave up a remunerative income in black and -white, and having done so, never had cause to regret their decision. - -The coincidences do not end even here, for both within a year or two of -their election found themselves, the one on the invitation of Mr. Hook, -R.A., the other, twenty years later, for reasons we have mentioned, -settled near the same village, Witley, in the heart of the country -which they have since identified with their names. Here the selection -of subjects from the same neighbourhood naturally brought their work -still closer together. - -Both of them have been attracted to Venice; Mr. Foster again and again, -Mrs. Allingham only within the last year or two. - -Lastly, few artists have been indulged with so many smiles and so few -frowns from the public for which they have catered. Birket Foster -considered that he had been almost pampered by the critics, and -Mrs. Allingham has never had the slightest cause to complain of her -treatment at their hands. - -Having dwelt at such length upon the interesting concurrences in -their careers, I now pass on to a comparison of their methods of -work; and here there are many resemblances, but these are no doubt -due to the times in which they lived. Birket Foster found himself, -when he commenced, the pupil of a school which had some merits and -more demerits. Composition and drawing were still thought of, and -before a landscape artist presumed to pose as such, he had to study -the laws which governed the former, and to thoroughly imbue himself -with a knowledge of the anatomy of what he was about to depict. -Mrs. Allingham, as I have pointed out, was also fortunate enough to -commence her tuition before the fashion of undergoing this needful -apprenticeship died out. But Birket Foster came at the end of a time -when landscape was painted in the studio rather than in the field. He -went to Nature for suggestions, which he pencilled into note-books in -the most facile and learned manner, but content with this he made -his pictures under comfortable conditions at home. The fulness of -his career, too, came at a time when Art was booming, and the demand -for his work was such that he could not keep pace with it. It is not -surprising, therefore, that in the zenith of his fame his pictures -were, in the main, studio pictures, worked out with a marvellous -facility of invention, but nevertheless just lacking that vitality -which always pervades work done in the open air and before Nature. - -Mrs. Allingham's work at the outset was very similar to this. For her -subject drawings she made elaborate preliminary studies from Nature -in colour, but the drawing itself was thought and carried out in the -house. Fortunately this method soon became unpalatable to her, and she -gradually came to work more and more directly from Nature, and when, at -Witley, she found her subjects at her doors, she discontinued once and -for ever her former method. Since then she has painted every drawing -on the spot during the months that it is feasible, leaving actual -completion for some time, to enable her to view her work with a fresh -eye, and to study at leisure the final details, such, for instance, as -where the figures shall be grouped, usually posing, for this purpose, -her models in the open air in her Hampstead garden. Her figures are, -however, sometimes culled from careful studies made in note-books, -of which she has an endless supply. Fastidious to a degree as to the -completeness of a drawing, she lingers long over the finishing touches, -for it is these which she considers make or mar the whole. Every sort -of contrivance she considers to be legitimate to bring about an effect, -save that of body-colour, which she holds in abhorrence; but the -knife, a hard brush, a pointed stick, a paint rag, and a sponge are in -constant request. - -Mrs. Allingham is above all things a fair-weather painter. She has no -pleasure in the storm, whether of rain or wind. Maybe this avoidance -of the discomforts inseparable from a truthful portrayal of such -conditions indicates the femininity of her nature. Doubtless it -does. But is she to blame? Her work is framed upon the pleasure that -it affords her, and it is certain that the result is none the less -satisfactory because it only numbers the sunny hours and the halcyon -days. - -I ought perhaps to have qualified the expression "sunny hours," for as -a rule she does not affect a sunshine which casts strong shadows, but -rather its condition when, through a thin veil of cloud, it suffuses -all Nature with an equable light, and allows local colour to be seen -at its best. In drawings which comprise any large amount of floral -detail, the leaves, in full sunshine, give off an amount of reflected -light that materially lessens the colour value of the flowers, and -prevents their being properly distinguished. Mr. Elgood, the painter -of flower-gardens _par excellence_, always observes this rule, not -only because the effect is so much more satisfactory on paper, but -because it is so much easier to paint under this aspect. As regards -sky treatment, both he and Mrs. Allingham, it will be noted, confine -themselves to the simplest sky effects, feeling that the main interest -lies on the ground, where the detail is amply sufficient to warrant -the accessories being kept as subservient as possible. For this reason -it is that the glories of sunrise and sunset have no place in Mrs. -Allingham's work, the hours round mid-day sufficing for her needs. - -To the curiously minded concerning her palette, it may be said that -it is of the simplest character. Her paint-box is the smallest that -will hold her colours in moist cake form, of which none are used -save those which she considers to be permanent. It contains cobalt, -permanent yellow, aureolin, raw sienna, yellow ochre, cadmium, rose -madder, light red, and sepia. She now uses nothing save O.W. (old -water-colour) paper. Mrs. Allingham's method of laying on the colour -differs from that of Birket Foster, who painted wet and in small -touches. Her painting is on the dry side, letting her colours mingle on -the paper. As a small bystander once remarked concerning it, "You do -mess about a deal." - -Mrs. Allingham has been a constant worker for upwards of a quarter of -a century, during which time, in addition to contributing to the Royal -Society, she has held seven Exhibitions at The Fine Art Society's, each -of them averaging some seventy numbers. She has, therefore, upon her -own calculation, put forth to the world nearly a thousand drawings. In -spite of this, they seldom appear in the sale-room, and when they do -they share with Birket Foster's work the unusual distinction of always -realising more than the artist received for them. - - * * * * * - -The illustrations which adorn this closing chapter have no connection -with its subject, but are not on that account altogether out of place; -for they are the only ones which are outside the title of the work, -two being from Ireland, and two from Venice, and they are associated -with two of the main incidents of the artist's life, namely, her -marriage, and her only art work abroad. - -[Illustration: -78. A CABIN AT BALLYSHANNON -_From a Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1891.] - -Ballyshannon is the birthplace of Mr. William Allingham, who married -Mrs. Allingham in 1874. It is situated in County Donegal, and was -described by him as "an odd, out-of-the way little town on the extreme -western verge of Europe; our next neighbours, sunset way, being -citizens of the great Republic, which indeed to our imagination seemed -little, if at all, farther off than England in the opposite direction. -Before it spreads a great ocean, behind stretches many an islanded -lake. On the south runs a wavy line of blue mountains, and on the -north, over green, rocky hills, rise peaks of a more distant range. The -trees hide in glens or cluster near the river; grey rocks and boulders -lie scattered about the windy pastures." Here Mr. Allingham was born -of the good old stock of one of Cromwell's settlers, and here he -lived until he was two-and-twenty. The drawing now reproduced was made -when Mrs. Allingham visited the place with his children after his death -in 1889. Many ruined cabins lie around; money is scarce in Donegal, -and each year the tenants become fewer, some emigrating, others who -have done so sending to their relations to join them. Better times are -indeed necessary if the country is not to become a desert. - -[Illustration: -79. THE FAIRY BRIDGES -_From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist._ -Painted 1891.] - -The Fairy Bridges--a series of natural arches, carved or shaken out of -the cliffs, in times long past, by the rollers of the Atlantic--are -within a walk of Ballyshannon, and were often visited by Mrs. Allingham -during her stay there. Three of them (there are five in all) are seen -in the drawing, and a quaint and mythological faith connects them with -Elfindom--a faith which every Irishman in the last generation imbibed -with his mother's milk, and which is not yet extinct in the lovely -crags and glens of Donegal. - -The scene is introduced into two of Mr. Allingham's best-known songs; -in one, "The Fairies," thus-- - - Up the airy mountain, - Down the rushy glen, - We daren't go a-hunting - For fear of little men. - Down along the rocky shore - Some make their home, - They live in crispy pancakes - Of yellow tide foam. - -The only land which separates the wind-swept Fairy Bridges from America -is the Slieve-League headland, whose wavy outline is seen in the -distance. It, too, finds a place in one of Mr. Allingham's songs, "The -Winding Banks of Erne: the Emigrant's Adieu to his Birthplace" (which -in ballad form is sung by Erin's children all the world over)-- - - Farewell to you, Kildenny lads, and them that pull an oar, - A lug-sail set, or haul a net, from the Point to Mullaghmore; - From Killikegs to bold Slieve-League, that ocean mountain steep, - Six hundred yards in air aloft, six hundred in the deep, - From Dorran to the Fairy Bridge, and round by Tullen Strand, - Level and long and white with waves, where gull and curlew stand, - Head out to sea, when on your lee the breakers you discern! - Adieu to all the billowy coast, and winding banks of Erne! - -By a curious coincidence Mr. Allingham when here in "the eighties" sent -an "Invitation to a Painter"[16]-- - - O come hither! weeks together let us watch the big Atlantic, - Blue or purple, green or gurly, dark or shining, smooth or frantic; - -but the first to come was his own wife. - -[Illustration: -80. THE CHURCH OF STA. MARIA DELLA SALUTE, VENICE -_From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ -Painted 1901.] - -Mrs. Allingham, after an absence of thirty-three years, visited Italy -again in 1901, in company with a fellow-artist, and the following -year the Exhibition of the Old Water-Colour Society was rendered -additionally interesting by a comparison of her rendering of Venice -with that of a fellow lady-member, Miss Clara Montalba, to whose -individuality in dealing with it we have before referred. - -The drawing of Mrs. Allingham's here reproduced shows Venice in quite -an English aspect as regards weather. It is almost a grey day; it -certainly is a fresh one, and has nothing in common with one which -induces the spending of much time about in a gondola. - -In selecting the Salute for one of her principal illustrations of -Venice, Mrs. Allingham has respectfully followed in the footsteps of -England's greatest landscapist, for Turner made it the main object in -his great effort of the Grand Canal, and there are few of the craft who -have failed to limn it again and again in their story of Venice. - -But whilst most people are disposed to regard it as one of the most -beautiful features of the city, the church has fallen under the ban of -those exponents of architecture that have studied it carefully. - -Mr. Ruskin classified it under the heading of "Grotesque Renaissance," -although he admitted that its position, size, and general proportions -rendered it impressive. Its proportions were good, but its graceful -effect was due to the inequality in the size of its cupolas and the -pretty grouping of the campaniles behind them. But he qualified his -praise by an opinion that the proportions of buildings have nothing -whatever to do with the style or general merits of their architecture, -for an artist trained in the worst schools, and utterly devoid of all -meaning and purpose in his work, may yet have such a natural gift -of massing or grouping as will render all his structures effective -when seen from a distance. Such a gift was very general with the late -Italian builders, so that many of the most contemptible edifices in the -country have a good stage effect so long as we do not approach them. -The Church of the Salute is much assisted by the beautiful flight of -steps in front of it down to the Canal, and its façade is rich and -beautiful of its kind. What raised the anger of Ruskin was the disguise -of the buttresses under the form of colossal scrolls, the buttresses -themselves being originally a hypocrisy, for the cupola is of timber, -and therefore needs none. - -[Illustration: -81. A FRUIT STALL, VENICE -_From the Drawing, the property of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ -Painted 1902.] - -A lover of gardens and their produce, such as Mrs. Allingham is, could -not visit Venice without being captivated by the wealth of colour which -Nature has lavished upon the contents of the Venetian fruit stalls. -Even the most indifferent, when they get into meridional parts, cannot -be insensible to the luscious hues which the fruit baskets display. -To look out of the window of one's hotel on an Italian lake-side at -dawn and see the boats coming from all quarters of the lake laden with -the luscious tomatoes, plums, and other fruits, is not among the least -of the delights of a sojourn there. Mrs. Allingham's drawing bears -upon its face evidences that it is a literal translation of the scene. -We have none of the introduction of stage accessories in the way of -secchios and other studio belongings which find a place in most of -the Venetian output of this character. She has evidently delighted in -the mysteries of the tones of the wicker baskets, for we recognise in -them traces of the skill she achieves in England in the delineation -of similar surfaces on her tiled roofs. Her figure, too, has nothing -of the studio model in it. This black-haired girl is a new type for -her, but it is a faithful transcript of the original, and not one of -the robust beauties which one is accustomed to in the pictures of -Van Haanen and his followers. The stall itself was located somewhere -between the Campo San Stefano and the Rialto. - - * * * * * - -With these illustrations of Mrs. Allingham's painting elsewhere than -in England our tale is told. We trust that this digression, which -appeared to be necessary if a complete survey of the artist's lifework -up to the present time was to be portrayed, will not be deemed to have -appreciably affected the appropriateness of the title to the volume, -nor invalidated the claim that we have made as to her work having -most felicitously represented the fairest aspects of English life and -landscape--English life, whether of peer, commoner, or peasant, passed -under its healthiest and happiest conditions, and English landscape -under spring and summer skies and dressed in its most beauteous array -of flower and foliage--an England of which we may to-day be as proud -as were those who lived when the immortal lines concerning it were -penned:-- - - This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, - This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, - This other Eden, demi-paradise; - This fortress built by Nature for herself - Against infection and the hand of war; - This happy breed of men, this little world; - This precious stone set in the silver sea, - Which serves it in the office of a wall, - Or as a moat defensive to a house, - Against the envy of less happier lands; - This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, - This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, - This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, - Dear for reputation through the world;-- - England, bound in with the triumphant sea, - Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege - Of watery Neptune. - - -THE END - - -_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Clayton's _English Female Artists_, 1876. - -[2] In the Exhibition of 1903, 330 out of 1180, or 28 per cent, were -ladies. - -[3] The first female gold medallist was Miss Louisa Starr (now Madame -Canziani), and she was followed by Miss Jessie Macgregor, a niece of -Alfred Hunt. - -[4] The Parish Register shows that the plague reached Chalfont later on. - -[5] See _Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to William Allingham_. -(London: Fisher Unwin, 1897.) - -[6] _A Flat Iron for a Farthing, or some Passages in the Life of an -Only Son_, by Juliana Horatia Ewing. (George Bell and Sons.) - -[7] The model was a Mrs. Stewart, who, with her husband, sat to Mrs. -Allingham for years. They were well known in art circles, and had -charge of the Hogarth Club, Fitzroy Square, when Mrs. Allingham, before -her marriage, lived in Southampton Row close by. She introduced the -models to Mr. du Maurier, who immediately engaged them, and continued -to use them for many years. "Ponsonby de Tompkins" was Stewart, run -to seed, and "Mrs. Ponsonby de Tompkins" a very good portrait of Mrs. -Stewart. - -[8] Lord Tennyson quoted this line to Mrs. Allingham one day when, -walking with him, they passed ground covered with the fallen flowers of -the lime trees. - -[9] I have been reminded by the artist that my first introduction -to her was at Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, whither I went to see the -products of this Shere visit, and that I came away with some of them in -my possession. - -[10] Another tree at Hatfield also claims this distinction. - -[11] See "In Wormley Wood" (Plate 46), in the description of which I -have referred to the reasons for the disappearance of thatch as a roof -material. An additional one to those there mentioned is without doubt -the risk of fire. Since the introduction of coal, chimneys clog much -more readily with soot, and a fire from one of these with its showers -of sparks may quickly set ablaze not only the cottage where this -happens, but the whole village. That the insurance companies, by their -higher premiums for thatch-covered houses, recognise a greater risk, -may or may not be proof of greater liability to conflagration, but we -certainly nowadays hear of much fewer of those disasters, which even -persons now living can remember, whereby whole villages were swept out -of existence. - -[12] Do not these lines rather refer to gorse? - -[13] Rightly perhaps, for the local doctor pleasantly inquired while -she was painting it, why she had selected a house that had had more -fever in it than any other in the parish. - -[14] Mrs. Allingham's friends sometimes say to her, "You paint so -quickly." Her reply is, "Perhaps I make a quick beginning, but I take a -long time to finish." Which is the fact. - -[15] When will the day come that editions of the books illustrated by -Birket Foster will attain to their proper value? The poets illustrated -by miserable process blocks find a sale, whilst these volumes, issued -in the middle of the last century, and containing the finest specimens -of the wood-cutting art, attract, if we may judge by the second-hand -book-sellers' catalogues, no purchasers even at a sum which is a -fraction of their original price. - -[16] _Irish Songs and Poems_ (1887), p. 47. - - -[Transcriber's Note: - -Plate images have been moved to the beginning of the text headers. - -Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.] - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY ENGLAND *** - -***** This file should be named 54696-0.txt or 54696-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/6/9/54696/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - diff --git a/old/54696-0.zip b/old/54696-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1ab0af1..0000000 --- a/old/54696-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h.zip b/old/54696-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index eb6b538..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/54696-h.htm b/old/54696-h/54696-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 92d3612..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/54696-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7556 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Happy England, by Marcus Bourne Huish</title> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> -<style type="text/css"> - -a { - text-decoration: none} - -.antiqua { - font-family: Blackletter, Fraktur, Textur, "Olde English Mt", "Olde English", Gothic, sans-serif} - -body { - padding: 4px; - margin: auto 10%} - -p { - text-align: justify} - -.x-small { - font-size: x-small} - -.small { - font-size: small} - -.medium { - font-size: medium} - -.large { - font-size: large} - -.xx-large { - font-size: 200%} - -h1, h2 { - page-break-before: always} - -h1, h2, h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - font-weight: normal; - clear: both; - margin: 2em auto 1em auto} - -.author { - display: block; - text-align: right; - margin: auto 10px} - -hr { - border-top: 4px double #004200} - -hr.tb { - width: 45%; margin: 2em 27.5%; clear: both} - -/* Tables */ -.table { - display: table; - margin: auto} - -.trow { - display: table-row} - -table { - margin: 2em auto} - -th { - padding: 5px} - -td { - vertical-align: top; - text-indent: -1em; - padding-left: 1em} - -.toc td:first-child { - text-align: right} - -.tdc { - text-align: center} - -.tdr { - vertical-align: bottom; - text-align: right} - -/* End Tables */ - -.copy { - font-size: small; - text-align: center} - -.smcap { - font-style: normal; - font-variant: small-caps} - -.caption { - text-align: center} - -/* Images */ -img { - border: none; - max-width: 100%} - -.figcenter { - clear: both; - display: table; - margin: 2em auto; - text-align: center} - -.figright { - float: right; - clear: right; - margin: auto} - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnotes { - margin: 2em auto; - border: 4px double #004200} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-size: x-small; - line-height: .1em; - text-decoration: none; - white-space: nowrap /* keeps footnote on same line as referenced text */} - -.footnote p:first-child { - text-indent: -2.5em} - -.footnote p { - margin: 1em; - padding-left: 2.5em} - -.label { - width: 2em; - display: inline-block; - text-align: right; - text-decoration: none} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - color: #004200; - position: absolute; - right: 5px; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-size: small; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - border: #004200 double 4px; - color: black; - margin: 2em auto; - padding: 1em} - -/* Poetry */ - -.poetry { - margin: auto; - text-align: center} - -.poem { - margin: auto; - display: inline-block; - text-align: left} - -.poem .stanza { - margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em} - .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 7em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i22 {display: block; margin-left: 11em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i28 {display: block; margin-left: 14em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Happy England, by Marcus B. Huish</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Happy England</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Marcus B. Huish</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Helen Allingham</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: May 10, 2017 [EBook #54696]<br /> -[Most recently updated: December 31, 2020]</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: MFR, Adrian Mastronardi, Wayne Hammond and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> -<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY ENGLAND ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h1 id="HAPPY_ENGLAND">HAPPY ENGLAND</h1> - -<p class="copy"> -AGENTS IN AMERICA<br /> -THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br /> -<span class="smcap">66 Fifth Avenue, New York</span> -</p> - -<div id="Plate_1" class="figcenter"> -<p class="caption">1. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST</p> -<img src="images/plate_1.jpg" alt="" /> -<p class="x-small"><i>Fradelle & Young.</i></p> -<p class="figright"> -<span class="trow tdr"><img src="images/i_signature.jpg" alt="" /><br /></span> -<span class="trow tdr">H. Allingham (signature)</span> -</p></div> - -<h2> -<span class="antiqua xx-large">Beautiful Britain</span><br /> -<br /> -HAPPY ENGLAND<br /> -<br /> -<span class="large table">BY HELEN ALLINGHAM, R.W.S.<br /> -TEXT BY MARCUS B. HUISH</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="large table">ROYAL CANADIAN EDITION<br /> -<span class="medium">LIMITED TO 1000 SETS</span></span><br /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" /><br /> -<br /> -<span class="large table">CAMBRIDGE CORPORATION, LIMITED<br /> -MONTREAL<br /> -<br /> -A. & C. BLACK, LONDON</span> -</h2> - -<h2 id="Contents">Contents</h2> - -<table> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td /> - <td class="tdr x-small">Page</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Our Title</td> - <td class="tdr">1</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Paintresses, Past and Present</td> - <td class="tdr">13</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Artist's Early Work</td> - <td class="tdr">27</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Artist's Surrey Home</td> - <td class="tdr">67</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Influence of Witley</td> - <td class="tdr">81</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>The Woods, the Lanes, and the Fields</td> - <td class="tdr">98</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Cottages and Homesteads</td> - <td class="tdr">118</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Gardens and Orchards</td> - <td class="tdr">151</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Tennyson's Homes</td> - <td class="tdr">168</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>Mrs. Allingham and her Contemporaries</td> - <td class="tdr">181</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<h2 id="List_of_Illustrations">List of Illustrations</h2> - -<table class="toc"> - <tr> - <td>1.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_1">Portrait of the Artist</a></td> - <td /> - <td class="x-small tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER I</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td /> - <td /> - <td class="x-small tdc">Owner of Original.</td> - <td class="tdr x-small">Facing page</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>2.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_2">In the Farmhouse Garden</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>3.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_3">The Market Cross, Hagbourne</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. E. Lamb</i></td> - <td class="tdr">10</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>4.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_4">The Robin</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. S. H. S. Lofthouse</i></td> - <td class="tdr">12</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER II</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>5.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_5">Milton's House, Chalfont St. Giles</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. J. A. Combe</i></td> - <td class="tdr">22</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>6.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_6">The Waller Oak, Coleshill</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">24</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>7.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_7">Apple and Pear Blossom</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Theodore Uzielli</i></td> - <td class="tdr">26</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER III</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>8.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_8">The Young Customers</a></td> - <td><i>Miss Bell</i></td> - <td class="tdr">50</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>9.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_9">The Sand-Martins' Haunt</a></td> - <td><i>Miss Marian James</i></td> - <td class="tdr">54</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>10.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_10">The Old Men's Gardens, Chelsea Hospital</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. Churchill</i></td> - <td class="tdr">56</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>11.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_11">The Clothes-Line</a></td> - <td><i>Miss Marian James</i></td> - <td class="tdr">58</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>12.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_12">The Convalescent</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. R. S. Budgett</i></td> - <td class="tdr">60</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>13.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_13">The Goat Carriage</a></td> - <td><i>Sir F. Wigan, Bt.</i></td> - <td class="tdr">62</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>14.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_14">The Clothes-Basket</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. P. Johnson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">62</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>15.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_15">In the Hayloft</a></td> - <td><i>Miss Bell</i></td> - <td class="tdr">64</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>16.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_16"> The Rabbit Hutch</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. P. Johnson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">64</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>17.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_17">The Donkey Ride</a></td> - <td><i>Sir J. Kitson, Bt., M.P.</i></td> - <td class="tdr">66</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER IV</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>18.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_18">A Witley Lane</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. H. W. Birks</i></td> - <td class="tdr">74</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>19.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_19">Hindhead from Witley Common</a></td> - <td><i>The Lord Chief Justice of England</i></td> - <td class="tdr">76</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>20.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_20">In Witley Village</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Charles Churchill</i></td> - <td class="tdr">76</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>21.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_21">Blackdown from Witley Common</a></td> - <td><i>Lord Davey</i></td> - <td class="tdr">78</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>22.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_22">The Fish-Shop, Haslemere</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. A. E. Cumberbatch</i></td> - <td class="tdr">80</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER V</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>23.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_23">The Children's Tea</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. W. Hollins</i></td> - <td class="tdr">86</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>24.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_24"> The Stile</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Alfred Shuttleworth</i></td> - <td class="tdr">88</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>25.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_25">“Pat-a-Cake”</a></td> - <td><i>Sir F. Wigan, Bt.</i></td> - <td class="tdr">90</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>26.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_26">Lessons</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. P. Johnson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">90</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>27.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_27">Bubbles</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. H. B. Beaumont</i></td> - <td class="tdr">92</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>28.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_28">On the Sands—Sandown, Isle of Wight</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Francis Black</i></td> - <td class="tdr">92</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>29.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_29">Drying Clothes</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. P. Johnson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">94</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>30.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_30">Her Majesty's Post Office</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. H. B. Beaumont</i></td> - <td class="tdr">94</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>31.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_31">The Children's Maypole</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Dobson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">96</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER VI</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>32.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_32"> Spring on the Kentish Downs</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Beddington</i></td> - <td class="tdr">102</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>33.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_33"> Tig Bridge</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. E. S. Curwen</i></td> - <td class="tdr">104</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>34.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_34"> Spring in the Oakwood</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">106</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>35.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_35"> The Cuckoo</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. A. Hugh Thompson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">106</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>36.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_36"> The Old Yew Tree</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">108</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>37.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_37"> The Hawthorn Valley, Brocket</a></td> - <td><i>Lord Mount-Stephen</i></td> - <td class="tdr">108</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>38.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_38"> Ox-eye Daisies, near Westerham, Kent</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">110</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>39.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_39"> Foxgloves</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. C. A. Barton</i></td> - <td class="tdr">112</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>40.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_40"> Heather on Crockham Hill, Kent</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">114</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>41.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_41"> On the Pilgrims' Way</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">114</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>42.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_42"> Night-jar Lane, Witley</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. E. S. Curwen</i></td> - <td class="tdr">116</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER VII</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>43.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_43"> Cherry-tree Cottage, Chiddingfold</a></td> - <td><i>The Lord Chief Justice of England</i></td> - <td class="tdr">130</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>44.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_44"> Cottage at Chiddingfold</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. H. L. Florence</i></td> - <td class="tdr">130</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>45.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_45"> A Cottage at Hambledon</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. F. Pennington</i></td> - <td class="tdr">132</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>46.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_46"> In Wormley Wood</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Le Poer Trench</i></td> - <td class="tdr">134</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>47.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_47"> The Elder Bush, Brook Lane, Witley</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Marcus B. Huish</i></td> - <td class="tdr">136</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>48.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_48"> The Basket Woman</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. E. F. Backhouse</i></td> - <td class="tdr">138</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>49.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_49"> Cottage at Shottermill, near Haslemere</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. W. D. Houghton</i></td> - <td class="tdr">140</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>50.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_50"> Valewood Farm</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">142</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>51.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_51"> An Old House at West Tarring</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">142</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>52.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_52"> An Old Buckinghamshire House</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. H. W. Birks</i></td> - <td class="tdr">142</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>53.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_53"> The Duke's Cottage</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Maurice Hill</i></td> - <td class="tdr">144</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>54.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_54"> The Condemned Cottage</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">144</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>55.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_55"> On Ide Hill</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. E. W. Fordham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">146</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>56.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_56"> A Cheshire Cottage, Alderley Edge</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. A. S. Littlejohns</i></td> - <td class="tdr">146</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>57.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_57"> The Six Bells</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. George Wills</i></td> - <td class="tdr">148</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>58.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_58"> A Kentish Farmyard</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Arthur R. Moro</i></td> - <td class="tdr">150</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER VIII</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>59.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_59"> Study of a Rose Bush</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">156</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>60.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_60"> Wallflowers</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. F. G. Debenham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">156</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>61.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_61"> Minna</a></td> - <td><i>The Lord Chief Justice of England</i></td> - <td class="tdr">158</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>62.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_62"> A Kentish Garden</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">158</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>63.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_63"> Cutting Cabbages</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. E. W. Fordham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">160</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>64.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_64"> In a Summer Garden</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. W. Newall</i></td> - <td class="tdr">160</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>65.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_65"> By the Terrace, Brocket Hall</a></td> - <td><i>Lord Mount-Stephen</i></td> - <td class="tdr">162</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>66.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_66"> The South Border</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">164</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>67.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_67"> The South Border</a></td> - <td><i>W. Edwards, Jun.</i></td> - <td class="tdr">164</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>68.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_68"> Study of Leeks</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">166</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>69.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_69"> The Apple Orchard</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Dobson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">166</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER IX</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>70.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_70"> The House, Farringford</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. J. Mackinnon</i></td> - <td class="tdr">176</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>71.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_71"> The Kitchen-Garden, Farringford</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Combe</i></td> - <td class="tdr">176</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>72.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_72"> The Dairy, Farringford</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Douglas Freshfield</i></td> - <td class="tdr">176</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>73.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_73"> One of Lord Tennyson's Cottages, Farringford</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. E. Marsh Simpson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">176</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>74.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_74"> A Garden in October, Aldworth</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. F. Pennington</i></td> - <td class="tdr">176</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>75.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_75"> Hook Hill Farm, Freshwater</a></td> - <td><i>Sir J. Kitson, Bt., M.P.</i></td> - <td class="tdr">176</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>76.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_76"> At Pound Green, Freshwater</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. Douglas Freshfield</i></td> - <td class="tdr">178</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>77.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_77"> A Cottage at Freshwater Gate</a></td> - <td><i>Sir Henry Irving</i></td> - <td class="tdr">178</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th colspan="4">CHAPTER X</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>78.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_78"> A Cabin at Ballyshannon</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">196</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>79.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_79"> The Fairy Bridges</a></td> - <td><i>Mrs. Allingham</i></td> - <td class="tdr">198</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>80.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_80"> The Church of Sta. Maria della Salute, Venice</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. P. Johnson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">200</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>81.</td> - <td><a href="#Plate_81"> A Fruit Stall, Venice</a></td> - <td><i>Mr. C. P. Johnson</i></td> - <td class="tdr">202</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class="copy"><i>The illustrations in this volume have been engraved and printed by the -Hentschel Colourtype Company.</i> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p> - -<h2 class="xx-large" id="Happy_England">Happy England</h2> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br /> - -<span class="medium">OUR TITLE</span></h2> - -<p>To choose a title that will felicitously fit the lifework -of an artist is no easy matter, especially -when the product is a very varied one, and the -producer is disposed to take a modest estimate of -its value.</p> - -<p>In the present case the titles that have suggested -themselves to one or other of those concerned in -the selection have not been few, and a friendly -contest has ensued over the desire of the artist -on the one hand to belittle, and of author and -publishers on the other to fairly appraise, both -the ground which her work covers and the -qualities which it contains.</p> - -<p>The first point to be considered in giving the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span> -volume a name was that it forms one of a series -in which an endeavour—and, to judge by public -appreciation, a successful endeavour—has been -made to illustrate in colour an artist’s impressions -of a particular country: as, for instance, Mr. John -Fulleylove’s of the Holy Land, Mr. Talbot Kelly’s -of Egypt, and Mr. Mortimer Menpes’s of Japan. -Now Mrs. Allingham throughout her work has -been steadfast in her adherence to the portrayal -of one country only. She has never travelled or -painted outside Europe, and within its limits only -at one place outside the British Isles, namely, -Venice. Even in her native country her work -has been strictly localised. Neither Scotland nor -Wales has attracted her attention since the days -when she first worked seriously as an artist, and -Ireland has only received a scanty meed, and that -due to family ties. England, therefore, was the -one and only name under which her work could -be included within the series, and that has very -properly been assigned to it.</p> - -<p>But it will be seen that to this has been added -the prefix “Happy,” thereby drawing down the -disapprobation of certain of the artist’s friends, -who, recognising her as a resident in Hampstead, -have associated the title with that alliterative one -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span> -which the northern suburbs have received at the -hands of the Bank Holiday visitant; and they -facetiously surmise that the work may be called -“’Appy England! By a Denizen of ’Appy ’Ampstead!”</p> - -<p>But a glance at the illustrations by any one -unacquainted with Mrs. Allingham’s residential -qualifications, and by the still greater number -ignorant even of her name (for these, in spite of -her well-earned reputation, will be the majority, -taking the countries over which this volume will -circulate), must convince such an one that the -“England” requires and deserves not only a -qualifying but a commendatory prefix, and that -the best that will fit it is that to which the artist -has now submitted.</p> - -<p>We say a “qualifying” title, because within its -covers we find only a one-sided and partial view -of both life and landscape. None of the sterner -realities of either are presented. In strong opposition -to the tendency of the art of the later -years of the nineteenth century, the baser side -of life has been studiously avoided, and nature -has only been put down on paper in its happiest -moods and its pleasantest array. Storm and stress -in both life and landscape are altogether absent. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> -We say, further, a “commendatory” title, because -as regards both life and landscape it is, throughout, -a mirror of halcyon days. If sickness intrudes on -a single occasion, it is in its convalescent stage; -if old age, it is in a “Haven of Rest”; the wandering -pedlar finds a ready market for her wares, the -tramp assistance by the wayside. In both life and -landscape it is a portrayal of youth rejoicing in -its youth. For the most part it represents childhood, -and, if we are to believe Mr. Ruskin, for the -first time in modern Art; for in his lecture on Mrs. -Allingham at Oxford, he declared that “though -long by academic art denied or resisted, at last -bursting out like one of the sweet Surrey fountains, -all dazzling and pure, you have the radiance -and innocence of reinstated infant divinity showered -again among the flowers of English meadows of -Mrs. Allingham.”</p> - -<p>This healthiness, happiness, and joy of life, -coupled with an idyllic beauty, reveals itself in -every figure in Mrs. Allingham’s story, so that -even the drudgery of rural life is made to appear -as a task to be envied.</p> - -<p>And the same joyous and happy note is to be -found in her landscapes. Every scene is</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Full in the smile of the blue firmament.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span></p> - -<p>One feels that</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i8">Every flower<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Enjoys the air it breathes.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Rain, wind, or lowering skies find no place in -any of them, but each calls forth the expression</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i8">What a day<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To sun one and do nothing!<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>No attempt is made to select the sterner effects -of landscape which earlier English painters so -persistently affected. With the rough steeps of -Hindhead at her door, the artist’s feet have -almost invariably turned towards the lowlands and -the reposeful forms of the distant South Downs. -Cottages, farmsteads, and flower gardens have been -her choice in preference to dales, crags, and fells.</p> - -<p>And in so selecting, and so delineating, she has -certainly catered for the happiness of the greater -number.</p> - -<p>What does the worker, long in city pent, desire -when he cries</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">’Tis very sweet to look into the fair<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And open face of heaven?<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And what does the banished Englishman oftenest -turn his thoughts to, even although he may be dwelling -under aspects of nature which many would -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span> -think far more beautiful than those of his native -land? Browning in his “Home Thoughts from -Abroad” gives consummate expression to the -homesickness of many an exile:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Oh! to be in England<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Now that April’s there!<br /></span> -<div class="i0"><hr class="tb" /><br /></div> -<span class="i0">All will be gay when noontide wakes anew<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Buttercups, the little children’s dower,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Far brighter than this gaudy melon flower!<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And Keats also—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Happy is England! I could be content<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To see no other verdure than its own,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To feel no other breezes than are blown<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Through its tall woods, with high romances blent.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>These, the poets’ longings, suggested the prefix -for which so lengthy an apology has been made, -and which, in spite of the artist’s demur, we have -pressed upon her acceptance, confident that the -public verdict will be an acquittal against any -charge either of exaggeration, or that he who -excuses himself accuses himself.</p> - -<p>If an apology is due it is in respect of the -letterpress. The necessity of maintaining the size -to which the public has been accustomed in the -series of which this forms a part, and of interleaving -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> -the numerous illustrations which it contains, -means the provision of a certain number -of words. Now an artist’s life that has been -passed amid such pleasant surroundings as has -that of Mrs. Allingham, cannot contain a sufficiency -of material for the purpose. Indulgence -must, therefore, be granted when it is found that -much of the contents consists merely of the writer’s -descriptions of the illustrations, a discovery which -might suggest that they were primarily the <i>raison -d’être</i> of the volume.</p> - -<p>As regards the illustrations, a word must be -said.</p> - -<p>The remarkable achievements in colour reproduction, -through what is known as the “three-colour -process,” have enabled the public to be -placed in possession of memorials of an artist’s -work in a way that was not possible even so -recently as a year or two ago. Hitherto self-respecting -painters have very rightly demurred to -any colour reproductions of their work being made -except by processes whose cost and lengthy procedure -prohibited quantity as well as quality. -Mrs. Allingham herself, in view of previous -attempts, was of the same opinion until a trial of -the process now adopted convinced her to the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> -contrary. Now she is happy that a leap forward -in science has enabled renderings in little of her -water-colours to be offered to thousands who did -not know them previously.</p> - -<p>The water-colours selected for reproduction -have been brought together from many sources, -and at much inconvenience to their owners. Both -artist and publishers ask me to take this opportunity -of thanking those whose names will be -found in the List of Illustrations, for the generosity -with which they have placed the originals at -their disposal.</p> - -<p>It was Mrs. Allingham’s wish that the illustrations -should be placed in order of date, and this -has been done as far as possible; but this and -the following chapter being in a way introductory, -it has been deemed advisable to interleave them -with three or four which do not fall in with the -rest as regards subject or locality. For reasons of -convenience the description of each drawing is not -inserted in the body, but at the end of the chapter -in which it appears. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_2" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_2.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">2. IN THE FARMHOUSE GARDEN<br /> -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> -Painted 1903.</span></p> - -<p>A portrait of Vi, the daughter of the farmer at -whose house in Kent Mrs. Allingham stays.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham was tempted to take up again -her disused practice of portrait-painting, by the -attraction of the combination of the yellow of the -child’s hair and hat, the red of the roses, and the -blue of the distant hillside.</p> - -<div id="Plate_3" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_3.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">3. THE MARKET CROSS, HAGBOURNE<br /> -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. E. Lamb.</i><br /> -Painted 1898.</span></p> - -<p>Berkshire, in spite of its notable places and -situation, does not boast of much in the way of -county chronicles, and little can be learnt by one -whose sole resource is a Murray’s <i>Guide</i> concerning -the interesting village where the scene of this drawing -is laid, for it is there dismissed in a couple of -lines.</p> - -<p>Hagbourne, or Hagborne, is one of the many -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> -“bornes” which (in the counties bordering on the -Thames, as elsewhere) takes its Saxon affix from -one of the burns or brooks which find their way -from thence into the neighbouring river. It lies -off the Great Western main line, and its fine -church may be seen a mile away to the southward -just before arriving at Didcot. This proximity to -a considerable railway junction has not disturbed -much of its old-world character.</p> - -<p>The buildings and the Cross, which make a -delightful harmony in greys, probably looked much -the same when Cavalier and Puritan harried this -district in the Civil War, for with Newbury on one -side and Oxford on the other, they must oftentimes -have been up and down this, the main street of the -village. The Cross has long since lost its meaning. -The folk from the countryside no longer bring -their butter, eggs, and farm produce for local sale. -The villagers have to be content with margarine, -French eggs, and other foreign commodities from -the local “stores,” and the Cross steps are now -only of use for infant energies to practise their -powers of jumping from. So, too, the sun-dial on -the top, which does not appear to have ever been -surmounted by a cross, is now useless, for everybody -either has a watch or is sufficiently notified as to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> -meal times by a “buzzer” at the railway works -hard by.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham says that most of her drawings -are marked in her memory by some local comment -concerning them. In this case a bystander sympathetically -remarked that it seemed “a mighty -tedious job,” in that of “Milton’s House” that “it -was a foolish little thing when you began”—the -most favourable criticism she ever encountered only -amounting to “Why, it’s almost worth framing!”</p> - -<div id="Plate_4" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_4.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">4. THE ROBIN<br /> -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. S. H. S. Lofthouse.</i><br /> -Painted 1898.</span></p> - -<p>One of the simplest, and yet one of the most -satisfying of Mrs. Allingham’s compositions.</p> - -<p>It is clearly not a morning to stay indoors with -needlework which neither in size nor importance -calls for table or chair. Besides, at the cottage -gate there is a likelier chance of interruption and -conversation with occasional passers-by. But, at -no time numerous on this Surrey hillside, these are -altogether lacking at the moment, and the pink-frocked -maiden has to be content with the very -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> -mild distraction afforded by the overtures of the -family robin, who is always ready to open up converse -and to waste his time also in manœuvres and -pretended explorations over ground in her vicinity, -which he well knows to be altogether barren of -provender. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br /> - -<span class="large">PAINTRESSES, PAST AND PRESENT</span></h2> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Man took advantage of his strength to be<br /></span> -<span class="i0">First in the field: some ages have been lost;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But woman ripens earlier, and her life is longer—<br /></span> -<span class="author">Let her not fear.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The fair sex is so much in evidence in Art to-day -(the first census of this century recording the names -of nearly four thousand who profess that calling) -that we are apt to forget that the lady artist, -worthy of a place amongst the foremost of the -other sex, is a creation of modern growth.</p> - -<p>Paintresses—to call them by a quaint and agreeable -name—there have been in profusion, and an -author, writing a quarter of a century ago, managed -to fill two bulky volumes<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> with their biographies; -but the majority of these have owed both their -practice and their place in Art to the fact of their -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> -fathers or husbands having been engaged in that -profession.</p> - -<p>History has recorded but little concerning the -women artists who worked in the early days of -English Art. The scanty records which, however, -have come down to us prove that if they -lived uneventful lives they did so in comfort. For -instance, it is noted of the first that passes across the -pages of English history, namely Susannah Hornebolt -(all the early names were foreign), that she -lived for many years in great favour and esteem -at the King’s Court, and died rich and honoured: -of the next, Lavinia Teerlinck, that she also died -rich and respected, having received in her prime -a higher salary than Holbein, and from Queen -Elizabeth, later on in life, a quarterly wage of £41. -Farther on we find Charles I. giving to Anne -Carlisle and Vandyck, at one time, as much ultramarine -as cost him £500, and Anna Maria Carew -obtaining from Charles II. in 1662 a pension of -£200 a year. About the same time Mary Beale, -who is described as passing a tranquil, modest -existence, full of sweetness, dignity, and matronly -purity, earned the same amount from her brush, -charging £5 for a head, and £10 for a half-length. -She died in 1697, and was buried under the communion -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> -table in St. James’s, Piccadilly, a church -which holds the remains of other paintresses.</p> - -<p>Another, Mary Delaney, described as “lovely in -girlhood and old age,” and who must have been a -delightful personage from the testimonies which -have come down to us concerning her, lived almost -through the eighteenth century, being born in 1700, -and dying in 1788, and being, also, buried in St. -James’s. She has left on record that “I have been -very busy at my usual presumption of copying -beautiful nature”; but the many copies of that -kind that she must have made during this long life -are all unknown to those who have studied Art -a hundred years later.</p> - -<p>Midway in the eighteenth century we come -across the great and unique event in the annals -of Female Art, namely the election of two ladies to -the Academic body, in the persons of Angelica -Kauffman—who was one of the original signatories -of the memorial to George III., asking him to -found an Academy, and who passed in as such on -the granting of that privilege—and Mary Moser, -who probably owed her election to the fact that her -father was Keeper of the newly-founded body.</p> - -<p>The only other lady artists who flit across the -stage during the latter half of that century—in the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> -case of whom any attempt at distinction or recognition -is possible—were Frances Reynolds, the -sister of the President, and the “dearest dear” of -Dr. Johnson, and Maria Cosway, the wife of the -miniaturist. These kept up the tradition of ladies -always being connected with Art by parentage or -marriage.</p> - -<p>The Academy catalogues of the first half of the -nineteenth century may be searched in vain for -any name whose fame has endured even to these -times, although the number of lady exhibitors was -considerable. In the exhibitions of fifty years ago, -of 900 names, 67, or 7 per cent, were those of the -fair sex, the majority being termed in the alphabetical -list “Mrs. ——, as above”; that is to say, -they bore the surname and lived at the same -addresses as the exhibitor who preceded them.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></p> - -<p>The admission of women to the Royal Academy -Schools in 1860 must not only have had much to do -with increasing the numbers of paintresses, but in -raising the standard of their work. In recent years, -at the annual prize distributions of that institution, -when they present themselves in such interesting -and serried ranks, they have firmly established their -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> -right to work alongside of the men, by carrying off -many of the most important awards.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></p> - -<p>The Royal Female School of Art, the Slade -School, and Schools of Art everywhere throughout -the country each and all are now engaged in -swelling the ranks of the profession with a far -greater number of aspirants to a living than there -is any room for.</p> - -<p>This invasion of womankind into Art, which -has also shown itself in a remarkable way in -poetry and fiction, is in no way to be decried. -On the contrary, it has come upon the present -generation as a delightful surprise, as a breath -of fresh and sweet-scented air after the heavy -atmosphere which hung over Art in the later days -of the nineteenth century. To mention a few only: -Miss Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler), Lady -Alma Tadema, Mrs. Jopling, Miss Dicksee, Mrs. -Henrietta Rae, Miss Kemp Welch, and Miss -Brickdale in oil painting; Mrs. Angell, Miss Clara -Montalba, Miss Gow, Miss Kate Greenaway, and -Mrs. Allingham in water-colours have each looked -at Art in a distinguished manner, and one quite -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> -distinct from that of their fellow-workers of the -sterner sex.</p> - -<p>The ladies named all entered upon their profession -with a due sense of its importance. Many -of them may perhaps be counted fortunate in -having commenced their careers before the newer -ideas came into vogue, by virtue of which anybody -and everybody may pose as an artist, now that it -entails none of that lengthy apprenticeship which -from all time has been deemed to be a necessary -preliminary to practice. Even so lately as the date -when Mrs. Allingham came upon the scene, draftsmanship -and composition were still regarded as a -matter of some importance if success was to be -achieved. Nature, as represented in Art, was still -subjected to a process of selection, a selection, too, -of its higher in preference to its lower forms. The -same pattern was not allowed to serve for every -tree in the landscape whatever be its growth, foliage, -or the local influences which have affected its form. -A sufficient study of the human and of animal forms -to admit of their introduction, if needful, into that -landscape was not deemed superfluous. Most important -of all, beauty still held the field, and the -cult of unvarnished ugliness had not captured the -rising generation. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span></p> - -<p>The endeavours of women in what is termed very -erroneously the higher branch of the profession, -have not as yet received the reward that is their -due. Placed at the Royal Academy under practically -the same conditions as the male sex whilst -under tuition, both as regards fortune and success, -their pictures, when they mount from the Schools -in the basement to the Exhibition Galleries on the -first floor of Burlington House, carry with them -no further possibility of reward, even although, as -they have done, they hold the pride of place there. -It is true that as each election to the Academic -body comes round rumours arise as to the chances -of one or other of the fair sex forcing an entrance -through the doors that, with the two exceptions -we have named, have been barred to them since the -foundation of the Institution. The day, however, -when their talent in oil painting, or any other art -medium, will be recognised by Academic honours -has yet to come.</p> - -<p>To their honour be it said, the undoubted capacities -of ladies have not passed unrecognised by water-colour -painters. Both the Royal Society and the -Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours have -enrolled amongst their ranks the names of women -who have been worthy exponents of the Art. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span></p> - -<p>The practice of water-colour art would appear -to appeal especially to womankind, as not only -are the constituents which go to its making of -a more agreeable character than those of oil, but -the whole machinery necessary for its successful -production is more compact and capable of adaptation -to the ordinary house. The very methods -employed have a certain daintiness about them -which coincides with a lady’s delicacy. The work -does not necessitate hours of standing, with evil-smelling -paints, in a large top-lit studio, but can be -effected seated, in any living room which contains -a window of sufficient size. There is no need to -leave all the materials about while the canvasses -dry, and no preliminary setting of palettes and -subsequent cleaning off.</p> - -<p>Yet in spite of this the water-colour art during -the first century of its existence was practised -almost solely by the male sex, and it was not until -the middle of the Victorian reign that a few women -came on to the scene, and at once showed themselves -the equals of the male sex, not only so far -as proficiency but originality was concerned. In -the case of no one of these was there any imitation -or following of a master; but each struck out for -herself what was, if not a new line, certainly a -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span> -presentation of an old one in a novel form. Mrs. -Angell, better known perhaps as Helen Coleman, -took up the portrayal of flowers and still life, which -had been carried to such a pitch of minute finish -by William Hunt, and treated it with a breadth, -freedom, and freshness that delighted everybody. -It secured for her at once a place amid a section -of water-colourists who found it very difficult to -obtain these qualities in their work. Miss Clara -Montalba went to Venice and painted it under -aspects which were entirely different from those of -her predecessors, such as James Holland; and she -again has practically held the field ever since as -regards that particular phase of atmospheric effect -which has attracted attention to her achievement. -The kind of work and the subjects taken up by -Mrs. Allingham will be dealt with at greater length -hereafter, but I may premise by saying that she, -too, ultimately settled into methods that are entirely -her own, and such as no one can accuse her -of having derived from anybody else.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The following illustrations find a place in this -chapter:— -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_5" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_5.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">5. MILTON’S HOUSE, CHALFONT ST. GILES<br /> -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. J. A. Combe.</i><br /> -Painted 1898.</span></p> - -<p>The popularity of a poet can hardly be gauged by -the number of visitors to the haunts wherein he -passed his day. Rather are they numbered by -the proximity of a railroad thereto. Consequently -it is not surprising that the pilgrims to the little -out-of-the-way Buckinghamshire village where -Milton completed his <i>Paradise Lost</i> are an inconsiderable -percentage of those who journey to -Stratford-on-Avon. For though Chalfont St. Giles -lies only a short distance away from the twenty-third -milestone on the high-road from London to -Aylesbury, it is some three miles from the nearest -station—a station, too, where few conveyances are -obtainable. Motor cars which will take the would-be -pilgrim in an hour from a Northumberland Avenue -hotel may increase its popularity, but at present -the village of the “pretty box,” as Milton called -the house, is as slumberous and as little changed -as it was in the year 1665, when Milton fled thither -from his house in Artillery Ground, Bunhill Row, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> -before the terror of the plague.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> Milton was then -fifty-seven, and is described as a pale, but not -cadaverous man, dressed neatly in black, with his -hands and fingers gouty, and with chalk-stones. -He loved a garden, and would never take a house, -not even in London, without one, his habit being -to sit in the sun in his garden, or in the colder -weather to pace it for three or four hours at a -stretch. Many of his verses he composed or pruned -as he thus walked, coming in to dictate them to his -amanuensis, and it was from the vernal to the -autumnal equinox that his intermittent inspiration -bore its fruit. His only other recreation besides -conversation was music, and he sang, and played -either the organ or the bass viol. It was at -Chalfont that Milton put into the hands of -Ellwood his completed <i>Paradise Lost</i>, with a -request that he would return it to him with his -judgment thereupon. It was here also that on -receiving Ellwood’s famous opinion, “Thou hast -said much here of Paradise Lost, but what hast -thou to say of Paradise Found?” he commenced -his <i>Paradise Regained</i>. He returned to -London after the plague abated, in time to see -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> -it again devastated by the fresh calamity of the -great fire.</p> - -<p>An engraving of this house appears in Dunster’s -edition of <i>Paradise Regained</i>, and an account in -Todd’s <i>Life of Milton</i>, p. 272; also in Jesse’s -<i>Favourite Haunts</i>, p. 62.</p> - -<div id="Plate_6" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_6.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">6. THE WALLER OAK, COLESHILL<br /> -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>That several of Mrs. Allingham’s drawings -should illustrate scenes connected with Great -Britain’s poets is not remarkable, seeing that her -life has been so intimately bound up with one of -them, but it is at first somewhat startling to find -that the two selected for illustration here should -treat of Milton and Waller, for was it not the -latter who said of <i>Paradise Lost</i> that it was distinguished -only by its length. The accident that -has brought them together here is perhaps that the -two scenes are near neighbours, and, may be, the -artist was tempted to paint the old oak through -kindly sentiments towards the author of the sweet-smelling -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> -lines, “Go, Lovely Rose,” by which his -name endures.</p> - -<p>Coleshill, where the oak stands, is a “woody -hamlet” near Amersham, and a mile or two away -from Chalfont St. Giles. The tree which bears -his name, and under which he is said to have composed -much of his verse, dates from long anterior to -the late days of the Monarchy, when he was more -engaged in hatching plots than in writing verse. -If, as is probable, he viewed and sought its comforting -shade, he can hardly have believed that it -would survive the fame of him who received such -praise from his contemporaries as to be acclaimed -“inter poetas sui temporis facile princeps.”</p> - -<div id="Plate_7" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_7.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">7. APPLE AND PEAR BLOSSOM<br /> -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Theodore Uzielli.</i><br /> -Painted 1901.</span></p> - -<p>A charming little picture made out of the -simplest details is this spring scene in an Isle of -Wight lane. But if the details are of the simplest -character, as much cannot be said for the methods -employed by the artist in their treatment. These -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> -are so intricate that the drawing was perhaps the -most difficult of any to reproduce, owing to the -impossibility of accurately translating the subtle -gradations which distinguish the tender greenery -of trees, hedgerow, and bank. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br /> - -<span class="large">THE ARTIST’S EARLY WORK</span></h2> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham, whose maiden name was Helen -Paterson, was born on September 26, 1848, near -Burton-on-Trent, Derbyshire, where her father, -Alexander Henry Paterson, M.D., had a medical -practice. As her name implies, she is of Scottish -descent on the paternal side. A year after her -birth her family removed to Altrincham in Cheshire, -where her father died suddenly, in 1862, of diphtheria, -caught in attending a patient.</p> - -<p>This unforeseen blow broke up the Cheshire -household, and the widow shortly afterwards -wended her way with her young family to -Birmingham, where the next few years, the most -impressionable of our young artist’s life, were to -be spent amid surroundings which at that date -were in no wise conducive to influencing her in -the direction of Art of any kind. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span></p> - -<p>Scribbling out of her head on any material she -could lay hold of (not even sparing the polished -surfaces of the Victorian furniture) had been her -chief pleasure as a child; and as she grew older -she drew from Nature with interest and ease, -especially during family visits to Kenilworth and -other country and seaside places. Some friends -in Birmingham started a drawing club which met -each month at houses of the different members, -and the young student was kindly invited to join -it. Subjects were fixed upon and the drawings were -shown and discussed at each meeting. More good -resulted from this than might have been expected, -for some of the members were not only persons -of taste but were collectors of fine examples in -Art, which were also seen and considered at the -meetings. Helen Paterson, finding that her pen-and-ink -productions were more satisfactory than -her colour attempts, came to hope that she might -gradually qualify herself for book illustration, instead -of earning a living by teaching, as she at first -anticipated her future would be.</p> - -<p>Two influences greatly helped the girl in her -artistic desires at this time.</p> - -<p>Helen Paterson’s mother’s sister, Laura Herford, -had taken up Art as a profession. Although her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> -name does not often appear in Exhibition records, -the sisterhood of artists owe her a very enduring -debt. For to her was due that opening of the -Royal Academy Schools to women to which I -have already referred, and which she obtained -through another’s slip of the tongue, aided by a -successful subterfuge.</p> - -<p>Lord Lyndhurst, at a Royal Academy banquet, -in singing the praises of that institution, claimed -that its schools offered free tuition to <i>all</i> Her -Majesty’s subjects. Within a few days he received -from Miss Herford a communication pointing out -the inaccuracy of his statement, inasmuch as tuition -was only given to the male and not to the female -sex, which comprised the majority of Her Majesty’s -subjects. She therefore appealed to him to use -his influence with the Government to obtain the -removal of the restriction. He did so, and the -Government, on addressing Sir Charles Eastlake, -the President of the Royal Academy, found in him -one altogether in sympathy with such a reform. -He replied to the Government that there was no -<i>written</i> law against the admission of women, and -after an interview with the lady he connived at a -drawing of hers being sent in as a test of her -capability for admission as a probationer, under the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> -initials merely of her Christian names. A few days -subsequently a notification that he had passed the -test and obtained admission arrived at her home -addressed to A. L. Herford, Esq. There was of -course a demonstration when the lady presented -herself in answer to the summons to execute a -drawing in the presence of the Keeper; and her -claim to stay and do this was vehemently combated -by the Council, to whom it was of course -referred. But the President demonstrated the -absurdity of the situation, and so strongly advocated -the untenability of the position that the -door was opened once and for all to female -students. This lady, who had a strong character -in many other directions, constituted herself Art-adviser-in-chief -to her young niece from the time -of her father’s death.</p> - -<p>The other influence under which Helen Paterson -came at this critical period was that of a -capable and sympathetic master at Birmingham. -In Mr. Raimbach, the head of the Birmingham -School of Design, she encountered a man who was -a teacher, born not made, and who, not being -hidebound with the old dry-as-dust traditions, saw -and fostered whatever gifts were to be found in his -pupils. He it was who, interesting himself in her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> -desire to learn to draw the human figure, and to -study more of its anatomy than could be gained -from the casts of the School of Design and from -the lifeless programme which existed there, encouraged -her to go to London for wider study, in -the hope of gaining entrance into the Academy -Schools, and taking up Art as a profession under -her aunt’s auspices.</p> - -<p>She followed his advice, gave up a single pupil -she had acquired, and passed into the Academy -Schools in April 1867 after a short preliminary -course at the Female School of Art, Queen’s -Square.</p> - -<p>British Art may congratulate itself that in -Helen Paterson’s case, as in that of so many others, -“there’s a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew -them how we will.” It is very certain that had the -fates ordained that she should remain in Birmingham -her talent would never have flowed into the -channel which has made possible a memoir of her -Art under the title of “Happy England.” The -environments of that great city are such that it -would have been practically impossible for her -artistic training to have been as her divinity decreed -it should be, or to place means of exercising -it within her grasp should she have desired them. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span></p> - -<p>During the first year or two at the Royal -Academy Helen Paterson worked in the antique -school, where the study of drawing, proportion -of the figure, with some anatomy, precluded the -thought of painting. When raised to the painting -school she, like many another capable student -then as now, was at first driven hither and thither -by the variety of and apparently contradictory -advice that she received from her masters. For -one month she was under a visitor with strongly -defined ideas in one direction, and the next under -some one else who was equally assertive in another, -and it was some time before she could strike -a balance for her own understanding. But, for -reasons which those who know her well will recognise, -she received help and kindness from all, and, -as she gratefully remembers, from none more than -from Millais, Frederick Leighton, Frederick Goodall, -Fred Walker, Stacy Marks, and John Pettie. -Millais especially could in a minute or two impart -something which was never afterwards forgotten, -whilst the encouragement of all was most stimulating -to a beginner. Another artist who has been a -life-long adviser and the kindest of friends, was -Briton Riviere, with whom and whose family an -intimacy began even in her student days. An -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> -invitation to stay with them at St. Andrews on -the coast of Fife in the summer of 1872 inaugurated -Miss Paterson’s first serious work from -Nature. The result was deemed to be satisfactory -by Mr. Riviere, who helped to dissipate a certain -despondency and fear which had sprung up in -the young artist’s mind as regards her colour -powers. It was not, however, in the grey houses -and uninteresting streets of this old northern university -town, to which she first turned, that the -true relations between tone and colour discovered -themselves to her longing eye, but amongst the -sandbanks, seaweed, and blue water which fringe -its noted golf-links. For the first time the artist -felt herself happy in attempting to work in any -other medium than black and white. Just prior -to this fortunate visit she had in the spring of the -year been taken by an old friend of the family to -Rome, where she had worked assiduously at Nature, -but with little satisfaction so far as she herself was -concerned.</p> - -<p>She had by this time fully made up her mind to -embark on a career in which she was determined, -and was in fact obliged, to earn a living; and as her -colour work at present had no market, there was -nothing for it but to procure a livelihood by black -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> -and white. Wood engraving, although nearing -the end of its existence, was still the only medium -of cheap illustration. Photography later on came -to its aid to a certain extent, but the majority of the -original drawings continued to be drawn directly -on to the wood block. There were still close upon -a hundred wood engravers employed in London, -working for the most part under master engravers, -into whose hands the publishers of magazines, -illustrated periodicals, and books entrusted, not -only the cutting of the block, but the selection of -the artist to make the drawing upon it.</p> - -<p>It was to these that Helen Paterson had to -look for work, and it was upon a round of their -offices that in the autumn of 1869 she diffidently -started with a portfolio full of drawings. Employment -did not come at once, and the list of seventy -names with which she started had been considerably -reduced before, to her great satisfaction, a -drawing out of her sheaf was taken by Mr. Joseph -Swain, to whom she had an introduction, for submission -to the proprietors of <i>Once a Week</i>. It -was accepted, and she copied it on to the wood. -Gradually she obtained work for other magazines, -including <i>Little Folks</i>, published by Cassell, and -<i>Aunt Judy</i>, by George Bell, the drawings for -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> -<i>Aunt Judy</i> illustrating Mrs. Ewing’s <i>A Flat Iron -for a Farthing</i>, <i>Jan of the Windmill</i>, and <i>Six to -Sixteen</i>.</p> - -<p>The first alteration of any magnitude of the -custom to which reference has been made, namely, -of the artist having to look to the engraver for -work, occurred when the <i>Graphic</i> newspaper was -started in the year 1870. Mr. W. L. Thomas, to -whom the credit of this improvement in the status -of the worker in black and white was due, was -himself an artist and a member of the Institute of -Painters in Water Colours. As such he was not -only in touch with, but capable of appreciating the -unusual amount of budding talent of abundant -promise which was just then presenting itself. -This he enlisted in the service of the <i>Graphic</i> upon -what may be termed co-operative terms, for those -who liked could have half their payment in cash -and half in shares in the venture. Many, the -majority we believe, unfortunately could not afford -the latter proposition. Unfortunately indeed, for -the paper embarked on a career which has yielded -dividends, at times of over a hundred per cent, and -has kept the shares at a premium, which few companies -in existence can boast of. This phenomenal -success was in a large measure the result of the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span> -personal interest that was brought to bear upon -every department, and that every employé took -in his share in it. The illustrations, upon which -success mainly depended, were not the product of -a formulated system, working in a groove, where -blocks were served out to artists as to a machine, -without any regard to their fitness for the particular -piece of work. Artists of capacity, whose names -are now to be found amongst the most noted in -the academic roll, were selected for the particular -illustration that suited them, and were well paid -for it. The public was not only astonished at, -but grateful for, the result, and showed their appreciation -by at once placing the <i>Graphic</i> in the -high position which it deserved and has since -enjoyed.</p> - -<p>Helen Paterson was so fortunate as to be -brought into touch with Mr. Thomas shortly after -the first appearance of the paper. She had obtained -some work from one Harrall, an engraver, with -whom Mr. Thomas had had business connections -in the past, and it was at Harrall’s suggestion that -she went to Mr. Thomas, who at once offered her -a place on the staff of the <i>Graphic</i>, a place which -she retained until her marriage in 1874. It was -indeed a godsend to her, for it meant not only -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> -regular work but handsome pay. Twelve guineas -for a full, and eight for a half page, and at least one -of these a week, meant not merely maintenance, -but a reserve against that rainy day which, fortunately, -the subject of our memoir has never had to -contend with.</p> - -<p>The subjects which Miss Paterson was called -upon to produce were of the most diversified character, -but all of them had figures as their main -feature. To properly limn these she had to -employ regular models, but she also enlisted the -aid of her fellow-students, for she was still at the -Royal Academy, and her sketch-books of that -time, of which she has many, are full of studies -of artists, no few of whom have since become -celebrated in the world of Art.</p> - -<p>Looking through the pages of the <i>Graphic</i> with -the artist, it is interesting to note the variety of -episodes upon which Mr. Thomas employed her. -Her drawings were not always from her own -sketches, being at times from originals that had -been sent to the paper in an embryo condition -necessitating entire revision, or from rapid notes -by artists sent to represent the paper at important -functions. But on occasions she was also deputed -to attend at these, and in consequence underwent -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> -some novel experiences for a young girl. A meeting -at Mr. Gladstone’s, Fashions in the Park, Flower -Shows at the Botanical Gardens, Archery at the -Toxophilite Society’s,—these formed the lighter -side of her work, the more serious being the illustration -of novels by novelists of note. This was -at the time a new feature in journalism. Amongst -those entrusted to her were <i>Innocent</i>, by Mrs. -Oliphant, and <i>Ninety-Three</i>, by Victor Hugo. For -the murder trial in the former she had to visit the -Central Criminal Court, and through so doing was -more accurate than the authoress, who admittedly -had not been there, and whose work consequently -showed several glaring mistakes, such as the -prisoner addressing the judge by name. She was -also employed upon a novel of Charles Reade’s in -conjunction with Mr. Luke Fildes and Mr. Henry -Woods. This she undertook with extreme diffidence, -for Reade had sent round a circular saying -that he greatly disliked having his stories illustrated -at all; but as it had to be in this case, he begged -to notify that <i>he</i> gave <i>situations</i>, whilst George -Eliot and Anthony Trollope only gave conversations, -and he requested that good use should be -made of these situations. Meeting him some years -afterwards, the author paid her the compliment of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> -saying he liked her illustration of the heroine in -his story the best of any.</p> - -<p>Nor was Miss Paterson entirely dependent upon -the <i>Graphic</i>, whose illustrations, oftentimes given -out in a hurry, had to be finished within a period -limited by hours. She was fortunate to be -numbered amongst the select few who worked for -the <i>Cornhill</i>, for which she was, through Mr. Swain’s -kind offices, asked to illustrate Hardy’s <i>Far from -the Madding Crowd</i>, which was at first attributed -to George Eliot. The author was fairly complimentary -as to the result, although he said it was -difficult for two minds to imagine scenes in the -same light. Later on she had the pleasant task of -illustrating Miss Thackeray’s <i>Miss Angel</i> in the -same magazine. The drawing of Sir Joshua -Reynolds asking Angelica to marry him, perhaps -the best of the series, was one of the first to be -signed with the name of Allingham, by which she -has since been known.</p> - -<p>A very interesting acquaintance with Sir Henry -Irving, which has lasted ever since, was commenced -in the early seventies through her having to visit -the Lyceum for the <i>Graphic</i> to delineate him and -Miss Isabel Bateman in <i>Richelieu</i>. Mr. Bateman, -who was then the manager, placed a box at her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> -disposal, which she occupied for several nights -whilst making the drawing. One of the cottage -drawings reproduced here (<a href="#Plate_77">Plate 77</a>) belongs to -Sir Henry.</p> - -<p>Although working regularly and almost continuously -at black and white during these years she -managed to intersperse it with some work in -colour, and at the exhibitions of the old Dudley -Gallery Art Society, which had been recently -founded, and which had proved a great boon -to rising and amateur art, she exhibited water-colours -under the title of “May,” “Dangerous -Ground,” and “Soldiers’ Orphans watching a bloodless -battle at Aldershot,” painted in the studio -from a <i>Graphic</i> drawing.</p> - -<p>In the autumn of the year 1874 Miss Paterson -was married to Mr. William Allingham, the well-known -poet, editor of <i>Fraser’s Magazine</i>, and friend -of so many of the celebrities in literature, science, -and art of the middle of the last century, amongst -whom may be mentioned Carlyle, Ruskin, Dante -Gabriel Rossetti, Browning, and Tennyson. It -was to be near the first named that the newly -married couple went to reside in Trafalgar Square, -Chelsea, where they passed the next seven years of -their married life, namely until 1881. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span></p> - -<p>To Carlyle Mrs. Allingham had the privilege of -frequent and familiar access during his last years; -and when he found that he was not expected to -pose to her, and that she had, as he emphatically -declared, a real talent for portraiture (the only form -of pictorial art in which he took any interest), he -became very kind and complaisant, and she was able -to make nearly a dozen portraits of him in water-colours. -An early one, which he declared made him -“look like an old fool,” was painted in the little -back garden of No. 5 Cheyne Row, which was not -without shade and greenery in the summer time. -There, in company with his pet cat “Tib,” and a -Paisley churchwarden (“no pipe good for anything,” -according to him, “being get-at-able in -England”), he indulged in smoking, the only -creature comfort that afforded him any satisfaction. -In these portraits he is depicted sitting in -his comfortable dressing-gown faded to a dim slaty -grey, refusing to wear a gorgeous oriental garment -that his admirers had presented to him. An -etching of one of these drawings appeared in the -<i>Art Journal</i> for 1882. Other portraits were -painted in the winter of 1878-79, in his long -drawing-room with its three windows looking out -into the street. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span></p> - -<p>Rossetti she never saw, although he had been an -intimate friend of her husband’s for twenty years<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> -and was then living in Chelsea, for he was just -entering on that unfortunate epoch preceding his -death, when he was induced to cut himself adrift -from all his old circle of acquaintances. The fact -is regrettable, for it would have been interesting to -note his opinion of a lady’s work with which he -must have been in full sympathy.</p> - -<p>Mr. Allingham had known Ruskin for many -years. His wife’s acquaintance began in interesting -fashion at the Old Water-Colour Society’s. -She happened to be there during the Exhibition of -1877 at a time when the room was almost empty. -Mr. Ruskin had been looking at her drawing of -Carlyle, and introducing himself, asked her why -she had painted Carlyle like a lamb, when he ought -to be painted like a lion, as he was, and whether -she would paint the sage as such for him? To -this she had to reply that she could only paint him -as she saw him, which was certainly not in leonine -garb. One afternoon soon afterwards, Mr. Allingham -chanced to meet Ruskin at Carlyle’s, and -brought him round to see her work. She was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span> -at the time engaged on the drawing of “The -Clothes-Line” (<a href="#Plate_11">Plate 11</a>), and he objected to the -scarlet of the handkerchief, and also to the woman, -who he said ought to have been a rough workwoman, -an opinion which Mrs. Allingham did not -share with him at the time, but which she has -since felt to be a correct one. He also saw -another drawing with a grey sky, and asked her -why she did not make her skies blue. To her reply -that she thought there was often great beauty in -grey skies, he growled, “The devil sends grey -skies.”</p> - -<p>Browning, an old friend of her husband’s, Mrs. -Allingham sometimes had the privilege of seeing -during her residence in London. One occasion -was typical of the man. He had been asked to -come and see her work, which was at the time -arranged at one end of a room at Trafalgar Square, -Chelsea, before sending in to the Exhibition. The -drawings were naturally small ones, and Browning -appeared to be altogether oblivious to their existence. -Turning round, with his back to them, he at -once commenced a story of some one who came to -see an artist’s work, and the artist was very huffed -because his visitor never took the slightest notice -of his pictures, but talked to him of other subjects -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> -all the time. This, Browning considered, was -no sufficient ground for his huffiness. His -obliviousness to Mrs. Allingham’s drawings may -have been due to his having been accustomed to -the pictures of his son, which were of large size, -and in comparison with which Mrs. Allingham’s -would be quite invisible. Against this theory, -however, I may mention that on one occasion -I happened to have the good fortune to be present -in his son’s studio when Tennyson was announced. -Browning at once advanced to the door to meet -him, bent low, and addressed him as “Magister -Meus,” and although the Laureate had come to -see the paintings, and stayed some time, neither -of the two poets, so long as I was present, noticed -them in any way.</p> - -<p>Whilst Mrs. Allingham was painting Carlyle, -Browning came to see him, and they held a most -interesting and delightful conversation on the -subject of the great French writers. The alteration -in Browning’s demeanour from his usual bluff -and breezy manner to a quiet, deferential tone -during the conversation was very notable.</p> - -<p>Of her intimacy with Tennyson I may speak later -when we come to the drawings which illustrate his -two houses in Sussex and the Isle of Wight. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span></p> - -<p>The year of her marriage was also a landmark -in Mrs. Allingham’s career, through the Royal -Academy accepting and hanging two water-colours, -one entitled “The Milkmaid,” the other, “Wait -for Me,” the subject of the latter being a young -lady entering a cottage whilst a dog watched her -outside the gate. It would have been interesting -to have been able to insert a reproduction of either -of these in this volume, for they would probably -have shown that her fear as to her inability to -master colour was entirely without basis, but I -have not been able to trace them. The drawings -were not only well hung, but were sold during the -Exhibition.</p> - -<p>It was, however, by another drawing that Mrs. -Allingham won her name.</p> - -<p>In the year 1875 she was commissioned by Mr. -George Bell to make a water-colour from one of -the black-and-white drawings which she had done -some years before for Mrs. Ewing’s <i>A Flat Iron -for a Farthing</i>. We shall have occasion to describe -at length, later on, this delightful little -picture that is reproduced in <a href="#Plate_8">Plate 8</a>. It is only -necessary for our purpose here to state that it was -seen early in 1875 by that prince of landscape -water-colourists, Mr. Alfred Hunt. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span></p> - -<p>He was an old friend of Mr. Allingham’s, and -being told that his wife was thinking of trying -for election at the Royal Society of Painters in -Water Colours, kindly offered to go through her -portfolios. The From these he made a selection, and -promised to propose her at an election which was -about to take place. The result fully proved -the soundness of his choice, for the candidate not -only secured the rare distinction of being elected -on the first time of asking, but the still rarer one -of securing her place in that body, so notable for -its diversity of opinion when candidates are in -question, with hardly a dissentient vote.</p> - -<p>Ladies were not admitted to the rank of full -members of the Society until the year 1890, when -she was, to her great pleasure and astonishment, -elected a full member. She deserved it; for much -of the charm of these exhibitions had been due to -the presence of the work which she has contributed -to every Exhibition held since her election save -two, one of these rare absences being due to her -having mistaken the date for sending in.</p> - -<p>This election, and the fact that after her -marriage she could afford to do without the -monetary aid derived from black-and-white work, -decided her to embark upon water-colours; although -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span> -in these she still confined her work to figure subjects, -more than one of which continued to be founded -on her previous work in monochrome.</p> - -<p>The last book in which her name as an illustrator -appeared was, appropriately enough, <i>Rhymes -for the Young Folk</i>, by her husband, published -in <i>Cassell’s</i> in 1885, to which she contributed -most of the illustrations. She relinquished black-and-white -work without any regret, for although -she was much indebted to it, it never held her -sympathies, and she always longed to express -herself in colour, the medium in which she instinctively -felt she had ultimately the best chance -of success.</p> - -<p>Although we are only separated from the -Chelsea of Mrs. Allingham’s days by little more -than a quarter of a century, its artistic associations -were then of a very different order to those -that are in evidence nowadays. The era of vast -studios in which duchesses and millionaires find -adequate surroundings for their portraits was not -yet. Whistler was close to old Chelsea Church, -a few doors only from where he recently died. Tite -Street, with which his name will always be connected, -was not yet built. He was still engaged -on those remarkable, but at that time insufficiently -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span> -appreciated, canvases of scenes which -have now passed away, such as “Fireworks at -Cremorne,” and “Nocturnes” dimly disclosing old -Battersea Bridge. Seymour Haden was etching -the picturesque façade of the Walk, with his -brother-in-law’s house as a principal object in it, -and without the respectable embankment which -now makes it more reputable from a hygienic, -but less admirable from an artistic point of view. -Rossetti was practically the only other artist of -note in the quarter. But with one exception -Mrs. Allingham’s work was not reminiscent of -the place. That exception, however, disclosed to -her a field in which she foresaw much delight -and abundant possibilities. In the old Pensioners’ -Garden at Chelsea Hospital were to be found -tenderly-cared-for borders of humble flowers. -The garden itself was a haven of repose for the -old warriors, and a show-place for their visitors. -Mrs. Allingham, like another artist, Hubert -Herkomer, about the same time, was touched by -the pathos of the surroundings, and, chiefly on the -urgency of her husband, she ventured on a drawing -of more importance than any hitherto attempted. -The subject, which we shall speak of again later, -was finished in 1877, and was the first large drawing -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span> -exhibited by her at the Society of Painters in -Water Colours.</p> - -<p>Painters—good, bad, and indifferent—of the -garden are nowadays such a numerous body that -one is apt to forget that the time is quite recent -when to paint one with its flowers was a new -departure. It is nevertheless the fact, and in -taking it up, especially those that are associated -with the humbler type of cottages, Mrs. Allingham -was practically the originator of a new subject. -To the pensioners’ patches at Chelsea we are indebted -for the sweet portraits of humble flower-steads -which are now cherished by so many a -fortunate possessor, and charm every beholder. -Thus Chelsea aroused a desire to attack gardens -possessing greater possibilities than a town-stunted -patch, a desire that was not, however, gratified -until two years later when, during a visit in the -spring of 1879 to Shere, the first of many cottages -and flowers was painted from nature.</p> - -<p>In 1881, after the death of Carlyle, Chelsea -had attractions for neither husband nor wife, and -with a young family growing up and calling for -larger and healthier quarters, the house in Trafalgar -Square was given up for one at Witley in Surrey, -a hamlet close to Haslemere, which she had visited -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span> -the year before, and in the midst of a country -which Birket Foster had already done much to -popularise, having resided at a beautiful house -there for many years.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The water-colours of this first period, namely -from 1875 to 1880, that are reproduced here, are -the following:—</p> - -<div id="Plate_8" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_8.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">8. THE YOUNG CUSTOMERS<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Miss Bell.</i><br /> - -Painted 1875.</span></p> - -<p>The drawing by which, as we have said, Mrs. -Allingham made her name, obtained election at the -Society of Painters in Water Colours, was represented -at her first appearance there in 1875, and -also at the Paris Exposition in 1878, and through -which she obtained the recognition of Ruskin, who -thus wrote concerning it in the <i>Notes</i> which he -was at that time in the habit of compiling each year -on the Summer Exhibitions. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>It happens curiously that the only drawing of which the -memory remains with me as a possession out of the Old Water-Colour -Exhibition of this year—Mrs. Allingham’s “Young -Customers”—should not only be by an accomplished designer -of woodcuts, but itself the illustration of a popular story. -The drawing, with whatever temporary purpose executed, is -for ever lovely—a thing which I believe Gainsborough would -have given one of his own paintings for, old fashioned as red-tipped -daisies are, and more precious than rubies.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Later on, in 1883, in his lectures at Oxford on -Mrs. Allingham he again referred to it as “The -drawing which some years ago riveted, and ever -since has retained the public admiration—the two -deliberate housewives in their village toyshop, bent -on domestic utilities and economies, and proud in -the acquisition of two flat irons for a farthing—has -become, and rightly, a classic picture, which will -have its place among the memorable things in the -Art of our time, when many of its loudly-trumpeted -magnificences are remembered no more.”</p> - -<p>The black-and-white drawing on which it was -founded, a somewhat thin and immature performance, -was one of twelve illustrations made by -Mrs. Allingham for Mrs. Ewing’s <i>A Flat Iron for -a Farthing</i>,<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> where it appears as illustrating the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span> -following episode. It will be seen that Mrs. -Allingham’s version of the story differs in many -points from that of the authoress, which is thus -told by Reginald, the only son:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>As I looked, there came down the hill a fine, large, sleek -donkey, led by an old man-servant, and having on its back -what is called a Spanish saddle, in which two little girls sat -side by side, the whole party jogging quietly along at a -foot’s pace in the sunshine. I was so overwhelmed and -impressed by the loveliness of these two children, and by -their quaint, queenly little ways, that time has not dimmed -one line in the picture that they then made upon my mind. -I can see them now as clearly as I saw them then, as I stood -at the tinsmith’s door in the High Street of Oakford—let -me see, how many years ago?</p> - -<p>The child who looked the older, but was, as I afterwards -discovered, the younger of the two, was also the less pretty. -And yet she had a sweet little face, hair like spun gold, and -blue-grey eyes with dark lashes. She wore a grey frock of -some warm material, below which peeped her indoors dress -of blue. The outer coat had a quaint cape like a coachman’s, -which was relieved by a broad white crimped frill round her -throat. Her legs were cased in knitted gaiters of white -wool, and her hands in the most comical miniatures of gloves. -On her fairy head she wore a large bonnet of grey beaver, -with a frill inside. But it was her sister who shone on my -young eyes like a fairy vision. She looked too delicate, too -brilliant, too utterly lovely, for anywhere but fairyland. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span> -She ought to have been kept in tissue-paper, like the loveliest -of wax dolls. Her hair was the true flaxen, the very fairest -of the fair. The purity and vividness of the tints of red -and white in her face I have never seen equalled. Her eyes -were of speedwell blue, and looked as if they were meant to -be always more or less brimming with tears. To say the -truth, her face had not half the character which gave force -to that of the other little damsel, but a certain helplessness -about it gave it a peculiar charm. She was dressed exactly -like the other, with one exception—her bonnet was of white -beaver, and she became it like a queen.</p> - -<p>At the tinsmith’s shop they stopped, and the old man-servant, -after unbuckling a strap which seemed to support -them in their saddle, lifted each little miss in turn to the -ground. Once on the pavement the little lady of the grey -beaver shook herself out, and proceeded to straighten the -disarranged overcoat of her companion, and then, taking her -by the hand, the two clambered up the step into the shop. -The tinsmith’s shop boasted of two seats, and on to one of -these she of the grey beaver with some difficulty climbed. -The eyes of the other were fast filling with tears, when from -her lofty perch the sister caught sight of the man-servant, -who stood in the doorway, and she beckoned him with a -wave of her tiny finger.</p> - -<p>“Lift her up, if you please,” she said on his approach. -And the other child was placed on the other chair.</p> - -<p>The shopman appeared to know them, and though he -smiled, he said very respectfully, “What articles can I show -you this morning, ladies?” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span></p> - -<p>The fairy-like creature in the white beaver, who had been -fumbling in her miniature glove, now timidly laid a farthing -on the counter, and then turning her back for very shyness -on the shopman, raised one small shoulder, and inclining her -head towards it, gave an appealing glance at her sister out of -the pale-blue eyes. That little lady, thus appealed to, -firmly placed another farthing on the board, and said in the -tiniest but most decided of voices,</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“<span class="smcap">Two flat irons, if you please.</span>”<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Hereupon the shopman produced a drawer from below the -counter, and set it before them. What it contained I was -not tall enough to see, but out of it he took several flat irons -of triangular shape, and apparently made of pewter, or some -alloy of tin. These the grey beaver examined and tried upon -a corner of her cape, with inimitable gravity and importance. -At last she selected two, and keeping one for herself, gave -the other to her sister.</p> - -<p>“Is it a nice one?” the little white-beavered lady inquired.</p> - -<p>“Very nice.”</p> - -<p>“Kite as nice as yours?” she persisted.</p> - -<p>“Just the same,” said the other firmly. And having -glanced at the counter to see that the farthings were both -duly deposited, she rolled abruptly over on her seat, and -scrambled off backwards, a manœuvre which the other child -accomplished with more difficulty. The coats and capes were -then put tidy as before, and the two went out of the shop -together, hand in hand.</p> - -<p>Then the old man-servant lifted them into the Spanish -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span> -saddle, and buckled the strap, and away they went up the -steep street, and over the brow of the hill, where trees and -palings began to show, the beaver bonnets nodding together -in consultation over the flat irons.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The commission to paint this water-colour being -unfettered in every way, the artist felt herself at -liberty to create a colour scheme of her own—hence -the changes in the dresses, etc.; also to put an old -woman (after a Devonshire cottager) in place of -the shopman, and to make the shop a toyshop -instead of a tinsmith’s. The little girl ironing was -painted from a study of a Mr. Hennessy’s eldest -little daughter; the fair little maiden from Mr. -Briton Riviere’s eldest daughter.</p> - -<div id="Plate_9" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_9.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">9. THE SAND-MARTINS’ HAUNT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Miss James.</i><br /> - -Painted 1876.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">I passed an inland cliff precipitate;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">From tiny caves peeped many a soot-black poll.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In each a mother-martin sat elate,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">And of the news delivered her small soul:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“Gossip, how wags the world?” “Well, gossip, well.”<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Interesting not only as the earliest example here -of Mrs. Allingham’s landscape work, having been -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span> -painted at Limpsfield, Surrey, in May 1876, and -as such full of promise of better things to come, -but as an instance of a preference for a complex -and very difficult effect, which the artist, on obtaining -greater experience, very wisely abandoned. -There is little doubt that she was tempted by the -glorious wealth of colouring which a low sun threw -upon the warm quarry side, the pine wood, and -the huge cumuli which banked them up—a magnificent -but a fleeting effect, which could only -be placed on record from very rapid notes. The -result could be successful only in the hands of a -practised adept, and it is not surprising, therefore, -that in those of an artist just embarking on her -career it was not entirely so. The difficulties of -the task may have afforded her a useful lesson, -for we have seen no further attempts on her part -at their repetition.</p> - -<p>If the landscape foretells little concerning the -future of the artist, the figures standing on the brink -of the quarry, the elder with her arm placed lovingly -and protectingly round the neck of the younger, -whilst they watch the martins rejoicing in the warm -summer evening, are eminently suggestive of the -success which Mrs. Allingham was to achieve in -the addition of figures to landscape composition. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_10" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_10.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">10. THE OLD MEN’S GARDENS, CHELSEA -HOSPITAL<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Charles Churchill.</i><br /> - -Painted 1876.</span></p> - -<p>Contemporary criticism is not, as a rule, palatable -to an artist, for amongst the varied views -which the art critics bring to their task there are -always to be found some that are not seen from -the same standpoint as his. Besides, for some -occult reason, the balance always trends in the -direction of fault-finding rather than praise, probably -because it is so much the easier, for work -always has and will have imperfections that are not -difficult to distinguish. But in the case of the -water-colour before us the critics’ chorus must -have been very exhilarating to the young artist, -especially as, at the time of its exhibition at the -Royal Water-Colour Society, in the spring of 1877, -she was by no means in good health. The <i>Spectator</i>, -for instance, wrote that artists would have to look -to their laurels when ladies began to paint in a -manner little inferior to Walker. The <i>Athenæum</i> -gave it the exceptional length of a column, considering -it <span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span>“one of the few pictures by which - -the exhibition in question would be remembered.” -Tom Taylor in the <i>Times</i> wrote as follows:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Of all the newly associated figure painters there is none -whose work has more of the rare quality that inspires interest -than Mrs. Allingham. She has only two drawings here, a -pretty little child’s head and a large and exquisitely finished -composition, “The Old Men’s Gardens, Chelsea Hospital,” -where some hundred and forty little garden plots are parcelled -out among as many of the old pensioners, each of whom is -free to follow his own fancies in his gardening.</p> - -<p>In the hush of a calm summer evening, two graceful girls -in white dresses accept a nosegay from one of the veterans, -a Guardsman of the <i>vieille cour</i>, by his look and bearing. -All around are plots of sweet, bright flowers all aglow with -variegated petals. Here and there under the shade of the -old trees sit restful groups of the old veterans, with children -about them; one little fellow reverentially lifts and examines -one of the medals on a war-worn breast. Behind, the -thickly-clothed fronds of a drooping ash spread to the -declining sun, and the level roofs of the old Hospital rise -ruddy against the warm and cloudless sky. No praise can -be too high for the exquisiteness with which the flowers are -drawn, coloured, and combined, or for the skill with which -they are blended into an artistic whole with the suggestive -and graceful group in the foreground. The drawing deserves -to take its place as a pendant of Walker’s “Haven of Rest.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>It is curious that all the critics seem to have -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span> -misinterpreted the main meaning of the artist’s -motive, namely, that whilst the Pensioners naturally, -in the first place, wish to sell their posies, -they are always ready to give them to those who -cannot afford to buy. The well-to-do ladies are -purchasing the flowers, the little group of mother, -boy, and baby, on the right, who can ill afford to -buy, are having a posy graciously offered to them. -The drawing represented Mrs. Allingham at the -Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester, 1887, and the -Loan Water-Colour Exhibition at the Guildhall, -London, in 1896. It is of the large size, for this -artist’s work, of 25 inches by 15 inches.</p> - -<div id="Plate_11" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_11.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">11. THE CLOTHES-LINE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Miss James.</i><br /> - -Painted 1879.</span></p> - -<p>How considerable and rapid an advance now -took place in Mrs. Allingham’s powers may be seen -from the two drawings which are dated two years -later, namely, in 1879. In figure draftsmanship there -is no comparison between the timid and haltingly -painted children of “The Sand-Martins’ Haunt” -and the seated baby in “The Clothes-Line.” In -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span> -the first the capacity to draw was no doubt present, -but the power to express it through the medium of -water-colour was as yet unacquired. But after two -years’ study, knowledge is present in its fulness, and -from now onwards the only changes in Mrs. Allingham’s -work are a greater precision, breadth, facility -of handling, and harmony of colour. The figure of -the woman still smacks somewhat too much of the -studio, and she is a lady-like model,<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> certainly not -the type one would expect to see hanging out the -washing of such a clearly limited and humble -wardrobe as in this case. The figure again detaches -itself too much from the rest of the picture, and -Mrs. Allingham, we are sure, would now never -introduce such a jarring note as the scarlet -and primrose handkerchief, to which Mr. Ruskin -objected at the time it was painted. The blanket, -clothes-line, clothes-basket, and other accessories -are painted with a minuteness which was an admirable -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span> -prelude to the breadth that was to follow; but -are singularly constrained in comparison with the -yellow gorse bushes, most difficult of any shrubs to -limn, but which here are noteworthy for unusual -easiness of touch. Even with these qualifications -the picture is a delightful one, replete with grace -and beauty, and complete in its portrayal of the -little incident of the baby, a less robust little body -than Mrs. Allingham would now paint, capturing -as many of the clothes-pegs that her mother needs -as her small fingers and arms can embrace.</p> - -<div id="Plate_12" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_12.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">12. THE CONVALESCENT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. R. S. Budgett.</i><br /> - -Painted 1879.</span></p> - -<p>This, like “The Young Customers,” was founded -on previous work, namely, a black-and-white drawing -made for the <i>Graphic</i>, as an illustration to Mrs. -Oliphant’s <i>Innocent</i>. But in the story the patient -dies from an over-dose administered in mistake by -Innocent, who is nursing her. Some years afterwards -the poisoning comes to light, and Innocent -is tried and acquitted. Mrs. Allingham would never -have voluntarily repeated such a subject as this, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span> -and her temperament is shown in her having -utilised the material for one in which refreshing -sleep promises a speedy recovery.</p> - -<div id="Plate_13" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_13.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">13. THE GOAT CARRIAGE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir F. Wigan.</i><br /> - -Painted 1880.</span></p> - -<p>Painted at Broadstairs, and containing portraits -of Mrs. Allingham’s children. Noticeable as being -one of a few drawings where the artist has introduced -animals of any size into her compositions, -but showing that, had she minded, she might have -animated her landscapes with them with as conspicuous -success as she has with her human figures. -Perhaps an incident which happened whilst this -picture was being painted deterred her. Billy -being tied up so as to keep him in somewhat the -same position, managed to gnaw through his rope, -and, irate at his detention, he made for the lady to -whom he thought his captivity was due, and nearly -upset her, paintbox, and picture. The exhibition -of this and kindred portraits of her children under -such titles as “The Young Artist” and “The -Donkey Ride,” led to strangers wishing for portraits -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span> -of their offspring under similar winsome -conditions. But Mrs. Allingham never cared for -the restraint imposed by portrait painting, and the -few that she did in this manner were undertaken -more from friendship than from pleasure.</p> - -<div id="Plate_14" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_14.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">14. THE CLOTHES-BASKET<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour the property of Mr. C. P. Johnson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1880.</span></p> - -<p>It is very seldom that Mrs. Allingham has -treated her public to drawings with low horizons -or sunsets, perhaps for the reason that little of her -life has been spent away in the flatter counties, -where the latter are so noticeable and full of charm -and beauty. This water-colour, the first large -landscape that the artist exhibited, was painted -from studies made in the Isle of Thanet, whilst -staying at Broadstairs.</p> - -<div id="Plate_15" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_15.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">15. IN THE HAYLOFT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour the property of Miss Bell.</i><br /> - -Painted 1880.</span></p> - -<p>This is practically the last of the water-colours -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span> -which were the outcome of earlier pictures executed -in black and white for the illustration of books.</p> - -<p>The story is from <i>Deborah’s Drawer</i>, by Eleanor -Grace O’Reilly, for which, as Helen Paterson, our -artist had made nine drawings in 1870, at a time -when she was so inexperienced in drawing on the -wood that in more than one instance her monogram -appears turned the wrong way. Mr. Bell, the -publisher of the book, subsequently commissioned -her to make a companion water-colour to “The -Young Customers,” and suggested one of the illustrations -called “Ralph’s Girls” as the basis for a -subject.</p> - -<p>The little black-robed girls were twins, whose -mother had recently died, and who had been placed -under the care of a grandmother, who forgot their -youth and spirits. They were imaginative children, -and indulged in delightfully original games. One -(that of personating a sportsman named Jenkins -and a dog called Tubbs, who together went partridge-shooting -through a big field of cabbages -laden with dew) they had just been taking part in. -Tired out with it, they decided to be themselves -again, and to mount to the hayloft and play -another favourite game, that of “remembering.” -This meant taking them back over their short lives, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span> -which ended up with their most recent remembrance, -their mother’s death. Whilst talking over -this they are summoned from their retreat, and -have to appear with their black dresses soaked with -the dew from the cabbages, and with hay adhering -everywhere to their deep crape trimmings. Hence -much penance!</p> - -<div id="Plate_16" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_16.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">16. THE RABBIT HUTCH<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Drawing the property of Mr. C. P. Johnson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1880.</span></p> - -<p>Painted in London, but from sketches made -near Broadstairs, the house seen over the wall -being one of those that are to be found along the -east coast, which bear a decided evidence of Dutch -influence in their architecture. Here again we -have evidence that Mrs. Allingham might, had she -been so minded, have succeeded with animals as -well as she has with human figures and landscape. -A little play is being enacted; the dog, evidently -a rival of the inhabitants of the hutch, has to be -kept at a distance while their feeding is going on, -lest his jealousy might find an outlet in an onslaught -upon them. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_17" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_17.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">17. THE DONKEY RIDE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of -Sir James Kitson, Bart., M.P.</i><br /> - -Painted 1880.</span></p> - -<p>This drawing was executed just at the turning -of the ways, when London was to be exchanged for -country life, and studio for out-of-door painting. -What an increased power came about through the -change will be seen by a comparison between this -“Donkey Ride” and the “Children’s Tea” (<a href="#Plate_23">Plate 23</a>). -Only two years separate them in date; but whilst -in the one we have timidity and hesitancy, in the -other the end is practically assured. In “The -Donkey Ride” we have evidences of experiments, -especially in the direction of finicking stippling (all -over the sea and sky) and of the use of body-colour -(in the baby’s bonnet and the flowers), which were -abandoned later on, to the artist’s exceeding great -benefit. What we expect to find, and do find, is -the pure sentiment, and the dainty freshness, which -is never absent from the earliest efforts onwards.</p> - -<p>The scene is the cliffs near Broadstairs, Mrs. -Allingham’s two eldest children occupying the -panniers. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br /> - -<span class="large">THE ARTIST’S SURREY HOME</span></h2> - -<p>There are few fairer counties in England than -Surrey, and of Surrey the fairest portion is admittedly -the extreme south-western edge which skirts -Sussex to the south and Hampshire to the west. -Travellers from London to Portsmouth by the -London and South-Western Railway on leaving -Guildford pass through the middle of the right -angle which this corner makes, and cut the corner -two miles beyond Haslemere almost exactly at the -point where the three counties meet. As the steep -rise of nearly 300 feet which has to be surmounted -in the six miles which divide Witley from Haslemere -is being negotiated by the train, the most -unobservant passenger must be struck by the -singularly beautiful wooded character of the -country on either side, and by the far-extended -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span> -view which is unfolded as the eye looks southward -over the Weald of Sussex.</p> - -<p>It was to Sandhills, near Witley, that Mrs. -Allingham came to live in 1881 with her growing -family, and it was in this corner of Surrey that she -found ample material for almost all her work during -the next few years; and it is there that she has -returned at intervals for the majority of those -cottage subjects which the public has called for, -ever since her first portrayal of them shortly after -her commencement of landscape painting in these -parts.</p> - -<p>Witley consists of groups of irregularly-dotted-about -houses, which hardly constitute a village, and -would perhaps be better designated by the proper -name—Witley Street. A few years ago every one -of the houses counted their ages by centuries, and -were fitting companions of the ancient oaks and -elms that shaded them. Some few are left, but -the majority are gone, many so long before the -term of their natural existence had run that it was -a troublesome piece of work to destroy them. -There is also an old “Domesday Book” Church. -Drawings of almost all of the cottages, from the -hand of Mrs. Allingham, are in existence somewhere -or other, but she never seems to have painted this -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span> -or other churches, having apparently little liking -for them, as had Birket Foster. In the present -case the omission to do so arose from the fact that -in painting it she would have formed one of the -occupants of half-a-dozen outspread white umbrellas, -all taking a stiffly-composed subject from -the same point of view.</p> - -<p>Sandhills, where our artist lived, is on the -Haslemere side of Witley, on a sloping common of -heather and gorse, topped with fir trees. From -thence the view, looking southwards, extends far -and wide over the Weald of Surrey and Sussex, -Hindhead, a mountain-like hill rising behind, and -Blackdown, a spur stretching out on to the Sussex -Valley to the right. In the distance are to be seen -the rising grounds near Midhurst and Petworth, -Chanctonbury Ring with its tuft of trees, called -locally “The Squire’s Hunting Cap,” and on a -clear day the downs as far as Brighton and Lewes.</p> - -<p>It is indeed a healthy and bracing spot, and one -calculated to induce a painter to energetic work, -and a delight in doing it. Subjects lay close at -hand, the Sandhills garden furnishing many a one. -“Master Hardy’s,” a charming cottage tenanted by -a charming old man, was within a stone’s throw, -and received attention inside and out. Of the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span> -Hindhead Road, which passes south-west, a single -Exhibition, that of 1886, contained six subjects, all -of them wayside cottages, but no one of which, -when the Exhibition opened, was as depicted, -having in that short time been “done up” by local -builders at the bidding of Philistine owners.</p> - -<p>The neighbourhood round is, or perhaps we -should say was, also prolific in subjects—Haslemere, -four miles south-west, with its pleasant wide -old streets, and with fields tilted up at the end of -it, furnished its Fish-Shop, and other thoroughly -English village scenes.</p> - -<p>Some two miles south of Haslemere was Aldworth, -Lord Tennyson’s house, a mile over the -Sussex border, although always spoken of as his -“Surrey” residence. To Mrs. Allingham’s work -there we shall have occasion to refer later on.</p> - -<p>The varied summits of Hindhead (painted a -century earlier by Turner and Rowlandson, and at -that time adorned with a gibbet for the benefit -of the highwaymen who infested the Portsmouth -Road, which passes over it), in one place bare -moor, in another crested with fir trees, lay some -distance northward of Haslemere; but our artist -did not often depict them, although they presented -themselves under many a charming aspect, and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span> -never more glorious than at sunset in their robes -of violet and gold. A thoroughly characteristic -view of them is however given in the Lord Chief -Justice’s drawing (<a href="#Plate_19">Plate 19</a>).</p> - -<p>To the southward of Sandhills stretches, as we -have said, the Weald. To this district Mrs. -Allingham made frequent excursions, not only for -cottages, which she found at Hambledon, Chiddingfold, -and Wisborough, but for spring and autumn -subjects in the oak woods and copses which to this -day probably bear much the same aspect as did the -ancient Forest of Anderida (whose site they occupy) -in the time of the Heptarchy.</p> - -<p>Oak is the tree of the wealden clay on the lower -levels, but elms grow to a grand size on the higher -ground, where ashes are also numerous. Spanish -chestnuts “encamp in state” on certain slopes, and -many of the hills are “fringed and pillared” with -pines. The interminable hazel copses are interspersed -with long labyrinthine paths, the intricacies -of which are only known to the countryside folk. -Not so long ago the cutting down at intervals of -the young wood for the purposes of hop poles, -hurdles, and kindling, brought in a handsome -revenue to the owners; but of late years wire has -taken the place of wood for the two first of these -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span> -objects, and the labourers prefer dear coal to wood, -even as a gift, for it does not entail cutting up. -As railway rates to bring it to the metropolis -are prohibitive, it is hard to say what the consequences -will be in a few years, but the probabilities -actually point to a return to the primitive conditions -which existed in the Saxon times to which -we have referred.</p> - -<p>In the spring the country round is decked with -primroses, bluebells, and cowslips in the woods, -hedgerows, and fields, being fortunately outside -the range of the marauders from London; and -it is indeed pleasurable to ramble from copse to -field, and back again. But in autumn and winter -the deep clay soil makes it heavy travelling in -the deep-cut roads and lanes, cumbered with the -redolent decay of the leafage from the trees.</p> - -<p>The cottars were, when the majority of these -drawings were made, rural and old-fashioned, and -many had lived hereabouts through numerous -generations. A quiet, taciturn folk, contented -with moderate comforts, on good terms with their -wealthier neighbours, not often feeling the pinch -of poverty.</p> - -<p>Maybe all are not so good-looking as Mrs. -Allingham has depicted them, but they vary much, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span> -some being flaxen Saxons, others as dark complexioned -as gipsies.</p> - -<p>As will be seen, they have a taste and enjoyment -for colour, if not for change, in the gardens -with which their cottages are fairly well supplied. -These are bright at one or other season of the year -with snowdrop, crocus, and daffodil, lilac, sweetwilliam, -and pink, sunflower, Michaelmas daisy, -and chrysanthemum.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The following drawings have been selected as -illustrating the neighbourhood of Mrs. Allingham’s -home at Sandhills:—</p> - -<div id="Plate_18" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_18.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">18. A WITLEY LANE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. W. Birks.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<p>It is very seldom that we encounter a drawing -of Mrs. Allingham that deals with Nature in -winter’s garb. In this respect she differs from -Birket Foster, who rightly considered that trees -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span> -were oftentimes as beautiful in their nude as in -their clothed array. Especially did he delight in -the towering framework of the elm, which he regarded -as the most typical of English trees.</p> - -<p>Nor is it often that we see Mrs. Allingham -afield so early in the spring as in this lane scene, -where the elms are clothed only in their “ruddy -hearted blossom flakes.”<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> Perhaps this absence is -due to prudential reasons, to avoid the rheumatism -which appears to be the only ailment which the -landscapist runs against in his healthy outdoor -profession.</p> - -<p>Those who have seen the woods of Surrey and -Sussex at this time of year know what a lovely -colour they assume in the budding stage, a colour -that makes the view over the Weald from such -a vantage-ground as Blackdown a sea of ravishing -violet hues, almost equalling that of the oak forests -as seen in February from the Terrace at Pau, which -stretch away to the snow-clad range of the Pyrenees—perhaps -the most delicately perfect view in -Europe. But the day selected for this sketch was -evidently a warm one for the time of year, or we -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span> -should not see that unusual occurrence, an open -bedroom window in a labourer’s cottage.</p> - -<p>The flowering whin is no index to the season, -for we know the old adage—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">When the whin’s in bloom, my love’s in tune.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>But the catkins on the hazel, and the primroses on -the banks, must place it round that elastic date, -Eastertide.</p> - -<p>These wayside primroses remind one of a strongly -expressed opinion of Mrs. Allingham’s, that wayside -flowers should never be gathered, but left for -the enjoyment of the passers-by—a liberal one, -which was first instilled into her by her husband, -who wrote verses upon it, from which I cull the -following lines:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Pluck not the wayside flower,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">It is the traveller’s dower;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A thousand passers-by<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Its beauties may espy.<br /></span> -<div class="i0"><hr class="tb" /><br /></div> -<span class="i0">The primrose on the slope<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A spot of sunshine dwells,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And cheerful message tells.<br /></span> -<div class="i0"><hr class="tb" /><br /></div> -<span class="i0">Then spare the wayside flower!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">It is the traveller’s dower.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_19" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_19.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">19. HINDHEAD FROM WITLEY COMMON<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Lord Chief Justice -of England.</i><br /> - -Painted 1888.</span></p> - -<p>When this drawing appeared in the Exhibition -of 1889 there were some who called in question -the truthfulness of the colour of distant Hindhead, -affirming that it was too blue. But when the air -comes up in August from the southward, laden -with a salty moisture, and the shadows are cast by -hurrying clouds over the distance, it is altogether -and exactly of the hue set down here. Had the -effect been incorrect it would hardly have been -acquired by so critical a collector as Lord Alverstone, -nor would it have been hung in his Surrey -home, where it invites daily comparison with Nature -under similar aspects. The drawing was painted on -the spot, from just behind the artist’s house, and -is one of the few instances where she has added to -the charm of her work by a sky of some intricacy. -In her cottage and other drawings, where buildings -or other landscape objects are of primary importance, -she has felt that the simpler the treatment of -the sky the better, and with good reason. Here, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span> -where a large expanse calls for interesting forms -to cover it, she has shown her complete ability to -introduce them.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham’s house at Sandhills was below -the foreground slope, to the right of the cottages -whose roofs rise from the ling. The highest point -of Hindhead seen here is Hurt Hill, some nine -hundred feet above sea-level, a name which Mr. -Allingham always held to be a corruption of -Whort Hill, from the whortleberries with which -its slopes are covered, and which in these, as in -other parts are called “wurts.”</p> - -<div id="Plate_20" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_20.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">20. IN WITLEY VILLAGE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Charles Churchill.</i><br /> - -Painted 1884.</span></p> - -<p>This drawing was in The Fine Art Society’s -Exhibition in 1886, the catalogue stating that the -cottage had disappeared in the spring of 1885. It -was pulled down by its owner to be replaced -by buildings whose monotonous symmetry, to his -eye no doubt, appeared in better taste. The -cottage was still far from the natural term of its -existence, as evidenced by the troublesome piece -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span> -of work it was to dislocate the sound, firm old -oaken beams of which its framework was built up. -Mr. Birket Foster, who equally with Mrs. Allingham -mourned its disappearance, regretted that he -could not rebuild it in his own grounds.</p> - -<p>The blackening elms, and the ripe bracken carried -home by the cottar, show that the time when this -picturesque dwelling was painted was late summer, -probably that of 1884. Mrs. Allingham was clearly -then not of Ruskin’s opinion concerning the wrongness -of painting trees in full leaf, for she found the -blue-black of the trees a harmonious background -to her red and russet roof.</p> - -<p>The work throughout shows a loving fidelity -to Nature, as if the artist had felt that she was -looking upon the likeness of an old friend for the -last time, and wished to perpetuate every lineament -and feature.</p> - -<div id="Plate_21" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_21.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">21. BLACKDOWN FROM WITLEY COMMON<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Lord Davey.</i><br /> - -Painted 1886.</span></p> - -<p>This view is taken from the same bridle-path as -is seen in Lord Alverstone’s “Hindhead,” but at a -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span> -lower elevation, and looking some points more to -the south; also at a later time of year, probably -in early October, to judge by the browning hazels. -The bracken-covered elevation in the distance is -Grays Wood Common, which lies to the south of -the railway, and the spur of blue hill seen in the -distance is Blackdown. Aldworth, Lord Tennyson’s -seat, lies just this side of where the hill falls -away. The drawing is one of three only in the -whole collection where Mrs. Allingham has introduced -a draught animal.</p> - -<div id="Plate_22" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_22.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">22. THE FISH-SHOP, HASLEMERE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. A. E. Cumberbatch.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<p>One can well understand the local builder in his -daily round past this picturesque little tenement -casting longing eyes upon its uneven roof, its -diamond-paned lattices, its projecting shop front, -and its spoutless eaves, which allowed the damp -to rise up from the foundations and the green -lichen to grow upon its walls, and that he rested -not until he had set hands upon it, and taken one -more old-world feature from the main thoroughfare -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span> -at Haslemere. Such was actually the case here, -for the shop has long ago disappeared, but it was -not until, much to its owner’s regret, interference -was necessary. Were it not that it indeed was the -fish-shop of Haslemere, it might well have served -for the toyshop in which the scene of “The Young -Customers” was laid. In the days when this was -painted the accommodation provided was probably -sufficient for the intermittent supply of an inland -village, for Haslemere was not, until the last few -years, a country resort for those who seek fine air -and beautiful scenery, and can afford to pay a high -price for it. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br /> - -<span class="large">THE INFLUENCE OF WITLEY</span></h2> - -<p>It will be readily understood that such a beneficial -change in her life surroundings as that from Trafalgar -Square, Chelsea, to Sandhills, Witley, was -not without its effect upon Mrs. Allingham’s Art. -Hitherto her work had, by the exigencies of fortune, -lain almost wholly and entirely in the direction of -the figure. It was studio work, done for the most -part under pressure of time, the selection of subject -being none of hers, and therefore oftentimes -altogether unsympathetic. Finding herself now -in the presence of Nature of a kind that appealed -to her, and which she could appreciate untrammelled -by any conditions, it is not surprising that—unwittingly, -no doubt, at first—the preference was given -to that side of Art which presented itself under so -much more favourable conditions.</p> - -<p>The delight of painting <i>en plein air</i> had first -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span> -been tasted at Shere in the spring and summer of -1878, where she was passionately happy in watching -the changes and developments of the seasons, being -in the fields, lanes, and copses all day and every -day.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> Almost as full a feast had followed at Haslemere -in 1880. When these were succeeded by a -permanent residence in front of Nature, studio work -became more and more trying and unsatisfactory.</p> - -<p>To most people of an artistic temperament the -abandonment of the figure for landscape would -never have been the subject of a moment’s consideration, -for it would have appeared to them the -desertion of a higher for a lower grade of Art. -But from the time of her arrival in the country -there seems to have never been any doubt in Mrs. -Allingham’s mind as to the direction which her -Art should take. The pleasure to which we have -referred of sitting down in the open air before -Nature, whose aspects and moods she could select -at her own will, and at her own time, was infinitely -preferable to the toil and trouble of either illustrating -the ideas of others, or building up scenes, oftentimes -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span> -improbable ones, of her own creation. From -this time onwards, then, we find her drifting away -from the figure, but not altogether, or at once, for -as her family grew up, scenes in her house life -passed across her view which she enjoyed to place -on record, and for which the world thanks her: -scenes of infant life in the nursery, such as “Pat-a-cake” -and “The Children’s Tea”; in the schoolroom, -such as “Lessons”; and out of school hours, -such as “Bubbles” and “The Children’s Maypole.” -In one and all of these it is her own family who -are the chief actors.</p> - -<p>The portrayal of her children in heads of a larger -size than her usual work was at this time seen by -friends and others, who pressed upon her commissions -for effigies of their own little ones, a branch -of work which promptly drew down upon her the -disapproval of Ruskin, who wrote: “I am indeed -sorrowfully compelled to express my regret that -she should have spent unavailing pains in finishing -single heads, which are at the best uninteresting -miniatures, instead of fulfilling her true gift, and -doing what the Lord made her for in representing -the gesture, character, and humour of charming -children in country landscapes.”</p> - -<p>But this change naturally did not pass over her -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span> -work all at once, or even in a single year. Mrs. -Allingham’s presentations of the countryside commenced -in earnest shortly after her settling down at -Witley in 1881; but as will be seen by the dates of -the pictures which illustrate this chapter, the figure -as the dominant feature continues for another six -years; in fact, during the whole of her seven and -a half years at Witley we find it now and again, -and do not part with it as such until 1890. Since -then hardly a single example has come from her -brush. Mrs. Allingham gives as her reason for -the change that she came to the conclusion that -she could put as much interest into a figure two -or three inches high as in one three times as large, -and that she could paint it better; for in painting -large figures out of doors it was always a difficulty -in making them look anything else than they were, -namely, “posing models.”</p> - -<p>But if the figure ceases to occupy the foremost -position, it is still there, and is always present -to add a charming vitality to all that she does. -To people a landscape with figures, of captivating -mien, each taking its proper position, and each -adding to the interest of the whole, is a gift which -is the property of but few landscapists. It is -indeed a gift, for we have before us the example -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span> -of the greatest landscapist of all, who the more he -strove the more he failed. But it is a gift which -we believe many more might obtain by strenuous -endeavour. It is always a matter of surprise to -the ignorant public how it comes to pass that an -artist who can draw nature admirably should never -attempt to learn the draftsmanship of the human -figure, by the omission of which from his work he -deprives it of half its interest and value. He often -goes a step further, and shows not his inability but -his indolence by producing picture after picture, -upon the face of which no single instance occurs -of the introduction of man, beast, or bird, save -and except a single unpretentious creature of the -lowest grade of the feathered creation; this, however, -he will draw sufficiently well to prove that -he could, an he would, double the interest in his -landscapes. To the outsider this appears incomprehensible -in the person of those who apparently -are thorough artists, ardent in their profession. -One meets such an one at table, and even between -the courses he cannot refrain from taking out his -pencil and covering the menu with his scribblings; -but the same man appears before Nature without a -note-book, in which he might be storing so many -jottings, which would be of untold value to his work. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span></p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham’s case has been the entire contrary -to this; she has, I will not say toiled, for the -garnering must be a pleasure, but stored, many a -time and oft, for future use, a mass of valuable -material, so that she is never at a loss for the right -adjunct to fit the right place. Her so doing was, -in the first instance, due entirely to her husband. -He said, truly, that the introduction of animals -and birds, in fact, any form of life, gave scale and -interest to a picture, and he urged her to begin -making studies from the first. There is not the -slightest doubt that she owed very much to him -that habit of thinking out fitting figures, as she -has always tried, and with exceptional success, as -accessories to every landscape.</p> - -<p>Her sketch-books, consequently, are full not -only of men, women, and children, and their immediate -belongings, but of most of the animal life -which follows in their train. I say “most,” because -for some reason, which I have not elicited from her, -she has preferences. Horses, cattle, and sheep she -will have but little of, only occasionally introducing -them in distant hay or harvest fields. The only -instances of anything akin to either in this book -are the animals in “The Goat Carriage,” and “The -Donkey Ride.” Nor will she have much to say to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span> -dogs, but for cats she has a great fondness, and -they animate a large number of her scenes. Fowls, -pigeons, and the like she paints to the life, and -she apparently is thoroughly acquainted with their -habits; but other winged creatures, save an occasional -robin, she avoids. Rabbits, wild and tame, -she often introduces.</p> - -<p>Her pictures being always typical of repose, she -avoids much motion in her figures. Her children -even, seldom indulge in violent action, unlike those -of Birket Foster, who run races down hill, use the -skipping-rope, fly kites, and urge the horses in the -lane out of their accustomed foots-pace.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As typical examples of the drawings made in the -early days at Witley, and whilst the figure was the -main object, we have selected the following:—</p> - -<div id="Plate_23" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_23.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">23. THE CHILDREN’S TEA<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. W. Hollins.</i><br /> - -Painted 1882.</span></p> - -<p>This is the most important, and, to my mind, the -most delightful of any of Mrs. Allingham’s creations; -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span> -quite individual, and quite unlike the work of -any one else. Not only is the subject a charming -one, but the actors in it all hold one’s attention. -It is certainly destined in the future to hold a high -place among the examples of English water-colour -art.</p> - -<p>The scene is laid in Mrs. Allingham’s dining-room -at Sandhills, Witley, and contains portraits -of her children. The incidents are slight but -original. The mother is handing a cup of tea, but -no one notices it, for the eldest girl’s attention is -taken up with the old cat lapping its milk, her -younger sister, with her back to the window, is -occupied in feeding her doll, propped up against a -cup, from a large bowl of bread and milk, and -the two other children are attracted to a sulphur -butterfly which has just alighted on a glass of lilies -of the valley. The <i>etceteras</i> are painted as beautifully -as the bigger objects; note, for instance, the -bowl of daffodils on the old oak cupboard, the china -on the table, and even the buns and the preserves. -The whole is suffused with the warmth of a spring -afternoon, the season being ascertainable by the -budding trees outside, and the spring flowers inside. -Exception may be taken to the faces not being -more in shadow from a light which, although -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span> -reflected from the tablecloth, is apparently behind -them, and to the tablecloth being whiter than the -sky, which it would not be. The fact, as regards -the former, is that the faces were also lit from a -window behind the spectator, whilst the latter is a -permissible licence.</p> - -<div id="Plate_24" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_24.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">24. THE STILE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Alfred Shuttleworth.</i><br /> - -Painted 1883.</span></p> - -<p>The effort of negotiating a country stile, such -as the one here depicted, which has no aids in -the way of subsidiary steps, always induces a desire -to rest by the way. Especially is this the case -when a well-worn top affords a substantial seat. -Time is evidently of little importance to the two -sisters, for they have lingered in the hazel copse -gathering hyacinths and primroses. Besides, the -little one has asserted her right to a meal, and that -would of itself be a sufficient excuse for lingering -on the journey. The dog seems of the same way -of thinking, and is evidently eagerly weighing the -chances as to how much of the slice of bread and -butter will fall to its share. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span></p> - -<p>The drawing is a rich piece of colouring, but -the hedgerow bank, with its profusion and variety -of flowers, shows just that lack of a restraining -hand which is so evident in Mrs. Allingham’s -fully-matured work. It was painted entirely in the -open air, close to Sandhills, and the model who sat -for the little child is now the artist’s housemaid.</p> - -<div id="Plate_25" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_25.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">25. “PAT-A-CAKE”<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir F. Wigan, Bt.</i><br /> - -Painted 1884.</span></p> - -<p>This drawing, although painted later than “The -Children’s Tea,” would seem to be the prelude to -a set in which practically the same figures take a -part.</p> - -<p>The motive here, as in all Mrs. Allingham’s -subjects, is of the simplest kind. The young girl -reads from nursery rhymes that time-honoured one -of “Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake, Baker’s Man.” It is -apparently her younger brother’s first introduction -to the bye-play of patting, which should accompany -its recitation, for the child regards the performance -with some doubt, and has to be trained by the -nurse as to how its hands should be manœuvred. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span></p> - -<p>The drawing is full of details, such as the workbox, -scissors, thimble, primroses, and anemones in -the bowl, the china in the cupboard, and the -coloured engraving on the wall, which, as we have -seen in the case of other painters who have practised -it, opens up in fuller maturity a power of -painting which is never possible to those who have -neglected such an education.</p> - -<div id="Plate_26" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_26.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">26. LESSONS<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1885.</span></p> - -<p>The relations between the teacher and the -taught appear to be somewhat strained this summer -morning, for the little girl in pink is evidently at -fault with her lessons, and the boy, while presumably -figuring up a sum on his slate, has his eyes -and ears open for a break in the silence which -fills the room for the moment. However, in a -short time it will be halcyon weather for all the -actors, for the sun is streaming in at the window, -the roses show that it is high summer, and a day -on which the sternest teacher could not condemn -the most intractable child to lengthy indoor -imprisonment. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span></p> - -<p>This drawing is of the same importance as -regards size as “The Children’s Tea,” and is full -of charm in every part.</p> - -<div id="Plate_27" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_27.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">27. BUBBLES<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. B. Beaumont.</i><br /> - -Painted 1886.</span></p> - -<p>Lessons are over, a stool has been brought from -the schoolroom, the kitchen has been invaded, and -the dish of soapsuds having been placed upon it -the fun has begun. Who, that has enjoyed it, will -forget the acrid taste of the long new churchwarden -(where do the children of the present day find such -pipes if they ever condescend to the fascinating -game of bubble-blowing?) that one naturally -sucked away at long before the watery compound -was ready, the still more pungent taste of the household -soap, the delight of seeing the first iridescent -globe detach itself from the pipe and float upwards -on the still air, or of raising a hundred globules by -blowing directly into the basin, as the smocked -youngster is doing here. Such joys countervailed -the smarts which befell one’s eyes when the burst -bubble scattered its fragments into them, or when -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span> -the suds came to an end, not through their dissipation -into air, but over one’s clothes.</p> - -<div id="Plate_28" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_28.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">28. ON THE SANDS—SANDOWN, ISLE OF WIGHT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Francis Black.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1886.</span></p> - -<p>The family of young children that was now -growing up round our artist naturally necessitated -the summer holiday assuming a visit to the seaside, -and much of Mrs. Allingham’s time was, no doubt, -spent on the shore in their company. It is little -matter for surprise that this pleasure was combined -with that of welding them into pictures; and, if -an excuse must be made for Mrs. Allingham oftentimes -robing her little girls in pink, it is to be found -in the fact that the models were almost invariably -her own children, who were so attired. It certainly -will not be one of the least agreeable incidents for -those who saunter over the illustrations of this -volume to distinguish them and trace their growth -from the cradle onwards, until they pass out of the -stage of child models.</p> - -<p>This drawing was painted on the shore at -Sandown, Isle of Wight, where the detritus of the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span> -Culver chalk cliffs afforded, in combination with -the sand, splendid material for the early achievements -in architecture and estate planning which -used to yield so healthy an occupation to -youngsters.</p> - -<p>It was a hazardous task to attempt success with -such a variety of tones of white as here presented -themselves, but the result is entirely satisfactory. -In fact the drawing shows how readily and with -what success the painter took up another phase of -outdoor work, not easy of accomplishment. In -those collections which include these seashore -subjects they single themselves out from all their -neighbours by the aptitude with which figures and -a limpid sea are painted in sunshine. This, again, -is no doubt due to their having been entirely out-of-doors -work.</p> - -<div id="Plate_29" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_29.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">29. DRYING CLOTHES<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1886.</span></p> - -<p>This important drawing, in which the figure is -on a large scale, makes one regret that Mrs. -Allingham abandoned her portraiture, for a more -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span> -captivating life study it is hard to imagine. -Flattery apart, one may say that Frederick Walker -never drew a more ideal figure or conceived a more -charming colour scheme. The only feature which -would perhaps have been omitted from a later work -is that of the foxgloves in the corner, which appears -to be rather an artificial introduction. The note -of the little child behind the gate is charming. It -is evidently not allowed to wander in the field, -although the well-worn path shows that here is -the main road to the cottage, and it feels that a -joy is denied it not to be allowed to participate in -the ceremony of gathering in of the family washing, -as it was in younger days when the clothes were -hung out.</p> - -<div id="Plate_30" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_30.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">30. HER MAJESTY’S POST OFFICE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. B. Beaumont.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<p>This, at the time it was painted, was the only -Post Office of which Bowler’s Green, near Haslemere, -boasted, and from its appearance it might well -have served during the reigns of several of Her -Majesty’s predecessors. It speaks much for the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span> -absence of ill-disposed persons in the neighbourhood -that letters were for so long entrusted to its -care, as it seems far removed from the days of the -scarlet funnel which probably now replaces it. I -opine that the young gentleman whom we saw a -short while ago engaged in bubble-blowing has -been entrusted here with the posting of a letter.</p> - -<div id="Plate_31" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_31.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">31. THE CHILDREN’S MAYPOLE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Dobson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1886.</span></p> - -<p>May Day still lingers in some parts of the -country, for only last year in an out-of-the-way -lane in Northamptonshire the writer encountered a -band of children decked in flowers, and their best -frocks and ribbons, singing an old May ditty. But -lovers have long ago ceased to plant trees before -their mistresses’ doors, and to dance with them -afterwards round the maypole on the village green, -which we too are old enough to remember in -Leicestershire. The ceremony that Mrs. Allingham’s -children are taking a part in was doubtless -the recognition by a poet of his illustrious predecessor -Spenser’s exhortation:— -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span></p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Youths folke now flocken in everywhere<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To gather May baskets, and smelling briere;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And home they hasten, the postes to dight<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With hawthorne buds, and sweet eglantine,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And girlonds of roses, and soppes in wine.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The scene is laid in the woods at Witley. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br /> - -<span class="large">THE WOODS, THE LANES, AND THE FIELDS</span></h2> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">I’ve been dreaming all night, and thinking all day, of the hedgerows of England;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">They are in blossom now, and the country is all like a garden;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thinking of lanes and of fields, and the song of the lark and the linnet.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>When Mrs. Allingham finally, I will not say -determined to cut herself away from figure painting, -but by the influence of her surroundings -drifted away from it, she did not, as so many do, -become the delineator of a single phase of landscape -art. Her journeyings in search of subjects -for some years were neither many nor extensive, -for a paintress with a family growing up around -her has not the same opportunities as a painter. -He can leave his incumbrances in charge of his -wife, and his work will probably benefit by an -occasional flitting from home surroundings. But -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span> -a mother’s work would not thrive away from her -children even if absence was possible, which it -probably was not in Mrs. Allingham’s case. Hence -we find that the ground she has covered has been -almost entirely confined to what are termed the -Home Counties, with an occasional diversion to the -Isle of Wight, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, and -Cheshire. In the Home Counties, Surrey and -Kent have furnished most of her material, the -former naturally being oftenest drawn upon during -her life at Witley, and the latter since she lived in -London, whither she returned in the year 1888. -This inability to roam about whither she chose -was doubtless helpful in compelling her to vary -her subjects, for she would of necessity have to -paint whatever came within her reach. But her -energy also had its share, for it enabled her to -search the whole countryside wherever she was, -and gather in a dozen suitable scenes where another -might only discover one.</p> - -<p>As evidence of this we may instance the case of -the corner of Kent whither she has gone again -and again of late, and where in the present year -she has still been able to find ample material to her -liking. A visit to this somewhat out-of-the-way -spot, which lies in Kent in an almost identically -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span> -similar position to that which Witley does in Surrey, -namely, in the extreme south-west corner, shows -how she has found material everywhere. In the -mile that separates the station from the farmhouse -where she encamps, she shows a cottage that she -has painted from every side, a brick kiln that she -has her eye on, an old yew, and a clump of elms -that has been most serviceable. Arriving at the -farm-gate she points to the modest floral display in -front that has sufficed for “In the Farmhouse -Garden” (<a href="#Plate_2">Plate 2</a>), whilst over the way are the -buildings of “A Kentish Farmyard” (<a href="#Plate_58">Plate 58</a>). -Entering the house the visitor may not be much -impressed with the view from her sitting-room -window, but under the artist’s hands it has become -the silvern sheet of daisies reproduced in <a href="#Plate_38">Plate 38</a>. -“On the Pilgrims’ Way” (<a href="#Plate_41">Plate 41</a>) is a field or so -away, whilst a short walk up the downs behind the -house finds us in the presence of the originals of -<a href="#Plate_32">Plates 32</a> and <a href="#Plate_36">36</a>. A drive across the vale and -we have Crockham Hill, whence comes <a href="#Plate_40">Plate 40</a>, -and Ide Hill, <a href="#Plate_55">Plate 55</a>.</p> - -<p>A ramble round these scenes, whilst a most -enjoyable matter to any one born to an appreciation -of the country, was in truth not the inspiration -that would be imagined to the writer of the text, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span> -for he had seen, for instance, the daintily conceived -water-colour of “Ox-eye Daisies” (<a href="#Plate_38">Plate 38</a>), painted -a year ago, and he arrived at the field to find this -year’s crop a failure, and on a day in which the -distant woods were hardly visible; the scene of the -“Foxgloves” had all the underwood grown up, and -only a stray spike suggestive of the glory of past -years; gipsy tramps on the road to “berrying” -(strawberry gathering) conjured up no visions of the -tenant of Mrs. Allingham’s “Spring on the Kentish -Downs,” but only a horrible thought of the strawberries -defiled by being picked by their hands.</p> - -<p>This description of the variety of the artist’s -work within a single small area will show that it is -somewhat difficult to classify it for consideration. -However, one or two arrangements and rearrangements -of the drawings which illustrate these phases -of the artist’s output seem to bring them best into -the following divisions: woods, lanes, and fields; -cottages; and gardens. These we shall therefore -consider in this and the following chapters, dealing -here with the first of them.</p> - -<p>Midway in her life at Witley, The Fine Art -Society induced Mrs. Allingham to undertake, as -the subject for an Exhibition, the portrayal of the -countryside under its four seasonal aspects of spring, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span> -summer, autumn, and winter. She completed her -task, and the result was shown in 1886 in an -Exhibition, but a glance at the catalogue shows in -which direction her preference lay; for whilst spring -and summer between them accounted for more than -fifty pictures, only seven answered for autumn, and -six, of which one half were interiors, illustrated -winter. These proportions may not perhaps have -represented the ratio of her affections, but of her -physical ability to portray each of the seasons. -Autumn leaves and tints no doubt appealed to her -artistic eye as much as spring or summer hues, but -for some reason, perhaps that of health, illustrations -were few and far between of the time of year</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>In so selecting she differed from Mr. Ruskin, -who has laid it down that “a tree is never meant -to be drawn with all its leaves on, any more than a -day when its sun is at noon. One draws the day -in its morning or eventide, the tree in its spring -or autumn dress.” This naturally exaggerated -dictum is the contrary of Mrs. Allingham’s practice. -She almost invariably waits for the trees until they -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span> -have completely donned their spring garb, and -leaves them ere they doff their summer dress.</p> - -<p>The drawings of the woods, lanes, and fields -which Mrs. Allingham has selected for illustration -here comprise six of spring, three of summer, -and two of autumn, winter being unrepresented. -They are culled as to seven from Kent, three -from Surrey, and a single one from Hertfordshire.</p> - -<p>Taking them in their seasonal order we may -discuss them as follows:—</p> - -<div id="Plate_32" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_32.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">32. SPRING ON THE KENTISH DOWNS<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Beddington.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Out of the city, far away<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With spring to-day!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Where copses tufted with primrose<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Give one repose.<br /></span> -<span class="author"><span class="smcap">William Allingham.</span><br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>That the joy of spring is a never-failing subject -for poets, any one may see who turns over the -pages of the numerous compilations which now -treat of Nature. I doubt, however, whether they -receive a higher pleasure from it than does the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span> -townsman who can only walk afield at rare intervals, -and whose first visit to the country each year is -taken at Eastertide. He probably has no eye save -for the contrasts which he experiences to his daily -life, of scene, air, and vitality, but these will certainly -infect him with a healthier love of life than -is enjoyed by those who live amongst them and -see them come and go.</p> - -<p>Fortunate is the man who can visit these Kentish -downs at a time when the breath of spring is -touching everything, when the eastern air makes -one appreciate the shelter that the hazel copses -fringing their sides afford, an appreciation which is -shared by the firs which hug their southern slopes.</p> - -<p>It is very early spring in this drawing. The -highest trees show no sign of it save at their outermost -edges. Hazels alone, and they only in the -shelter, have shed their flowery tassels, and assumed -a leafage which is still immature in colour. The -sprawling trails of the traveller’s joy, which rioted -over everything last autumn, are still without any -trace of returning vitality. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_33" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_33.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">33. TIG BRIDGE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. E. S. Curwen.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Here the white ray’d anemone is born,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Wood-sorrel, and the varnish’d buttercup;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And primrose in its purfled green swathed up,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pallid and sweet round every budding thorn.<br /></span> -<span class="author"><span class="smcap">William Allingham.</span><br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>This little sequestered bridge would hardly seem -to be of sufficient importance to deserve a name, -nor for the matter of that the streamlet, the -Tigbourne, which runs beneath it, but on the -Hindhead slope streams of any size are scarce, and -therefore call for notice. Bridges resemble stiles -in being enforced loitering places, for whilst there -is no effort which compels a halt in crossing bridges, -as there is with stiles, there is the sense of mystery -which underlies them, and expectancy as to what -the water may contain. Especially is this so for -youth; and so here we have boy and girl who -pause on their way from bluebell gathering, whilst -the former makes belief of fishing with the thread -of twine which youngsters of his age always find -to hand in one or other of their pockets. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_34" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_34.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">34. SPRING IN THE OAKWOOD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1903.</span></p> - -<p>We have elsewhere remarked on the rare occasions -on which Mrs. Allingham utilises sunlight -and shadow. Here, however, is one of them, and -one which shows that it is from no incapacity to -do so, for it is now introduced with a difficult -effect, namely, blue flowers under a low raking -light. The artist’s eye was doubtless attracted by -the unusual visitation of a bright warm sun on a -spring day, and determined to perpetuate it.</p> - -<p>The wood in which the scene is laid is on the -Kentish Downs, where, as the distorted boughs -show, the winds are always in evidence.</p> - -<p>The juxtaposition of the two primaries, blue -and yellow, is always a happy one in nature, but -specially is it so when we have such a mass of -sapphire blue.</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Blue, gentle cousin of the forest green,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Married to green in all the sweetest flowers—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Forget-me-not, the bluebell, and that queen<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of secrecy the violet.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_35" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_35.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">35. THE CUCKOO<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. A. Hugh Thompson.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1887.</span></p> - -<p>In a recent “One Man Exhibition” by that -refined artist Mr. Eyre Walker, there was a very -unusual drawing entitled “Beauty for Ashes.” The -entire foreground was occupied with a luxuriant -growth of purple willow loosestrife, intermixed -with the silvery white balls of down from seeding -nipplewort. Standing gaunt from this intermingling, -luxuriant crop, were the charred stems of burnt -fir trees, whilst the living mass of their fellows -formed an agreeable background. The subject -must have attracted many travellers on the South-Western -Railway as they passed Byfleet; it did so -in Mr. Walker’s case to the extent that he stayed -his journey and painted it.</p> - -<p>In that case this beautiful display had, as the -title to the picture hints, arisen from the ashes of a -forest. A spark from a train had set fire to the -wood, and had apparently destroyed every living -thing in its course. But such is Nature that out of -death sprang life. So it has been with the coppice -here, and in the oakwood scene which preceded -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span> -it. The cutting down and clearing of the wood has -brought sun, air, and rain to the soil, and as a consequence -have followed the</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i22">Sheets of hyacinth<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That seem the heavens upbreaking thro’ the earth.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The drawing takes its name from the cuckoo -whose note has arrested the children’s attention.</p> - -<div id="Plate_36" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_36.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">36. THE OLD YEW TREE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1903.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="author">The sad yew is seen<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Still with the black cloak round his ancient wrongs.<br /></span> -<span class="author"><span class="smcap">William Allingham.</span><br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>One of many that are dotted about the southern -slopes of the Westerham Downs, and that, not only -here but all along the line of the Pilgrims’ Way, -are regarded as having their origin in these devotees. -The drawing was made in the early part -of the present year, when the primroses and violets -were out, but before there was anything else, save -the blossom of the willow, to show that</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The spring comes slowly up this way,<br /></span> -<span class="i4">Slowly, slowly!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To give the world high holiday.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_37" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_37.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">37. THE HAWTHORN VALLEY, BROCKET<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Lord Mount-Stephen.</i><br /> - -Painted 1898.</span></p> - -<p>It is somewhat remarkable that the most impressive -flower-show that Nature presents to our -notice, namely, when, as May passes into June, the -whole countryside is decked with a bridal array of -pure white, should have taken hold of but few of -our poets.</p> - -<p>Shakespeare, of course, recognised it in lines -which make one smile at the idea that they could -ever have been composed by a town-bred poet:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">O what a life were this! How sweet, how lovely!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Than doth a rich embroidered canopy<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To kings that fear their subjects’ treachery.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Another, in the person of Mrs. Allingham’s -husband, penned a sonnet upon it containing the -following happy description:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i4">Cluster’d pearls upon a robe of green,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And broideries of white bloom.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The scene of this drawing is laid in the park at -Brocket Hall, to which reference is made in connection -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span> -with a subsequent illustration (<a href="#Plate_65">Plate 65</a>). -The park is full of ancient timber, one great oak on -the border of the two counties (Herts and Beds) -being mentioned in Doomsday Book, and another -going by the name of Queen Elizabeth’s oak, from -the tradition that the Princess was sitting under it -when the news reached her that she was Queen of -England.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> The Hawthorn Valley runs for nearly -a mile from one of the park entrances towards the -more woodland part of the estate, and was formerly -used as a private race-course.</p> - -<p>The artist has treated a very difficult subject -with success, as any one, especially an amateur, -who has tried to portray masses of hawthorn -blossom will readily admit. Any attempt to draw -the flowers and fill in the foliage is hopeless, and -it can only be done, as in this case, by erasure. -Hardly less difficult to accomplish are the delicate -fronds of the young bracken, unfolding upwards by -inches a day, which can only be treated suggestively. -In the original, which is on a somewhat large scale, -the middle distance is enlivened with browsing -rabbits, but the very considerable reduction of the -drawing has reduced these to a size which renders -them hardly distinguishable. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_38" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_38.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">38. OX-EYE DAISIES, NEAR WESTERHAM, KENT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>Whilst no Exhibition passes nowadays which -has not one or more representations of the “blithe -populace” of daisies, the fashion has only come in of -late years. Even the Flemings, who were so partial -to the flowers of the field, seem to have considered it -beneath their notice—a strange occurrence, because -one can hardly turn over the pages of any missal of -a corresponding epoch without coming upon many -a faithful representation of the rose-encircled orb.</p> - -<p>Chaucer extolled it</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Above all the flow’res in the mead<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Then love I most these flow’res white and red,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Such that men callen daisies in our town.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And much content it gave him</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">To see this flow’r against the sunne spread.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When it upriseth early by the morrow<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That blissful sight softeneth all my sorrow.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>He recognised its name of “day’s eye,” because it -opens and closes its flower with the daylight, in -the lines—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The daisie or els the eye of the daie,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The emprise and the floure of floures alle.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span></p> - -<p>In fact it was a favourite with English poets long -before it came under the notice of English painters. -Witness Milton’s well-known line—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Meadows trim with daisies pied.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>It was not until the epoch of the pre-Raphaelite -brethren that the daisies which pie the meadows -seemed worthy of perpetuation, and it was reserved -to Frederick Walker, in his “Harbour of Refuge,” -to limn them on a lawn falling beneath the scythe.</p> - -<p>The flower that Mrs. Allingham has painted -with so much skill—for it is a very difficult undertaking -to suggest a mass of daisies without too much -individualising—is not, of course, the field daisy -(<i>bellis perennis</i>) but the ox-eye, or moon daisy, -which is really a chrysanthemum (<i>chrysanthemum -leucanthemum</i>), a plant which seems to have increased -very much of late years, especially on railway -embankments, maybe because it has come into -vogue, and actually been advanced to a flower -worthy of gathering and using as a table decoration, -an honour that would never have been bestowed -on it a quarter of a century ago.</p> - -<p>The drawing was made from the window of the -farmhouse in Kent, to which, as we have said, -Mrs. Allingham runs down at all seasons. It was -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span> -evidently made on a glorious summer day, when -every flower had expanded to its utmost under the -delicious heat of a ripening sun. The bulbous -cloudlet which floats in front of the whiter strata, -and the blueness of the distant woods may augur -rain in the near future, but for the moment everything -appears to be in a serenely happy condition, -except perhaps the farmer, who would fain see a -crop in which there was less flower and more grass.</p> - -<div id="Plate_39" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_39.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">39. FOXGLOVES<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. C. A. Barton.</i><br /> - -Painted 1898.</span></p> - -<p>Foxgloves have appealed to Mrs. Allingham for -portrayal in more than one locality in England, -but never in greater luxuriance than on this Kentish -woodside, where their spikes overtop the sweet -little sixteen-year-old faggot-carrier. It happens -to be another instance of a magnificent crop springing -up the first year after a growth of saplings have -been cleared away, and not to be repeated even in -this year of grace (1903) when the newspapers have -been full of descriptions of the unwonted displays -of foxgloves everywhere, and have been taunting -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span> -the gardeners upon their poor results in comparison -with Nature’s.</p> - -<div id="Plate_40" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_40.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">40. HEATHER ON CROCKHAM HILL, KENT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>It is perhaps a fallacy, or at least heresy, to assert -that English heather bears away the palm for beauty -over that of the country with which it is more -popularly associated. But many, I am sure, will -agree with me that nowhere in Scotland is any -stretch of heather to be found which can eclipse -in its magnificence of colour that which extends -for mile after mile over Surrey and Kentish commonland -in mid August. In the summer in which -this drawing was painted it was especially noticeable -as being in more perfect bloom than it had -been known to be for many seasons.</p> - -<div id="Plate_41" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_41.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">41. ON THE PILGRIMS’ WAY<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>I was taken to task by Mrs. Allingham a while -ago for saying that her affections were not so set -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span> -upon the delineation of harvesting as were those of -most landscapists, and she stated that she had -painted the sheafed fields again and again. But I -held to my assertion, and proof comes in this drawing -just handed to me. Not one artist in ten -would, I am certain, have sat down to his subject -on this side of the hedge, but would have been over -the stile, and made his foreground of the shorn field -and stacked sheaves, breaking their monotony of -form and colour by the waggon and its attendant -labourers. But Mrs. Allingham could not pass the -harvest of the hedge, and was satisfied with just a -peep of the corn through the gap formed by the -stile. It is not surprising, for who that is fond of -flowers could pass such a gladsome sight as the -display which Nature has so lavishly offered month -after month the summer through to those who -cared to notice it. In May the hedge was white -with hawthorn, in June gay with dog-roses and -white briar, in July with convolvuli and woodbine, -and now again in August comes the clematis and -the blackberry flower. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_42" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_42.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">42. NIGHT-JAR LANE, WITLEY<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Drawing in the possession of Mr. E. S. Curwen.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<p>One of those steep self-made roads which the -passage of the seasons rather than of man has -furrowed and deepened in “the flow of the deep -still wood,” a lodgment for the leaves from whose -depths that charming lament of the dying may -well have arisen,—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Said Fading Leaf to Fallen Leaf,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“I toss alone on a forsaken tree,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">It rocks and cracks with every gust that rocks<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Its straining bulk: say! how is it with thee?”<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Said Fallen Leaf to Fading Leaf,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">“A heavy foot went by, an hour ago;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Crush’d into clay, I stain the way;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The loud wind calls me, and I cannot go.”<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The name “Night-Jar,” by which this lane is -known, is unusual, and probably points to its having -been a favourite hunting-ground for a seldom-seen -visitant, for which it seems well-fitted. The name -may well date back to White of Selborne’s time, -who lived not far away, and termed the bird “a -wonderful and curious creature,” which it must be -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span> -if, as he records, it commences its jar, or note, every -evening so exactly at the close of day that it -coincided to a second with the report—which he -could distinguish in summer—of the Portsmouth -evening gun.</p> - -<p>Night-jars are most deceptive in their flight, -one or two giving an illusion of many by their -extremely rapid movements and turns; and they -may well have been very noticeable to persons in -the confined space of this gully, especially as the -observer in his evening stroll would probably stir -up the moths, which are the bird’s favourite food, -and which would attract it into his immediate -vicinity. How much interest would be added to -a countryside were the lanes all fitted with titles -such as this. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br /> - -<span class="large">COTTAGES AND HOMESTEADS</span></h2> - -<p>The ancient haunts of men have numberless tongues for those -who know how to hear them speak.</p> - -<p>It was not until some fifteen years of Mrs. -Allingham’s career as a painter in water-colour -had been accomplished that she found the subject -with which her name has since been so inseparably -linked. Looking through the ranks of her -associates in the Art it is in rare instances that -we encounter so complete a departure out of a -long-practised groove, or one which has been so -amply justified. But in selecting English Cottages -and Homesteads, and peopling them with a comely -tenantry, she happened upon a theme that was -certain not only to obtain the suffrages of the -ordinary exhibition visitors, but of those who add -to seeing, admiration and acquisition. Thus it -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span> -has come to pass that in the other fifteen years -which have elapsed since she first began to paint -them, “Mrs. Allingham’s Cottages” have become -a household word amongst connoisseurs of English -water-colours, and no representative collection has -been deemed to be complete without an example -of them.</p> - -<p>This appreciation is very assuredly a sound one, -as the value of these pictures does not consist -solely in their beauty as works of Art, but in their -recording in line and colour a most interesting but -unfortunately vanishing phase of English domestic -architecture. For the cottages are almost without -exception veritable portraits, the artist (whilst -naturally selecting those best suited to her purpose) -having felt it a duty to present them with -an accuracy of structural feature which is not -always the case in creations of this kind, where -the painter has had other views, and considered -that he could improve his picture by an addition -here and an omission there.</p> - -<p>So many of Mrs. Allingham’s drawings of -cottages have been taken from the counties of -Surrey and Sussex, that it may interest not only -the owners of those here reproduced, but others -who possess similar subjects, to read a short -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span> -description of the features that distinguish the -buildings in these districts.</p> - -<p>One is perhaps too apt to pass these lowlier -habitations of our fellow-men, whether we see -them in reality or in their counterfeits, without a -thought as to their structure, or an idea that it is -an evolution which has grown on very marked lines -from primitive types, and which in almost every -instance has been influenced by local surroundings.</p> - -<p>In the early days of housebuilding the use of -local materials was naturally a distinctive feature -of dwellings of every kind, but more especially in -those where expenditure had to be kept within -narrow limits. But even in such a case the style -of architecture affected in the better built houses -influenced and may be traced in the more humble -ones. Change amongst our forefathers was even -less hastily assumed than in these days, and a style -which experience had proved to be convenient was -persevered in for generation after generation, individuality -seldom having any play, although a -necessary adaptation to the site gave to most -buildings a distinction of their own. One of the -earliest forms, and one still to be found even in -buildings which have now descended to the use of -yeomen’s dwellings, was that of a large central -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span> -room having on one side of it the smaller living -and sleeping rooms, and on the other the kitchens -and servants’ apartments, the wings projecting -sometimes both to back and front, sometimes only -to the latter. In later times, as such a house fell -into less well-to-do hands, necessity usually compelled -the splitting-up of the house into various -tenements, in which event the central room was -generally divided into compartments, often into a -complete dwelling. Types of this kind may be -found in most villages in the south-eastern counties, -and examples will be seen in “The Six Bells” -(<a href="#Plate_57">Plate 57</a>) and the house at West Tarring, near -Worthing (<a href="#Plate_51">Plate 51</a>), where the central portion -falls back from the gabled ends. This arrangement -of a central hall used for a living room, after going -out of favour for some centuries, is curiously -enough once more coming into fashion.</p> - -<p>Local materials having, as we have said, much -to do with the structure, the type of dwelling that -we may expect to find in counties where wood was -plentiful, and the cost of preparing and putting it -on the ground less than that of quarrying, shaping, -and carrying stone, is the picturesque, timber-formed -cottage. Those interested in the plan of -construction, which was always simple, of these -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span> -will find full details in Mr. Guy Dawber’s Introduction -to <i>Old Cottages and Farm Houses in -Kent and Sussex</i>, as well as many illustrations of -examples that occur in these counties.</p> - -<p>The materials other than wood used for the -framework, and which were necessary to fill up the -interstices, were, in the better class of dwellings, -bricks; in others, a consistency formed of chopped -straw and clay, an outward symmetry of appearance -being gained by a covering of plaster where -it was not deemed advisable to protect the woodwork, -and of boarding or tiles where the whole -surface called for protection. Several of the -cottages illustrated in this volume have been protected -by these tilings on some part or another, -perhaps only on a gable end, most often on the -upper story, sometimes over the whole building, -but of course, principally, where it was most exposed -to the weather (see Cherry-Tree Cottage, -<a href="#Plate_43">Plate 43</a>; Chiddingfold, <a href="#Plate_44">Plate 44</a>; Shottermill, -<a href="#Plate_49">Plate 49</a>; and Valewood Farm, <a href="#Plate_50">Plate 50</a>). This -purpose of the tile in the old houses, and its use -only for protection, distinguishes them from the -modern erections, where it is oftentimes affixed in -the most haphazard style, and clearly without any -idea of fitting it where it will be most serviceable. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span></p> - -<p>The space in the interior was very irregularly -apportioned, whilst the cubic space allotted to -living rooms, both on the ground and first floors, -was singularly insufficient for modern hygienic -views. A reason for the small size of the rooms -may have been that it enabled them to be more -readily warmed, either by the heat given off by the -closely-packed indwellers, or by the small wood -fires which alone could be indulged in. Little use -was made of the large space in the roof, but this -omission adds much to the picturesqueness of the -exterior, for the roofs gain in simplicity by their -unbroken surface and treatment. It is somewhat -astonishing that the old builders did not recognise -this costly disregard of space.</p> - -<p>The roofs, like the framework, testify to the -geological formation and agricultural conditions of -the district.</p> - -<p>The roof-tree was always of hand-hewn oak, -and this it was, according to Birket Foster, which -gave to many of the old roofs their pleasant curves -away from the central chimney. The ordinary -unseasoned sawn deal of the modern roof may -swag in any direction.</p> - -<p>The roof-covering where the land was chiefly -arable, or the distance from market considerable, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span> -was usually wheaten thatch, which was certainly -the most comfortable, being warm in winter and -cool in summer, just the reverse of the tiles or -slates that have practically supplanted it.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> In -other districts the cottages are covered with what -are known as stone slates, thick and heavy. Roofs -to carry the weight of these had always to be -flattened, with the result that they require mortaring -to keep out the wet. The West Tarring -cottage (<a href="#Plate_51">Plate 51</a>) is an instance of a stone roofing.</p> - -<p>The red tiles, which were used for the most part, -are certainly the most agreeable to the artistic eye, -for their seemingly haphazard setting, due in part -to the builder and in part to nature, affords that -pleasure which always arises from an unstudied -irregularity of line. Roof tiles were made thicker -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span> -and less carefully in the old days, and our artist’s -truth in delineation may be detected in almost -any drawing by examining where the weight has -swagged away the tiles between the main roof -beams.</p> - -<p>Unlike chimneys erected by our cottage builders -of to-day, which appear to issue out of a single -mould, those of the untutored architects of the -past present every variety of treatment and appearance.</p> - -<p>The old solidly built chimney seen in many of -Mrs. Allingham’s cottages (Chiddingfold, Plate -44) is worthy of note as a type of many sturdy -fellows which have resisted the ravages of time, -and have stood for centuries almost without need -of repair. In old days the chimney was regarded -not only as a special feature but as an ornament, -and not as a necessary but ugly excrescence. -Although probably it only served for one room -in the house, that service was an important one, -and so materials were liberally used in its construction.</p> - -<p>In Kent and Sussex many of the chimneys -are of brick, although the house and the base of -the chimney-stack are of stone. This arose from -the stone not lending itself to thin slabs, and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span> -consequently being altogether too cumbrous and -bulky.</p> - -<p>The windows in the old cottages were naturally -small when glass was a luxury, and became fewer -in number when a tax upon light was one of the -means for carrying on the country’s wars. They -were usually filled with the smallest panes, fitted -into lead lattice, so that breakages might be reduced -to the smallest area. Not much of this remains, -but a specimen of it is to be seen in the Old Buckinghamshire -House (<a href="#Plate_52">Plate 52</a>). One of the few -alterations that Mrs. Allingham allows herself is the -substitution of these diamond lattices throughout -a house where she finds a single example in any of -the lights, or if, as she has on more than one -occasion found, that they have been replaced by -others, and are themselves stacked up as rubbish. -She has in her studio some that have been served in -this way, and which have now become useful models.</p> - -<p>It would be imagined that the sense of pride in -these, the last traces of their village ancestors, -would have prompted their descendants, whether -of the same kin or not, to deal reverently with them, -and endeavour to hand on as long as possible these -silent witnesses to the honest workmanship of their -forbears. Such, unfortunately, is but seldom the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span> -case. If any one will visit Witley with this book -in his hand, and compare the present state of the -few examples given there, not twenty years after -they were painted, he will see what is taking -place not only in this little village but through -the length and breadth of England. It is not -always wilful on the part of the landlord, but -arises from either his lack of sympathy, time, or -interest.</p> - -<p>He probably has a sense of his duty to “keep -up” things, and so sends his agent to go round -with an architect and settle a general plan for -doing up the old places (usually described as -“tumbling down” or “falling to pieces”). Thereupon -a village builder makes an estimate and sends -in a scratch pack of masons and joiners, and between -them they often supplant fine old work, most of it -as firm as a rock, with poor materials and careless -labour, and rub out a piece of old England, irrecoverable -henceforth by all the genius in the world -and all the money in the bank. The drainage and -water supply, points where improvement is often -desirable, may be left unattended to. But whatever -else is decided on, no uneven tiled roofs, -with moss and houseleek, must remain; no thatch -on any pretence, nor ivy on the wall, nor vine along -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span> -the eaves. The cherry or apple tree, that pushed -its blossoms almost into a lattice, will probably be -cut down, and the wild rose and honeysuckle hedge -be replaced by a row of pales or wires. The -leaden lattice itself and all its fellows, however -perfect, must inevitably give place to a set of -mean little square windows of unseasoned wood, -though perhaps on the very next property an -architect is building imitation old cottages with -lattices! With the needful small repairs, most of -the real old cottages would have lasted for many -generations to come, to the satisfaction of their -inhabitants and the delight of all who can feel the -charm of beauty combined with ancientness—a -charm once lost, lost for ever. And unquestionably -the well-repaired old cottages would generally be -more comfortable than the new or the done-up -ones, to say nothing of the “sentiment” of the -cottager. An old man, who was in a temporary -lodging during the doing-up of his cottage, being -asked, “When shall you get back to your house?” -answered, “In about a month, they tells me; but -it won’t be like going home.” At the same time -it is fair to add that many of the “doings-up” in -Mrs. Allingham’s country are of good intention -and less ruthless execution than may be seen elsewhere, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span> -and that certain owners show a real feeling -of wise conservatism. It would perhaps be a low -estimate, however, to say that a thousand ancient -cottages are now disappearing in England every -twelvemonth, without trace or record left—many -that Shakespeare might have seen, some Chaucer; -while the number “done up” is beyond computation.</p> - -<p>The baronial halls have had abundant recognition -and laudation at the hands of the historian -and the painter; the numerous manor-houses, less -pretentious, often more lovely, very little; the old -cottages next to none, even the local chronicler -running his spectacles over them without a -pause.</p> - -<p>It really looks as if we were, one and all, constituted -as a poet has seen us:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">For, don’t you mark, we’re made so that we love<br /></span> -<span class="i0">First when we see them painted, things we have passed<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Perhaps a hundred times nor cared to see;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And so they are better, painted—better to us,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Which is the same thing. Art was given for that—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">God uses us to help each other so,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Lending our minds out.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Had Mrs. Allingham done nothing else for her -country, she has justified her career as a recorder -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span> -of this altogether overlooked phase of English -architecture—a phase which will soon be a thing -of the past.</p> - -<p>I remember once being accosted by a bystander -in Angers, as I was wrestling with the perspective -of a beautiful old house, with the remark, “Ah, -you had better hurry more than you are doing and -finish the roof of that house, for it will be off to-morrow -and the whole down in three days.” That -has often been the case with Mrs. Allingham. -More than once a cottage limned one summer has -disappeared before the drawing was exhibited the -following spring. Year in and year out the process -has been at work during the quarter of a century -during which the artist has been garnering, and it -has almost come to be a joke that were she to -paint as long again as she has, she might have to -cease from actual lack of material.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Our illustrations of cottages divide themselves -into, first the examples in the immediate neighbourhood -of Sandhills; and secondly, those farther -afield in Kent, Buckingham, Dorset, the Isle of -Wight, and Cheshire.</p> - -<p>Those near Sandhills form points in the circumference -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span> -of a circle of which it is the centre, the most -southern being Chiddingfold, where we start on our -survey.</p> - -<div id="Plate_43" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_43.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">43. CHERRY-TREE COTTAGE, CHIDDINGFOLD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the -Lord Chief Justice of England.</i><br /> - -Painted 1885.</span></p> - -<p>The old hamlet of Chiddingfold lies about as -far to the south as Witley does to the north of -the station on the London and South-Western -Railway which bears their joint names. It boasts -of a very ancient inn, “The Crown,”—formed, it is -said, in part out of a monastic building,—and a large -village green. Cherry-Tree Cottage is, as will be -seen, the milk shop of the place, and, if we may -judge from the coming and going in Mrs. Allingham’s -picture, carries on an animated, prosperous -trade at certain times of the day.</p> - -<div id="Plate_44" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_44.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">44. COTTAGE AT CHIDDINGFOLD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. L. Florence.</i><br /> - -Painted 1889.</span></p> - -<p>We have here a March day, or rather one of -the type associated with that month, but which -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span> -usually visits us with increasing severity as April -and May and the summer progress. Wind in the -east, with the sky a cold, steely blue in the zenith, -greying even the young elm shoots a stone’s-throw -distant. The cottage almanack, Old Moore’s, will -foretell that night frosts will prevail, and the -cottager will be fearsome of its effect upon his -apple crop, always so promising in its blossom, so -scanty in its fulfilment. Splendid weather for the -full-blooded lassies, who can tarry to gossip without -fear of chills, and also for drying clothes on the -hedgerow, but nipping for the old beldame who -tends them, and who has to wrap up against it -with shawl and cap.</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Laburnum, rich<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In streaming gold,<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>competes in colour with the spikes of the broom, -which the artist must have been thankful to the -hedgecutter for sparing as he passed his shears -along its surface when last he trimmed it. For -some reason the broom bears an ill repute hereabouts -as bringing bad luck, although in early -times it was put to a desirable use, as Gerard tells -us that <span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span>“that worthy Prince of famous memory, -Henry VIII. of England, was wont to drink the - -distilled water of Broome floures.” Wordsworth -also gives it<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> a special word in his lines—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i14">Am I not<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In truth a favour’d plant?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On me such bounty summer showers,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That I am cover’d o’er with flowers;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">And when the frost is in the sky,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My branches are so fresh and gay,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That you might look on me and say—<br /></span> -<span class="i2">“This plant can never die.”<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The cottage contains a typical example of the -massive central chimney, and also an end one, -which it is unusual to find in company with the -other in so small a dwelling. Note also the weather -tiling round the gable end and the upper story.</p> - -<div id="Plate_45" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_45.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">45. A COTTAGE AT HAMBLEDON<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. F. Pennington.</i><br /> - -Painted 1888.</span></p> - -<p>For those who read between the lines there are -plenty of pretty allegories connected with these -drawings. This, for instance, might well be termed -“Youth and Age.” The venerable cottage in its -declining years, so appropriately set in a framework -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span> -of autumn tints and flowers, supported on its -colder side by the tendrils of ivy, almost of its own -age, but on its warmer side maturing a fruitful -vine, emblem of the mother and child which gather -at the gate, and of the brood of fowls which busily -search the wayside.</p> - -<div id="Plate_46" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_46.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">46. IN WORMLEY WOOD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Le Poer Trench.</i><br /> - -Painted 1886.</span></p> - -<p>Half a century ago most of the old dwellings -on the Surrey border were thatched with good -wheaten straw from the Weald of Sussex, but -thatch will soon be a thing of the past, partly for -the reason that there are no thatchers (or “thackers” -as they are called in local midland dialect) left, -principally because the straw, of which they consumed -a good deal, and which used to be a cheap -commodity and not very realisable, in villages whose -access to market was difficult, now finds a ready -sale. Locomotion has also enabled slates to be -conveyed from hundreds of miles away, and placed -on the ground at a less rate than straw. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span></p> - -<p>Thus the old order changeth, and without any -regard to the comfort of the tenant, whose roof, -as I have already said, instead of consisting of a -covering which was warm in winter and cool in -summer, is now one which is practically the reverse. -Strawen roofs are easy of repair or renewal, and -look very trim and cosy when kept in condition.</p> - -<p>At the time when this drawing was painted this -cottage, lying snugly in the recesses of Wormley -Wood (whose pines always attract the attention as -the train passes them just before Witley station is -reached), was the last specimen of thatch in the -neighbourhood, and it only continued so to be -through the intervention of a well-known artist -who lived not far off. That artist is dead, and -probably in the score of years which have since -elapsed the thatch has gone the way of the rest, -and the harmony of yellowish greys which existed -between it and its background have given way to -a gaudy contrast of unweathered red tiles or cold -unsympathetic blue slates.</p> - -<p>The cottage itself may well date back to Tudor -times, and the sweetwilliams, pansies, and lavender -which border the path leading to it may be -the descendants of far-away progenitors, culled -by a long-forgotten labourer in his master’s -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span> -“nosegay garden,” which at that time was a luxury -of the well-to-do only.</p> - -<p>Many of the flowers found in this plot of ground -were in early days conserved in the gardens of the -simple folk rather for their medicinal use than their -decorative qualities. Such was certainly the case -with lavender. “The floures of lavender do cure -the beating of the harte,” says one contemporary -herbal; and another written in Commonwealth -times says, “They are very pleasing and delightful -to the brain, which is much refreshed with their -sweetness.” It was always found in the garden of -women who pretended to good housewifery, not -only because the heads of the flowers were used for -“nosegays and posies,” but for putting into “linen -and apparel.”</p> - -<div id="Plate_47" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_47.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">47. THE ELDER BUSH, BROOK LANE, WITLEY<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Marcus Huish.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<p>Those who are ingenious enough to see the -inspiration of another hand in every work that an -artist produces would probably raise an outcry -against anybody infringing the copyright which -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span> -they consider that Collins secured more than half -a century ago for the children swinging on a gate -in his “Happy as a King.” But who that examines -with any interest or care the figures in this water-colour -could for a moment believe that Mrs. -Allingham had ever had Collins even unconsciously -in her mind when she put in these happy little -mortals as adjuncts to her landscape. Having -enjoyed at ages such as theirs a swing on many a -gate, one can testify that these children must have -been seen, studied, and put in from the life and on -the spot. See how the elder girl leans over the -gate, with perfect self-assurance, directing the boy -as to how far back the gate may go; how the -younger one has to climb a rung higher than her -sister in order to obtain the necessary purchase with -her arms, and even then she can only do so with -a strain and with a certain nervousness as to the -result of the jar when the gate reaches the post on -its return. Again, some one has to do the swinging, -and Mrs. Allingham has given the proper touch of -gallantry by making the second in age of the party, -a boy, the first to undertake this part of the -business. The excitement of the moment has communicated -itself to the youngest of the family, who -raises his stick to cheer as the gate swings to. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span> -Although painted within thirty miles of London, -the age of cheap rickety perambulators had not -reached the countryside when this drawing was -made nearly twenty years ago, and so we see the -youngest in a sturdy, hand-made go-cart.</p> - -<p>The country folk who passed the artist when -she was making this drawing wondered doubtless -at her selection of a point of sight where practically -nothing but roof and wall of the building were -visible, when a few steps farther on its front door -and windows might have made a picture; but the -charm of the drawing exists in this simplicity of -subject, the greatest pleasure being procurable -from the least important features, such, for instance, -as the lichen-covered and leek-topped wall, and the -untended, buttercup-flecked bank on which it -stands. The locality of the drawing is Brook Lane, -near Witley, and the drawing was an almost exact -portrait of the cottage as it stood in 1886, but since -then it has been modernised like the majority of -its fellows, and though the oak-timbered walls, -tiled roof, and massive chimney still stand, the old -curves of the roof-tree have gone, and American -windows have replaced the old lattices. The other -side of the house, as it then appeared, has been -preserved to us in the next picture. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_48" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_48.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">48. THE BASKET WOMAN<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Backhouse.</i><br /> - -Painted 1887.</span></p> - -<p>The art critic of <i>The Times</i>, in speaking of the -Exhibition where this drawing was exhibited, singled -it out as “taking rank amongst the very best of -Mrs. Allingham’s work, and the very model of what -an English water-colour should be, with its woodside -cottage, its tangled hedges, its background of -sombre fir trees, and figures of the girl with basket, -and of the cottagers to whom she is offering her -wares, showing as it does intense love for our -beautiful south country landscape, with the power -of seizing its most picturesque aspects with truth -of eye and delicacy of hand.”</p> - -<p>To my mind the most remarkable feature of the -drawing is the way in which the long stretch of -hedge has been managed. In most hands it would -either be a monotonous and uninteresting feature -or an absolute failure, for the difficulty of lending -variety of surface and texture to so large a mass is -only known to those who have attempted it; it -could only be effected by painting it entirely from -nature and on the spot, as was the case here. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span> -Many would have been tempted to break it up by -varieties of garden blooms, but Mrs. Allingham has -only relieved it by a st/ray spray or two of wild -honeysuckle, which never flowers in masses, and -a few white convolvuli.</p> - -<p>That we are not far removed from the small -hop district which is to be found west and northward -of this part is evidenced by the hops which -the old woman was in course of plucking from the -pole when her attention was arrested by the -wandering pedlar. This and the apples ripening -on the straggling apple tree show the season to be -early autumn, whereas the elder bush in the -companion drawing puts its season as June.</p> - -<div id="Plate_49" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_49.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">49. COTTAGE AT SHOTTERMILL, NEAR -HASLEMERE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. W. D. Houghton.</i><br /> - -Painted 1891.</span></p> - -<p>Each of three counties may practically claim -this cottage for one of its types, for it lies absolutely -at the junction of Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire.</p> - -<p>For a single tenement it is particularly roomy, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span> -and a comfortable one to boot, for its screen of -tiles is carried so low down.</p> - -<p>It was a curious mood of the artist’s to sit down -square in front of it and paint its paling paralleling -across the picture, a somewhat daring stroke of -composition to carry on the line of white tiling -with one of white clothes. The sky displays an -unusual departure from the artist’s custom, as the -whole length of it is banked up with banks of -cumuli.</p> - -<p>The figures and the empty basket point to a -little domestic episode. Boy and girl have been -sent on an errand, but have not got beyond the -farther side of the gate before they betake themselves -to a loll on the grass, which has lengthened -out to such an extent that the old grand-dame -comes to the cottage door to look for their return, -little witting that they are quietly crouched within -a few feet of her, hidden behind the paling, over -which lavender, sweet-pea, roses, peonies, and -hollyhocks nod at them. They are even less -conscious of wrong-doing and of impending scoldings -than the cat, which sneaks homewards after -a lengthened absence on a poaching expedition. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_50" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_50.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">50. VALEWOOD FARM<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1903.</span></p> - -<p>Valewood is over the ridge which protects -Haslemere on the south, and is a very pretty vale -of sloping meadows fringed with wood, all under -the shadow of Blackdown, to which it belongs. -This is distinguished from most houses hereabouts -in boasting a stream, the headwater of a string of -ponds, whence starts the river Wey northwards -on its tortuous journey round the western slopes -of Hindhead. When Mrs. Allingham painted the -house, which was inhabited by well-to-do yeomen -from Devonshire, the dairying and the milking -were still conducted by desirable hands, namely, -those of milkmaids.</p> - -<div id="Plate_51" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_51.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">51. AN OLD HOUSE AT WEST TARRING<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<p>Worthing has been termed “a dull and dreary -place, the only relief to which is its suburb of -West Tarring.” This happening to have been one -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span> -of the “peculiars” of the Archbishops of Canterbury, -has buildings and objects of considerable antiquarian -interest. The cottages which Mrs. Allingham -selected for her drawing may be classed amongst -them, for they are a type, as good as any in this -volume, of the well-built, substantial dwelling-house -of our progenitors of many centuries ago—one in -which all the features that we have pointed out are -to be found. The house has in course of time -clearly become too big for its situation, and has -consequently been parcelled out into cottages; -this has necessitated some alteration of the front -of the lower story, but otherwise it is an exceptionally -well-preserved specimen. Long may it -remain so.</p> - -<div id="Plate_52" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_52.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">52. AN OLD BUCKINGHAMSHIRE HOUSE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. W. Birks.</i><br /> - -Painted 1899.</span></p> - -<p>This is a somewhat rare instance of the artist -selecting for portraiture a house of larger dimensions -than a cottage. It is a singular trait, perhaps -a womanly trait, that we never find her choice -falling upon the country gentleman’s seat, although -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span> -their formal gardening and parterres of flowers -must oftentimes have tempted her. Her selection, -in fact, never rises beyond the wayside tenement, -which in that before us no doubt once housed a -well-to-do yeoman, but was, when Mrs. Allingham -limned it, only tenanted in part by a small farmer -and in part by a butcher. But it is planned and -fashioned on the old English lines to which we -have referred, and which in the days when it was -built governed those of the dwelling of every well-to-do -person.</p> - -<div id="Plate_53" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_53.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">53. THE DUKE’S COTTAGE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Maurice Hill.</i><br /> - -Painted 1896.</span></p> - -<p>The trend of the trees indicates that this scene -is laid where the winds are not only strong, but -blow most frequently from one particular quarter. -It is, in fact, on the coast of Dorset, at Burton, a -little seaside resort of the inhabitants of Bridport, -when they want a change from their own water-side -town. The English Channel comes up to one -side of the buttercup-clad field, and was behind -the artist as she sat to paint the carrier’s cottage, -a man of some local celebrity, who took the artist -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span> -to task for not painting his home from a particular -point of view, saying, “I’ve had it painted many -a time, and theyse always took it from there.” -He was a man accustomed to boss the village in a -kindly but firm way, never allowing any controversy -concerning his charges, which were, however, -always reasonable. Hence he had come to be -nicknamed “The Duke,” and as such did not -understand Mrs. Allingham’s declining at once to -recommence her sketch at the spot he indicated.</p> - -<p>The Dorsetshire cottages, for the most part, differ -altogether from their fellows in Surrey and Sussex, -for their walls are made of what would seem to be -the flimsiest and clumsiest materials,—dried mud, -intermixed with straw to give it consistency, entering -mainly into their composition. Many are not -far removed from the Irish cabins, of which we see -an example in <a href="#Plate_78">Plate 78</a>.</p> - -<div id="Plate_54" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_54.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">54. THE CONDEMNED COTTAGE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>In speaking of Duke’s Cottage, I dwelt upon -the poor materials of which it and its Dorsetshire -fellows were made, and this, coupled with -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span> -Mrs. Allingham presenting a picture of one that is -too decayed to live in, may raise a suggestion as to -their instability. But such is not the case. The -lack of substance in the material is made up by -increased thickness, and the cottage before us has -stood the wear and tear of several hundred years, -and now only lacks a tenant through its insanitary -condition. A robin greeted the artist from the -topmost of the grass-grown steps, glad no doubt -to see some one about the place once more.</p> - -<div id="Plate_55" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_55.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">55. ON IDE HILL<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Drawing in the possession of Mr. E. W. Fordham.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<p>Ide Hill is to be found in Kent, on the south -side of the Westerham Valley, and the old cottage -is the last survival of a type, every one of which has -given place to the newly built and commonplace.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> -The view from hereabouts is very fine—so fine, -indeed, that Miss Octavia Hill has, for some time, -been endeavouring, and at last with success, to -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span> -preserve a point for the use of the public whence -the best can be seen.</p> - -<div id="Plate_56" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_56.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">56. A CHESHIRE COTTAGE, ALDERLEY EDGE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. A. S. Littlejohns.</i><br /> - -Painted 1898.</span></p> - -<p>The almost invariable rule of the south, that -cottages are formed out of the local material that -is nearest to hand, is clearly not practised farther -north, to judge by this example of a typical -Cheshire cottage.</p> - -<p>Stone is apparently so ready to hand that not -only is the roadway paved with it, but even the -approach to the cottage, whilst the large blocks -seen elsewhere in the picture show that it is not -limited in size. Yet the only portion of the building -that is constructed of stone, so far as we can -see, is the lean-to shed.</p> - -<p>The cottage itself differs in many respects from -those we have been used to in Surrey and Sussex. -The roof is utilised, in fact the level of the first -floor is on a line almost with its eaves, and a -large bay window in the centre, and one at the end, -show that it is well lighted. Heavy barge-boards -are affixed to the gables, which is by no means -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span> -always the case down south, and the wooden framework -has at one time been blackened in consonance -with a custom prevalent in Cheshire and Lancashire, -but which is probably only of comparatively -recent date; for gas-tar, which is used, was not -invented a hundred years ago, and there seems no -sense in a preservative for oak beams which usually -are almost too hard to drive a nail into. The -fashion is probably due to the substitution of unseasoned -timber for oak.</p> - -<div id="Plate_57" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_57.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">57. THE SIX BELLS<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. G. Wills.</i><br /> - -Painted 1892.</span></p> - -<p>This beautiful old specimen of a timbered house -was discovered by Mrs. Allingham by accident -when staying with some artistic friends at Bearsted, -in Kent, who were unaware of its existence. -Although the weather was very cold and the -season late, she lost no time in painting it, as its -inmates said that it would be pulled down directly -its owner, an old lady of ninety-two, who was very -ill, died. Having spent a long day absorbed in -putting down on paper its intricate details, she -went into the house for a little warmth and a cup -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span> -of tea, only to find a single fire, by which sat a -labourer with his pot of warmed ale on the hob. -Asking whether she could not go to some other -fire, she was assured that nowhere else in the -house could one be lit, as water lay below all the -floors, and a fire caused this to evaporate and fill -the rooms with steam.</p> - -<p>As we have said, Mrs. Allingham alters her -compositions as little as possible when painting -from Nature, but in this case she has omitted a -church tower that stood just to the right of the -inn, and added the tall trees behind it. The omission -was due to a feeling that the house itself was -the point, and a quite sufficient point of interest, -that would only be lessened by a competing one. -The addition of the trees was made in order to -give value to the grey of the house-side, which -would have been considerably diminished by a -broad expanse of sky.</p> - -<div id="Plate_58" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_58.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">58. A KENTISH FARMYARD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Arthur R. Moro.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<p>Farmyards are out of fashion nowadays, and a -Royal Water-Colour Society’s Exhibition, which in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span> -the days of Prout and William Hunt probably contained -a dozen of them, will now find place for a -single example only from the hand of Mr. Wilmot -Pilsbury, who alone faithfully records for us the -range of straw-thatched buildings sheltering an -array of picturesque waggons and obsolete farming -implements. But this “stead” is just opposite to -the farm in which Mrs. Allingham stays, and it -has often attracted her on damp days by its looking -like “a blaze of raw sienna.” We can understand -the tiled expanse of steep-pitched, moss-covered -roof affording her some of that material -on which her heart delights, and which she has -felt it a duty to hand down to posterity before it -gives place to some corrugated iron structure which -must, ere long, supplant this old timber-built barn.</p> - -<p>What was originally a study has been transformed -by her, through the human incidents, into -a picture: the milkmaid carrying the laden pail -from the byre; the cock on the dunghill, seemingly -amazed that his wives are too busily engaged on -its contents to admire him; the lily-white ducks -waddling to the pool to indulge in a drink, the -gusto of which seems to increase in proportion to -the questionableness of its quality. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - -<span class="large">GARDENS AND ORCHARDS</span></h2> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">One is nearer God’s heart in a garden<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Than anywhere else on earth.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The practice of painting gardens is almost as -modern as that of painting by ladies. The -Flemings of the fifteenth century, it is true, -introduced in a delightful fashion conventional -borders of flowers into some of their pictures, -probably because they felt that ornament must be -presented from end to end of them, and that in no -way could they do this better than by adding the -gaiety of flowers to their foregrounds. But all -through the later dreary days no one touched the -garden, for the conglomeration of flowers in the -pieces of the Dutchmen of the seventeenth century -cannot be treated as such. Flowers certainly -flourished in the gardens of the well-to-do in -England in the century between 1750 and 1850, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span> -but none of the limners of the drawings of noblemen -or of gentlemen’s seats which were produced -in such quantities during that period ever condescended -to introduce them. Even so late as -fifty years ago, if we may judge from the titles, -the Royal Academy Exhibition of that date did -not contain a single specimen of a flower-garden. -The only probable one is a picture entitled “Cottage -Roses,” and any remotely connected with the -garden appear under such headings as “Early -Tulips,” “Geraniums,” “Japonicas and Orchids,” -“Will you have this pretty rose, Mamma?” or -“The Last Currants of Summer”! Taste only -half a century ago was different from ours, and -asked for other provender. Thus, the original -owner of the catalogue from which these statistics -were taken was an energetic amateur critic, who -has commended, or otherwise, almost every picture, -commendations being signified by crosses and disapproval -by noughts. The only work with five -crosses is one illustrating the line, “Now stood -Eliza on the wood-crown’d height.” On the other -hand, Millais’ “Peace Concluded” stands at the -head of the bad marks with five, his “Blind Girl” -with two, which number is shared with Leighton’s -“Triumph of Music.” Holman Hunt’s “Scapegoat,” -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span> -in addition to four bad marks, is described as -“detestable and profane.” These pre-Raphaelites, -Millais, Holman Hunt, and their followers, then -so little esteemed, may in truth be said to have -been the originators of the “garden-drawing cult,” -chief amongst their followers being Frederick -Walker. To the example of the last-named -more especially are due the productions of the -numerous artists—good, bad, and indifferent—who -have seized upon a delightful subject and -almost nauseated the public with their productions. -The omission of gardens from the painter’s <i>rôle</i> in -later times may in a measure have been due to the -gardens themselves, or, to speak more correctly, to -those under whose charge they were maintained. -The ideal of a garden to the true artist must always -have differed from these as to its ordering, even in -these very recent days when the edict has gone forth -that Nature is to be allowed a hand in the planning.</p> - -<p>The gardener, no matter whether the surroundings -favour a formal garden or not, insists upon his -harmonies or contrasts of brilliant colourings. If -he takes these from a manual on gardening he will -adopt what is termed a procession of colouring -somewhat as follows: strong blues, pale yellow, -pink, crimson, strong scarlet, orange, and bright -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span> -yellow. He is told that his colours are to be -placed with careful deliberation and forethought, -as a painter employs them in his picture, and not -dropped down as he has them on his palette! -Alfred Parsons and George Elgood have on -occasions grappled with creations such as these, -when placed in settings of yew-trimmed hedges, or -as surroundings of a central statue, or sundial; -but who will say that the results have been as -successful as those where formality has been -merely a suggestion, and Nature has had her say -and her way. Surroundings must, of course, play -a prominent part in any garden scheme. However -much we may dislike a stiff formality, it is -sometimes a necessity. For instance, herbaceous -plants, with annuals of mixed colours, would have -looked out of place on the lawn in front of Brocket -Hall (<a href="#Plate_65">Plate 65</a>), which calls for a mass of plants -of uniform colours. The lie of the ground, too, -must, as in such a case, be taken into account: -there it is a sloping descent facing towards the sun, -and so is not easy to keep in a moist condition. -Geraniums and calceolarias, which stand such conditions, -are therefore almost a necessity.</p> - -<p>When this book was proposed to Mrs. Allingham -her chief objection was her certainty that no -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span> -process could reproduce her drawings satisfactorily. -Her method of work was, she believed, entirely opposed -to mechanical reproduction, for she employed -not only every formula used by her fellow water-colourists, -but many that others would not venture -upon. Amongst those she tabulated was her -system of obtaining effects by rubbing, scrubbing, -and scratching. But the process was not to be -denied, and she was fain to admit that even in -these it has been a wonderfully faithful reproducer. -Now nowhere are these methods of Mrs. Allingham’s -more utilised, and with greater effect, than -in her drawings of flower-gardens. The system of -painting flowers in masses has undergone great -changes of late. The plan adopted a generation -or so ago was first to draw and paint the flowers -and then the foliage. This method left the flowers -isolated objects and the foliage without substantiality. -Mrs. Allingham’s method is the reverse of -this. Take, for instance, the white clove pinks in -the foreground of Mrs. Combe’s drawing of the -kitchen-garden at Farringford (<a href="#Plate_71">Plate 71</a>). These -are so admirably done that their perfume almost -scents the room. They have been simply carved -out of a background of walk and grey-green spikes, -and left as white paper, all their drawing and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span> -modelling being achieved by a dexterous use of -the knife and a wetted and rubbed surface. The -poppies, roses, columbines, and stocks have all -been created in the same way. The advantage is -seen at once. There are no badly pencilled outlines, -and the blooms blend amongst themselves -and grow naturally out of their foliage.</p> - -<div id="Plate_59" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_59.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">59. STUDY OF A ROSE BUSH<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1887.</span></p> - -<p>A very interesting series of studies of various -kinds might have been included in this volume, -which would have shown the thoroughness with -which our artist works, and it was with much -reluctance that we discarded all but two, in the -interests of the larger number of our readers, who -might have thought them better fitted for a -manual of instruction. The Gloire de Dijon rose, -however, is such a prime old favourite, begotten -before the days of scentless specimens to which -are appended the ill-sounding names of fashionable -patrons of the rose-grower, that we could not keep -our hands off it when we came across it in the -artist’s portfolio. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span></p> - -<p>This rose tree, or one of its fellows, will be seen -in the background of two of the drawings of Mrs. -Allingham’s garden at Sandhills, namely, <a href="#Plate_61">Plates 61</a> -and <a href="#Plate_64">64</a>.</p> - -<div id="Plate_60" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_60.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">60. WALLFLOWERS<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. F. G. Debenham.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1893.</span></p> - -<p>Of the denizens of the garden there is perhaps -none which appeals to a countryman who has -drifted into the city so much as the wallflower. -His senses both of sight and smell have probably -grown up under its influence, and it carries him -back to the home of his childhood, for it is of -never-to-be-forgotten sweetness both in colour and -in scent, and it conjures up old days when the rare -warmth of an April sun extracted its perfume until -all the air in its neighbourhood was redolent of it.</p> - -<p>If my reader be a west countryman, like the -author, he may best know it as the gilliflower, but -he will do so erroneously, for the name rightly -applies to the carnation, and was so used even in -Chaucer’s time—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Many a clove gilofre<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To put in ale;<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span></p> - -<p>and again in Culpepper—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The great clove carnation Gillo-Floure.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>But as a “rose by any other name would smell as -sweet,” every true flower-lover cherishes his wallflower, -which returns to him so bountifully the -slightest attention, which accepts the humblest -position, which thrives on the scantiest fare, which -is amongst the first to welcome us in the spring, -and, with its scantier second bloom, amongst the -last to bid adieu in the autumn, sometimes even -striving to gladden us with its blossom year in and -year out if winter’s cold be not too stark.</p> - -<p>Old names give place to new, and in nurserymen’s -catalogues we search in vain for its pleasant-sounding -title, and fail to distinguish either its -reproduction in black and white, or its designation -under that of cheiranthus.</p> - -<div id="Plate_61" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_61.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">61. MINNA<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Lord Chief Justice -of England.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1886.</span></p> - -<p>This, and the drawing of a “Summer Garden” -(<a href="#Plate_64">Plate 64</a>), are taken almost from the same spot in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span> -Mrs. Allingham’s garden at Sandhills. Both are -simple studies of flowers without any more -elaborate effort at arrangement or composition -than that which gives to each a purposed scheme -of colour—a scheme, however, that is, with set -purpose, hidden away, so that the flowers may -look as if they grew, as they appear to do, -by chance. The flowers, too, are old-fashioned -inhabitants: pansies, sea-pinks, marigolds, sweetwilliams, -snap-dragons, eschscholtzias, and flags, -with a background of rose bushes; all of them -(with the exception, perhaps, of the flag) flowers -such as Spenser might have had in his eye when -he penned the lines—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">No daintie flowre or herbe that growes on grownd,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">No arborett with painted blossomes drest<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And smelling sweete, but there it might be fownd<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al arownd.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<div id="Plate_62" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_62.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">62. A KENTISH GARDEN<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Drawing in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1903.</span></p> - -<p>This scene may well be compared with that of -Tennyson’s garden at Aldworth, reproduced in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span> -<a href="#Plate_74">Plate 74</a>, as it illustrates even more appositely -than does that, the lines in “Roses on the Terrace” -concerning the contrast between the pink of the -flower and the blue of the distance. But here -the interval between the colours is not the -exaggerated fifty miles of the poem, but one -insufficient to dim the shapes of the trees on the -opposite side of the valley. Of all the gardens -here illustrated none offers a greater wealth of -colour than this Kentish garden, situated as it is -with an aspect which makes it a veritable sun-trap.</p> - -<div id="Plate_63" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_63.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">63. CUTTING CABBAGES<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. E. W. Fordham.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1884.</span></p> - -<p>The cabbage is probably to most people the -most uninteresting tenant of the kitchen-garden, -and yet its presence there was probably the motive -which set Mrs. Allingham to work to make this -drawing, for it is clear that in the first instance it -was conceived as a study of the varied and delicate -mother-of-pearl hues which each presented to an -artistic eye. As a piece of painting it is extremely -meritorious through its being absolutely straight-forward -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span> -drawing and brush work, the high lights -being left, and not obtained by the usual method -of cutting, scraping, or body colour. The buxom -mother of a growing family selecting the best plant -for their dinner is just the personal note which -distinguishes each and every one of our illustrations.</p> - -<div id="Plate_64" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_64.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">64. IN A SUMMER GARDEN<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. William Newall.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1887.</span></p> - -<p>I cannot refrain from drawing attention to this -reproduction as one of the wonders of the “three -colour process.” If my readers could see the three -colours which produce the result when superimposed, -first the yellow, then the red, and lastly -the blue—aniline hues of the most forbidding -character—they would indeed deem it incredible -that any resemblance to the original could be -possible. It certainly passes the comprehension -of the uninitiated how the differing delicacies of -the violet hues of the flowers to the left could -be obtained from a partnership which produced -the blue black of the flowers in the foreground, -the light pinks of the Shirley poppies, and the rich -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span> -reds of the sweetwilliams. Again, what a marvel -must the photographic process be which refuses -to recognise the snow-white campanula, and -leaves it to be defined by the untouched paper, -and yet records the faint pink flush which has -been breathed upon the edges of the sweetwilliam. -It is indeed a tribute to the inventive genius of -the present day, genius which will probably enable -the “press the button and we do the rest photographer” -before many days are past to reel off -in colour what he now can only accomplish in -monochrome.</p> - -<div id="Plate_65" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_65.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">65. BY THE TERRACE, BROCKET HALL<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Lord Mount-Stephen.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<p>Portraiture of time-worn cottages where Nature -has its way, and cottars’ gardens where flowers -come and go at their own sweet will, is a very -different thing from portraiture of a well-kept -house, where the bricklayer and the mason are -requisitioned when the slightest decay shows itself, -and of gardens where formal ribbon borders are -laid out by so-called landscape gardeners, whose -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span> -taste always leans to bright colours not always -massed in the happiest way. In portraits of houses -license is hardly permissible even for artistic effects, -for not only may associations be connected with -every slope and turn of a path, but the artist -always has before him the possibility that the -drawing will be hung in close proximity to the -scene, for comparison by persons who may not -always be charitably disposed to artistic alterations. -It speaks well, therefore, for Mrs. Allingham -in the drawing of the garden at Brocket -that she has produced a drawing which, without -offending the conventions, is still a picture harmonious -in colour, and probably very satisfying -to the owner. There are few who would have -cared to essay the very difficult drawing of cedars, -and have accomplished it so well, or have laboured -with so much care over the plain-faced house and -windows. As to these latter she has been happy -in assisting the sunlight in the picture by the -drawn-down blinds at the angles which the sun -reaches. The scene has clearly been pictured in -the full blaze of summer.</p> - -<p>Brocket Hall is a mansion some three miles -north of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and a short distance -off the Great North Road. It is one of a -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span> -string of seats hereabouts which belong to Earl -Cowper, but has been tenanted by Lord Mount-Stephen -for some years. The house, which, as -will be seen, has not much architectural pretensions, -was built in the eighteenth century, but -it is, to cite an old chronicle, “situate on a -dry hill in a fair park well wooded and greatly -timbered” through which the river Lea winds -picturesquely. It is notable as having been the -residence of two Prime Ministers, Lord Melbourne -and Lord Palmerston. The drawing of -“The Hawthorn Valley” (<a href="#Plate_37">Plate 37</a>) is taken from -a part of the park.</p> - -<div id="Plate_66" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_66.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">66. THE SOUTH BORDER<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>This is one of the borders designed on the -graduated doctrine as practised by Miss Jekyll -in her garden at Munstead near Godalming. -Here we have the colours starting at the far end -in grey leaves, whites, blues, pinks, and pale -yellows, towards a gorgeous centre of reds, oranges, -and scarlets, the whites being formed of yuccas, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span> -the pinks of hollyhocks, the reds and yellows of -gladioli, nasturtiums, African marigolds, herbaceous -sunflowers, dahlias, and geraniums. Another -part of the scheme is seen in the drawing which -follows.</p> - -<div id="Plate_67" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_67.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">67. THE SOUTH BORDER<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of W. Edwards, Jun.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<p>A further illustration of the same border in -Miss Jekyll’s garden, but painted a year or two -earlier, and representing it at its farther end, where -cool colours are coming into the scheme. The -orange-red flowers hanging over the wall are those -of the <i>Bignonia grandiflora</i>; the bushes on either -side of the archway with white flowers are choisyas, -and the adjoining ones are red and yellow dahlias, -flanked by tritonias (red-hot pokers); the oranges -in front are African marigolds (hardly reproduced -sufficiently brightly), with white marguerites; the -grey-leaved plant to the left is the <i>Cineraria -maritima</i>. Miss Jekyll does not entirely keep to -her arrangement of masses of colour; whilst, as -an artist, she affects rich masses of colour, she is -not above experimenting by breaking in varieties. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_68" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_68.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">68. STUDY OF LEEKS<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">I like the leeke above all herbes and flowers,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">When first we wore the same the field was ours.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Leeke is White and Greene, whereby is ment<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That Britaines are both stout and eminent;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Next to the Lion and the Unicorn,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Leeke’s the fairest emblym that is worne.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>When Mrs. Allingham in wandering round a -garden came upon this bed of flowering leeks, -and, “singularly moved to love the lovely that -are not beloved,” at once sat down to paint it in -preference to a more ambitious display in the -front garden that was at her service, her friends -probably considered her artistic perception to be -peculiar, and some there may be who will deem -the honour given to it by introduction into these -pages to be more than its worth. But it has -more than one claim to recognition here, for it is -unusual in subject, delicate in its violet tints, not -unbecoming in form, and is here disassociated -from the disagreeable odour which usually accompanies -the reality. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_69" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_69.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">69. THE APPLE ORCHARD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Dobson.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1877.</span></p> - -<p>Originally, no doubt, a study of one of those -subjects which artists like to attack, a misshapen -tree presenting every imaginable contortion of -foreshortened curvature to harass and worry the -draughtsman,—a tree, specimens of which are too -often to be found in old orchards of this size, -whose bearing time has long departed, and who -now only cumber the ground, and with their many -fellows have had much to do with the gradual -decay of the English apple industry. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br /> - -<span class="large">TENNYSON’S HOMES</span></h2> - -<p>Few poets have been so fortunate in their residences -as was the great Poet Laureate of the Victorian -era in the two which he for many years called his -own. Selected in the first instance for their beauty -and their seclusion, they had other advantages -which fitted them admirably to a poet’s temperament.</p> - -<p>Farringford, at the western end of the Isle of -Wight, was the first to be acquired, being purchased -in 1853; it was Tennyson’s home for forty years, -and the house wherein most of his best-known -works were written. At the time when it came -into his hands communication with the mainland -was of the most primitive description, and the poet -and his wife had to cross the Solent in a rowing-boat. -So far removed was he from intrusion -there that he could indulge in what to him were -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span> -favourite pastimes—sweeping up the leaves, mowing -the grass, gravelling the walks, and digging the -beds—without interruption. Many of the visitors -which railway and steamship facilities brought to -the neighbourhood in later years felt that he set the -boundary within which no foot other than his own -and that of his friends should tread at an extreme -limit. Golfers over the Needles Links—persons -who, perhaps, are prone to consider that whatever -is capable of being made into a course should be -so utilised—were wont to look with covetous eyes -over a portion of the downs that would have -formed a much-needed addition to their course, -but over which no ball was allowed to be played. -But the pertinacity of the crowd, in endeavouring -to get a sight of the Laureate, necessitated an -inexorable rule if the retreat was to be what it -was intended, namely, a place for work and for -rest.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Tennyson thus described “her wild house -amongst the pine trees”:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The golden green of the trees, the burning splendour of -Blackgang Chine, and the red bank of the primeval river -contrasted with the turkis blue of the sea (that is our view -from the drawing-room) make altogether a miracle of beauty -at sunset. We are glad that Farringford is ours.</p></blockquote> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span></p> - -<p>Although at times the weather can be cold and -bleak enough in this sheltered corner of the Isle -of Wight, and</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The scream of a madden’d beach<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dragged down by the wave<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>must oftentimes have “shocked the ear” in the -Farringford house, the climate is too relaxing an -one for continued residence, and Tennyson’s second -house, Aldworth, was well chosen as a contrast. -Aubrey Vere thus describes it:—</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>It lifted England’s great poet to a height from which he -could gaze on a large portion of that English land which he -loved so well, see it basking in its most affluent beauty, and -only bound by the inviolate sea.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The house stands at an elevation of some six -hundred feet above the sea, on the spur of Blackdown, -which is the highest ground in Sussex, on -a steep side towards the Weald, just where the -greensand hills break off. It is some two miles -from Haslemere, and just within the Sussex border.</p> - -<p>Two of the drawings connected with these houses, -which are reproduced here, were painted before -Tennyson’s death, namely, in 1890.</p> - -<p>The house at Farringford was drawn in the -spring, when the lawn was pied with daisies, and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span> -the Laureate required his heavy cloak to guard him -from the keenness of the April winds.</p> - -<p>The kitchen-garden at Farringford, which somewhat -belies its name, for flowers encroach everywhere -upon the vegetables, and the apple trees rise -amidst a parterre of blossom, was painted in its -summer aspect, when it was gay with pinks, stocks, -rockets, larkspurs, delphiniums, aubrietias, eschscholtzias, -and big Oriental poppies. Tennyson -visited it almost daily to take the record of the rain-gauge -and thermometer, which can be descried in -the drawing about half-way down the path.</p> - -<p>The kitchen-garden at Aldworth opens up a -very different prospect to the banked-up background -of trees at Farringford. Standing at a very -considerable elevation, it commands a magnificent -view over the Weald of Sussex. The spot is referred -to in the poem “Roses on the Terrace” -in the volume entitled <i>Demeter</i>, thus—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">This red flower, which on our terrace here,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Glows in the blue of fifty miles away;<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>as also in the lines—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Green Sussex fading into blue,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With one grey glimpse of sea.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>It was this view that the dying poet longed to see -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span> -once again on his last morning when he cried, “I -want the blinds up! I want to see the sky and the -light!”</p> - -<p>The time of year when Mrs. Allingham painted -it was October, and a wet October too, for two -umbrellas even could not keep her from getting -wet through.</p> - -<p>It is rare for Mrs. Allingham to set her flowers -so near the horizon as in this case,—in fact I only -remember having seen another instance of it,—but -no doubt the same feeling that appealed to -the poet’s eye, and impelled him to pen the lines -we have quoted, fascinated the artist’s, namely, the -beautiful appearance of the varied hues of flowers -against a background of delicate blue.</p> - -<p>October is the saddest time of year for the -garden, but a basket full of gleanings at that time -is more cherished than one in the full heyday of -its magnificence. Here the apple tree has already -shed most of its leaves, the hollyhock stems are -baring, and autumnal flowers, in which yellow so -much predominates, as, for instance, the great -marigold, the herbaceous sunflower, and the -calliopsis, are much in evidence. Nasturtiums -and every free-growing creeper have long ere -this trailed their stems over the box edging, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span> -and made an untidiness which forebodes their -early destruction at the hands of the gardener. -Of sweet-scented flowers only a few peas and -mignonette remain.</p> - -<p>Mr. Allingham knew the Poet Laureate for -many years, having at one time lived at Lymington, -which is the port of departure for the western -end of the Isle of Wight, and whence he often -crossed to Farringford. The artist’s first meeting -with Tennyson was soon after her marriage. He -and his son Hallam had come up to town, and -had walked over from Mr. James Knowles’s house -at Clapham, where they were staying, to Chelsea. -He invited Mrs. Allingham to Aldworth, an -invitation which was accepted shortly afterwards. -The poet was very proud of the country which -framed his house, and during this visit he took her -his special walks to Blackdown, to Fir Tree Corner -(whence there is a wide view over the Weald towards -the sea), and to a great favourite of his, -the Foxes’ Hole, a lovely valley beyond his own -grounds. Whilst on this last-named ramble he -suddenly turned round and chided the artist for -“chattering instead of looking at the view.” -During this visit he read to her a part of his -<i>Harold</i>, and the wonder of his voice and whole -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span> -manner of reading or chanting she will never -forget.</p> - -<p>When the Allinghams came to live at Witley -they were able to get to and from Aldworth in an -afternoon, and so were frequent visitors there. -One day in the autumn of 1881 Mrs. Allingham -went over alone, owing to her husband’s absence, -and after lunch the poet walked with her to -Foxes’ Hole, where they sat on bundles of peasticks, -she painting an old cottage since pulled -down, and he watching her. After a time he -said slowly, “I should like to do that. It does -not look very difficult.” Years later he showed -her some water-colour drawings he had made, -from imagination, of Mount Ida clad in dark fir -groves, which were undoubtedly very clever in -their suggestiveness.</p> - -<p>Lord Tennyson’s Isle of Wight home Mrs. -Allingham did not see until after she returned -to live in London, when Mr. Hallam Tennyson, -in conversing with her about her drawings, told -her that if she would come to the Isle of Wight -he could show her some fine old cottages. She -accordingly went at the Easter of 1890 to Freshwater, -when he was as good as his word, and she -at once began drawings of “The Dairy” and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span> -the cottage “At Pound Green.” Miss Kate -Greenaway, who had come to stay with her, -also painted them. The next spring, and many -springs afterwards, Mrs. Allingham went to Freshwater, -generally after the Easter holidays.</p> - -<p>During one of these stays she accompanied -Birket Foster to Farringford, and the poet asked -the two artists to come for a walk with him. -There happened to be a boy of the party in a -sailor costume with a bright blue collar and a -scarlet cap, and Birket Foster, who was at the -moment walking behind with Mrs. Allingham, -said, “Why is that red and blue so disagreeable?” -Tennyson’s quick ear caught something, and he -turned on them, setting his stick firmly in the -ground, and asked Mr. Foster to explain himself. -“Well,” Mr. Foster said, “I only know that the -effect of the contrast is to make cold water run -down my spine.” Mrs. Allingham cordially agreed -with Mr. Birket Foster, but Tennyson could not -feel the “cold water,” although he saw their point, -and said it was doubtless with painters as with -himself in poetry, namely, that some combinations -of sound gave intense pleasure, whilst others -grated, and he quoted certain lines as being so to -him. On another occasion, whilst walking with -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span> -him at Freshwater, he said something which led -Mrs. Allingham to mention that she generally -kept her drawings by her for a long time, often -for years, working on them now and again and -considering about figures and incidents for them,<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> -upon which he remarked that it was the same in -the case of poems, and that he used generally to -keep his by him, often in print, for a considerable -time before publishing.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The following drawings have been sufficiently -described in the text:—</p> - -<div id="Plate_70" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_70.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">70. THE HOUSE, FARRINGFORD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. John Mackinnon.</i><br /> - -Painted 1890.</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_71" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_71.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">71. THE KITCHEN-GARDEN, FARRINGFORD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Combe.</i><br /> - -Painted 1894.</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_72" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_72.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">72. THE DAIRY, FARRINGFORD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Douglas Freshfield.</i><br /> - -Painted 1890.</span> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_73" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_73.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">73. ONE OF LORD TENNYSON’S COTTAGES, -FARRINGFORD<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. E. Marsh Simpson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1900.</span></p> - -<div id="Plate_74" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_74.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">74. A GARDEN IN OCTOBER, ALDWORTH<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. F. Pennington.</i><br /> - -Painted 1891.</span></p> - -<p>The next three water-colours find a place here, -as having been painted during visits to the Island.</p> - -<div id="Plate_75" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_75.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">75. HOOK HILL FARM, FRESHWATER<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir James Kitson, Bt., M.P.</i><br /> - -Painted 1891.</span></p> - -<p>An old farmhouse on the other side of the -Yar Valley to Farringford, but one which Tennyson -often made an object for a walk. It possessed -a fine yard and old thatch-covered barn, which, -however, has passed out of existence, but not -before Mrs. Allingham had perpetuated it in -water-colour. This group of buildings has been -painted by the artist from every side, and at -other seasons than that represented here, when -pear, apple, and lilac trees, primroses, and daisies -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span> -vie with one another in heralding the coming -spring.</p> - -<div id="Plate_76" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_76.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">76. AT POUND GREEN, FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. Douglas Freshfield.</i><br /> - -Painted about 1891.</span></p> - -<p>To the cottage-born child of to-day the name -of the “Pound” has little significance, but even -in the writer’s recollection it not only had a -fascination but a feeling almost akin to terror, -being deemed, in very truth, to be a prison for -the dumb animals who generally, through no fault -of their own, were impounded there. Both it and -its tenants too were always suggestive of starvation. -When (following, at some interval of time, -the village stocks) it passed out of use, the countryside, -in losing both, forgot a very cruel phase of -life.</p> - -<p>A child of to-day has, with all its education, -not acquired many amusements to replace that -of teasing the tenants of the Pound on the Green, -so he never tires of pulling anything with the -faintest similitude to the cart which he will probably -spend much of his later life in driving. Here -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span> -the youngster has evidently been making stabling -for his toy under a seat whose back is formed out -of some carved relic of an old sailing-ship that -was probably wrecked at the Needles, and whose -remains the tide carried in to Freshwater Bay.</p> - -<div id="Plate_77" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_77.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">77. A COTTAGE AT FRESHWATER GATE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Sir Henry Irving.</i><br /> - -Painted 1891.</span></p> - -<p>Tramps are usually few and far between in the -Isle of Wight, for the reason that the island does -not rear many, and those from the mainland do -not care to cross the Solent lest, should they be -tempted to wrong-doing, there may be a difficulty -in avoiding the arm of the law or the confines of -the island. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, -to find the only flaw in our title of <i>Happy England</i> -in such a locality. But here it is, on this spring -day, when apple, and pear, and primrose blossoms -make one</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i28">Bless His name<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That He hath mantled the green earth with flowers.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>We have the rift, making the discordant note, of -want, in the person of a woman, dragged down -with the burden of four children, sending the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span> -eldest to beg a crust at a house which cannot -contain a superfluity of the good things of this -world.</p> - -<p>A singular interest attaches to Mrs. Allingham’s -drawing of this cottage. She had nearly -completed it on a Saturday afternoon, and was -asked by a friend whether she would finish it next -day. To this she replied that she never sketched -in public on Sunday. On Monday the cottage -was a heap of ruins, having been burnt down the -previous night. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span></p> - -<h2 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br /> - -<span class="large">MRS. ALLINGHAM AND HER CONTEMPORARIES</span></h2> - -<p>That a true artist is always individual, and that -his work is always affected by some one or other -of his predecessors or contemporaries, would appear -to be a paradox: nevertheless it is a proposition -that few will dispute. Art has been practised -for too long a period, and by too many talented -professors, for entirely novel views or treatments -of Nature to be possible, and whilst an artist may -be entirely unaware that he has imbibed anything -from others, it is certain that if he has had eyes to -see he must have done so.</p> - -<p>I have already stated that Mrs. Allingham’s -work, whether in subject or execution, is, so far as -she is aware, entirely her own, and it would, -perhaps, be quite sufficient were I to leave the -matter after having placed that assertion on record. -To go farther may perhaps lay oneself open to the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span> -charge, <i>qui s’excuse s’accuse</i>. I trust not, and that -I may be deemed to be only doing my duty if I -deal at some length with comparisons that have -been made between her work and that of certain -other artists.</p> - -<p>The two names with whose productions those -of Mrs. Allingham are most frequently linked are -Frederick Walker and Birket Foster: the first in -connection with her figures, the latter with her -cottage subjects.</p> - -<p>As regards these two artists it must be remembered -that both their and her early employment -lay in the same direction, namely, that of -book illustration, and therefore each started with -somewhat similar methods of execution and subject, -varied only by leanings towards the style of any -work they came in contact with, or by their own -individuality.</p> - -<p>That both had much in common is well known; -in fact, Mrs. Allingham used to tell Mr. Foster -that she considered him, as did others, the father -of Walker and Pinwell.</p> - -<p>In the case of Frederick Walker, his career -was at its most interesting phase whilst Mrs. -Allingham was a student. Her first visit to the -Royal Academy was probably in 1868, when his -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span> -“Vagrants” was exhibited, to be followed in 1869 -by “The Old Gate,” in 1870 by “The Plough,” -and in 1872 by “The Harbour of Refuge.”</p> - -<p>It must not be forgotten that the name of -Frederick Walker was at this time in every one’s -mouth, that is, every one who could be deemed to -be included in the small Art world of those days. -The painter visitors to the Academy schools sang -his praises to the students, and he himself fascinated -and charmed them with his boyish and graceful -presence. As Mrs. Allingham says, everybody in -the schools “adored” him and his work, and on -the opening of the Academy doors on the first -Monday in May the students rushed to his picture -first of all.</p> - -<p>To contradict a dictum of Walker’s in those -days was the rankest heresy in a student. Mrs. -Allingham remembers an occasion when a painter -was holding forth on the right methods of water-colour -work, asserting that the paper should be -put flat down on a table, as was the custom with -the old men, and the colour should be laid on in -washes and left to dry with edges, and if Walker -taught any other method he was wrong. Mrs. -Allingham and her fellow-students were furious at -their hero being possibly in fault, and asked for the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span> -opinion of an Academician. His reply was: “And -<i>who</i> is Mr. ——, and how does <i>he</i> paint that <i>he</i> -should lay down the law? If Walker <i>is</i> all wrong -with his methods, he paints like an angel.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham’s confession of faith is this: -“I <i>was</i> influenced, doubtless, by his work. I -adored it, but I never consciously copied it. It -revealed to me certain beauties and aspects of -Nature, as du Maurier’s had done, and as North’s -and others have since done, and then I saw like -things for myself in Nature, and painted them, I -truly think, in my own way—not the best way, I -dare say, but in the only way <i>I</i> could.”</p> - -<p>Those, therefore, who discover not the reflection -but the inspiration of Walker in the idyllic grace -of Mrs. Allingham’s figures, and in her treatment -of flowers, place her in a company which she -readily accepts, and is proud of.</p> - -<p>But it is with Birket Foster that our artist’s -name has been more intimately linked by the -critics, some even going to the length of asserting -that without him there would have been no Mrs. -Allingham.</p> - -<p>Having had the pleasure of an intimacy with -Birket Foster, which extended to writing his -biography (<i>Birket Foster: His Life and Work</i>, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span> -Virtue and Co., 1890), I can emphatically assert -that he never held that opinion, but stated that she -had struck out a line which was entirely her own, -and, as he generously added, “with much more -modernity in it than mine.”</p> - -<p>There are, however, so many similarities between -their artistic careers that I may be excused for -dwelling on some of them, for they no doubt -unconsciously influenced not only the method of -their work but the subject of it.</p> - -<p>Drawing in black and white on wood in each -case formed the groundwork of their education, and -was only followed by colour at a subsequent stage.</p> - -<p>Both, having determined to support themselves, -were fain to seek out the engravers and obtain -from them a livelihood. Birket Foster at sixteen -was fortunate enough to meet in Landells one who -at once recognised his capabilities, whilst Mrs. -Allingham found a similar friend in Joseph Swain. -Again, book illustration was as much in vogue in -1870 as it was in 1842; and by another coincidence -both years witnessed the birth of an illustrated -weekly, for Birket Foster, in 1842, was employed -upon the infant <i>Illustrated London News</i>, while -Mrs. Allingham was the only lady to whom Mr. -Thomas allotted some of the early work on the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span> -<i>Graphic</i>. Differences there were in their opportunities, -and these were not always in the lady’s -favour. Birket Foster found in Landells a man -who looked after his youngster’s education, and, -convinced that Nature was his best mistress, sent -him to her with these instructions: “Now that -work is slack in these summer months, spend them -in the fields; take your colours and copy every -detail of the scene as carefully as possible, especially -trees and foreground plants, and come up to me -once a month and show me what you have done.” -A splendid memory aided Foster in his studies all -too well, for he learnt to draw with such absolute -fidelity every detail that he required, that he never -again required to go to Nature. That he did -so we know from his repeated visits to every part -of Europe—visits resulting in delightful work; -but what the world saw was entirely studio work, -and this tended to a repetition which oftentimes -marred the entire satisfaction that one otherwise -derived from his drawings. Mrs. Allingham herself, -although living close to and engaged on the -same subjects, never came across him painting out -of doors, and only once saw him note-book in -hand.</p> - -<p>Chance influenced the two careers also in another -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span> -way, which might have made any similarity between -them altogether out of question. The first -commission to illustrate a book which Miss Paterson -obtained was a prose work, in which figures and -household scenes entirely predominated,—in fact, -all her black-and-white work was of this homely -nature,—and for some years she had no call for the -delineation of landscape. With Foster it was not -very different. It is true that his first commission -was <i>The Boys Spring and Summer Book</i>, in which -he had to draw the seasons, and to draw them -afield. But this might not have attracted him to -landscape work, for his patron’s next commission -was quite in another direction. I may be excused -for referring to it at length, for the little-known -incident is of some interest now that the actors in -it have each achieved such world-wide reputations. -Certain of the young pre-Raphaelites, including -Rossetti, Burne-Jones, and Millais, had been entrusted -with the illustration of <i>Evangeline</i>. The -result was a perfect staggerer to the publisher -Bogue, who was altogether unable to appreciate -their revolutionary methods. “What shall I do -with them?” he was asked by the engraver to -whom he showed the blocks on which most elaborate -designs had been most lovingly drawn. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span> -“This,” said Bogue, and wetting one of them he -erased the drawing with the sleeve of his coat, -serving each in turn in the same way.</p> - -<p>After this drastic treatment the <i>Evangeline</i> -commission was handed over to Birket Foster. -It can be easily imagined with what trepidation -he, knowing these facts, approached and carried out -his task, and his delight when even the <i>Athenæum</i> -could say, “A more lovely book than this has rarely -been given to the public.” The success of the -work was enormous. His career was apparently -henceforth marked out as an illustrator of verse in -black and white, for his popularity continued until -it was not a question of giving him commissions, -but of what book there was for him to illustrate; -and he used laughingly to say that finally there -was nothing left for him but Young’s <i>Night -Thoughts</i> and Pollok’s <i>Course of Time</i>.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a></p> - -<p>Thus we see that Birket Foster’s art work was -for long confined to subjects as to which he had no -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span> -voice, but which certainly influenced his art, and it -says much for his temperament that throughout it -warranted the term “poetical.” In like manner -it is much to Mrs. Allingham’s credit that her -prosaic start did not prevent the same quality -welling up and being always in evidence in her -productions.</p> - -<p>If I have not wearied the reader I would like to -point out some further coincidences in their careers -which are of interest.</p> - -<p>Birket Foster became a water-colourist through -the chance that he could not sell his oil-paintings, -which consequently cumbered his small working-room -to such an extent that one night he cut them -all from their stretchers, rolled them up, and sneaking -out, dropped them over Blackfriars Bridge into -the Thames; water-colours cost less to produce -and took up less space, so he adopted them. Mrs. -Allingham abandoned oils after a year or two’s -work in them at the Royal Academy Schools, -because she gradually became convinced that she -could express herself better in water-colours. But -she considered that it was a great advantage to -have worked, even for the short time, in the -stronger medium. It was this practice in oils that -made her for some time (until, indeed, Walker’s -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span> -lessons to her at the Royal Academy) use a good -deal of body-colour.</p> - -<p>Both artists aspired to obtain the highest rank -which then, as now, is open to the water-colourist, -namely, membership of The Royal Water-Colour -Society, but whilst Birket Foster only attained it -in 1860, in his thirty-fifth year, and at his second -attempt, Mrs. Allingham followed him in 1875, -when only twenty-six, and at her first essay. -Both promptly at once gave up a remunerative -income in black and white, and having done so, -never had cause to regret their decision.</p> - -<p>The coincidences do not end even here, for both -within a year or two of their election found themselves, -the one on the invitation of Mr. Hook, R.A., -the other, twenty years later, for reasons we have -mentioned, settled near the same village, Witley, -in the heart of the country which they have since -identified with their names. Here the selection -of subjects from the same neighbourhood naturally -brought their work still closer together.</p> - -<p>Both of them have been attracted to Venice; -Mr. Foster again and again, Mrs. Allingham only -within the last year or two.</p> - -<p>Lastly, few artists have been indulged with so -many smiles and so few frowns from the public -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span> -for which they have catered. Birket Foster considered -that he had been almost pampered by the -critics, and Mrs. Allingham has never had the -slightest cause to complain of her treatment at -their hands.</p> - -<p>Having dwelt at such length upon the interesting -concurrences in their careers, I now pass on to -a comparison of their methods of work; and here -there are many resemblances, but these are no doubt -due to the times in which they lived. Birket -Foster found himself, when he commenced, the -pupil of a school which had some merits and more -demerits. Composition and drawing were still -thought of, and before a landscape artist presumed -to pose as such, he had to study the laws -which governed the former, and to thoroughly -imbue himself with a knowledge of the anatomy -of what he was about to depict. Mrs. Allingham, -as I have pointed out, was also fortunate enough to -commence her tuition before the fashion of undergoing -this needful apprenticeship died out. But -Birket Foster came at the end of a time when -landscape was painted in the studio rather than in -the field. He went to Nature for suggestions, -which he pencilled into note-books in the most -facile and learned manner, but content with this he -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span> -made his pictures under comfortable conditions at -home. The fulness of his career, too, came at a -time when Art was booming, and the demand for -his work was such that he could not keep pace -with it. It is not surprising, therefore, that in the -zenith of his fame his pictures were, in the main, -studio pictures, worked out with a marvellous -facility of invention, but nevertheless just lacking -that vitality which always pervades work done in -the open air and before Nature.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham’s work at the outset was very -similar to this. For her subject drawings she -made elaborate preliminary studies from Nature -in colour, but the drawing itself was thought and -carried out in the house. Fortunately this method -soon became unpalatable to her, and she gradually -came to work more and more directly from Nature, -and when, at Witley, she found her subjects at her -doors, she discontinued once and for ever her -former method. Since then she has painted every -drawing on the spot during the months that it is -feasible, leaving actual completion for some time, -to enable her to view her work with a fresh eye, and -to study at leisure the final details, such, for instance, -as where the figures shall be grouped, usually -posing, for this purpose, her models in the open air -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span> -in her Hampstead garden. Her figures are, however, -sometimes culled from careful studies made -in note-books, of which she has an endless supply. -Fastidious to a degree as to the completeness of a -drawing, she lingers long over the finishing touches, -for it is these which she considers make or mar the -whole. Every sort of contrivance she considers to -be legitimate to bring about an effect, save that of -body-colour, which she holds in abhorrence; but -the knife, a hard brush, a pointed stick, a paint -rag, and a sponge are in constant request.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham is above all things a fair-weather -painter. She has no pleasure in the storm, whether -of rain or wind. Maybe this avoidance of the -discomforts inseparable from a truthful portrayal -of such conditions indicates the femininity of her -nature. Doubtless it does. But is she to blame? -Her work is framed upon the pleasure that it -affords her, and it is certain that the result is none -the less satisfactory because it only numbers the -sunny hours and the halcyon days.</p> - -<p>I ought perhaps to have qualified the expression -“sunny hours,” for as a rule she does not affect a -sunshine which casts strong shadows, but rather -its condition when, through a thin veil of cloud, it -suffuses all Nature with an equable light, and allows -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span> -local colour to be seen at its best. In drawings -which comprise any large amount of floral detail, -the leaves, in full sunshine, give off an amount of -reflected light that materially lessens the colour -value of the flowers, and prevents their being -properly distinguished. Mr. Elgood, the painter -of flower-gardens <i>par excellence</i>, always observes -this rule, not only because the effect is so much -more satisfactory on paper, but because it is so -much easier to paint under this aspect. As regards -sky treatment, both he and Mrs. Allingham, it will -be noted, confine themselves to the simplest sky -effects, feeling that the main interest lies on the -ground, where the detail is amply sufficient to -warrant the accessories being kept as subservient -as possible. For this reason it is that the glories -of sunrise and sunset have no place in Mrs. Allingham’s -work, the hours round mid-day sufficing for -her needs.</p> - -<p>To the curiously minded concerning her palette, -it may be said that it is of the simplest character. -Her paint-box is the smallest that will hold her -colours in moist cake form, of which none are used -save those which she considers to be permanent. -It contains cobalt, permanent yellow, aureolin, raw -sienna, yellow ochre, cadmium, rose madder, light -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span> -red, and sepia. She now uses nothing save O.W. -(old water-colour) paper. Mrs. Allingham’s method -of laying on the colour differs from that of Birket -Foster, who painted wet and in small touches. -Her painting is on the dry side, letting her colours -mingle on the paper. As a small bystander once -remarked concerning it, “You do mess about a -deal.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham has been a constant worker for -upwards of a quarter of a century, during which -time, in addition to contributing to the Royal -Society, she has held seven Exhibitions at The -Fine Art Society’s, each of them averaging some -seventy numbers. She has, therefore, upon her -own calculation, put forth to the world nearly a -thousand drawings. In spite of this, they seldom -appear in the sale-room, and when they do they -share with Birket Foster’s work the unusual distinction -of always realising more than the artist -received for them.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The illustrations which adorn this closing chapter -have no connection with its subject, but are not -on that account altogether out of place; for they -are the only ones which are outside the title of the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span> -work, two being from Ireland, and two from Venice, -and they are associated with two of the main incidents -of the artist’s life, namely, her marriage, and -her only art work abroad.</p> - -<div id="Plate_78" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_78.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">78. A CABIN AT BALLYSHANNON<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From a Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1891.</span></p> - -<p>Ballyshannon is the birthplace of Mr. William -Allingham, who married Mrs. Allingham in 1874. -It is situated in County Donegal, and was described -by him as “an odd, out-of-the way little town on -the extreme western verge of Europe; our next -neighbours, sunset way, being citizens of the great -Republic, which indeed to our imagination seemed -little, if at all, farther off than England in the -opposite direction. Before it spreads a great ocean, -behind stretches many an islanded lake. On the -south runs a wavy line of blue mountains, and on -the north, over green, rocky hills, rise peaks of a -more distant range. The trees hide in glens or -cluster near the river; grey rocks and boulders lie -scattered about the windy pastures.” Here Mr. -Allingham was born of the good old stock of one of -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span> -Cromwell’s settlers, and here he lived until he was -two-and-twenty. The drawing now reproduced -was made when Mrs. Allingham visited the place -with his children after his death in 1889. Many -ruined cabins lie around; money is scarce in -Donegal, and each year the tenants become fewer, -some emigrating, others who have done so sending -to their relations to join them. Better times are -indeed necessary if the country is not to become a -desert.</p> - -<div id="Plate_79" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_79.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">79. THE FAIRY BRIDGES<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of the Artist.</i><br /> - -Painted 1891.</span></p> - -<p>The Fairy Bridges—a series of natural arches, -carved or shaken out of the cliffs, in times long past, -by the rollers of the Atlantic—are within a walk -of Ballyshannon, and were often visited by Mrs. -Allingham during her stay there. Three of them -(there are five in all) are seen in the drawing, and -a quaint and mythological faith connects them -with Elfindom—a faith which every Irishman in -the last generation imbibed with his mother’s milk, -and which is not yet extinct in the lovely crags -and glens of Donegal. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span></p> - -<p>The scene is introduced into two of Mr. Allingham’s -best-known songs; in one, “The Fairies,” -thus—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Up the airy mountain,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Down the rushy glen,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We daren’t go a-hunting<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For fear of little men.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Down along the rocky shore<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Some make their home,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">They live in crispy pancakes<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of yellow tide foam.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The only land which separates the wind-swept -Fairy Bridges from America is the Slieve-League -headland, whose wavy outline is seen in the distance. -It, too, finds a place in one of Mr. Allingham’s -songs, “The Winding Banks of Erne: the -Emigrant’s Adieu to his Birthplace” (which in -ballad form is sung by Erin’s children all the -world over)—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Farewell to you, Kildenny lads, and them that pull an oar,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A lug-sail set, or haul a net, from the Point to Mullaghmore;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From Killikegs to bold Slieve-League, that ocean mountain steep,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Six hundred yards in air aloft, six hundred in the deep,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">From Dorran to the Fairy Bridge, and round by Tullen Strand,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Level and long and white with waves, where gull and curlew stand,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Head out to sea, when on your lee the breakers you discern!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Adieu to all the billowy coast, and winding banks of Erne!<br /></span> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span></p> - -<p>By a curious coincidence Mr. Allingham when -here in “the eighties” sent an “Invitation to a -Painter”<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a>—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">O come hither! weeks together let us watch the big Atlantic,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Blue or purple, green or gurly, dark or shining, smooth or frantic;<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<p>but the first to come was his own wife.</p> - -<div id="Plate_80" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_80.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">80. THE CHURCH OF STA. MARIA DELLA -SALUTE, VENICE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1901.</span></p> - -<p>Mrs. Allingham, after an absence of thirty-three -years, visited Italy again in 1901, in company with -a fellow-artist, and the following year the Exhibition -of the Old Water-Colour Society was rendered -additionally interesting by a comparison of her -rendering of Venice with that of a fellow lady-member, -Miss Clara Montalba, to whose individuality -in dealing with it we have before referred.</p> - -<p>The drawing of Mrs. Allingham’s here reproduced -shows Venice in quite an English aspect as -regards weather. It is almost a grey day; it -certainly is a fresh one, and has nothing in common -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span> -with one which induces the spending of much -time about in a gondola.</p> - -<p>In selecting the Salute for one of her principal -illustrations of Venice, Mrs. Allingham has respectfully -followed in the footsteps of England’s greatest -landscapist, for Turner made it the main object in -his great effort of the Grand Canal, and there are -few of the craft who have failed to limn it again -and again in their story of Venice.</p> - -<p>But whilst most people are disposed to regard -it as one of the most beautiful features of the -city, the church has fallen under the ban of -those exponents of architecture that have studied -it carefully.</p> - -<p>Mr. Ruskin classified it under the heading of -“Grotesque Renaissance,” although he admitted -that its position, size, and general proportions -rendered it impressive. Its proportions were -good, but its graceful effect was due to the inequality -in the size of its cupolas and the pretty -grouping of the campaniles behind them. But -he qualified his praise by an opinion that the -proportions of buildings have nothing whatever -to do with the style or general merits of their -architecture, for an artist trained in the worst -schools, and utterly devoid of all meaning and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span> -purpose in his work, may yet have such a natural -gift of massing or grouping as will render all his -structures effective when seen from a distance. -Such a gift was very general with the late Italian -builders, so that many of the most contemptible -edifices in the country have a good stage effect so -long as we do not approach them. The Church -of the Salute is much assisted by the beautiful -flight of steps in front of it down to the Canal, -and its façade is rich and beautiful of its kind. -What raised the anger of Ruskin was the disguise -of the buttresses under the form of colossal -scrolls, the buttresses themselves being originally a -hypocrisy, for the cupola is of timber, and therefore -needs none.</p> - -<div id="Plate_81" class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/plate_81.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="caption">81. A FRUIT STALL, VENICE<br /> - -<span class="small"><i>From the Drawing, the property of Mr. C. P. Johnson.</i><br /> - -Painted 1902.</span></p> - -<p>A lover of gardens and their produce, such as -Mrs. Allingham is, could not visit Venice without -being captivated by the wealth of colour which -Nature has lavished upon the contents of the -Venetian fruit stalls. Even the most indifferent, -when they get into meridional parts, cannot be -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span> -insensible to the luscious hues which the fruit -baskets display. To look out of the window of -one’s hotel on an Italian lake-side at dawn and see -the boats coming from all quarters of the lake -laden with the luscious tomatoes, plums, and other -fruits, is not among the least of the delights of a -sojourn there. Mrs. Allingham’s drawing bears -upon its face evidences that it is a literal translation -of the scene. We have none of the introduction -of stage accessories in the way of secchios and -other studio belongings which find a place in -most of the Venetian output of this character. -She has evidently delighted in the mysteries of -the tones of the wicker baskets, for we recognise -in them traces of the skill she achieves in England -in the delineation of similar surfaces on her tiled -roofs. Her figure, too, has nothing of the studio -model in it. This black-haired girl is a new type -for her, but it is a faithful transcript of the original, -and not one of the robust beauties which one is -accustomed to in the pictures of Van Haanen and -his followers. The stall itself was located somewhere -between the Campo San Stefano and the -Rialto. -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span></p> - -<p>With these illustrations of Mrs. Allingham’s -painting elsewhere than in England our tale is -told. We trust that this digression, which appeared -to be necessary if a complete survey of the -artist’s lifework up to the present time was to be -portrayed, will not be deemed to have appreciably -affected the appropriateness of the title to the -volume, nor invalidated the claim that we have -made as to her work having most felicitously represented -the fairest aspects of English life and -landscape—English life, whether of peer, commoner, -or peasant, passed under its healthiest and -happiest conditions, and English landscape under -spring and summer skies and dressed in its most -beauteous array of flower and foliage—an England -of which we may to-day be as proud as were -those who lived when the immortal lines concerning -it were penned:—</p> - -<div class="poetry"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This other Eden, demi-paradise;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This fortress built by Nature for herself<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Against infection and the hand of war;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This happy breed of men, this little world;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This precious stone set in the silver sea,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Which serves it in the office of a wall,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or as a moat defensive to a house,<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span> -<span class="i0">Against the envy of less happier lands;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dear for reputation through the world;—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">England, bound in with the triumphant sea,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of watery Neptune.<br /></span> -</div></div></div> - -<h3>THE END</h3> - -<p class="copy"><i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</p> - -<div class="footnotes"> -<h2 id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES:</h2> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">1</a> - Clayton’s <i>English Female Artists</i>, 1876.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">2</a> - In the Exhibition of 1903, 330 out of 1180, or 28 per cent, were -ladies.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">3</a> - The first female gold medallist was Miss Louisa Starr (now Madame -Canziani), and she was followed by Miss Jessie Macgregor, a niece of -Alfred Hunt.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">4</a> - The Parish Register shows that the plague reached Chalfont -later on.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">5</a> - See <i>Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to William Allingham</i>. -(London: Fisher Unwin, 1897.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">6</a> - <i>A Flat Iron for a Farthing, or some Passages in the Life of an Only -Son</i>, by Juliana Horatia Ewing. (George Bell and Sons.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">7</a> - The model was a Mrs. Stewart, who, with her husband, sat to Mrs. -Allingham for years. They were well known in art circles, and had -charge of the Hogarth Club, Fitzroy Square, when Mrs. Allingham, -before her marriage, lived in Southampton Row close by. She introduced -the models to Mr. du Maurier, who immediately engaged them, -and continued to use them for many years. “Ponsonby de Tompkins” -was Stewart, run to seed, and “Mrs. Ponsonby de Tompkins” a very -good portrait of Mrs. Stewart.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">8</a> - Lord Tennyson quoted this line to Mrs. Allingham one day when, -walking with him, they passed ground covered with the fallen flowers -of the lime trees.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">9</a> - I have been reminded by the artist that my first introduction to -her was at Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, whither I went to see the products -of this Shere visit, and that I came away with some of them in -my possession.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">10</a> - Another tree at Hatfield also claims this distinction.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">11</a> - See “In Wormley Wood” (<a href="#Plate_46">Plate 46</a>), in the description of which -I have referred to the reasons for the disappearance of thatch as a roof -material. An additional one to those there mentioned is without doubt -the risk of fire. Since the introduction of coal, chimneys clog much -more readily with soot, and a fire from one of these with its showers of -sparks may quickly set ablaze not only the cottage where this happens, -but the whole village. That the insurance companies, by their higher -premiums for thatch-covered houses, recognise a greater risk, may or -may not be proof of greater liability to conflagration, but we certainly -nowadays hear of much fewer of those disasters, which even persons -now living can remember, whereby whole villages were swept out of -existence.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">12</a> - Do not these lines rather refer to gorse?</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">13</a> - Rightly perhaps, for the local doctor pleasantly inquired while -she was painting it, why she had selected a house that had had more -fever in it than any other in the parish.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">14</a> - Mrs. Allingham’s friends sometimes say to her, “You paint so -quickly.” Her reply is, “Perhaps I make a quick beginning, but I -take a long time to finish.” Which is the fact.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">15</a> - When will the day come that editions of the books illustrated by -Birket Foster will attain to their proper value? The poets illustrated by -miserable process blocks find a sale, whilst these volumes, issued in the -middle of the last century, and containing the finest specimens of the -wood-cutting art, attract, if we may judge by the second-hand book-sellers’ -catalogues, no purchasers even at a sum which is a fraction of -their original price.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">16</a> - <i>Irish Songs and Poems</i> (1887), p. 47.</p></div> -</div> - -<div class="transnote"> - -<h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3> - -<p>Plate images have been moved to the beginning of the text headers.</p> - -<p>Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.</p> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAPPY ENGLAND ***</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 54696-h.htm or 54696-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/6/9/54696/</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller;'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;font-size:1.1em;margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that -</div> - -<ul style='display: block;list-style-type: disc;margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom: 1em;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;padding-left: 40px;'> - <li style='display: list-item;'> - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </li> - - <li style='display: list-item;'> - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </li> - - <li style='display: list-item;'> - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </li> - - <li style='display: list-item;'> - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </li> -</ul> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;font-size:1.1em;margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;font-size:1.1em;margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -For additional contact information: -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em;'> -Dr. Gregory B. Newby<br /> -Chief Executive and Director<br /> -gbnewby@pglaf.org -</div> - -<div style='display:block;font-size:1.1em;margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block;font-size:1.1em;margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 92c6acb..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/i_signature.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/i_signature.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 78752b7..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/i_signature.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/i_title.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/i_title.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b73d470..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/i_title.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_1.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d00987d..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_10.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_10.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cbf710e..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_10.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_11.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_11.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9f43e5f..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_11.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_12.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_12.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b953a0f..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_12.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_13.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_13.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4f634be..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_13.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_14.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_14.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 1282d30..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_14.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_15.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_15.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 74af033..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_15.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_16.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_16.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ef0ed00..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_16.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_17.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_17.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 80cf99e..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_17.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_18.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_18.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d4f8dff..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_18.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_19.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_19.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e6629c2..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_19.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_2.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 5a94ff3..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_20.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_20.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0f0a006..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_20.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_21.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_21.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6fd88c4..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_21.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_22.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_22.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c675d4a..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_22.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_23.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_23.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 667beb3..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_23.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_24.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_24.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index da52c00..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_24.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_25.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_25.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0d61a19..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_25.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_26.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_26.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b0b5c76..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_26.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_27.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_27.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index a5da386..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_27.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_28.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_28.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 86dd660..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_28.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_29.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_29.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 26fba73..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_29.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_3.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_3.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b290dfe..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_3.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_30.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_30.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 777520b..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_30.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_31.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_31.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index c33f123..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_31.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_32.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_32.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index eb70392..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_32.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_33.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_33.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 57388ae..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_33.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_34.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_34.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b28a508..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_34.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_35.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_35.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0de1ea8..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_35.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_36.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_36.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0202532..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_36.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_37.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_37.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 91d7604..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_37.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_38.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_38.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3ce207c..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_38.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_39.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_39.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index eb9c433..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_39.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_4.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_4.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 183dbf0..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_4.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_40.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_40.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 7baefb2..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_40.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_41.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_41.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index eae5a4f..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_41.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_42.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_42.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f2d7211..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_42.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_43.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_43.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2db95c4..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_43.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_44.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_44.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 356e267..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_44.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_45.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_45.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2a5d868..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_45.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_46.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_46.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 41e56dc..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_46.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_47.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_47.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f128f81..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_47.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_48.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_48.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 309d55d..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_48.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_49.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_49.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2d33ce3..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_49.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_5.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_5.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 58e907d..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_5.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_50.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_50.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 52f32a6..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_50.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_51.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_51.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3f471ef..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_51.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_52.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_52.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8b98040..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_52.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_53.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_53.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 017a20e..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_53.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_54.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_54.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index aa01685..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_54.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_55.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_55.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index eac279a..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_55.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_56.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_56.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2158a29..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_56.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_57.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_57.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 40bde1d..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_57.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_58.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_58.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8e3afdf..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_58.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_59.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_59.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 948d61b..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_59.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_6.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_6.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4c3e881..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_6.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_60.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_60.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9801868..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_60.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_61.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_61.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e6facd3..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_61.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_62.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_62.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3c02184..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_62.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_63.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_63.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e00e5be..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_63.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_64.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_64.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 25e8f13..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_64.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_65.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_65.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 25254b5..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_65.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_66.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_66.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 498a952..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_66.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_67.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_67.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 276f96f..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_67.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_68.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_68.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b98ff27..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_68.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_69.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_69.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 03e2c10..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_69.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_7.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_7.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index cc86dfa..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_7.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_70.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_70.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index bd8a680..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_70.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_71.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_71.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 072c2a8..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_71.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_72.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_72.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 06c41d0..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_72.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_73.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_73.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 31248c8..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_73.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_74.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_74.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 44246a3..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_74.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_75.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_75.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 26fdbe2..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_75.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_76.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_76.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 381bd60..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_76.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_77.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_77.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d28278c..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_77.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_78.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_78.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 575e28f..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_78.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_79.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_79.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 250e2fa..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_79.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_8.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_8.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6230a0e..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_8.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_80.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_80.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index ab283ba..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_80.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_81.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_81.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 256aff0..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_81.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/54696-h/images/plate_9.jpg b/old/54696-h/images/plate_9.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2624f3a..0000000 --- a/old/54696-h/images/plate_9.jpg +++ /dev/null |
