| 82 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
The following letter relates to a tale of the olden times, which forms one of a series since published, with a modern framework, under the title of “Chatsworth; or, the Romance of a Week,” a work which Mr. Plumer Ward benefited by many valuable suggestions while in MS., and honoured by the sanction of his name as editor.
As this work was, on its publication, distinctly and almost universally
attributed, by its numerous critics, to Mr. Ward
himself, and has since his death been formally described as “his latest work,”
in several biographical memoirs appearing in periodicals issuing from respectable quarters,
it will be proper for me to show, at more length than I should otherwise have thought of
doing, the true nature of his connexion with that
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 83 |
“My dear Patmore,—I opened
your romance at nine
o’clock last night, but could not leave it till I had read every word.
This will prove its interest, for few are more sleepy or sooner in bed than
myself. I have much to say upon it, and all favourable, except perhaps a word
or two as to the machinery, in which, too, I may be wrong.
Imprimis, the foundation of the story is highly
original, and, as such, adds greatly to the interest. How did you come by it?
Is there anything like it in any old legend, or is it a legend of your own? Any
way, it possesses the very first requisite of a story, interest; and hence I am quite against you
| 84 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“So much for the subject. Then, as to the execution, there are many things to admire. First, the simplicity of the style, which always most befits a narration, which this essentially is. You let the characters speak for themselves; and we know nothing, want nothing, of the author till all is over. This, I imagine, is exactly as it should be. In this, and other things, it resembles the episodical novels in Don Quixote. Could you wish for anything better? * * *
“The groundwork of the story is not only most
impressive in itself, but preserved in high keeping throughout.
‘Servitur ad imum’—perhaps the most
important of the rules of criticism. The commencing point of interest, the
rocks, is striking, and very pleasing in itself, but grows more and more so as
the story advances. Dorigen catching at
their removal as the impossible thing, which yet would so gratify her, could it
be performed, as to make her forget the consequence, is a great beauty. The
whole scene afterwards between her and her hus-
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 85 |
“The dénouement is not less agreeable for being unexpected. To tell you the truth, I was prepared for something very terrible. I thought the student was the devil, the price of the secret the soul of Aurelius, and the catastrophe of Dorigen a death like Lucretia’s. The finale, however, is more pleasing for not being so shocking; and there is wildness enough in the romantic cast of the events, and particularly in the source of them (a superstitious adherence to a vow), to gratify the utmost avarice for the wonderful.
“So much for the attractive in this attractive
composition; nor do I know anything in the least of a contrary character,
though I may venture a few suggestions with a view, to my mind, to make it more
perfect. In the first place, the whole of the interest and
| 86 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
“One little want of keeping (easily remedied) I will mention in Dorigen. She listens too soon, and with too little resentment at first, to Aurelius. My own impression (and this is what you want) was, that her sudden sympathy was quite incompatible with her previous character and delicate love for her husband. I almost thought her faithless, and about to be won over to infamy. But this, as I said, may be easily remedied by bestowing a little more time upon her first surprise and resentment, and gradual recovery from it, say from the apprehension that Aurelius was mad rather than wicked.
“Another omission (it is no more) strikes me [as
advisable]. Arviragus is a great deal
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 87 |
“If you think these hints are worth pursuing, a very little attention will make them available. * * *
“There! I think you will allow I have given you at least an honest opinion as to merits and oversights—the first really most attractive, the last merely what I have called them, and most easily remedied.
“If I were not greatly pleased, I could not bring myself to such a long letter—the longest I have written for many a year. If your comedy is as good as your romance, I shall have pleasure in writing another; but this must be deferred, and so no more at present from yours, very truly,
| 88 | R. PLUMER WARD. |
I trust the reader will bear with me when I feel occasionally called upon, as in the cases of the foregoing letter, to refer to matters in which I am too intimately concerned to admit of my speaking of them without being liable to the charge of egotism. It has been with a reluctance almost insurmountable that I have at any time incurred this charge; but the alternative would have been the suppression of letters that I am confident the readers of these Memorials would not willingly miss. I need scarcely add, that all the hints in the foregoing letter were adopted.
The following note alludes to Mr. Ward’s “Essay on the Revolution of 1688,” then just published.
“So you wish I had never quitted fiction for party, and that you had not met me ‘in the crowd and crush of politics!’ And you did not write the no-review, but really Patmore’s Lament, in the —— ——? Not you! As if I did not at once find you out by your style.
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 89 |
“Have you seen the skimmed milk and water trash in the —— upon me? It is not at all offensive, but such stuff, both as to argument and criticism, that I really feel for the writer, who seems unfit almost for any critique, much less to grapple with what he has undertaken. If I have no more powerful opponent than he, I shall be well off. Bulwer, I believe, announces himself as one. We shall see.
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