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Perhaps nothing is more indispensable to the just and complete appreciation of any considerable work, whether of fiction or of fact, than a knowledge of what the writer desired and aimed at in the composition of it; and this is a knowledge rarely to be obtained—partly from the morbid fastidiousness of modern taste in regard to a writer speaking of himself and his productions—partly because few writers really know what it is they do aim at, or really do aim at anything at all, consistently and consecutively.
No writer was ever less open to either of these imputations than Plumer Ward; and for this reason the following notices, incomplete as they are, will not only be read with interest and curiosity for themselves, but claim to be put on record in justice to the writer himself.
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The following is a portion of the letter which accompanied the MS. of “Tremaine” when offered to the notice of its publisher:—
“* * * * I am in possession of a manuscript work, the plan of which is at least singular. The form is certainly that of a novel, in which there is a love-story of no ordinary description; for though, in my opinion, it is full of interest, it is made the vehicle of the deepest disquisitions upon natural religion, particularly that part of it which concerns Providence and a future state. A great portion of it is also taken up with practical morality, and axioms relative to habits of life as they conduce to the happiness of man.
“The action depends upon this—a man of parts, of the
first monde in fashion, and well
known in public, from too fastidious a taste and sickly fancy, retires in
disgust to view the world only at a distance. He gives the title to the work,
which is called ‘The Man of Refinement.’ He is as un-
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“The latter is a divine, of learning and piety, and contests between these two furnish the channel for the various discussions which occur, while the little scenes in which, and out of which, they arise, form the interest.
“The divine has a daughter. The ‘Man of
Refinement,’ disgusted with both the upper and lower ranks of
females, finds all he wants here. But his refinement has made him depart from
nature, while she is nature itself. He cures all his bad habits and
unreasonable disgusts to gain her, and actually does gain her affection. But in
his refinement he has lost his religion, while she is all piety. She refuses
him, therefore, at the expense of her happiness and health, which are ruined.
He, indeed, promises to be reclaimed; but she will only accept the reclamation
of perfect conviction. This, at last, is accomplished by her father; and the
combat between infidelity and the truth exhibits much interesting learning.
There is,
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In short, the whole is the work of a man evidently himself of the world in its higher stages, though also a man of the closet. His name, however, is forbidden to appear. The Man of Refinement being converted in everything, is in the end happy in being brought back to truth, and a wife the daughter of truth.
“The work does not reach Revealed Religion. * * * * I am, Sir,
As Mr. Ward was, during our subsequent
intimacy, fond of recurring to circumstances connected with our early anonymous
communications together, I learned from him many particulars relative to the composition
and production of both “Tremaine” and
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The following letters must speak for themselves. Copies of them were transmitted to the reviser, by the writer’s direction, during the passage of the MS. of “Tremaine” through the hands of the former:—
“I have examined with great care, and I may add, for the
most part with great approbation, the emendations made by your judicious friend
in the first volume of ‘Tremaine;’ and I have the pleasure to say I concur with him
in almost all his suggestions, corrections, and omissions. I may add that the
latter are fewer than I expected. I do
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“As to the corrections in language, some of them are indubitably preferable to the passages corrected, and in the greater part of the rest the alteration is so little different from my own taste that I have unhesitatingly adopted almost all that has been proposed.
“I have as little hesitation in saying that the criticism throughout seems most judicious. Of one thing I beg you will assure him, with my compliments, that no excuses whatever were necessary for what he calls ‘liberties;’ and that nothing can be less grounded than his fears of what he pleases to apprehend may be thought impertinent.
“I was rather sorry to part with the two (I own)
ridiculous disputations at the sessions, for they had pleased my fancy; but I
have deferred to his reasons there also. I have, however, not been able to give
up the
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“For the same reason I have kept a little of the conversation at the sessions, proposed to be omitted, and also a shortened sketch of the political heart-burnings among country magistrates, which I can myself witness are not unjustly described. I think I have abandoned all the rest, with the exception of a page or two of religious allusions and reflections, by Careless, after the garden conversation; and these I would propose keeping, not so much for the sake of the reflections themselves, as to keep before the reader, or rather to prepare him at all proper opportunities, for what is to form the most important part, indeed the only real and great object, of the work.
“Your friend has struck out a little gipsy scene
introducing the pic-nic dinner; and also much of Vellum and Steward; and I
defer here to his better knowledge of what
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“As a general observation upon the criticism, possibly I may think, though perhaps erroneously, that the mind of the critic has been so smoothed by the regular habits does of literary and town society, that he not easily condescend to the rougher manners and characters of remote country life. The author, though immersed from infancy in the world, had a different taste, which must account for several passages in the work which the editor would have left, but for the respect he has conceived for the reviewer.
“Upon the whole, the castigations have only increased my esteem for the powers of your friend, to whose acquaintance, I repeat, I shall be glad if I can ever be introduced.
“Sir,—I send back the second
volume of ‘Tremaine,’ and am gratified to find it has been thought liable to
so few corrections by
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“As to the corrections, I have adopted almost every one of them; and though I did not like to part with the conversations after dinner at Bellenden House, I have reduced them by a full half. I did not part with them altogether, because the speakers are real characters, which will be recognised by many. Mrs. Neville is in particular a portrait; so is Beaumont; so the Scotch Doctor, the Traveller, and Miss Lyttleton: nay, the leather breeches story is a fact well known among the gentry in the north, and I therefore keep it.
“As you may possibly send this to your friend, I will add a few more remarks, relative to those he has been so good as to make himself.
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“He asks why Tremaine is called Mr. Belville. It is in allusion to ‘The Conscious Lovers,’ Belville in that play being the protector of Indiana, and wooing her in that capacity. So here, according to Mrs. Neville’s scandal, Tremaine and Melainie.
“The remark on the Opera failing in its power over thorough-paced opera-goers is very just; but the effect too often is, that they do not recover the tone of their minds, but become blasés. It is like dram drinking.
“The remark on the words ‘true God,’ which is corrected to ‘what the Jews thought the true God,’ better expresses the author’s sense, and I have adopted it.
“I have kept the story of Sergeant B.’s law pedantry, because it is known and apposite. * * *
“I am not wedded to the fact of the accident at the breakfast table; but it is the keystone to so many passages of the history (I mean in point of form) afterwards, that, finding it difficult to alter, I have left it.
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“ * * * * * I could send them now [the proofs], but retain them to consider an important suggestion of your critical friend—in truth a very cogent argument, which deserves much thought whether to introduce it or not. I can, however, deal with it in a few hours, if noticed at all, and only on account of the present state of the MS. wish I had had the benefit of the suggestion sooner. * * *
“I cannot too often repeat how advantageous I feel his criticism has been, and how
* If I remember rightly, the suggestion referred to was apropos to an argument of Evelyn, that the almost universal hope of a future state is a sufficient proof of the existence of such a state—on the principle that a beneficent Deity would not implant such a hope and leave it groundless. The suggestion was, that the argument was open to the objection, on the part of the sceptical Tremaine, that even admitting the existence of such a hope, and the beneficence of the Deity in implanting it (which, latter Tremaine nowhere denies), the hope in question is a beneficent end in itself, and will not be disappointed even in the ultimate event of there being no such state. On referring to the last edition of “Tremaine,” the original argument of the MS. seems to have been omitted. |
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“I think him right in proposing to omit the very abstruse problem quoted by Archbishop King. I fairly own it is above my mathematical learning to comprehend it: yet, as it is proveable to those who have this learning, the more it appears jargon the more it is for my purpose.
“You will suppose I mean all this for your friend. Let me add, that his criticisms as to style seem almost always just, and I have always changed what he has pointed at as obscure, with real benefit. He has read me with close and gratifying attention, and I cannot but have profited by his reading.
The following letter relates to the second edition of “Tremaine;” and I must premise, in regard to the curtailments and “castigations” to which this letter, and one relating to the same subject in Mr. Phipps’s book, refer, that though consenting to assist in carrying out the proposed curtailment, I had no hand whatever in proposing, and in fact did not approve of it. It is true that certain critics, otherwise favourable to the work, had spoken of it in general terms as “too long.” But even if this complaint was a valid one—which few of its admirers will admit—the time was past for correcting it, when the work was before the world in a large edition, and was in the act of running a brilliant and successful course:—
“Dear Sir,—I was so desirous
of losing no time in sending back the first volume of
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“Upon consideration, I do not think that the emendations you have sent me (with the exception of those of the punctuation, which are most valuable) go far enough; and with the exception of Eugenia’s story, which you know I have entirely left to your friend’s discretion, I would wish my own castigations to be pursued in addition to his. * *
“”Wherever I have added any sentence giving a somewhat different turn to the ideas conveyed, I request it may be most exactly followed. You will, however, find this is scarcely anywhere done, except in one or two pages of the Bellenden House conversations—particularly in the description of Mrs. Neville, and in the chapter on Lord St. Clair previous to his offer to Greorgina. I have very particular reasons for wishing this to be most strictly complied with, and depend upon you exactly to second my wish.
“ * * I am glad your friend consents to have in the
Bellenden House conversations and characters. But I do not think I mis-
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The following extract from a letter of Mr.
Ward to his friend Mr. Austen, as
given in Mr. Phipps’s book, will
show that the “castigation” of which Mr.
Phipps, in a previous passage, says some of Mr.
Ward’s friends complained, was almost as much at
| R. PLUMER WARD. | 23 |
“I got all your packets and your friendly letter safe. I shall probably, on your representations, curtail my curtailments. * * Colburn’s friend’s castigations did not amount to an eighth part of mine.”—Phipps, ii. 114.
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