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CHAPTER XVIII.

LITERARY LIST CONTINUED—GENERAL AINSLIE—SIR RUFANE DONKIN—SIR JOHN MALCOLM—DANDIE DINMONT—MR. S. PRATT—JOHN DICKINSON, F.R.S.—SIR WALTER SCOTT—COOLNESS—ABBOTSFORD SUBSCRIPTION.

O blest retirement, friend to life’s decline, Retreat from care, that never must be mine: How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these, A youth of labour with an age of ease. Goldsmith.

I could not continue a somewhat dry list in the same chapter which contained the “admirable fooling” at the close of the last; and must, indeed, fall into the commonplace of making an index, instead of fulfilling my purpose of introducing elucidatory details and anecdotes. In the Arts, I have the gratification to rank Maclise among my friends from the Emerald Isle, notwithstanding my felonious destruction of his portrait of Soane. A little antique ring, of which I made offering to condone this insult to his art, was received with the flattering assurance that he would wear it whenever he desired to finish an excellent picture. I also number Sheridan Knowles among my lasting friendships, founded on such circumstances as I have described; and of Lever, Banim, Griffin, Carlton,

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Keightley, and many more I can speak in terms of like kindly brotherhood.

In the body of my work I have so far mentioned Hook, Barham, Hood, Planché, C. Dance, Cruikshank, Gleig, Gaspey, Mudford, A. A., and Walter Henry Watts, Dagley, Pinnock, Maunder, Wiffen, Roby, Leigh Hunt, and Bucke, cum multis aliis, that I need not, with my dwindling space, revert to them; and with regard to other names it must suffice to notice, that—

With Barry I commenced on his first work, Brighton Church, 1827.

With Parris I went along as he performed his extraordinary task, the view of London in the Colosseum.

With Lough, too pre-eminent in sculpture to be an R.A., I began when his wonderful “Milo” astonished the world, and L. E. L. sang its paean in the “Gazette.”

For Stanfield I have never ceased to express the fervour of my admiration.

With the course of David Roberts I have held equal time and tone.

With Macready, from his debut to his retirement from the stage, I sailed along the swelling tide.

Barker, the Old Sailor, I launched and supported upon it.

The Lords Aberdeen, Normanby, Porchester (Caernarvon), Mahon, Lindsey, Londesborough, and their peers, received the homage of my applause for the example they set in adorning the dignity of their rank with the nobler accomplishments of literature.

Darley, and Neele, and Edmund Reade, and T. K. Hervey, Dr. Mackay, B. Barton, and Ebenezer Elliott, as poets—C. B. Tayler, C. H. Townshend, as moralists—Colley Grattan, Horace Smith, as novelists—Elmes as an architect—Colonel Hawker as a sportsman’s guide—H. Turner and

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Thoms, as literary archæologists—Roscoes, Ritchie, St. Johns, as diligent and successful literati—Jesse, as an agreeable naturalist—Dr. Prior and Dr. Beattie as biographers—Owen as an English Cuvier—T. Wright as a classic antiquary and Anglo-Saxon scholar (whose contributions in later years greatly enriched the ‘Gazette’)—Dyce, Collier, and Halliwell as dramatic critics and editors—Palgrave as a learned scholar—Sir R. Murchison, Sedgwick, Buckland, as able geologists—Prof. E. Forbes as a man of general science and art—Sir J. Clarke Ross, as the chief of gallant navigators, but including all the rest—M. Milnes, Sir Emerson Tennent, and Sir T. Noon Talfourd, as elegant writers—Captain Blaquiere as a Greek patriot and author—G. Grote as a Greek historian—Sir Gardiner Wilkinson and Lane as high Egyptian authorities—Faraday as a profound philosopher, and Col. Sabine and W. Grove as his companions—J. Roach Smith as a most energetic explorer and expounder of ancient remains—are all types of classes, to aid whose beneficent purposes, and celebrate whose instructive progress has been the business of my life; and to that business I have stuck without drawback or flinching. Such men did not go about

To cozen fortune and be honourable Without the badge of merit,

and therefore I could have no claim upon them for simply doing my duty where they led the way; but by most of them I have been treated with consideration and kindness, as if I had conferred favours; and again I put this forward as a ground for the advantages to be derived from a liberal and generous discharge of the critical functions, rather than the spiteful carping of envy and waspish censures of malevolence.

Not that the paths are all flowery, and the proceeds

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redolent of honey. Rough passages must occur now and then; a little of the bitter be mingled with the sweet. I cannot forget the excellent poet, Mr. E. Reade, on taking leave of me for Italy, in the fulness of his heart, foreshadowing that, although an author, I might perchance enjoy an old age of ease, otium cum dignitate, and die wealthy; for he assured me that he had made his will, and, in case of fatal accident by flood or field, had bequeathed to me the entire copyright of all the poetry he had written—a considerable legacy in print, and still larger in MSS. Luckily, my worthy friend returned in safety, has published more, established himself higher in public opinion, married, and is not likely to retain me in his testament as his heir.

In passing over the valley which shrouds old friends from my earthly view, I must devote a few lines to the estimable General Ainslie, the arduous pursuivant of numismatic rarities, and author of the sterling work on Anglo-French coins.* Whilst in France—ready to race from Paris to Marseilles, or Toulouse, or Douay, or anywhere, for the acquisition of an unknown Aquitaine or unique English Henry or Edward farthing, unmentioned by Snelling, Ducarel, Duby, Du Cange, or Clayrac—I had many interesting letters from him, describing his enthusiastic pursuits. No foxhunter ever pursued the chase more

* General Ainslie’s work “Illustrations of the Anglo-French Coinage,” 4to., published by Hearne, Strand, London; and Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1830, is not only valuable to numismatists for its intelligence on its immediate subjects, but for the very interesting general historical notes which are added in explanation of many of the coins. These are extremely curious, and throw much light on the Plantagenet dominion of England in France. Of Mr. Hearne, the publisher, I ought to mention that among his own services to numismatics he rendered one of no mean order, when he followed up his and my worthy friend’s chase, and after his death published a supplement to his coinage, consisting of no fewer than twenty-seven new and rare, or unique specimens.—W. J.

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ardently than the General followed up his tally-ho, if he heard the jingle of a rare specimen, however distant; and thus he made his collection so valuable and celebrated. When he returned to England, our correspondence ripened into warm personal regard; and I found his conversation as replete with sage intelligence and good-humoured views of life, as his letters had been full of instruction and entertainment, of that kind which is almost peculiar to an educated and travelled Scots gentleman, who has seen much of the world, with ability to appreciate its ways and people, and a happy talent to describe them. I think, with all my experience, I never could communicate any novelty in exchange, except once, when I did teach him a stratagem he was not aware of before. We were walking together in Edinburgh, to breakfast with that credit to his country, Robert Chambers, when in Charlotte Square we fell in with

Twa dogs that werena thrang at hame,

but unlike the immortal Cæsar and Luath, they were neither fain o’ ither, nor unco pack and thick thegither, but on the contrary one was a big bully of a mastiff, and worrying to the death a poor thing of a lady’s lap-dog. It was all but over with the wretched Chloe; pull as you would, Hector would not quit his grip, till I hastily begged my friend’s snuff-box, and shaking its contents over the belligerent’s nose, he in a moment let go his hold, and scampered off with tail between his legs, sneezing (as the Yankees say) like all wrath. The General’s hearty laugh crowned the exploit, which he never forgot nor ceased to describe.

I sincerely mourned his loss, but have had cause to be and am thankful that the mantle of his warm friendship descended upon the shoulders of the estimable Philip B. Ainslie, of Chertsey; in whose society I can recognise and re-enjoy the social and cordial qualities of his departed brother.

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Another shade of agreeable association clings to the recollection of my intercourse with another General, Sir Rufane Donkin, though it commenced in the storm of a quarrel he had with the “Quarterly Review,” about an article upon his publication, on the “Course and Termination of the Niger,” which he asserted was both misquoted and misrepresented. But after this literary broil was got over, I had many pleasant days with this distinguished officer, whose anecdotes of the Peninsular campaigns, in which he took so eminent a part, were most curious and interesting. From such sources as the foregoing, editors acquire the information which is so invaluable to them, and through them, so valuable to the public. Sir Rufane’s descriptions were very animated, and gave me clearer ideas of battles and the horrors of war than all that I ever read. The night bivouac, after Talavera, was full of horror, where the outposts of the rival armies were lying almost mingled together with the dead and dying on the bloody field, covered with rough grass and herbage, which caught fire, and the flames sweeping along, consumed in one appalling annihilation the corpses as they lay, and silenced the groans and shrieks of the wounded in everlasting sleep. The account of a movement of light artillery to occupy a vitally important position, and obliged to dash on, crushing and mangling the wounded who lie in their way, presented to the mind’s-eye another vivid view of destruction and dismay. And the ludicrous (as in ordinary life) comes into contact with the dreadful. After the storming of a town, the commanding officers’ ordinaries had to secure quarters for their chiefs, chalking their names at large on the outside of the mansions, and Sir Rufane’s among the rest—but he was an Irishman, and while the others readily found their billets, the Adjutant-General rode about the streets

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looking in vain for his place of repose. At last he met Paddy, in no gentle mood, and angrily inquired why his duty had been neglected: “Neglected! yere honour,” replied the accused, “sure it’id be the last thing I’d do; [do a neglect!] be my soul yere honour’s is the best house in the place, and—oh—but—bother—surely I didn’t score up yer name the inside room, and how could ye find it in the street?”

A like and greater intimacy with Sir John Malcolm, was productive of like enjoyments. Sir John was wont to tell one unvarying tale at the expense of my good border name. An English traveller, benighted on a bitter night, in the wilds of Liddisdale (where in later years Dandie Dinmont dwelt) got at last to a straggling village, in one attic, i. e., second-floor of which, there was a light burning.

How far this little candle sheds its light? So shines a good deed in a naughty world,

thought the wanderer. By repeated knocking on the door, he at length roused the inmate, an ancient crone, who opened the casement. “Is there any christians here,” he exclaimed, “if so pray let me in for shelter!” “Na, na,” responded the old lady, “na, na, gif ye want Christians ye maun ride to the next town—we are a’ Jerdans and Johnstones here!” As some apology for this inhospitable act, I should state, that the family name of Christian was equally predominant in the town referred to. But I cannot leave Liddisdale without an anecdote of Dandie, which Scott has not used, and which is eminently significant of the original character. Dandie, attended by Pepper and Mustard (one of the breed of which, by-the-by, Lord Cadogan made a prodigious pet of) had run a fox into its hole, and he set to work to dig it out. He dug, and he dug a long way, but found no bottom; so he thrust in his arm’s-length to feel if he might be near the end. He was nearer than he

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thought; for reynard at his last retreat, suddenly snapt his fingers between his sharp teeth. Anybody else would have as suddenly snatched away their hand; but not so Dandie: he instantly closed his finger and thumb like a vice upon the doomed animal’s nose, and exclaimed, “Noo sir, ye haud your grip, and I’ll haud mine: and we’ll see whether ye get me in, or I get you out!” There was a brush without a fox to hang to as a tale, in Mr. Dinmont’s cozy parlour on that eventful eve.

In the opinions I was often called on to pronounce on new inventions, I was occasionally assisted by a somewhat singular character, the late Mr. Samuel Pratt, of Bond-street, whose passion for patents ranged between locomotives to propel tons and carpet brooms to lick up their own dust, and save the scattered tea-leaves for a second sale. He was a very ingenious person; in fact a mechanical genius, and I reaped much advantage from his aid, when any fresh contrivance demanded notice. On more important matters of machinery, the agencies of air, mercury, steam, or other great motive power, I frequently obtained the able scientific advice of Mr. John Dickinson, F.R.S., to guide me in my judgment. The “Gazette” was thus almost an infallible authority on such points; and the advantage of having so competent a friend to consult, was not deteriorated by having it communicated, after inspection, at his charming seat in Hertfordshire, where kindness warmed the house, and a little quiet sporting enlivened the farm. Of that abode at Abbot’s Langley, I shall only say in addition, that it appears to me still more graceful in the landscape, since its owner gave land near at hand for the building of the Booksellers’ Provident Institution, towards the support of which he is also a liberal subscriber.

But, as I have often had occasion to remark, all things

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did not go on quite so smoothly, nor did all persons continue their attachment so faithfully. Matters sometimes got to be troublesome, and cronies inconstant or cold. Small affairs, and smaller misunderstandings, usually led to these temporary vexations. In 1829, the “Gazette” had to fight the battle of the Newspaper Stamp-duty (only now set at rest) with the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury. I, however, got over the Exchequer process, and established the unstamped exception to the law, which has since rendered such important service to my brotherhood, rivals, and imitators. I obtained this consideration in consequence of representing that “the plan of a literary journal had not only created a new source of revenue, but had very favourable effects upon the periodical press of the country, and therefore deserved the liberal construction of the Government.” That at the time the “Literary Gazette” commenced, the public was infested and over-run with a multitude of the most inflammatory and corrupting periodicals; and that it might, in a great measure, be attributed to its success, that a better and a useful class had almost entirely superseded these immoral, revolutionary, and deteriorating productions. It is well-known that one must display both truth and eloquence to induce a Chancellor of the Exchequer to forego a tax, and therefore I hope I may assume a decent pride in having prevailed in this instance, and opened the profitable course for all followers.

I displeased Sir Walter Scott by my strictures on some of his works, and aggravated the feeling by some remarks in my review of “Brambletye House,” which he erroneously construed in a charge of “delusion” against him—an idea that never could have entered into my brain, Two or

SIR WALTER SCOTT—THE NATIONAL GALLERY.

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three years past, however, before the offence was forgotten or forgiven; and in the meantime the illustrious Wizard declined a visit from me to Abbotsford, in company with his and my intimate friend Sir Alexander Don, as I was passing through my fatherland. The mystery of this was a sore puzzle at the time, for I only received the explanation afterwards in a letter from James Ballantyne, who had remonstrated with Scott on the subject. During all the latter period of his life, however, I was on the most friendly terms with Sir Walter, and when he came to town, as with Moore, I was among the foremost of his associates, though never was man so overwhelmed with invitations as he was. I think I have counted above a hundred cards and notes on his chimney-piece within a dozen hours after his arrival. After his death it was a solace to me to take an efficient part in the subscription to save Abbotsford in the family (which I ought to state was set on foot entirely without communication with any of them), and to contribute a solid share to the 7200l. raised on that occasion.

I was slightly implicated in a slight question as to Sir Walter having done yeoman’s service to Heber, in his editing “Ford,” which was rather believed by William Gifford; but I had Scott’s assurance that he had never seen a sheet of the work till after it was printed.

A more vexatious dispute arose on a report being carried to Mr. G. P. R. James, that a review of his “Richlieu,” which appeared in the “Court Journal,” was written by Dr. Croly; but I had ultimately the satisfaction of disproving the false allegation, and thus relieving the minds of two friends whom I so greatly esteemed.

A small controversy respecting the officials of the National Gallery, not then quite so fiercely arraigned as now, though it might show like a little balloon pilot what

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way the wind would blow, led to the following settler for my instruction and guidance, from Sir C. Long (Lord Farnborough):—

Among the few intimates in whose literary career I took a warm interest, which has been superseded by circumstances—age cooling the feelings of earlier days, and separating the ties of mutual regard—I shall only have to mention Dr. Stebbing, who was an occasional contributor to the “Gazette,” and Mr. W. H. Harrison, the writer of a number of facetious productions, and sometime editor of an annual—“The Humourist.” He also did me the favour to supply amusing pieces for publication, was a cordial co-operator with me in the Literary Fund and Club, and also took a very laudable part in befriending the first lowly condition of Miller, the basket-maker poet. Time brings changes on all sides; and we ought not to repine at them, especially when they are only of a homoeopathic nature.

To turn to more general topics, I have to regret not having made myself master of the secret of a universal language, invented by Mr. John Trotter, and proofs of which he exhibited to me, and which convinced me at the time that what he presumed he had effected was, at any rate, prac-

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ticable to a certain extent. But this great desideratum, which has attracted the attention and provoked the labours of so many famous men, to reduce the thousand (according to Balbi, the two thousand) languages of the world to one standard, it is not in my power to reveal; and I can only state, as far as my knowledge and memory serve me, that Mr. Trotter’s scheme was founded on the seven notes of the musical scale, and therefore resembled a plan recently propounded by a M. Sudre.

But for myself, a more anxious concern cost me and my friends and patrons considerable expense, and involved the waste of much precious time. I allude to the bringing forward of a “Plan of a National Association for the Encouragement and Protection of Authors and Men of talent and genius.” Unknown to me, an association of a similar nature and almost identical objects had been proposed seven years before (moved, I believe, by T. Campbell), in promoting which he, Mr. W. A. Mackinnon, Captain Chamier, Mr. Vigors, Mr. Ralph Watson, and other gentlemen proceeded for a season with some activity, but allowed the project to sink before the difficulties which opposed it. My design, however, took a far wider scope, and was sanctioned by a committee whose names are enough to demonstrate how powerful a patronage could be procured for any well-devised plan for the advancement of literature and the benefit of literary men. At the head of the list, with a hundred guineas, stood the Duke of Rutland, who was followed by the Marquises of Londonderry and Northampton, the Earls of Munster and Ripon, Viscount Canning,* Lord

* These five subscribed 20l. each, but with the exception of Lord Willoughby’s 100 guineas, and 60l. from Lord Munster, Lord de Tabley, and Sir Wilmot Horton, no subscription was called in or expended, all the rest coming out of the pocket of the luckless projector.—W. J.

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Willoughby de Eresby (with a hundred guineas), Lord de Tabley, Lord Nugent, Sir Wilmot Horton, Sir Gore Ouseley, Sir Martin Shee, Mr. Mackinnon, Sir Frederick Pollock, Mr. Emerson Tennent, Mr. G. P. R. James, Capt. Maryatt, and other individuals of eminent mark and likelihood, in rank and literature. The capital proposed was 200,000l., in 2000 shares of 101. each, and 9000 at 20l. each; the object of the former being to render it easy for the less fortunate class of literary men throughout the kingdom to possess themselves of a beneficial interest in the undertaking. It was also proposed that the capital should consist of two classes, viz., patron proprietors and subscribing shareholders, whose different positions I need not here enlarge upon; suffice it to state, that generous donations, without a view to any future fruits, were volunteered by a number of noble and of wealthy men; and it was estimated that the other class of shareholders would reap a handsome profit on their investments.

The prospectus farther laid these as the grounds—That our literature might be considered as presented to the public by three different modes of publication, each beset with difficulties and vexations. 1st. A few wealthy individuals published their own works, and, in addition to the heavy expense thus incurred, were obliged to submit to an enormous per-centage to their agents. 2nd. A small number of eminent authors, whose celebrity ensured a ready sale for their works, disposed of their copyrights to trading publishers, who appropriated to themselves, even in these cases, a disproportionately large share of the proceeds. 3rd. The most numerous class of works, produced by professional authors, who wrote for bread, and were totally at the mercy of publishers, who doled out to them, often under circumstances painfully humiliating, a scanty and uncertain

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pay. [The aspirants to publication might also have been included.] But the projected Association was declared to be intended to rescue the intellectual character of the nation from these deteriorating and degrading circumstances, by providing capital for the less weakly, ready access to fair competition for the deserving, adequate compensation for the skilful and industrious, diminished cost and increased emolument to all. I will not recapitulate any particulars of the machinery devised for carrying this well-meant project into effect, for it was devised in vain. As Campbell’s association had been overthrown by the bankruptcy of the bankers, after he had strengthened it with a host of elevated patrons,* so was mine wrecked by the introduction into it of several City men of business, who were to undertake the issuing of the shares and other matters, of which I and my literary colleagues were profoundly ignorant. The result was, that they did manage the affairs into a ruin. A house was taken in Suffolk Street, Charing Cross, and I know not what all else was done; but I know that the whole fabric fell smash to the ground, and my ineffectual endeavour to found a National Association for the Encouragement of, &c. &c., left me several hundred pounds minus, that no one thanked me, that some laughed at me, and that my friends the publishers said it served me right.

It is a circumstance, however, of literary curiosity, that after I had framed my plan, I was informed by Sir Henry Ellis that a similar effort had been made a century ago, in behalf of the then suffering literati of England, the records of which were among the archives in the British Museum. I ran to consult this novel discovery, and found a most

* Including the Duke of Sussex, Duke of Grafton, Duke of Somerset, Duke of Buckingham, and other high noblemen, bishops, and other very distinguished persons.

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interesting history of a society which was not only formed, but proceeded to publish, in 1735—49. See MSS., Nos. 6184 to 6192, B. M., where the project is thus announced:—

* Considering the difference in the value of money between that period and this, the subscription must be esteemed a liberal one.

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