JOHN BULL UP-TO-DATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 187, 9 August 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

JOHN BULL UP-TO-DATE.

A BANKER-NOVELIST.

GENIUS THROUGH THE

CENTURIES.

(By BEATRICE BUDD.)

Old John Bull is dead; that bowlegged . bullock of a man with mutton chops, whiskers, genial, stupid, generous, prickling with prejudices. Victorian England was his home, and he died when motor cars came in. The new John Bull, his son, is very much alive and in his prime. He is just as hale, and hearty as his father, but built more for speed than comfort. Ho is smarter in dress, and his sympathies are international rather than insular. John Bull junior belongs to Georgian England, and went through the war. • Quito unexpectedly I met him the other night at a London bookseller's. The place was packed with pale • and tired-looking men and women from the city Their love of books had drawn thein there to hear a lecture by -JR. H. Mottram, the author of that fine English war book, "The Spanish Farm,' published in 1924. Like: a breath of cold, *lean wind he came into that hot, crowded room. His cheeks were rosy, his blue eyes clear and fearless, and his 'fine broad shoulders and independent manner made one think of # colonial men Yet his clothes and carriage had the smartness of an Englishman. When lie spoke, energy, enthusiasm, and idealism filled that stuffy room. His humour made it ring .with laughter, his sincerity swept it clean of sentimentality. The characteristics which Britishers like to think they possess, were embodied in this man. He was, in fact, John Bull up to date. "An' Escaped Bank Clerk." The librarian of Norwich,- a great booklover, took the chair. ■ His library was founded in 1608, and has the distinction of being the oldest in England. He mentioned with pride that the roots of the Mottram family tree were firmly planted in Norwich. Mottram had entered Barclay's Bank as a clerk in 1900, and had remained there; until a year or, two ago, when his writing demanded more time. His father and grandfather had both been managers of the same bank before him. From them, Mr. Mottram had drawn his characters in "Our Mr. Dormer," which.he wrote after "The. Spanish Farm" trilogy. The librarian spoke of the great success of Mr. Mottram's book, and praised his latest, "The Boroughmonger." No doubt Mr. Mottram knew how to invest his, book royalties with safety and advantage. Mr. Mottram declared that it was;the first time he had listened to his own obituary notice, and' he was thankful that his wife and family were not there. Had they, heard,;him called a success, his life would not have been worth living at home. "Don't think of me as an author, but as ah escaped bank clerk,"

he said. . He disclaimed all pretensions as a -writer, and said "Most of my writing is dope on a comer of the dining room table." He had a strong, hearty voice, arid' jovial manner. The Norfolk accent,, as though so deeply rooted in his stock, clung to his. speech, giving a roll to the "r" and a hint of "oi" to the vowel"i." Hero was an Englishman as we like to picture him, strong, honest, intellectual, kind, sincere and laughterlbyipg. ; "The Native Soil" was the title of his lecture, and he used it to show that every town and every county in Britain had produced its own crop of poets and writers. No county or district had a monopoly of genius or craftsmanship. They sprang up like the daisy and heather all over the British Isles, and had done so through the centuries. He chose to talk about Norwich, not as a boost for tourist traffic, but because he had lived there always, and knew something about it. Every town in Great Britain had p similar history. Histpry in Letters. Simply and m'atriodically, he told the story ofl five writers of Norwich, Robert Greene, Sir Thomas Browne, Harriet Martineau, James Martineau, and George Borrow. Their liv.es give a glimpse of Norwich and its people from the sixteenth century to , ( the nineteenth. Hoiises in which they had lived still' cling tenaciously to -the ■ city . streets, holding their against the demands of modern.life. Robert Greene Was'a'product, of the Elizabethan era) that extraordinary period wheri England felt her power'for the, first time,'.when she was. on' the .crest 'of the wave prosperity arid achievement. Two centuries later, Harriet Martineau was horn in Norwich. She belonged to the age of Dissenters and the first political economist/ and shared in both movements. She had a keen, restless mind, and an un-English logic, which she inherited from her French grand parents, who had come as Huguenot refugees to England. Her first activity was to write for Sunday school papers free of charge. Then she caught the whisper of political economics in the air, and wrote, a series ofi tales embodying economic principles', entitled "Illustrations of Political Economy." A London publisher accepted them, and Harriet Martineau found herself as famous as a woman could be at that time. Later, she travelled through America, arid found there a new oh|fect for her sympathy and championship, the African negro. She believed, in common with the negro enthusiasts at that, time, that when a; negro died he became white like herself. . Quite different from these writers was George Borrow, author of "Romany Rye," "Laverigro" and "The Bible in Spain." Here was genius, wild, untameable, inexplicable. He had an amazing gift lor languages. In Norwich library, there are still ancient books in Arabic and Sanskrit, whioh Borrow read and covered with : his notes. He used to demand a job when he needed one, and never pretended- to be modest about his superb mental and physical, tyjiiility. After, working for the Bible Society, in Europe, he returned to Norwich and took .a cottage. He was whimsical, eccentric, arid out of sympathy with his age'. Hte next-door neighbours Coniplaihed that he always lighted' a big fire on their washing day> and that his chimney •'. was finll. of soot. His genius arid his-.loveof outdoor life had enriched bur language. ' ■■"' I •'