TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7546, 8 May 1890, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Some" curious illustrations as to the varia. tions in the value of autographs were afforded at a recent sale of letters and manuscripts belonging to the late Mr Abraham Hay ward, Q.C., the well-known essayist and diner-out. Interesting letter 3 from Leigh Hunt fetched no more than from . seven shillings to half a guinea. Among the lots submitted was an interesting- letter from Charles Kingsley to his publishers, enclosing a chapter of, "Hy. patia," and at the same time stating that he* sends another proof 'to his 1 friend, Frederick Denison Maurice. Kingsley adds:—,

* * People . complain of * Hypatia * that they cannot understand what it is all about, simply from not knowing the history of. the times. Now this is a Very serious evil. I ought perhaps to have had a sort of preface to it, setting forth such matters; and I think of. having one when it is published separately. I must give a short sketch of the state of the Roman Empire at that time, and its relation both to the Catholic Church and to the Gothic Barbarians, and to show shortly why the the Eastern Church was doomed to death, while the Western was destined to live a nd conquer the whole world."

This ought to have been especially valuable, as throwing a side-light on the author's views regarding one of his important works. Yet, strange to say it was knocked down for 15s, while other autographs from the same pen were sold for 7s, 8s and 13s respectively. This Certainly seems to show that characteristic letters from Charles Kingsley must be pretty plentiful in the market. There was more demand for lir. Johnson, a specimen of whose letter-writing fetched £8 ss. A letter from Lamb was sold for 18s, butan essay in his autograph made £4> 4a. Candor's fetched only a guinea.- Longfellow's autographs were sold at from 10s to three guineas. Among them was a letter addressed to an Englishman, in whioh the poet said—

"Sitting one day at the seaside with little Ernest he said " Papa, there goes the English steamer!' I looked up; and there, not a -vie away, lay- the long black mass steering right eastward!' I thought of you, and how there waa only a strip of water between ns, and how the Bame waves that rattled up and down the beach before mc swelled the streams of„ the Severn and broke against the pieW of

Bristol, aiid thsjt Utheseajras not convex, and one Sad only n/goo* spy glass, we might really see eaon other! And this thought made England seem very near." This was sold for JB2. On tbe other hand, a letter from the distinguished American soldier, General Lee, was sold for jei3. Mr Bussell Lowell's handwriting fetched only 2a, Macaula/s proved a drug on the market aad "Mark Twain" fared no better. The following characteristic letter from the American humorist fetched only four shillings :— *' I susdl spend the greater part of next winter here with my family, aad may be able to lecture a month during the autumn upon such scientific topics as I know least about, and may consequently feel leas trammelled in dilating upon." AiTOOETHia it would seem that the autographs of literary men—those of recent date at least—are not likely to fetch anything approaching fancy prices. It is their profession to write, and consequently there are probably many specimens of their oaligraphy " knocking about " id the world. The lots at the Hayward sale which excited most competition were a couple of letters from Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton, disclosing in the most uumistakeable terms their relations to each other, which of course have long been sufficiently notorious. The first letter is Written in a mystical strain, evidently for fear it might fall into the hands of persons for whom it was not intended. Lady Hamilton, for instance, is referred to as "Dear Mrs Thomson," and Lord Nelson simply alludes to himself as "He." In the second letter the hero of Trafalgar says : —" Never my dearest friesd, say Do my letters bore mc ? No, they are the comfort of my life, the only real comfort I feel, separated as I am from all I hold dear. I received your affectionate letter by Davison, and the profile—ho said you would give him another; do, if you please, for he knows well our attachment." The first of these epistles was sold for J829 and the second for .£23. Comparing these prices with the 15s paid for a letter from one of the foremost of English novelists in reference to one of his noblest works, one is naturally led to reflections regarding autograph hunters and their tastes which | might not be very complimentary, but are | sufficiently obvious.

Aiteb "polishing off" Professor Tyndall Mr Gladstone seems to have gone to Gay's Hospital, of which he is senior Governor, and opened a residential college, which has' been established in connection with that Institution. He delivered an interesting address on the progress of . the. medical profession. ,He pointed out that two or three centuries ago it was almost without exis. tence. In a truly Gladstonian periphrasis he traced it to two sources —"the first of them, the observation of nature which; produced the herbalist, and the second Of them the discharge of the very honorable functions of the barber, who relieved mankind of appendages at one time deemed to be surplusage, but which had; of late years again come into great; favor." Mr Gladstone still ha 3 a high; opinion of the herbalist, if we may judge from a little autobiographical reminiscence which he let drcp. He expressed a strong hope that botany formed a part of medical education — not only because it was in itself a most beautiful and interesting study, exercising the mind without fatiguing it, and stimulating the, imagination without leading ,it astray * : but because he could not help wishing that medical men, before entering on their "great career, would cultivate the hablfc~bf ; noticing all the qualities of plants whioh were so remaricable and so powerful in their "healing" capacities. In" tihis "connection he said he would relate an 1 anecdote to illustrate what he meant.; He was giyen, &a was pretty ire 11 known, or had been* given, to the purßUitof wood-, cutting. One day.on drawing his finger along the edge .of his axe, he cut it; and, on looking about him, found that he had no pocket-handkerchief available .for staunching the wound. He thereupon procured a leaf, and placed it upon th e little breach of continuity, with the result that the wound healed in half the time which would otherwise have been the case. He, believed that there were great and heretofore unexplored treasures in nature. '!£,:■_ the proprietors of sundry ''great herbal remedies" don't make " bold advertisement" of this, we mistake their character.

Lv regard to the social advance of medical men, Mr. Gladstone said that the time of Dr. Friend and Dr. Meade—early in the last century—was almost the earliest time to which one could point when medical men of England had assumed a position of in fluenoe aud power, with general recognition. The present position of the medical man, he said, waa in many respects singularly fortunate; Point is given to this last remark by the will of the late Sir William Gull, which has just been proved at £844,022 19s 7d for the personalty alone, irrespective of landed estate. That, according to an English contemporary, is one of the largest fortunes which have ever been made purely by professional work. No other physician, no painter, no barrister, it is said, ever acquired so large a fortune solely by the work of his brains.