HENLEY AS EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 336, 24 October 1908, Page 12

HENLEY AS EDITOR.

Reviewing the latest volumes of the com' "plete edition of Henley, Francis Watt difefcbtifs'eS interestingly of Henley as a jour*nalisti - . . i ' One jouVnali he sajsj is pre-eminent as far as fieille^.'himself" iV concerned, the "Scots'* afterwards the /'National Observer." Hen* ley ill his time, edited several magazines, but of liolie other had he 'such Cbmpleto control, liOne other Was so marked With his personal stamp. Its history, not here tb be told in detail, is tUribuS &M Some 20 years ago .a knot of Edinburgh folk of sonle means and Some 'culture, aspired to restore to the Northern capifa! its literary supremacy, thb glorious'days of thb young "Review" and thb young "Blackwood" wera agaih to be hers. A sixpenny weekly "Was to work this rt'agic transformation, land this weekly was called the "Scb't's Observer." It begah hy a. false start "; but sufficiently early Hetticy Was in the editor's chair. It was a little bmihous that the fbnnders had to go to London for their chief, and from, first to kst the wl-itet's Were got there too, though many were .London Scots, and the journal Had throughout a distinctly Northern flavour. It ■'was Supposed that a vein of original talent lay hid in "Edinburgh, and only reqtiirbd tapping. Nb SU'cll thing! Edinburgh is a htahly agreeable and cultured place, but originality in letters or oven smart journalistic work is not to be had Within its gates: Henley did dig'out onfe or two local men— among" them the late Walter Whyte, that infante perdutb of Scots' letters, but scarcely enbti'gh Vo make' the plant a native, product-. In its time the "Scots, Observer" made a Considerable noise. It was respected and" dreaded, its' brilliant reviews and its brilliant series of mbdern men Wbtb read with fear and amazement, at least by those directly or indirectly the objects bf its criticism. Famous writers a.dorned its page. There was R. L. Stevenson and Rudyard 1 Kipling (the "Barr'abk Rbbra Ballads" first appeared in it-, without, alas I quickening the circulation) t\!ul j. M.-Barrio and Andrew Lailg. to name but these, and they did in it Was their editor's personalitj'--Eome of their best work. Henley's own labours wire. wellnigh titanic. He scribbled incessant letters of praisb and rbprOof, he revised and edited till men hardly knew their own stuff, .he wi-bte, himself incessantly ■ oil the many literary subjects he knew, his, life was "then bnt a battle and a, march,", and incessant warfare' with Wrathful opponents and less 'Wrathful His methods ;3fere' drastic arid the resUltS Astounding. A pbndferous fevibw bxtehdihg to a column he reduce, of threo dines, and even WS, poetry,.of ail eminent writer needs must submit ; i:o' ( i'mefi'dment. , '\ . Henley's' Cbrrectib'ns Would not always pass Fmusterv ,;He. confessed'fib himself,- but claimed to be judged as a whale, and as a w-hole the res'Ult' -Kgs wonderful. The bound Volumes of the "Scots Observer" are still most excellent reading, and though many bboks have been carved out of them-, as many and as good are, I think, still buHed there. And he was the most stimulating of editors. Mere money reward Would never induce'a man to do what Jie did. He set a high standard in letters, lie foifght for it himself and animated others to do so, and all this ,)vith -tlie most singled minded purpose; and : that is why his memory is still affectionately cherished hy all who "worked under him. Id, "some ways at 'any rate thei journal was a success. Its opinions carried weight) its praise was judicious and ■generous, was eagerly sought after and was widely advertised when gained. It was quoted in all manner bf other papors. there was a certain piquancy in a journal which at a distance from London reviewed things in thb bbntte With knowledge, insight, and authority, Which was not bnly fearless but gleefully on the cbrns bf all manner of pompous folks. But financially the thing never even approached success. People read it in extracts and in ether papers br in newSrb'oms or ill presentation Copies. It was said •that the intelligent printers s, jvho Set it up were-so Captivated by its Wit that they surreptitiously carried away copies of it for private consumption. Possibly to the accompaniment' of a mutchkin some of them chuckled over it ill'the summit of sbme lofty ; "land".in the High Street, but such it patron-* age was wbrse than useless from the proprietors' point of view/ and no doubt that little band of cultured gentlemen fbUnd the burden a hard one. From Edinburgh itself the papbr got no appreciable suppbrt. It was never a real factor in the life of thb plate. It did better in London than in the city of . its birth. Indeed, after two years it Was Called the "National Observer, '* it being supposed that the local name was against it. But then, of course, that change was a surrender of tho daring original scheme. Its transference to London followed, and there proprietors and oditor were changed, and nobody observed, -the,.last stages of its decline and fall.