BROWSINGS IN BOOKLAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14441, 6 February 1909, Page 13

BROWSINGS IN BOOKLAND

])y "Constant i!ani:it." f had proposed saying something last Saturday ahout (Ik 1 liev. liokrf Ana Willmott ami his "Pleasures of Li lorntuny' since his centenary fell on thatday. lint- ;i5 "A Teacher" in comewlr.it (lattereins; fasmon (minted out in yesterday's Timc.i, 1 felt constrained to "let myself # go upon the allied themes— 'Reeves' and 'Dickens.'" fc'reing, however, Unit this ;s but the 6th of Feoruray, ami Robert. Avis Willniot wes horn at Uradford, in Wiltshire, on January 30. 1809, t.lid theme is scarcely stale; hence I will yet pursue it, certainly to my own delight, and 1 trust to the deleetal'iou of some of my readers. The man and lb: hook were first brought nncler my notice by a tasteful and inexpensive reprint published by Mr Andrew Mehci-e. some Mime years ago. since when I have read anil re-read the Utile volume, alwavs with pleasure, often with profit, and'seldom without deriving irom its a meed 01 inspiration. For. iis Mr Orahstomi Metealfe so well phrases it in the florin" paragraph of the capita I introduction Ik furnishes to the " Melrose" edition

The individual charm of the wriliiv throughout this book is that, it. is above all things musical. Jt «radual!v enchains the interest of tile mast i.idiffe-

rent, and it haunts the memory of all. And the merit of the performance is that, the book i s so much better than a catalogue of the charms of literature. I'll'.' author comuiunicaies to others tho sensations which have vibrated in liilllselt. and infects us with the enthusiasm the divine possession, which has been 'l'" 1 m "l ivn power ami Ihe supreme delight, of his own existence,

Willmolt. has not. been dental worlhv ,! '"?»>'»» i" ''liauiieiiVs "Cyi-.1-ipedia of Lnglish Literature': but. there is a vorv good article on him in the " Dietionarv o'f National liiography." to which Cranst'oun ■Metealfe acknowledges his indebtedness, fit passing. 1 would like to mention how delighted I am with (he volumes so far issued ill the new edition of that Dictionary. It. j k s an invaluable work of reference, ami the coliiprcsoioi! of three volumes of the original issue into one of the reprint, made possible by the use of India paper, prevents it from oecupving an inordinate amount of shelf room'. The 'M'leasure- of Literature" wits first publishrd by Thomas Uosworlh in 1851 under Ihe cumbrous litle of " Pleasures. Object and Advantages of Literature." The'liook went, into five editions during the author's lifetime, and no less than "live editions were published in Ceniian before 185S Presumably all trace ha.> been lost of the second and third editions, and the librarv of the lirilisli Museum contains copies of (he first, fourth, and fifth editions only. The fourth revised tdilion was published in 1855 by Messrs (.!. Uonlledge and Co.. and differs from the first mainlv in the rearrangement of the material. ' The fifth '•""I enlarged edition was published in 1860 by Messrs Pell and Dahly, consentienththe book had been out of'print for uisii upon half a. century until its recent republication. y

\\ illmott. has been charged with conceit, ami has been pilloried as a plagiarist —in both instance:: in [he columns of the Saturday Ueview. and probnlilv hv the same Saturday Reviewer, since'evidences point si rongiy to the late Professor Cluirton Collins as th? critic. Anenl Ihe charge of plagiarism—a charge so easy to make and so exceedingly difficult to reinle •-.Mr Metcalfe, writes:—

*Vi' are live to confess that Willinoit ays hiin.-en opvn i„ attacks of tins Kind, but a phiusiliio defence niiiv lie suggested. lie was ;i. widelv-ioiui 'man. witu :i relcotivc memory, unci lit' liau •i liking to tlu- njKitliogni. It. is elmritable to suppose that lie gavo his iai,ier,» CHiit lor being as well informed as liimself, and ccu.-ttly lor reijliiri"K I'-W scrupulosity on hi.i part in the matter of relcroiicis and use of inverted

commas, tmay have been indiscreet, but he was nut deliberately inuuoral. wisdom came to him with the veins. In tlw first edition of this work, in the chapter on "The Account ability of Authors," he. savs of the deadly proper! k's which a 'book mav possess, thai a book is even more tiinii (lie lite treasured up which .Milton couriered it. to be"lt is the soul disengaged irom matter. It is a fountain that Hows for ew-r. What should be done to the man who lavish-id his fortune in nnuiraiisijig ■, f,. volj . im j nised a system of propicillin" Hie plague through the post, oliico? The execration of the world would driw him into the wilderness. V, t . it has been thought, that, a man had hetier be defiled in bis blood than in his principles." That is ;i moral r: flr-'tio!i, trenchantly worded ami of prime importance to the case, liut except for tie words "it has been tlrmght." in the concluding sentence, there is;notiiinsr to suggest that tho thought, and the language arc mil both juslJy attributable to

Willmott himself. i'erhaps he may haw taken to bear! the admonition convoyed to him by the Saturday Reviewer, for in the fifth edition, published three years after that vigorous castration oi iiim, lie retains the pas-

sage, hut prefixes to it- the words

" Jeremv Collier asked," thus conceding the credit, of Hie laudable enquiry to liim who first propounded it.

Robort. Aris Will mot I- was the win of a s?Qii.cito r ; his father being capricious in disposition, which peciiliiirity retlocted itself in (lie fluctuation!; of his fortunes. However, he rent- his son to the Merchant Taylor's School, and afterwards to Harrow. In 1828 Holktl Aris VVillmott, who evinced unusual intellectual powers at an early age, left Harrow to tab an appointment as n private tutor at. the handsome sala-rv of £500 a year. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1852, matriculating in 1854, and taking his degree, in 1841. While at I lis university he supported himself by writing, the result being seen in the publication of seven volumes. In 1842 Wilhnott was ordained Deacon and licensed to St. James's, lladclilYe, where he remained two years, and was deservedly popular as a' preacher. His health giving way, he spent, three months at Chelsea Hospital, and afterwards went to Launton, in Oxfordshire, In 1846 .John Waller, of The Times— John Walter the Second, who had just built the church of .St, Catherine at I'ear Wood—appointed Willmotl iiret incumbent of the living. The second Walter (lied in 1847; but. his son, John Waller tire Third, sliowul great geneiosity and kindness to Willinntt; his stipend was raised to £100 a. year, and a substantial vicarage was hnilt (or him. which he occupied rent free. As showing the respective salaries of minister and journalist. 103 years ago. it is interesting to note tint v.hilc ,|ohn Walter the Second consideicd the I'ev. Robert Aris Willmotl well paid at under .€4OO a year. Edward Sterling, as chief leaderwriter for The Times, was in receipt of £2000 per annum.

I have not hreii fortunate enough yet lo secure a copy of the "Life and Letters of John 'J'haddeus Delane,'' so in default of that, most interesting compilation 1 turned to Fox Bourne's " History if Journalism," and therein found the' fallowing references, among many others, to John Walter the Second This second Walter, liovn in 1781, was not yet. 19 when he became, as lie said, "joint proprietor and exclusive manager" of The Times, and, abandoning some of his father's crochets, imitated all his father's enthusiasm in Hie business he look in hand. ... In January, 1807, lie sent, Henry Crabb llobinson, who was then 52, and on the lookout, for literary occupation, to Altona, there to act as special correspondent while the interest of the Napoleonic war was strong in that neighbourhood. . . . During the fiist half of 1803, being in Loudon, Bobinsoii was made "a sort of foreign editor" by Walter. His duties were "to translate from the foreign papers and wiite on foreign polities." "If was my practice.'' he said, ''to iiii to Printing House squaie at 5 and remain tbeie as as there was anything to be done, It was my oliice to cut out odd articles and paragraphs from oilier papers, decide on the adiuisviou oi correspondence, etc., but there was always a. higher power behind. While I was in my room Mr Walter was in his. and there the :;rsiif leader, the article that- was (y'.kcjl about, was writ-ten." Toe principal leaderwriter of The Times, while Hebiiison was thus employed, was Peter Fiaser, a youi'.: clergyman, who afterwards Isc-came leclor ol Ivcgworili, in Leicestershire. ''He used to sit in Waller's parlour." we aie told. ''and write his articles after dinner." In Fraser's absence the work was done by Edward Stirling, a retirnl captain of

•Militia, who also wrote spiiil articles on military and other questions, whieh caused some efir at the time. Walters general adviser in the editorship seems to have been Combe, the brilliant, and eccentric author of "The Travels of Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque." who was a prisoner living witifm the rules of the Kind's llem-li, lull who w;m often lei out on holiday, which he spent in Printing House tijiiare.

I lore I aiii .dtvmgly templod lo diverge, iintl "illy refrain from yielding lo temptalion lest. I lin<l myself imnble to gel bad; lo Willnioti mill " The Pleasures of Literature" within the necessary limits of spue, lint the memories of " tJr Syntax"—on? oi t'iw j>:il'tit-itlnr friends of my boyhood— and the recollections of "Old Crabb" are altogether too much for me. Who -that has gone with L. V. Lucas throu<;h the "Life, of Charles (iamb" can ever forget ITenry Crabb Tiohir.son. and I-. heartily second the suggestion thrown out recently by a writer in oi;e of the literary journals —I fancy if was l)r llohertsnn Xienll— that either in " KvvrymanV' or "The World's Classics" a reprint of liis " Diary. Reminiscences, and Correspondence, should he inc Imlcd. Jlr John Vyvic in Ins chatty volume, "Some Literary Kecentlitis,"' has a charming chapter on "Old I'valib." And he voices Urn general astonishment felt tleft Henry Crabb Robinson. who had cultivated literary society during the whole of his long iife—lie was born in 1775, and di.-l on the 16th February, 1867, when within a few months of completing his ninety-Ktcond year.—and wiio had known almost every literary perfon worth knowing ill England and in Germany for over half a century, eoulcl never he induced to undertake any lasting literary' work, lie was pressed by Thomas Ciirlvle to write an account of his recollections of Schiller for the hitter's life of that poof. Ho k known to have provided Madam" de fttacl with the information on Oerman philosophy which appears in her lwoii "lie L'Ali'.'tnaglK'." lie made valuable contributions from the stores of his cansc.iouf, memory to Mrs Austin's " Characteristics of Ooelhe." and to Mv (!itehrist's "Memoirs of William lilake." Vet, the only ventures into authorship on his own account which were published during his life time were a small volume of Call and Spur/dieitu's " Craniology,'' in 1807. which excite;! hardly any public interest, and ,i translation of " Amatomla." a fairy tale by Anion Wall, which fell dead from the press in 1011. When pressed for the reason of his reticence in this respect he was wont to declare, "1 have no literary talent. I camml, witm:. I never ron.n write anything, and I never Would write am thin"."

ft is curious to contrast the "comical habit of self-depreciation so characteristic of Old Crabb, with the inherent egotism of Ark Willmott. Mr Fyvie tpioiis as apropos to the occasion Waltor llagehofs lemark that "no one who was. incompetent has ever said so." I'robahlv the trtilli concerning Crabb liobinson is'! ;) l,e discerned in the sentence he has hit on record: "J early found thai 1 had not the literary ability to give me such a place anions.' fhiglisii authors as I should have desired: but 1 thought that 1 had an opportunity of u -nining a knowledge of many of Ihe most distinguished men of the age. and that I might do good by keeping a record of my .interviews with them." And, as .Mr Fyvie paints out :—

.An ample record be did keep, the original .VS.S. thereof, preserved in j)r Williiinise library in Gordon square, com. prising 7.5 elo.-vly-vritteu volumes of Diary. 30 volumes of Journals of Tours, 32 volumes (infect!) of hellers, four

volumes of Reminiscence, and one volume of anecdotes. A selection. estimated to comprise about a thirticMi part of this mass of biogiaphical material, ira;-' published under tlic cditomhip of Dr Sr>iHoiin 1863 ill three substantial volumes, and proved conclusively ,that. whatever "(lid Crabb's" other library dis<|milifications may have been, lie was certainly not. doficienl in the art. of graceful' and picturesque narrative. 'if.al lie liail much fo till which v.'.iworthy of preservation no one who had ever listened to liis talk can Imve ventured to doubt,

I could run on about Kobinson and hi,*, association at the Times Office with Combe —"a tall fine old gentleman with a stately figure and handsome face, who did not- appear to do much with the pen. but to be chiefly a consulting man"—but I must forbear. I have once or twice before mentioned Edward Sterling in these "Browsings," and do but roturn to the topic lo notice a slight diversenie in statement. l'"ox Bourne wrl-ies: " It- was Sterling who by his forcible style of writing, only too cautious to the extent of alwayr, keeping on the popular side or rather th<> side taken by I ho more comfortable and prosperous port-ion of tile community, who secured for The Times its nickname of ' I'lie Thunderer,' and he doubtless fully oarnod the salary of JJ2CCO a year, unexampled in iciuu-r writing in tliise davs, which Waiter cheerfully paid him. He had (lie reputation of being aide to write best on the subjects of which lie knew least. ' When lie was io write,' it was said, 'it was necessary to cram him with the facts and poinln. but when he had once got them, he clothed his case so admiralilv in its garments of words that all the world—except those lie. hit at—were charmed.'' This is the usually accepted statement of the origin of the tilleof "The Thunderer." but a " London Kilitnr." writing in the New York Oiillfiok on ''The Greatest- Newspaper in the World," gives an alternative version

When John Waller 11 f was at. Oxford his closed friend was young Delane, tin? son of Ilia then business niaicigrr of The Timer;. Tiio two undergraduate;; discussed the posMoilitics, 11,<• traditions, whl the iiitiiR 1 ecope of ihe paper, for it was n:ul-.Tistuod then that nut only Waller, !ml Uehuic also, should devote their Jife energies to The Times. And in due ionise both entered lla' service of the paper, Walter as chief proprietor, ami Delano, strange lo say, a youth of 23, as cclitor-in-chief. Dclane was an amazing character, a man of extraordinary grip, of high ideals, of impeccable piohity, and was born wilh that instinct fur joiirnalism which is a. gift vouchsafed lo lew. For 30 years he ruled the destinies of The Tinki; absolutely ami without question. lie dined out every night, lie was everywhere in soeieiy, honoured, fawned over, ami lea red, and yet fcr 30 years at 11 o'clock every ni;;iil he was a; his desk in. The tunes oliiec, dictating lo Coveri'intnl air.l laving down the law with nil ;uilli-jriiy which no one dared lo nue.-iion. "When we thundered yesterday,'' was a lino which lmd appeared ill one of hi-< preaecu-'ar's leaders. That' i.s the origin of the nickinline, "The J humiercr," by which The Time', has been known ever since.

The Outkul; ;mil kunul ixi/eoilin srly insl ri;cliv«', s'uee it gives a fair-ly full trccouiil of l.urd Noi uiclil'i'e's tonne clion with The Times. It was in 1847. aficr the death of the second Waiter, that WilliiHitt devolsd hinnell lo literature, ami in that year, as .Mr lid'.mind Gave points out in iii.s "Picfaiory Xote'' to I'.is "Jeremy Taylor," in the "Fn;lish Men of Letters" seiies: "The Pev. Itobcrt Aris Willmoit, of liearwocd, published avery graceful little book entitled 'Dishop Jeremy Taylor, his Predecessors, Contemporaries, and Successors,' a sketch of tlio Lnglish Church in the seventeenth eonturv. in Ihe course of which he eorrccted lleber in some particulars and added one or two fresh fads.'' Willmott ever afterwauls desciib'ii! himself as the author of tips work. In 1848 lie published a. second and greatly-co iarged edit ion of his poenii:'. the iirst wlition of which had appeared seven years previously. In ISI9 Joui'na.l of .Summer Time in the Country" came out, a work which, fiom the point of merit, is reckoned next to the "Plrasures of Literature.'' In 1850 Willmolt publislied an anthology entitle:! "i'lccimis Stones from i'lose Writers of the Sixteenth. Seventeenth, and Kn/hleonlh Centuries," this bfing the hook for which t'hurton C'olliiv especially sc:trilicd him, llesides other auihologho in prose and verse, Wiilnuitl edite.l lor E:iutk;lge a scries of "Jiri'ish Poets" amongst, oilier Peiey's "Pieiiipies." ]t was this volume whicii brought down upon. Wilhuot:'.- devoted head the wrath of the Saturday l(c----viewx*r, wiin iw at pa'iis to print .\ :illimit's note on Hie iiu-ive of I'iets Plowliian. parallel with Wright's note on the

same .-abject, published 15 yeans oarlier. a note ralninly nti's.-ible !•> Willmiill, aiv.l almost, certainly consulted by'him. To anyone desirotvs of following up the field suggested by this fact, I may mention the liandy two-volume edition of the "neliqnes'' in "Everyman," and -also the 'asiefnl reprint of '"The Vision of Piers the Plowman.'' by Willi:ini Laiiglaiui, done into modern Kinduli by I'rofeww Skoal. iiihl 'im:l ud-id' ;a {lie Classics.Th.re is much more 1 could and would have said, rpecia.llv in praise of "The Pleasures of Literatim'," but I am compelled to conclu-:!?. Let me, however, urge all lovet* of literature lo make the acquaintance (if Willmott without delay—.if they have not already (loop i-;i.— by purchasing the Melrose -edition oi " Tb Pleasures." If anyone regrcU the invc.itluent. [ shall be pleas,d to know the lvuson wltv.