Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography
presented in a new and unlooked-for aspect. He was as full of splendid
gleams as a landscape by Turner, and as free from all formal rules of
art and method. He was an independent thinker, if ever there was one,
and as honest as he was independent. In his belief, truth was the most
precious of treasures, to be sought at all hazards, and, when acquired,
to be safeguarded at all costs. His zeal for truth was closely allied
with his sense of justice. His mind came as near absolute fairness as is
possible for a man who takes any part in live controversies. He never
used an unfair argument to establish his point, nor pressed a fair
argument unduly. He was scrupulously careful in stating his adversary's
case, and did all in his power to secure a judicial and patient hearing
even for the causes with which he had least sympathy. His own
convictions, which he had reached through stern and self-sacrificing
struggles, were absolutely solid. By the incessant writing of some forty
years, he enforced the fundamental truth of human redemption through God
made Man on the attention of people to whom professional preachers speak
in vain, and he steadily impressed on his fellow-Christians those
ethical duties of justice and mercy which should be, but sometimes are
not, the characteristic fruits of their creed. It was a high function,
excellently fulfilled.
The transition is abrupt, but no catalogue of the literary men with whom
I was brought in contact could be complete without a mention of Mr.
George Augustus Sala. He was the very embodiment of Bohemia; and, alike
in his views and in his style, the fine flower of such journalism as is
associated with the name of the _Daily Telegraph_. His portrait,
sketched with rare felicity, may be found in Letter XII. of that
incomparable book, _Friendship's Garland_. "Adolescens Leo" thus
describes him--"Sala, like us his disciples, has studied in the book of
the world even more than in the world of books. But his career and
genius have given him somehow the secret of a literary mixture novel and
fascinating in the last degree: he blends the airy epicureanism of the
_salons_ of Augustus with the full-bodied gaiety of our English
cider-cellar. With our people and country, _mon cher_, this mixture is
now the very thing to go down; there arises every day a larger public
for it; and we, Sala's disciples, may be trusted not willingly to let it
die."
That was written in 1871; and, when sixteen years had elapsed, I thought
it would be safe, and I knew it would be amusing, to bring Sala and
Matthew Arnold face to face at dinner. For the credit of human nature
let it be recorded that the experiment was entirely successful; for, as
Lord Beaconsfield said, "Turtle makes all men equal," and vindictiveness
is exorcised by champagne.
The Journalist of Society in those days was Mr. T. H. S. Escott, who was
also Editor of the _Fortnightly_ and leader-writer of the _Standard_. I
should be inclined to think that no writer in London worked so hard; and
he paid the penalty in shattered health. It is a pleasure to me, who in
those days owed much to his kindness, to witness the renewal of his
early activities, and to welcome volume after volume from his prolific
pen. Mr. Kegan Paul, essayist, critic, editor, and ex-clergyman, was
always an interesting figure; and his successive transitions from
Tractarianism to Latitudinarianism, and from Agnosticism to
Ultramontanism, gave a peculiar piquancy to his utterances on religion.
He deserves remembrance on two quite different scores--one, that he was
the first publisher to study prettiness in the production of even cheap
books; and the other, that he was an early and enthusiastic worker in
the cause of National Temperance. It was my privilege to be often with
him in the suffering and blindness of his last years, and I have never
seen a trying discipline more bravely borne.
More than once in these chapters I have referred to "Billy Johnson," as
his pupils and friends called William Cory in remembrance of old times.
He was from 1845 to 1872 the most brilliant tutor at Eton: an
astonishing number of eminent men passed through his hands, and retained
through life the influence of his teaching. After leaving Eton, he
changed his name from Johnson to Cory, and established himself on the
top of the hill at Hampstead, where he freely imparted the treasures of
his exquisite scholarship to all who cared to seek them, and not least
willingly to young ladies. He was a man of absolutely original mind;
paradoxical, prejudiced, and intellectually independent to the point of
eccentricity. His range was wide, his taste infallible, and his love of
the beautiful a passion. He lived, from boyhood to old age, the life of
the Intellect; and yet posterity will know him only as having written
one thin book of delightful verse;[53] a fragmentary History of England;
and some of the most fascinating letters in the language.
A friend and brother-Scholar of mine at Oxford was "Willy" Arnold, son
of Mr. Thomas Arnold, and nephew of Matthew. After taking his degree, he
joined the staff of the _Manchester Guardian_, and before long became
one of the first journalists of his time. He was not merely a
journalist, but also a publicist, and could have made his mark in public
life by his exceptional knowledge of European politics. We had not seen
one another for a good many years, when we met casually at dinner in the
summer of 1887. To that chance meeting I owed my introduction to the
_Manchester Guardian_. My first contribution to it was a description of
the Jubilee Garden-Party at Buckingham Palace on the 29th of June,
1887; so I can reckon almost a quarter of a century of association with
what I am bold to call (defying all allusion to the fabled Tanner) the
best newspaper in Great Britain.
But journalism, though now practised on a more dignified level, was only
a continuation and development of a life-long habit; whereas, though I
had been scribbling ever since I was a boy, I had never written a book.
In 1890 Messrs. Sampson Low started a series of _The Queen's Prime
Ministers_. Froude led off, brilliantly, with Lord Beaconsfield; and the
editor[54] asked me to follow with Mr. Gladstone. Before acceding to
this proposal, I thought it right to ask whether Gladstone had any
objection; and, supposing that he had not, whether he would give me any
help. His reply was eminently characteristic,--
"When someone proposed to write a book about Harry Phillpotts, Bishop of
Exeter, the Bishop procured an Injunction in Chancery to stop him. I
shall not seek an Injunction against you--but that is all the help I can
give you."
Thus encouraged, or rather, I should say, not discouraged, I addressed
myself to the task, and the book came out in July, 1891. I was told
that Gladstone did not read it, and this assurance was in many respects
a relief. But someone told him that I had stated, on the authority of
one of his school-fellows, that he played no games at Eton. The next
time I met him, he referred to this point; declared that I had been
misinformed; and affirmed that he played both cricket and football, and
"was in the Second Eleven at Cricket." In obedience to his request, I
made the necessary correction in the Second Edition; but _a priori_ I
should not have been inclined to suspect my venerated leader of having
been a cricketer.
It is no part of my plan to narrate my own extremely humble performances
in the way of authorship. The heading of the chapter speaks not of
Book-making, but of Literature; and for a man to say that he has
contributed to Literature would indeed be to invite rebuff. I am
thinking now, not of what I have done, but of what I have received; and
my debt to Literature is great indeed. I do not know the sensation of
dulness, but, like most human beings, I know the sensation of sorrow;
and with a grateful heart I record the fact that the darkest hours of my
life have been made endurable by the Companionship of Books.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] To Mr. Watson I owed my introduction to Matthew Arnold's _Essays in
Criticism_--a real event in one's mental life.
[50] By Sir Walter Strickland; whose poem on William Tyndale was justly
admired.
[51] Richard Monckton Milnes was created Lord Houghton, August 20, 1863.
[52] It is only fair to observe that those "Letters" were written in the
strictest confidence.
[53] Ionica.
[54] Mr. Stuart J. Reid.
XIV
SERVICE
May He "in knowledge of Whom standeth our eternal life, Whose
service is perfect freedom"--_Quem nosse vivere, Cui servire
regnare est_--teach us the rules and laws of that eternal service,
which is now beginning on the scene of time.
R. W. CHURCH, _Human Life and its Conditions_.
It was my happiness to be born and brought up in a home where Religion
habitually expressed itself in Social Service. I cannot remember a time
when those nearest to me were not actively engaged in ministering to the
poor, the sick, the underfed, and the miserable. The motive of all this
incessant ministration was the Christian Faith, and its motto was
_Charitas Christi urget nos_. The religion in which the children of an
Evangelical home were reared was an intensely vivid and energetic
principle, passionate on its emotional side, definite in its theory,
imperious in its demands, practical, visible, and tangible in its
effects. If a boy's heart--
"Were less insensible than sodden clay
In a sea-river's bed at ebb of tide,"
it could scarcely fail to carry with it into the world outside the
impressions stamped by such a training. I can remember quite clearly
that, even in my Harrow days, the idea of Life as Service was always
present to my mind: and it was constantly enforced by the preaching of
such men as Butler, Westcott, and Farrar.
"Here you are being educated either for life or for fashion. Which is
it? What is your ambition? Is it to continue, with fewer restrictions,
the amusements which have engrossed you here? Is it to be favourite or
brilliant members of a society which keeps want and misery at a
distance? Would this content you? Is this your idea of life? Or may we
not hope that you will have a nobler conception of what a Christian
manhood may be made in a country so rich in opportunities as our own now
presents?"[55]
In Dr. Butler's sermons our thoughts were directed to such subjects as
the Housing of the Working Classes, Popular Education, and the contrast
between the lot of the rich and the lot of the poor. "May God never
allow us to grow proud, or to grow indolent, or to be deaf to the cry of
human suffering." "Pray that God may count you worthy to be foremost in
the truly holy and heroic work of bringing purity to the homes of the
labouring classes, and so hastening the coming of the day when the
longing of our common Lord shall be accomplished." "Forget not the
complaints, and the yet more fatal silence, of the poor, and pray that
the ennobling of your own life, and the gratification of your own
happiness, may be linked hereafter with some public Christian labour."
Thus the influences of school co-operated with the influences of home to
give one, at the most impressionable age, a lively interest in Social
Service; and that interest found a practical outlet at Oxford. When
young men first attempt good works, they always begin with teaching; and
a Sunday School at Cowley and a Night School at St. Frideswide's were
the scenes of my (very unsuccessful) attempts in that direction. Through
my devotion to St. Barnabas', I became acquainted with the homes and
lives of the poor in the then squalid district of "Jericho"; and the
experience thus acquired was a valuable complement to the knowledge of