Part 6 (2/2)

[Footnote 7: Since the date at which this ritten I have encountered a diminution in price]

In 1861 the War of Secession had broken out in America, and from the first I interested myself much in the question My mother had thirty years previously written a very popular, but, as I had thought, a somewhat unjust book about our cousins over the water She had seen as distasteful in the nised their energy I had entertained for many years an ambition to follow her footsteps there, and to write another book I had already paid a short visit to New York City and State on h then to justifyout of the war did not make me think that the time was peculiarly fit for such inquiry as I wished to make, but it did represent itself as an occasion on which a book reat pohom I was concerned Messrs Chapman & Hall, the publishers, were one power, and I had no difficulty in arranging reed to publish the book on my terms, and bade me God-speed on my journey The other poas the Postmaster-General and Mr Rowland Hill, the Secretary of the Post Office I wanted leave of absence for the unusual period of nine et it by the ordinary process of asking the Secretary, I went direct to his lordshi+p ”Is it on the plea of ill-health?” he asked, looking into my face, which was then that of a very robust man His lordshi+p knew the Civil Service as well as any one living, and must have seen much of falseness and fraudulent pretence, or he could not have asked that question I told him that I was very well, but that I wanted to write a book ”Had I any special ground to go upon in asking for such indulgence?” I had, I said, done ood deal of deot my leave for nine months,--and I knew that I had earned it Mr

Hill attached to theme the leave an intimation that it was to be considered as a full equivalent for the special services rendered by race with such a stipulation, and it ithdrawn by the directions of the Post the period of my service in the Post Office I did very much special work for which I never asked any reh payments for special services were common in the department at that time

But if there was to be a question of such remuneration, I did not choose that my work should be valued at the price put upon it by Mr Hill]

I started for the States in August and returned in the following May The as raging during the time that I was there, and the country was full of soldiers A part of the ti the troops, along the line of attack

I visited all the States (excepting California) which had not then seceded,--failing toStates unless I was prepared to visit them with an amount of discomfort I did not choose to endure I worked very hard at the task I had assigned to myself, and did, I think, seestruck me more than their persistence in the ordinary pursuits of life in spite of the hich was around them Neither industry nor amusement seemed to meet with any check

Schools, hospitals, and institutes were by no iments were daily required The truth, I take it, is that we, all of us, soon adapt ourselves to the circuh three parts of London were in flames I should no doubt expect to have my dinner served to me if I lived in the quarter which was free froer than that on the West Indies, but was also written almost without a note It contained much information, and, with many inaccuracies, was a true book But it was not well done It is tedious and confused, and will hardly, I think, be of future value to those ish to make themselves acquainted with the United States It was published about the middle of the war,--just at the time in which the hopes of those who loved the South were most buoyant, and the fears of those who stood by the North were the strongest But it expressed an assured confidence--which never quavered in a page or in a line--that the North would win This assurance was based on the th of the Northern party, and on a conviction that England would never recognise the South, and that France would be guided in her policy by England I was right in rounds on which they were made The Southern cause was bad The South had provoked the quarrel because its political supremacy was checked by the election of Mr

Lincoln to the Presidency It had to fight as a little allantry,--and a feeling based on a misconception as to Aentlereat sympathy here; but I believe that the country was too just to be led into political action by a spirit of romance, and I arranted in that belief There was a er lay certainly in the prospect of British interference Messrs Slidell and Mason,--two nificant in themselves,--had been sent to Europe by the Southern party, and had et on board the British mail steamer called ”The Trent,”

at the Havannah A most undue iovernment, and efforts wereduty as policeman on the seas, did stop the ”Trent,” and took the men out They were carried, one to Boston and one to New York, and were incarcerated, amidst the triu in which a brave lory, was land of course deers back, and the States for a while refused to surrender them But Mr Seas at that time the Secretary of State, and Mr Seward, with ton at the ti Northerners was very sharp on the matter Mr Sumner and Mr Seere, under Mr Lincoln, the two chiefs of the party It was understood that Mr Sumner was opposed to the rendition of the men, and Mr Seward in favour of it Mr Seward's counsels at last prevailed with the President, and England's declaration of as prevented I dined with Mr Seward on the day of the decision,Mr Su-roo the afternoon I and others had received intiht probably have to leave Washi+ngton at an hour's notice This, I think, was the severest danger that the Northern cause encountered during the war

But ht in its views on this subject,--and wrong in none other as far as I knoas not a good book I can recommend no one to read it now in order that he may be either instructed or amused,--as I can do that on the West Indies It served its purpose at the time, and ell received by the public and by the critics

Before starting to America I had co numbers,--after the manner in which _Pickwick_, _Nicholas Nickleby_, andmy friends who talk to me now about my novels, and are competent to form an opinion on the subject, say that this is the best I have written In this opinion I do not coincide I think that the highest merit which a novel can have consists in perfect delineation of character, rather than in plot, or hu mention a subsequent work in which I think the main character of the story is so well developed as to justifyits claim above the others The plot of _Orley Farm_ is probably the best I have everitself, and thus co to an end too early in the book When Lady Mason tells her ancient lover that she did forge the will, the plot of _Orley Farm_ has unravelled itself;--and this she does in the middle of the tale Independently, however, of this the novel is good Sir Peregrine Orrandson, Madeline Stavely, Mr

Furnival, Mr Chaffanbrass, and the coood The lawyer's talk is good Mr Moulder carves his turkey admirably, and Mr Kantwise sells his tables and chairs with spirit I do not know that there is a dull page in the book I am fond of _Orley Farm_;--and am especially fond of its illustrations by Millais, which are the best I have seen in any novel in any language

I now felt that I had gained my object In 1862 I had achieved that which I contemplated when I went to London in 1834, and towards which I an the _Macder literary ht live in ease and comfort,--which ease and comfort have been made to include many luxuries Froed 4500 a year

Of this I spent about two-thirds, and put by one I ought perhaps to have done better,--to have spent one-third, and put by two; but I have ever been too well inclined to spend freely that which has come easily

This, however, has been so exactly the life which hts and aspirations which used to causemyself to the hich they de attained it I have before said how entirely I fail to reach the altitude of those who think that a man devoted to letters should be indifferent to the pecuniary results for which work is generally done An easy inco Not to have to think of sixpences, or very s; not to be unhappy because the coals have been burned too quickly, and the house linen wants renewing; not to be debarred by the rigour of necessity fro one's hands, perhaps foolishly, to one's friends;--all this to me has been essential to the comfort of life I have enjoyed the coh noso, or would have been less likely at twenty-five to have had such luxuries foretold to hih the money has been sweet, the respect, the friendshi+ps, and the mode of life which has been achieved, have beenup to school with dirty boots and trousers through themyself that the misery of the hour was not the worst of it, but that the mud and solitude and poverty of the tih o into Parliament, or become rectors and deans, or squires of parishes, or advocates thundering at the Bar They would not live with me now,--but neither should I be able to live with them in after years

Nevertheless I have lived with theo to the universities, I became a clerk in the Post Office, I felt that h calling I did not know then how very ood work may be done by a member of the Civil Service ill show hirew upon me and forced itself into my affections I became intensely anxious that people should have their letters delivered to them punctually Butof novels, and at last by the writing of novels I had risen

I do not think that I ever toadied any one, or that I have acquired the character of a tuft-hunter But here I do not scruple to say that I prefer the society of distinguished people, and that even the distinction of wealth confers es The best education is to be had at a price as well as the best broadcloth The son of a peer is ainst well-inforraces corandfathers than they do to her whose husband has been less,--orraces when they are achieved without such assistance, and will honour the owners of them the more because of the difficulties they have overcome;--but the fact remains that the society of the well-born and of the wealthy will as a rule be worth seeking I say this now, because these are the rules by which I have lived, and these are the causes which have instigated ued--On what terms should a man of inferior rank live with those who are manifestly superior to him? If a marquis or an earl honour me, who have no rank, with his intimacy, am I in my intercourse with hih rank? I have always said that where the difference in position is quite marked, the overtures to intiher rank; but if the intimacy be ever fixed, then that rank should be held of no account It see but that of equality I cannot be the Sovereign's friend, nor probably the friend of n, because such equality is impossible

When I first came to Waltham Cross in the winter of 1859-1860, I had al was over I could not then count upon an income which would enable me to carry on an amusement which I should doubtless find ht with ht for -field As, however, the money came in, I very quickly fell back into ht, then another, and then a third, till it became established as a fixed rule that I should not have less than four hunters in the stable Sometimes when my boys have been at home I have had as radually I becah I had been an Essex squire, to the ated more closely than I have done the depth, and breadth, and water-holding capacities of an Essex ditch It will, I think, be accorded to enerally that I have ridden hard The cause of ht in the amusement I have never been able to analyse to my own satisfaction In the first place, even now, I know very little about hunting,--though I know very much of the accessories of the field I a, and cannot therefore tell whether the fox has gone this way or that Indeed all the notice I take of hounds is not to ride over them My eyes are so constituted that I can never see the nature of a fence I either follow sooing into a horse-pond or a gravel-pit I have jumped into both one and the other I am very heavy, and have never ridden expensive horses I aet on to my horse without the aid of a block or a bank But I ride still after the saet ahead if itthat life can not, with all her riches, have givenrun to the finish, keeping a place, not of glory, but of credit, a my juniors

CHAPTER X

_THE SMALL HOUSE AT ALLINGTON_--_CAN YOU FORGIVE HER?_--_RACHEL RAY_--AND THE _FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW_

During the early ht out in numbers, and at the sa in the _Cornhill Magazine_ In Septean its career in the same periodical The work on North Aust, 1863, the first nuive Her?_ was published as a separate serial, and was continued through 1864 In 1863 a short novel was produced in the ordinary volume form, called _Rachel Ray_ In addition to these I published during the time two volumes of stories called _The Tales of All Countries_ In the early spring of 1865 _Miss Mackenzie_ was issued in the same form as _Rachel Ray_; and in May of the same year _The Belton Estate_ was cohtly Review_, of which periodical I will say a feords in this chapter

I quite admit that I crowdedworld could not want such a quantity of matter from the hands of one author in so short a space of tientleusted the publisher in Paternoster Row,--in the story of whose productiveness I have always thought there was a touch of roh totoo often beneath their notice Of publishers, however, I must speak collectively, as ement which I received froazine_, I alrote at the instigation of Mr Smith My other works were published by Messrs Chapman & Hall, in compliance with contracts ood-will Could I have been two separate persons at one and the saht have been devoted to Cornhill and the other to the interests of the firht have been very well;--but as I preserved my identity in both places, I myself becaes