Part 12 (1/2)

I was absent on this occasion so over three y to azine_ The first novel in it from my own pen was called _Phineas Finn_, in which I commenced a series of se my opinions in the House of Co myself And as I could not take ht possibly have been shone upon by the Speaker's eye, I had huallery, so that I s of the House in which soracious, and gaveorder for, I think, a couple of h, at any rate, to enable me often to be very tired,--and, as I have been assured by h Fortune had enabled_Phineas Finn_, and also some other novels which followed it, I was conscious that I could notchiefly, or perhaps in any part, by politics If I write politics for ue, social incidents, with perhaps a dash of sport, for the benefit of my readers In this way I think IIt was certainly a blunder to take him from Ireland--into which I was led by the circu a visit to Ireland There was nothing to be gained by the peculiarity, and there was an added difficulty in obtaining sy to a nationality whose politics are not respected in England But in spite of this Phineas succeeded It was not a brilliant success,--because men and women not conversant with political matters could not care much for a hero who spent so much of his time either in the House of Commons or in a public office But the men ould have lived with Phineas Finn read the book, and the women ould have lived with Lady Laura Standish read it also As this hat I had intended, I was contented It is all fairly good except the ending,--as to which till I got to it Ito irl, who could only be felt as an encumbrance on such return When he did return I had no alternative but to kill the siirl, which was an unpleasant and aard necessity

In writing _Phineas Finn_ I had constantly beforethe changes in men and women which would naturally be produced by the lapse of years In most novels the writer can have no such duty, as the period occupied is not long enough to allow of the change of which I speak In _Ivanhoe_, all the incidents of which are included in less than a month, the characters should be, as they are, consistent throughout

Novelists who have undertaken to write the life of a hero or heroine have generally considered their work coe, and have contented themselves with the advance in taste and irls as they beco, no doubt, did reatest novels in the English language, for there he has sho a noble and sanguine nature thened and ht

But I do not think that novelists have often set before thee,--nor should I have done it, had I not found myself so frequently allured back to my old friends

So much of my inner life was passed in their co myself how this woman would act when this or that event had passed over her head, or how that man would carry himself when his youth had becoard to the old Duke of Omnium, of his nephew and heir, and of his heir's wife, Lady Glencora, that I was anxious to carry out this idea; but others added theot round me a circle of persons as to whom I knew not only their present characters, but how those characters were to be affected by years and circuha-restrained love; the tragic misery of Lady Laura, which was equally due to the sale shesuffering but final success of the hero, of which he had deserved the first by his vanity, and the last by his constant honesty, had been foreshadowed to me from the first As to the incidents of the story, the circues were to be affected, I knew nothing They were created for the e a set of events before ood of my puppets, and how the evil would always lead to evil, and the good produce good,--that was clear to ht

Lady Laura Standish is the best character in _Phineas Finn_ and its sequel _Phineas Redux_,--of which I will speak here together They are, in fact, but one novel, though they were brought out at a considerable interval of time and in different forazine_ in 1867, and the other was brought out in the _Graphic_ in 1873 In this there was ht to expect that novel-readers would remember the characters of a story after an interval of six years, or that any little interest which ht have been taken in the career of my hero could then have been renewed I do not know that such interest was renewed But I found that the sequel enjoyed the sa the same class of readers

Phineas, and Lady Laura, and Lady Chiltern--as Violet had becoracefully, and the new duke, and the young duchess, either kept their old friends or made new friends for themselves _Phineas Finn_, I certainly think, was successful fro in it to touch the heart like the abaseuilt to her old lover, or any approach in delicacy of delineation to the character of Mr Crawley

_Phineas Finn_, the first part of the story, was completed in May, 1867 In June and July I wrote _Linda Tressel_ for _Blackwood's Magazine_, of which I have already spoken In September and October I wrote a short novel, called _The Golden Lion of Granpere_, which was intended also for _Blackwood_,--with a view of being published anonyement to be profitable, and the story reht of, for a few years It appeared subsequently in _Good Words_ It ritten on the model of _Nina Balatka_ and _Linda Tressel_, but is very inferior to either of the novel, which I called _He Knew He Was Right_, and which was brought out by Mr Virtue, the proprietor of the _St

Paul's Magazine_, in sixpenny numbers, every week I do not know that in any literary effort I ever fell more completely short of my own intention than in this story It was my purpose to create sy to do his duty to all around hiness to subment to the opinion of others The h, and the evil which he does is apparent So far I did not fail, but the sympathy has not been created yet I look upon the story as being nearly altogether bad It is in part redeemed by certain scenes in the house and vicinity of an old maid in Exeter

But a novel which in its main parts is bad cannot, in truth, be redeemed by the vitality of subordinate characters

This as finished while I was at Washi+ngton in the spring of 1868, and on the day after I finished it, I commenced _The Vicar of Bullhampton_, a novel which I wrote for Messrs Bradbury & Evans

This I coan _Sir Harry Hotspur of Hu at the close of the year I look upon these two years, 1867 and 1868, of which I have given a so chapters, as the busiest in h I had left it I had been e a considerable portion of the tiazine_, in reference to which I had read an enormous amount of manuscript, and for which, independently of my novels, I had written articles almost monthly I had stood for Beverley and had made many speeches I had also written five novels, and had hunted three ti each of the winters And how happy I ith it all! I had suffered at Beverley, but I had suffered as a part of the hich I was desirous of doing, and I had gained ton with that wretched A been able to escape from that capital till July; but all that had added to the activity of roaned over thoseit--perhaps foolishly--to be a part of h in the quick production ofin reatdone sothe seas, or fighting with A about the streets of Beverley, I could do a little, and generallysince convinced reat secret consisted in acknowledging myself to be bound to rules of labour similar to those which an artisan or a mechanic is forced to obey A shoemaker when he has finished one pair of shoes does not sit down and contemplate his work in idle satisfaction ”There is my pair of shoes finished at last! What a pair of shoes it is!” The shoees half his time It is the same with a professional writer of books An author may of course want time to study a new subject He will at any rate assure hiood reason why he should pause He does pause, and will be idle for a month or thile he tells himself how beautiful is that last pair of shoes which he has finished! Having thoughtmade up my mind that I could be really happy only when I was at work, I had now quite accustoin a second pair as soon as the first was out of my hands

CHAPTER XVIII

_THE VICAR OF BULLHAMPTON_--_SIR HARRY HOTSPUR_--_AN EDITOR'S TALES_--_CaeSAR_

In 1869 I was called on to decide, in council with my two boys and their mother, what should be their destination in life In June of that year the elder, as then twenty-three, was called to the Bar; and as he had gone through the regular courses of lecturing tuition and study, it ht be supposed that his course was already decided But, just as he was called, there see for him in another direction; and this, joined to the terrible uncertainty of the Bar, the terror of which was not in his case lessened by any peculiar forensic aptitudes, induced us to sacrifice dignity in quest of success Mr Frederic Chapman, as then the sole representative of the publishi+ng house known as Messrs Chapman & Hall, wanted a partner, and my son Henry went into the firm He remained there three years and a half; but he did not like it, nor do I think he ood publisher At any rate he left the business with perhaps ht have been expected from the short period of his labours, and has since taken himself to literature as a profession Whether he ork at it so hard as his father, and write as many books, may be doubted

My second son, Frederic, had very early in life gone out to Australia, having resolved on a colonial career when he found that boys who did not grow so fast as he did got above hi to histhat he was to come back when he enty-one, and then decide whether he would reland or return to the Colonies In the winter of 1868 he did co in the old country; but there was no doubt in his ownin Australia His purpose was fixed, and in the spring of 1869 he made his second journey out As I have since that date made two journeys to see him,--of one of which at any rate I shall have to speak, as I wrote a long book on the Australasian Colonies,--I will have an opportunity of saying a word or two further on of his

_The Vicar of Bullhampton_ ritten in 1868 for publication in _Once a Week_, a periodical then belonging to Messrs Bradbury & Evans It was not to come out till 1869, and I, as waspreviously to the proposed date I had made my ter before it anted; and so far my mind was at rest The date fixed was the first of July, which date had been naencies of the editor of the periodical An author rites for these publications is bound to suit hienerally do so without personal loss or inconvenience, if he will only take ties that I have written for azines I have never been a day late, nor have I ever caused inconvenience by sending less or more matter than I had stipulated to supply But I have soularity of others I have endeavoured to consolethat such must ever be the fate of virtue The industrious must feed the idle The honest and si and fraudulent The punctual, who keep none waiting for them, are doomed to wait perpetually for the unpunctual

But these earthly sufferers know that they aretheir way heavenwards,--and their oppressors their way elsewards If the former reflection does not suffice for consolation, the deficiency is rieved on the matter of the publication of my new Vicar, and had to think very much of the ultimate rewards of punctuality and its opposite About the end of March, 1869, I got a dolorous letter from the editor All the _Once a Week_ people were in a terrible trouble They had bought the right of translating one of Victor Hugo's modern novels, _L'Hoes froreat French author had postponed his work from week to week and from month to rinning hero would have to appear exactly at the sayman Was it not quite apparent to me, the editor asked, that _Once a Week_ could not hold the two? Would I allow azine_ instead?

My disgust at this proposition was, I think, chiefly due to Victor Hugo's latter novels, which I regard as pretentious and untrue to nature To this perhaps was added soive way to a Frenchement He had failed to have his work finished by the stipulated time From week to week and from month to month he had put off the fulfilment of his duty And because of these laches on his part,--on the part of this sententious French Radical,--I was to be thrown over! Virtue sometimes finds it difficult to console herself even with the double coazine_, and as the Grinning Man could not be got out of the way, my novel was published in separate nu has occurred to ular,” a publisher has said to ular

He has thrown me out, and I cannot be ready for you till three iven perhaps half anted, and have refused to give the other half I have endeavoured to fight my own battle fairly, and at the same time not to make myself unnecessarily obstinate But the circureat need there is that ed in literature should feel themselves to be bound to their industry as s There does exist, I fear, a feeling that authors, because they are authors, are relieved fro attention to everyday rules A writer, if he be800 a year, does not think himself bound to live modestly on 600, and put by the remainder for his wife and children

He does not understand that he should sit down at his desk at a certain hour He iines that publishers and booksellers should keep all their engagements with him to the letter;--but that he, as a brain-worker, and conscious of the subtle nature of the brain, should be able to exempt himself from bonds when it suits him He has his own theory about inspiration which will not always coht have been too deep All this has ever been odious tounmanly A man may be frail in health, and therefore unable to do as he has contracted in whatever grade of life He who has been blessed with physical strength to work day by day, year by year--as has been my case--should pardon deficiencies caused by sickness or infirmity I may in this respect have been a little hard on others,--and, if so, I here record iven to claims for exemption from punctuality, made if not absolutely on the score still with the conviction of intellectual superiority

The _Vicar of Bullha not only pity but syiveness for such in the minds of other women I could not venture to make this female the heroine of my story To have made her a heroine at all would have been directly opposed to my purpose It was necessary therefore that she should be a second-rate personage in the tale;--but it ith reference to her life that the tale ritten, and the hero and the heroine with their belongings are all subordinate To this novel I affixed a preface,--in doing which I was acting in defiance of my old-established principle I do not know that any one read it; but as I wish to have it read, I will insert it here again:--