Part 33 (2/2)

On the 15th of April (1888) occurred the death of Matthew Arnold, who had for some years enjoyed a Civil List pension of 250 a year; and the event had scarcely been announced before Lady Burton, without consulting her husband, [553] telegraphed to the Governive Burton Arnold's pension” This step, characteristic as it was indiscreet, naturally did not effect its purpose

Chapter xxxIII 19th March 1888-15th October 1888, The Last Visit to England ”The Suppleraphy:

76 1st Vol Suppleust 1888

152 Meeting with Mr Swinburne and others, 18th July 1888-15th October 1888

Burton's health continuing weak, he again endeavoured to induce the Governave him what he calls ”an infor letter to his sister (26th May 1888) we racefully

”Yesterday,” he says, ”I got reeable expressions which will be of use toWe leave Trieste in June and travel leisurely over the St Gothard and expect to be in England about the 10th Theto equal the cold Folky [554] folk are like their neighbours, poor devils who howl for excite better to do The dreadful dull life of England accounts for many British madnesses Do you think of the Crystal Palace this year? We have an old friend, Aird, formerly the Consul here, who has taken up his abode soes, the prospect of leave makes me sleep quite well With love and kisses to both, [555] Your affectionate brother, R F B”

Burton and his wife reached Folkestone on July 18th Next day they went on to London, where they had the pleasure of , M Du Chaillu, Mr A C Swinburne, and Mr

Theodore Watts[-Dunton] What Burton was to Mr Swinburne is suht that on earth was he” [556]

153 H W Ashbee

His principal place of resort, however, during this visit was the house of Mr H W Ashbee, 54, Bedford Square, where he ass, Mr Arbuthnot, Sir Charles Wingfield and Mr John Payne, all of ere interested, in different ways, in matters Oriental Ashbee, rote under the name of Pisanus Fraxi (Bee of an ash), was a curiously matter-of-fact, stoutish, stolid, affable man, with a Maupassantian taste for low life, its humours and laxities

He was familiar with it everywhere, from the sordid purlieus of Whitechapel to the bazaars of Tunis and Algiers, and related Haroun Al-Raschid-like adventures with ie that a businessthe common transactions of a day This unconcernedness never failed to provoke laughter, even from those who administered rebukes to him Of art and literature he had absolutely no idea, but he was an enthusiastic bibliophile, and his library, which included a unique collection or rare and curious books, had been built up at enor described him as ”not a bad old chap,” Mr Payne added characteristically, ”And he had a favourite cat, which says so for hiatherings, whether at Mr Ashbee's or at Mr

Arbuthnot's, was never ruffled unless somebody happened to introduce politics or the Shakespere-Bacon Question Arbuthnot the Liberal was content to strike out with his back against the wall, so to speak, when attacked by the Conservative Burton, Ashbee and Payne; but Arbuthnot the Baconian frequently took the offensive He would go out of his way in order to drag in this subject He could not leave it out of his Life of Balzac even These controversies generally resolved themselves into a duel between Mr Arbuthnot and Mr Payne--Burton, who loved a fight between any persons and for any reasons, looking on approvingly Mr

Ashbee and Dr Steingass were inclined to side with Mr Payne On one of these occasions Mr Payne said impatiently that he could not understand ”any sensiblecontroversy,” and then he pointed out one by one the elements that in his opinion made the Baconian theory ridiculous

”But,” followed Mr Arbuthnot, ”Shakespere had no education, and no person without an extreood education could have written the play erroneously published under the name of William Shakespere”

”If,” retorted Mr Payne, ”Shakespere had been without education, do you think the fact would have escaped the notice of such bitter and unscrupulous enemies as Nash, Greene, and others, who hated hi superiority?”

Upon Mr Arbuthnot ad that he studies Shakespere merely from a ”curio” point of view, and that for the poetry he cared nothing, Mr

Payne replied by quoting Schopenhauer: ”A man who is insensible to poetry, be he who he arded hiass, rote execrable verses in English which neither rhyh they were intended to do both, was no less satisfied; Mr Ashbee, who looked at raphical point of view, dissented; and Mr Arbuthnot sweetly changed the conversation to Balzac; with the result, however, of another tempest, for on this subject Burton, who sureat repertory of morbid anatomy,” could never see eye to eye with Balzac's lish disciple

At Oxford, Burton reat difficulties” at the Bodleian, though he escaped all the evil effects; but against its wretched accommodation for students and its antediluvian ust he was at Ra with a Bank Holiday crowd

But he was aly restless, and wanted to be continually in motion

No place pleased him more than a day or two