Part 15 (1/2)

But the very quality of aloofness fro, which made it impossible for him to be the exponent of a system or the founder of a school,friend In homely phrase, you never knehere to have hi out in a fresh place Whatever subject he handled, froarians to the credibility of miracles, was certain to be 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 ht 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 arguu his adversary's case, and did all in his power to secure a judicial and patient hearing even for the causes hich he had least syh stern and self-sacrificing struggles, were absolutely solid By the incessant writing of some forty years, he enforced the fundah 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 ht in contact could be coustus Sala He was the very embodiment of Bohemia; and, alike in his views and in his style, the fine flower of such journalisraph_ His portrait, sketched with rare felicity, may be found in Letter XII of that incomparable book, _Friendshi+p's Garland_ ”Adolescens Leo” thus describes him--”Sala, like us his disciples, has studied in the book of the world even enius have given him so in the last degree: he blends the airy epicureanisaiety of our English cider-cellar With our people and country, _o down; there arises every day a larger public for it; and we, Sala's disciples, ly to let it die”

That ritten in 1871; and, when sixteen years had elapsed, I thought it would be safe, and I kneould be a 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 ne

The Journalist of Society in those days was Mr T H S Escott, as 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 welcoan Paul, essayist, critic, editor, and ex-clergyure; and his successive transitions fronosticisave 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 Tee to be often with hi 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 thenuh 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 scholarshi+p to all who cared to seek the ladies He was a inal mind; paradoxical, prejudiced, and intellectually independent to the point of eccentricity His range ide, his taste infallible, and his love of the beautiful a passion He lived, froe, the life of the Intellect; and yet posterity will know hihtful verse;[53] a frag letters in the language

A friend and brother-Scholar of mine at Oxford illy” Arnold, son of Mr Thoree, 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 e of European politics We had not seen one another for a good many years, e met casually at dinner in the su 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 hat I a all allusion to the fabled Tanner) the best newspaper in Great Britain

But journalisnified level, was only a continuation and developh 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] askedto 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 hiainst 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 suspectbeen a cricketer

It is no part of my plan to narrate my own extremely hu of the chapter speaks not of Book-, but of Literature; and for a man to say that he has contributed to Literature would indeed be to invite rebuff I a now, not of what I have done, but of what I have received; and reat indeed I do not know the sensation of dulness, but, like s, 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 Companionshi+p 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” ritten 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 freedonare est_--teach us the rules and laws of that eternal service, which is now beginning on the scene of time