Part 13 (2/2)

After an engage a little more than two years, Willia her first silk gown--a pretty dove-colour--and a white silk shawl, finery which filled her soul with rapture The couple spent the honey every spot of beauty or haunt of old tradition in that country of the romantic and the picturesque

Incorporated in his wife's _Autobiography _is Williae and youthful days, which is supplemented by his _Boys' Country Book_, the true story of his early adventures and experiences The Howitts, he tells us, were descended froer branch of which obtained Wansley Hall, near Nottingha of their na set, all wofully lacking in prudence and sobriety

About the end of the seventeenth century, one Thorandfather of William, married Catherine, heiress of the Charltons of Chilwell But Thousted his father-in-law by his drunken habits that Mr Charlton disinherited his daughter, who loyally refused to leave her husband, and left his property to a stranger who chanced to bear his name After this misfortune the Howitts descended so no more substance to waste, refor Williaer of a Derbyshi+re colliery, married a Quaker lady, Phoebe Tantum of the Fall, Heanor, and was himself received into the Society of Friends in 1783

Williaood plain education at a Quaker school at Ackworth, and grew up a genuine country lad, scouring the lanes on his faed leader of the village lads in bird-nesting and rat-hunting expeditions, and taking his full share of the work on his father's little far afterwards he used to say that every scene in and about Heanor was photographed with absolute distinctness on his brain, and he loved to recall the long days that he had spent in following the plough, chopping turnips for the cattle, tra and fieldfare, collecting acorns for the swine, or hunting through the barns for eggs The Howitt family was much less strict than that of the Bothas the boys were allowed to play draughts and doa for the ring in the great posset-pot

On leaving school at fifteen, Williah, curiously enough, he never thought of becoood earnest; indeed, at this time he seems to have had no distinct bias towards any profession Mr Howitt had somehow become imbued with Rousseau's doctrine that every boy, whatever his position in life, should learn a mechanical handicraft, in order that, if all else failed, heby the labour of his hands Having decided that Willia, the boy was apprenticed for four years to a carpenter and builder at Mansfield, on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest The four precious years were practically throay, except for the enjoy solitary rambles amid the picturesque associations of the Forest, and the knowledge of natural history gained from close observation of the wild life of that romantic district

It was not until his twenty-first birthday that William's indentures were out, and as he was still unable to make up his mind about a profession--it must be remembered that the law, the church, the army and navy were all closed to a Quaker--he spent the next seven years at ho in the strea, by dint of hard study, to ht hi at botany, che these seven years of uncertainty and experi's _Sketches of Geoffrey Crayon_, which produced a strong impression on his mind With the inspiration of this book hot upon hih the Peak country, and afterwards wrote an account of his adventures in what he fondly believed to be the style of Geoffrey Crayon The paper was printed in a local journal under the title of _A Pedestrian Pilgrih the Peak_, by Wilfrid Wendle This was not Willia, written when he was only thirteen, having been printed in the _Monthly Magazine_, with his nae it was thought desirable that Willia Without, so far as appears, passing any exaht the business of a cheh with no intention of settling permanently in the Potteries, he took his bride as soon as the honeymoon was over Only seven months were spent at Hanley, and in Decehaood-will of another che down in their new hoh Scotland and the north of England, in the course of which they explored the Rob Roy country, rah Fife, h, looked in upon Robert Owen's limpse of Walter Scott at Melrose, were azed reverently on Rydal Mount, and tramped in all no less than five hundred miles An account of the tour was contributed to a Staffordshi+re paper under the title of _A Scottish Ra of 1822_, by Wilfrid and Wilfreda Wendle

It was not until August, 1822, that the pair established theha in Mary's narrative, but a great deal about the literary enterprises in which husband and wife collaborated They began by collecting the poee nu, prepared to submit thee to me,' wrote Mary, when she informed her sister of this ht of seeingpointed at and peeped after as a writer of verses' In April, 1823, _The Forest Minstrel and other Poems_, by William and Mary Howitt, made its appearance in a not particularly appreciative world The verses were chiefly descriptive of country sights and sounds, and had been produced, as stated in the Preface, 'not for the sake of writing, but for the indulgence of our own overflowing feelings' The little book created no sensation, but it was kindly noticed, and seems to have attracted a few quiet readers who, like the writers, were lovers of nature and siham the Howitts kept up, as far as their opportunities alloith the thought and literature of their day, and never relaxed their anxious efforts after 'mental i poet, was at this time an inmate of the little household, which was increased in 1824 by the birth of a daughter, Anna Mary Although the couple still re the peculiar dress and speech of the 'plain' Friends They were evidently regarded as terribly 'advanced' young people in their own circle, and shocked many of their old acquaintances by the catholicity of their views, by their admiration of Byron and Shelley, and by the liberal tone of their own productions Like most of the lesser writers of that day, they found their way into the popular Keepsakes and Annuals, which Mary accurately describes as 'a chaffy, frivolous, and unsatisfactory style of publication, that only serves to keep a young author in thein a little cash' In 1826 Mrs Hoas preparing for the press a new volume of poems by herself and her husband, _The Desolation of Eyam_, and in a letter to her sister, now transformed into Mrs Daniel Wilson, she describes her sensations while awaiting the ordeal of critical judg opinion of the contemporary reviewer

'nobody that has not published,' she observes, 'can tell the almost painful excitement which the first opinions occasion Really, for so his mind in wise passivity, and truly his iot Rogers's beautiful poe in the literary world is done by favour and connections It is a miracle to ot favourably noticed In many cases a book is reviehich has never been read, or even seen externally'

By this tiered and thirsted after acquaintances ere highly gifted in e, had acquired one or two literary friends and correspondents, a them Mrs Hemans, Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, and the Alaric Watts's of Keepsake fame An occasional notice of the Howitts and their little household otten writers For exahah the United Kingdom _(1828), observes: 'Of Messrs Howitt, husband and wife, conjugal in love and poetry, it would be vain forto the nation as well as to Nottingham As a man of taste Mr Howitt married a lady of taste; and with rare amiability they have jointly cultivated the Muses, and produced so of pieces under their separate names The circumstance afforded a topic for ridicule to sorace literature; but no one ventured to assail their productions' Spencer Hall, a fellonsman, became acquainted with the Howitts in 1829, and in his _Reht, neat, quick, dapper ht complexion, blue eyes, and brisk, cheery speech Mary, he tells us; was always neatly dressed, but with nothing prim or sectarian in her style 'Her expression was frank and free, yet very modest, and she was blessed with an affectionate, sociable spirit'

A presentation copy of _The Desolation of Eyam_ was sent to the Howitts' favourite poet, Wordsworth, who, in acknowledging their 'elegant voluh he had only had time to turn over the leaves, he had found several poeratification The harmless little book was denounced by the _Eclectic Review_ as 'anti-Quakerish, atheistical, and licentious in style and senti little notice of their contributions to the Annuals in the _Noctes Ambrosianae_ for November, 1828 'Who are these three brothers and sisters, the Howitts, sir?' asks the Shepherd of Christopher North, in the course of a discussion of the Christift-books, 'whose names I see in the adverteesements?'

_North_ I don't know, James It runs in my head that they are Quakers Richard and Williaenious men, and Sister Mary writes beautifully

_Shepherd_ What do you e is chaste and sis tender and pure, and her observation of nature accurate and intense Her 'Sketches from Natural History' in the _Christious spirit--that perht the subject, and show that Mary Howitt is not only well-read in the book of Bewick, but also in the book froiarist--and every other inspired zoologist--

_Shepherd_ The Book o' Natur''

The great event of 1829 for the Howitts was a visit to London, where they were the guests of Alaric and Zillah Watts, ho maintained a paper friendshi+p 'What wilt thou say, dear Anna,'

writes Mary in December, 'when I tell thee that William and I set out for London the day after to-morrow I half dread it I shall wish twenty times for our quiet fireside, where day by day we read and talk by ourselves, and nobody looks in upon us I keep reasoning with myself that the people we shall see in London are but men and women, and perhaps, after all, no better than ourselves If we could but divest our minds of _self_, as our dear father used to say we should do, it would be better and more comfortable for us Yet it is one of the faults peculiar to us Bothaardless of self, we never had confidence and proper self-respect instilled into us, and the want of this gives us a depressing feeling, though I hope it is less seen by others than by ourselves We do not intend to stay h to do We have to , and the Pringles, and are to be introduced to their raham, L E L, and Thomas Roscoe we are sure to see'

In Miss Landon's now forgotten novel, _Romance and Reality_, there is a little sketch of Mary Howitt as she appeared at a literary _soiree_, during her brief visit to London The heroine, Miss Arundel, is being initiated into theworld by her friend, Mrs Sullivan, when her attention is arrested by the sight of 'a female in a Quaker's dress--the quiet, dark silk dress--the hair simply parted on the forehead--the small, close cap--the placid, subdued expression of the face, were all in strong contrast to the crieneral character of the large, soft eyes seehted up with an expression of intelligent observation--that clear, anilance which shows it analyses what it observes You looked at her with so a dusty road, the eye fixes on sos its sunshi+ne and the tree its shadow, as if its pure fresh beauty was a thing apart frohway ”You see,” said Mrs Sullivan, ”one who, in a brief interview, gave me more the idea of a poet than most of our inary poe and true in her siiants upon the earth in those far-off days, the general standard of literary taste was by no means exalted, a fact which Mary Howitt could hardly be expected to realise She seems to have taken the praises lavished on her siined herself in very truth a poet She was hted where the work of her fellow-scribes was concerned, and in a letter written about this tiood literature in a so her desire that soive an impulse to poetry, she continues: 'I am tired of Sir Walter Scott and his imitators, and I am sickened of Mrs Hemans's luscious poetry, and all her tribe of copyists The libraries set in array one school against another, and hurry out the trashy volumes before the ink of the manuscript is fairly dry Dost thou remember the days when Byron's poems first came out, now one and then another, at sufficient intervals to allow of digesting the of _Lalla Rookh_? It was on a washi+ng-day We read and clapped our clear-starching, read and clapped, and read again, and all the time our souls were not on this earth'

There was one book then in course of preparation which Mary thought worthy to have been read, even in those literary clear-starching days

'Thou hast no idea,' she assures her sister, 'how very interesting William's work, now called _A Book of the Seasons_, has becoinal sketches on every arden departhts, greenness, and boweriness

Mountain scenery and lake scenery, meadows and woods, hamlets, farms, halls, storrouped into a most harmonious whole' Unfortunately, publishers were hard to convince of the merits of the neork, the first of William Howitt's rural series, and it was declined by four houses in turn The author at last suggested that a stone should be tied to the unlucky e; but his as not so easily disheartened She was certain that the book was a worthy book, and only needed to be made a little more 'personable'

to find favour in the eyes of a publisher Accordingly, blotted sheets were hastily re-copied, new articles introduced, and passages of dubious interest o until their fingers ached and their eyes were as dim as an owl's in sunshi+ne Their labours were rewarded by the acceptance of the work by Bentley and Colburn, and its triumphant success with both critics and public, seven editions being called for in the first fewit and pocket it,' says Christopher North, alluding to the _Book of the Seasons_ in the _Noctes_ for April, 1831 ''Tis a jewel'

'Is Nottinghaland, sir?' asks the siiven 'For I would really like to pay the Hooits a visit this simmer Thae Quakers are e micht scarcely opine frae first principles, a maist poetical Christian seck The twa married Hooits I love just excessively, sir What they write canna fail o' being poetry, even the most middlin' o't, for it's aye wi'

the and their ain fancy, and whenever that's the case, a bonny word or till drap itself intil ilka stanzy, and a sweet stanzy or twa intil ilka pome, and sae they touch, and sae they win a body's heart'