,,transcriber',s ,,notes    ,this ebook 
was created in honour of ,distributed   
,proofreaders #bjth ,anniversary4       
,changes made are noted at the end of   
the book4          ,j4 ,,comyns ,,carr  
,illustration    ,,macmillan ,,and      
,,co41 ,,limited  ,,london  ,,bombay    
,,calcutta  ,,madras  ,,melbourne       
,,the ,,macmillan ,,company  ,,new      
,,york  ,,boston  ,,chicago  ,,dallas   
,,san ,,francisco    ,,the ,,macmillan  
,,co4 ,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4  ,,toronto  
,illustration    ,j4 ,,comyns ,,carr    
,stray ,memories    ,,by  ,,his ,,wife  
,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited      
,,st4 ,,martin',s ,,street1 ,,london    
#aibj          ,,copyright              
,,glasgow3 ,,printed ,,at ,,the         
,,university ,,press  ,,by ,,robert     
,,maclehose ,,and ,,co4 ,,ltd4          
,,to  ,,our ,,grandsons  ,,richard ,,and
 ,,john ,,comyns ,,carr                 
,,foreword      ,my husband wrote his   
own ,reminiscences in his two           
books--,some ,eminent  ,victorians and  

,coasting ,bohemia1 and it might justly 
be brought up  against me that ,i could 
have nothing to add to what he has said 
himself4    ,but a critic remarked at   
the time that there were few            
8,reminiscences0  in which the pronoun  
8,i0 occurred so seldom2 and it is upon 
this ground  that ,i venture to take my 
stand4    ,his friends meant so much to 
him that his talk is all of them4 ,but  
they  also loved him1 and the few who   
are left among those of whom he wrote1  
as well as the many more of the younger 
generation who testify to-day  to the   
exhilaration of his presence and the    
tonic of his humour may1 ,i  hope1 find 
in my effort something which may recall 
to them his urbane  and inspiring       
personality4          ,,contents        
,,page        ,i4 ,,courtship #a        
,,ii4 ,,the ,,home ,,of ,,boyhood #aj   
,,iii4 ,,marriage #af        ,,iv4      
,,home ,,life ,,and ,,dramatic          
,,criticism #bh        ,v4 ,,journalism 
,,and ,,letters #dc        ,,vi4 ,,books

 ,,and ,,travel #fc        ,,vii4       
,,grosvenor ,,and ,,new ,,galleries #gf 
,,viii4 ,,dramatic ,,work ,,and         
,,management #hc        ,,ix4 ,,social  
,,occasions #aae        ,x4 ,,foreign   
,,holidays #abi        ,,xi4 ,,fishing  
,,holidays #aef        ,,xii4 ,,early   
,,verse #age      ,frontispiece    ,j4  
,,comyns ,,carr    ,from a photograph by
 the ,london ,stereoscopic ,co4 ,ltd4   
,,chapter ,i    ,,courtship      ,it was
 in ,june of the year #ahgc that ,i     
first saw my husband4    ,aime ,descle  
was beginning a memorable season of     
,french ,plays at the  ,royalty         
,theatre1 and it was in the capacity of 
dramatic critic to ,the  ,echo--a post  
to which he had recently been           
appointed--that 8,joe  ,carr10 as his   
friends called him1 sat awaiting the    
curtain to  rise on that remarkable     
performance of ,frou-,frou which set the
  cosmopolitan world of ,london aflame  
in its day4    ,he was twenty-four years
 of age2 but he looked more1 for though 

he had  the complexion almost of a girl 
and that unruly twist in his fair1      
curling hair which belongs to early     
youth1 he was broad-shouldered and  had 
the strong build of the ,cumberland     
statesmen from whom he was as  proud to 
claim ancestry on his father's side as  
he was of the  ,irish blood that came to
 him from his mother4    ,not that ,i   
could have described him that evening3  
the stalls were too  ill lit and my     
excitement over the play was too great4 
,i had but lately arrived from          
,italy--having cajoled my father1 then  
,english chaplain at ,genoa1 into       
letting me 8see ,london0  under the care
 of my brother1 resident there2 so that 
,i had just  been shot from the socially
 restricted life of a parson's  daughter
 in the small ,english colony of a small
 foreign town into the  comparative     
,bohemianism of the artistic set in the 
,london of that day  best described by  
my husband himself in the introduction  
to his book  ,coasting ,bohemia4        

,there was much that must have been1    
unconsciously to myself1 of  rare       
educational advantage in the lovely     
scenery and picturesque  surroundings of
 my childhood's life on the ,riviera and
 in the  ,apennines2 and my parents so  
loved both ,nature and ,art that they   
gave  us constant change of opportunity 
in these directions4 ,yet ,i must       
confess that as ,i grew up1 the chestnut
 groves of the ,apennines and  the      
shores of the blue ,mediterranean became
 empty joys to me1 and  even the        
comparative excitement of wearing my own
 and criticizing my  friends' frocks in 
the ,public ,gardens of ,genoa or the   
keener  delight of an occasional dance  
in a stately palace1 was insufficient   
to fill my cravings2 and ,i longed for  
freedom and the attractions  of the     
world--more especially in ,london1 which
 ,i only knew through  visits to        
relatives during the holidays of a short
 period of my life  at a ,brighton      
school4 ,and it was from the house of   

specially strict  relatives that ,i     
definitely escaped that evening1 to come
 to the wicked  ,french play with my    
brother and his friend and housemate1   
,mr4 ,frederick  ,jameson1 an architect 
by profession1 but incidentally a       
distinguished  musician--in later years 
the translator of the ,wagner libretti4 
,mr4 ,comyns ,carr1 to whom they        
introduced me1 sat behind us2 and1      
though  he often told me that he marked 
me down as ,i came in1 and somehow      
associated me with the personality of   
,aime ,descle herself1 ,i took  small   
heed of him then1 and when1 as we sought
 a cab at the close of  the performance1
 he volunteered to go back and search   
for a valueless  brooch which ,i had    
lost1 ,i did not have the grace to      
insist on waiting  for his return before
 we hurried off4    ,but ,i was not to  
be punished2 that very incident         
furnished occasion for  a next meeting4 
,through my brother he tracked me to a  
,bloomsbury boarding-house1  whereto    

insubordination to the deserved reproof 
of the conventional  relatives had made 
me condemn myself4    ,oh1 that         
boarding-house--with the city clerk's   
bon mot1  8,why are you like the spoon  
resting in your tea80 ,and the  spinster
 convinced that the ,italian ,stornelli 
,i sang in the evening  must be         
8improper60 ,could ,i have endured it if
 ,mr4 ,jameson  and my brother had not  
started the glorious idea of theatricals
 in  their rooms hard by in ,great      
,russell ,street8 ,and if1 on the second
 day  of my sojourn1 the lodging-house  
slavey had not burst into the wee       
bedroom looking out to the backyard     
where ,i was putting on my hat1 with    
the news that a gentleman was asking for
 me at the front door8    ,i never      
guessed who it was1 but1 through the    
sunshine that struck into  the dingy    
hall1 ,i saw a strong figure on the     
door-step and1 as ,i  advanced out of   
the dimness1 a mouth hidden in a fair   
beard--thick and  long according to the 

fashion of the hour--parted in a smile2 
then ,i  recognised the young man whom  
,i had seen two nights ago at the play4 
,he had brought my lost brooch1 but ,i  
don't think the excuse  was needed4 ,i  
knew why he had come1 though at the     
moment an unwonted  shyness had fallen  
on me1 and ,i think ,i did not know     
whether to be  pleased or frightened4   
,he said1 8,mayn't ,i come in80    ,and 
,i recollect my vexation as ,i answered1
 8,there's nowhere  to come to6 ,the    
drawing-room is full of old ladies--the 
sort who tell  one that a waterproof and
 an umbrella are the safe dress for a   
girl in  ,london40    ,how he laughed6  
the laugh that many knew and loved him  
for3 and any who  recollect the         
speckled-hen variety of the waterproof  
of the seventies  will not wonder4      
,then he said3 8,but you are going out4 
,which way are you  going80    ,my reply
 so well betrayed utter ignorance of    
,london thoroughfares that  his next    
remark was natural4    8,well1 as ,i    

know you're a stranger1 ,i won't say    
you've a small bump of locality60 he    
said4 ,and how often  did he say it     
again in after years6 8,but you had     
better let me  take you along4 ,i'm     
going that way40    ,he told the lie    
unblushingly--and unblushing ,i did as  
he bade me and  followed him into the   
street4    ,i had been brought up with  
the strictness not only of my  father's 
cloth but of ,italian customs1 and ,i   
felt ,i was doing a  bold thing3 in     
those days my whole ,english adventure  
was considered  bold by ,mrs4 ,grundy1  
and my poor father had already come over
 on a  hasty visit from ,italy to place 
me with those relatives from whom ,i had
  escaped2 but on that occasion ,i was  
simply overborne4 ,long afterwards1  at 
a crush where ,royalty was present1 my  
husband won a bet that he  would sup in 
the ,royal room merely by the way in    
which he bade the  footman drop the     
dividing red rope1 and by the same way  
of bidding a  porter put his valise on a

 cab1 he won another with ,j4 ,l4 ,toole
 as to  his luggage passing unexamined  
on a return from abroad4 ,so it was by  
some kindred 8way0 that he led me forth 
that day--whither  ,i knew not4 ,and    
honestly1 ,i forget where we went4 ,i   
only knew that he  took me a long       
way--in more senses than one--and showed
 me many things  that were new and told 
me many that were more ,greek to me than
 ,i chose  to admit at the time4    ,i  
was an ignorant girl--the smattering of 
a brief boarding-school  education      
counting probably far less than the     
companionship of refined  parents in a  
land of beauty1 and of the sort of      
cultivation in which  ,joe lived and    
revelled ,i knew absolutely nothing4    
,i don't know that1 at that stage in my 
career1 ,i ever had so much  desire to  
learn as ,i pretended--and ,i am not    
sure that ,joe cared4    ,yet he was in 
those days of his youth at the height of
 his enthusiasm  on matters of ,art2 he 
had just written those articles on      

living  painters--specially noting the  
so-called ,pre-,raphaelites--which had  
drawn considerable notice to his        
pseudonym of 8,ignotus10  and he was1 at
 the moment1 one of ,rossetti's favoured
 young  admirers4    ,but ,i knew       
nothing of all this2 nor of his having  
already begun his  career of a 8wit0 as 
,junior of the ,bar on the ,northern    
,circuit4 ,in  fact1 what ,i recall of  
him then is not his wit but his         
tenderness4  ,he was the ardent pursuer1
 the first man ,i had met with whom ,i  
was  afraid to flirt1 because--in spite 
of some tremulousness in his eager      
insistence--there was something that    
said3 8,i mean to succeed40    ,so ,i   
stood dreaming before the masterpieces  
of the ,national ,gallery1  and he1 ,i  
am bound to say1 was content with much  
silence as we sat in  the large1 cool   
rooms on that hot ,may day4    ,later   
on1 when he was showing me what to      
admire1 ,i would teaze him by  pointing 
to some atrocity in ,art1 and say3      

8,that is what ,i really  like40 ,but   
not that day4    ,and when the hour came
 for me to return to the boarding-house1
 ,i think  his sole thought was upon the
 contriving of our next meeting4 ,as we 
passed the ,british ,museum--he looked  
up at the windows of my brother's  rooms
 facing it1 and said3 8,sheridan        
,knowles' #8,hunchback1' you said40     
8,yes10 ,i replied4 8,and ,i do ,julia  
and ,mr4 ,jameson ,master ,walter4 ,but 
it  may all fall through because he     
can't find a man for the lover4 ,it is  
desolating40    ,i can recall the slow  
look he gave me2 but then he smiled and 
said3  8,is that what you would say in  
your foreign tongues80    ,i got cured  
of such expressions later on1 but that  
day ,i think ,i was  ashamed of my      
careless speech1 for ,i knew better2 and
 ,i shook hands  with him with a sense  
of disappointment as the slavey opened  
the door  into the dingy brown hall4    
,had ,i been too flippant and free to   
please  such a clever man8    ,that     

evening1 however1 when ,i went to the   
rehearsal in ,great ,russell  ,street1  
,mr4 ,comyns ,carr was there2 of course 
he had offered himself to  play that    
lover's part4 ,he was busy              
enough--though not so busy  as he had   
been before ,i knew him1 when reading   
for his ,law ,scholarship  at the       
,london ,university4 ,he had1 in fact1  
if ,i remember rightly1 just  returned  
from his first experience on the        
,northern ,circuit and was  beginning to
 supplement his earnings at the ,bar by 
literary efforts4  ,but he was not too  
busy for this adventure1 and there      
followed three  weeks of rehearsals     
under ,mr4 ,jameson's management1 during
 which  my assets for the stage were    
calmly discussed1 ,mr4 ,jameson         
declaring  that they were good1 and     
finally winning my brother's consent to 
the bidding of his theatrical           
friends--,john ,hare among them--to     
decide  the question4    ,but ,joe      
always pooh-poohed the notion4    ,and  

when ,i said3 8,well1 ,i'm going to earn
 enough to keep  me in ,london somehow4 
,i'm not going back to that dead-alive  
life at home60 he only said cryptically1
 8,there are other  ways40    ,i think  
,i was a bit huffed at the time and     
crowed when a lightly spoken  word of   
praise came to me presently from a very 
authoritative quarter4    ,for one day1 
as we sat resting from our labours in   
one of the window  seats of the         
beautiful ,adams room where             
,burne-,jones had once painted  and that
 ,whistler had not long left1 a light   
rap fell on the door and a  voice long  
loved by us all called out3 8,anybody at
 home80  as the radiant face of ,ellen  
,terry peeped merrily in upon us4       
,there was little work done that day2   
but our stage manager1 whose old  friend
 she was1 bade me speak one of my       
speeches1 and she said3 8,a  good       
carrying voice1 and she finishes her    
words40 ,no merit to me1 who  had been  
bred in a land where folk open their    

throats and where ,i had  heard         
cultivated ,english only2 but ,i was    
naturally flattered and1 when  8the     
night0 came and ,i was awkward and      
terrified and ,john ,hare smiled        
pleasant nothings and my kindly1        
ambitious stage-manager's ardour was    
damped1 ,i might have been sore cast    
down but that a new excitement and      
glamour had flashed into my life4       
,joe ,carr's 8way0 was carving its      
straight course4    ,many a time ,i had 
been caught wandering aimlessly up      
,gower ,street  pretending a shopping   
excursion and swearing that ,i had not  
seen him on  the opposite pavement1 and 
many a half-hour had we both pretended  
to  enjoy the ,elgin ,marbles in the    
,british ,museum1 but in truth it was   
only  three weeks after that theatrical 
performance when ,i put my key one day  
into the door of the ,dispensary over   
which were those historic rooms  and    
felt rather than saw a figure behind me1
 and knew that the great  moment had    

come for me and that ,i was to be       
carried off my feet4    ,as once before 
he said3 8,may ,i come in80 ,and ,i     
answered  nothing and left the key in   
the door 7of which ,i never heard the   
end71  and he followed me up to the big 
studio where we were to spend the  first
 year of our wedded life4    ,i had come
 there that day for a singing lesson    
from ,mr4 ,jameson and1  when he        
returned presently1 ,i am sure he       
guessed no more than we did  that in    
four months he would be in ,america and 
would have rented his  rooms to us for  
our first home4          ,,chapter ,,ii 
,,the ,,home ,,of ,,boyhood      ,so    
from that day there was no more dingy   
boarding-house for me3 my  betrothed    
took me to his parents' house at        
,clapham1 where ,i well  remember the   
courtly words3 8,i hear ,i have to      
congratulate my son  ,joe0 with which ,i
 was received by his father4    ,small  
blame would it have been to parents1    
ambitious for the  advancement of their 

children1 had they only seen in me a    
foreign  adventuress without credentials
 coming to snatch one of the flowers of 
their flock2 yet instead of that1 most  
generously was ,i welcomed to a  home of
 which ,i have never seen the like2 and 
if sometimes bewildered  and always     
non-plussed by the free-and-easy give   
and take and the  wonderful             
argumentative capacity of that large and
 variously gifted  family--,i felt out  
of it--my lover was always unobtrusively
 protecting1  and the artist-sister who 
had always shared his tastes and        
sympathized  with his ambitions1 often  
held out a kindly hand to help me up the
  steep places4    ,but they were few3  
the sunny places1 full of real romance1 
of utter  confidence in our future--rash
 as it might appear to prudent          
elders--bright with his radiant         
enthusiasms and his fine ambitions1 are 
the things that cannot fade from my     
memory4    ,in those days much verse was
 written not then intended for          

publication1  but some of which has seen
 the light since4    ,the typical       
gathering1 of the large family1 presided
 over by the wise  father whose         
8,landmarks1 boys06 from the head of the
 table  generally calmed any storm1 was 
most often one of obstinate argument    
and fierce word-fights1 and stands out  
now as the proper school where  the keen
 critical faculty and the gift of ready 
repartee for which many  friends now    
remember ,joe ,carr1 were first forged  
and perfected4    ,and1 be it noted1    
that however sanguinary the fight1 there
 was never  any malice1 never any after 
ill-will among the combatants3 generous 
natures and a ,celtic sense of humour   
prevented that--not a little  helped by 
the complete freedom of arena left by   
the parents4    ,the mother ruled her   
household as ,victorian mothers did1 and
 spared  neither pains nor expense for  
her son's ambitions and her  daughters' 
proper advancement in the world2 she    
welcomed  their friends with courteous  

,irish welcome1 however little many of  
their tastes might be in harmony with   
her own2 but she let them  talk         
unmolested and was content to keep her  
own counsel1 while she  ministered      
lavishly to their creature comforts2 and
 the father--a man  of few words but of 
strong character and clear insight--kept
 his own  views undisturbed4 ,he had    
nevertheless more deeply1 though        
probably  unconsciously1 impressed them 
on his children1 than his children then 
guessed4 ,he was a broad ,liberal1 and  
it is interesting to note that1 in  days
 when we were even more insular than we 
are now1 no fighter in the  cause of    
freedom was forbidden his house because 
he was a foreigner4  ,under the auspices
 of ,mr4 ,adam ,gielgud--the son of a   
great ,polish  refugee--patriots from   
many lands who had sought our shelter1  
found  their way to that hospitable     
roof4 ,pulski and ,riciotti ,garibaldi  
are  the only other names that recur to 
me1 but there were more and they  were  

all welcome4 ,men of after note in the  
art world and in journalism  came also  
as friends of ,joe's or of his          
sister's--shaken  together with charming
 ,irish and hard-headed ,north country  
cousins4    ,many were the times when   
dinner had been ordered for six1 and    
sixteen  would sit down at the long     
mahogany table1 the polishing of which  
,mrs4  ,carr supervised daily1 laden    
with homely but abundant fare4    ,but  
,joe made many other friends in town who
 never found time to  visit ,clapham4   
,in spite of his recent appointment as  
dramatic critic  to ,the ,echo his new  
friends were less among actors than     
among  painters--,burne-,jones and      
perhaps chiefest just then1 ,rossetti1  
whose friendship he describes himself in
 ,some ,eminent ,victorians4            
,nevertheless he had met ,henry ,irving 
through the son of the ,lyceum  manager1
 ,mr4 ,bateman1 and had often           
passionately praised him4    ,to the    
girl fresh from the small ,english      

colony abroad it was all  vastly        
entertaining1 though ,i did not realize 
then how much of a  figure my betrothed 
already was among the men of his time4  
,even the  gayer part of my             
girlhood--the summers spent at ,s4      
,moritz1 which  my father had           
discovered1 as a homely village in his  
yearly ,alpine  tramp--bore little      
resemblance to ,london excitements4 ,i  
had but rarely  seen the inside of a    
theatre and never a fine ,english actor1
 and my  first vision of ,henry ,irving 
in 8,the ,bells10 is a haunting  memory 
still4    ,this was in ,july1 #ahgc4    
,but this engrossing first season of    
mine had to be interrupted2 for  ,joe1  
having at last obtained a commission    
from one of the dailies for  holiday    
articles which would bring in a sum just
 sufficient to pay  his expenses1 was   
whirled off to the ,engadine by my      
brother to be  introduced to my parents 
as my suitor4    ,in some ways a strange
 meeting on both sides3 to ,joe the     

restrictions  of a parson's home--though
 greatly modified by the manner of  a   
foreign life--must have seemed a        
contrast to the methodical yet          
easy-going ,clapham household2 to my    
parents the reckless courage  of my     
lover's plan of life1 his bold          
enthusiasms and gay  self-confidence    
must have been--to my father1 at all    
events--somewhat  startling4 ,but my    
brother was a bit of an autocrat in the 
family  circle and knew the position    
which ,joe was likely to win in the     
,london  world of letters2 my sister1 a 
very young girl1 kept the ball rolling  
merrily on the lighter side1 while my   
mother quickly discovered deep  points  
of sympathy with her would-be           
son-in-law1 and the two would sit  on   
the terrace of our mountain home1       
looking on the green lake with  the     
snow-capped peaks cleaving an indigo    
sky1 and quote ,wordsworth  contentedly4
 ,to the end of her life they understood
 one another2 but  even my father came  

to recognise the value of a fine        
character above  creeds4 ,certain it is 
that ,joe was as much pleased with the  
,italian  cooking of the maid who sat on
 the sofa with the dish in her hands    
while waiting for him to ask for a      
second helping1 as he was surprised  at 
my brother advising him not to borrow a 
postage stamp when five  minutes later  
my father proposed to settle a small    
yearly sum upon me  which would enable  
us to marry as soon as ,joe had any     
fixed income  whatsoever4    ,as often  
later1 his personality had won1 his     
incurable optimism and  self-confidence 
had inspired the confidence of my       
parents1 and it was  not misplaced4     
,they made the speedy marriage which1 he
 insisted1 could  alone lead him to     
success1 just possible3 economy and     
courage did the  rest--the courage which
 never forsook him4 ,for as ,i look over
 his  letters--written to me in later   
years when some one of his many bold    
ventures had not succeeded like         

another--,i find the cheerful phrase    
recurring3 8,don't be afraid2 there's a 
lot of fight left in me yet40    ,upon  
that--safest and most enduring of all   
incomes--we set sail without  a vestige 
of misgiving upon the sea of life2 and  
,i'm thankful to  say that ,i never was 
8afraid40    ,but it was this early     
marriage that led ,joe for a second     
time1 as he  tells in his               
,reminiscences1 to change his           
profession1 and gradually1  and to the  
distress of his legal friends1 to       
forsake the ,bar for the  more          
immediately remunerative work of        
literature4 ,i well recollect his       
joyful announcement to me of his        
appointment as ,art ,critic to the ,pall
  ,mall ,gazette--the beginning of a    
long period of many-sided association   
with ,frederick ,greenwood2 and that    
slender certainty of income provided    
the condition imposed by my father3 our 
wedding day was fixed4                  
,,chapter ,,iii    ,,marriage      ,we  

were married in ,dresden1 where my      
father had taken a temporary            
chaplaincy4    ,joe had a merry journey 
out from ,england with ,mr4 ,jameson and
 a gentle  but less intellectual friend 
who was to act as best man4    ,i was   
told later of this friend's innocent    
boast of conversion to free  thought and
 of ,joe's quick reply3 8,why1 then1    
you'll have plenty of  time to think40  
,but this sterner remark was not in his 
usual vein1  and much oftener ,i think  
he pleased his two friends by his       
immediate  sympathy with free foreign   
manners1 most especially those of the   
,french1 who always had the first place 
in his affections as contrasted  with   
8bulgy-necked ,germans whose            
poverty-stricken tongue0 forced  them to
 call a thimble a 8finger hat0 and a    
glove a 8hand-shoe10 and  decreed that  
three men must order their baths as     
8drei40 ,i must add  in his defence that
 he never could speak or read the       
language2 it was  his mother wit that   

pulled him through difficulties4 ,once  
when alone  in ,dresden he was driven to
 ask his way in the words of a          
well-known  song and1 even at that time1
 was probably set down as an insolent   
,englishman for the intimate pronoun in 
his 8,kennst du das ,sidonien           
,strasse08    ,what treatment would he  
receive now and how would he take it8   
,but his two friends were ,german       
scholars and good cicerones1 and led    
him safely to the ,hotel de ,saxe on the
 morning of ,december #aeth1 #ahgc1     
where my father married us in the       
presence of a newly arrived ,british    
ambassador4    ,there was some obvious  
raillery1 to which ,joe nimbly          
responded1 in  consequence of that      
pleni-potentiary remarking1 with grim   
humour1 that  he wondered if these      
marriages were really valid2 but the    
gentleman  took the best precautions    
available in requiring the legal part of
  the ceremony to take place on the     
8,british ground0 of his  small1        

temporary hotel room1 and there1 both of
 us kneeling on two  little sofa        
cushions1 the ring was put upon my      
finger4    ,my father1 however1         
naturally wanted to 8finish us off0 in  
the ,english ,church1 and ,i remember my
 shyness when ,i saw the uninvited      
crowd which had assembled there--,i was 
told afterwards to see what a  high-art 
wedding dress would be like6    ,joe    
declared that they expected it to be    
scanty2 if so they must have  been      
disappointed that the folds of my soft  
brocade1 fashioned after my  artist     
sister-in-law's design and approved by  
my husband1 were  much more ample than  
was the mode of the day4    ,how much   
have we changed since the ,morris vogue6
    ,i don't think ,i minded then being 
the centre of observation1 even  though 
,i may have guessed it was fraught with 
adverse criticism--not  wholly1 as ,i   
now think1 undeserved4    ,but in the   
friendly little party that assembled in 
our modest home to  wish us ,god-speed  

there was no adverse criticism1 and we  
went off to  ,leipzig for our honeymoon 
en route for ,england and work1 without 
any  of the fatiguing excitement of a   
society assembly4    ,joe's graceful    
little speech in reply to               
congratulations was  quite the merriest 
note of the simple festivities4    ,i   
daresay the wine at that table was not  
wholly worthy of the palate  for which  
,joe had already acquired a reputation  
among his ,london  friends2 but when we 
reached ,leipzig ,i remember his        
ordering a bottle  of the celebrated    
,johannesberg for our wedding dinner4   
,possibly he may  have told a           
sympathetic bon viveur of this          
afterwards2 anyhow our  first dinner    
invitation on our return to ,london was 
to the house of a  wealthy bachelor who 
produced a bottle of the 7ostensibly7   
same wine  with the dessert4 ,unluckily1
 ,joe1 on being pressed to praise it1   
said  with his usual candour3 8,well1 my
 dear fellow1 you gave us such          

excellent claret during dinner that you 
have spoiled my palate for  this60      
,the laugh that followed compensated for
 an ominous frown on the brow of  our   
rather peppery host1 who was however    
placated by one of the guests  recalling
 an occasion on which ,joe had mortified
 the famous proprietor  of a famous     
eating-house by forcing him to admit a  
mistake in serving1  later in the       
dinner1 an inferior brand of the wine   
supplied at first4    ,two days of lazy 
sight-seeing in the fine old ,german    
town1 and then on  we travelled2 and a  
cold journey we had of it6 ,but ,joe's  
spirits  were equal to every            
contretemps3 even when we were turned   
out at a  dreary frontier junction in   
the middle of the night to await a slow 
train1 although we had paid first class 
fare and had been told there  was no    
change4    ,there was but one other     
passenger in the train--a quiet1 elderly
  ,german1 and when ,i translated to    
,joe the bullying official's  assurance 

that this gentleman had agreed to waive 
his rights if we did  the same1 he made 
me ask our fellow-traveller if this was 
the case4  ,unwarily the gentleman      
admitted that he had been told the same 
thing  of us1 and although ,i was unable
 to put all the epithets which ,joe     
applied to the lying official into      
colloquial ,german1 ,i was buoyed up  to
 persuade the traveller to use some of  
them1 with the result that a  special   
engine and first class carriage took us 
all three on to ,paris  by the morning4 
,perhaps our unknown companion was a    
person in power4    ,but in ,paris fresh
 delays awaited us4 ,when after two     
arduous but  cheerful days of some      
sight-seeing and a good deal of aimless 
and  delightful wandering and strange   
but equally pleasant meals in tiny      
restaurants--we came to the ,gare du    
,nord on our last day1 ,joe found  that 
he had not money enough to pay for      
tickets and luggage1 and we  were       
obliged to return ignominiously to the  

hotel and borrow from our  best         
man--happily for us just arrived there  
on his own homeward route4    ,somehow  
we minded little1 but we reached        
,clapham one day late for the  family   
,christmasing--arriving1 indeed1 when   
the turkey was already  on the table1   
and ,i think it took all ,joe's tact to 
win his  mother's forgiveness4    ,so   
that was the end of our one week's      
wedding trip2 it was back  to work and a
 busy time we had of it till our son    
,philip was about nine  months old4     
,then1 by dint of ,joe's unceasing work 
and my economy  we found that we could  
allow ourselves a journey to ,italy to  
stay with  the various friends of my    
girlhood4    ,we called it our          
honeymoon--a belated one1 like the gift 
of  a portrait-bust of our boy at three 
years old1 which ,joe  chaffed ,miss    
,henrietta ,montalba for presenting to  
us as a  8wedding-present40 ,but none   
the less a honeymoon for that1  though  
not of the conventional and luxurious   

type4    ,many a funny experience       
attended ,joe's efforts to pursue in    
travel the  economy which ,i had sternly
 sought to instil at home1 and ,i am    
afraid  that he never again fully       
resumed the good habit from which he    
then  first broke away4 ,economy was not
 one of his virtues--was he not the  son
 of an ,irish-woman8 ,but1 then1        
generosity was4 ,burne-,jones once      
asked him why he took a cab to drive    
down the ,strand1 and he said it  came  
cheaper1 because if he walked he was    
sure to give half a crown to  some      
former 8stage-hand40 ,yet when another  
day ,burne-,jones himself was  deceived 
by a plausible story and ,joe cried in  
reproof3 8,can't you see  that it's only
 acting80 ,burne-,jones replied3 8,well1
 my dear1 ,i've paid  ten-and-six to see
 worse40    ,but in the days of our     
first foreign trip my extravagant       
husband was  still 8trying to be good40 
,i remember his taking the ,english     
prescription for a sedative to a  small 

chemist on ,lago ,maggiore1 whom he     
described as the alchymist in  ,romeo   
and ,juliet2 but when the dose1 which at
 home represented about  two            
tablespoonfuls1 arrived in a straw      
covered quart 8fiasco10 he  preferred a 
night's toothache to venturing on it4   
,as representing his sympathetic        
understanding of one side of the        
,italian character1 ,i might cite our   
going into the quaintest of  curiosity  
shops in an old town where we had to    
wait at a junction1 and  his tendering a
 cheque in payment of a trifling        
purchase4 ,i am bound  to say he        
confessed afterwards that he had only   
bought me the trinket  in the faint hope
 of getting the change he needed and    
that he was  as surprised as ,i was to  
see the ox-eyed little hunchback unearth
 a  beautiful ancient casket and hand   
him from it the gold required4          
,possibly the timid request having come 
from me in the man's own dialect  may   
have helped to confirm the impression of

 8good faith0 given by  ,joe's candid   
countenance2 but he did naturally count 
on me2 and on a  different occasion when
 he was obstinately trying to drive a   
bargain  with an unwisely grasping      
vetturino1 his delight was great at the 
sudden drop of five francs in the demand
 of the astounded plunderer  upon       
hearing his own vernacular from my      
indignant ,english lips4    ,there were 
many times when ,joe would have none of 
my help4 ,when we  were staying on the  
,riviera he would go every day into the 
town in the  rattling little omnibus    
that plied along the dusty road1        
succeeding  by sheer kindred bonhomie in
 making friends with the drivers and    
rejoicing at the abusive epithet of     
8ugly microbe0 suggested by some  late  
epidemic1 with which they used at the   
time merrily to bombard one  another4   
,his best crony amongst the friends of  
my childhood was the old priest  of our 
,apennine village who had taught me the 
piano when ,i was a little  girl1 in    

exchange--as he always averred--for my  
instruction in my own  tongue4    ,i'm  
afraid his conversational ,english was  
little credit to me  and not much better
 than ,joe's ,italian1 although the old 
man was  a scholar and had taught       
himself enough1 with occasional help    
from my  father1 to read ,shakespeare in
 the original4    ,he pronounced the    
name with every vowel broad and         
separate1 as in his  ,latin2 this was   
easy in that case1 but when he wanted to
 tell which  were his 8four favourite   
poets0--in which list he included       
musicians--he was sore put to it for the
 pronunciation of ,byron1  ,beethoven   
and ,bach4    ,but ,joe taught him more 
than ,i had done at ten years old1 for  
which the  old man upbraided me again as
 he would have done in my baby days4    
,i can see him standing in his shabby   
cassock beneath his pergola with  the   
sun filtering through the vines on to   
the hanging bunches of purple  fruit1   
and shaking his finger at me with mock  

solemnity as of yore4    8,when she was 
four years old she told me ,i spoke     
,english like a  ,spanish cow10 said he1
 quoting a ,genoese proverb4 8,but she  
taught me badly40    ,and then he       
related--what ,i refused at first to    
translate--how he had  had to whip me   
for stealing his currants4    8,grapes  
she might have had--but ,english        
currants1 they require  watering40      
,and grapes we had too1 as many as we   
could devour4 ,in their natural  form   
,joe could pluck and eat them gladly    
too2 but when it came to  the sour wine 
which the ,prevosto had made from them  
and with which  he served him at table1 
,i am bound to confess that my husband  
risked  disgracing me by spilling it on 
the brick floor when his host's  back   
was turned2 and on one occasion he even 
went so far as to pour  a whole half    
fiasco through the little window which  
separated the  refectory from the       
church1 where he bespattered the marble 
pavement  behind the high altar4    ,but

 these delinquencies remained a secret1 
and 8,gi0 became  the old man's loved   
and patient instructor and friend4      
8,tor bay or not tor bay10 ,i seem to   
hear him painfully enunciating3  and    
then ,joe finishing ,hamlet's familiar  
soliloquy in slow1 even tones  as they  
passed up the vineyards4 ,pleasant      
climbs they were through  sweeping      
chestnut-woods and beside trickling     
trout-streams that grew  to rushing     
torrents after a thunderstorm2 climbs   
that ended perhaps at  some mountain    
sanctuary whence the white cities of the
 plain could be  seen beyond a sea of   
gently lowering ridges and crests2 or   
sometimes  only at some hamlet beside   
the stony bed of the wandering river1   
where the old man would bid him wait    
while he mumbled his 8,office0 or  went 
in 8to see an ill0 in one of the        
thatched cottages adorned with  hanging 
fringe of golden maize-cones that       
cluster around the village  fountain4   
,it was here that one evening1 when ,i  

had been my husband's  companion1 the   
village sempstress came forth to greet  
us--she who had  made my own and my     
sister's new cotton frocks on that great
 occasion  when the ,prevosto had begged
 for us1 as the 8cleanest children in   
the  village10 to strew flowers before  
the ,archbishop when he came for the    
,confirmation4    ,i reminded the old   
priest of it and he said3 8,yes1 yes6   
,and the ,archbishop asked if you were  
,protestants and ,i answered            
#8,certainly6 but their parents did not 
refuse because we are  ,catholics3 we   
all pray to the same ,god4'0    ,the    
sempstress was old when ,joe saw her and
 so stout that the great  scissors that 
hung from her vast apron bobbed as she  
moved2 but she was  handsome still and  
gracious with the graciousness of a     
duchess2 ,i well  recollect ,joe's      
comment on it4    ,the laughing girls   
who clustered round us in wonder pinched
 his calves1  perhaps to see if they    
were padded1 though their excuse to old 

,teresa's  sharp and quick reprimand was
 that they only wanted to feel 8the     
beautiful real ,english wool0 of his    
shooting stockings4    ,joe had not     
objected1 but she was not placated1 and 
bade the hussies be  off while she      
invited us into her dwelling4    ,a girl
 sat at the hand-loom1 rapidly moving   
her bare brown feet and  flinging the   
shuttle to and fro for the weaving of   
the sheeting1 a  completed length of    
which lay beside her ready to be        
bleached on the  stones by the river4   
,joe wanted to hear about it from her1  
for her eyes were 8like the  fish pools 
of ,heshbon02 but she jumped up at the  
mistress's  bidding and he lost interest
 in weaving2 ,i think he would even have
  tasted the sour wine which she        
presently brought on a copper tray if ,i
  had not quickly invented a polite     
fiction to the effect that ,englishmen  
never drink anything but tea in the     
afternoon4    ,a slice of chestnut cake 
we were forced to accept from the elder 

woman's hospitable hand as she asked my 
husband's name4 ,i remember the         
charming bow with which she turned to   
him after she had heard it and  said3   
8,o che bel ,san ,guiseppe60 and his    
equally charming recognition  of her    
pretty compliment4    ,irish and        
,italian--there was some subtle affinity
 always between  them--the grave and the
 gay1 the superstitious and the ,pagan1 
as he  said--and he was positively      
confused when she observed that his     
golden  beard and fair1 curling hair    
were just like the ,st4 ,joseph's in    
the ,church4 ,it was a merry run we had 
down through the chestnut woods  and a  
sweet walk by the river in the sunset1  
back to the ,presbytery4    ,graver but 
none the less satisfactory was the      
appreciation given to  him by my old    
nurse1 when we arrived presently in     
,genoa4 ,she was of a  different        
type--refined1 sensitive1 serious even  
to sadness--with the  blight always on  
her of a foundling's ignorance of       

parentage2 but  devoted beyond all words
 and of a rare intelligence3 ,joe was   
impressed  with her and likened her to a
 female ,dante4    ,yet the brighter    
types were more in accordance with his  
holiday mood3  when we were on a visit  
later at a mediaeval castle whose       
battlements  stand sheer above the sea  
and whose olive groves slope to a       
transparent  bay1 he spent all the time 
not occupied by eating figs off the tree
 on  the ,castle keep to playing with   
half-naked brown urchins on the quay of 
the tiny fishing-port below4    ,his    
first acquaintance with one of them was 
at dead of night when we  were alone in 
the weird old place and a hollow bell   
clanged suddenly  through the hot air4  
,joe got out of bed--his chief fear     
being lest the mosquitoes should  take  
the chance to get in under the          
sheltering net--and made his way  down a
 dark1 vaulted passage to the outer     
gateway and what was once  the          
portcullis4 ,a ragged boy stood there   

with a telegram3 it was an  invitation  
which should have been delivered six    
hours before1 but the  boy had walked   
five miles along a cliff in the dark and
 ,joe rewarded  him so well that his    
fame was spread in the village and he   
never more  walked peacefully abroad4   
,the little girls1 however1 were his    
chief pilferers3 he could never  refuse 
their appealing black eyes4 ,and some of
 them were fine  coquettes4 ,i can see  
him now dancing a hornpipe on the quay  
with a  half-clad little maiden who     
presently signed to him to take off his 
hat2 the elaborate bow with which he did
 so1 bidding me apologise to  her for   
the omission1 was worthy of the producer
 of many subsequent  plays4    ,the     
little incident recalls another of later
 date4    ,then it was in the ,engadine 
that we were holiday-making4 ,mr4 and   
,mrs4  ,bancroft--as they then were--had
 invited us to lunch at the ,campfer    
,hotel and we had walked over from ,s4  
,moritz where we were lodged4    ,as we 

came up the path through the pine-wood  
beside the rushing stream  we saw the   
famous little lady standing on the dusty
 road above to  welcome us2 and         
,joe--his hat in his hand this          
time--began advancing  towards her      
executing his hornpipe step4    ,to the 
entranced amazement of a few loungers1  
she picked up her  skirts in the        
prettiest way imaginable and immediately
 responded with  a pas-seul of her      
own--her little feet nimble as ever1    
till the two  met1 laughing             
immoderately1 in the middle of the      
highway just as the  diligence hove in  
sight4          ,,chapter ,,iv    ,,home
 ,,life ,,and ,,dramatic ,,criticism    
,these latter incidents occurred some   
time after #ahgc4 ,when we got  back to 
,england after our ,dresden wedding we  
took up our abode almost  immediately in
 the old ,adams house in ,great ,russell
 ,street4 ,the two  rooms which ,mr4    
,jameson sub-let to us were all that we 
could at first  obtain above the        

,dispensary1 but they were large and    
quite sufficient  for the ,bohemian life
 which was all that we could then       
afford2 anyway  no subsequent home of   
ours was pleasanter and nothing was ever
 again so  little burthensome4    ,at a 
long table by the door of the one large 
dwelling-room the old  couple who had   
been our predecessor's factotums served 
our meals2 and  around the handsome     
,adams chimney-piece at the other end1  
or in the  panelled window-seats looking
 on the restful faade of the ,british   
,museum1 we gathered ,joe's             
friends--they were all ,joe's           
friends--for a  8pipe and a chat40      
,and what chats they were6    ,james    
,sime1 the historian1 kindliest of men  
with his ,teutonic  philosophies and his
 deep ,scottish sentiment and           
enthusiasm2 ,churton  ,collins richly   
capping his host's poetical quotations  
and  sometimes boldly challenged for an 
inaccuracy2 ,w4 ,minto1 afterwards      
,professor of ,literature at ,aberdeen1 

who was just starting his  ,editorship  
of ,the ,examiner1 and pressing ,joe    
into the ranks of his  contributors2    
,camille ,barrre1 now ,french           
,ambassador in ,rome1 but then  a       
,communist refugee earning a living by  
,london journalism1 and of whose        
friendship and instruction in ,french   
,joe tells himself2 ,frederick  ,jameson
 and ,beatty ,kingston with their       
friends at piano and violin1  to say    
nothing of the colleagues with whom my  
husband had just become  associated in  
his work on ,the ,globe and of whom he  
again tells in his  ,eminent            
,victorians4    ,dare ,i recall the     
evening when my husband proudly named me
 to ,minto as  the writer of a little   
descriptive article which he had read in
 the  ,pall ,mall ,gazette and the      
consequent suggestion that ,i should do 
the  series of ,italian sketches for    
,the ,examiner which were afterwards    
reprinted in a volume with ,randolph    
,caldecott's illustrations4    ,of      

course ,i should never have done even as
 much without their kindly              
encouragement1 but to the end of his    
life ,i think a good review of any      
small effort of mine pleased ,joe far   
more than one on his own serious  work4 
,but ,i must admit criticism affected   
him little--never when it was  adverse  
and1 in fact1 only when it showed real  
insight4    ,in his own merry manner he 
would say3 8,people always mean blame   
when  they talk of criticism4 ,but ,i   
can blame myself2 all ,i want from      
others is praise--fulsome praise40 ,and 
so it was6 ,he had the need of it  which
 came of the ,celtic blend of           
self-confidence and apprehensiveness4   
,often have ,i heard him say of another 
of like blood3 8,he couldn't  swim      
across the stream if he hadn't our      
native conceit40 ,and then add  gravely3
 8,believe me1 praise is the only sort  
of criticism that ever  helped a man on 
his road40    ,and in his own           
opportunities as critic and editor he   

always acted up to  this belief4    ,in 
these rosy days of our early struggles  
and joys1 the 8first  nights0 at which  
,joe was due in his capacity of dramatic
 critic  were red-letter days to me4    
,the occasion when ,ellen ,terry first  
played ,portia under the ,bancroft      
management of the famous little ,house  
in ,tottenham ,court ,road was  one of  
them2 ,i can see her again in her       
china-blue and white brocade  dress with
 one crimson rose at her bosom4 ,neither
 the fashion of the  dress or of the    
coiffure were perhaps as correct to the 
period as the  costumes which ,i        
designed for her later on for the better
 remembered  run of ,the ,merchant of   
,venice at the ,lyceum2 but how lovely  
she  looked and how emphatically ,joe   
picked her out as the evening's  star   
beside ,coghlan's ,jew6 ,our hearts beat
 with pride at the  laurels often       
gathered by our friend1 even in those   
early days before  her long list of     
triumphs with ,henry ,irving2 and ,joe1 

as we made our  way home1 took some     
credit to himself for the vehement      
advice as to  her resuming her          
temporarily suspended career1 which he  
had given her  a short while before4    
,there were never any first-nights quite
 like the  ,ellen ,terry ones to us2 but
 there were many pleasant and exciting  
evenings--notably the nights of         
,irving's remarkable performances  at a 
time when he was playing under the      
,bateman management in ,the  ,bells1    
,the ,two ,roses1 and many other of his 
early successes2 also  the famous runs  
of ,robertson comedies at the little    
,prince of ,wales  theatre1 where the   
charming ,marie ,bancroft was at the top
 of her long  popularity and ,john      
,hare's delicate impersonations vied    
with his  manager's carefully studied   
portraits of the dandy of the day4      
,mrs4 ,kendal was also then at the      
height of her brilliant career1 and     
last but not least1 the first           
performances of the ,gilbert and        

,sullivan  operas were nights when the  
privilege of seats was not easily won4  
,i can recall the first performance of  
,iolanthe1 and the laughter that  shook 
the house when the wild applause at the 
close of the chorus3  8,oh6 ,captain    
,shaw1 true type of love kept under10 at
 last  brought the ,head of the ,fire   
,brigade to the front of his box for an 
instant4    ,yet all our first nights   
were not 8great nights10 when--as a     
fellow-critic once remarked to          
,joe--8,strong men shook hands with     
strangers40 ,sometimes they were even   
dull2 on one occasion so much so  as to 
draw from one of the critics an         
unusually caustic bit of advice3  8,we  
are told that so-and-so is a promising  
young actor10 he wrote1  8personally ,i 
don't care how much he promises so long 
as he never again  performs40    ,for my
 part ,i confess that the theatre was   
still so new to me that ,i  looked      
forward to any first night with pleasant
 palpitation1 though  my best frock was 

no doubt reserved for the choicest      
prospects4 ,but  to ,joe1 possibly the  
duty of writing the prescribed amount on
 a  thoroughly poor piece grew irksome2 
and when1 as on the occasion of  the    
production of ,f4 ,c4 ,burnand's ,the   
,colonel1 his friends and  their serious
 work were the butt of boisterous       
hilarity1 ,i know his  loyalty found it 
difficult not to retort1 as he          
apparently did in the  article alluded  
to in the following correspondence4     
,it must have been written at the moment
 when the campaign against  so-called   
8high art0 was at its zenith1 and had   
amused the  public as it would probably 
not do to-day2 ,i should not quote it1  
but  for the urbane humour of ,joe's    
rejoinder to the 7temporarily7  incensed
 author4      ,feb4 #bb1 #ahha4         
8,,dear ,,carr1     ,i have heard that  
you do the ,saturday ,review theatrical 
criticisms4   ,did you do that on ,the  
,colonel8 if so ,i am anxious to know if
   you ever read ,un ,mari  la          

,campagne2 also to ask where the puns   
are in my piece8 ,i admit three1 put in 
carefully into the right   peoples'     
mouths--the right puns in the right     
places4     ,why is it a farce8 ,unless 
,she stoops to ,conquer is a farce4     
,where   are the evidences of high      
animal spirits in my play8 ,i don't     
pretend to quote your article verbatim  
but this is my impression of   its      
purport4 ,had ,i known at the time that 
it was your writing ,i should   have    
tackled you at once2 first because ,i   
think you are wrong1 second   because if
 you are not1 ,i am1 and ,i wish to be  
put right4 ,i should   like to hear your
 suggestions for the improvement of ,act
 ,,iii4 where   you think ,i have       
bungled #8into seriousness4'     ,i     
shouldn't have taken the trouble to     
write if ,i hadn't   been told that you 
were the critic who in a friendly way   
pooh-pooh'd the notion of ,the ,colonel 
being a comedy4 ,i   am aware that ,dr4 
,johnson set down ,she stoops1 etc4 as a

 farce1   and farcical to a degree its  
plot is1 but not its characters4   ,the 
,colonel ,i contend is comedy--farcical 
neither in plot nor   characters4       
,yours truly1    ,f4 ,c4 ,,burnand      
7anxious to learn740      #ai1          
,,blandford ,,square1 ,n4,w41           
,february #bdth1 #ahha4      8,,dear    
,,burnand1     ,i do not as a rule write
 the ,dramatic ,criticism for the       
,saturday   ,review1 only when the      
regular critic is away2 but you are     
right in   supposing that ,i am the     
author of the article on ,the ,colonel4 
,your letter was a surprise to me4 ,i   
liked ,the ,colonel and thought ,i   had
 said as much3 but ,i liked it in my own
 way and ,i am not going to   be bullied
 out of my admiration by the modesty of 
the author4     ,i thought it a brightly
 written farce with a rather weak last  
act4 ,you   tell me1 and of course you  
ought to know1 that it is not a farce   
but a   comedy3 but if ,i were to adopt 
your classification ,i should not like  

it at all1 and ,i want to like it if you
 will let me--in my own way4     ,you   
ask where the puns are and in the same  
breath you tell me where   they are4    
,there are three of them you say1 and   
they are all in the   right places4 ,but
 ,i never hinted1 my dear fellow1 that  
they were not   in the right places4 ,on
 the contrary it was your gravity not   
your   humour ,i found to be in the     
wrong place4 ,you ask me again where are
   the evidences of high animal spirits 
in your play2 after your letter ,i      
shall begin to doubt my recollections1  
but ,i had certainly thought the        
interest of the play was mainly         
supported by its high spirits4 ,to be   
able to keep a wildly extravagant notion
 alive for the space of three   acts1   
demands ,i think an ample supply of     
animal spirits4 ,but is it a   crime to 
have high animal spirits8 ,i thought it 
was only the gloomy   apostle of high   
art who loathed hilarity4     ,i haven't
 the faintest objection to your tackling

 me1 as you   call it1 but you must give
 me leave to speak freely4 ,when ,i hear
 you   say that ,the ,colonel is        
farcical neither in plot nor characters1
 ,i   begin seriously to wonder whether 
your letter is not altogether a form    
of practical joke4     ,i will not let  
myself be diverted by your allusions to 
,she ,stoops to   ,conquer4 ,the        
suggested resemblance had not1 ,i       
confess1 occurred to   me2 there seem to
 me many differences between the two    
works but this   is rather a question   
for posterity4     ,if1 however1 you    
insist on taking ,goldsmith into your   
skiff it will   not be thought          
presumption on my part if ,i choose my  
place in ,dr4   ,johnson's heavier      
craft4 ,i would prefer1 however1 to take
   your own account of your work4 ,not  
farcical in plot or character6   ,surely
 your career as a humourist has been fed
 by the rarest and most   delightful    
experience1 if it has brought you into  
contact with the   kind of man who would

 be driven to the verge of immorality by
 a dado6   ,no1 ,i can't think you      
serious60    ,here my copy--the rough   
one of the letter sent--comes to an end2
 and ,i  have not ,f4 ,c4 ,burnand's    
further reply4    ,but it is good to    
remember that there was never any breach
 between  the friends2 ,i find a        
scenario by ,burnand for a children's   
,christmas play--evidently sent to ,joe 
about the time when he produced         
,buchanan's version of the ,pied ,piper 
of ,hamlin at the ,comedy  ,theatre with
 ,lena ,ashwell--still a student at the 
,royal ,academy of  ,music--acting and  
singing the girl's part4    ,and from a 
much later period ,i can quote the      
following further proof of  unimpaired  
friendship in a letter written to thank 
,joe for having been  largely           
instrumental in getting up the dinner   
given to ,burnand on his  withdrawal    
from the editorship of ,punch4          
,,grosvenor ,,hotel1    ,,london1       
,s4,w41    ,june #aath1 #aiaa4          

8,,my ,,dear ,,carr1     ,i cannot thank
 you sufficiently for all you have done 
in this matter   which would never have 
resulted in the great success it        
undoubtedly   achieved but for the first
 generous impetus which set the ball in 
motion1 and for the continued well      
directed shoves that kept it   rolling4 
,without your speech the entertainment  
would have been comparatively   flat2   
but your speech opened a fresh bottle   
and infused a fresh life4      ,yours   
most sincerely1    ,f4 ,c4 ,,burnand40  
,apropos of ,lena ,ashwell1 ,i may say  
that ,joe was then so much struck  with 
her talent for acting that he persuaded 
her to leave the musical  profession1   
for which she was being trained1 and    
gave her the part of  ,elaine in his    
,king ,arthur1 shortly afterwards       
produced by ,henry  ,irving at the      
,lyceum ,theatre4    ,i set down these  
trivial memories as they recur to me1   
sprinkled over  many a year of work and 
of anxieties1 but of much merriment and 

many  joys4 ,but1 taking up the thread  
of the first year of our married life1  
,i recall an amusing incident which bore
 some pleasant consequences4    ,joe1 as
 was often the case1 had sat up writing 
his dramatic criticism  after ,i1 tired 
with the still thrilling excitement of  
some 8first  night10 had gone to bed4   
,he had posted his article and was      
sleeping the sleep of the just1 when    
our hoary retainer mercilessly awakened 
him early next morning with the  words3 
8,gentleman on business1 ,sir60    ,he  
donned a dressing-gown and went down    
none too willingly1 to find an  unknown 
little ,scot below1 who briefly stated  
that he was empowered by  the           
proprietors of some ,encyclopaedia to   
offer him a goodly fee for  a short life
 of--,i think it was--,rossetti2 but    
that owing to another  writer having    
disappointed the ,editor at the eleventh
 hour the copy  must be delivered in    
three days4    ,joe was full of work1   
but the sum was too princely to be      

refused by a  man who knew that shortly 
he would have to feed an extra mouth2   
the  impossible was achieved1 there was 
not even time to see a proof--and ,i    
well remember ,joe1 when telling his    
tale to a friend1 confessing his  relief
 that he had never come across that     
volume1 and could only hope  that no one
 else ever had either4    ,the cheque1  
at all events1 he did see1 and with a   
part of it we went  to ,derbyshire for  
our first country holiday4 ,and a wild1 
happy holiday  it was6    ,we lodged in 
the roughest of cottages in a tiny      
village near the ,isaac  ,walton ,hotel1
 where ,joe had contrived to get some   
fishing rights4 ,with  what enthusiasm  
did he show me the haunts of his boyish 
holidays1 the  scenes of fishing        
adventures and of great walks with early
 comrades6    ,but that cheque from the 
,scottish publishers contributed to     
other  things besides a holiday4 ,in the
 ,november of that year our son1        
,philip1  was born4 ,strange now to     

think that he1 who was in ,france       
throughout  the ,great ,war1 should have
 had a ,german for his first nurse1 and 
that  before he could speak he could hum
 many a ,volkslied--an accomplishment   
which his proud nurse and mother made   
him show off to our musical  friend1    
,mr4 ,jameson1 who indeed even insisted 
on testing his intonation  on the piano4
    ,other distinguished folk gathered  
around his cradle in the big studio4  ,i
 can see ,ellen ,terry nursing him in   
one of the wainscoted window-seats  and 
so apparently carelessly in one arm     
while she made wide gestures  with the  
other to emphasize some point she was   
discussing with my  husband--that ,i1   
nervous young mother1 was forced to cry 
out at last3  8,oh1 ,nell6 ,take care of
 my baby40    ,upon which she1 in a tone
 of commiserating reproof1 replied3     
8,now1 ,alice1 do you suppose ,i need   
teaching how to hold a  child80         
,anyone who has seen her do it--even on 
the stage--knows very well that  she did

 not4    ,so the discussion went on and 
,i even remember the subject3 for it was
  just when she was weighing the offer  
of a fresh engagement on the  stage1    
upon which she had only then appeared in
 extreme youth4 ,joe gave  his advice   
emphatically1 though he had never seen  
her act then and did  not know upon what
 a future that door would open4    ,the 
opportunity was to be the production of 
her old friend ,charles  ,reade's       
,wandering ,heir4 ,the caste was not    
strong1 and it was  not wonderful that  
8,nell0 scored a success2 but ,i think  
,joe saw more than most people in that  
first night at the ,queen's  ,theatre   
when he rushed out between the acts and 
returned with a rather  damaged bouquet1
 the only one left in ,covent ,garden1  
which he presently  threw at her feet4  
,it was the first of many a 8first      
night0 when he watched  her--critical1  
as it was his business to be1 but       
sympathetic and  enthusiastic always4   
,there was no limit to his praise1 for  

instance1 of  her pathetic portrayal of 
,ophelia3 nor of his immediate          
appreciation  of that moment in her     
otherwise tender impersonation of       
,olivia  in ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield   
when she strikes the young ,squire on   
discovering his treachery4 ,but these   
were only two out of many  thrilling    
8first nights0 of her earlier           
engagements when  ,i sat beside him1 my 
perfect enjoyment not even hampered1 as 
in later  years at the ,lyceum1 by my   
anxiety respecting the proper finishing 
and  donning of the dresses which ,i had
 designed for her4    ,but that day in  
,great ,russell ,street1 even ,joe1     
always nervous about  the children1     
thought more of our first born4 ,to me  
her reproof  had been convincing2 ,i    
never again feared ,ellen ,terry as the 
safe  and tender guardian of my         
children2 indeed she first taught me    
much delicate observation of infants1   
but ,joe--often terrified  about        
them--believed in no advice save that of

 his mother1 who had  borne thirteen and
 reared eleven2 yet upon one point my   
shrewd  ,irish mother-in-law1 with her  
always wise but sometimes wittily       
caustic advice1 and the more indulgent  
artist were agreed1 viz4  that--as our  
country butcher delighted ,joe by saying
 about his  live 8meat0--babies1 though 
disciplined1 should be 8humoured  not   
druv40    ,although nervous in moments  
of crisis ,joe was1 however1 always calm
 and  competent2 but he generally       
managed to relieve the situation with   
his  own irrepressible spirits at the   
earliest possible moment1 and many a    
comic tale hangs round the strange      
doings of an incapable old ,gamp who    
tended me at the birth of my second     
child4    ,he would lure her with the   
seemingly innocent question3 8,sweetened
 or  unsweetened gin1 ,mrs4 ,peveril80  
knowing well that the spirit was needed 
for friction and that 8,peveril of the  
,peak0 7otherwise hook-nosed7 as  he had
 named her1 would 8rise0 every time and 

answer demurely3 8,i'm  sure ,i don't   
know1 ,sir4 ,i never tasted neither40   
,luckily the old lady was neither sharp 
enough to see nor thin-skinned  enough  
to mind2 but who ever minded ,joe's wit8
 ,though it was keen  enough at times1  
the urbanity behind it shone through too
 well4    ,even his wife was a willing  
target--and a good one4 ,as ,edward     
,burne-,jones used kindly to say when   
they had both tried me on their         
favourite theme and taken me in over a  
,dickens quotation3 8,there  never was  
anybody who rose better than the dear   
lady40 ,yet ,i  maintain that it needs a
 profound student of the master to know 
that he  has created an obscure         
character named 8,pip10 other than  the 
human boy in ,great ,expectations4      
,well1 many is the bon mot to which ,i  
helped my husband4    ,when ,i declared 
myself nervous over my part in private  
theatricals at  my father's house in    
,canterbury1 ,i can hear him say3 8,you 
are surely not bothering your head about

 two half-pay officers and a  rural     
dean80    ,and one day at a picnic1     
commenting on a criticism of a sturdy   
,irish uncle as to 8not wanting these   
slight figures at all1  at all10 ,joe   
gave me the sound advice not to sit upon
 a rock  8lest diamond cut diamond40    
,we were all young then and things that 
may seem truly foolish now made  the    
company laugh2 it is more remarkable    
that the radiant personality1  the      
inexhaustible animal spirits and rare   
sense of humour should  have survived   
years of hard work and still have shone 
forth after the  prostration of illness4
    ,when scarcely recovered from a     
serious attack1 ,joe told me  one       
morning of a dream that he had had1     
which--as ,mr4 ,w4 ,j4  ,locke has      
remarked--contained such a 8lightning   
flash of  characterization0 that it is  
hard to believe it came to him in       
sleep4    8,i dreamed10 he said1 8that  
,squire ,bancroft brought  me some      
grapes10 and as he removed the paper    

from the basket he said1  8,white1 ,joe2
 when the case is serious ,i never bring
 black40    ,all through his illness1   
when increasing weakness and the        
inconveniences arising from the ,great  
,war forced him to an uncongenial  life 
at sea-side resorts1 his wit still      
bubbled up unbidden1 as the  following  
letter testifies4 ,the boarding-house in
 which it was written  did not afford   
exactly sympathetic society1 yet on the 
,christmas  ,day that we spent there he 
offered to give the company a little    
8talk0 if they cared to listen2 and from
 his armchair1 he  chatted for half an  
hour to a crowded lounge on the eminent 
men whom  he had known1 interspersed    
with many a flash of fun appropriate to 
the  hour and received with bursts of   
laughter by the simple circle4    8 444 
,we are comfortable enough here10 he    
wrote to his  daughter1 8and there is   
entertainment furnished by some of the  
types1 both in their physique and in    
their intellectual equipment4 ,some  of 

the older females are designed and      
constructed with 8dangerous  salients in
 their lines10 everything occurring in  
unexpected  places1 and only dimly      
suggesting the original purpose of the  
,creator4  ,one or two are of stupendous
 girth with hollows and protuberances   
that  suggest some primeval landscape   
subjected to volcanic action40    ,thus 
with the same humorous and kindly eye on
 the world as when he  had been the     
welcome entertainer of a more brilliant 
society1 he  lightened the days--very   
heavy to him--of national anxiety1 and  
with a  contentment rather wonderful in 
the typical ,londoner1 alternated the   
few possible hours of patient literary  
labour with a cheerful delight  in the  
beauties of the place4    8,i wonder if 
the present difficulty in getting out of
 ,england  will make us appreciate it   
better10 he said as we stood one        
evening on the pier looking towards old 
,hastings4 8,if we were  abroad we      
should say that medieval castle against 

the sunset was a  wondrous fine sight40 
,so did he still exemplify his life-long
 belief often expressed in the  words3  
8,how can people be dull when they're   
alive80          ,,chapter ,v           
,,journalism ,,and ,,letters      ,my   
husband has given some account of his   
days at the ,bar in his own             
,reminiscences4 ,i shall1 therefore1 not
 touch on that part of his  career1 as  
it was practically ended before ,i knew 
him--the necessity of  earning daily    
grist for the mill having carried him   
entirely into the  ranks of journalism4 
,i believe he got through a quite       
unusual amount of work in that          
profession4 ,many an evening did ,i put 
back our little dinner while  he rushed 
off to ,euston to give his copy of ,art 
,criticism for the  ,manchester         
,guardian into the hands of the guard   
for early morning  delivery3 he wrote on
 the same subject for the ,pall ,mall   
,gazette and  the ,art ,journal1 and    
what with criticism and social articles 

for the  ,saturday ,review and ,world1  
he was never in bed till long after     
midnight4    ,it must have been about   
this time that he took me with him to   
,paris for  a short so-called holiday   
while he wrote his criticism for the    
,pall  ,mall ,gazette on the ,salon of  
the year4    ,a gladsome time it was in 
that most smiling of cities in spring4  
,there  was a day on which a cry of     
dismay arose from our party--including  
his  fellow-worker and old friend1 ,adam
 ,gielgud with his wife--when a letter  
arrived from ,edmund ,yates refusing to 
let ,joe off his weekly article in  the 
series of ,skits on the ,london         
newspapers which were then attracting   
attention in the ,world--,i think the   
topic for that week was ,the ,old  ,maid
 of ,journalism 78,the ,spectator07 and 
perhaps that dignified lady  received a 
more caustic drubbing than she would    
otherwise have had  because of the      
distaste with which he set to his task4 
,cheerful meals in the humblest of      

restaurants--whenever we could run  to  
it1 in the excellent ,caf ,gaillon--now 
the fashionable ,henry1 but  then of far
 simpler ambitions2 merry meetings at   
the house of that good  comrade of      
,joe's of whom he tells the tale of     
exchanged ,french  and ,english lessons 
at ,kettner's restaurant in ,london1 and
  lastly a gorgeous feast in the        
suburban home of a fellow contributor   
to ,l',art1 to both of which festivities
 my sister1 ,mrs4  ,harrison--then ,alma
 ,strettell--was bidden as being of our 
party4    ,both occasions were a        
pleasant peep into ,parisian bourgeois  
life4 ,our  first host was eager to show
 that he could give us a gigot of mutton
  as well roasted as in ,london1 and    
sorely crestfallen was the poor  man    
when the little joint came to table     
black as a cinder and blue  when cut4   
,joe quickly made capital out of the    
catastrophe1 however1  by declaring that
 one didn't come to ,paris to eat home  
fare1  and that it served his friend    

right for putting his cook to such an   
unworthy task4    ,our second           
entertainment1 though we did not meet   
such intellectual  company as the       
distinguished writers on the ,temps and 
the ,dbats1  who so courteously helped  
,joe to express brilliant ideas in      
daringly  lame ,french and paid such    
charming court to my sister and myself1 
was more typical of its class2 for1     
although the young couple of the  house 
were our entertainers1 the old couple   
were our hosts1 and it was  wondrous and
 delightful to see the respectful       
attitude of the son and  his wife to the
 parents and the undisputed supremacy   
which they held  from their two ends of 
the long table set out under the trees  
of the  flower-laden ,may4    ,a rushing
 week it was1 into which my sister and  
,i crammed much  enthralling shopping4  
,i can see now ,joe's reproachful face  
at the door  of the caf where we had    
kept him waiting half an hour for       
djeuner  after his hot and tiring       

morning's work at the ,salon4 ,i made a 
shameless excuse to the effect that we  
had secured many 8occasions0            
7bargains74 ,and as ,i gave him a       
toothbrush which he had asked me to     
buy1 he said3 8,is this an #8occasion'  
too8 ,i'd rather have a punctual  meal  
than an occasional toothbrush60         
,merry hours but very far from idle     
ones1 and he reaped an additional  and  
unexpected reward for his labours when  
we got home4    ,we had been bidden to a
 cricket match at his old school the day
 after  our return1 where1 in virtue of 
his old rank of ,captain of the ,eleven1
  he was to play as a visitor2 and ,i   
seem to see the boyish blush of         
satisfaction with which he told his     
beloved master--,dr4 ,birkbeck          
,hill--that it was he and no            
leader-writer on the ,times1 as was     
rumoured1 who was writing those humorous
 articles on the newspapers for  the    
,world4    ,my husband has told so much 
of the tale of his early journalistic   

days  in his ,eminent ,victorians that  
,i find little to add2 but ,i remember  
a curious incident in the fine old room 
at ,great ,russell ,street when  ,george
 ,hake--,dante ,gabriel ,rossetti's     
secretary--came one day1  ostensibly 8on
 his own10 to have a talk with him on   
the  series of papers on painters of the
 day1 appearing above the signature  of 
8,ignotus10 but of which the authorship 
had leaked out4    ,joe has told1 in    
,coasting ,bohemia1 of the rift in his  
friendship with  ,rossetti over these   
articles1 and a sad tale it is4 ,mr4    
,hake fancied  that ,rossetti would like
 to see his friend's bride1 but1 alas6  
he was taking too much on himself1 for  
the visit never came off4 ,but          
,rossetti was at that time already an   
invalid and was not to be counted  upon4
    ,it must have been some time after  
this that the ,french proprietors of    
that luxurious publication1 ,l',art1    
invited ,joe to run a ,london  office   
for its sale1 in connection with which  

he afterwards started  an ,english      
version--,art and ,letters--edited and  
largely written by  himself4    ,many   
funny incidents group themselves around 
the person of the ,french  proprietor1  
whose ,english1 though insistently      
fluent1 was of the  lamest1 and ,i think
 ,joe sometimes led him on in the       
expectation of some  pleasant           
malapropism4    8,how are you now80 he  
would ask1 when the poor gentleman had  
8suffered  the sea40    8,only 'alf and 
'alf1 my friend10 the ,frenchman would  
reply4 8,but ,i  must back tonight4 ,i  
make my trunk at four40 ,and his apt    
mots on the  super-sensitive            
lady-assistant who 8always begin to tear
 for nothing0  and 8forgive never man   
that he 'ave not married her0 afforded  
,joe  continual delight4    ,but a      
courtlier host than that ,frenchman     
never existed4 ,he would  entertain us  
royally at the old ,maison ,dore when we
 went to ,paris  though he ate but      
little himself and always preferred the 

humbler ,caf  ,duval2 so little1 in     
fact1 was he in accord with most men of 
his nation  upon the food question that1
 when ,joe gave him the usual fish      
dinner at  ,greenwich1 he was naturally 
dismayed at the explanation1 after      
several  courses had been passed by1 of 
8,mon ami1 je ne mange jamais du        
poisson40    ,art and ,letters1 though  
an artistic was not a financial success1
  but it may have led to the one of his 
many adventures of which he  was perhaps
 the most proud3 the planning and       
editing1 at the request  of ,messrs4    
,macmillan1 of their beautiful magazine1
 the ,english  ,illustrated4    ,he has 
spoken so well himself of his pleasant  
intercourse with the men  who worked for
 him--struggling men in those days but  
known to fame  since--that there is     
little left for me to record1 save to   
note that  among the many tributes from 
his many friends ,i prize not least     
those  of his collaborators of that     
time1 with the oft-repeated testimony to

  his having helped them to the         
first-rung on the ladder of success4    
,mr4 ,stanley ,weyman1 whose first book1
 ,the ,house of the ,wolf1 was          
published in those pages1 comes first to
 my mind1 and those who  have read my   
husband's ,eminent ,victorians will     
recollect  the striking proof of the    
accuracy of his critical faculty in the 
incident of ,mr4 ,weyman's bringing him 
two letters--written  with an interval  
of many years--in which he criticized a 
play of  that brilliant novelist's in   
almost identical words1 although  the   
first letter was written openly to the  
author and the second--in  forgetfulness
 of the fact--to a theatrical agent who 
had not divulged  the playwright's name4
    ,robert ,louis ,stevenson was one of
 his cherished contributors1 and ,i     
recall an angry rebuke from that great  
man to the ,editor1 who had  dared to   
strike out a word in the title of one of
 his articles at the  moment of going to
 press2 it is pleasant to add that a    

placated and  highly amused reply       
followed on ,joe's deft and short method
 of  extricating himself from the       
position3 8,my dear ,stevenson--,you    
see1 ,i knew that the extra word was a  
slip of the pen10 he wrote1  8for ,i    
should as soon have expected you to talk
 of female bitches  as of male dogs4    
,yours etc40    ,sir ,james ,barrie     
wrote one of his early essays for the   
,english  ,illustrated ,magazine1 and in
 a kindred branch of the adventure--that
  of illustration--,mr4 ,hugh ,thomson  
was discovered by ,joe--a poor ,irish   
lad living on the scanty pay of         
advertisements for a business firm1  and
 devoting all his leisure to flights of 
fancy in the most delicate  realms of   
the humorous eighteenth century subjects
 in which he has  always excelled4 ,joe 
confessed to me on the day when the boy 
sought an  interview1 with his portfolio
 under his arm1 that he did not at first
  believe he had done the drawings      
himself4 ,but he gave him a subject1    

and when he returned with it after a day
 or two his doubts were set  at rest1   
and he offered him the post which he    
held for so long with  distinction4     
,the relations between editor and artist
 were always affectionate and ,i  have  
two letters from the latter--one to ,joe
 and one to myself--full  of a touching 
gratitude such as perhaps only an       
,irishman could have  expressed4 ,the   
one quoted below is of later date4      
#bg1 ,,perham ,,road1    ,,west         
,,kensington1    ,february #eth1 #aiji4 
,,dear ,,mr4 ,,comyns ,,carr1     ,it is
 only now that we have contrived to get 
a reading of your   delightful book     
8,some ,eminent ,victorians10 and it has
   literally staggered me 7with delight7
 to find myself in such company4   ,i so
 rarely see a soul that ,i was entirely 
ignorant1 and never dreamt   of it4 ,we 
had of course read such reviews of the  
book as came our way   and had rejoiced 
in the whole-hearted pleasure with which
 the notices   were charged but we never

 suspected that in a corner of the book 
you   had propped me up4 ,my wife is    
more than ever confirmed in her opinion 
that you are the most delightful author 
that ever lived1 and she is   already   
looking forward1 frugally1 to the time  
when the libraries will   be selling off
 their soiled copies of books when she  
hopes to secure   ,some ,eminent        
,victorians and ,,me for her very own4  
,possibly you might   think it forward  
in me if ,i told you what a genuine     
delight it is to   read the book for the
 way it is written4 ,your pages on      
,bright and the   orators are as        
eloquent as they4 ,but it is all the    
most entertaining   book we have read   
for ages4 ,below is a memory of the     
famous interview   you had with the     
suspicious character from ,ireland4 ,i  
think ,i have   caught the bannisters   
well1 as also ,lacour waiting outside4  
,your delighted    ,,hugh ,,thomson4    
,so much for the affectionate reverence 
in which one held him who was  starting 

life's race when that 8famous interview0
 took place4 ,joe was  comparatively    
young himself then1 but as the years    
went on there were  many of greater     
disparity in age1 who did not fail to   
pay him the same  tribute2 indeed1 ,i   
don't think there was ever any sense of 
difference  in this respect between him 
and the many good comrades in many      
classes  of society who rejoiced to work
 with him because he always lightened   
labour with kindness and good           
humour--who rejoiced to play with him   
because he was never afraid of1 or at a 
loss for1 the right word at  the right  
moment1 were it grave or gay1           
appreciative or pungent as the  occasion
 required4    ,he was always the        
encourager1 never the discourager1 of   
sincere and  patient effort3 bombast and
 a pandering to mere popularity1 he     
could  censure with words of biting wit1
 but he never laughed at those who  sent
 their arrows at the moon though he knew
 well enough that such  might not       

achieve financial prosperity4 ,his      
unfaltering advice was  always that     
everyone should stick to what he best   
loved to do4    8,my dear10 ,i remember 
his saying to me one day1 when ,i had   
tried and signally failed to write a    
popular farce1 8it takes a  more        
competent fool than you to know just    
what kind of foolishness the  public    
wants4 ,don't you be put off what you   
can do because you  fancy it is not what
 they want40    ,and in a letter written
 perhaps in a more serious spirit to one
 often  oppressed by a sense of failure 
,i find the words3 8,there is no  such  
thing as failure--excepting the failure 
to see and love the beauty  of life40   
,these are among the graver memories of 
him3 his generation will  remember him  
most readily for what ,sir ,james       
,barrie1 writing to me  of him as 8a man
 for whom ,i had a mighty admiration10  
appreciatively  describes as 8his       
positive genius for conversation40 ,the 
latter word is  so apt because it       

perceives that the ,celtic gift of      
repartee was the  most finely pointed of
 his arrows3 he was generally at his    
best when  some might have fancied that 
he was going to be non-plussed4    ,one 
day he told me of a dinner at which     
,king ,edward ,,vii41 then ,prince  of  
,wales1 was the honoured guest4 ,someone
 had whispered to the ,prince  that my  
husband was a ,radical1 and he1 turning 
to him1 asked if such a  thing could be 
true4    8,i am a ,radical1 ,sir10      
replied ,joe1 and after a  little pause 
added3 8but ,i never mention it in      
respectable  society40    ,the table was
 silent for an instant1 but the ,prince 
led the way with a  laugh and all was   
well4    ,a funny little incident1 told 
me in the small hours when ,joe came    
home1  described the dire discomfiture  
of one of his greatest admirers when1   
having invited him to supper that he    
might silence 8a conceited young  ass0  
by his superior wit1 the 8conceited     
young ass0 so fancied himself  as to    

monopolize the whole conversation3 this 
fiasco1 though not to  his own          
glorification1 caused ,joe infinite     
delight2 but the disgusted  host was    
only consoled after he had arranged a   
duel for my husband with  ,robert       
,marshall1 the playwright1 a recognised 
wit--the condition being  that neither  
should think before speaking3 ,i        
consider that here an  unfair advantage 
was taken--any one who was a friend of  
,joe's knowing  full well that this was 
just the whip of which he loved the     
lash4 ,be it  added that this tilt      
between the two knights cemented their  
friendship4    ,a host of these         
incidents took place in his well-loved  
,garrick ,club1 of  which--by the       
testimony of many friends--he was the   
heart and soul and  some add the good   
genius4 ,i believe there were quarrels  
not a few that  he averted or headed by 
his tact and kindly humour--quarrels    
that might  sometimes have led to       
sorrowful decisions by the ,club        

,committee to  which he belonged4 ,he   
told me one day of a humorous end to an 
earnest  expostulation he had held with 
poor ,harry ,kemble--greatly beloved in 
spite of his known weakness3 8,every    
word you say is true1 my  dear ,joe10   
the actor had replied with the tears    
streaming down  his great cheeks--8but  
what if ,i like it80    ,it is good to  
remember that that colossal figure--of  
which our  daughter1 seeing it on the   
stage when she was a child1 asked       
tremulously1 8,is it a human            
being80--remained to the end an         
honoured institution of the ,club4      
,of ,joe's tactful capacity as a        
peacemaker ,i was a witness at the  home
 of my mother's family--the beautiful   
,gothic ,abbey of ,bisham  near ,marlow4
 ,we were staying with my cousin1       
,george ,vansittart1 who  was then the  
owner4 ,he was the kindest of men1 but  
had a peppery and  ill-controlled       
temper1 and nothing so inflamed it as   
the growing habit  with trippers on the 

,thames of landing upon his grounds4    
,his gardeners  and keepers were sternly
 bidden to warn off these rash people1  
and he  himself1 if walking or shooting 
in ,bisham woods--quite a mile from the 
,abbey--would angrily bid them begone4  
,one day he and ,joe were sitting in his
 ground-floor library facing the  river1
 when he espied a boat containing a lady
 and a man making across  stream towards
 the big trees shading his lawns4 ,he   
jumped up--his face  flushed1 and       
watched the man rise1 a powerful figure1
 ship his sculls  and push into shore4  
8,by----1 the insolent brute6 ,under my 
very  nose60 shrieked the incensed      
squire4 ,and1 seizing a heavy stick  he 
strode out of the ,french window--,joe  
following somewhat alarmed4    ,my      
cousin took no pains to soften the      
language with which he addressed  8the  
insolent brute0 before he was half-way  
across the lawn1 and ,joe  hastened as  
he saw the big man step defiantly out of
 the boat while  the woman wept and     

implored him unavailingly to return4    
,joe caught my  cousin by the arm--he   
was getting on in years--for as he drew 
near he  saw that the intruder was an   
actor--of no great refinement--known in 
the profession for a swaggering bully4  
8,there's a lady in the boat1 ,mr4      
,vansittart10 said  my husband4         
,instantly my cousin stopped1 and the   
man1 recognising  ,joe1 greeted him     
surlily and presently turned back to his
 companion  now fainting on the bank4   
,joe followed him1 and ,george          
,vansittart1  returning to the house1   
called out to his butler1 who was       
hastening  to the scene3 8,take out some
 brandy and water for the lady and  see 
she needs nothing40 ,joe brought back a 
message of thanks  from the poor thing1 
and was far too anxious lest the        
outbreak should  affect my cousin's     
health to mind his remark that he was to
 be  congratulated upon his             
acquaintance4    ,recurring to that     
appreciation of him by the young in his 

last years1  which is one of the        
sweetest tributes to ,joe's memory1 many
  alert and boyish faces rise up before 
me2 eager over some animated  discussion
 in which the give-and-take was always  
even between the older  man and the     
younger1 or alight with laughter at his 
quaint wit and  merry censure of some   
foible of the day2 for though he could  
laugh at  its foibles he was never out  
of heart with the world1 which was      
always  to him a good world1 even when  
he prophesied that1 through some        
crucible1 the crazes of the last twenty 
years would have to pass  for           
elimination4 8,they have got to have    
this epidemic10  he would say of ,cubist
 painter and eccentric poet1 8but       
they'll get over it1 and meanwhile the  
good old world will go  on quietly as   
usual and young folk will fall in love  
and want poets  to sing for them and so 
the best things must come to the top in 
the  end40    ,apart from this sort of1 
as he called it1 8half-baked0  thought1 

he was always ready to weigh and        
consider every new aspect of  life2 and 
if no passing mode could deceive him or 
put him out of heart1  either with his  
life-long heroes or with his own methods
 of expression2  yet to the last hour he
 was always keen--not only for fresh    
work  himself1 but to see the work of   
the world develop4 ,in the words of ,mr4
  ,stopford ,brooke1 quoted in the ,life
 by ,prof4 ,l4 ,p4 ,jacks1 he would     
have said3 8,whether in this world or   
another we will pursue1 we  will        
overtake1 we will divide the spoil40    
,and so1 whether he were hanging over   
the garden gate of our holiday  home    
gathering information from the labourers
 who passed along the  road1 or         
discussing ethical problems with his    
sons and their friends1  he was always  
8pursuing0--and the young were always at
 home  with him1 for he never wanted to 
lead only to express his opinion and    
listen to their reply4    ,one of these 
younger men--,mr4 ,hammond1 by no means 

an  8obscure0 one--writes3 8,there have 
been few men  whose companionship was so
 delightful to all who had the privilege
  of knowing him4444 ,i always remember 
with gratitude that he allowed  even    
young and obscure people to enjoy the   
pleasure of his best  conversation--one 
of the rarest intellectual pleasures    
that ,i have ever  known40    ,and ,mr4 
,hugh ,sidgwick--killed in the prime of 
his own rare intellectual               
career--follows with what might be      
called an echo3 8,i can't  say how much 
,i owe to him and to you for the many   
happy hours ,i spent  at your house4 ,he
 never let the barrier of the           
generations stand  between him and us   
young men and we all of us looked on him
 as a real  friend and the most         
delightful of companions4 ,there are    
memories of  many good talks and jovial 
discussions--with ,mr4 ,carr always     
leading  and contributing more than his 
share of life and vivacity to them4 ,and
  it was inspiring to us--more perhaps  

than appeared--to meet one who was  so  
young in heart1 so full of life and so  
sensitive to all the beauties  of all   
the arts40    ,the words of ,w4 ,a4     
,moore--blessed with his own ,celtic    
temperament and  eager fighting         
quality--sound the same note3    8,it   
was a great thing to have known him10 he
 writes  from ,salonica1 8,i can never  
forget him for he was a most  radiant   
personality40 ,it is a curious thing    
that a kindred  epithet--8joyous        
personality0--was a favourite one of his
  own1 and he would maintain that you   
could see two men in the ,seven         
,dials--one lean1 soured and scowling1  
his companion stout1 merry1  humorous   
and full of vitality1 though both dwelt 
on the same gutter and  wore the same   
threadbare garments4    ,it is1 of      
course1 quite impossible to give on     
paper any idea whatever  of the charm   
and brilliancy which these and many more
 testimonies  prove2 to quote some words
 spoken by our friend ,sir ,arthur      

,pinero1  8,it is rather like trying to 
remember the summers of years  ago60 and
 he left so few letters1 possibly       
because he possessed  that 8genius of   
conversation10 that he has few words to 
say  for himself2 but it may not be     
inappropriate here to quote two which he
  wrote to an old friend who had        
affectionately watched his whole career 
and highly appraised his powers and     
judgment4    ,the first is in answer to 
an appeal as to whether it showed       
8symptoms of senile decay0 not to be    
able to admire ,the  ,hound of ,heaven  
by ,francis ,thompson1 which had been   
hailed with a  shout of praise from a   
section of the public4 ,i quote it as   
showing  ,joe's own confession of faith 
in regard to the poetry that  endures4  
8,my dear--,the ,hound is a ,mongrel4 ,i
 know him of old and   have more than   
once driven him from my door4 ,several  
friends have   endeavoured to persuade  
me that he was of the true breed but ,i 
would   have none of him and will not   

now4 ,upon the provocation of your      
letter   ,i read the thing again and    
most gladly and willingly share your    
symptoms of senile decay4 ,the fabric of
 it ,i take to be pure fustian4   ,and  
there is not a line in it that does not 
debauch the language it   employs2 not a
 phrase in it that does not seem to me  
to vulgarize by   its expression        
whatever innocent thought may underlie  
it4     ,the more ,i ponder over the    
great verse which time has left         
impregnable1 the more ,i am impressed by
 the true poet's   unfailing reverence  
for the sanctity of words in their      
relation to   sense and by his stern    
rejection of all melody that is not     
rooted   there3 the tinkling cadence of 
an obvious tune is not for him4 ,his    
purpose might be taken to be no other   
than to express in final   simplicity   
the thought that is in him4 ,why it is1 
or how it is1   that in this process he 
achieves a result1 in which the sense of
   beauty banishes all remembrance of   

intellectual origin--that is the        
poet's secret3 the mystery and the      
mastery of his craft4     ,but ,i am    
getting into depths that cannot be      
plumbed on this tiny sheet   of paper4  
,it is the old subject of many a long   
night's talk with   you and concerns    
matters in which ,i think you and ,i are
 of accord4444     ,as to ,electra      
7,richard ,strauss' opera7 of course ,i 
have no right   to plead before that    
tribunal2 but the terms in which it is  
praised   make me suspect it is not     
praiseworthy4      ,yours ever1    ,j4  
,w4 ,,comyns ,,carr40      ,in relation 
to the above ,i cannot refrain from     
quoting an appreciation  of my husband  
written some little while later by the  
late ,theodore  ,watts ,dunton4 ,he had 
asked for news of his old friend after  
his first  serious illness1 and the     
following passage occurs in his         
acknowledgment  of the reply3           
8,although he belongs to a later        
generation than mine1 he and ,i  are as 

intimate as brothers and ,i deeply prize
 the intimacy4 ,there is  no man on this
 earth whom ,i love more4 ,moreover ,i  
have always asserted  that he is a man  
of genius--a true poet1 with wings      
clipped1 for the  present1 by the       
conditions of life40    ,as his         
intimates know1 ,charles ,dickens was   
one of the brightest stars  in my       
husband's firmament4 ,during all the    
years of our marriage1 ,i  never        
remember him without a volume of        
,dickens and one of ,boswell's  ,life of
 ,johnson beside his bed4 ,many a       
8night's talk0 with the  life-long      
friend to whom he wrote as above had    
been devoted to  ineffectual attempts to
 converting him to a real appreciation  
of  ,dickens--attempts which1 as the    
following letters show1 were finally    
successful4        8,,my ,,dear1----    
,i am very much interested in your      
letter about ,dickens4444 ,this was   in
 the early stage of conversion4         
,curiously enough ,i have lately   been 

reading the whole of ,macready's ,diary 
and was immensely   interested in it4   
,his conceit of course is colossal1 but 
the diary   struck me as affording a    
revelation of a real and virile creature
 of   great independence of character1  
gifted on occasion with striking        
insight and vision4 ,i was noticing as  
,i read that ,dickens was the only   one
 of all his friends of long date with   
whom he never quarrelled1   and it      
struck me that there must have been     
something innately fine   and           
magnanimous in ,dickens' nature to      
command this constancy of   friendship  
from a man so vain and irascible as     
,macready4     ,but ,macready sometimes 
sees far and ,i think his understanding 
of   ,browning and his appreciation of  
the poet's inherent limitations   in the
 field of drama are very illuminating4  
,evidently the drama was   the goal of  
,browning's ambition and yet it has     
always seemed to   me--as it appeared to
 ,macready--that he was not in essence a

 dramatist   at all4     ,when you next 
come to ,london you should look in at   
the ,grafton   ,gallery and take a      
glance at the ,post ,impressionists4 ,i 
saw most   of them in ,paris1 with      
something added of further extravagance 
and   crude indecency2 but the ,parisian
 critics1 with few exceptions1 took     
small account of the matter4 ,here1 on  
the contrary1 nearly all the   younger  
critics are at their feet4 ,it seems to 
me to indicate a wave   of disease1 even
 of absolute madness2 for the whole     
product seems to   breathe not          
ineptitude merely but                   
corruption--especially marked in   a    
sort of combined endeavour to degrade   
and discredit all forms of   feminine   
beauty4      ,yours ever1    ,,joe40    
,later this was his great indictment of 
the ,cubists also1 well known to  his   
friends in the ,club4    ,the following 
letter is to the same correspondent     
written during the  last year of his    
life and in much more satisfied mood on 

the subject of  his hero4               
,,hastings1 #aiae4      8,,my           
,,dear1----     ,it gave me delight to  
get your letter--the greater in that you
 talk to   me of ,dickens4 ,i never tire
 of him nor of talking of him4 ,but ,i  
was   not unprepared for your           
enthusiasm4 ,i remember only the last   
time we   touched on the topic it was   
already brewing4 ,i am struck above all 
by   what you feel about the composer's 
gift in him1 that unconscious   power of
 massing and moulding his material1 the 
instructive adjustment   of varying     
currents in the narrative1 so that--as  
he traces the   courses in which they   
run1 we recognise in wonderment that    
they are   confluent streams though     
often seeming for the time to flow so   
far   asunder4 ,even the most modest of 
us are1 ,i think1 sometimes aware   that
 there is a force outside ourselves     
which holds the reins of our   fancy and
 that we must needs obey2 but the       
exercise of that faculty in   ,dickens  

approaches the miraculous4 ,at times it 
would almost seem as if   he threw down 
the gauntlet to himself1 directly       
challenging his own   powers of artistic
 control by flinging at his own feet the
 unsifted   harvest of the most prodigal
 invention with which man was ever      
endowed   and defying the artist in him 
to reduce it to order and harmony4      
,and yet the artist invariably wins and 
by a victory so complete as   to cheat  
us into the belief that every obstacle  
he subdues was an   integral feature of 
the original design4 ,inexhaustible     
invention and   unfailing control1 these
 are the things that always seem to me  
to set   ,dickens on an eminence which  
he shares with no one in his own time   
and   with only a few in our creative   
literature of any time4 ,shakespeare    
stands there--as he stands everywhere1  
no matter what the quality to   be      
appraised or what the arena in which it 
finds exercise1 above all   rivalry2 and
 ,walter ,scott most surely and securely

 too2 and 444 well1   ,i don't feel able
 to be certain about any others6444     
,i am not disposed to quarrel about     
,bleak ,house1 ,i do not like it2   but 
that story and ,little ,dorrit have     
always been my stumbling   blocks4      
,on the other hand ,i heartily agree    
about ,our ,mutual ,friend2 ,i think    
it illustrates a giant's way with       
,nature which becomes a fawning   slave 
before the tyranny of genius4           
,yours ever1    ,,joe40                 
,,chapter ,,vi    ,,books ,,and ,,travel
      ,of work in volume form my husband
 left comparatively little1 and all  the
 books of his earlier years were on     
,art4 ,his criticisms on the  various   
exhibitions of ,old ,masters at         
,burlington ,house1 chiefly written  at 
that time for the ,pall ,mall ,gazette  
and the ,art ,journal1 were  useful to  
him in a volume on ,the ,drawings of the
 ,old ,masters in the  ,british ,museum1
 upon which subject he was a careful and
 enthusiastic  student2 and at a        

somewhat later period--when he and ,mr4 
,c4 ,e4 ,hall  organized the famous     
exhibitions of those drawings at the    
,grosvenor  ,gallery--a recognised      
connoisseur4    ,it is interesting to   
note that much of the matter written in 
those  early years upon a subject on    
which he was always a master was echoed 
involuntarily in my husband's swan-song 
upon the same subject1  i4e4 ,the       
,ideals of ,painting1 posthumously      
published in #aiag2 for  although he    
naturally acquired a deeper knowledge of
 individual  pictures as the years went 
on1 bringing him opportunities of       
visiting  the great collections of      
,europe1 he very rarely changed his     
opinion  of the characteristics of each 
painter2 and his loving appreciation of 
the subtlest qualities in his favourites
 was such that ,i remember a  gifted    
connoisseur saying to him once          
respecting a fellow art critic3         
8,so-and-so could tell you whether a    
picture was authentic or  not with his  

back to it1 provided he had got its     
pedigree at his  fingers ends2 but you  
don't depend on books2 you know the man 
and his method and study the painter in 
the light of them1 and if your  verdict 
is sometimes at variance with the       
alleged pedigree1 by ,jove1  you're     
generally right40    ,so thoroughly had 
he steeped himself in the subject that  
when we went  on our belated honeymoon  
to the towns of ,northern ,italy1 he    
always  knew exactly where every picture
 was that he wanted to see1 and many  is
 the argument that ,i had in those less 
enlightened days with ,italian          
officials as to the existence of some   
particular work of ,art which  they     
little knew was under their care1 and   
many lovely things we found  in private 
places which1 perhaps even now1 are     
missed by the ordinary  tourist4    ,i  
recollect the weary trip he made from   
,milan that he might study  the         
wonderful ,luini frescoes at ,saronno4  
,now the little town is on a  railway1  

but in those days it was only reached in
 a horse-omnibus1  slowly jogging1 as   
only the poor starved ,italian horses of
 that day  could jog1 across the        
sun-baked ,lombard plains4 ,the         
beautiful lunar  frescoes1 some of them 
in sepia1 in the sacristy of the ,church
 of ,san  ,maurizio ,maggiore at ,milan1
 were among the things which we should  
never have seen if he had not made me   
insist on the sacristan opening  that   
closed door that he might examine for   
himself4 ,and a really funny  incident  
occurred at ,mantova--a town lying off  
the regular route1 but  so picturesque1 
with its lovely ,palazzo del ,t raised  
on arcades built  into the marshes--that
 it is strange it should not be oftener 
visited  by the tourist4    ,we lodged  
in a vast but dirty old ,inn1 waited on 
by a girl whose beauty  compensated1 in 
,joe's eyes only1 for slipshod methods2 
nothing but my  knowledge of the tongue 
would have procured us even the comfort 
of a  huge warming-pan with which ,i    

endeavoured to dry the damp sheets4     
,after  a sleepless night and a tiring  
morning in the ,castle looking at the   
,mantegna portraits of grim ,gonzagas   
and stooping to enter the 8dwarf's      
apartments10 whence slits of windows    
peer upon the eerie marshland1  ,i was  
in no mood for an altercation4 ,yet an  
altercation was the only  means by which
 ,i finally succeeded in inducing the   
morose custodian of  a dark church in   
the town to do ,joe's will3 he had come 
to ,mantova to  see examples of         
,mantegna for some work that he was     
doing and he was not  going away without
 having unearthed this specially        
interesting one4 ,he  led the way       
himself to the side-chapel where he     
believed the painting  to be1 but lo6 a 
hideous modern daub hung over the little
 altar and  his face fell4 ,then he had 
an inspiration3 in spite of the man's   
remonstrances he went up the steps and  
peered behind the gaudy painting4       
8,tell him ,i'll pay him to help me get 

this thing  down10 he said3 8,i believe 
what ,i want is at the back of  it40    
,then my altercation began4    ,we were 
mad ,english1 and one couldn't behave in
 a ,church as if it  were a shop4       
,but 8mad ,english0 or not we were also 
8rich  ,english0 7in the custodian's    
eyes71 and a very little  ,english gold 
won the day3 we saw the picture we      
wanted4    ,these were only a few       
instances of the 8tonic of a young man's
  conceit and obstinacy0--to use ,joe's 
own chaff of himself--in that           
never-to-be-forgotten journey through   
the highways and by-ways of  ,northern  
,italy4 ,everything was grist that came 
to his mill in this as  in each separate
 field of his activities2 but ,florence 
was the real  goal of all his desires1  
and this first visit to it1 close on the
 study  which had made him long to see  
for himself the ,masters whom he loved  
and the fairest of towns which was their
 home1 had a glamour which  was never   
quite reached in later visits4 ,i can   

see again the poor  ,trattora della     
,luna where we lodged and the handsome  
waiter whom we1  in the wild enthusiasm 
of the hour1 persuaded to follow us to  
,england4  ,that he ever arrived at all 
was the marvel4 ,he might well have     
spent  the journey-money given him on   
pastimes suggested by his reproach to   
me in ,london afterwards as to engaging 
a cook who remembered the birth  of     
,christ3 that he arrived weeping in a   
,november fog and bitterly  resenting   
having been left to come 8by sea when we
 had come by land10  was not wonderful4 
,joe was patient with him for my sake   
and many a  funny tale did he forge out 
of the ,italian's vagaries4    ,but when
 this unkempt ,adonis had demoralized   
our maid1 smashed our  pretty wedding   
gifts in fits of gloom1 during which he 
would shake his  fist at the fog and    
say3 8,goo' nigh'10 and finally taunted 
us with not  providing sufficient wine  
at a humble entertainment to excuse one 
of  the guests for having left his hat  

behind1 we felt it best he should       
return to his native land--though not   
before he had inadvertently half        
poisoned us with dried mushrooms sent by
 his relatives4    ,well1 badly as      
,mario behaved subsequently in ,great   
,russell ,street he  was one of the     
features of our happy ,florence holiday 
and directed our  steps towards many    
out-of-the-way places which ,joe        
thirsted to explore  in search of ,art  
treasures unknown to guide-books4    ,my
 husband's knowledge culled from many   
old books was of great  value to him1   
and with his bump of locality1 joined to
 my knowledge of  the speech of the     
people1 we penetrated into many lovely  
corners and  met with as many amusing   
adventures4    ,strange food did we eat 
too on that weird trip1 for here1 as    
elsewhere1  ,joe insisted on exploring4 
8,tell him ,i'm a judge of the cuisine10
 he would  say1 8and only want the      
best40 ,and--with an instinct that  the 
rewarding tip would not be wanting--as  

it never was--cooks hastened  to concoct
 the spiciest of their national dishes  
for his criticism4    ,the publication  
of ,joe's first book was quickly        
followed by an  illustrated volume on   
the ,abbey ,church of ,st4 ,albans from 
articles  written for the ,art ,journal2
 plenty of study on architecture and  on
 monkish lore was done for this in the  
,reading ,room of the ,british  ,museum4
 ,later in life ,joe used to say that1  
after the period of  ravenous and       
enthusiastic boyhood1 he might never    
have opened a serious  book again--so   
much more enthralling to him was the    
daily intercourse  for work or play with
 living men and women--had it not been  
for the  necessity of boiling the pot2  
and that all that he read for a special 
purpose stuck to him as no desultory    
reading did and became stored in  his   
mind for use and pleasure for the rest  
of his life4    ,i can see myself how   
true this was in respect of the whole   
range of  ,arthurian legend1 on which   

subject he became an authority2 he      
devoured  everything in ,english and    
,french that he could find when he was  
writing  his plays of ,king ,arthur and 
,tristram1 and never forgot any of it4  
,the ,abbey of ,st4 ,albans was too     
special a subject to make a popular     
book1 and the first volume of ,joe's    
work which attracted  attention was     
,essays on ,art1 gathered together in   
#ahgi4    ,i remember that1 just as     
among his published work in verse he    
held  that his ,tristram and ,iseult was
 his best1 so he considered the         
,essay--practically on ,keats1 who held1
 ,i think1 the highest place with  him  
among the nineteenth century poets but  
entitled ,the ,artistic  ,spirit in     
,modern ,english ,poetry1 he judged to  
be among his most  satisfactory prose2  
with the exception of the ,essay on     
,macbeth1  written as a pamphlet at the 
time of ,henry ,irving's production of  
the play1 and now re-published under the
 title of ,sex in ,tragedy in  his book 

,coasting ,bohemia4    ,a letter which  
he wrote me later from ,france1 when he 
was studying the  provincial museums    
there for a series of articles in the   
,manchester  ,guardian1 bears out       
pleasantly the criticism in the article 
on ,corot  and ,millet in ,essays on    
,art4        ,,limoges1    ,august      
#ahhb4     8 444 ,the landscape of the  
,loire somewhat disappointed me1        
although the towns are full of interest4
 ,very fruitful the country   seems to  
be1 overflowing with corn and vine but  
far stretching and   unvaried with a    
vague sense of melancholy in it that is 
almost   oppressive4 ,it is impossible  
to catch even a passing view of such    
country as lies between ,orlans and     
,nantes without turning in thought      
from the landscape to the people who    
dwell in it2 and the picture that   is  
left in the mind of the daily life of   
these peasants who labour   all day in  
fields that have no break or limit save 
where patches of   corn alternate with  

spaces of vine1 is strangely touching   
and sad4   ,it wanted a ,france such as 
,france is on the borders of the ,loire 
to   produce the solemn and austere     
sentiment of ,millet1 and ,i hardly     
think   one understands the stern       
reality of his work until one has passed
   through miles and miles of this      
fruitful and uneventful land4     ,the  
later passages of to-day's journey were 
a delightful change   in the character  
of the scenery2 a narrower river 7,the  
,vienne7 but   more sympathetic1 with   
happy-looking green pastures and hilly  
banks4     ,this place stands high and  
the air is delightfully fresh4 ,it has  
an   industrial museum which is         
important in connection with my work4   
,i visited ,chambord also ,chenonceau4  
,they are both much restored and        
inferior in interest to ,blois1 which is
 a most delightful place in   every     
way40    ,in respect of ,blois he writes
 as follows in another letter3 8,this   
town is more picturesque than any       

,french town ,i have yet seen2 most of  
it1 or the older part of it at any rate1
 is high up on a hill1 and the  steps   
that mount up between the different     
streets are very beautifully  contrived4
    ,tell ,phil ,i should like him to   
read the parts of his ,french history   
connected with ,blois1 particularly     
about ,henri ,,iii4 and the ,duke of    
,guise1 and ,i will tell him about the  
wonderful castle when ,i get  back40    
,i remember he brought home some        
excellent photographs of that castle    
and the lovely outer staircase of the   
tower4    ,another letter written during
 this ,french journey brings in a more  
humorous note3 8,toulouse is a real city
 of the south1 its market  place covered
 with big red umbrellas reminding one of
 ,verona1 and the  old hotel having a   
pleasant shady courtyard with pots of   
oleanders4444  ,it is difficult to give 
you much news4 ,i was thinking this     
morning  how funny it was how little ,i 
had spoken ,english since ,i left home1 

once with the manager of a travelling   
,english panorama at ,limoges  and      
yesterday at ,montauban where ,i met a  
,frenchman who insisted upon  speaking  
my native tongue to me4 ,he declared    
that he knew ,english  #8au fond1' but  
his mastery of the tongue was not       
complete4  #8,good voyage1 have         
distraction1' were his parting words to 
me40    ,these good wishes were not     
entirely fulfilled4 ,the day after his  
arrival at ,toulouse ,joe had been      
overcome by the ,august heat and        
mosquito bites1 and had been obliged to 
take to his bed for a day  in the fine  
old inn1 where he was admirably nursed  
by the motherly  landlady2 and1 as he   
sat in the cool courtyard next day he   
was vastly  amused by the discomfiture  
of a fat commercial traveller1 awaiting 
his djeuner with napkin tucked in ready 
under his chin1 when a  one-legged old  
stork1 who perambulated the garden1     
suddenly uttered  its raucous note3     
8,quel cri pouvantable60 exclaimed the  

poor gentleman1 and jumping up he       
overturned the small table on which a   
succulent ,southern dish now steamed    
ready for his consumption1 and wept     
afresh at the sight of gravy and red    
wine trickling together down the  coarse
 clean tablecloth6    ,i think merriment
 must have hampered ,joe's offers of    
assistance1  and his ,french was not    
then as fluent as he made it in after   
years4    ,anyhow the commercial        
traveller appears to have been less     
genial than  was a gentleman in the     
train later on who thought to flatter   
him by  comparing him to the then       
,prince of ,wales3 8,les mmes traits1 la
  mme barbe1 le mme ge60 said he        
pleasantly1 not thinking that  he was   
speaking to a man years younger than    
,edward ,,vii4    ,but if there was a   
momentary annoyance it was immediately  
forgotten by  ,joe in a lively1 if      
halting1 conversation on the merits of a
 trout  stream which the train was      
skirting--,joe vehemently describing how

  different was our view regarding      
poachers with the net1 and mentally     
despising his fellow-traveller for      
upholding the equal merits of perch1    
gudgeon and trout4    ,when they reached
 ,lourdes the traveller again afforded  
,joe a fresh  cause for                 
wonder--unfamiliar as he then was with  
what later he called  8the ,frenchman's 
unfailing desire to place himself in a  
category40    ,the station was crammed  
with pilgrims to the ,holy ,wells1 and  
,joe1  innocent of this1 asked for what 
event the crowd was gathered2  whereupon
 the ,frenchman1 turning his head       
contemptuously from the  window1 said   
loftily3 8,monsieur1 dans ma qualit     
d',athe  je ne connais rien de tout     
cela60    ,even in those early days he  
loved the ,french2 their joy of living  
appealed to him as it did in all the    
,latin races1 and their wit--more       
subtle and polished than the ,italian's 
child-like though not childish  high    
spirits--was akin to his own1 and it was

 often wonderful how  swiftly he would  
8get the hang of it0 even when sometimes
 he would  appeal to me for translation 
of a word2 while their shrewd and clear 
common-sense found an echo somewhere on 
another side of him1 perhaps in  his    
,border ancestry4    ,yet ,i have heard 
him say that1 in his opinion1 the deeper
 courtesy of  an unspoiled              
,italian--were he peasant or peer--came 
out of a further  and finer             
civilization4    ,these travelling      
conversations1 even in a foreign tongue1
 were entirely  in keeping with ,joe's  
intensely human temperament4 ,he had    
none of the aloofness of the ,britisher 
of that day2 and ,i remember  his       
amusement at the talk of a party of     
,english shop-keepers in a  second-class
 railway carriage on the ,paris-,calais 
route4    8,to see them working men     
forced to sit and smoke their pipe in   
the  street for a breath of fresh air on
 a summer evening fairly flummoxed  me10
 said one4 8,why the poorest of us 'ave 

got a bit of a  backyard40    ,though he
 was the most reserved of men as regards
 deep1 personal  matters1 he found that 
sort of sentiment was utterly ridiculous
 to his  ,irish sense of humour4    ,i  
recollect hearing ,joe whimsically tell 
a friend once that he would  far sooner 
confide his most intimate concerns to a 
man in a train than  to his nearest and 
dearest2 and then he would recall 7or   
invent87 the  most humorous             
conversations which he had overheard or 
in which he had  taken part1 chiefly on 
the physical ills of life during long   
journeys  in dark railway carriages4 ,i 
don't suppose he went these lengths  in 
,french2 probably his vocabulary was not
 equal to it4    ,he said he missed my  
help on that ,loire journey although ,i 
think he  liked learning for himself    
too4 ,i certainly1 sitting in a tiny    
cottage  near ,witley with my sister and
 the two children1 missed my opportunity
  and sighed to be with him1 especially 
when his letter home contained a        

passage like this3    8,marseilles is a 
city with something of romantic         
suggestion  about it4 ,one feels that it
 is one of the ,avenues of the ,east1   
one  of the places also that connects   
the old world with the new4 ,it was     
terribly hot1 but the sea tempered the  
sun and the sea-bath in the  evening was
 a delicious revenge for the heat of the
 day4 ,the view  over the ,mediterranean
 at sunset is delightful1 with an       
atmosphere  that seems to be stained    
with rose colour floating over a sea of 
real  aquamarine40    ,i had to solace  
myself with taking ,phil to sit for his 
portrait to  ,edward                    
,burne-,jones--delightful occasions when
 that most lovable of  great men would  
talk of my husband and of their kindred 
enthusiasms1  chaffing me gently as well
 for the 8wicked travesties0 of  classic
 myths with which ,i tried to keep quiet
 the 8worst of  little sitters10 who    
would innocently ask why his standing   
pose  was called 8sitting40    ,and at  

last ,joe came home1 only about a week  
before our son ,arthur was  born4       
,these travelling memories are a        
digression induced by their bearing  on 
my husband's first published volumes4   
,as to his subsequent  contributions to 
permanent literature ,i may mention his 
,papers on  ,art--a sequel to the       
,essays on ,art--published in #ahhe4    
,after that1 until the last years of his
 life1 his many vocations so  entirely  
filled every hour of the day--and often 
of the night--that he  had no leisure   
for any more such ventures1 excepting   
the publication of  his verse-plays as  
they appeared on the stage4    ,and it  
was not until #aijh that he once more   
came before the  book-reading public4   
,then he wrote his two separate volumes 
of personal  recollections under the    
titles of ,eminent ,victorians and      
,coasting  ,bohemia2 but these are of   
recent enough date to need no comment of
  mine1 for they are still before the   
world1 as is also his posthumously      

published volume1 ,the ,ideals of       
,painting4          ,,chapter ,,vii     
,,the ,,grosvenor ,,and ,,the ,,new     
,,galleries      ,in the autumn of the  
year #ahgf we were invited to ,sir      
,coutts ,lindsay's  ,scottish seat at   
,balcarres1 where ,joe's collaboration  
with ,mr4 ,c4 ,e4  ,hall as ,director of
 the ,grosvenor ,gallery in ,bond       
,street was fixed and  led later to the 
long co-operation of these two friends  
in their ,new  ,gallery ,exhibitions4   
,sir ,coutts's venture was to start in  
the following ,may1 and there was  much 
to discuss and settle at that shooting  
party2 yet not so much as  to interfere 
with plenty of fun by the way4    ,it   
was on this visit that ,prince ,leopold 
was a guest at the house  and ,i vividly
 recall a series of tableaux vivants got
 up for his  entertainment1 in which    
,joe played a part he was often to fill 
later--that of stage manager1 combined  
on this occasion with the office  of    
,dresser1 in which capacity he 8corked0 

a moustache on  ,his ,royal ,highness'  
face for an impersonation of ,charles   
,i4    ,there were anxious moments--such
 as when the ,prince's tights did  not  
arrive from ,edinburgh1 or when ,sir    
,arthur ,sullivan1 after nobly          
seconding ,joe's efforts with his       
incidental music1 flatly refused to     
abandon his cigar at a late hour to play
 waltzes2 or again1 on the  following   
,sunday morning when--the crimson cloth 
being laid ready  at the ,episcopalian  
,church--a belated telegram arrived from
 ,windsor  commanding ,h4,r4,h4's       
attendance at ,presbyterian worship4    
,but ,i think  ,joe's unconventional and
 merry wit--even in those early days    
when he  might have felt strange in that
 kind of society--helped away many a    
little ruction1 and the fun that he made
 of himself as 8one of the  lower middle
 class0 little used to the ways of great
 houses was much  appreciated by ,arthur
 ,sullivan1 8,dicky ,doyle0 and others  
claiming  kinship with the 8,bohemians10

 yet used to the habits at which he     
pretended to be alarmed4    ,i can see  
the twinkle in the eye with which he    
stoutly declared that a  ,french ,chef  
did not necessarily beget a sure taste  
in the hosts1 and  the corroboration    
given to his statement by the sight of  
some twenty  docile people eating a     
salad that had been mixed with          
methylated spirit  in mistake for       
vinegar without turning a hair4    ,i   
think ,arthur ,sullivan--who was an     
habitu--expostulated with the  butler   
about it1 when the cause of the 8odd    
taste0 was run  to earth and laid to the
 account of the kitchenmaid4    ,these  
,balcarres days began for us that series
 of social gatherings so  well known    
later as the ,grosvenor ,gallery ,sunday
 afternoons1 at which  ,lady ,lindsay   
presided over a company including all   
the most notable  people in ,literature 
and ,art1 to say nothing of the 8beaux  
noms10 courtiers and politicians in her 
more exclusive set4    ,those most      

entertaining parties and the ,private   
,views both at the  ,grosvenor ,gallery 
and1 later on1 at the ,new ,gallery in  
,regent ,street1  were among the        
season's features of that period1 and   
invitations  to both of them were       
eagerly sought by all classes of        
,society4  ,especially in the earlier   
years the vagaries in dress assumed by  
some  of the women of the 8,artistic0   
and ,theatrical ,set were1 and  ,i fear 
often justly1 matters for merriment to  
those of the fashionable  world who     
fitly displayed the last modes from     
,paris2 and ,i hear again  the softly   
sarcastic tones of a society lady       
commenting on the clinging  draperies of
 a pretty artist 8finished by a pair of 
serviceable  boots40    ,yet there were 
those among the leaders of the lite who 
chose to  wear garments following the   
simpler and more graceful patterns of   
some  bygone era2 and ,i am bound to say
 that these were often among the most   
beautiful toilettes present and those   

which ,joe then most admired4    ,but   
much strenuous work preceded the days of
 the ,private ,views4 ,early  in the    
career of the ,grosvenor ,gallery1 ,joe1
 steeped in the work of the  ,old       
,masters of which he had made such a    
special study1 persuaded ,sir  ,coutts  
,lindsay to have an exhibition of their 
drawings--culled from the  great        
collections of ,england2 and many a     
pleasant visit did he have to  fine     
country houses on this quest4    ,once  
he arrived after a night journey at the 
seat of ,lord ,warwick just  as the men 
of the house-party were met in the hall 
for the day's  8shoot10 and ,i can fancy
 the merry excuse with which he  surely 
fitted the occasion as he presented     
himself bare-headed1 having  left his   
hat in the train when he sleepily       
changed carriages at the  junction2     
luckily he was well provided with       
natural covering4    ,plenty of his     
,celtic persuasiveness must have come   
into play--both on  this occasion and on

 those when the fine shows of ,paintings
 by ,old  ,masters were made--in        
cajoling the owners to lend their       
priceless  treasures1 and ,i recollect  
one or two very anxious moments over    
transport1 etc4    ,but this first      
ambitious ,exhibition of ,drawings      
exceeded1 both in  bulk and excellence1 
anything previously attempted in ,london
 and  attracted the enthusiastic        
attention of all connoisseurs2 the      
hanging  and cataloguing involved       
immense labour1 and ,i was proud to be  
allowed  to take a small share in the   
last part of the work--an opportunity in
  which ,i learnt much which ,i have    
never forgotten4    ,when1 some few     
years later1 my husband and ,mr4 ,hall  
started their  independent enterprise in
 ,regent ,street1 their sole            
responsibility made  the work none the  
less arduous though naturally less      
hampered4    ,the first task--exciting  
as it was--was a ,herculean one1 for the
 ,new  ,gallery was practically built   

upon the site of an old fruit-market1   
and  an anxious winter was that1 lest it
 should not be completed in time  for an
 opening with the other ,may            
,exhibitions4 ,but completed it was  and
 handsomely2 though the last touch1 the 
gilding of the rails of the  gallery    
which overhung the ,central ,court1 was 
only finished through ,joe  inducing the
 frame-gilders to work with the         
builders' men--an  infringement of      
custom which1 it seemed1 only the       
affection which they  bore him induced  
them to overlook4    ,the effect of that
 ,central ,court with its fountain      
fringed with flowers  and its arcade    
panelled with fine1 coloured marbles1   
was one of the  sensations of the day1  
and deserved the praise of a critic3    
8,it  is an ,aladdin's ,palace sprung up
 in the night40 ,joe has  spoken of this
 first ,exhibition in ,eminent          
,victorians2 suffice it1  therefore1 to 
say that the ,burne ,jones and ,watts'  
pictures were  the distinguishing       

features1 as they always were so long as
 these great  men survived4    ,as years
 went on1 the collecting of works among 
the lesser artists for  the modern      
yearly ,exhibition became more and more 
irksome to ,joe1 and  the rounds that he
 and ,mr4 ,hall used to make to the     
artists'  studios were something of a   
penance to him4    ,not only were they  
physically fatiguing1 but the           
difficulties of  choice1 of obtaining   
what they desired and of refusing what  
they  didn't desire without undue       
offence to the artist1 taxed the        
patience of both directors and1 ,i      
think1 ,joe's wit was often  needed to  
turn a dangerous corner4    8,good isn't
 the word10 he once answered to a       
sympathiser who asked him what he said  
when confronted with a  thoroughly bad  
picture2 and1 although this too         
transparent form of  salve may not      
really have been uttered1 ,i am told    
that the kindly chaff  which he would   
sometimes expend upon the shameless     

offer of a poor  painting from a man who
 knew what he was doing but meant to    
send his  best work to take its chance  
elsewhere1 was such as might not have   
8gone down0 from anyone else but ,joe   
,carr4    ,yet there were pleasant hours
 even on these days of weary rounds4 ,in
  each of the districts visited the     
directors were sure to count at  least  
one firm friend1 anxious to lighten the 
road2 in ,kensington  it was ,burne     
,jones1 who1 speaking of his young      
daughter1 wrote on  one occasion3 8,in  
my wife's absence1 ,margaret dispenses  
middle-class  hospitality with a tact   
and finish worthy of a higher sphere40  
,in  ,st4 ,john's ,wood it was ,alma    
,tadema--most hospitable of             
hosts--always  ready with a bottle of   
his best wine and some funny tale       
uttered in  his quaint ,english1 and    
admirably seconded by his charming wife 
at the  long1 narrow table loaded with  
old ,dutch silver and lovely curios4    
,and upon the onerous occasions of the  

varnishing days when the  positions on  
the line were supposed to be the right  
of every exhibitor1  these and other    
leaders in the world of art would often 
8stand  by0 even when some incensed     
young gentleman--these were usually     
young gentlemen--would go the length of 
removing his picture in a  four-wheeler4
    ,many were the humorous incidents   
that used to be told to me6 ,a          
favourite and out-spoken assistant was  
once asked what he thought of  the      
position of a small picture which was   
being tried above a larger  one2 to     
which his reply was3 8,if you ask me1   
,sir1 ,i think  it looks like a tom-tit 
on a round of beef40 ,apparently the    
directors thought so too for the picture
 was removed and hung in a  corner1 or  
perhaps in the balcony above the        
,central ,court--a place even  less     
coveted by the ambitious4    ,little    
however did ,i know of these prickly    
passages1 specially  at that momentous  
first opening1 when a kind supporter of 

the new  enterprise presented me with a 
beautiful old brocade dress in which ,i 
took my share of receiving the crowds of
 visitors at the entrance of  the ,hall3
 and ,i don't think that1 when the      
varnishing day was  past1 the two       
directors bothered their heads much     
about the prickly  passages or even     
about the ,press opinions4 ,joe's       
optimism was  always irrepressible and  
when his task at the ,new ,gallery was  
over1 he  would turn1 on the following  
day--with something perhaps of          
relief--to  one of the many other sides 
of his full life4          ,,chapter    
,,viii    ,,dramatic ,,work ,,and       
,,management      ,it must have been    
somewhere about this period that the    
first impetus  was1 funnily enough1     
given to ,joe's dramatic career by a    
request  from our dear friend1 ,ellen   
,terry1 that ,i should make an ,english 
adaptation for her from the famous      
,french play of ,frou-,frou4    ,the    
thing was done1 and played in ,glasgow  

and other ,northern towns  under the    
title of ,butterfly1 and great fun we   
had over our first  initiation into the 
mysteries of dress-rehearsals--not      
always perhaps  quite so funny in the   
more responsible circumstances of later 
years1  though it is a form of patient  
work electrified by the gambling spirit1
  which never lost its attraction for   
,joe4    ,my altered version of the     
,french play was a poor one1 but it had1
 ,i  suppose1 sufficient merit to obtain
 me a commission from ,mme4 ,modjeska1  
the noted ,polish actress1 for a free   
translation of the same play1  which she
 performed first in ,london with ,sir   
,johnston ,forbes-,robertson  and       
afterwards throughout the ,united       
,states4    ,the 8youthful conceit0 to  
which ,joe was throughout his  life so  
lenient as even to consider a virtue1   
led me presently to try  my hand at a   
bigger task--no less than the           
dramatisation of ,thomas  ,hardy's ,far 
from the ,madding ,crowd4 ,i was quite  

unequal to  the attempt1 and ,i only    
mention it because it proved the        
beginning of  ,joe's dramatic work4 ,he 
took the play in hand1 refashioned the  
plot1 only keeping portions of the      
dialogue as ,i had adapted it to  stage 
necessity2 and it was produced--with    
,marion ,terry as the wilful  and       
charming ,bathsheba--first in the       
provinces and then in ,london4    ,owing
 to circumstances needless to recall1   
the venture was a financial  failure2   
but it served to start ,joe on a new    
road2 and it was not long  before he    
scored a big success4 ,he came home one 
night from a railway  journey and gave  
me a little book which he had bought to 
read in the  train3 it was ,called ,back
 by ,hugh ,conway4    8,see if you don't
 think that an enthralling story80  he  
said4    ,there could be no doubt of    
this and the ,british public gave its   
verdict  promptly4 ,the book began to   
sell like 8hot cakes0 and ,joe  went    
down to ,clifton1 saw its clever        

author--until then unknown to           
literature--and arranged with him for   
its dramatisation4    ,the play was     
produced on ,may #bjth1 #ahhd1 and ,i   
think there are still  people who       
remember its first success and that1 in 
the rle of the  ,italian                
conspirator--,macari--,sir ,herbert     
,tree scored one of his finest  early   
triumphs2 the piece was revived several 
times in ,london and the  provinces and 
had the questionable compliment of being
 also pirated4  ,but ,i shall not easily
 forget the dress-rehearsal6    ,i was  
comparatively new to such things then   
and ,i can well recall the  chill of    
heart with which we got home to         
,blandford ,square in the early  hours  
and my inner conviction that the scenery
 could not possibly be  finished nor1   
one at least1 of the principal actors1  
know his part  by the next night6 ,but  
nothing could ever quell ,joe's hopeful 
spirit2 he plied his somewhat less      
optimistic colleague with cold  tongue  

and whisky-and-soda and made merry work 
of the stupidity of  lime-light men and 
scene-shifters1 to say nothing of others
 of higher  degree2 and then went to    
sleep at #f a4m4 and got up and returned
 to the  theatre at #aj a4m4 without    
turning a hair4    ,i wonder now if he  
was as strong as he seemed in those days
 or whether  it was only his gay and    
excitable ,celtic temperament that      
carried him  through everything4 ,anyhow
 he enjoyed his life to the full and    
there  were never any dull moments1     
whether he was at work or at play4      
,the radiant vitality which lasted him  
so long and so well--and to which  there
 is such frequent testimony in letters  
from the various friends  with whom he  
laboured in his many walks of           
life--seems to have had the  power of so
 communicating itself to his            
fellow-workers that they would  share   
his optimistic hopes and1 if these were 
disappointed1 generally  be ashamed to  
utter reproach in the face of his urbane

 acceptance of  failure4 ,but on this   
occasion there was only rejoicing4      
,in a letter of his1 replying to ,hugh  
,conway's generous  recognition of help1
 ,i find these words3    8,i want to    
tell you how much touched ,i have been  
by your letters4  ,i say #8letters' for 
my wife read me as much of your note as 
she thought good for me4 ,rest assured  
that ,i am delighted to have done  what 
,i have done--also that the result has  
been fortunate for us both4  ,i don't   
think ,i could have got through so well 
with any other  man2 with you ,i have   
never had a shadow of worry or annoyance
 and ,i  have been able at all points to
 do my best--as far as ,i knew how40    
,this happy venture led to a friendship 
which had no let until the  untimely    
death of ,hugh ,conway in the very      
zenith of his fame2 they  were1 as dear 
old ,sir ,alma ,tadema said in his      
quaint ,english3  8,very fat            
together--like two hands on one         
stomach40    ,yet they did much work    

together1 for not only did ,joe         
collaborate again  with ,hugh ,conway in
 the adaptation of ,dark ,days for the  
stage1 but  he also published that      
gifted1 ghoulish tale ,paul ,vargus     
during his  editorship of ,the ,english 
,illustrated ,magazine1 as well as the  
serial  entitled ,a ,family ,affair1 a  
humorous and urbane story with a plot   
so delicately suggesting possible       
immorality1 however1 that it drew  down 
upon the editor a sharp reproach from   
,mrs4 ,grundy1 who declared  that1      
although she believed all would 8come   
right0 she could never  again allow the 
magazine to lie on her drawing-room     
table lest her  well-brought-up         
daughters might open its pages4    ,does
 that ,mrs4 ,grundy still live to-day8  
,dark ,days was ,joe's last bit of work 
with his poor friend  but by no means   
the last of his adaptations for the     
stage1 the chief  of which number       
,madame ,sans ,gne for ,sir ,henry      
,irving2 ,my ,lady of  ,rosedale for    

,sir ,charles ,wyndham2 ,nerves which   
ran with success  for some time at the  
,comedy ,theatre1 and last1 but not at  
all least1  his fine play fashioned on  
,charles ,dickens' ,oliver ,twist and   
followed by one on ,edwin ,drood4       
,the former1 with ,sir ,herbert ,tree as
 ,fagin1 ,constance ,collier as  ,nancy 
and ,lyn ,harding as ,sikes1 held the   
public for many months  both in ,london 
and the ,united ,states4    ,at the     
height of its ,london success1 a flaw in
 the architecture of the  central       
proscenium arch of ,his ,majesty's      
,theatre necessitated the  temporary    
transference of the play to another     
house4 ,joe was naturally  in despair1  
but the untoward incident in no way     
interfered with the run  of the piece   
which--in the words of the stage        
manager--had been kicked  up and down   
the ,strand and only gathered force as  
it rolled4    ,but although ,i have     
spoken first of his adaptations1 it is  
of his  original plays that ,i hold the 

dearest memories2 and first and         
foremost of ,king ,arthur which contains
 some of the best of the  lyrics and    
blank verse for which ,theodore ,watts  
,dunton held him to be  a 8true poet40  
,the ,may ,song and ,song of the ,grail 
he  placed himself among his best verse 
and they were well appreciated4    ,as  
the book was published by ,messrs4      
,macmillan1 it belongs to the  public4  
,the production of ,king ,arthur was one
 of the most beautiful of ,henry        
,irving's many ,lyceum triumphs4 ,even  
in those far-removed days  ,sir ,edward 
,burne ,jones' exquisite designs for the
 armour and  dresses1 as well as for the
 scenery1 will be remembered by some1   
and  ,i am proud to think that ,i was   
allowed the privilege of carrying out   
some of them in detail4 ,it was a hard  
six months' work but it was  well       
rewarded and ,i think ,joe had no       
happier hours than those he spent  in   
the writing and in the producing of his 
two finest efforts--,king  ,arthur and  

,tristram and ,iseult4    ,i cannot     
leave this subject without mention of   
the tender and lovely  impersonation of 
,guinevere by ,ellen ,terry1 and the    
touching tribute  to her which ,joe     
himself gives in the following          
dedication1 written on  the fly-leaf of 
the copy he presented to her4     8,to  
,guinevere herself from one who1 after  
years of closest   friendship1 looks to 
her now as always1 for the vindication  
of what is   highest and gentlest in    
womanhood2 and who would count this not 
too   poor a gift for her to take1 could
 he but hope that some part of the      
grace and charm of her spirit had found 
its way into the portrait of   ,arthur's
 ,queen40    ,following on this it would
 seem incongruous in connection with    
anyone  else but ,joe to quote a funny  
tale bearing on the above2 but ,joe     
loved  the tale himself and often told  
it merrily and so will ,i4    ,on his   
being presented to a newly-arrived      
prominent ,american at a  public dinner1

 this gentleman opened the conversation 
by saying that  he had been privileged1 
on the voyage with ,sir ,henry ,irving  
and ,ellen  ,terry1 to read ,king       
,arthur in the lady's own copy          
containing the  author's charming       
dedication4 ,a pause ensued1 when       
,joe--thinking  himself on solid        
ground--said3 8,well1 sir1 ,i hope you  
liked the play80  ,what was his         
astonishment at the ,yankee's gentle    
reply6 8,well1 not very  much60 said he1
 8,you see ,i had ,lord ,tennyson in my 
mind40    ,silence ensued but ,i think  
,joe explained with urbanity that he had
  taken an entirely different view of   
the old legend1 founded in a  measure on
 ,sir ,thomas ,malory's version4    ,a  
propos of this old name1 ,joe has       
himself told of the arrival at  the     
theatre of a batch of press cuttings    
addressed to that knight of  the days of
 chivalry1 the title tactfully          
supplemented by the affix of  8,bart40  
,perhaps scarcely less funny and more   

unpardonable was the question of  the   
,society lady who asked him1 in the case
 of ,tristram and ,iseult1  how he had  
obtained ,mme4 ,wagner's consent to     
tamper with her  husband's book4    ,a  
play--,the ,lonely ,queen--on which he  
spent much care1 still remains  to be   
performed when a suitable actress shall 
present herself for the  strong and     
sympathetic part of the girlish ruler   
over a wild land4    ,the piece opens on
 a hillside overlooking an ,eastern     
city--a scene  shewn again later on in  
sinister circumstances2 and with dance  
and  laughter1 a group of girls crown   
their wayward young mistress with  a    
wreath of flowers in merry mimicry of   
the weightier diadem she  will soon be  
called to wear4 ,and presently1 in a    
lonely mood of  apprehension1 she meets 
as a stranger1 the patriot-poet who is  
to be  both her bane and her salvation  
in the future4    ,he enjoyed writing   
this play and was pleased with the      
following lyric1  which he read to      

me--as ,i am proud to think1 he         
generally read anything  with which he  
was satisfied or on which he wanted such
 criticism as ,i  could give--on the    
very morning when he had written it4    
,,the ,,poet ,,to ,a ,,girl-,,queen     
,,unknown4        ,oh ,lady of the ,lily
 ,hand6        ,whose face unseen we    
long to greet1      ,at whose command   
this desert land        ,springs into   
flower about thy feet4        ,fair     
maiden whom we know not yet1        ,yet
 know thy heart can know no fear1       
,queen1 who shalt teach us to forget    
,the wounds of many a wasted year4      
,the curtains of the night are drawn1   
,its shadows all have fled away1        
,for in thine eyes there dwells the dawn
        ,and in thy smile the new born  
day4        ,a people's love that waits 
thee now        ,is thine to take and   
thine to hold1      ,till ,god shall set
 upon thy brow        ,a crown that is  
not forged of gold4        ,twixt ,right
 and ,wrong ,he yields thee choice1     

,heed not the worship of the weak1      
,that in a maiden's fearless voice      
,the clarion voice of ,god may speak4   
,be swift to strike and strong to save1 
,steadfast in all6 ,till all the land   
,shall hail thee #8,bravest of the      
,brave'        ,oh ,lady of the ,lily   
,hand4    ,it was a fair scene in which 
it was written--a hill-top under ,monte 
,rosa overlooking the lovely shores of  
,lugano--and1 though he always  said    
that actual surroundings were never     
proper to be described in  the work of  
the moment but must be digested and     
crystallized in the  hidden corners of  
remembrance1 ,i think that the spirit of
 a place did  influence him1 so that the
 sun shone on the hillside of the first 
,act of ,the ,lonely ,queen as the      
lowering brow of the ,black ,mount1  at 
,rannoch1 seemed to overshadow the halls
 of ,camelot2 he even said  himself that
 he could see the barge with ,elaine's  
body float  down the ,hertfordshire     
stream where he was wont to fish after  

his  day's labour4    ,his poetical work
 was always that which lay nearest his  
heart1 though  his friends often        
deplored that he did not devote himself 
more to  comedy2 but strange to say1 his
 humour1 which was so inexhaustible  in 
colloquial intercourse1 did not strike  
home so surely in his  stage dialogue3  
he needed the stimulus of conversation4 
,possibly he  felt this1 which made him 
shyer of comedy-writing than he would   
have  been2 in ,nerves he was witty     
enough and there is a very deft comedy  
scene for two old ladies in             
,forgiveness1 produced at the 8,st4     
,james'0 ,theatre by ,sir ,george       
,alexander4 ,his first attempts  at     
dramatic work1 made on the tiny stage of
 ,german ,reed's1 were  entirely in     
quaint comedy4    ,i think a free       
rendering of a fancy of ,hugh ,conway's 
on the  ,blue-and-,white ,china ,craze  
was one of the first things he did for  
the  stage and it contained some        
charming lyrics after the ,elizabethan  

manner which won instant recognition4   
,i quote three of them1 for they were   
never printed for the public4      ,from
 ,the ,united ,pair4    ,,duet3 ,,song  
,,of ,,the ,,two ,,china-,,collectors4  
,,sextus4        ,a love like mine is   
far above      ,the thing that we are   
told is love1        ,in ,shakespeare or
 in ,chaucer4      ,for while they are  
content to praise      ,the famous forms
 of classic days1      ,i revel in the  
form and glaze1        ,of one          
unrivalled saucer4    ,,virginia4       
,ah sir1 ,i know the thought is vain1   
,yet if a man were porcelain1           
,then love would be the master2      ,if
 only in a single night      ,your face 
could change to blue and white1      ,i 
think at such a glorious sight          
,my heart would beat the faster4        
,,virginia ,,and ,,sextus4        ,and  
such a love were far above      ,the    
thing that we are told is love1         
,in ,shakespeare or in ,chaucer2        
,for while they are content to praise   

,the famous forms of classic days1      
,we revel in the form and glaze1        
,of every cup and saucer4    ,,sextus4  
,ah madam1 if that dream were true1     
,how easy would it be to woo1           
,and never fear the winning2      ,if   
woman also could be graced      ,with   
all the silent charms of paste1         
,then love could never be misplaced1    
,and hate have no beginning4            
,,virginia4        ,then every vase     
would find its mate1      ,each dish    
would woo a neighbouring plate1         
,each bowl would wed a beaker2      ,and
 if perchance1 through pride or pique1  
,some youth or maid should fail to      
speak1      ,each bachelor would be     
unique1        ,and each old maid       
uniquer4    ,,virginia ,,and ,,sextus4  
,and such a love were far above         
,the thing that we are told is love1    
,in ,shakespeare or in ,chaucer2        
,for while they are content to praise   
,the famous forms of classic days1      
,we revel in the form and glaze1        

,of every cup and saucer4    ,the       
following duet bore a charming promise  
of the maturer work that was  to follow 
in wider spheres4     ,from ,the ,united
 ,pair4     ,played at ,mr4 and ,mrs4   
,german ,reed's about #ahhj4       ,i4  
,,ada4      ,what ,love was yesterday1  
we both could tell2     ,,jack4         
,what ,love may be to-morrow1 who can   
guess8     ,,ada4      ,what ,love is   
now both ,jack and ,i know well2        
,,jack4      ,but that's a secret lovers
 ne'er confess4     ,,jack ,,and ,,ada4 
,but this we know1 that ,love is much   
maligned      ,by those who call him    
deaf1 and dumb1 and blind4      ,,ii4   
,,ada4        ,yet ,love was dumb3 'tis 
but an hour ago        ,i spied him 'mid
 the daisies as ,i passed1      ,like a 
pale rose-leaf on new fallen snow       
,he lay with drooping lids and lips shut
 fast4      ,and though the birds sang1 
,love made no reply1        ,he had no  
message for the whispering stream1      
,he sent no echoing answer to the sky1  

,that laughed with dancing shadows o'er 
his dream4      ,then kneeling down     
beside him where he lay1        ,i wept 
aloud for grief that ,love was dead2    
,but when ,jack came and kissed my tears
 away1        ,love spoke one word3 we  
both heard what he said4    ,,jack ,,and
 ,,ada4        ,therefore we say that   
,love is much maligned1      ,for he is 
neither deaf1 nor dumb1 nor blind4      
,,iii4    ,,jack4        ,yet ,love was 
deaf3 'twas only yesterday        ,i    
found him fishing down beside the brook1
      ,his rod a snowy branch of        
flowering may1        ,whose spiny thorn
 he fashioned for a hook4      ,small   
heed had he of any lover's pain1        
,who would not hear the cuckoo's ringing
 note1      ,i cried to him1 but cried  
alas in vain1        ,he only laughed to
 watch the dancing float2      ,and     
while ,i wept to see him laughing so1   
,i heard a voice that whispered one     
sweet word      ,ah ,ada1 tell me was it
 8yes0 or 8no08        ,she answered    

8yes0 and then ,i knew ,love heard4     
,,jack ,,and ,,ada4        ,therefore we
 say that ,love is much maligned1       
,for he is neither deaf1 nor dumb1 nor  
blind4      ,,iv4    ,,jack ,,and ,,ada4
        ,yet ,love was blind3 for so he 
lost his way1        ,and so we found   
him when the day was done1      ,within 
a wood where happy lovers stray1        
,there he had wandered weeping and      
alone4      ,then wondering much1 we    
thought to ask his name1        ,but    
,love replied3 8,ah1 surely ye should   
know60      ,and as he spake1 beneath   
his wings of flame        ,we saw       
,love's arrows and his glittering bow1  
8,for you10 he cried1 8the way is strewn
 with flowers1        ,you've found the 
path that ,i shall never find40         
,then looking up we saw ,love's eyes in 
ours1        ,and then we knew why men  
do call him blind4        ,therefore we 
know that ,love is much maligned1       
,by all who call him deaf1 and dumb1 and
 blind4          ,from ,the ,naturalist4

    ,a ,,song ,,of ,,proverbs4        ,i
 know that truth's stranger than        
fiction1        ,and ,i fancy ,i don't  
stand alone1      ,if ,i cling to an old
 predilection1        ,for killing two  
birds with one stone2      ,i never shed
 tears that are bitter        ,over milk
 that ,i know to be spilt1      ,and    
whenever gold happens to glitter        
,i make up my mind that its gilt2       
,yet the riddle of life grows no        
clearer1        ,and still              
broken-hearted ,i yearn      ,for the   
season that never draws nearer--        
,when a worm may take courage and turn4 
,and if for a moment ,i wander          
,into themes more profound and abstruse1
      ,to note that the sauce for a     
gander        ,is also the sauce for the
 goose2      ,that one man is free to   
steal horses1        ,while another is  
punished by fate1      ,who shuns all   
such virtuous courses1        ,and dares
 to look over a gate1--      ,it is but 
for the sake of forgetting        ,what 

gives me far greater concern1      ,it  
is but with a view of abetting        ,a
 worm in its efforts to turn4        ,i 
could live and not care in the slightest
        ,to know when a dog had his day1
      ,and though the sun shone at its  
brightest1        ,i could let other    
people make hay4      ,i could perish   
without ascertaining        ,why pearls 
should be cast before swine1      ,i    
could die without ever complaining      
,that one stitch will never save nine2  
,and though ,i once had the ambition    
,a candle at both ends to burn1         
,the old craving might go to perdition  
,if ,i knew that a worm had its turn4   
,these little pieces were admirably     
rendered by ,mr4 ,alfred ,reed and his  
company1 and they won instant success4  
,i can see ,mr4 ,clement ,scott's       
delighted face just under my box on  the
 first night of ,the ,united ,pair and  
hear his burst of laughter at  the      
concluding line of the 8,song of the    
,china ,collectors40    ,but the one of 

the three comediettas upon which ,joe   
spent the most  pleasant care was ,the  
,friar--a little thirteenth century     
fancy of  his own invention and for     
which he wrote the following verses1    
giving  charming expression to the pique
 of a high-born damsel towards her      
proud lover and the sorrow of the       
shepherd swain who becomes the          
favourite of an hour4          ,,the    
,,lady ,,isobel',s ,,song4        ,oh1  
if ,i be a lady fair1        ,i'll weep 
for no lord's frown1      ,and if my    
lord should ride away1      ,i'll put   
aside my silk array        ,and take a  
russet gown4        ,i'll wear a gown of
 russet brown1        ,and sleep on the 
grassy sward1      ,and when ,i meet a  
shepherd swain1      ,if he should sigh1
 ,i'll sigh again1        ,and choose   
him for my lord4        ,i'll choose a  
shepherd for my lord1        ,though ,i 
be a lady fair1      ,and when the woods
 are golden brown1      ,of yellow      
leaves ,i'll weave a crown1        ,and 

bind his golden hair4        ,then my   
false lord shall cry and weep1          
,and call his lady fair1      ,but      
though for love his heart should bleed1 
,his sighs and tears ,i will not heed1  
,nor hearken to his prayer4             
,,the ,,shepherd ,,and ,,the ,,lady4    
,,isobel4        ,shepherd1 if thou     
wouldst learn to woo a maid             
,in ,love's own way1      ,follow young 
,cupid to the hawthorn shade            
,some day in ,may1                ,and  
bid him tell thee true                  
,what way were best to woo2             
,what a poor swain should do            
,when maids say nay4    ,,hubert4       
,ah6 could ,i find the bower where ,love
 doth dwell              ,beneath the   
,may1      ,and could ,i plead to him1  
,i know full well              ,what    
,love would say4                ,for he 
would bid me sigh1                ,and  
weep1 and moan and cry1                 
,and he would bid me die1               
,for that's ,love's way4    ,,isobel4   

,hast thou forgotten how in shepherd's  
guise              ,one day in ,may1    
,love taught a cruel maid with laughing 
eyes              ,to feel ,love's sway1
                ,and when she thought to
 scorn                ,this lover lowly 
born                ,love did not weep  
or mourn1                  ,but laughed 
and turned away1              ,and      
singing when she sighed1                
,love wept not when she cried           
,he cared not if she died               
,for that's ,love's way6    ,,both4     
,o ,love that came but yester eve1      
,if thou wilt go before to-morrow1      
,then prithee go1 but do not leave      
,my saddened heart to die of sorrow4    
,if thou wilt hide ,love's laughing     
eyes1        ,if we must lose ,love's   
magic spell1      ,then take the burthen
 of our sighs1        ,and we will say  
,farewell6 ,farewell6      ,,the        
,,shepherd',s ,,song4        ,ah        
wherefore should ,i try to sing         
,of ,love that's dead8      ,of ,love   

that came before the ,spring        ,and
 ere ,spring came had fled4             
',tis vain to seek in winter snows      
,the fallen petals of the rose          
',tis vain to ask the year to bring     
,the ,love that went before the ,spring4
        ,our little world was fair to   
see        ,ere ,love had come1      ,of
 earth and sky and flower and tree      
,i sang while ,love was dumb4           
,but now the strings have all one tone1 
,love claims all beauty for his own4    
,in vain6 in vain6 ,i can but sing      
,the ,love that went before the ,spring4
        ,and as ,i sing1 ,love lives    
again2        ,where'er ,i go1      ,his
 voice is in the summer rain1           
,his footprints on the snow4            
,and while ,october turns to gold1      
,i dream that ,april buds unfold1       
,ah tell me will the ,spring-time bring 
,the ,love that went before the ,spring8
    ,the ,shepherd's ,song ,i have heard
 him say he was as well pleased with  as
 with any of his later and more         

ambitious verse2 but it is curious  to  
note that1 quite unconsciously1 he      
repeated the line 8,but now the  strings
 have all one tone0 in the ,lute ,song1 
written nearly thirty  years after1 for 
,the ,beauty ,stone1 an opera done in   
conjunction with  ,sir ,arthur ,pinero  
to ,sir ,arthur ,sullivan's music4      
99       99       99       99       99  
,the book of ,the ,beauty ,stone was    
published1 but ,i quote the ,lute  ,song
 for those who did not know it4         
,,the ,,lute',s ,,song4    ,i4          
,ah1 why dost sigh and moan8        ,ah1
 why8 ah1 why8      ,queen of the       
laughing ,may      ,who wears thy crown 
to-day8        ,good-bye6 good-bye6     
,yea1 for all mirth hath flown2         
,the strings have all one tone--        
,ah1 why8 ah1 why8    ,,ii4        ,it  
is the lute that sings1        ,not ,i6 
not ,i6      ,methinks some sleeping    
heart      ,that once had felt ,love's  
smart        ,doth wake and cry6        
,nay1 hark6 'tis love's own wings       

,that fan the trembling strings--       
,not ,i6 ,not ,i6    ,but dainty as is  
this little song1 it does not to my mind
 equal in  charm the duet of the two old
 lovers in the same opera4      ,,the   
,,old ,,lovers ,,offering ,,one         
,,another ,,the ,,beauty ,,stone4       
,,simon4        ,i would see a maid who 
dwells in ,zolden--        ,her eyes are
 soft as moonlight on the mere2         
,the spring hath fled1 the ripened year 
turns golden--        ,shall ,i win her 
ere the waning of the year8      ,the   
reaping-folk pass homeward by the       
fountain2        ,what is it then that  
calls me from the dell1      ,what bids 
me climb the path beside the mountain   
,to the down beyond the sheepfold8 ,who 
can tell8        ,then take it1 for this
 magic stone hath power        ,to      
change thee to the fairest2 yet to me   
,thou wert fairest as ,i knew thee in   
that hour        ,when a maiden dwelt in
 ,zolden6 ,ah1 take it1 'tis for thee6  
,,joan4        ,i would see a youth who 

comes from ,freyden--        ,he is     
straighter than the mountain pine-trees 
grow2      ,gossips say he comes to woo 
a maiden1        ,so the gossips        
say--but can they know8      ,three     
laughing maids are in the hollow1       
,yet none will set him straight upon his
 way2      ,nay6 soft6 for he hath found
 the path to follow--        ,he is     
coming6 little heart1 what will he say8 
,then take it1 for this magic stone hath
 power        ,to change thee to the    
fairest1 yet to me      ,thou wert      
fairest as ,i knew thee in that hour    
,when a youth came up from ,freyden6    
,ah1 take it1 'tis for thee6    ,in the 
,beauty-,stone ,joe was only responsible
 for the lyrics and parts of  the plot4 
,but ,i know that his idea of the man's 
true love being  first awakened after he
 became blind was dear to him1 and he   
used it  again in his adaptation of     
,jekyll and ,hyde for ,h4 ,b4 ,irving2  
but there  it is the wife whose         
blindness hides from her all but the    

beautiful  side of her husband4    ,such
 were the chief of ,joe's plays4        
,tireless energy was given to  the      
production of them all1 for ,i think it 
was universally admitted  that no one   
bore the strain of rehearsals as        
cheerily and patiently  as ,joe4 ,but   
these attributes shone equally in his   
work upon the plays  of others produced 
during his many years of management at  
the ,comedy  ,theatre1 at the ,lyceum1  
after it was taken over by a company1 at
 ,his  ,majesty's when producing plays  
for ,sir ,herbert ,tree1 and lastly  at 
,covent ,garden1 where he arranged the  
mise en scne for ,parsifal  at a time   
when he was already stricken by failing 
health4    ,many strenuous hours were   
spent over each of these ventures in the
  most arduous of professions2 but what 
,i prefer to recall are the gay         
ones--the merry moments--the unfailing  
good humour1 wit and pleasant  jest by  
which my husband lightened the weary    
waits with which all who  have laboured 

for the stage are familiar4    8,rome   
wasn't built in a day10 ,i can hear him 
retort cheerfully to some impatient     
spectator who was grumbling at  the long
 waits during the last rehearsal of     
,julius ,csar at ,his  ,majesty's       
,theatre2 and none was so ready as his  
friend the  actor-manager1 with the     
appreciative laugh4    ,lady            
,tree--,maud1 to us--reminds me of his  
favourite attitude as he  would stand   
watching the effects of the lighting of 
his scenes from  the empty stalls with  
his stick passed through his arms behind
 his  back1 and his cheery tones        
uttering the most fearful anathemas     
against  lime-light men and             
scene-shifters4    ,one day ,i said to  
him3 8,don't get so angry1 ,joe1 it must
  tire you out40    ,to which he replied
 with his usual promptness1 8,angry1 my 
dear6  ,why1 ,i'm only using the        
language proper to lime-light men3 they 
understand no other40    ,once at a     
,christmas rehearsal1 when the          

stage-hands were all rather  more tipsy 
than was generally allowable1 he came   
from the stage1 and  as he sat down     
beside me in the stalls he said with a  
whimsical smile3  8,poor old ,burnaby6  
,he keeps muttering1 #8,buried a wife o'
 ,toosday and  now1 s'elp me1 can't lay 
my 'and on a hammer4'0    ,he was held  
in firm affection by his stage-hands    
just as he was by  his ,new ,gallery    
staff1 not forgetting the decorators1   
and those  superior frame-gilders who   
were only induced by regard for 8the    
boss0 to work together in completing the
 balustrade of the  balcony during the  
strenuous last days before the opening  
of that  8,aladdin's palace40    ,i     
recollect one of the scene-shifters at  
,his ,majesty's ,theatre  putting his   
shoulder out at a rehearsal and ,joe    
taking him to hospital  himself2 ,i     
should never have known of it but that  
the man's  quaint expression of         
gratitude--8,your gentlemanly conduct1  
sir1  ,i never shall forget0--so pleased

 ,joe that he had to repeat it to  me4  
,the humours of these people always     
delighted him1 and ,i can see his       
mock-grave face as he told me of the    
head stage-carpenter's refusal  to carry
 out an order because it was the day    
upon which3 8,we're all  subservient to 
,mr4 ,telbin0--an excuse which ,joe1    
knowing that irascible  scene-painter's 
peculiarities--found sufficient4    ,no 
memories are pleasanter to me than those
 of presentations to us  by these       
working folk4 ,i have a little ,old     
,english silver waiter1 an  inscribed   
gift from the employs at the ,comedy    
,theatre for our silver  wedding2 and a 
ponderous marble clock1 also touchingly 
inscribed1 which  the foreman of the    
stage-hands in the ,lyceum ,company     
presented to ,joe  in the library of our
 ,kensington house4 ,the man stood in   
the centre of  the room making a speech1
 but before it was ended nature         
prevailed and  he concluded hastily3    
8,if ,i don't set it down somewhere ,i  

shall let it drop40    ,joe had given   
instructions to our maid to pay the     
donor's cab1  and when he retired and   
found it gone1 we were all in dismay    
upon  learning that he had left his     
overcoat in it4    ,anecdotes of        
entertainments in the higher circles of 
the stage ,joe  has told himself in his 
two books of ,reminiscences1 the most   
notable  of them being ,henry ,irving's 
splendid reception to the ,rajahs1  when
 the stage and stalls of the ,lyceum    
were transformed into one vast          
flower-garden in half an hour after the 
fall of the curtain4 ,but ,i can  add my
 testimony as to memorable evenings     
spent at ,his ,majesty's  ,theatre and  
at ,sir ,henry ,irving's supper-table in
 the 8,old  ,beefsteak ,room0 of the    
,lyceum ,theatre1 when ,i listened      
proudly to  ,joe's brilliant talk or    
speeches1 and was sometimes privileged  
to act as interpreter between the host  
and the many distinguished  foreigners  
who graced that board4 ,liszt1 ,joachim1

 ,sarasate are names  which recur to me 
among them as musicians2 but1 of course1
 the guests  were chiefly actors and    
actresses1 flattered1 ,i think1 at the  
fine  welcome from the foremost ,english
 ,manager4    ,booth1 ,mary ,anderson1  
,mansfield were the foremost ,americans1
 to  the latter of whom ,i remember     
,irving's grim advice  propos of  the   
fatigue of a ventriloquist-voice in a   
gruesome part3 8,if it's  unwholesome ,i
 should do it some other way40 ,jane    
,hading1 ,coquelin1  ,rjane and1 of     
course1 the incomparable ,sarah         
,bernhardt represented the  ,french2 and
 ,i think ,salvini was the only one from
 the stage of ,italy4    ,sarah and our 
dear ,ellen ,terry were always great    
friends1 and ,i call  to mind a pretty  
little passage when they were sitting   
opposite to one  another and ,sarah1    
leaning forward1 cried1 in response to  
some gracious  word of ,nell's3 8,my    
dearling1 there are two peoples who     
shall never be old--you and me40    ,the

 words are still1 happily1 true at the  
hour when ,i write4    ,relating to     
members of the ,german stage entertained
 by ,sir ,henry1 the  most amusing      
incident is that related by ,joe himself
 in detail3 of  the great actor's grim  
humour in calling upon him suddenly to  
speak in praise of the ,sax-,meiningen  
,company1 when ,joe had innocently  told
 him an hour before that he had been    
unable to go to any of their            
performances4 ,ladies were not present  
on that occasion1 but ,i was told  that 
,joe's speech was one of the wittiest he
 ever delivered3  there was nothing that
 so sharpened his rapier as being       
apparently put  at a disadvantage4    ,i
 find no mention by himself of a similar
 occurrence on a different  issue4 ,this
 time ,irving had invited the ,oxford   
and ,cambridge crews to  supper and1    
being suddenly indisposed1 was unable to
 propose their  health4 ,without even   
waiting to be asked ,joe rose to his    
feet and1  anxious to divert the young  

men's attention from their host1        
surpassed himself in exuberant fun1     
keeping them in a roar of laughter  for 
a quarter of an hour over his alleged   
uncertainty as to which of  the two     
',varsities had secured the honours of  
the boat-race4    ,i am told that ,joe  
again acquitted himself well at a dinner
 given to  ,arthur ,balfour1 when       
,anthony ,hope called upon him without  
notice from  the chair to return thanks 
for his proposed health4 ,i don't know  
why or  how the inspiration came1 but   
8,love0 was ,joe's topic1 and it is easy
 to  imagine what a gracious and merry  
time he made with the various aspects   
of this subject4    ,of his meetings    
with ,italian actors and actresses ,joe 
does not speak  save in the instance of 
,madame ,ristori1 for whose genius he   
had an  unsurpassed veneration4    ,his 
,eminent ,victorians contains the tale  
of an afternoon at her house  when she  
had invited him and one or two of the   
dramatic critics to hear  her speak     

,lady ,macbeth's sleep-walking scene in 
,english with a  view to doing it before
 a ,british audience4    ,her large and 
sonorous rendering of the line 8,all the
 perfumes  of ,arbia0 delighted him1    
though he tried to teach her our  own   
insular pronunciation2 he was loudly in 
favour of the public  performance in    
,english1 which she finally gave1 and ,i
 shall never  forget the awe-inspiring  
effect of the slow and gentle snoring   
which  she kept running through the     
whole of the speech4    ,joe never      
admired even ,salvini as much1 though he
 revelled in his great  voice on the    
resounding ,roman tongue4 ,he made us   
all laugh one day by  mimicking the     
mincing tones of a ,cockney interpreter 
translating the  ,italian tragedian's   
sonorous language when returning thanks 
for  his ,london welcome at a public    
dinner4    ,eleonora ,duse1 for whom our
 ,nell had the most ardent admiration1  
was  rarely able1 by reason of her frail
 health1 to grace festive occasions     

after her work2 but ,joe had one or two 
interesting meetings with her  during   
the season that she rented one of the   
theatres that he managed  and we were   
all present together at her pathetic    
performance of the  ,dame aux ,camelias2
 the next night we witnessed ,sarah     
,bernhardt in the  same rle1 and ,joe   
gives an able comparison of the two     
performances in  ,coasting ,bohemia4 ,on
 the latter occasion a note came round  
to ,nell  from the stage saying3        
8,to-night ,i play for you40 ,and the   
promise was well kept4    ,speaking of  
,sarah ,bernhardt1 ,i recall a happening
 of the days before  ,joe was entitled  
to the consideration due to a theatrical
 manager2  he had obtained a promise    
from the famous lady that she would     
lunch  with us in our quiet home and we 
bade to meet her not by any means our   
8second-best0 friends--to quote a huffed
 ,english actor regarding the  guests of
 another evening4 ,we waited an hour    
with a patient party and  then ,joe     

hastened with a cab to fetch the lady1  
only to be told that  she had forgotten 
the engagement and was in her bath      
preparing to keep  another4 ,i need not 
perhaps record that ,joe's wit was equal
 to the  occasion in pacifying our      
outraged guests4    ,he and ,sarah      
became firm friends later1 and she had  
,joe's ,king  ,arthur translated into   
,french with a view to playing the part 
of  ,lancelot2 but this intention was   
never carried out4    ,so many and      
various are the memories which crowd    
upon me connected with  the stage that  
it is quite impossible for me to sift   
and record them  without undue risk of  
boring any readers ,i may have4 ,suffice
 it to say  that ,i think1 of his many  
occupations1 the theatre1 whether in    
writing  for it or in labouring at      
productions upon it1 was the one which  
most  entranced and held ,joe4 ,not only
 did he love every detail of the work1  
but it brought him in daily contact with
 all sorts and conditions of  men and   

women1 taxed his powers as a leader of  
them and gave him hourly  opportunity   
for the exercise of his humanizing and  
inspiring gift3  that highest kind of   
humour which needs no preparation1 but  
is evoked  by every little passing      
incident and has its real might in the  
love of  mankind4    ,perhaps ,i may    
here quote a portion of an ,american    
interviewer's  account of a talk with   
,henry ,irving1 sent to ,joe by ,j4 ,l4 
,toole during  one of his old friend's  
long tours in the ,united ,states4      
8,,the ,,wittiest ,,man ,,in ,,england40
    8,whom do you consider the wittiest 
man in ,england to-day80    8,well1 in  
my opinion1 the greatest of our wits is 
a man of whom  very little is known out 
here4 ,he is ,comyns ,carr1 who wrote   
,king  ,arthur for me40    8,he is a    
theatrical manager in ,london1 is he    
not80    8,yes1 at the present he is1   
but he is a distinguished man in        
literature as well4 ,a polished essayist
 and the most sparkling man ,i  have    

ever met4 ,as an extemporaneous speaker 
he is delightful40    8,is he an        
,irishman80    8,perhaps he is1         
originally4 ,now you speak of it4 ,do   
you know  if ,carr is an ,irish name8   
,comyns is at any rate and then most of 
our celebrated wits have been           
,irishmen--our ,sheridans and our       
,goldsmiths80    ,with this pleasing    
tribute to my husband ,i may fitly close
 these  theatrical reminiscences1 though
 ,i like to recall that ,joe and ,henry 
,irving had appreciations of one another
 on a graver side to which  some pages  
in ,eminent ,victorians testify1 and    
many are the pleasant  holiday hours we 
spent as his guests both abroad and at  
home4 ,he used  to visit the old-world  
village of ,winchelsea by ,rye1 where we
 had a  cottage close to the ancient    
gateway of the town--afterwards sold to 
,ellen ,terry4    ,but the most notable 
of our joint trips was that to          
,nuremberg in search  of material for   
the production of ,faust4 ,this was the 

first occasion  on which ,i made a hit  
with my designing of ,ellen ,terry's    
dresses1  which ,i afterwards did for   
nearly twenty years4 ,being the only one
  of the party speaking ,german1 ,i made
 many bargains in the shops and  on the 
old market-place chiefly under ,joe's   
direction but also  by request of ,henry
 or ,nell4 ,she bought me a solid       
housewife's  copper jug in the market1  
and ,joe and ,i secured an old ivory    
casket  which she accepted from us and  
in which she kept the gew-gaws in the   
8,jewel ,scene40    ,she and ,i had a   
delightful evening in the old ,castle1  
,i having  persuaded a little           
girl-custodian to let us in after hours 
so that we  saw the place in solemn     
loneliness with the sunset glow         
reddening the  red roofs of the city far
 below us4    ,i won the admission by a 
highly coloured description of the      
actress in  ,shakespeare1 which the     
child actually had seen in her own town2
 and  ,nell promised her a signed       

photograph--punctually posted on our    
return4    ,this excursion was made     
while ,joe and ,henry were away at      
,rothenburg1  which my husband had      
insisted that ,irving must see on       
account of its  unique preservation of  
untouched city-wall and battlements4    
,it was a memorable tour1 of which ,joe 
tells some interesting anecdotes  in    
,coasting ,bohemia4    ,in speaking of  
the long drives which his host loved and
 so greatly  preferred to any kind of   
exercise1 ,joe does not confess1        
however1 how  impossible he found it to 
keep himself awake4 8,we sit side by    
side and sleep for hours60 he would tell
 me regretfully when he  came home4 ,and
 ,i don't suppose it occurred to any of 
us then that  it was the best rest that 
tired theatrical managers could have4   
,,chapter ,,ix    ,,entertainment       
,this is a topic upon which ,i touch    
timidly2 not only because ,joe has      
talked of it himself in ,some ,eminent  
,victorians1 but also because  ,i had1  

perhaps less than most of his friends1  
the opportunity to  appreciate his gifts
 as a public1 or even a social1         
entertainer4 ,in  the long list of his  
after-dinner speeches there were not    
more than  half a dozen that ,i was     
lucky enough to hear2 and the little    
corner in  the ,garrick ,club where ,i  
know he was wont to sit1 quickly        
attracting  thither the most            
appreciative spirits and keeping them   
all the evening  in a ripple of         
laughter1 was obviously a forbidden spot
 to me4    ,i think his celebrity in    
this matter needs no mention of mine2   
but ,i  should like to quote one or two 
appreciations by distinguished literary 
men4    ,the first is in a letter to    
myself1 where ,anthony ,hope draws a    
remarkable portrait of him3 8,he was a  
great arguer10 he writes2 8for  while   
his temper was always serene1 his good  
humour did not blunt the  edge of his   
tongue4 ,quite recently ,i have reread  
his last book with the  keenest         

appreciation2 it shows a broad1         
appreciative mind1 and yet one  quite   
clear for values and criterions4    8,we
 have lost a man of rare gifts1 a       
splendid companion1 a  generous1 kindly1
 gracious friend4 ,one is happy in      
having known him1  happy too in feeling 
that life was to him a fine thing--a    
thing he  loved1 appreciated and used to
 the utmost4 ,and his name will live--,i
  think that will be proved true--in the
 memories of men and in their  written  
records of these times4    8,he was a   
figure and a presence amongst us40      
,another appreciation is by ,w4 ,j4     
,locke and appeared in one of the       
leading papers3    8,in a brief notice  
like the present it is impossible to    
dwell on  the career of one of the most 
versatile of our profession4 ,everything
  he touched he adorned with his own    
peculiar sense of artistic  perfection4 
,he was an eminent art critic1 a        
theatrical manager with  high ideals1 an
 editor of fine discernment1 and a      

distinguished  playwright4 ,he was one  
of the finest after-dinner speakers of  
his  generation1 and one of the few men 
who earned1 maintained1 and deserved    
the reputation of a wit4 ,a writer in a 
recent newspaper article  wrongly       
charged him with being rather a         
monologuist in social talk  than a      
conversationalist4 ,far from this being 
the case1 no one more  fully appreciated
 and practised the delicate art of      
conversation4 ,it  may be said1 perhaps1
 that he was one of the youngest--he    
died in  his sixty-eighth year--and one 
of the last of the great ,victorians2   
for though his keen intellect never lost
 touch with the events and  movements of
 recent years1 yet his mental attitude  
was typically  that of the second half  
of the nineteenth century in its sturdy 
radicalism1 its search after essentials1
 its abhorrence of shams1 and  its lusty
 enjoyment of what was real and good in 
life4 ,the honest  workman with pen or  
brush always found at his hands generous

 praise or  encouragement2 for the      
charlatan1 or #8,jack ,pudding1' as he  
was fond of terming him1 he had no      
mercy4    8,struggling against grievous 
physical disability1 he died            
practically in harness4 ,his last book1 
a treatise on painting1  completed but a
 month or two ago1 is said by those     
privileged to read  the proofs1 to      
reveal a vigour unimpaired by illness   
and an enthusiasm  undimmed by age4 ,an 
arresting and lovable figure has passed 
from us1  one that linked us with a     
generation of giants whose work was     
ending  when ours began4 ,it is for us1 
with sadness1 to say1 ,vale3 but we     
know that their honoured shades will    
greet with many an ave the  advent of   
#8,joe' ,carr on the banks of ,acheron40
    ,two more extracts from letters1 ,i 
have the permission of the writers to   
quote4 ,one is from ,a4 ,e4 ,w4 ,mason3 
8,the traits and qualities which come   
back to me10 he  writes1 are 8his boyish
 spirit1 his sense of fun1 his swiftness

  in dropping out of fun and suddenly   
touching upon great themes with the     
surest possible touch1 his knowledge of 
,shakespeare1 his passion for           
,dickens10 etc4 ,and the other is in the
 letter of affectionate  sympathy       
written to me at the time of his death  
by one of the oldest  and most valued of
 his friends1 ,sir ,frederick           
,macmillan3    8,he was one of the most 
gifted and brilliant creatures ,i have  
ever known1 and had such a kindly nature
 that no one could come across  him     
without loving him4    8,i am proud to  
think that it was my privilege to give  
him his  last literary commission1 and  
that it has resulted in such a fine     
piece  of work in the region in which he
 had always been a master40    ,this    
allusion is to ,the ,ideals of          
,painting1 published posthumously  and  
still before the public4    ,the        
following notice appeared in the        
,manchester ,guardian3    8,the         
remarkable thing about ,mr4 ,joseph     

,comyns ,carr was that1  while his      
reputation as a talker and after-dinner 
speaker was made in  the late ,victorian
 days1 his gift was so genuine and so   
deep-set in  human nature that even in  
these days when the whole poise of      
humour  is changed1 people still spoke  
of him as our best man4 ,i doubt if     
anyone could stand the ,victorian       
after-dinner speeches that established  
reputations1 or if ,wilde himself would 
keep the table quiet1 but1 until  near  
the end1 ,carr was the person organisers
 of dinners first thought  of when they 
wanted a toast list that would attract  
guests4 ,he had  a ,johnsonian          
decisiveness and real brilliance of     
definition1 with a  freakish fancy and  
playfulness that at times had much of   
,henley's  saltness and ferocity40    ,i
 am bound to say ,i never heard the     
ferocity1 but then there were  ladies   
present when ,i was4 ,his chaff was     
sometimes keen1 it is true1  and at our 
friends' houses ,i sometimes sat quaking

 for fear it  should give offence2 but  
even ,i underrated the power of his     
personality  and the deep affection in  
which he was universally held1 and ,i   
did not  guess till he was gone the     
wealth of friends who missed him4       
8,there should be a monument erected to 
him for having cheered  more folk and   
made more laughter than anyone did      
before him10  said one2 and so it was   
even in the less inspiring surroundings 
of his  own home4    ,my mind goes back 
to the first frugal little dinners of   
our early life1  given when we had moved
 from the rooms over the dispensary in  
,great  ,russell ,street to a proper    
house in ,blandford ,square1 now the    
,great  ,central ,railway ,station4     
,he always did his own carving1 and     
later taught our daughter to be  nearly 
as expert as he was at it2 no amount of 
pleading for the  8table decoration0    
from our handsome parlour-maid would    
deter him1 and she and ,i had cause to  
weep over splashed brocade              

table-centres which were the fashion of 
the hour4    8,what is this bird1 my    
dear80 he asked one  night about some   
moderate-priced game which ,i thought ,i
 had  8discovered40    8,hazel-grouse1  
,joe10 faltered ,i1 guessing that some  
reproof  was coming4    8,nasal-grouse1 
you mean10 said he2 promptly adding for 
my consolation1 8,she's a bit of a      
foreigner1 you see1  so they take her in
 about our ,english birds4 ,never mind1 
dear6 ,this  bird's muscles are less    
tough1 at all events1 than those of     
your country fowl who walked from       
,devonshire last week40 ,and he  turned 
to his friends and added3 8,i can give  
you nothing but the  plainest of food1  
but ,i always take a pride in its being 
the best of  its kind40    ,that was his
 unfailing word3 8,the best is good     
enough for  me60 he would say2 and he   
would go himself to the butcher if the  
,sunday beef had not been succulent1 and
 say kindly3 8,you need not  trouble to 
send me anything but the best40    ,that

 was why his friends set so much store  
by his gastronomic  opinion--he was a   
great judge of food1 he had it both from
 his ,irish  mother and his ,cumberland 
father2 he knew good meat when he saw   
it1 as  that astute friend of his1 the  
,hertfordshire butcher already          
mentioned1  would tell him2 and no one  
appreciated this more than the late     
,lord  ,burnham4 ,they both agreed that 
plain fare was always the finest--but   
it must be of the best4 ,a cold sirloin 
must be served uncut1 yet the  host of  
those memorable week-end parties at     
,hall ,barn always knew  whether it     
would be 8prime0 when cut and would beg 
,joe to  keep a good portion of his     
appetite for the tasting of it4 ,neither
 of  them gave the first place to       
made-dishes1 though ,joe could enjoy    
these  when perfect--as they were at    
that bountiful table4    ,the           
made-dishes of unknown cooks he always  
mistrusted1 especially when  he had     
reason to fear that the dinner would be 

of what he called 8the  green-grocer's  
and pastry-cook's0 class2 and ,i        
remember his wicked  assertion that his 
8inside was rattling like a pea in a    
canister0 with  all the tinned food that
 he had eaten at one such entertainment4
    ,alas1 that he should have been     
condemned to some of it1 through war    
necessities1 at the end of his life6    
,he would take pains sometimes in       
instructing me and our own humble cook  
in the concoction of some new dish from 
a good receipt2 but nothing was  to be  
spared in the cost of the necessary     
ingredients3 the soup1 fish  or entree  
must be made 8of the best10 not         
forgetting that the 8pig  and onion were
 the ,north and ,south poles of         
cookery20 and1 ,i think1 he  might have 
added also the oyster4    ,his          
,christmas turkey was almost always     
boiled1 after his mother's  ,irish      
method1 stuffed with oysters and served 
with fried pork  sausages and a lavish  
oyster sauce or a vol-au-vent of the    

same2  latterly the oysters always came 
in a barrel from our kind friend        
8,bertie0 ,sullivan4    ,yes1 his       
friends esteemed him highly as a food   
expert2 there is a  letter from ,edward 
,burne-,jones 7quoted1 ,i think1 by     
,joe7 in which he  begs him to order the
 dinner for some entertainment of his   
own4 8,oh1  dear ,carr1 save my honour10
 he writes1 8,i know no more what dinner
 to  order than the cat on the          
hearth--less1 for she would promptly    
order  mice4 ,oh1 ,carr1 order a nice   
dinner so that ,i may not be quoted as a
  warning of meanness 444 yet not       
ostentatious and presuming such as      
would foolishly compete with the        
banquets of the affluent4 ,o1 ,carr1    
come to the rescue60    ,this dear      
friend cared comparatively little for   
the pleasures of the  table1 but ,joe   
was even privileged to pass on one of   
his receipts to an  acknowledged        
gourmet3 it was the simmering of a ham  
half the time in  stock and vegetables1 

and the remainder in champagne--or1     
failing that1  in any good white wine2  
and as for his salads1 he was famed for 
them4    ,i can see the pretty little   
plate of chives and other chopped herbs1
  with yoke and white of hard-boiled    
mashed egg1 that our ,french  bourgeoise
 cook would send up ready for his       
meticulous choice in the  mixing of     
either a ,russian or a lettuce salad3 8a
 niggard of  vinegar1 a spendthrift of  
oil1 and a maniac at mixing10 was the   
old adage he went by4    ,our cooks were
 always as proud as ,i was to try and   
follow out his  ideas1 and we were      
invariably praised for success3 ,i      
remember an  occasion when the confused 
damsel--partly because she happened to  
be  very pretty--was summoned to the    
dining-room to receive her meed2 and    
when it was blame1 ,i caught the brunt  
of it and mitigated the dose            
downstairs4    ,but as it was always in 
the form of fun ,i never minded2 ,i was 
always  proud to be the butt of it4     

,sometimes ,i scored1 as when the       
dessert  came at that first party1 and  
he said1 offering a dish of sweets to   
his  neighbour3    8,try a preserved    
fruit2 they've stood the move from      
,bloomsbury wonderfully well10 and ,i   
was able to produce the  freshly opened 
box1 just arrived from a choice foreign 
firm1 and prove  my hospitality to be   
less stinted4    ,i had my partisans in 
those days4 ,pellegrini1 the ,vanity    
,fair  caricaturist1 was one of them4 ,i
 hailed from his own country1 and ,i can
  hear him say3    8,never minder ,joe6 
,you and ,i we 'ave de sun in de  eyes40
 ,and then we would discuss the proper  
condiment for  maccaroni1 and next time 
he came he would bring it ready cooked  
in  a fireproof dish1 tenderly carried  
on his lap in the hansom1 which he      
insisted upon placing on the proper spot
 of the kitchen stove to warm3  on such 
nights1 he ate little of our ,british   
fare4    ,my husband and he were fast   
friends nevertheless4 ,if ,joe had not  

8de sun in de eyes0 he had it in the    
heart1 and ,pellegrini  adored him1 even
 going so far once as to break his oath 
never to  sleep out of his own lodgings1
 that he might visit us at a cottage on 
the ,thames1 where--although he allowed 
that the moon 8she is a  beauty0--he    
used cold cream and kid gloves to       
counteract the  ill-effects of hard     
water1 and sat up all night rather than 
retire to a  strange bed4    ,several   
tales of this lovable and laughable     
character are told in  ,eminent         
,victorians1 most of them referring to  
those happy little  homely dinner       
parties where ,joe shone so pleasantly1 
and which his  friends not only graced  
with their presence1 but even sometimes 
contributed to by little kindly         
presentations of delicacies4    ,perhaps
 few have received as much kindness as  
,joe did1 and though  always grateful1  
he was never overwhelmed4 ,of the pride 
which resents  gifts he had none4 8,i   
wouldn't take a jot from any but a      

friend10 he would say4 8,but if a       
friend1 who has more than  ,i1 likes to 
share it with me1 why should ,i refuse8 
,i would do the same  for him4 ,i have  
no money1 but ,i give him what ,i       
possess40    ,and none who knew         
him--rich or poor--in any of his many   
spheres1 but  would testify to this3 he 
gave the young of his wise and tactful  
advice  in their careers1 sparing no    
time or trouble to advance those who    
were  steadfast of purpose2 he gave to  
his contemporaries of his untiring      
sympathy--known only to those who       
received it2 he gave of his cheerful    
optimism to all3 no form of envy ever   
crossed his mind4    8,i can enjoy fine 
things just as well when they belong to 
others as to me10 he would say4 ,of none
 are the words truer3  8,having nothing 
yet possessing all things40    ,but this
 graver digression has led me far from  
that merry ,christmas  party1 when the  
parlour-maid1 whose beauty was an       
attraction of our  first home1 and whose

 charm and devotion for eleven years are
 one  of its sweetest memories1 was     
forced to retire to the sideboard to    
compose her face2 which sort of thing   
did not only occur at our own  table1   
but at far smarter houses where decorous
 butlers would bow  their heads lower to
 conceal their smiles1 the mistress of  
one of them  even declaring that her    
maggiordomo had not considered the      
company  that evening worthy of ,joe1   
and had suggested a different choice for
 a  future party4    ,there was one     
over-cultured house to which we used to 
be bidden where  the learned hostess was
 mated to a meek alien1 who never       
presumed to  understand her             
conversation4 ,one evening1 before the  
fish was removed1  she leant forward and
 called down the table to ,joe3 8,mr4   
,comyns  ,carr1 would you kindly inform 
us #8what is style8'0    ,joe scarcely  
paused before he replied with his       
sunniest smile1  8,not before the       
sweets1 ,madam40 ,and he turned         

pleasantly to  the amazed host and began
 complimenting him on the excellence of 
his  claret4    ,i think1 although ,i am
 afraid ,i have heard him call that host
 a 8,prince  of ,duldoggery10 he        
preferred him that night to the lady of 
culture1  though she was too serious to 
be included in his pet aversions1 the   
8,lady ,sarah ,volatile's0 or           
8jumping-cats0 of ,society4    ,but even
 among such1 how prompt he was to detect
 the tiniest spark of  genuine knowledge
 or enthusiasm1 the most foolishly      
concealed quality  of true womanliness  
and devotion4    ,i remember a          
girl-friend of his daughter's1 boasting 
to him in  defiance of his counsel1 that
 she would drive to ,ascot alone in an  
admirer's car4    8,no you won't10 said 
,joe quietly4    ,and loudly as she     
persisted that night--she did not4    ,i
 could multiply these instances by the  
score1 for even in middle  age he was   
the darling of all girls1 though he     
always told them  home-truths1 and many 

was the match he made or wisely marred  
in the  confidential corner of a        
drawing-room4    ,whether in the quiet  
or the open1 of course1 he always talked
 the  better for his cigar1 and to some 
the sight of the matches he wasted      
while seeking the positively apt word   
was a joy in itself--or an  annoyance1  
as the case might be4    ,i know one    
dear friend who could not listen for    
irritation1 and would  burst out at     
last3 8,light your pipe1 first1 old man1
 do60    ,yet there were times when he  
had no pipe to light--in smart          
drawing-rooms or theatre stalls1 for    
instance4 ,he was very naughty in  the  
latter1 and kept me in a fever lest1    
being so well known1 some one  should   
overhear him who could make mischief4   
,once he was reproved by the management 
for making his party laugh  immoderately
 in the stage-box at a sorely dull      
farcical comedy4    8,pray present my   
compliments to the manager10 said ,joe  
suavely to the attendant who had brought

 the message1 8and assure  him that we  
were not laughing at anything on the    
stage40    ,the speech he was proud to  
make every #hth of ,january in honour of
 his  dear old friend1 ,sir ,lawrence   
,alma-,tadema's birthday1 and the  good 
wishes which for many years he voiced   
for many friends at ,sir  ,george and   
,lady ,lewis' ,new-,year parties1 will  
not perhaps be  altogether forgotten1   
nor could ,i recall the topical         
interests of the  moment after so long4 
,but those who knew him best knew that  
the opportunities for witty  rejoinder  
and humorous invention were by no means 
limited to set  occasions2 they were    
instantly seized on provocation which no
 one else  would have perceived1 and as 
often in the simplicity of domestic life
  as in the society of clever people who
 might have been supposed to  inspire   
him4    ,who but ,joe1 when a picnic was
 spread beneath the trees in the woods  
at ,walton1 and a combative young       
curate1 claiming to have secured the    

spot1 swooped down upon us with his     
,sunday-school flock1 would have        
whispered merrily3 8,never mind6 ,we'll 
cut him according to  his cloth60    ,or
 who1 on being asked by a lady which was
 my 8,at ,home0  day1 would have        
replied3 8,let me see6 ,sunday is the   
,lord's  ,day1 and ,monday is my wife's 
day20 or1 in the days of my  slenderness
 and his more opulent figure1 would have
 declared that1  taking the average1 we 
were the thinnest couple in ,london8    
,these trivial jokes will seem poor to  
the friends who have heard  his later   
and more brilliant bon-mots and have    
listened to his  longer orations2 but1  
as ,i have said1 ,i know little of those
 public  speeches4 ,the most notable of 
these at which ,i remember being present
  was at a dinner of the ,royal         
,literary ,fund1 when he spoke long and 
with deep illumination on his beloved   
,charles ,dickens2 he always  spoke at  
the various commemorative entertainments
 given in the great  novelist's honour1 

but never so brilliantly and so         
profoundly as  that time4    ,when the  
occasion was more formal--as when he    
took the chair at the  ,actors'         
,benevolent or the ,dramatic and        
,musical ,fund--he would  sometimes     
recite to me beforehand part of the     
speech which he intended  to deliver1   
but ,i believe he rarely stuck to his   
plan1 and ,i have heard  him say that he
 preferred merely to prepare the        
8joints0 of  his subject--i4e4 each new 
departure--and to leave all the         
filling-in  to the inspiration of the   
moment as influenced by the foregoing   
speaker  or any unforeseen incident4    
,i recollect that the peroration of a   
speech for the ,dramatic and  ,musical  
,fund ended3 8,i plead not so much for  
the deserving as for  the undeserving10 
and ,i believe that he added3 8of whom  
,i  am one40    ,i know that he told me 
next day--half in glee1 but much also in
  pride--that the ,toastmaster had told 
him that he had never stood behind  a   

chair and seen so much money raked in4  
,it was certainly to his mastery of the 
impromptu that he owed the  triumph of  
his oration before the ,u4,s4           
,ambassador1 ,mr4 ,bayard1  at a moment 
when war seemed suddenly possible with  
our great  ,english-speaking neighbour2 
and ,i recollect that ,ellen ,terry1 who
 was  then in ,new ,york1 told me later 
that when ,joe's speech appeared  in the
 papers en rsum 7it never could be      
wholly reported owing to  his making no 
notes7 there was a marked change in the 
tide of feeling4    ,he has related a   
part of this incident in his ,eminent   
,victorians1 but  he has not mentioned  
this last particular1 neither has he    
told how his  triumph was won by his    
large appreciation of the love lavished 
upon  the giants of our ,english        
literature by our 8friends across the   
seas40          ,,chapter ,x            
,,holidays      ,a happy chapter this3  
for though ,joe always had so many irons
 in the  fire that lengthy holidays were

 not only very few with him but actually
  avoided and disliked1 he made merry so
 well by the wayside that many a  memory
 falls into a category scarcely         
enshrined in a longer period than  a    
summer afternoon1 or at most1 a week-end
 trip2 he made holiday for  other folk  
all the time1 and in so doing made it   
for himself4    ,of week-end visits none
 were more joyous than those spent under
  the hospitable roof of our friends    
,sir ,george and ,lady ,lewis at        
,walton-on-,thames1 where ,sir ,edward  
,burne-,jones was a constant visitor4   
,neither of those friends were knighted 
or baroneted then1 so that  perhaps we  
might all have been said to be--using   
,joe's own  words--8of the lower middle 
class1 to which ,i am proud to  belong40
    ,oscar ,wilde was often of the      
,walton party--fresh from ,oxford then1 
and  considerably esteemed as a wit     
himself1 though not1 as ,joe shows in   
his  ,reminiscences1 always above the   
suspicion of borrowing4    ,in this     

respect he somewhat resembled ,whistler2
 but the latter was more  honest in his 
plagiarism4    ,one day ,whistler       
accused ,joe of making a joke at the    
expense of his  friend--a false         
accusation in reality1 though sometimes 
lightly  true--to which ,joe quickly    
answered3 8,well1 ,i can make a friend  
most days1 but ,i can only make a good  
joke now and then30  assuredly only half
 a truth1 too4    8,ha6 ha60 laughed    
,whistler with his shrill cackle1 8,i   
wish ,i had said that myself60          
8,never mind1 ,jimmy1 you will10        
retorted ,joe4    ,and the cackle broke 
forth again whole-heartedly1 whereas    
,wilde might  possibly have been        
offended4    ,but very few folk were    
ever offended at my husband's fun4      
,one of the members said to him one day 
at the ,garrick ,club1 in a  whimsical  
and deprecating manner3 8,these fellows 
tell me that ,i have  the reputation of 
a wit1 my dear ,carr40 ,to which ,joe   
replied3 8,don't  worry6 you'll live    

that down in an afternoon40 ,and ,i am  
told that the  friend was wont to repeat
 this against himself4 ,again1 the      
mother of a  pretty young girl1 whom he 
was openly flattering1 asked him1       
laughing1  whether his intentions were  
serious1 to which he replied3 8,serious1
 but  not honourable1 madam40 ,but if   
this lady was not offended perhaps it   
was because he had known her since the  
time when she was fourteen years  old   
herself4    ,an evening in ,lady ,lewis'
 pretty drawing-room at the ,walton     
cottage comes vividly back to me4 ,we   
were playing some geographical  game    
with the children1 in the course of     
which ,oscar ,wilde--with a  view to    
grown-up applause--found occasion to    
ask3 8,where is the  capital of the     
,rothschilds80    ,the children looked  
blank4    8,why1 in ,behring ,straits10 
said ,joe promptly1 and ,i  remember old
 ,sir ,george ,lewis' smile1 for it was 
at the time of  the famous city crisis  
when1 but for that capital1 the great   

firm of  ,baring might have stopped     
payment4    ,even in that most          
precarious form of fun1 the practical   
joke1 ,joe was  never known to hurt even
 the most thin-skinned4    ,one day he  
and ,mr4 ,hall1 his co-director at the  
,new ,gallery--made  an excursion to    
,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones' home--,the  
,grange1  ,kensington--and sent up a    
message to the artist asking if he would
  receive two gentlemen who had called  
to ask whether he would take  shares in 
the ,great ,wheel4 ,the maid must have  
been sore put to it to  keep her        
countenance1 for the rage with which the
 painter viewed the  monstrosity that   
climbed the sky above his garden wall   
was well known  in his household4    ,he
 rushed downstairs1 palette in hand1    
only to find 8little  ,carr10 as he     
affectionately called him1 waiting      
demurely in the  hall on quite other    
business4    ,at the sweet ,rottingdean 
home a similar joke was played3         
,burne-,jones'  loathing of the         

8interviewer0 was a very open secret2 so
 one summer  evening ,joe crept up to   
the front door and sent in an audacious 
name1  purporting to be that of an      
,american who hoped for a few words with
 the  distinguished artist4    ,from the
 shade of the porch he peeped into the  
dining-room window1  and had the        
satisfaction of seeing his friend creep 
under the  dinner-table1 while the maid 
returned with the message that ,sir     
,edward  ,burne-,jones was not at home4 
,i think ,joe's familiar back was       
quickly recognised as he walked1 in mock
 dignity1 down the garden path1  and he 
was not sent empty away4    ,of course1 
the practical jokes of which he shared  
the invention with  his good friend ,j4 
,l4 ,toole--a master of the craft--were 
the most  cunningly devised4 ,he has    
related the choicest in ,eminent        
,victorians1  but ,i could tell of many 
a family laugh over them1 and 8,one more
  ,tooler1 father1 before we go to bed10
 was a common request4    ,one of the   

favourite stories was told of him when  
travelling down with  ,joe to the       
beautiful old moated house at ,ightham1 
which our ,american  friends1 ,general  
and ,mrs4 ,palmer1 had made their       
,english home4 ,stopping  at a wayside  
station above which a lordly mansion    
stood among the  trees1 ,toole beckoned 
a porter and1 in the gibberish that he  
used so  glibly at these moments1       
pretended to utter the name of its      
owner4    8,oh1 you mean ,mr4           
,so-and-,so10 said the porter4    8,of  
course--,i said so60 retorted the       
shameless comedian4 8,well1 here's  half
 a crown4 ,when the train's off1 run up 
to the house and say #8we  shall be     
seven to dinner and the game will       
follow4'0    ,the whistle went as the   
porter1 holding on to the door1         
enquired3  8,who shall ,i say1 ,sir80   
,but the train moved on and ,toole      
returned to the reading of his paper1   
leaving a gaping man on the platform4   
,this same ,ightham ,mote was the scene 

of many of our happiest hours4  ,its    
charming hostess was a dear friend whose
 rare gifts of sympathy  and true       
hospitality enabled her not only to     
attract to her house the  brightest of  
spirits1 but also to draw from them     
their best4 ,children1  too1 to whom she
 was a fairy godmother1 were welcome as 
friends in  their own right4 ,our       
daughter and younger son were specially 
dear to  her in their different ways1   
and many was the grave1 childish saying 
of  the latter that she would repeat to 
the proud father1 though perhaps  the   
one he oftenest told himself was said to
 ,alma ,tadema when the  five-year-old  
boy remarked that he preferred a gas to 
a coal fire1  because the first went out
 when you liked1 and the latter when it 
liked4    ,joe was appreciated of all   
children and always won their favour    
easily2  but ,i remember one little lady
 administering a severe rebuff to him   
when1 after many lures1 he said at last3
 8,well1 ,i don't  care whether you come

 or not60 to which she replied3 8,oh1   
yes1 you do60    ,but that was an       
exception2 they were usually his slaves1
 and loved his  stories as much as their
 elders did4 ,he treated them as his    
equals only  requiring that they should 
do the same2 and when his first grandson
  was born and some one alluded to him  
as a proud grandfather1 he said3  8,i   
like the child1 but there's to be no    
grandfather about  it4 ,i'm to be ,joe  
to him as to others40 ,and so he was to 
the children of that dear lady in       
beautiful ,ightham ,mote4    ,christmas 
was a real ,yuletide in the fine old    
wainscoted hall and  library1 where ,joe
 was always ready for the revel1 as he  
was for the  outdoor sports with his own
 children and those of the house4 ,there
  were games in the beautiful old       
quadrangle and fishing feats from the   
bridges that lead across the moat to the
 bowling-green beyond2 but the  latter  
must have been worse than a bad joke to 
an expert angler such  as my            

husband--consisting as they did in      
trying to lure the trout by  a bait tied
 on to a hairpin2 luckily the fish swam 
away merrily and  perhaps enjoyed the   
fun too4    ,frederick ,jameson1 that   
earliest friend of the days of our      
courtship1  led the carol and song1 and 
played for children and grown-ups to    
dance2  ,henry ,james sat in the ingle  
nook and told us ghost-stories of his   
making wholly in keeping with the place2
 ,george ,meredith watched and  made    
shrewd comments on the characteristics  
and possible careers of our  various    
children1 and discoursed on every       
topic--always expecting the  homage due 
to him and reserving the conversation1  
even from ,joe1 by a  long-drawn 8,ah--0
 until he was ready with his next       
paradox4    ,yet there was a moment when
 ,joe scored even off ,meredith4 ,i     
think he  tells the tale in ,coasting   
,bohemia1 but not of himself4 ,meredith 
had been criticizing ,george ,eliot1 and
 in a brief pause1 ,joe put in3  8,yes6 

,panoplied in all the philosophies she  
swoops upon the  commonplace40 ,and     
,meredith1 laughing1 replied1 8,i wish  
,i  had said that myself60    ,one day  
we were busy amusing the children in the
 big ,hall with  a game of ,definitions2
 one wrote down a word for ,subject1 the
  next man defined1 and the third--the  
paper being turned over the             
,subject--8recovered0 it4    ,thus3     
,subject1 ,soap2 ,definition1 as made by
 ,joe3 ,the ,horror of the  ,east-end   
multitude4 ,recovery1 ,jack the ,ripper3
 the nickname of the  celebrated        
,east-end murderer who was then the talk
 of the whole town4    ,joe was leaving 
that day for ,london1 and the man came  
to announce that  the trap was at the   
door4    ,he rose to go1 but the        
children had begun another definition   
for his  8last40 ,woman was given as the
 word4 ,the ,better ,half1  wrote the   
next person4    8,only just time to make
 the train1 ,sir10 said the footman4    
,the children wailed1 and we all        

followed him out of the hall and saw    
him off2 but half an hour later a       
telegram was handed to our hostess4     
8,recovery3 ,an ,angel once removed02   
and nobody needed to  hear the          
signature4    ,the children were always 
the frame to the picture in that lovable
  household1 and our daughter--the apple
 of her father's eye1  made in his      
mould1 gifted with his humour and large 
with his urbane  and generous heart--had
 a very special place there4 ,i remember
 his  pride when ,george ,meredith      
watching her one day at his feet1 said3 
8,look at the bumps on that child's     
head4 ,always let her  pursue whatever  
walk in life she chooses40    ,his      
advice was followed2 and she knew what  
she would choose4 ,i was  having her    
trained for a violinist 7for her gifts  
were several7 and her  master was proud 
of her at twelve years old4 ,but at     
fourteen she came  to us one day and    
said3 8,father1 ,i hope you won't mind3 
,i've sold my violin4 ,i know now that  

,i want to draw--and no one  can serve  
two masters so ,i've put away the       
temptation40    ,joe was generally the  
centre around whom the children mustered
 in those  good days1 and many an extra 
ten minutes did he beg off their bedtime
  in the summer twilight or by the big  
,christmas logs4 ,he used to tell  them 
that he hated going to bed himself1 and 
nothing was more true4    8,if ,i didn't
 know that your mother always gives me  
cotton sheets10 he  would say on a      
winter's night1 8,i would never go4     
,i've no fancy for a  country trip every
 time ,i turn round in bed40    ,but    
indeed he needed no such excuse for     
sitting up late when he had a  congenial
 audience4 ,he had a wonderful capacity 
for sound sleep when  the time came--a  
capacity equalled1 as he expressed it1  
for 8enjoying0  laziness2 because1 of   
exercise--save in the pursuit of bird or
 fish--he  would have none2 but most of 
his life he sat up late and his most    
welcome form of rest was always in talk4

    ,in this relaxation he was even more
 than matched in argumentativeness  by  
the husband of another most hospitable  
hostess1 to whom he addresses  the      
following letter after a long visit when
 she had housed us in a  homeless       
interval4 ,i may add that our host was  
an etymologist1 and  would confront ,joe
 with a dictionary in support of his own
 view of  a disputed word2 also that he 
was an eminent amateur musician and a   
vehement ,wagnerian4        8,,my       
,,dear----1     ,it seems to me that you
 and your husband ought to be told that 
you are   excellent hosts--and yet ,i   
don't want the thing to get about4   ,at
 first ,i thought that ,i would declare 
loudly to all whom ,i met how   pleasant
 a thing it was to stay in your house2  
and then ,i thought ,i   wouldn't4      
,when one has discovered a really       
charming place where one can live   with
 exclusive regard to one's own selfish  
indulgence1 it is   perhaps hardly wise 
to noise it abroad4 ,some of the        

snuggest corners   in ,europe have been 
ruined by such imprudent chatter2 and ,i
 feel that   ,i should never forgive    
myself if ,i were to be the means of    
making it   generally known that your   
house is so delightful4 ,but ,i think   
after   all that ,i can trust you6      
,you are not the sort of person to      
gossip about such a thing2 and when   ,i
 tell you that what ,i am going to say  
is confidential1 ,i simply mean   that  
,i would not1 for the present at any    
rate1 mention the subject to   your     
daughter2 young people are fanciful1 and
 she might misinterpret   my            
meaning--besides why shouldn't she find 
it out for herself8   ,no1 let this be  
for you and your husband's ear alone6   
,and even   for you it must be in some  
sense a barren secret2 you cannot stay  
with   yourselves6 ,if you could ,i     
should recommend nothing so strongly as 
a   few weeks' visit to your charming   
home4 ,it would do your husband   all   
the good in the world--get him out of   

himself1 so to speak--while   it would  
make you a different woman4 ,not that ,i
 think that in any way   desirable2 ,i  
simply avail myself of a phrase that is 
always applied to   me when a change is 
recommended4     ,yes6 ,if you could    
only stay at----6     ,the family is    
small1 but extremely intelligent1 with  
minds well stored   with the most varied
 kinds of knowledge4     ,your host is a
 type6     ,waking--with him--appears to
 be the momentary interruption of an    
animated conversation which has engaged 
the long hours others reserve   for     
sleep4     ,with them a new day seems to
 open a new volume with cover1 title    
page   and preface4 ,not so with him4   
,the intervening night is simply a      
semi-colon in an uncompleted            
sentence--a ,wagnerian clause in a      
melody that repudiates a close4   ,this 
might seem to argue a too rigid         
adherence to a single theme with        
menace of monotony4 ,yet nothing could  
be less true4     ,at the bidding of a  

single word the whole scene changes with
 the   shifting magic of a dream1 and   
you are surprised to find yourself      
suddenly plunged into quite another     
conversational sea4     ,i have seen    
visitors at your house who would turn a 
deaf ear to these   alert exercises of  
the dawn--moody men who became at once  
absorbed in   the mere pleasures of the 
table2 taking refuge in bacon from      
arguments   to which they could find no 
auroral reply4 ,they are cowards and ,i 
will   have none of them6 ,rather would 
,i emulate the tact of your hostess who 
finds1 and welcomes1 in these           
wide-ranging thoughts of morn1 a bulwark
   that keeps the host from the kitchen 
boiler4 ,for he is very apt to   descend
 suddenly from his philosophic heights  
and pounce with unerring   precision on 
some petty domestic error4     ,it is   
here you may observe the sweet influence
 of the daughter of the   house1 whose  
finesse would almost deserve the name of
 cunning if its   purpose were not so   

benign4     ,in her skilful hands ,i    
have seen disaster averted by a         
dictionary and   an impending storm     
transferred from a tea-cup to a disputed
 line of   ,tennyson4     ,i am painting
 for you only the lighter moods of life 
at this charming   house2 of what else  
is delightful you must some day go and  
see for   yourself4 ,but ,i forget2 of  
course you can't and there is my        
difficulty staring me in the face4 ,i   
wonder if it is mine alone8     ,i find 
it so easy to trace a smile to its      
source3 so difficult to   define the    
lasting charm that lies behind it6      
,and even when the definition is at hand
 my tongue halts at eulogy4   ,odd6 ,i  
love to be praised and remembrance      
offers no instance when   ,i have been  
in fear lest appreciation should sink to
 flattery4 ,but   when ,i try to praise 
others--even as they deserve--,i am     
overtaken by   a feeling of delicacy on 
their behalf which ,i have never felt   
for   myself4 ,and so ,i end dumb on the

 very threshold of my theme4     ,i     
should like to say a great number of    
things of you and your husband1   but   
somehow it doesn't seem possible4 ,some 
day1 when ,i meet   a stranger in the   
train at one of those odd moments when  
by some   irresistible impulse1 ,i am   
driven to confide to a chance           
acquaintance   secrets that through a   
long life ,i have hidden from my dearest
   friends--,i shall say something about
 you and him that you might like   to   
hear4 ,but ,i can't command the hour and
 meanwhile1 you see1 ,i   am no further 
than when ,i began4 ,all ,i can say is  
that1 if ever you   ask me to your house
 again1 let nothing be changed from what
 it was1   for it could not be changed  
for the better4      ,yours ever truly1 
,j4 ,w4 ,,comyns ,,carr40      ,after   
this epistle it may not be thought      
partial on my part to state  that1 from 
the days of our youthful visits to      
,balcarres to the end  of his life1 my  
husband was a welcome guest at country  

houses2 the  following1 in reply to a   
request from ,mrs4 ,f4 ,d4 ,millet of   
,broadway1  that he should relieve the  
strain of a spell of female society upon
 her  husband1 seems to show this4      
8,,my ,,dear ,,mrs4 ,,millet1     ,i    
ought not1 but ,i will6 ,and lest ,i    
should falter in my bad   resolution1 ,i
 have already wired to you saying ,i    
should be down on   ,saturday4     ,it  
is a strange thing about duty4 ,i       
believe there is no one who sees   what 
is facetiously called 8the path of duty0
 more clearly   than ,i do2 but we are  
differently gifted1 and ,i fancy ,i     
never was   intended to walk in it4     
,like the criminal who acquires in the  
end an   extensive knowledge of law by  
industriously incurring its penalties1  
,i   believe that if ,i could recall all
 the moral maxims ,i have neglected   in
 practice1 ,i might serve as a veritable
 storehouse of wisdom and   good        
conduct4 ,and so it happens that1 though
 ,i see clearly ,i ought to   stay in   

town and work1 ,i am nevertheless       
determined to accept your   kind        
invitation and come to you on ,saturday 
next4 ,tell ,frank to defer   suicide   
till after that date4     ,i can indeed 
well understand his melancholy4 ,no man 
can dwell long in   the exclusive       
society of women without being crushed  
by the sense of   his own unworthiness4 
,we are not fit for it4 ,i often wish   
there were   some bad women in the      
world1 with whom we might associate in  
our baser   moments1 and sometimes1 in a
 dreary mood1 ,i am apt to wonder what  
women can have been like before the     
,fall1 they are so perfect now4         
,perhaps in another world we shall be   
better and you will be worse2 let   us  
hope for the best4     ,and in the      
meantime let not ,frank despair4 ,when  
,i see him on ,saturday   ,i will do my 
best to detach his nose from the        
grindstone and tune his   unaccustomed  
lips to words that were once familiar to
 us both4      ,yours ever truly1    ,j4

 ,w4 ,,comyns ,,carr40      ,in those   
earlier days he sometimes pretended that
 his wardrobe was  unfitted for such    
places1 but ,i think even this was but a
 shallow piece  of mock modesty on his  
part1 for he was well aware that he     
could shine  if he liked in any         
environment4    ,a letter to my sister1 
which ,i have just found1 may illustrate
 this3      #ai1 ,,blandford ,,square1  
,n4,w4     8,,my ,,dear ,,alma1         
,many thanks for the brushes4 ,when my  
hair is gone--8which will   be short10  
as ,pellegrini says--,i can use them for
 sweeping   a crossing4 ,in the meantime
 they make a most excellent parting4    
,seriously they are beautiful4     ,i   
have never before had brushes in a      
case--it seems to lift   one's social   
status4 ,hitherto my brushes have lain  
in my   portmanteau cheek by jowl with  
my boots1 or have mingled their tears   
with my sponge4     ,now all is changed2
 ,i feel ,i could stay at a country     
house and   meet the footman on equal   

terms4 ,of course1 ,i don't mean   that 
seriously--no man could hope to be the  
equal of a footman4 ,i   am a democrat  
but no revolutionist1 and ,i have always
 felt that so   long as liveried        
servants keep their supremacy the throne
 is safe4   ,compared with this the land
 question is a trifle4 8,dieu et   mon  
drawers0 is the loyal but terrified     
sentiment with which   ,i always awake  
on a visit1 and see the footman turning 
my tattered   underclothing inside out4 
,but now my brushes will save me4       
,yours1    ,,joe40    ,in the later     
years of his life1 as his friends       
multiplied far and wide  and his social 
gifts became famous1 he was pressed into
 circles unknown  to me1 and our        
country-house visits together became    
fewer2 so that  personally ,i remember  
his talk oftener at some sea-side place 
where we  had run down for a week-end1  
or on the verandah of some foreign hotel
  where he would be immediately         
surrounded by a delighted audience--in  

later years not by any means always     
composed of his own countrymen4  ,though
 his associations with ,french artists  
and men of letters over  pictures for   
the ,new ,gallery--and1 more still1 over
 his ,english  editorship of            
,l',art--had taught him enough of their 
tongue for  his business1 he was not a  
finished ,french scholar2 but he was    
never  afraid to make a shot at         
expressing his thought1 and consequently
 he  improved enormously at the end of  
his life4 ,i remember the astonished    
comment of two ,armenian lads and a     
charming ,finnish lady whom we met at  a
 ,swiss mountain resort3 8,mais c'est   
patant6 ,de faire des  calembours comme 
cela dans une langue trangre40    ,he   
only needed an audience2 and he had it  
every hour of the day in  those two     
,armenian boys1 who would stand for     
hours watching him throw  his line over 
the lake and coax the fish out--just1   
they used to say1  as he would coax the 
children to him in the roads or the     

visitors in  the lounge--8sans se donner
 de la peine40    ,i am not sure of the 
justice of that last remark4 ,perhaps he
 never  purposely gave himself trouble1 
but he amused others because his love   
of his own kind was such that he must   
always needs be in touch with  them1 be 
they peasant or peer1 and at the end of 
his life he preferred  to lounge in the 
road and chat with the convalescent     
soldiers in a  quiet village than to sit
 comfortably in the seclusion of a      
lovely  garden4    ,it was because he   
was always alive that he was not dull2  
but ,i must  admit he needed plenty of  
human interest to keep him so4    ,and  
,i think1 for this reason1 that the life
 of a good hotel1 preferably  a foreign 
one1 afforded him the best opportunities
 for fun2 he knew  just how much or how 
little the applause of such             
kaleidoscopic society  was worth2 but it
 tickled his appetite for the moment and
 was the  required sauce to his holiday 
rest4    ,the following letters to his  

daughter variously illustrate this      
aspect  of him3      ,,eden ,,hotel1    
,,monte ,,carlo4      8,,my ,,dear      
,,doll1      ,our little hotel at ,monte
 ,carlo is a cosy place1 containing     
among its   visitors some odd and rather
 lonely females1 both ,english and      
,american4   ,i overheard a conversation
 the other night between four of        
them--two   ,english and two            
,americans--at which your mother would  
like to have   assisted4 ,they evidently
 did not know that we were ,english1 and
 let   themselves go on the subject of  
the male sex4 ,the leader of the band1  
an ,american lady1 whose hips described 
a circle about as big as the   ,round   
,pond in ,kensington ,gardens1 was      
especially vehement in denouncing   us1 
though ,i can hardly conceive she had   
ever received any other cause   of      
resentment than neglect4 ,to an ,english
 lady1 who could not compete   with her 
in size but fairly distanced her in     
ugliness1 she held forth   at great     

length on the superior advantages which 
women enjoyed in   ,america4 8,over     
there10 she said1 8we've just got men   
like that10   and she placed an enormous
 thumb on a morsel of unresisting bread 
to   indicate where men were4 8,if they 
do anything we don't like1 why1         
,madam1 they hear from us pretty quick4 
,and that's where they ought to   be10  
she added1 8for they are just nothing   
but savages60 ,at which the   gruesome  
,english woman said that that was what  
she had always held to2   but that1 in  
,england1 she never could find any woman
 with the courage   to say so4 ,then the
 fat ,american gave her country away4   
8,but see now10 she said1 8we've still  
got to fight the law even in our        
country4 ,i said to an ,american man1   
#8do you love your wife8' #8,why1 of    
course1' he said4 #8,do you love your   
mother8' ,i said4 #8,just don't ,i1' he 
replied4 #8,do you love your sister8'   
#8,why sure1' he said4 #8,well then1'   
,i said to him1 #8,do you know the      

,american constitution declares that    
every living citizen should have a vote 
except children1 criminals and   women4'
 ,and then she turned to the ,english   
woman and added3 8,do you   know1       
,madam1 the thought of that ,american   
law just makes me blush all   over when 
,i go to bed at night40     ,i confess  
as ,i looked at her1 ,i couldn't think  
of the unrighteous law1   for my mind   
was filled with the idea of what a wild 
and billowy tract   of country that     
blush would have to traverse4 ,fancy the
 ,round ,pond   turned into the ,red    
,sea with a single blush4      ,yours1  
,j4 ,,comyns ,,carr40      ,,bellagio1  
,may1 #aijc4     8,,my ,,dearest ,,doll1
     ,we are in the midst of a          
thunderstorm that is tearing and raging 
round the mountains2 for the moment it  
is like ,mr4 ,chamberlain in the        
earlier part of his campaign--very loud 
and very near1 but ,i think it   is     
taking itself off to the ,gotthard4     
,i don't think ,i have told you of the  

two little bits of ,american   character
 ,i encountered at my hotel4 ,one       
evening three ladies of   that country  
were set beside me at table d'hote4     
,they were not   pre-possessing or      
young1 but ,i noticed with just a       
momentary flush of   flattery that there
 was an obvious struggle going on as to 
which of   them should occupy the chair 
next to me2 the struggle ended1 and then
   the next but one turned to the victor
 and said1 #8,couldn't   you see1 my    
dear1 that ,i just wanted to protect you
 in case you might   be addressed in a  
manner that might offend you4' ,poor    
dears6   they didn't know that ,god had 
protected them against any attack   of  
mine4      ,later1 two rather nice girls
 and their mother took the same places2 
and one evening after dinner1 when the  
terrace was full of people1 the   mother
 looked up to where one of the girls was
 standing at the window   of the room   
above1 and called out3 #8,don't let him 
kiss you1 dear4' ,we   all turned to    

look up1 and there stood the girl with a
 parrot on her   shoulder4 ,there was   
naturally an audible smile among the    
spectators1   and the girl herself was  
in fits of laughter4      ,best love    
from your father1    ,j4 ,,comyns       
,,carr40      ,,bordighera1    ,april   
#aiji4      8,,my ,,dear ,,dolly1       
,we are very comfortable in our little  
hotel here1 with two nice   ,italian    
brothers to cater for us4 ,the ,italian 
village children please   me mightily1  
and ,i hobble about in their language   
with just enough   understanding to     
enable me to amuse myself4     ,we are  
an odd society3 nearly all women1       
,american and ,english4 ,they   are     
mostly nice people in their way1 but not
 exciting1 and of the   place generally 
it may be said that whatever other      
attractions it may   possess it does not
 seem to be a health resort for beauty4 
,the air   apparently is not recommended
 for pretty people4 ,in the streets and 
on the hills the ,german is more or less

 in evidence1 and sometimes as   ,i pass
 them by ,i am inclined to side with    
,balfour and to demand that   four more 
,dreadnoughts should be laid down at    
once4 ,their admiration   of nature     
somehow always makes me feel shy1 and ,i
 can almost see   the landscape making  
an ugly face after their loudly         
proclaimed   ,wunderschn4 ,however1 they
 really don't trouble us much--the      
neighbourhood is so genuinely beautiful4
      ,yours1    ,j4 ,,comyns ,,carr40  
,he often touched on the beauties of    
nature as related to art when  writing  
to his artist daughter1 and ,i find this
 keen little bit of  criticism in a     
letter to her from ,bellagio4    8,this 
place is beautiful1 and makes one wonder
 little that  the ,italians thought of  
landscape as a thing of design before   
the  ,northerners found a new beauty in 
the empire of cloud and sky4  ,certainly
 these mountains have great enchantment 
of form1 and the  ,southern light       
defines every detail40    ,and this     

longer letter of varying interest also  
rings the same note4      ,,from        
,,wengen1    ,,bernese ,,oberland4      
8,,my ,,dear ,,doll1     ,here is a line
 from me whom ,i daresay you thought    
hopeless in that   matter4 ,but such a  
little thing will sometimes provoke a   
sinner to   virtue4 ,two strangely      
fashioned men share the room adjoining  
mine1   divided from me only by a washed
 deal partition held together by        
,french nails4 ,they spend the day in   
moody silence and in grey frock   coats 
which if they were well cut would suit  
the ,cup ,day at ,ascot4 ,but   they    
return at nine and chatter unceasingly  
till #aj4cj4 ,it is now only   ten and  
it has occurred to me that instead of   
tossing about on the sea   of their     
incoherent conversations ,i would write 
a line to you4     ,this is a beautiful 
place which ,i should admire even more  
if nobody   else admired it4 ,but it is 
made too fair to go scot free of praise1
   and so ,i must fain clap my hands    

with the rest4 ,you see we are          
exclusive in our emotions as the society
 of a country town and do not   wish to 
share them with our inferiors4 ,that is 
a part of it1 but ,i   think my         
reluctance to hear nature applauded has 
a better reason too1   though it is hard
 to give it words4 ,i know ,i always    
feel a better   right to enjoy its      
beauty when ,i am otherwise engaged1 in 
killing a   bird perhaps1 in fishing a  
stream or ,i suppose best of all in some
   sort of labour that the needs of the 
world demand4     ,i went for an early  
walk the other day up to the ,wengern   
,alp2 all   the mountain in shadow and  
the pines blacker than their own fallen 
image on the grass4 ,i was alone and met
 no one on the path but the   lads laden
 with their washed deal milk-pails as   
they came singing   from every green    
hill4 ,and as they passed ,i felt sort  
of shamefaced4   ,i was out for beauty1 
a kind of dilettante wandering in search
 of   impressions1 and ,i knew deep down

 in me that they must one day and       
another have won impressions ,i could   
never gain4 ,no one can be really       
intimate with a strange land1 can ever  
really read the face of a   hillside as 
it is read by those however simple who  
were born to see   it coloured by the   
changing fortunes of their life from    
childhood to   manhood4 ,nature is so   
shy1 so reluctant to speak if she thinks
 she is   overheard1 but she will sing  
to herself when she thinks we are busy4 
,for us who are not artists ,i think    
beauty is only really captured in   that
 way4 ,it is trapped unawares1 stolen in
 the silences of night or   dawn1 or    
burnt into the brain by the fire of some
 passionate moment   to which it remains
 as an unforgotten background4 ,of      
course the   artist1 the poet or the    
painter1 has other rights and other     
penalties4   #8,he that would save his  
life must lose it1' and the artist   is 
always giving up for himself what he    
re-fashions for the joy of   others4 ,he

 is like the cuckoo that sojourns in    
every nest and is   itself but a        
homeless voice4 ,even the beauty that he
 pursues is never   really possessed2 it
 flutters for a moment in his hand and  
then takes   wing for others to inherit4
 ,it is bought so dearly and then sold  
for a   mere song4     ,but this is a   
digression4 ,we were talking of         
,switzerland1 and ,i do   believe this  
is one of the choicest spots in it1 but 
of course we   don't discuss its merits 
all day4 ,on the contrary1 ,i think we  
talk most of the food1 comparing the    
veal of yesterday with the mutton   of  
to-day1 wondering from what strange     
waters1 remote or near1 come   those    
strange fish that masquerade under the  
titles of the dwellers in   ,northern   
seas4 ,and then we pry into the lives of
 other lodgers1 making   up imaginary   
relationships among families that are as
 normally related   as our own--taking a
 curious interest in characters in which
 we have   really no concern1 and       

exchanging cards warmly with parting    
guests1   knowing that we shall see     
their faces again no more4 ,and all the 
while   the air is so good1 when the    
weather is not so bad1 that we feel     
well1   which is a long way on the road 
to feeling happy1 and we are sometimes  
pointed at as distinguished1 and then   
vanity covers the rest of the   road and
 we are very jolly4      ,yours ever1   
,,father40    ,his preference for a     
foreign holiday--unless one in his own  
country1  could be allied to fishing or 
shooting--did not1 as will be understood
  from stray remarks in his             
correspondence1 extend to ,germany4 ,he 
always  disliked the race1 and ,i can   
recollect a journey in our young days   
during which we had made a halt at      
,munich with ,beatty ,kingston4 ,i am   
afraid ,joe's description of the place  
and the people included such  scathing  
epithets as 8,the ,burial-place of the  
,peto-,baptists0 and 8,the  ,suburb of  
the ,world40 ,for his excuse ,i must    

note that it was the bad  season for the
 ,opera1 although we did once hear 8,the
 ,flying ,dutchman10  which he          
particularly admired2 also that the old 
,pinacotek1 with its  riches in         
,paintings by ,old ,masters1 was closed1
 as if to spite him2  naturally he could
 not be consoled by 8the collection of  
middle-aged  articles0 offered him as a 
salve--declaring that he saw plenty of  
these  in the streets of the town4      
,he was always just as hard on the      
,german 8frau0 as on her husband1 and   
his description of them on the mountain 
paths at ,gastein1 with skirts  looped  
up like window blinds and waterproofs   
strapped across their  shoulders in case
 of a storm1 could only be equalled by  
the whimsical  words he had for the red 
necks of the men bulging over their     
collars4    ,he was not a ,central      
,europe man2 the ,french or the         
,italians were always  first with him   
after his own people4 ,romance for him  
lay in the  ,north2 ,i have often heard 

him insist that those most deeply       
possess  it who dwell in the mist and   
dream of the sun1 and he would cite     
8,the ,wizard of the ,north0 and the    
,scottish ,land in proof of  his theory3
 yet the ,south stood for gaiety with   
him1 and he sighed for  the sun even as 
,i did who had been bred in it4    ,it  
is curious that ,rome he only saw for   
the first time late in life1  upon being
 chosen to write the introduction to the
 ,british ,section  of the              
,international ,exhibition there1 and   
afterwards appointed  ,england's        
representative on the ,art ,congress4   
,i shall quote a private appreciation of
 the written part of his  work from that
 acute and sympathetic critic1 ,edward  
,russell of the  ,liverpool ,post4      
,,naples1    ,april #bhth1 #aiaa4       
8,,dear ,,comyns ,,carr1     ,i cannot  
refrain from congratulating you on your 
,introduction to the   ,roman ,catalogue
 of ,british ,paintings1 etc4 ,not only 
its literary   felicity1 but its fine   

and illuminating judgment2 the          
choiceness of   the language2 and the   
apt biographical illustrations2 the     
humane   diplomacy of occasional gentle1
 but searching suggestions of censure2  
the insight of the aperus2 and the      
contribution of several original        
maxims to the sterling floating currency
 of criticism1 make it one of   the most
 memorable of such pieces4      ,yours1 
,,edward ,,russell40    ,but ,rome as a 
city he loved not1 as he loved the      
,tuscan and ,umbrian  towns2 its vast   
antiquities oppressed him1 its medieval 
structures he  disliked1 and the race   
that had left its impress there bored   
him2 even  in the natural surroundings  
he found too much melancholy--definitely
  contrasted in his mind with that      
,northern sternness which breeds        
,romance2 but he shall speak for        
himself4     8,the archeological side of
 ,rome ,i can only gape at as a tourist3
   ,i have no learning that way3 though1
 of course1 there are scenes   of the   

old world which touch the imagination   
without the kind of   knowledge that    
must1 to those who possess it1 make the 
place deeply   interesting4 ,the more   
modern ,rome--the ,rome of the          
,renaissance1   scarcely makes a single 
appeal and creates no such satisfying   
atmosphere as ,florence4 ,the ,sistine  
,i must see again2 the light was   bad  
to-day and the effect at so great a     
height did not immediately   leave the  
tremendous impression of ,michael       
,angelo's power that   comes of the more
 intimate knowledge given by our        
photographs4 ,the   colour1 however1    
yielded more than ,i had expected4 ,tell
 ,fred if he is   by you that ,i am     
wholly at one with him about the ,stanze
 of ,raphael4   ,they gain in site1 and 
although ,i knew the compositions well1 
,i found   them better than ,i knew with
 a charm of colour unexpected and       
superior   to any of his easel pictures1
 except perhaps the ,madonna at         
,dresden2   truly a marvellous genius1  

using all the resources of style with   
the   freedom and ease of a painter of  
genre--and here1 which is not always    
so in his later work1 absolutely free   
from rhetoric in gesture3 ,i must   go  
back to them again4      8,in the       
general style of ,roman ,renaissance    
building ,i have no   delight--and never
 thought to have2 but1 of course1 there 
are separate   things to discover that  
,i have as yet not had time to see4 ,but
 ,st4   ,angelo makes a great barbaric  
pile that is mightily impressive4 ,st4  
,peter's seems to me much less noble in 
general effect than ,st4 ,paul's1   and 
its interior ornament1 painting and     
sculpture1 seemed1 on a swift   view1 to
 be a wilderness of that kind of art ,i 
don't love--all except   ,michael       
,angelo's ,piet1 which stood out in     
modest simplicity and   intensity amid  
the garish surroundings4      ,yours1   
,,joe40      8,,dearest1     ,i lunched 
with ,barrre again to-day1 and          
afterwards we went in his   motor to the

 lakes of ,nemi and ,albano4 ,it was a  
very interesting   drive1 and the lakes 
are really beautiful1 though in a grave 
and   sombre way4 ,of course it was not 
bright sunlight1 but in any case the    
landscape here has a peculiar character4
 ,it has an ancient and desert   look1  
hardly joyous and not very fruitful1    
different entirely in this   respect    
from the landscape around ,florence4    
,but it has character1 and   what one   
may call style3 and the remains of      
ruined buildings1 aqueduct   or tomb1   
which cut the sky at every turn1 seem to
 belong to these   surroundings4 ,the   
landscape is of their date1 seems almost
 to have   remained of their date1 and  
not to have found the renewed youth     
which   mocks antiquity in other kinds  
of scenery4 ,a certain gravity is the   
prevailing sentiment--impressive but    
touched with sadness4     ,i am seeing  
isolated bits of ,rome little by little4
 ,if ,i were   settled here for long ,i 
think the sculpture would attract me as 

a   study--but like everything else in  
the way of art in ,rome one has   to be 
constantly sifting and sorting the good 
from the bad4 ,here   as elsewhere there
 is a mass of indifferent achievement1 a
 mass   of work either poorly copied    
from the ,greek or poorly conceived     
and lacking vitality4 ,one feels more   
and more that the ,romans   were not    
artists--great collectors ,i have no    
doubt1 and perhaps   connoisseurs--but  
without the finest fire of the spirit4  
,there are a   few great things here    
that are superb1 and others doubtless   
which ,i   haven't seen1 but in many    
instances of even admired things there  
is not the saving quality of life that  
makes ,phidias seem modern as   well as 
great4      ,yours1    ,,joe40          
,touching this last criticism he made us
 laugh when he got home by  saying that 
he longed to cry to the crowds who      
patiently paced the  ,vatican galleries1
 guide-book in hand3 8,go out into the  
sunshine1  dear people1 and enjoy your  

lunch--this is all bosh40    ,it was    
delightful to me the other day to find a
 perfect echo of these  sentiments in   
the letters of the late ,mr4 ,stopford  
,brooke to his  daughters4 ,but it is   
not the only instance in those          
enthralling volumes  where ,i noted a   
remarkable likeness in many of the      
views1 and even in  the method of       
expressing them1 of these two brilliant 
,irishmen4          ,,chapter ,,xi      
,,fishing ,,holidays      ,i had not    
known my husband six months before ,i   
knew him for an  enthusiastic fisherman4
 ,he tells in his ,reminiscences of the 
first  teaching he had from a reprobate 
old peasant in the ,lake ,country1 and  
the passion for it never left him2 the  
happiest of his summer days  were spent 
in the pursuit of it and1 from the time 
when ,i--set to  watch a float while he 
threw a line further down the           
stream--allowed  the fish to escape1 to 
an evening towards the close of his life
 when  ,i helped his unsteady steps to  

the bank of the ,windrush at ,burford1  
his characteristic grey felt hat stuck  
full of flies and the graceful  gesture 
with which his long line was flung back 
and forward and then  laid softly on the
 water of some quiet stream1 are among  
the things  which ,i often recall4    ,i
 can see him now1 on that first holiday1
 stumbling with his swaying  rod down   
the rocky bed of the ,dove with the     
sunset behind him1 while  ,i sat waiting
 on a grassy bank eager to know what    
sport he had had  as soon as he was     
within earshot4 ,he was a most expert   
angler2 and  that was the beginning of  
many happy fishing trips--in ,derbyshire
  and ,westmoreland1 on the ,tweed at   
,peebles and the lochs and rivers of    
,perthshire1 ,argyllshire and           
,sutherland2 but most notably on the    
stretch  of a ,hertfordshire stream     
which he rented for some years with     
other  friends1 and where he could best 
exercise his skill with the dry fly4    
,a tiny cottage1 just big enough for    

three men or for me and the  children1  
stood on the edge of the water1 which   
was crossed by a plank  bridge4         
,sometimes1 when there was no one else1 
,i would be allowed--most  alarming of  
experiences6--to use the landing net1   
and ,i think any of  his angling        
comrades--,a4 ,e4 ,w4 ,mason1 ,seymour  
,hicks1 ,sam ,sothern and  others--would
 sympathise with my terror over the     
responsibility4    ,i think there were  
no happier days in my husband's life    
than  those spent in that ,hertfordshire
 cot1 and there is no frame into which  
his figure fits more familiarly than the
 sedgy bank of that sunlit  river1      
hemmed by boldly contrasting            
forget-me-not and marshmallow1 with  the
 ,may-fly flitting over the sparkling   
ripples and the shaded pools4    ,and   
nothing so helped his periods of        
creative work as this rural  recreation4
    ,it was on the shores of ,loch      
,rannoch that he wrote the first ,acts  
of  his ,king ,arthur for ,henry        

,irving1 and on the banks of the ,lea   
that  he saw the barge bearing the body 
of the ,fair ,elaine4 ,the ,black ,mount
  at the foot of the loch may have stood
 for the rugged rocks around  ,camelot1 
and the limpid stream dividing emerald  
meadows at eventide1  for the river that
 circled ,arthur's ,halls4    ,he was   
wont whimsically to declare that the    
8gaslights of  ,piccadilly0 were more   
satisfying to him than a country life   
unless enhanced by the pleasure of      
sport2 but no one saw the beauties  of  
,nature in the intervals of sport more  
sympathetically than he did1  as he     
tells for himself in ,coasting ,bohemia3
     8,i sometimes think10 he writes1   
8that those who   haunt the country1    
without conscious sense of its many     
beauties1   are apt to learn and love   
its beauties best4 ,how often the memory
   of a day's shooting is indissolubly  
linked with the pattern   of a fading   
autumn sky1 when we have stood at the   
edge of a stubble   field wondering     

whether the growing twilight will       
suffice for the   last drive4 ,and if   
this is true of other forms of sport1 it
 is   everlastingly true of fishing4    
,there is hardly a remembered day on a  
,scotch loch1 or beside a southern      
stream1 which has not stamped upon   it 
some unfading image of landscape beauty4
 ,it was not for that we   set forth in 
the morning1 for then the changing      
lights in a dappled   sky counted for no
 more than a promise of good sport2     
during those   earlier hours there is no
 feeling but a feeling of impatience to 
be   at work2 and the splash of a rising
 trout1 before the rod is joined   and  
ready and the line run through its      
rings1 is heard with a sense   of       
half-resentment lest we should have     
missed the favourable moment   of the   
day4 ,but as the hours pass1 the mind   
becomes more tranquilly   attuned to its
 surroundings4 ,the keenness of the     
pursuit is still   there1 but little by 
little the still spirit of the scene    

invades our   thoughts1 and as we tramp 
home at nightfall the landscape that was
   unregarded when we set forth upon our
 adventure now seems to wrap   itself   
like a cloak around us with a spell that
 it is impossible to   resist4 ,a       
hundred such visions1 born of an        
angler's wanderings1   come back to me  
across the space of many years4 ,i can  
see the reeds   etched against a sunset 
sky1 as they spring out of a little loch
 in   the hills above the inn at        
,tummel4 ,and then1 with a changing     
flash   of memory1 the broad waters of  
,rannoch are outspread1 fringed by its  
purple hills4 ,and then1 again1 in a    
homelier frame1 ,i can see the   willows
 that border the ,lea1 their yellow     
leaves turned to gold under   the level 
rays of the evening sun2 and ,i can hear
 the nightingale in   the first notes of
 its song as ,i cross the plank bridge  
that leads me   homeward to the cottage 
by the stream40    ,by which it will    
also be seen that his 8love of laziness0

  did not hinder him in the pursuit of  
sport4    ,exercise for its own sake he 
resolutely refused to take1 and when my 
,alpine-enthusiast father dragged him up
 a ,piz--the last bit with his  eyes    
shut--he said3 8,i shall never climb    
anything again60    ,but ,seymour ,hicks
 could tell a different tale of a       
memorable evening on  which he hooked a 
big trout in the dusk--,joe teasing him 
as to its poor  weight--and when they   
stayed so late beside a ,scottish tarn  
to land  it that their friends below    
came up the mountain with lanterns to   
the  rescue4    ,in ,peeblesshire1 too1 
he had gay hours with a ,captain        
,fearon1 known to  our children as      
,plum-bun1 because of a rhyme with which
 he teased  them4    ,this fine old     
sportsman--though he must have been     
sixty at the  time--walked twenty miles 
after a day's sport so as to let ,joe   
have the only spare seat on a buggy that
 he might catch the night  express to   
town for work on the morrow4 ,i can see 

the tall handsome old  man now on the   
moorside1 gaily waving adieu to ,joe    
with a champagne  bottle which he had   
seized from the picnic basket to cheer  
him on the  road4    ,joe had many days 
with him on the ,tweed2 one of them1    
following such a  big spate that an old 
countryman wading in front of them was  
never seen  more after they had warned  
him against imprudently breasting the   
swirl  of the water where the river made
 an abrupt bend ahead4    ,the gloom of 
this incident was partly mitigated by   
their being told  that the man was a    
drunkard whose fate had often been so   
prophesied to  him2 but they fished no  
more in a spate on the ,tweed4    ,fun  
was oftener their portion4 ,i fancy it  
was to ,fearon that ,joe made  the      
bon-mot current in the ,garrick ,club1  
where he represented himself  as        
lunching with ,noah on the ,ark4        
8,you must have good spate fishing here1
 ,mr4 ,noah10 he  reports himself as    
saying while they sat smoking on the    

balcony  overlooking the ,flood4    8,it
 would be good10 replied the host1 8but 
unluckily1 you see1 ,i have only two    
worms40    ,he writes himself of his    
fishing on ,loch ,awe2 and later1 on    
,loch ,etive1  as the guest of our      
charming friend ,alec ,stevenson1 whose 
cheery voice  would ask of his keeper   
after breakfast3 8,is it fishin'  or    
shutin' the day1 ,duncan80 ,but there is
 no mention of  a happy six weeks in    
,sutherlandshire where we were chiefly  
fed by the  guests 8killing0 of the     
daily trout1 proudly displayed at  even 
upon a large tray in the hall4    ,i    
think it was here that ,joe had trudged 
for three hours up a  mountain with his 
fly-rod set up1 to find--when he reached
 the tarn  at the top--that his top     
joint had fallen off on the road2 as he 
was  alone only the midges heard his    
remarks1 for he had not even his        
fourteen-year old son with him--the     
happy companion of his later  angling   
days4 ,it was into just such a tarn1    

that that boy fell off the  boat one    
day1 when landing a trout1 and was      
advised by his father to  run about in  
the natural state on the moor while his 
clothes dried on a  sun-baked rock4     
,a lovely place is ,inchnadamph on blue 
,loch ,assynt2 the great mountain  that 
guards the valley towards ,lochinver can
 be golden in the long1  northern       
twilight1 when the water that has been  
as a sapphire before  the sunset1       
becomes purple in the gloaming2 but oh6 
the midges6  ,useless to tie our heads  
in bags and grease our faces3 they      
penetrated  everywhere and 8bit like    
dogs40 ,they almost deterred ,joe  from 
his evening hour on the water because of
 the landing afterwards1  when the pony 
would not stand for him to step into the
 cart4    ,but nothing really deterred  
,joe from fly-fishing--neither heat nor 
cold nor rain nor wind2 he only regarded
 the weather at those times  from the   
point of view of its influence on the   
sport4 ,even when it was  too bad for   

fishing he couldn't keep away from the  
water4 ,but he could  never keep away   
from water--he said it was the life of a
 landscape  as the blood is the life of 
the human body4 ,in our early days1 when
  we were too poor for ,highland trips1 
visits to friends on the ,thames        
afforded him his best access to it2 and1
 though he was not perhaps a  perfect   
oarsman1 as may be proved by a          
8stroke's0 petition that he  would not  
8go so deep10 to which he replied3 8,ah1
 ,i never leave a stone  unturned60--he 
loved the 8noble river40 ,though for    
perfect satisfaction  he chose more     
swiftly running waters4    ,i came      
across some passages in one of ,stopford
 ,brooke's letters  which strangely call
 to mind ,joe's passion for a free      
stream4    8,there is no companion like 
a quick stream10 writes the  older man2 
8full1 but not too full1 capable of     
shallows and  water-breaks1 with deep   
pools when it likes and with a thousand 
shadows  acquainted with all the tales  

of the hills44440    ,and once more3    
8,running water surely is the dearest   
and best-bred  thing in the world4 ,and 
a great workman and a great artist4444  
,nor is  there any ,singer1 any ,poet1  
any ,companion so near and dear as it is
  when it shapes itself into a mountain 
stream in a quiet country40    ,often   
have ,i seen ,joe beside such streams1  
and though it so chanced  that the last 
happy holiday we had together was spent 
beside lakes  rather than rivers1 the   
sense of moving water remains associated
 in my  mind with him through all the   
earlier days of our life4    ,it was in 
,ireland--his motherland1 though he had 
never seen it till  then--that we passed
 those last unforgetable weeks of       
autumn4    ,even as we landed at        
,rosslare there seemed to fall upon him 
an  unnameable affinity with the country
 of his blood2 as we travelled          
slowly--very slowly--over her truly     
emerald bosom1 he sat in a dream        
watching the little black cattle1 that  

we afterwards learnt to beware  of for  
8cross bastes10 as they cropped the     
sedgy meadows1  his eyes wandering from 
them to the tender ,irish sky and then  
waking  into fun as he saw a peasant at 
a small station trip a boy up unawares  
and cuff him soundly1 laughing as he did
 it4    ,and when we reached            
,waterford--only a dirty town to me--he 
plunged at  once among his people and   
laughed joyously at the retort of a     
begging  urchin1 whose pathetic plea of 
hunger he had pretended to rail at3     
8,that's where ye're wrong1 yer honour10
 the cheery little villain had  cried3  
8,a man may be fat and hungry too40     
,the horse races were going on1 and the 
inn was in an uproar1 which he  sat up  
most of the night to watch4    ,but the 
next day sleepy ways prevailed once     
more1 and it took us a long  time to get
 off at the station1 where ,i recollect 
his amusement at the  porter's          
instruction3 8,this way to ,america40   
,we reached ,killarney without trunks1  

and the conveyance sent to meet us      
broke down on the way to the hotel2 but 
he would meet no contretemps  save with 
a smile1 and it was borne in on me that 
it was because he  was an ,irishman that
 ,italian happy-go-luckiness had never  
ruffled him4  ,so we fell in with the   
leisurely ways of the land1 and were    
fain to  8enjoy the soft rain0 at that  
romantic spot and watch for  the        
beautiful shapes of the hills to appear 
out of the mists on the  lake4    ,next 
morning1 however1 that unique green-blue
 sky1 washed with rain and  dappled with
 wisps of cloud1 smiled on us in faint  
sunshine1 and from  that hour our       
journey was one passing from fair to    
fairer scenes4    ,in a short time our  
train was climbing1 or burrowing1       
through perilous  cliffs of granite1    
crowned with lonely moors and1 presently
 swooping  down on the glorious         
coast-line1 that makes for ,valencia    
,island4    ,this we left on one side1  
and at ,lough ,caragh we also did not   

halt1  tempting as it was2 for our      
destination was ,waterville1 where we   
had  rooms booked at the charming ,great
 ,southern ,hotel for the fishing       
season2 and after an hour or so more of 
leisurely travel we reached             
,cahirciveen1 where a ramshackle trap   
waited to carry us over the moors  to   
the village that lies twixt sea and     
lough4    ,the whole journey1 and the   
last of it not least1 was a revelation  
to  him of which ,i think he was proud  
to talk to me1 and ,i certainly had     
formed no notion of the beauties of ,the
 ,kingdom of ,kerry4 ,the rough  road   
across the wild heather-moor was        
bordered almost continuously  with      
hedges of the small purple-red fuchsia  
in full bloom1 and the  cabins--white or
 pink-washed1 with thatched roofs--that 
we passed at  rare intervals1 were      
shaded with it and covered with         
honeysuckle4    8,you live in a fair    
country10 said ,joe to an old man       
standing one day at the door of his tiny

 hovel2 and ,i--looking beyond  him to  
the dim range of the ,macgillicuddy     
,reeks--added1 8and  with beautiful     
hills40    8,the visitors say 'tis fair1
 but ,i've seen it arl  me life10       
replied the proprietor1 with a quaint   
smile4 ,and then  to me--8but sure the  
,reeks are illigant in winter wi' the   
darlin' snaws upon them40    ,but that  
was later4 ,that day we were silent with
 contented fatigue  till the muffled    
boom of the great ,atlantic breakers    
began to fall as  distant thunder on our
 ears3 then suddenly ,ballinskelligs'   
,bay  lay before us with the massive    
headlands of ,bolus and ,hog's ,head    
guarding it from the ,ocean4    ,the    
shore is wild and desolate with the     
sense of the vast ,atlantic  ever       
present2 but soon we turned inland again
 towards the mountains of  the 8deep    
,glenmore10 and there1 under the purple 
shadow of  ,mount ,knockaline1 lay a    
long1 grave ,lough with a tiny deserted 
islet  in its midst upon which one of   

the ancient beehive cells stands under  
the eaves of a ruined church4 ,it is    
,lough ,currane1 and we drove under     
overhanging fuchsias1 to the ,great     
,southern ,hotel on its shore4    ,we   
had two more beautiful drives while we  
were in the ,kingdom of  ,kerry3 one    
along the perilous ,irish ,cornice1     
known as the ,coomakista  ,pass1 where  
one prayed one might not meet the coach1
 to ,park-na-,silla2  the other from    
,kenmare over a rocky road to           
,glengariff4    ,the ,cornice drive     
beggars description1 and ,i never knew  
,joe to be so  enthusiastic over a view4
 ,shallow little coves fringed with     
brilliant  golden seaweed--upon which   
herons stand feeding at times--indent   
the  shore itself2 but the ,sound is    
studded with numberless islets--some    
clad with heather1 others with          
semi-tropical shrubs1 and faintly ringed
  with the silver foam of a streaked and
 gentle sea4 ,in an opal haze  beyond   
them1 the opposite shore of ,county     

,cork lies as a dream2 but  the two     
great guardian cliffs of                
,ballinskelligs' ,bay with their        
outriders--the ,bull and ,cow           
,rocks--stand in firm and grand outline 
away  whence we came where the ,sound   
joins the ,ocean4    ,the coach driver  
draws up when he reaches the best point1
 and tells  us all about it1 and points 
out the ,great ,skellig ,rock--twelve   
miles  out to sea1 and close at hand the
 bridle path by which ,o',connell rode  
over the mountains to his home at       
,darrynane4 ,as we near that ,bay and   
its multitude of tiny islets1 upon one  
of which stands the ruined  ,monastery  
of ,st4 ,finnan1 he shews us the        
8,liberator's0 very house and  then we  
turn inland again among undulating      
moors--our road fenced with  the fuchsia
 and every variety of fern1 till of a   
sudden the beautiful  bridge and square 
church tower of ,sneem village seem to  
beckon us into  the very heart of a     
fiery sunset4    ,our second drive from 

,kenmare was again quite different and  
not without  incident4 ,in the first    
place ,irish unpunctuality caused us to 
start  two hours late1 and in the       
second1 when the carriage arrived at    
last1  the harness had to be tied up    
with cord before we could proceed1 a    
beginning which filled me with alarm    
though it reminded me of youthful  days 
in ,italy3 but to ,joe it only afforded 
opportunity for pleasant  raillery with 
his compatriot1 and ,i only wish ,i     
could remember all the  bon-mots with   
which they capped one another4    ,the  
last part of the ascent was very wild1  
but when we emerged from  the tunnel    
that pierces the topmost granite cliff1 
the view that burst  upon us--though    
wild still in its freedom from the      
intrusion of human  interest1 was soft  
and tender with all the glamour of the  
,south4 ,range  upon range of           
finely-chiselled hills stood crossing   
and re-crossing one  another with gentle
 valleys between1 and the glint of water

 here and  there made visible by the    
golden splash of sunset2 and presently  
the  hills--so soft and so solemn upon  
the mellow evening sky--were cleft to   
their base1 and ,bantry ,bay lay spread 
in the distance beneath us4    ,the road
 went down in sharp turns and1 the      
driver cheerfully remarking  that we    
should have to pass a motor-roller on   
the way1 my heart  jumped into my mouth4
 ,but ,joe administered a little        
salutary chaff  together with a cup of  
tea at the wayside inn1 where we changed
  drivers1 and a pretty girl assured me 
that 8,faith10 ,i had  8no need to fear1
 for the lad was the coolest whip on arl
 the  mountain-side40    ,so he was1 but
 he went a fine pace1 and the waiter at 
the inn1 who told  us he was the girl's 
brother1 told us also that that cool lad
 was  her lover1 so perhaps he was eager
 to show his prowess4    ,at ,glengariff
 our weather was hot and fine1 and the  
water of that  land-locked end of the   
,bay was so calm that the pleasure boats

 round  the jetty1 and indeed every tree
 on the shore and on the near island1   
would lie reflected on its surface in   
the rosy dawns or the golden  sunsets as
 they do on the ,italian lakes4 ,but out
 beyond the island  the breeze would    
freshen1 and thither ,joe hied him with 
a friendly  fisherman every morning to  
lie in wait for the bass and the        
mackerel4    ,our friends--,mr4 and     
,mrs4 ,annan ,bryce--owned the beautiful
 island at  the mouth of the bay1 and   
there we spent happy afternoons         
wandering  over the heather and gazing  
afar from the old castle's ruined       
battlements2 but ,joe's mornings were   
his own1 and he would go  even further  
out to sea than the island1 to where the
 seals sunned  themselves on the rocks1 
unscared by the approach of man1 but    
scuttling  under water when the         
fishing-reel ran out1 the old ones      
calling their  young to safety with an  
eerie cry4    ,perhaps ,glengariff was  
the most lovely spot that we saw1 but   

the  hothouse atmosphere of it made a   
prolonged stay too trying1 hence we     
enjoyed ,waterville and ,lough ,currane 
best1 where the more invigorating  air  
of the open ,atlantic in our wake kept  
even the moisture of the  valleys       
freshened with soft breezes4    ,also it
 is here that ,joe rejoiced in the only 
branch of angling that he  really loved2
 sunshine1 mist or rain he was off on   
the lough with his  faithful gillie1 his
 trout-rod set up1 his old hat          
well-adorned with  every likely fly and1
 if necessary1 his oilskins about him4  
,it took him all his time--easy as it   
usually was with him to make            
friends--to make them with that gillie3 
a curiously sad and silent lad1  whose  
rage at the 8lack of pride0 in a        
besotted old poacher  who would hang    
about the landing-stage1 knew no bounds4
    ,but ,joe would only laugh1 and give
 the old beggar the  8tanner0 that he   
begged 8for the love of ,god10  with a  
willing heart4    8,don't be too hard on

 him10 he would say to the  young       
boatman4 ,but the boy had been in       
,america1 and1 as it presently          
appeared1 was ashamed of the lazy ways  
of his countrymen4    8,home ,rule might
 be arl right10 he would say--adding    
shrewdly--8if it don't keep the         
visitors0 7generally  meaning the       
,english7 8away4 ,but1 begorra1 let us  
work for  it60    ,few held such wide   
views even in that day1 and ,joe could  
rarely get  any one to talk on that     
favourite topic of his2 but he made     
various  pleasant little discoveries1   
one of which was that ,catholic and     
,protestant children worked together at 
school without trouble2 but then  most  
of the latter were fathered by ,english 
experts working at the  ,cable ,station 
and were ranked as 8visitors40    ,his  
chief enjoyment when not fishing1 was in
 the cabins--when he could  find excuse 
for entrance4 ,there was a weaver of the
 frieze not far from  our inn1 and there
 we went to buy a length for a gift4 ,we

 were rewarded  for a wet walk4 ,the    
weaver was out--but his wife sat by the 
peat-fire  with a new-born baby in her  
arms4    ,as we opened the door the cow 
that was in the yard thrust in a soft   
nose to hold it ajar1 and lo1 we beheld 
a sow within1 rise slowly up  and waddle
 out1 followed by ten wee sucking pigs3 
then the cow stepped  over the threshold
 beside us4    ,the woman rose asking us
 our errand1 while ,i edged away from   
the cow  and tried to get out again4    
8,she'll not harm ye1 lady10 said she   
with a smile1 8,it's her milkin'  time1 
and sure she knows ,i'd not take the    
darlin' babe out in the rain40    ,but  
it was not often that ,joe spared time  
from serious business for  calling and  
sight-seeing4 ,once we went to the      
,cable ,station and  learned1 in an     
amazing short time1 from ,america1 that 
the weather was  fine and dry2 and on   
two occasions ,i went with him to ,lough
 ,coppul 7,the  ,horse7 away up in the  
8deep ,glenmore02 but that was only     

allowed so that ,i might see the sleepy 
beauty of that tiny1 lonely  lake1 where
 the water is peat-brown even in the    
sunlight2 here ,i was  introduced to two
 lovely children with gold-red hair and 
deep eyes1  who dwelt in the schoolhouse
 of four districts1 and were ,joe's     
special friends4 ,this treat was a great
 favour granted to me1 nor was  ,i      
admitted into the boat even then1 but   
had to roam about the shores  while work
 was done4 ,luckily it was fine and     
warm1 and the midges are  not nearly so 
fierce in ,ireland2 and1 with the       
children's tales  of the plights of     
scholars coming over the mountains in   
winter and a  shy admission1 warily     
coaxed out of them1 as to the presence  
of fairy  horsemen there on ,all        
,hallowe'en1 many an hour went by like a
  dream1 till the gloaming called us    
home4    ,but my lot was more often to  
sit reading or writing on the terrace of
  the hotel watching for the boats to   
round the point of ,church ,island1  as 

they came in with their catch to meals4 
,whether anglers are men or women--and  
most of the women in the ,hotel  were   
anglers--they mind nothing but meals1   
and rarely the hours of  those2 so that 
,i was mostly alone1 but the excitement 
of the 8basket0  was an event each time1
 and ,joe's was often the heaviest4     
,through the gap in the fuchsia hedge1  
whose tassels lay blood-red  upon the   
lough's blue background on a fine       
morning1 ,i would first  distinguish his
 boat in the offing1 and walk down to   
the landing-stage  to watch it nearing  
me between the shallows1 where those    
coal-black  little 8cross0 bullocks     
stood knee-deep on the emerald          
marshland4 ,i can  see him1 skilfully   
throwing his line on the water to the   
last instant2  then turning towards me  
with the welcoming smile on his face    
always1  though ,i generally knew1      
before he had stepped ashore1 whether he
 had  had good luck or not4    ,yet the 
weather was not by any means always     

fine1 and many a day ,i sat  in our     
little parlour1 not even seeing the     
fuchsia hedge1 and certainly  not the   
water4    ,one wet day comes specially  
to my mind4 ,it had rained steadily1 and
 out  of the soft1 white mist that      
shrouded the lough1 the sound of a      
tolling  bell had come eerily to me all 
the afternoon4 ,i knew of no church     
within two miles save the ruined one on 
the ,island1 and at last ,i asked  the  
chambermaid what it might mean4         
8,sure1 it'll be a buryin' on ,st4      
,finnan's  ,isle10 said she1 crossing   
herself1 after listening for a minute4  
8,the family will still have the right  
of it1 and they keep a  bell in the     
broken tower4 ,but the corpse will have 
come from far1 poor  sowl60    ,she went
 her way1 and soon the bell ceased1 and 
almost at the same  time the mist began 
to clear and the shapes of the black    
cattle to  appear again on the sedgy    
marshes1 browsing as usual2 then ,i saw 
black  boats--like phantom              

things--stealing away in the distance   
and--behind  them--a streak of gold     
struck across the wet mountain-side and 
all the  mist shrank away1 and the      
purple ridge was set against that tender
  blue-green ,irish sky1 crossed with   
bars of rosy light4    ,i went out and  
down the wet path to the landing-stage1 
and there was  ,joe's boat pulling      
towards the shore1 and he standing up in
 it  with a smile upon his face4        
99       99       99       99       99  
,that was our last holiday4    ,we were 
often out of ,london again1 and in      
lovely spots3 in summer1  at ,studland  
in ,dorset1 at ,broadway and ,burford in
 ,oxon1 at ,ditchling  in ,sussex2 in   
winter1 at ,hastings and ,bournemouth4  
,but it was always  in search of health 
and to escape the nerve-racking         
air-raids of  ,war--never again in the  
boyish spirit of holiday4    ,yet let it
 not be supposed that ,joe was ever     
dismal4 8,comyns  ,carr is a good fellow
 and a boon fellow10 ,george ,meredith  

wrote  of him to another old friend1 and
 so he was to the last4 ,depressed now  
and then1 but hopeful again till near   
the end1 and always thankful for  every 
bright moment and for every kindness    
received4 8,grumbling  is so dull10 he  
would say2 and when ,i was dismayed at  
the  contretemps of travel lest they    
should affect his comfort1 he would  beg
 me to 8bridge it over0--as he did4     
,as we drove away from the house at     
,bournemouth on our last journey he     
said to the landlady3 8,i've never been 
so comfortable in  any lodgings02 yet he
 had suffered much there1 and had often 
lacked luxuries unprocurable in         
war-time4 ,sometimes in those days1     
after a long silence1 ,i would ask him  
what he was thinking of1 and he  would  
answer simply3 8,nothing1 dear60 ,by    
which ,i am sure he  meant nothing      
troublous--and truly to the wearying1   
harassing thoughts  which beset many of 
us he was a stranger--for he would      
sometimes add3  8,i've plenty to        

remember40    ,and then1 to the last1 he
 worked part of every day4 ,his hand had
 not  been able to write for long1 but  
he would dictate to a shorthand  typist2
 the whole of his ,ideals of ,painting1 
posthumously published1  was so written1
 and his precision never flagged1 as he 
instructed  me over the correction of   
those proofs--whether in regard to the  
letterpress or to the re-production of  
the illustrations2 the  photogravure    
after ,rembrandt's ,mill had been       
delayed1 and  on the last day of his    
life he asked me if it had come and if  
it  8looked well40    ,reading over his 
own words upon the waning of his old    
friend1 ,sir ,john  ,millais' life1 they
 seem to me unconsciously1 yet so fitly1
 to  describe himself1 that ,i shall end
 this effort to preserve some sort of  a
 portrait of him by quoting them4    8,i
 never heard from him10 he writes1      
8however  great the dejection of spirit 
he must have suffered1 a single sour    
word concerning life or nature4 ,his    

outlook on the world was never  tainted 
by self-compassion1 never clouded by any
 bitterness of personal  experience1 and
 one came to recognise then--as his life
 and strength  gradually failed and     
waned--that the spirit of optimism 444  
was indeed  a beauty deeply resident in 
his character1 which even the shadow of 
coming death was powerless to cloud or  
darken40    ,so ,i think of ,joe as he  
stepped out of the boat on ,currane1    
with the  smile upon his face4      ,i  
here add a few unpublished early lyrics 
and sonnets1 never revised by  my       
husband for publication1 which may give 
pleasure to his friends of  those days4 
,,love',s ,,summer4         ,away in our
 far ,northern ,land1         ,where    
blustering winds swept o'er the wold1   
,love came with ,winter hand in hand    
,changing our leaden skies to gold1     
,and as we raced across the ,snow1      
,love set the frozen world aglow4       
,ah1 give me back that frozen year1     
,those leaden skies1 that wind swept    

wold6       ',twas summer then1 'tis    
winter here1         ,here where my     
dearest heart is cold1                  
,where all the ,earth and all the ,sun1 
,tell only that ,love's race is run4    
,j4 ,c4 ,c4    #ahgj4      ,a ,,song4   
,i4        ,what need of words1 when    
lips that might have spoken             
,clung close to mine8      ,and through 
the shadowed silence long unbroken1     
,this hand in thine1      ,there came   
from lowered lids such speech as lingers
            ,when ,love grows dumb1     
,and muted strings yield up to unseen   
fingers            ,sweet strains to    
come4      ,,ii4        ,but now6 ,ah   
now6 what love left half-unheeded       
,or half untold1      ,each little word 
those quivering lips conceded           
,has turned to gold4      ,i hoard them 
all as misers hoard their treasure      
,in secret store1      ,till once again 
,love finds that muted measure          
,as once before4      ,j4 ,c4 ,c4       
,,for ,,music4        ,o winged ,love6  

bear those red lips to mine1            
,that at one draught together we may    
drain      ,this ,cup of ,life that     
holds ,love's magic wine1        ,then  
turn with lip to lip and drink again1   
,o ,winged ,love6        ,or waft me as 
a rose to where she lies        ,and    
hide me with thy hands within her       
breast4      ,that my bruised petals1   
wakened by her sighs1        ,may live  
one hour1 then cease1 and sink to rest1 
,o ,winged ,love6      ,j4 ,c4 ,c4      
#ahgc4      ,,lines ,,written ,,on ,a   
,,page ,,of ,a ,,young ,,girl',s ,,album
    ,,at ,,ragatz1 ,,august #ahhi4      
,just as a dream of music never heard   
,may charm our spirit with its mystic   
spell1      ,this little page without   
one written word        ,speaks more    
than words can tell3        ,fair as the
 unchanging fields of ,alpine snow1     
,that hide the buried and the unborn    
spring1      ,its silence guards all    
secrets that we know        ,and all    
that time may bring3        ,bearing    

sweet memories of past hours held dear  
,for all whose youth is flying1 or has  
flown1      ,and softly whispering in a 
maiden's ear        ,a name as yet      
unknown4      ,j4 ,c4 ,c4          ,my  
love is fair and yet not made so fair   
,as though fed only with the sun and sky
      ,for now some viewless vision     
fills the air        ,and laughing lips 
grow mute--she knows not why1      ,and 
on her eyelids fallen unaware           
,the shadow as of passing tears doth    
lie6      ,of tears unwept1 born of an  
unknown care        ,that dwells beyond 
the flight of memory4        ,ah1 sweet1
 into thy beauty there could come       
,no better thing3 the earth that holds  
thy feet      ,must bring earth's stain 
upon them where they meet        ,the   
path not made for thee--and the wind's  
breath      ,that speaks not unto others
 but is dumb1        ,whispers to thee  
of ,life and ,love and ,death4      ,j4 
,c4 ,c4    #ahge4      ,,on ,a          
,,picture4    ,,by ,e4 ,,burne-,,jones4 

,sad swift return of old love unforgot1 
,and passion of sweet lips that may not 
meet1        ,and trembling eyes that1  
like to weary feet1      ,press close   
unto the goal yet touch it not1         
,ah6 ,love1 what hinders unto these the 
lot        ,of common lovers8 ,shall no 
hour complete        ,this sweetness    
half-begun1 no new day greet      ,the  
old love freed of the old stain and     
blot8        ,at this last hour1 ,o     
,death1 within thy heart        ,hast   
thou no pity8 ,shall the night be dumb  
,nor ever from thy lips the low words   
come1        ,giving once more the old  
sweet wanderings8      ,shall yearning  
lips for ever stand apart               
,shadowed beneath the darkness of thy   
wings8      ,j4 ,w4 ,c4 ,c4    #ahgb4   
,there was a time1 ,love1 when ,i strove
 to tell        ,our love but newly won3
 and tried to sing        ,in broken    
verse that scarcely found a wing        
,some praise of all the beauty that doth
 dwell      ,beneath long lashes3 ,but  

then came the spell        ,of love     
possessed1 and ,i no more dared bring1--
        ,thy hand in mine1--the old     
verse offering      ,lest any spoken    
word should sound #8farewell4'          
,song at the best is but a cry for love 
,not love itself and ere our paths had  
met          ,we cried to one another   
through the maze      ,that men call    
life3--until the moon above--           
,our steadfast moon of love that's not  
yet set--          ,had drawn our feet  
into the selfsame ways4      ,j4 ,c4 ,c4
    ,july1 #ahgh4          ,ah6 ,love1  
,i know thou hast no power to bring     
,those lips once more to my lips2 those 
sweet eyes1          ,back to where once
 they dreamed so near to mine4--      ,i
 know that not again on ,earth shall    
cling        ,those fair white arms1 and
 not till all ,time dies          ,shall
 these hands in her loosened hair       
entwine4      ,there is no might can    
give back to the ,spring        ,the    
lowliest flower dead under summer skies4

        ,yet thou can'st tell me        
wandering by what stream        ,and in 
what fields of night her white feet     
tread4      ,have ,i not wandered1      
,love1 in many a dream8        ,has she 
not too in dreaming wanderd8            
,then send her soul now to some garden  
fair        ,that my soul too may meet  
and wander there4      ,j4 ,w4 ,c4 ,c4  
,the moon that leans o'er yonder fleecy 
lawn        ,lights a white path where  
wandering souls may stray        ,from  
earth as high as heaven3 and when the   
day      ,shall pass night's dusky      
curtains1 newly-drawn1      ,and swiftly
 with the footing of a fawn             
,leaps up1 from cloud to cloud1 till all
 the gray        ,burns crimson--then   
our feet may find a way      ,from ,east
 to ,west led by the feet of dawn4      
,yet now how far apart stand ,north and 
,south        ,and that one face and    
mine6 ,ah1 not so far6        ,for at   
the call of one remembered word         
,i hear again that voice which first ,i 

heard      ,when day dawned in the smile
 about her mouth        ,and in her eyes
 ,i saw the morning ,star4      ,j4 ,c4 
,c4    #ahgc4          ,death speaks one
 word and all ,love's speech is dumb    
,and on ,love's parted lips that breathe
 farewell        ,death's marble finger 
lays its mystic spell      ,and bears   
the unuttered message to the tomb1      
,from whose closed door no whispered    
echoes come        ,to break the discord
 of the tolling bell        ,that sounds
 through city lane and woodland dell    
,with the sad burthen of ,love's        
martyrdom4        ,and so ,love dies4   
,ah no6 it is not so6        ,for locked
 in ,death's white arms ,love lies      
secure        ,in changeless sleep that 
knows no dream of change4      ',tis    
,life not ,death that works ,love's     
overthrow1        ,for while ,life lasts
 what love is safe or sure        ,when 
each day tells of passionate hearts     
grown strange8      ,j4 ,c4 ,c4         
#ahij4      ,,glasgow3 ,,printed ,,at   

,,the ,,university ,,press ,,by ,,robert
 ,,maclehose ,,and ,,co4  ,,ltd4        
,transcriber's ,notes      ,note3 ,in   
,the ,table of ,contents1 #8,,ix ,social
 ,occasions p#aae' is      entitled     
#8,entertainment' in the body of the    
book4      ,page #ab3 changed1 of his   
sisters'--shaken to of his              
sister's--shaken    ,page #da3 changed1 
me some grapes1 to me some grapes1'     
,page #dd3 changed1 surburban to        
suburban    ,page #gc3 changed1         
flummuxed to flummoxed    ,page #hh3    
changed1 #8,wall ,sir1 ,i hope' to      
#8,well ,sir1 ,i hope'    ,page #abf3   
changed1 opportunites to opportunities  
,page #acf3 added the word #8whom'-the  
centre around whom the children    ,page
 #acf3 changed1 children1 criminals and 
women40 to        children1 criminals   
and women4'    ,page #agj3 changed1     
horsesmen to horsemen