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Passages from the
Autobiography of a Shakespeare
Student.
BY
E. M. THEOBALD, M.A., &c
Author of
"Shakespeare Studies in Baconian Light,'' &c.
To read Shakespeare's Works, even superficially, is entertainment ;
To linger over them lovingly and admiringly, is enjoyment ;
To study them profoundly, is wisdom, moral and intellectual."
Mary Cowdcn Clarke.
LONDON:
ROBERT BANKS & SON,
RACQUET COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
1912.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
S/
SHAKESPEARE STUDIES IN BACONIAN LIGHT." 8vo.
500 pp. 7/6.
DETHRONING SHAKESPEARE."
•' ETHICS OF CRITICISM." Illustrated by Mr. Churton
Collin. 6d.
A
"WHO WAS SHAKESPEARE???" Translated from the
German of Professor Holzer bv R. M. Theobald.
THE CLASSICAL ELEMENT IX THE SHAKESPEARE
PLAYS." William Theobald. 512 pp. 7/6. Edited,
with Preface, by R. M. T.
May be had of the Author, 49, Micheldever Road, Lee, S.E. ;
or Publishers, Robert Banks & Son, Racquet Coxirt,
Fleet Street, E.C.
TK
5
UNlVER'.TTy OF CATIFORNU
SANTA BARBARA
SECTIONS.
PAGE
1 Introduction 5
2 New College 5
3 New College Professors ... 7
4 Early Life 8
5 The Morell Family 9
6 Dr. J. D. Morell 10
7 Rev. D. G. Bishop. Dr.
John Pye-Smith 12
8 My Mother and Father . . 14
9 Earliest Life — Birmingham,
London ... ... 15
10 John Angell James 16
11 William Pole and Poel ... 19
12 Early Schooldays 19
13 School Life at Danbury ... 20
14 Edward Miall, and the
"Nonconformist" ... 22
15 City of London School. Dr.
Mortimer. Mr. Edkins... 23
16 French Teaching 25
17 Scoble and His Father ... 26
18 Rev. Thomas Binney ... 27
19 Last Days at School,
Chemistry, Examinations,
German 27
20 Glasgow University. Mr.
James Yates ... 28
21 Dr. Carpenter 28
22 Music at University Hall 29
23 Dr. Martineau 30
24 Martineau on Baconianiam 32
25 Dr. Adam Thomson ... 33
26 Bulwer Lytton. Canon
Freemantle 33
27 Barbican Services . . ... 37
28 Rev. John Davies .37
29 Rev. A. J. Morris. Destiny 38
30 Rev. T. T. Lynch 39
31 Letters and Books by Lynch 40
PAGE
32 The Rivulet Controversy ... 42
33 University College 43
34 Medical Studies 44
35 Glasgow Studies 46
36 J. N. Langley 47
37 Macaulay 48
38 Edward Miall. Reviews ... 49
39 The Theatre 50
40 F. D. Maurice and his Asso-
ciates 52
41 F. J. Furnivall ... 53
42 Gladstone 54
43 Sterndale Bennett, Bach's
Passion Music 55
44 W. Flinders Petrie 56
45 John and Frederick Morgan 57
46 Mr. and Mrs. Howitt ... 57
47 Spiritualism 58
48 J. J. Garth Wilkinson ... 60
49 Correspondencies in Shakes-
peare 62
50 T. Lake Harris 63
51 Judge Willis 64
52 Grace Humphery 66
53 Minnie Theobald. Henry
Leslie ... ... . . 67
54 Mr. John Farmer 67
55 M. L. Theobald 69
56 Lord & Lady Mount-Tem-
ple. Canon Wilberforce 70
57 Mrs. Talbot Coke 71
58 Toye's Orphanage 71
59 Mrs. Carl Heath 71
60 The Bacon - Shakespeare
Controversy 72
61 Dr. Churton Collins ... 73
62 Sir E. D. Lawrence 74
63 Baconianism in Scotland.
Stronach. Dryerre ... 74
SECTIONS.
64 IirUnd, Sir K (Vuisc,
Fathor Svitton 75
65 l'n->fpHsor Howilon, Hompaa 75
66 Amorica. tVyptoRmms ... 76
67 St>uth .\frira. Ciildooott ... 77
68 Aiupriort. .Vppleton Morgan 77
69 Dr. Isaac Hull Piatt ... 78
70 Flio5 in the Baconian Pot 79
71 Edwin Rood 80
72 (icrmany, Meier, Holzer ... 81
7.'> Spediiing. Hayloy. Ames.
Greenwood 81
71 Dr. Abbott 82
PAOR
75 William Theobald 82
76 George Dawson. J. S. Mill.
Chess. George Macdonald 83
77 Mrs. Ik'sant. A. J. Scott.
Sir Henry Bishop. Rev.
W. T. Davi.son 84
78 Dr. David Wilson. Dr. Kidd 85
79 My Experiences in Homoe-
opathy 86
80 Slight Importance of Fool-
ish or Extravagant Advo-
cacy 86
81 Rev. Walter Begley ... 87
REMINISCENCES.
I. — Introduction.
A LETTER from one of my most valued correspondents has given
me much pleasure and more surprise by the following sugges-
tion : — " It would be interesting if you will write some memories
of all the remarkable people you have consorted with. Such
a record could not fail to be of value." I will not give
his name ; it is one well known ail over the world, and
my reminiscences must include him among the rest ; but I dare
not run the risk of doing any injury to his high reputation by
associating him with a work which may not contain much that
he would value, and may contain much that he would repudiate.
He might regret having given me the impulse. The suggestion
is not entirely new ; it has faintly flashed across my own mind
that I might add my own name to the ever-increasing number
of those who narrate their experiences. And a very intelligent
lady, Mrs. Ernest Brown, of New York, who has been for many
years interested in all I have written on the Baconian con-
troversy, gave me the same advice two or three years ago. But
I distrusted my own ability to record anything that would be
permanently valuable, until the letter from which I have quoted
came ; and tliea I began to jot down the names of those who
might enter into my list, and was almost surprised at the large
number (over 100) that immediately presented themselves, and
the number is still increasing. So that each fresh record calls
up to memory other names more or less distinctly associated
with those already registered. So I resolved to make the
attempt. And here is the result.
II. — New College.
My life has been a very chequred one. All family traditions
and influences seemed to pronounce theology and the work of a
dissenting minister as my vocation, and for this I was prepared
by early education and first collegiate study. But destiny
decided otherwise. My career was rudely and roughly altered
soon after I entered a college — that at St. John's Wood— for the
B
RF.M1M8CFNCF.8.
tmiiilnp «»f 8tn(l«->nls for \ho dissoiitincj ministn-. My cMMliodoxy
was inipoai'luHl, ami I was civilly ro<inost(Ml to withdraw or
nccopt tiio altornativo of expulsion. 1 preferred the latter, and
in IK')- published a pamphlet relating to the " removal " of
threo stmlents from New College, St. John's Wood. My com-
panions in e.xpulsion were not amonp tliope of most feeble
intellectual capacity, or slightest promise of distinction, but
nuich the reverse. One of them. William Hale White, is widely
knt'wn by liis pen name of " .Mark liutherford." His father was
oilitor of a Bedford paper, and he, too, published a volume of
his own pei*sonal exjieriences and recollections. He wrote a
pamphlet in reference to our expulsion, with the very appro-
priate motto from Julius Cccsar : —
" Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek headed men, and such as sleep o' nights.
Yon Cassius hath a lean and hungry look ;
He thinks too much : such men are dangerous."
The other expelled student was Frederick Meriton "White,
who became a journalist — no relation of W. H. W. He was the
son of a ship-builder at Portsmouth. His sister (Jessie ]\Ieriton
White) when she married became Signora Mario, a friend of
Garil>aldi, and associated with him both in work and suffering,
for her political activity was at one time rewarded with im-
prisonment. I was very much attached to her ; her influence
was very strong, but tended more to more active intellectual
work and study than to the tender passion ; yet some of our
friends made interesting prophecies as to more domestic
issues to our friendship. But this was not to be. When I
married it was not to a literary or political lady devoted to books
and schemes of national emancipation. The grey mare in that
case might have proved the better horse. I selected a lady after
my own heart — sweet and attractive, but not particularly gifted
in anv way.
I knew" both Mr. W. H. Wliite and F. M. Wliite in their
homes at Bedford and Portsmouth. I visited Portsmouth many
times, and preached for Mr. Chignell, w^ho was minister of
the Independent Chapel there. He was what is termed an
"advanced" thinker. Indeed, he advanced beyond the limits
of Christian belief, and became almost a deist. Among his
hearers Avere many highly intellectual young men who were
studying naval architecture at the dockyard, among them Sir
Nathaniel Barnaby and Sir Edwin Keed, afterwards M.P. and
chief constructor of the nav}', both well known for their work
in naval construction. Both became near neighbours of mine
at Blackheath, and I often visited them, and had conferences
with them on my own personal interests in the medical pro-
REMINISOENOES. 7
fession. When Sir Edwin first called on me asking me to
attend to his daughter, he reminded me of an interesting (as
he considered it) discussion on paradoxes which I had given
at Portsmouth when preaching from the words, " When I am
weak then am I strong," The text itself is a paradox, and my
discourse on paradoxes showed that Christianity itself is a
religion of paradoxes. The Christian evangelist works by
honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report, as
deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well-known, as
dying and behold, we live, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet
possessing all things ; and the 7th and 8th chapters of the
Romans abound in paradoxes. The world is governed by self-
contradictory actions and facts. One of the greatest benefactors
of humanity is Pontius Pilate, who crucified Jesus Christ, and
by the very act conferred the greatest good on humanity. The
worst evil produces the highest benefit to humanity.
He was interested in my " Studies," but protested very
strongly against the first sentence, in which I speak of Bacon
as greatest and Shakespeare also as greatest in literature. I
reminded him that I was a chartered libertine in paradoxes, but
this did not pacify him. Pie was a generous and gifted man,
not particularly devoted to orthodox Christian faith — indeed,
more inclined to agnoticism. At his house I met the poet
Philip James Bayley, the author of "Festus."
Mr. Chignell afterwards moved to Exeter, where he preached
and lectured for some years. His sermons and lectures gene-
rally contained some reference to Carlyle or Goethe or Emerson
or Jean Paul Richter. His heterodoxy made him very un-
acceptable to the wealthy gentleman who had founded the
chapel and endowed it, and when Mr. Chignell spontaneously
resigned, knowing how distasteful his theology was to the
orthodox patron of this dissenting benefice, he sent Mr. Chig-
nell a cheque for £100.
III. — New College Professors.
The indictment of our orthodoxy was made by the Principal
of the College, Dr. John Harris, well known as the author of
various works. One of these was a prize essay on the use and
abuse of money — " Mammon " was its title. Dr. Harris wrote in
a fluent, easy style, with well-rounded sentences, and what he
wrote was generally valued, and deservedly so, by the denomina-
tion to which he belonged. But there was no exceptional ability
either in the matter of his teaching or the style in whicli it was
communicated. He was neither a poet nor a philosopher ; his
theological prelections contained no research — nothing to bring
8 RKMINI8CFNCE8.
ihem rn rtipfh^rt with hist<iry, or antiquity, or litoratun\ Thoy
won»a»l»wol> oroatioiis «»f liisown brain, and no one licarin^jj Ihcni
c\>\iU\ tiuii out wholhcr ho had ever road any of tlio Cliristian
Fathors, or any stan^lard work in thoology or p^noral
litoratunv
Tho classical toaohinp at Now Collofj^o was (^f a nuicli liigluT
onlor, hoing j>rosi».lod ovor by Dr. William Smith, wh(»so classical
dictii>narios aro of world-wide ropuUntion, and his brother,
Piiilip Smith, equally learned and aci-omplishcd. Ijoctures on
the Ctreok Tostamont were given l)y Mr. CJodwin, and they wore
valuable, but quite as self-originated as those of Dr. Harris.
Hebrew was taught by Professor Nenner, a very learned German
and a goxl scholar. I think the fjuality of his teaching was
somewhat depressed and its value deteriorated by the atmosphere
of the College where he taught. But he remained my valued
friend to the last, and I hardly think he ai)proved of our expul-
sion. After I had eml»raced another vocation 1 frequently met
him, and 1 was not a little surprised by his gentle suggestion
when he paid me a wedding visit, that I must admit, on review-
ing my College experiences, that I had been very unwise, not
sulliciently conciliatory, and that my fate was not entirely un-
deserved. I was sincerely sorry that I coidd not assent to his
views, and now, after sixty years, I am still impenitent. But
such proceedings could not take place now. The Zeitgeist has
shed his light even into the unillumined recesses of dissenting
colleges, and the heresy of a former generation has become the
orthodoxy of later times. Reverence and piety are not less ; but
a broader theology and a deeper philosophy has created not only
tolerance but sympathy with beliefs which were so fiercely
denounced when I was a student. Professor Nenner, among
other accomplishments, was a musician and a good pianist, and
I recall with pleasure my first acquaintance with Beethoven's
lovely Andante in F major. Op. 35, played with excellent vigour
and feeling by Professor Nenner.
IV. — Early Life.
But I am far on in my autobiographical memories before I
have made a beginning. I have skipped infancy, childhood
and l)oyhood and, unlike Cupid, who was always a child, have
stepped into existence like Minen-a, from the brow of Jupiter,
fidl grown as soon as born. I must retrace my steps and make
a fresh start.
I was born at Birmingham, November 28th, 1829. I have
learnt that the great pianist and composer, Rubenstein, was bom
on the same day and the same year. Perhaps the star of
Terpsichore was then in the ascendant, and the gift of music was
REMINISCENCES.
9
bestowed on all those born on that day. For though this gift
was not so abuntantly granted to me as to Rubenstein, yet in my
humble way I, too, was born a musician and my household
divinities have been the classic composers, especially and equally
Bach and Beethoven. My father held an appointment in a paper
warehouse in Birmingham — not a very remunerative position —
and when I was three or foar years old became comiected with
the Religious Tract Society and moved to London. I have a dim
recollection of travelling from Birmingham to London in a stage
coach, for at that time the London and North Western Railway
had not advanced so far as Birmingham.
V. — The Morell Family.
My mother's maiden name was Morell, and she belonged to
a family in which many high qualities were indigenous. The
family was originally French — refugees from persecution when
the Huguenot massacres occurred, and there is a tradition that
one of the soldiers employed in the bloody work was on the
point of plunging his sword into the heart of a sleeping infant,
but his stroke was arrested by the plea, " Spare the babe ! He
is not a heretic." That baby became one of our ancestors, and
the Huguenot faith and piety has remained in the blood of the
Morell family as almost an elementary constituent. My grand-
father, Stephen Morell, was a Congregational minister at Little
Baddow, Essex, for more than fifty years, and was succeeded by
his son Thomas, who held that position for about twenty-eight
years. Many monuments in the churchyard, and some tablets
in the chapel, commemorate the virtues and endowments of the
j\Iorells. Music was one of their gifts. My grandfather had a
deep, rich bass voice and good musical feeling, more, however,
for melody than harmony. He would sing the melody of
the tunes selected for the chapel services two octaves below their
natural soprano. His eldest son, Stephen, a year younger than
my mother, who was the oldest in the family, died in 1824. He
was for a short time settled as a Congregational minister at
Exeter, and knew Jackson, the composer of the Te Deum and
many well-known musical canticles, which my uncle copied.
He afterwards moved to Norwich. My mother was his house-
keeper, and there she first met my father, who was a Norwich
man.
My grandfather had two brothers, Tliomas and John. Tliomas,
after a pastoral life in Suffolk, and as tutor of Wymondley College,
became principal of the same college when it was transferred,
as (toward College, to Gordon Square, London. He wrote
several volumes of history with moral and religious reflections.
These books are occasionally to be met with on second-hand
10 KKMlMSCrNrKS.
U^ksollors' slu«l\»>s. Tlic im^ral ami rolijiious ivllortlons did
nt>t matori.illy iinpiovo llio narrative. 'ronnysonH "Day-
dream."' with its moral, appliiaMe as much to thooiojiiy as art,
was not published early enough to reach my j^reat-uiicle, who
might, in that case, have li'ft the story to tell its own moral —
'■ And hbcnil npplicntions lie
In art, like nature, dearest friend ;
So 'twere to cramp its use if I
Should book it to some useful end."
The other brother of my grandfather, Dr. John ]\forell, was,
perhaps, the best scholar of the three. He became a Unitarian
minister, and iiis son, John Kcynell ^lorell, has made his mark
as a translator of Fourier, and author of several educational
books. He, too, became a Unitarian minister, but the Huguenot
strain seems to have entirely disappeared from his blood. Ho
became a Koman Catholic, and was for a short time Inspector
of Catholic Schools in England. He was highl}' intellectual,
but constantly irregular in his professional work, by which
he lost his appointment. He resided for many years on the
Continent as tutor in noble or royal houses, but he was fre-
quently plunged into deepest poverty, and dependent on the
generosity of liis more opulent relations, especially my uncle,
Dr. J. D. Morell, whose lavish generosity was untiring. His
surviving sons live by pen or pencil as journalists or artists.
One of them may be generally found in the reading-room of
the British Museum. A taste and gift for art is more developed
in this section of our family than in any other, but in literary
gifts they are not deficient. My cousin, who frequents the
British Museum, has given mo much valuable help in the re-
search work incidental to my Baconian and Shakespearean
studies. His brother is editor of an art journal in Paris. Both
of them can write with almost equal facility in English, French,
and German. One of them was at a Catholic school in Birming-
ham, and liad frequent interviews with Cardinal Newman, who
had pastoral and priestly relations with the school. Catholic
ideas and Ijeliefs have not taken a very strong hold even on
this branch of our family, and the natural reaction and alterna-
tive, agnosticism, has generally succeeded.
VI.— Dr. J. D. Morell.
My grandfather's youngest son was John Daniell Morell, born
in 1816, and he is widely known by his writings, both philo-
sophical and educational. After a college course at Ilomerton
and Glasgow and Germany, he became an Independent minister
at Gosport, and there he published, in 1846, his work on the
" Speculative Philosoj)hy of the Nineteenth Century." For this
RBMINISOENOBS. 11
he was qualified by a residence in Bonn, where he attended
the philosophical lectures of Brandis and Fichte. He wrote
other philosophical works, and published four lectures, which
I heard him deliver at Glasgow, on the " Philosophical Ten-
dencies of the Age." In 1849 he published what I regard as
his best work — that on the " Philosophy of Religion." I owe
much to this book. It shaped my elementary philosophical
and theological conceptions, and gave them a form and colour
which they have always retained. His " Philosophy of Re-
ligion " is based on the writings of Schleiermacher, whose
definition of religion in its essence as a feeling, and that of
absolute dependence, seems to me a true and most vital descrip-
tion of that which is deepest and holiest in our nature. All
these works had a temporary use ; they are not likely to take
a permanent place in literature, and are now rarely met with.
One happy result of my uncle's earliest philosophical work
was that it was the means of securing him an appointment as
Inspector of Schools, which Avas offered to him by Lord Lans-
downe. This office he retained for many years, and left it with
a retiring pension. He wrote many educational books, especially
on grammar, which he regarded as the porch of psychology.
For many years he lived at Bowden, near Manchester, and when
I visited him there I accompanied him in many of his visits as
inspector, and was greatly interested in his grammar examina-
tions, which were really lessons in the philosophy of language.
Thus, holding up his pencil he would ask the children, " What
part of speech is this ? " and if the reply was, " A noun," he
would remind them that a noun is not a thing, but the name
of a thing ; consequently the pencil was not a part of speech
at all. In the musical part of his inspection his rich bass voice
could be heard apart from the soprano of a multitude of singing
children. For he, too, like the rest of his family, and more
than most, was a musician, played the organ and violoncello,
not brilliantly, but accurately, and had regular musical evenings
at his house, which I frequently attended when they were within
reach, especially at Beckenham, and was often installed as leader
of the tenors, or accompanist to the glees, madrigals, part-songs,
and masses. After his retirement from his work as Inspector
he lived at Clapham, Beckenham, Folkestone, and lastly at St.
John's Wood. Ho married Miss Wreford, of Bristol, where her
family were prominent in Unitarian circles. Her brother, Henry
Wreford, was for many years Italian (-orrespondent of tiio Times.
My uncle died, childless, in 1891, after an attack of gradual
cerebral ramollisscment, which lasted ten years — a pathetic close
to a life of high intellectual activity. His grave at Folkestone
is surmounted by the well-known and pathetic words of Horace,
which he had placed there when his wife died ten years before,
I? KlMINISrKNCES.
'* Quit Jmiihrio <if i>Uii<>r ant modus tain rnri capilin.'' After
his (loalli 1 puMislu'il a small nuMUorial voliiino. Tlio I'lHt of
his works at tlio viv\ of tlu> volunu* coiilains l\vonty-(*i}j;lit
original «>r translated works. His luniks were nim-li rtniowcd and
highly applauded when they appeared. The best reviews
were thost» by the j^reat and eminent philosopher, Dr. dames
Martinoau, who wn)te searehinjx notices both of his history and
his " Philosophy of Keli^rion," containinj^ both miieh praise and
some critieal <li.ssent. 1 am inclined to think that Martineau's
estimate, Inith of the faults and deficiencies, as well as the
P'nenil merits and excellencies of these volmnes, is just, .as
well as |>roftMind. I'erhaps, for my undo personally, it was
scimethin^ like a i-alamity that his books were subjected to the
criticism of a j^jreater philosopher than himself, and one equally
entlowed in the special departments of German philosophy
which he had chosen for treatment ; for the critical analysis
was made by one of the greatest philosoj)hers of all time — one
worthy to rank with Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Bacon, Des Cartes,
and all the greatest metaphysicians and philosophers — for such
I consider Dr. 31artineau.
VII. — Rev. D. G. Bishop ; Dr. John Pye-Smith.
*-«^ ■ My iather's second daughter, Sophia, married Rev. Daniell
Goilffey Bishoj), a very learned classical scholar, who became
classical tutor at Homerlon (College, where I often visited him.
The principal of this college was the learned and greatly
re8pe<'ted Dr. John Pye-Smith, who was also minister of the
Old Gravel Pit meeting-house near the college. It was my
great delight, as a very small child, to wait, after the service,
for the dear and revered doctor, and walk back with him,
holding a finger or two of his hand. Dr. Pye-Smith was the
author of .some theological works whicli were greatly prized, one
of them beinj; entitled, " Scrijjture Testimony to the j\lessiah."
It was a topic which involved the discussion of many contro-
verted questions, and the doctor, always gentle and tolerant,
handled these topics with a gentleness, courtesy, and dignity
that was almost apologi'tic. Ho had a sort of a deferential way
of meeting an opponent, by which the strength of his argu-
ments was somewhat disguised. His son, Ebenezer Pye-Smith,
was a modieal practitioner. He attended our family during our
Ijondon life, and was a constant attendant on my mother during
her last illness. He, too, was a gentle, amiable man, but very
resolute in his medical orthodoxy, and when in after years I
mot him, when our family had resorted to homoeopathic
treatment, he tried to convince me of the unsoundness of
homojopathy by retailing some of the many exploded stories
REMINISCENCES. 13
about Hahnemann which were current in medical circles. I
had not then the necessary knowledge to refute these absurd
and calumnious fictions, but I formed a strong impression of
our doctor's bigotry and of the mal-a-propos nature of his argu-
ments against homoeopathy.
Mr. Bishop, my uncle, became subsequently a clergyman of
the Church of England and master of an endowed grammar
school at Buntingford. It was a pleasant and instructive
experience to hear him preach. He generally had a Greek
Testament in his pocket, and the exordium of his sermons
usually consisted of some illuminating exposition of his text,
based on a revised translation from the original Greek, He was
also an accomplished musician, played the violin, or viola, or
violoncello. His family inherited his musical gifts ; they would
all play together— three strings, a flute, and the piano, the
daughter being the pianist. Their favourite music was Haydn's
Symphonies, which they rendered in a very masterly way. My
great love for Haydn's orchestral and chamber music originated
on these occasions, and now, in old age, these ever charming
and melodious compositions, as pianoforte duetts, are favourites
with my second daughter and myself ; we have twenty-four of
them in four bound volumes, as well as the nine symphonies of
Beethoven in two other volumes. Some of these we attempt to
play, and with some success ; but they are of a higher order of
music than Haydn's, more intricate, fugal, and embellished, and
consequently more difficult in their pianoforte adaptations.
Mozart's Symphonies seem intermediate between Haydn's and
Beethoven's, and we find intense delight in the Jupiter Sym-
phony, with its grand fugal finale and exquisitely melodious
adagio. Others of Mozart's, especially that in G minor, with its
extremely chromatic first movement, are included in our reper-
toire. Being self-taught and untrained, I cannot venture on such
music as Chopin's, and most of Schumann's, which can only be
rendered by a brilliant performer, well schooled, and after much
practice of technical phrases. A self-taught pianist plays only for
his own gratification, and his fingering is likely to be unsound. In
my own case this was to some extent corrected by long study of
Bach's forty-eight preludes and fugues, from a fingered edition.
For two years I scarcely played anything else, and learnt the
wiiole of these glorious compositions — some of them by heart. I
was even daring enough to set one of the fugues to words as an
anthem — that in A minor in the first book — the subject of
which closely resembles the phrase of a hynm tune. Anyone
wiio knows this fugue will recognise its easy adaptation to the
words, " I lift up mine eyes unto the hills — the hills whoncte
cometh aid " ; and for the second division, " The Lord shall
preserve thee from all ill ; He shall preserve thy soul." I have
14 KI:M!NI8CENCKH.
niM'or siuvoodotl in mast«'r'm^ tlio wliolo of (licso very (IKTicuU
works, but 1 Kvinit to uniicrstHiitl tlicin all, and came to rofjjard
ihoni ns suproinc in musical art. Hacli and Hoctliovcn socni to
mo to stjind on the pinnaoh* of musical ai'liiovcmtMit, ([uite apart
fnMu all the rest, and in scientific skill and nllluonco of melody,
which pervades all his music, entering into their most interior
structure, Bach stands almost alone. But ho is caviare to the
general. I have known even well-endowed musicians say that
they cannot relish Bach's music, and think it too dry and
academic to he ;2;enerally pleasing;. Doubtless some patienco
and study is reipiired before Bach can be appreciated. At first
his works seoin like a luminous mist in which no distinct form
can be recognised. But as you watch, tlio mist gradually clears
off; angels of high and almost supernatural splendour are seen
in the midst of the glory, and a divine voice is heard proceeding
from the burning bush of brilliantly shining music.
VIII. — My Mother and Father.
Before taking leave of the Morell family, I may notice that
my mother also was gifted in music and played the pianoforte
with much taste and some skill. Slie used to j)lay to me " The
Battle of Prague,'' a piece now forgotten, but then much in
vogue. I was charmed with the music, and the various dramatic
conce|)tions involved in it, such as the marching of troops, repre-
sented by triplets in the bass, the cries of the wounded, the
dismissal to rest, and so on. ]\Iuch the same kind of dramatic
art is to be found in Beethoven's first sonata dedicated to
Haydn. Indeed, these sonatas lend themselves largely to such
interpretation. Ex gr., the third of Beethoven's Haydn sonatas
represents a storm ; we hear the weighing of the anchor, the
gradually augmenting movement of the waves in the first move-
ment, a voice of distress constantly interrupted by the noise of
the waters (this is the adagio movement), the steady rise and
fall of the waves in the minuet and trio, leading in the finale to
a swift and prosperous voyage, with a long cadenza while the
vessel is weighing anchor, and then triumphantly enters into
port. I have little doubt that some such conception as this was
in the composer's mind when he wrote. My mother died in
1*^45 from an attack of pneumonia. Bleeding was then gener-
ally resorted to in such cases, and my mother Avas copiously bled
three times. I cannot help but think that this, more than the
pneumonia, was the cause of her death. At that time we knew
nothing of homeopathy and its more gentle, yet more potent,
niotho'ls of subduing disease — not killing in order to cure.
This might have saved her, for she was only 46 at the time of
her death. Her last days were peaceful and even triumphant,
REMINISCENCES. 15
and when she knew that her term was nearly completed she
spoke loving farewells and gentle admonitions and exhortations
to all around her dying bed. To me she said, " Be a faithful
minister of Jesus Christ," for such was then my own aspiration,
though at that time the idea seemed to me something like
profanation. The reason for this will soon appear.
My father wrote a brief account of her life and last illness, to
which he gave the title, " The Fear of Death Removed by the
iProspect of Immortality." For my own part, I cannot feel that
this fear can be so removed. Anyone who has experienced the
tcedium vitce must feel how intolerable such a feeling would be
in an endless life, deprived even of the privilege of suicide.
The only conceivable refuge from this is the persuasion that
almighty power and infinite wisdom has inexhaustible resources
by which motives of action and thought bring into play all
that is holiest in our nature, and that this can never fail.
My father used often to preach, especially at the Fleet Prison
in Farringdon Street, now abandoned — a prison for debtors. I
often joined him in these excursions and acted as precentor for
the singing. He sometimes preached on Kennington Common
in a tent, and at the Female Penitentiary, Pentonville. I remem-
ber nothing of his sermons ; I cannot suppose they were
particularly exalted in thought or expression, for he was not a
deep thinker, and was devoted to a puritanical scheme of life
and destiny. I think my expulsion from New College, and later
the Rivulet Controversy, which will come into a subsequent
section, gave a better and broader tone to his thought, and some-
what unsettled its puritanical conceptions. He was a truly
excellent man, skilful and clever in many ways, especially in
mechanical inventions. He died in 1867.
IX. — Earliest Life : Birmingham — London.
I can recall few incidents of my earliest childhood at Birming-
ham. My parents were members of the church at Carr's Lane,
presided over by the Rev. John Angell James, and from my
earliest years the ultra-evangelical and puritanical training
inculcated by Mr. James shaped my morality and wakened my
aspirations. The theatre was the Gate of Hell ; the oratorio
was perhaps even worse, for it was regarded as a sort of pro-
fanation that sacred music should be performed for the gratifica-
tion of an audience and sacred words sung by unconverted
persons. Those ideas were not exactly formulated, but this was
the impression inevitably produced by the evangelical teacliing
and practice of the time. My love of music and my interior
sense of its essential sacredness, even if nominally secular, was
the first influence that led mo to rebel against these restrictions.
1R RBMINIS0BNCB8.
In 1S|(), wluMi I w;is luwrly 17, 1 visltrd some old friciids at,
nirmiii:;li;im, and tlii'i>n;xli (lit* kindness of other friends I was
privilfp'il to attend one of t lie fest ival peifofMiaiices. Mendelssolm
had the day hoforo hrouj^ht out his " lOlijah," and a |)erft)rniancu
of the lovely quartotto, " Holy ! Il<»]y ! "' was substituted for one
of the pieees which had to 1)«> omitted, and I hail the inexpros-
silde jjrati Ileal ion of secin;^; the illustrious composer as he con-
ducted his own ijuartette. (I may here note that some years
afterwards I saw the j^rcat composer, Spohr. He was an eklerly
man, larjjje and burly — somethinjj; like a country farmer. His
intensely chromatic music is always i)leasin<ij.) The friends at
Birmingham with whom I was stayinjj; wore much troubled at
my bein;^ j>ri>se it at such an unp;odly performance, for they were
staunch tlisciplcs of John Angeil James. They expressed their
ilisapproval in no measured terms, so much so that I was pro-
voked to exclaim, " Rubbish ! " as ra}' irresistible comment on
one of their arn;uments. v^till I was not entirely emancipated,
and felt there mijT;ht be .some truth in their disap|)roval. It was
not till lonfi; afterwards that I perceived that holy things might
be contemplated in various ways as suitable not only for prayer
and praise, but for admiration and song, as things of beauty and
joy, that there may be much religion where there is no worship,
and that musical delight and enjoyment is not unholy — is
indeed sacred and divine. Moreover, my ideas about conversion
were completely altered.
X. — John Angell James.
John Angell James was a truly excellent and saintly man, a
most earnest and persuasive preacher. But I believe that his
influence was, to a large extent — i.e., independently of his own
personal religious magnetism — mischievous. When my solf-
con.sciousness and religious sentiments were being developed,
and I believed, what I had been taught, that above all things
conversion was necessary, I had put into my hands Mr. .James's
book, " The Great Question Answered, or the Anxious Enquirer
After Salvation Directed and Encouraged." As the " great
question " was, " What must I do to be saved ? " it soon occurred
to me that this momentous question was originally asked by the
Phillipian jailer, and that the craven, terrified caitiff was not
thinking of his soul, but of his skin, and that the salvation
which he craved was from the danger caused by an earthquake
.ind the shaking walls of his prison, and that the reply of the
apostle, " Believe in the Lord Jesus (Jhrist and thou shalt be
savei], and thj lumsc,'" was rather irrelevant, and contained an
implied rebuke to the terror of the unhappy man, who was only
concerned for his own safety, and did not concern himself about
REMINISCENCES. 17
his family. And thus it dawned upon my mind that the question
itself is a very ignoble one, even more when it related to
the soul than to the body ; that no one can do anything to
save himself, and that the apostle's reply removed the anxiety
and purified the terror, by bringing the trembling inquirer
into the presence of Divine Humanity, when all thoughts
of safety were forgotten under the nobler inspiration of divine
communion. Mr. James's book was the cause of inexpressible
mental agony to me. I tried to follow its directions, to
be as penitent and lachrymose as I ought to be, to feel the
terrors of perdition impending from which I could be delivered
only by an interior vital change, a sort of reconstruction of my
nature — a result which I hoped to reach according to the pre-
scriptions of Mr. James's book. But it was all in vain ; I could
never assure myself that I was a new creature, and at last I gave
it up in despair, lioping that some flash of divine influence
might reach me, as it did St. Paul on his way to Damascus,
and that in this way the necessary change would be produced.
And so I drifted till more mature thought and riper philosophy
taught me that life itself is a process of conversion, beginning
with simple physical experiences and ending in a full develop-
ment of nature, physical, intellectual, moral and religious, and
that no ictus of Divine interposition would be granted to supersede
the entire discipline of life, and concentrate into a moment the
result only to be attained by a life-long, gradual process.
Some years after, when 1 was a student for the ministry, and
visiting friends in Wolverhampton, I met Mr. James, and we
walked together, arm-in-arm, to the chapel where he was to
preach. He then urged me, and my companion and fellow-
student, to remember that the one object of preaching was to
" save souls." He did not say what this salvation means, from
what peril souls are to be delivered, or how preaching of any
kind could effect such a momentous result. I had, however, by
that time learnt how unreal all these dogmas are, and how
inevitably productive of despair, or of infidelity, contempt and
disgust. To me now it seems that Mr. James's book should
have been entitled, " The Anxious Enquirer After Personal
Safety Driven to Despair."
While, however, insisting on the fact that sudden conversion
is rare and exceptional, I would not be understood to deny that
it does occur. Anyone who reads Mr. Harold Begbio's remark-
able and interesting book (" Broken Eartiionware," etc.) will
find many such instances. Mr. Begbie's writings are equally
characterised by profound i)hilo8ophy, deep piety, and literary
interest and enchanting narrative.
It afterwards appeared to me that Mr. James's representa-
tion of the chief aim of preaching is that of pure unmitigated
18 REMINI8CKNCRB.
8«'lfisliiioss. nn«i a s<irt <if Alhoism. Whnt can bo more ip^noblo
niul uiiiliviiu' than a porsistoiit qurst after personal advantage,
whnt nioro unworthy o«>nception of (lod tlian to picture Ilim as
the Creator of myriads of beings whose inevitable doom is evcr-
lai^ling torment ? IJeligion, in its best aspect, is certainly not a
clamorous a|>peal for divine help and deliverance, and the best
aim of preaihing is not to lead men to seek for safety, but for
imion with eternal truth and goodness. We are bidden to fear
(ukI — we are never bidden to be afraid of Ilim. The aim of
preacliing shoidil be to bring heaven down to earth, to
spiritualise life, to make common things and deeds pursuits
divine; so that, in Cieorge Herbert's immortal words, "Who
sweeps a chamber in Thy laws, makes that and the action fine."
And prayer is not simply petition, it is communion, so that
there may be much prayer and little request, and that little not
necessarily personal. Indeed, as a doctor, seeing sick and
sorrowing and sad persons, I have sometimes advised them,
not to give up praying altogether, but to cease praying for
themselves ; to pray for others, for the spread of holy thought
and action in society and this world — to pray, " Hallowed bo
Thy Name ; Tiiy kingdom come ; Thy will be done,'' before
praying for daily bread. The conception of endless misery, of
course, involves a conception of infinite sin, and a confession of
absolute wickedness. And these conceptions are untrue.
Indeed, even the words of Scripture and the Book of Common
Prayer often require so much explanation as apparently to
explain them away. What right has anyone possessing a
conscience and moral sense to say, " There is no health in us " ?
And it is not true, except in a very modified sense, that " the
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately Avicked." A
heart that is deceived is so far absolved from blame in respect
to that in which its knowledge is deficient, or its belief mistaken.
x\iid if we are " miserable sinners," our misery may bo as much
a cause for pity as for penalty. It behoves the worst offender to
call God his Father, and to feel absolute pride in the glory and
mystery of his owti nature. All these conceptions are jilmost
foreign to evangelical theology and the evangelical view of life,
its nature, origin, and destiny. Job was neither a hypocrite
nor a blasphemer when he said, " ^ly righteousness will I hold
fast, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so
long as I live " ; and the prayer of thanksgiving may include
praise to tlie creative goodness which has made man conscious
of his own essential affinity, even unity, with the Divine —
conscious of the personal element in his nature which is human
as well as the impersonal element which is divine. Only as
there is a divine " light which ligliteth every man that cometh
into the world,"' can we rightly understand such paradoxical,
REMINISOBNCBS. 19
even self-contradictory, expressions as, " When I [the personal]
am weak, then am I [the impersonal] strong '' ; and the
expression of St. Paul, " I know that in my flesh [in my merely
human nature] dwelleth no good thing " — for the good things
to which St. Paul refers belong not to bodily sensation, but to
interior bodiless spirit. We thank God for nothing if we thank
Him for the bestowal of a life that is exposed to tlie most
unutterable and enduring calamity. St. Peter spoke not as a
rhetorician, but as a philosopher, when he said we may become
" partakers of the divine nature " (2 Peter i. 4). And the reason
is that we can escape the seductions that arise out of our
merely personal appetites and desires. This interpretation is
justified by the original Greek of St. Peter's words. The
"corruption that is in the world through hcst" does not
necessarily refer to sexual immorality. The word ^viOvixLa is
eager desire for anything — personal possession or advantage,
yearning, longing, coveting. Anything of this kind may be
pollution.
XI. — William Pole, and Poel.
During one of my visits to Birmingham I became acquainted
with old Mr. Pole and his wife. Their son, whom I afterwards
knew. Dr. William Pole, was a very skilful organist, and played
at one of the city churches. He was a great cultivator of
scientific whist and wrote a book on this subject. When I knew
him he lived at Blackheath, and I was present at some of the
musical parties held at his house. He was a very ardent
admirer of Mozart's music, and these vocal and instrumental
compositions were the chief items in his programme. His son
is now widely known as William Poel — he has, somewhat
arbitrarily, as I think, altered the spelling of his name, which
has not descended from Pole to Pole, but from Pole to Poel.
William " Poel " married a grand-daughter of Sir Charles
Locock, Physician to the Queen. She became a patient of mine
in London, before her marriage, and continued my patient after
her marriage. She was a very attractive and devout lady,
and joined ^ the " Catholic Apostolic Church," founded by
Edward Irving. Old Mr. Pole (grandfather of William Poel)
was an excellent, pious old man, who, after a somewhat stormy
youth, became a convert to evangelical religion under the
pastorate of John Angell James. He had retired from business
when I knew him, and occupied himself every morning in
copying the daily meditations and Scripture portions in the
" Diarium " which he used. He had many volumes of these
collections — useless books, but touching memorials of an old
man's piety.
XIL — Early Schooldays.
I recall little of my earliest school-life. I remember being at
20 RKMIMSrF.NCF.a.
a dainc'a scluxM at Tj<~>ndon, kept by a wortliy, kindly old lady,
\Nh«>si» piinishmtMit oftni consisted in lixin<; a very high conical
paper f(X)lscap on the ofTender's head, and placing him apart in
a ct>rner ; and once, when 1 was a victim of this ignominious
chastisenuMit, I seized the cap from my head, put it on the head
of the d«'ar old governess, and rushed out of the room. I was
easily forgiven, for the amiable old lady was more amused than
ofTeniled at this rebellions behaviour.
\\'hen I was about 8 years old I was sent to the City of
Ix>ndon School, where I remained for about a year. I remember
a rather painfid incident in the earliest period, when I was in
the lowest form. I made rather a naughty remark to one of my
schoc^lfellows respecting the master, that his antipodes was
averted ; but the actual word I used was more vernacular. The
little wretch repeated this to the master : " Please, sir, Theobald
says that your antipodes is turned " ; on which the master
said, " Theobald, come here ; we do not allow such language ;
liold out your hand '' — and again, and again — about six times —
receiving a stroke with the cane each time. When I snatched
away my hand from another stroke, he finished off with a few
strokes on the Ivack. I think I deserved some punishment, but
the actual penalty was unnecessarily severe; a verbal rebuke, or
an imposition, would have been enough. I also think that this
little tell-tale should have been admonished as a little sneak, with-
out any proper sense of camararderic, which would have shown
him that there was not mucli harm in my naughty remark, that
it need not have been reported, and that it was somewhat mean
to do so. Probably the little lad had an exaggerated idea of
the impropriety of any vernacular allusion to the human
antipodes and considered it his duty to expose it. Evangelical
teaching might easily originate this impression. He did not
know that Thomas Hood had wittily consigned flogging school-
masters to the bottomless pit. The vernacular word which I
used may be represented by the Latin words dorsum lateris.
I saw little of other masters besides those who presided over
the forms in which I was a pupil. The Headmaster was Rev. John
Allen Giles, whose Greek Lexicon was much used before that of
Liddell and Scott superseded all others.
XHL — School-life at Danbury.
In 1839 my elder brother and I were sent to a boarding
scho<jl at Danbury, in Essex, kept by my uncle, Rev. Thomas
Morell. We went to Danbury by the ^laldon Coach, which left
the Bull Inn, Aldgate, every afternoon. 1 cannot say that I look
back upon this pari of my school-life with much satisfaction.
Agonies of Heim-weh, with plentiful tears, spoiled the earliest
days of every half year, and during the rest of the term I was
REMINISCENCES, 21
rarely happy for any length of time. My uncle was a stern
master, and I think he felt it his duty to be more severe to
his nephews than to the other boys, in order that no imputation
of partiality should be attached to him. At least, this was my
impression, and accordingly I always disliked him. I do not
think that nature intended him for a schoolmaster. In these
days the master whom his pupils loved scarcely existed, except
in a few public schools. Mr. Squeers was the typical school-
master rather than Dr. Arnold. Danbury is about two miles
distant from Little Baddow, where my grandfather lived and
preached, and we were accustomed to go there every Sunday
morning, and stay till after the afternoon service. My uncle
generally preached at a little chapel in Danbury in the evenings,
and I was useful both to my uncle and grandfather by playing
the seraphine in their chapels. The seraphine is a sort of wind
organ, like the harmonium, worked by a foot pedal. It is never
seen now. For this purpose I was allowed to practise the tunes
on Saturday ; not that this was necessary ; it was as easy to me
to play the tunes, with appropriate harmonies, as to sing the
melodies ; but it gave some security against mistake or imperfect
performance. And for me it was a welcome opportunity of
spending an hour or so in mj^ favourite diversion. But my
uncle would often abridge this pleasure, and after playing over
the selected tunes once or twice would say, to my great
mortification, " There, Robert, that will do ; you need not
practise any more." This seemed to me unkind, and so it
seems even now ; and so my dislike to my uncle increased. I
may say that when my schooldays were over I learnt to love my
uncle sincerely, and attended both him and my aunt in their last
illness. But I always felt that my former dislike was reasonable
— that I had much to forgive, and he little cause for reproach.
In mathematics I easily learnt all that my uncle and his
assistants could teach, and in Euclid was inclined to run
ahead of the propositions imposed, so that I was soon a better
geometer than my teachers. But I was, as a rule, more
successful in classics than in the higher mathematics. At
Glasgow, wlicn I was a member of Lord Kelvin's class in
natural philosophy, I was on one occasion the only successful
solver of a geometrical problem prescribed for home-work.
Algebra, especially equations and conic sections, interested me,
but I made little headway with the calculi.
My Danbury schoolfellows were not particularly clever or
intellectual, being, as a rule, rustic sons of Essex farmers or
millers. One of them, however (and he was a London boy,
Charles Henry Purday), had a great gift for art. He would cut
out flowers and various figures in coloured paper, and make
excellent drawings. He became an architect, but I heard little
I't: RFMiMsrF.Nrrs.
of him in nftor lifo. His falluT was a public sinjjjor, with a vory
liu<» haritmu* voire, an<l tlit« whoh' family had artistic ;^ifts.
1 learnt some nohio |)o«>try as scluMtl tasks, and 1 tliink my
uncle was s«imewhat proud of my achievements in this line; for in
our oi>untry walks he would ask mo to repeat Hyron's "Ode to
the Ocean," or Horace Smith's "Address to the Mununy in
Hel/.oni's Exhibition," and on these occassions he became f^enial,
and f«>r a very brief period 1 loved him, Tho " Ode to tho
Ocean" is not in all editions of Byron. It is in Canto IV.,
Stanzas 178— IS 1.
XIV. — Edward Miall and the " Nonconformist.''
Purine: tlio Danbiiry period my uncle had a visit from his old
friend and relative, Edward Miall, who had just gjiven up
pastoral work in Leicestershire in order to found and edit tho
Nonconformist newspaper. Edward Miall's wife was my grand-
father's niece, her mother,Caroline Holmes, being a Morell, sister to
my grandfather; consequently, Edward Miall was my uncle's first
cousin by marriage. His paper became to mo my political oracle
and I used to read it from end to end. He was an admirable editor;
his leading articles were original and ingenious ; and his ])ublic
speeches on tho platform or in Parliament were full of earnest
thought and public spirit. I have always remained a " political
Dissenter." This used to be a term of reproach, as if Dissent
was not essentially a political rather than an ecclesiastical or
theological matter. But the extreme theories of Edward
Miall did not long command my assent; the strict separation
between the secular and the sacred in public life ; the exclusion
of State action and support from education, and everything
except material interests. Israel's prophet taught me that
" Holiness to the Lord " may be inscribed even on the bells of
horses, and on every pot in Jerusalem (Zech. xiv. 20, 21) ; that
what is material may represent and express what is spiritual ;
that all language, even the most philosophical, ultimately points
to material facts and things; that religion and dogma are not
identical, and that the Church, the family and the State are but
different departments of divine ministration. But the depart-
ments are different, and their organisations separate. As the
Church may not rule the family, so the State may not rule tho
Church ; and it will be a happy day for England when tho
Church established by the State — called, and erroneously called,
the Church of England, for just now the Salvation Army better
deserves the title than tho State-supported, State-endowed and
Aristocratic Church — shall be disestablished and disendowed,
and the Church of England no longer exist as, practically, a
Tory organisation — the annexe of a political party. My
sympathies as a young man always belonged to Edward Miall
REMINISCENCES. 23
as a politician, but to Maurice, when I came to know him and
to read his books, as a philosophical theologian and ecclesiastic.
Maurice found his ideal in the so-called " Church of England."
I never could. By its monoply of the title and by its somewhat
insolent ignoring of all other ecclesiastical bodies, it has
concealed from Dissenters their true position in the State,
provoked them to antagonism instead of sympathy, widened the
breach between Christians of different ecclesiastical persuasions,
and allowed to the clergy no recognition of other denominations,
except that of condescending and offensive patronage. Many an
English village can verify this description of the Established
Church of England.
XV. — City of London School — Dr. Mortimer — Mr. Edkins.
After spending about four years at Danbury, not seeing home
except during the vacations, I was transferred again to the
City of London School, and was successively a pupil in the
Latin class (intermediate between the third and fourth), and in
the 4th, 5th and 6th classes. Mr. Harris was master of the
Latin class, a genial man, who made friends of his pupils, and
was a guest at the dinners of the Carpenter Club — an
organisation of old pupils. He was a strict and somewhat
formidable disciplinarian, but just also — not a " just beast," as
the Rugby boy called Dr. Arnold. He never forgot his pupils,
and I was quite startled when I met him, many years after the
termination of my school and college courses, when I was a full-
grown man with the usual growth of hair on my face, to find
that, notwithstanding the changes wrought by time, he still
recognised me, and remembered that I was one of three brothers
who at different and not the same time belonged to his class.
Dr. ]\Iortimer was the head master, and I learnt, as I knew him
better, to look up to him with reverence and affection. He
usually came to our class once or twice in the week to hear our
Latin lesson. At that time Livy was the author, and when the
pupils had given their version the Doctor would give his, and I
was always interested and delighted with the combined textual
accuracy and literary felicity of his translation. In his rendering
of Horace he was equally felicitous ; we learnt to recognise the
poetical beauties as well as the techinal phrasing of the
exquisite Odes and Satires. Dr. Mortimer was an earnest
evangelical clergyman, and I heard him preach in the pulpit
usually occupied by the Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel. I
remember nothing of the sermon, but the style of delivery was
memorable. It was that of a clergyman and a schoolmaster,
very clear and decided, but somewliat oracular and academic.
No dissenting minister ever preached in that stylo, and while I
loved the preacher I felt that the personal element was so strong
?4 RKMINISCKNCKa.
as to woaktMi tho spiritual iiniin^ssion of tho diRcourso. llo did
not pn^ludc his st>nnou l>y n K>n^ oxt<'inpon> prayer, as Maptist
Ntvl always did. And, imlt'od, this distinj^uishcd preachcM' w;ih
always nioro a dissenter than the elerfxyman of an aristocratic
church, and it was without surprise that 1 heard tlial he after-
wards became a Haptist minister.
The r)th and fith classes were virtually incorporate; tho 6th,
headed by Dr. Mortimer, representing the classic element ; the
5th, headed by Mr. Robert Pitt Edkins, tho mathematical. Mr.
Kilkins was a fairly accomplisiicd mathematician, but a foolish
and unjust man, and I was i)erpetually j^etlinp; into scrapes
with him. For instance, he was always about ten minutes late
in the morning (for ho lived at Islington), and as lie did not go
home in the middle of the day ho was punctual in the afternoon.
If I was a minute or two late on my return from our mid-day
meal, Edkins would severely question me as to the reason of my
lato arrival, and 1 would give him some facetious explanation,
such as, " Tho pudding was so hot that I could not finish it in
time," or that my crossing tho road was delayed by a " flock of
pigs." We called liim " Man " ; perhaps the name was
suggested by the ver.se, " I will not fear what man can do unto
me." I was always rather catarrhal, and used to blow my nose
with a noisy energy that rather irritated " Man," and on one
occasion he said, " Theobald, if you must make those frightful
explosions, I beg you will go out of the room and do it " — a
foolish injunction with which I promptly complied ; and as I
was moving from my seat towards the door, " Man," who was
busy with an exercise paper, looked up to see the reason of this
irregular movement, and seeing I was the traveller, muttered to
himself (audibly to us) — " Oh ! to explode ! to explode ! " Of
course, the class was "exploding" with laughter, as my
explosion was made just outside the open door and was heard
as plainly as if it had been in the room. Even "]\Ian" was
amused, and on my return said, " There, Theobald, do not
let that occur again!" virtually repealing his own injunction,
and ignoring the fact that he was himself responsible for tho
disturbance. He often locked me up in the large circular
basement corridor for trivial or imaginary offences. Dr.
Mortimer knew that he was an absurd and unreasonable
di.sciplinarian, and at one time gave me a hint: "Theobald,
3'ou should try and not provoke !Mr. Edkins " ; and I could see
that the doctor blamed " Man " more than me, but I tried to
comply with his direction. Edkins was not only foolish,
undignified and unju.st, but also cruel, and I rather wondered
that he did not sometimes use his cane on me, for I was a
provoking scholar. lie probably knew that my father would
have resented and remonstrated. The only time when I saw
REMINISCENCES. 25
him use this instrument of torture was when his own nephew
incurred his displeasure. The unhappy youth was dressed in
very close-fitting garments, almost as close as flesh-tights, and
the many and merciless strokes which Edkins inflicted on the
screaming and wriggling child made my blood boil, and I
wished I could punish him in the same way. What the offence
was I never knew, but the lad was a quiet, harmless fellow, and
I am sure could not have done an}i,hing to deserve such pitiless
chastisement. " Undignified," I have said that Edkins was, but
when he was silent, or walking, he seemed the very type of
stately serenity, as if dignity was wrought into his organisation —
a notable instance of the Latin aphorism which Juvenal wrote :
^^ Frontis nulla fides" — do not attach too much importance to
outward appearances. As a specimen of the different estimate
of my character and punctuality entertained by Dr. Mortimer
and Mr. Edkins, the following extract from one of the reports
may be given : —
Character and Conduct . . . Excellent (G. F. W. M.)
Rude and ill-behaved (R. P. E.)
Attendance Regular (G. F. W. M.)
Almost always late (R. P. E.)
My father showed this to Dr. Mortimer, who showed it to the
School Secretary, and my father heard Dr. Mortimer mutter,
"Absurd ! " The sense of humour must have been very small
in Mr. Edkins, or he would himself have seen how ridiculous
was the contrast between his judgment and that of Dr.
Mortimer.
XVI. — French Teaching.
My schoolfellows were, some of them, youths of groat ability
who afterwards became distinguished, especially one of the
Seeley brothers, whose father was a bookseller in Fleet Street,
and who wrote a very admirable prize essay on the " Expansion
of England." My great " chum " was Andrew Richard Scoble,
now Sir A. R. Scoble. He was a good French scholar even at
that time, and could read, write and speak French with ease and
accuracy. The chief French master was Mr. Delisle, and we
often had French debates in class on political or social subjects.
This was a great delight to me, and I was a conspicuous debater,
speaking in tolerably accurate French; thougJi sometimes Mr.
Delisle would interject, " Eh ! Bein ! " if I began a reply with
" Well ! " We liked our French master well, and he was
generally just and kind. Once, however, his very largo and
heavy iiand gave me a stunning box on the cars wlien 1 was
unduly " larky." I nearly fainted, but tlie quietus was uecom-
?n IlI'MINISiM-NrKS.
plishiNl ns .1 pliysiral iiocossity. Kar-l>oxinp is a danporous
punishmtMit. and «>uj;lit lu'vor to he usimI, osjiocially l>y a l)i^
man with a lioavy hand. A strong fillip with iho rni|:;(rH
wouKl l>o quito as i'IT<H'tiv(* and ontiroly harmless.
XVII. — Sioni.i; .vnd his F.miii.r.
Stable and I, aftor our school-days, woro still very intimate,
and we spent some time tc^gether in Paris, where we eo-operated
in various translations, especially from CJuizot. While Scohle
and I were staying in Paris, I was introduced to Kev. Athanaso
Coquerel. jun. Both he and his father were eloquent preacliers
in the Keft)rmcd French Protestant Church. We spent an
evening at ilr. Coquercl's house, and had much interesting
conversation. He spoke English admirably, and translated into
French, for the advantage of the rest of the company, a curious
specimen of amateur theology which I narrated. When staying
at Bridlington, on my way to Glasgow, I went witli the relatives
and others whom I was visiting to the Wesleyan chapel. The
preacher in the course of his sermon put to himself the question
how long it would take to sanctify a human soul. He found an
answer in one of our Lord's parables ; that referring to the
woman who " took three measures of meal and hid them in
leaven till the whole was leavened" (Luke xiii. 21). "Now,"
said the preacher, " I have ascertained that the process of
leavening three measures of meal would take eleven hours."
Accordingly he concluded that a soul may be completely
sanctified in that time ! Mr. Coquerel was much amused at
this little bit of fantastic theology. It seemed to mo at the
time that the preacher confounded the kingdom of heaven with
an individual soul, and that no one could possibly imagine that
ordinary dough and the process of producing it can bo analogous
to the ripening of human society, except by a very subtle
application of the iSwedenborgian doctrine of correspondencies,
and that the time element is not referred to at all. Scoble after-
wards became a barrister, and practised in India, where lie
made fame and fortune. He Avas chief prosecuting counsel in
the trial of the Gwidvwar of Baroda. When Scoble returned
from India he became a Member of Parliament, a Conservative,
to my surprise, for all his family antecedents were dissenting
and democratic. His father was secretary to the anti-Slavery
Society, a man of some force both of speech and character, but
somewhat testy and irritable. I incurred his great and very
unreasonable wrath soon after my expulsion from New College,
when, in conversation on the event, it seemed to mo that Mr.
Scoble intended to make some public pronouncement on the
matter. I, without tliinking of any offence, said, " Oh ! Mr.
REMINISCENCES. 27
Scoble, I think you had better not take any part in that
business." Instantly he flamed up, and retorted that he was
just as competent to discuss it as I was ; did I mean to insult
him ? and when I made a brief reply, " Is that intended for
another insult ? " My schoolfellow was, I could see, disgusted,
and I very soon left the room and retired for the night. I saw
him afterwards, and he apparently ignored the terms on which
we had separated and accosted me in a friendly way, and, of
course, I responded in the same way, and was glad to see that he
bore no malice.
XVIII. — Rev. Thomas Binney,
Mr. Scoble and his family attended the ministry of Rev.
Thomas Binney, at that time minister of the Weigh House
Chapel, opposite the Monument. I frequently accompanied
them, and had the great privilege of hearing Mr. Binney. He
was in many ways — physical, psychological and spiritual — a
great man ; a man of power and genius, with an inexhaustible
fertility of pulpit thought and utterance. At that time he had
the reputation of being the best preacher in London, certainly
among the dissenters. With them he was a " Master in Israel,"
taking a leading part in denominational organisations, and
consulted as almost an oracle on all occasions of concerted
action. I saw much of him when I was at New College. He
was a member of the Council, but was invalided and absent
when our expulsion was under consideration ; if he had been
present the whole result might have been different. I knew
him as a powerful speaker, but somewhat tyrannical and
oppressive in committees and governing bodies. He had been
a minister at Newport, Isle of Wight, and was fellow-student at
Wymondley with my uncle, Stephen Slorell. He wrote a
memoir of him after his early death in 1824 ; but there was a
good deal more of Mr. Binney than of Mr. Morell in his
memorial volume. Every circumstance related occasioned a
digression, so that the original topic was smothered by the
interj^jolations.
XIX.— Last Days at School. Chemistry— Examinations-
German.
One of the masters of the City of London School taught
chemistry, and he took some of us to the Houses of Parliament,
where Mr. Reed presided over the ventilation, to take object-
lessons on some of the laws of the diffusion and circulation of
air and gaseous bodies. The classi(;al examinations wore con-
ducted by Rev. W. A. Miller, afterwards Rector of Greenwich,
28 KKMIMSOKNCKS.
not tho Mp. burly porson that I often saw in aftor-^oars \\]\on 1
was s*'ttK>(l at Hlaiklu-atli. hut at that tinio a sKmuKm", haiulsoino
vium^ man. Ho antl Or. M«>rtiiuor woro close fruMuis, and
bolonpvl to tiic same t\po of cvaii^olical clcrf^yinen. Hefon^
leaving solux>l I joino*! the Gorman class, for a short time, and
had eipht or ten lessons in (lerman, which were extremely
useful to mo. I pursued this study myself after leavinp; scIum)!,
went througli " Ollendorf " and other books, read and trans-
lated, and so gained a tolerable mastery of literary German,
which has been of great advantage to me in my Bacon and
Sliak(Si)eare studies. But I never had any opportunity of
speaking Gorman. Mr. Foiling was tho teacher.
XX. — Glasgow University Mr. James Yates.
In the year 1846, at the suggestion of my uncle, Dr. J. D.
Morell, I competed for one of the schoIarsliii)s to Glasgow
University, founded by Dr. Williams for tho education of
students for tho dissenting ministry. There were three
vacancies and four competitors. All of us were considered
entitled to a bursary, and, as I was the youngest, the examiners
recommended me to spend a year of study at University College,
L«3ndon, after which a ])ursary would be granted to me without
further examination. Tiie chief examiner was Mr. James Yates,
an admirable scholar and an extensive contributor to Dr. \\'iHiam
Smith's classical dictionaries. lie made a special study of the
weaving of the ancients, and wrote a learned treatise on it,
entitled TextrinumAntiquonnn, worthy of Dr. Dryasdust himself.
He was a wealtliy man, and had a large and splendid house at
Norton Hall, near Sheffield, where, on one of my travels to
Glasgow, I spent a day or two, and had an opportunity of look-
ing into the Tcxtrinuvi treatise. Mr. Yates was a Liverpool
■aian and, I lielicve, at one time a Unitarian minister, but was
more devoted to clas.sic rescairli than to preaching or pastoral
work. He subsequently lived at Lauderdale House, Highgate,
the residence at one time of X'ell Gwyn, now acquired by the
municipality of the district as a public library. It is situated
in Waterloo Park. Mr. Yates subsequently added botany to his
cla.ssic studies. One of my fellow-students reported with great
amu.sement one of ilr. Yates's vaunts, " I believe I know more
C, about Cy/zids than any man living."
XXI. — Dr. Carpenter.
When visiting Mr. Yates I met Dr. Carpenter, who belonged
to a family greatly respected in Unitarian circles both in Liver-
pool and Bristol. In after-years I became more intimate with
REMINISCENCES. 29
him when he was Principal of University Hall, Gordon Square.
He was an organist — not a very skilful one — and every Sunday
morning walked to the Unitarian Chapel, Eoslyn Hill, Hamp-
stead, where he presided at the organ. I never heard him play
the organ, but his pianoforte attempts sufficiently showed the
measure of his gifts, and in his special work as an expositor
of physiology he was truly great and accomplished. Never was
a more industrious and painstaking teacher. His great works
on physiology, human and comparative, are monuments of
exhaustive exposition and elaborate research. The list of his
Avorks — some very voluminous, written between 1835 and 1885
— includes over 290 books, or articles contributed to reviews,
encyclopaedias and newspapers, and probably others were
written which could not be traced when his son wrote a memoir
after his death in 1885. His death was tragic and painful,
caused by the upset of a petroleum stove which heated his bath.
The accident caused extensive burning, which proved fatal.
Dr. Carpenter was in many ways an interesting man. I regarded
him as a sort of half Puritan and half Unitarian, for to a
Unitarian creed he united the rigid ethics of an evangelical
Puritan, stern and somewhat exacting in his demands for self-
restraint, especially in reference to food, e.g., cake before bread and
butter at tea-time he regarded as culpable self-indulgence. His
musical evenings were very attractive, and I was accustomed
every Sunday evening after service at Mr. Lynch's church, a few
minutes' walk from University Hall, to join the choral meetings
at Dr. Carpenter's rooms, singing in the glees, or madrigals,
or masses, and generally acting as accompanist on the piano-
forte.
XXII. — Music at University Hall.
These musical evenings were very attractive, and many
remarkable people were present. The music was chiefly vocal,
but occasionally a good pianist would perform. Among them
Kate Lodor was the best. She had married a very di/tiiiguished
surgeon. Sir Henry Thompson, president of the Cremation
Society, and himself a good amateur musician, playing, if I
remember rightly, on the violoncello. He attended and operated
on Napoleon HI. On one occasion Lady Thompson played
one of Mendelssohn's "Songs Without Words" — the fifth in the
first book in F minor, which is somewhat difficult to amateurs,
especially because there is so much unsupported syncopation,
Kate Loder's rendering of it was brilliant, and gave mo some
insight into the mode of its ])roduction, which I subsequently
turned to good account. Herr Jansa afterwards conducted the
concerted vocal music. He Avas director of the music at the
Catholic church in Warwick Street, and invited me to join their
^^ RKMINISCBNCKS.
choir. I coviKl iidt Ao this as a romih-ir Ihinp; ; my Prolostant
oonvirtioiis uouhl not permit it. But 1 attciHh'd once or twice,
and oneo 1 sanj; a toiior soh> from one of ^h>/art's uiassos. I
hacked the training necessary for a pood |)erformer cither in
viH'al or instrumental music. If I had Iiad this I mij^ht possibly
have hwomc a professional musician. Mrs. Carpenter, who did
not join in our choral sin<^in<^, hut was always an interested
listener, once said to me, " Mr. Theoliald, I do not believe you
ctuihl sinp false even if you tried," and I accepted the flattering
judjjjment as not altopjetlier undeserved. I once had a few
lessiins, when at scluxil, inthorougch bass and pianoforte playing,
in ortler to make me more competent to play at my uncle's and
grandfather's chapels, and I could never manage to count time
aloud except by singing ; it seemed quite impossible to me to say
" one and two and three, and four," etc., in a conversational mode
of utterance. At that time the Manchester Unitarian College
had recently migrated to Tx^ndon, and its headquarters were at
University Hall. Kev, John James Taylor preached there every
Sunday. I remember a fellow-student remarked that the
Almighty must feel Himself considerably flattered in being
addressed in prayers of such exceedingly literary beauty.
XXIII. — Dr. James Martineau.
Here I met Dr. James Martineau, and was introduced to him
as one of the students recently expelled from New College as
an irreclaimable heretic. Dr. Martineau referred to this in a
few kindly, sympathetic words. I did not then know how great
ho was as a philosopher and teacher, for his works on ethical
theories and religion had not been published, and I had not heard
of his " Endeavours After the Christian Life." His face, pale
and deeply lined with the furrows of a profound thinker, and
the noble expression which wisdom and study had graven on his
countenance, could not but mark him as a leader and teacher of
men. I heard him preach at Little Portland Street, and his
sermon, like all those published in his " Endeavours " and
" Hours of Thought," were full of great ideas, most felicitously
expressed. The collection of exquisitely musical and instructive
prose lyrics and meditations in these volumes is perhaps unrivalled
in literature. Some time afterwards I had a letter from Dr.
Martineau. I had sent him a copy of an address which I gave at
the hall of the Royal Society of Literature, on Bacon as a poet,
in which I referred to Bacon's discourse on Wonder, Philosophy,
and Rarity, as related conditions. This is Dr. ]\Iartineau's
reply, which ought not to be locked up in a private portfolio : —
"The Polchar, Rothiemarrhus, .Airemore, N.B., July, 12, 1895.
My dear Sir, — I must rely on your forbearance to pardon my
REMINISCENCES.
31
delay in answering your kind letter of the 20th ult. Necessary
preoccupation detained me till to-day from reading the interesting
pamphlet, without the knowledge of which I could not be sure
of rightly replying to your main question. The assumption of
Plato that Wonder is the primitive intellectual impulse whence
all philosophy springs, has perhaps its most emphatic expression
in his ' Thegetetus,' 155d, where he says, ' Wonder is the special
affection of a philosopher ; for philosophy has no other starting
point than this ; and it is a happy thought which makes Iris
the daughter of Thaumas,' i.e., which treats the messenger of
the gods, the winged thought that passes to and fro between
heaven and earth and brings them into communion, as the child
of Wonder. Aristotle, in his more prosaic way, makes the same
assumption in his ' Metaphysics,' I., 2. To prevent misinterpre-
tation I have commented upon it in ' Types of Ethical Theory,'
Vol. 11, p. 152.
" My knowledge of the literature of the Renaissance is so
slight that I have no right to any confident opinion respecting
the origin and order of its characteristic phenomena. But I
incline to think that on the removal of the barricades which had
so long kept back the Greek literature from contact with
the European mind, its influence burst in a flood upon the
thirsting genius of Italy and the Western nations, and that
Platonic ideas in particular, as most relieving to the dry
scholasticism worked up out of Aristotle, were diffused and
absorbed in eager drafts till they became an element in the com-
mon literary thought, first of Italy and thence of the wider
republic of letters, far beyond the limits of Greek reading in
the originals. The dialect and general conceptions of philosophy,
and even of the sciences, became changed, and brought into
nearer conformity with a pantheistic representation of the world.
I should not be surprised if some of the coincidences between
Bacon and Shakespeare which appear to be identical charac-
teristics, proved explicable as current commonplaces of con-
temporary literary coteries. I admit, however, the striking
character of several of your instances. But I cannot recognise
in Bacon's writings, notwithstanding his command of figurative
expression and illustration, anything like the creative imagina-
tion, and various insight into human character and life, which
are so commanding in Shakespeare.
" Your essay curiously recalls to me the first opening to me of
the Bacon-Shakespeare theory some 40 — 45 years ago, by an
American, I\Iiss Bacon (its originator, so far as I knowj, who was
introduced to me by Emerson on her pilgrimage to Stratford-on-
Avon, and visited me in Liverpool, and with whom I had long
discussions, interesting but unconvincing. She was a very
attractive and ingenious person, overwrought at last, I have
been told, by her own enthusiasm.
3? KKMINI8CBN0B8.
" It is vory pleasant to hoar that my old miscoUaiioous essays
retain some little interest to a reader who comes to tluMn under
the stronger li^ht of the present day. I have allowed them to
reappear, nt)t lurause they satisfy nie, but rather hecAuso they
show the process which has leil mo to limi satisfaction beyond
them. It is astonishing to mo that any honest thinking j)orson
can pretend to live by the standards of any fixed Church and
creed, in an ac;e which has pjiveii us the insight W(> now ])ossosa
into the early history of Chrisliauty and the growth of doctrine
through the i>ast three centuries. The divine spiritual revela-
tion is disguised and deformed Ijy the barbarous formulas of a
semi-pagan tiieology. — I remain, my dear sir, yours very sin-
cerely, James Martineau."
XXIV. — Dr. Martineau on the Bacon-Shakespeare Theory.
Dr. Martineau's suggested explanation of "«07nc" of the
Baconian parallels with Shakespeare does not seem to mc very
probable or satisfactory, lie admits that his explanation only
applies to some of these parallels. What of others ? Is not the
only possible alternative either that Bacon and Shakespeare
wrote in collaboration, and each had access to the writings,
published or unpublished, of the other ; or that Bacon was the
sole author ? And very few out of the multitude of coincidences
can be regarded as either commonplaces or current literary
notions, and very few of them supply any perceptible reflection
of Greek philosophy. Indeed, many of them do not refer to ideas
at all, especially the " Promus " notes, but to phrases, turns of
expression, specimens of retort, such as law courts may supply.
These are matters of style rather than thought. And as to
Dr. Martineau's inability to recognise in Bacon the " creative
imagination and various insight into human character in life
which are so commanding in Shakespeare," these qualities are
by no means deficient in Bacon ; see especially the 8th book of
the "De Augmentis." And, obviously, scientific writings do
not afford the same scope for imagination and insight as dramatic
composition. One side of Bacon's personality appears in his
prose writings, and another in his poetry ; and it is just as
unreasonable to look for creative imagination in the " Novum
Organum," as to look for science and philosophy in Coleridge's
" Ancient Mariner,'' rather than in the " Friend," or " Aids to
Reflection." Moreover, all such a priori considerations are over-
weighted and disposed of by the probative force of the great multi-
tude of the coincidences which no a priori arguments can displace,
and by all the negative considerations which make William
Shakspere impossible. If all coincidences can be explained by
any other fact than common authorship, let the explanation be
REMINISCENCES. 33
given. Dr. Martineau does not give a hint of such explanation,
and no Shakespearean has ever supplied it.
XXV. — Dr. Adam Thompson.
I have said that my journey to Glasgow was once broken by
a visit to Mr. Yates. At another time I visited Dr. Adam
Thompson, of Coldstream, en route to Glasgow. This most
admirable Scotch pastor was well known for his great work in
promoting the circulation of the Bible in all languages and
among all people. A sweet, gentle old man, who seemed to know
almost by heart the book which he did so much to circulate. I
heard him preach once or twice, and nearly every sentence con-
tained a Scripture quotation — nearly every idea was enforced,
illustrated, or substantiated by a text or a more extended passage
from the Bible. His hearers must have learnt that of all books
in the world the Bible is the one most alfluent in moral and philo-
sophical ideas, and that nearly every subject of thought and
circumstance of experience finds its comment in the words of Holy
Writ. St. Paul, with his philosophic mind, saw the same thing,
and told his young disciple, Timothy, how variously profitable
the Word of God was for reproof, correction and instruction, and
that the reader and student of Scripture may become thereby
perfect, thoroughly furnished, well equipped for all good work
in action or in teaching and thought. Dr. Adam Thompson,
like the parson in Chaucer's pilgrimage, "first followed him-
self" what he taught to others.
XXVT. — BuLWER Lytton, Canon Freemantle.
For some years I was accustomed to write reviews for the
Nonconformist, and this brought mo into contact, more or less
immediately, with some interesting men. In 1863 I wrote a
review of Bulwer Lytton's " Gaxtoniana," and this brought to
the editor the following letter : —
" Sir, — I presume that I am indebted to your courtesy for a
copy of the Noncoiiformist containing a review of ' Gaxtoniana.'
In that case please accept my thanks, and in any case allow
me to convey my acknowledgments to tiio writer of that review
for a criticism in which praise, wheio given, is given with
cordial generosity, and blame, where assigned or implied, is
expressed with a moderation, and even a kindliness, which
cannot but do good to an author in subjecting his mind to the
same careful examination of the blemishes alleged, which would
result from the criticism of an intelligent friend whoso opinion
he values and respects. I have the honour to be, Sir, etc."
The reasons for Bulwer Lytton's acknowledgments may be
34 RFMINIRCRNCKS.
soon in tlio following; (^xtract fnun my n^vlow. Tt is dated
\W. IClh. IMU:—
•' Caxtoniana." ^
'* Many of onv readers are doul)tl(>ss already familiar witli the
series of I'.ssays by the author of ' Tlio (.'a.\tx)ns,' whicli lias
appeared in lilackrcoturs Magazine. In their com])loted form
they make one of the pleasantest books that havo fallen under
onr notieo for some time. ' Pleasantest,' wo repeat ; for Sir
Hulwor Lytton is ]ire-eminently a pleasant writer — whether lie
^ives counsel or information — whether he discourses on morals or
history, on criticism or ])olitics — whether ho writes in a narra-
tive or a didactic style, — he always writes so as to please. His
style is singularly lucid and transparent, — often rising into real
eUxiuence and poetry. He conveys his ideas not only clearly,
but genially — there is fire and warmth as well as light in his
writings. One of the most remarkable features, however, about
Sir Bulwer Lytton's stylo is the occasional violence done to good
tasto l)y the intrusion of tawdry ])hrases or fantastic conceits
of expression which one would have thought impossible to a
writer of such practisf-d experience, and sucli finislied elegance.
He cannot resist the temptation to introduce threadbare (piota-
tions, such as ' The cups that cheer but not inebriate,' — ' From
morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve.' He will even call
Nature 'The Universal Mother,' and fishes 'the scaly flocks of
Proteus.' And having occasion to allude in a delicate way to a
black draught and a stomach-pump, he is actually capable of
perpetrating the following penny-a-liner-ism : —
" ' The poison [viz., of " a villainous entree,^' provided by " a
perfidious host,'' or " the pure beverage,'' secured to ns by com-
mercial treaty at a shilling a bottlej may bo neutralised by
sable antidotes, combining salts with senna ; or scientifically
withdrawn from the system by applying an instrument, con-
structed on hydraulic principles, to the cavity assigned to
digestive operations.' — Vol. I., p. 70.
" Such blemishes as these, however, are not frequent. Usually
Sir Hulwer Lytton expresses his ideas without affectation, and
with a boldness and range of diction which can only be success-
fully managed by a true artist and poet. As a novelist by pro-
fession, his first object is to amuse ; and a well-constructed
sentence in the manner of a penny-a-liner is sure to be amusing
to a large number of readers. But he has higher, though not
more ab.sorbing, aims. If he can convey instruction or sound
principles of morals and behaviour, while, at the same time, he
* Caxtoniana. A Series of Essays on Life, Literature, and Manners.
By Sir E. Bclwee Lytton, Bart. Two Vols. W. Blackwood and Sons,
Edinburgh and London. 18G3.
REMINISCENCES. 35
can satisfy the claim of the fancy to be stimulated and of the
imagination to be roused, he will discourse eloquently and
profitably on all matters that affect the conduct of life. When
he has secured the attention of his reader he can then discuss
the gravest topics in a style that is almost sure to captivate.
There are many essayists who treat the subjects they select in
a profounder way, Avitli more condensed wisdom, with more
subtle analysis, with keener and more ample philosophic
discernment. There are many who speak more earnestly and
impressively to the heart and conscience of their readers.
There are many, though not so many as of the classes before
indicated, with as large an acquaintance with men and manners,
with books and literature. But there are few who have the
art of fascinating more completely than our author. Evidently
this is the purpose which he has most at heart. As we have
already hinted, he is never so overwhelmed by the gravity or
vastness of his subject as to disdain the graces of style for the
sake of enhancing the weight and solemnity of his utterances.
Perhaps if the two purposes came into actual collision, and ho was
conscious that he must be sternly true without alloAving the dis-
tracting influence of a poetical quotation i^ an ' elegant allusion,' c/^t
he might then consent for a time to dip his brush in more
sober colours, and dispense with the ornaments which he loves
so much. But the collision scarcely ever arrives — he nearly
always remains safely secular — if he coasts along some holy
land he takes care to look at it only through his own highly-
coloured glasses. Occasionally he does approach the confines
of topics where a more earnest writer — or, let us say, a writer
more disposed to look at the spiritual and eternal aspects of
life — would feel constrained to lay aside the lighter and more
decorative qualities of style and speak with severe and un-
adorned simplicity. Sir Edward, however, even here cannot
cease to address himself to the fancy and imagination. Even if
he talks about the next world, it must still be in a sparkling
and alluring style. He is the Rossini of essayists, and sings
most appropriately when the footlights burn the brightest and
the scenery is most sunny and picturesque. There is no un-
compromising severity, analagous to the music of Bach, no
gloomy grandeur like Beethoven's, no massive sublimity like
Handel's. He is fond of trills and cadenzas, of florid ornament,
and sparkling fancies. Perhaps the severest taste would have
led him to abandon this style in writing on such a subject as is
treated — only incidentally, however, to the main topic of tlie
essay — in the following paragraph (the italics are our own) : —
" ' Wo are not sent hero to do merely some one thing, which
wo can scarcely suppose that we shall bo required to do again,
when, crossing the Styx, we find ourselves in eternity. [Observe,
30 RRMIMSPRNCRS.
roailor, tho pn'»tosqiio l>ltMulinj^ of papan and riiristlan pliraso-
t»lo^y in this soiittMUf.j \\ lictlier I am a painter, a sculptor, a
|HK'l. a iDuiaiK-o writiM'. an essayist, a politician, a lawyer, a
nu'R'hant, a hatter, a tailor, a mechanic at factory or loom, it is
certainly much for me in this life to do the one thing I profess
to do as well as I can. Hut when I have done that, and that
thinjj; alone, nothing more, where is my profit in tho life to
come? I do not believe that I shall 1)0 asked to paint ])ictures,
carve statues, write odes, trade at exchange, make hats or coats,
or manufacture jnns and cotton prints, uhcn I am in Uic
Evip>ireau. Whether I be the grandest genius on earth in a
single thing, and that single thing earthly, or the poor peasant
wiio, behind his plough, wiiistles for want of thouglit, — I suspect
it will be all one irhcn I pass to the covipetitive examination —
yonder! On the other side of the grave a Raffaelle's occupation
may be gone as well as a ploughman's. The world is a school
ft«r the education, not of a facultv, but of a man.' — Vol. I.,
pp. IGl, 162.
" We are quite willing to assent to the maxim expressed in
the last j)aragrai)h of this quotation, though we are by no means
sure that tlie balance of speculation would not lead to the con-
clusion that special faculties will find their opportunity of action
in the next world as much or more than in this. But we refer
to this passage rather to show the jaunty, almost flippant, stylo
in which our essayist alludes to the gravest topics. Probably
Sir Edward does not profess to be a preacher, — though lie might
be without mounting any rostrum. He wishes, howevei-, to
invest all the ethics of honour and gentility in the fairest and
most attractive colouring, and he will not hesitate, if the oppor-
tunity offers, to fling a bouquet through the gates of Paradise,
or hang an illuminated star on the walls of the Celestial City.
Whether the ornament fits is a matter we will leave our readers
to determine."
Another review of Canon Freemantle's "Gospel of the Secular
Life '' led to some correspondence in the paper itself, and sub-
sequently to a delightful personal interview with the reverend
gentleman himself. I went to Canterbury with some members
of my family, and called on the Canon. lie received me most
cordially, lent me his key by which we could open all the gates
in the cathedral and go where we liked without the restrictions
of a party under the guidance of an inspector ; and afterwards
he himself went with us and explained many things which
were not intelligible to a casual visitor. My criticism had not
been altogether commendatory — indeed, in some respects I
expressed resolute dissent. But the Canon, holding his own
opinion, received mine with perfect courtesy and even generous
praise.
REMINISCENCES. 37
XXVII. — Barbican Services.
After the removal of our family from Birmingham to London,
we lived in the very heart of the city, in Aldersgate Street and
Bartholomew Close. That was the time when night-watchmen,
in their multitudinously hooded capes, called out the time at
night — which I well remember. On Sunday we attended the
ministry of Rev, Arthur Tidman at Barbican Chapel. Mr.
Tidman was a man of considerable intellectual power, which he
employed chiefly as Secretary of the London Missionary Society,
and his Barbican preaching was much neglected. Indeed my
father was so provoked by the poverty and sameness of the
Barbican discourses that he was provoked to say that Mr.
Tidman had just two texts ; one was, " Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature " ; the other was, " Now
concerning the collection." Mr. Tidman's connection with the
L.M.S. brought some eminent missionaries into his pulpit.
Among others I remember Rev. Jolin Williams, the martyr of
Eromanga, who was killed by the barbarous natives of that
island when he attempted to effect a landing. Also I heard the
equally famous African missionary, Rev. Robert Moffat, who had
interminable stories to tell of his experiences. Only the moni-
tion of the clock stopped his interesting narratives ; and on one
occasion, when the clock stopped, Mr. Moffat continued his
speech so long that at lengtli it dawned upon his mind that the
clock had been for some time stationary ; so with a jocular
allusion to the contrast between the falsity of the clock and the
veracity of his hearers, he wound up his speech. Here we heard
also other celebrated preachers, the most eloquent of whom was
Rev. James Parker, of York. His sermons were admirably con-
structed, full of interesting and original thought, forcibly and
felicitously expressed ; but his voice and delivery were shocking,
— a monotonous grunt from beginning to end, with never a pause
or a break.
XXVIII.— Rev. John Davies.
At last my father so strongly rebelled against the poverty and
monotony of the Barbican teaching that we left Barbican and
attended the ministry of Rev. John Davies at Aldcrmanbury
Postern Chapel, rather more distant from our residence than
Barbican, but within easy reach. Mr. Davies was a truly
admirable preacher and pastor, and his instructive and
thoughtful sermons were a " feast of fat things " to all of us.
He married a wealthy lady, lived at Upper Clapton, and drove
to Aldcrmanbury in his double brougham. Subsequently ho
abandoned Aldcrmanbury and became co-partner with Dr. Jolin
Pye-Smith at the Old Gravel Pit Meeting House, Hackney.
.'i8 RKM1MSCF.NCF.S.
Aftor twenty yonrs' past<irato at llacknoy lie retired to Bri^liton,
ulu-re he died in August. IWH, in the lK)th year df his a^e.
Mr. Havies's pri'aehiiijjj Avas not (ddiiuent or rhetorieal ; his
sernu>ns were minutely divided and suh-diviiUnl. A volume of
his sermons, entith-d " The Kingdom Without Ohservation, and
CUher Sermons" lias been jndilished. 'Ihe lirstof these contains
alxnit twenty divisions or sub-divisions, and the next fifteen.
His preaching was in pithy, sliort sentences — a mosaic of
beautiful utterances, i)ersuasivo by their tnith and practical
power and by the simple earnestness witli which they were
enunciated.
XXIX. — Key. Alfred Morris. Destiny.
One of the most thoughtful preachers at that time was Rev.
Alfred Morris, of HoUoway, whom I frequently lieard in later
years. To his intellectual gifts he added a tender, almost over-
whelming i)athos, speaking with a voice full of tears. For
instance, preaching on a future life and the destiny, results or
l)enalties of a sinful course, he fronted the question, Will the
sufferings of tiie impenitent last for ever ? He could scarcely
believe it, but could not definitely arrive at any other conclusion,
and with almost agonising urgency he asked, " \M11 God relent ?"'
Other teachers and theologians have answered the same question
and in a more satisfactory way. If Mr. ^Morris had put the
question, "Will a good man relent?" after any offence com-
mitted against him has been penalised by long pain and misery
which he could at any moment terminate, surely the answer
could have been easily made. It is somewliat remarkable that so
acute a thinker as !Mr. ^lorris could not at once see that infinite
love and goodness cannot be less capable of relenting, but
Lnfmitely more, than simple humanity. It is one of the anomalies
of antique theology that it can represent God as inferior to man
in mercy and forbearance, while it theoretically represents man
as made in the image of God ; and philosophy teaches us that
human nature is the only possible channel by which we can
find any interpretation of the Divine. Scripture does not
leave the question unanswered, — it tells us that He will not
always chide, neither will He keep His anger for ever, and that
His tender mercies are infinite. Strictly speaking, God does
not either relent or resent ; for these are personal sentiments
belonging to a finite nature, and the infinite Being who has im-
planted in humanity these attributes is yet Iiim.self a stranger to
them. Moreover, the assumption of everlasting punishment in-
volves the impossible assumption of infinite sin in a finite being.
A sinner may be guilty of any amount of hideous crimes, but the
limitations of his nature express themselves even in his sins ;
and to inflict an endless penalty on a finite creature would be
REMINISCENCES. 39
infinite cruelty, which we may not attribute to a God of in-
finite love.
XXX.— Rev. T. T. Lynch.
On one occasion when I went to Holloway to hear Mr. Morris, a
young man, slight, slender, of insignificant appearance, mounted
tiie rostrum and I was prepared to hear something inferior or
commonphice. But this unpromising-looking young man no
sooner opened his lips than I felt I was in the presence of
genius, greater even than that of Mr. Morris. Every sentence
that he uttered was memorable, and I had an instinctive
persuasion that I should never lose sight of this remarkable
young man. The subject of his discourse was the Transfigura-
tion, and when he came to the words " This is My beloved Son,
hear Him ! " he caught up the words " Hear Him ! " and
repeated them many times, always with a different application.
" Hear Him," ye wise men and learned ! " Hear Him," ye
toiling and struggling men ! " Hear Him," ye doubting, half-
believing men ! " Hear Him," ye rich and powerful men !
Each time with a wealth of thought by which the needs and
relation to Christianity of different kinds of circumstance and
character was most admirably indicated. This man of power,
inhabiting a small and feeble frame, was Eev. Thomas Toke
Lynch, and not long afterwards I was the means of introducing
him to tlie chapel of Aldermaubury, where some thought him a
fool and others a philosopher. One week-day evening when
frost and snow covered the ground he presided at a week-day
service and his text was, " Who can stand before His cold ? "
And as he spoke on this topic with the same affluence and
originality of thought as that which marked the first sermon I
heard him deliver, it was evident that his good sermons were
not travellers, exceptions above the level of the rest. Whether
in set discourse or in conversation I have met with few men
equal to Mr. Lynch in abundance and individuality of thought.
You could not hear him for five minutes without hearing some-
thing you would wish to remember all your life, and during all
the years that I attended his ministry I never heard him repeat
himself, either in preaching or in prayer. At one time
the dinner-table talk at the table of Mr. James Yates, of
Highgate, turned on earnestness. Some very distinguished
gentlemen were present, and their talk was so commanding and
incessant that there was little chance of a hearing from a small,
feeble man like Lynch. But at last he gained his opportunity,
and said, " Earnestness may take many forms, not all equally
good. You may have the earnestness of an old maid, and be
always in a fuss, or the earnestness of a martyr ready to die for
his faith," and so on. As soon as Lynch spoke he eclipsed all the
l<» BEM1NI8CF,N0R8.
rost ; one sontoncc from him was aa gcxnl ns, or bettor than, a
lon^ haraiitjiie from sonuM>f the rt'st. lli> hecaine minister, first
at lligh^ate. and then t(^ a <^n>ii|i of \\(>rshi|)|)ers \\h<» had
s<veded from I'raven Chapel, wliere Dr. Lcifehild i)reaelied, and
hehl st^rviees successively at rooms in .Morlimer Street, an
nband<Mied ehapel at (irafton Street, and a small ehapel erected
especially for him in th(> llampstead Koad — .Moinin<;t(in Chapel.
Mr. Lyneh was frail and feeble, not only in appearance but
(physiially) in reality. Long before his death he could only
preach once on the Sunday, and his life was darkened by tho
acute agonies of angina jn'ctori)^. Even then liis sermons,
lire]iared without writing while he was lying on the rug, with
only brief intervals of freedom from acute i)ain, and dictated for
delivery by those whom he called his curates, were such finished
compositions that they scarcely required a word of alteration
before they were printed, gems of sparkling thought expressed
in words of dazzling splendour or genial humour. Thus,
preaching a memorial sermon on the death of Dr. John Pye-
Smith. he referred to his gentleness and urbanity in controversy,
contrasting him in this respect with some militant dissenters,
whose tem])er was " little, tart, pert, and snarly " — " all angles,
asperity, clamour and vulgarity.' The great doctor was tho re-
verse of all this, and almost too conciliatory, using a " beg-pardon
air," as if difference of opinion might be regarded as somewhat
offensive and requiring an apology. When we three students
were expelled from New College for our views on Scripture
inspiration and authority, Mr. Lynch was our strong champion
and preached a sermon from the text in Job. xxxii. 6 — 10. No
text could have been more happily selected, — "I am young,
and ye are very old ; wherefore I was afraid, and feared to
show you mine opinion. But there is a spirit in man : and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great
men are not always wise ; neither do the aged understand judg-
ment. Therefore I said, Hearken unto me ; I also will show
mine opinion : " — vindicating our right to a place in the
College whether our belief were right or wrong. Mr. Lynch
was also a musician, played the piano with good taste but
small power, composad tunes to his own hymns, and when I
visited him was interested in my rendering of one of Beethoven's
early sonatas.
XXXL — Letters and Books by Mr. Lynch.
Mr. Lynch was also a poet, and some of his hymns arc now
to be found in most books of psalmody. Everyone accustomed
to congregational singing must know Mr. Lynch's beautiful
hymn, " Gracious Spirit, dwell with me," and his volume of
REMINISCENCES. 41
sacred hymns and poems, " The Rivulet," is one of the finest
collections of sacred prose lyrics by one author ever published.
A few volumes of his sermons and letters have been published,
such as " Thoughts on a Day : Its Morning and Evening,"
" Sermons for my Curates," " The Mornington Lectures."
These were week-day addresses on various subjects, such as
" Cowper and his Hymns," " The Great Law of Tit-for-tat,"
"How Not to be Vulgar," "Bible Trees," etc. His earliest
publication, " Memoirs of Theophilus Trinal," may be regarded
as in some sense autobiographic. On Christmas Day, 1866, a
small group of his admirers presented him with an affectionate
address, accompanied with a binocular microscope and a gold
watch and chain. To the leaders in this presentation he wrote
the following letter — a typical specimen of his style :—
" Dear Sirs, — I was much surprised, pleased, and puzzled,
on receiving, yesterday morning, the shining gifts from kind
Morningtonians, with a letter from you. I may suppose, I
think, that at the spark of your generous suggestion their
benevolence flashed forth in ready response. Whether the
gifts are sent in consideration of my merits or my woes I am
left to discover. Very likely you perceive that the former are
not strong enough to do without a little support, and the latter
quite keen enough to be the better for a little balm. To think
of my becoming the actual possessor of a gold watch, just as if
I was a layman ; and of a binocular microscope, just as if I
was a savan bent on discovering that magical dust-grain which,
being dead, becomes alive of itself, without any divinity to
help it.
" My venerable silver friend ticks wistfully by the side of
the bright stranger, as if asking, ' May I rest now ? ' I will
say this for him, that as years have gone on his pace has be-
come faster. He can always get through sixty-one minutes in an
hour, and if he and the sun start fair at dawn he can any day
arrive at noon ten minutes before the sun. Such a watch as
this ought not to be slighted.
" But I suspect you mean to be homiletic. Knowing that
my time is now shorter, and may be but short, you wish me to
treat every minute as a golden one. And by the plain gold
chain you signify that the parson should always gravely do his
best, and strongly knit together divine words, precious to the
spirit and plain to the understanding. You wish, further, to
intimate that unless I look with both eyes into the very elements
of things I shall not be able any longer to satisfy such a
discriminating people as the Morningtonians. Lot mo assure
you that I will endeavour to bo as much edilied by your presents
as I am gratified by them. Please say this to your Christmas
1? KKMIMSCRNTF.S.
ooii^titiuMiiy, ami bolifvo mo, dcixr Sirs, yours <^r;il('fiilly and
affivtionatfly. Thomas T. Lyntii."
Mr. Lyiuh sc>t no special valii(> on orthodoxy in any dcpart-
nuMit. Ilo was not dottM-rcd fmiu a Ix'licf in 8i)iritiialism by
tho vulj^ar contonipt with wliicli it was regarded by small
jiri'ssmiMi and scientific authorities, lie felt himself, with his
frail body anil larjiie interior life, as ho told me, rather a spirit
than a body, and though he had no occult experiences of his
own, ho listened with patient interest to those reported to Idni.
His congregation often contained persons from distant places,
who embraced the opportunity of hearing a preacher of whose
genius they had lieard so mucli. The eloquent Hungarian
patriot, Kossuth, was a constant attendant on his ministry ;
also Dr. Russell Reynolds, who became Professor of iMedicine
in University College, Dr. Lankaster, Coroner for i\liddlesex,
father of Professor Ray Lankaster. These, together with ^Ir.
Binney, Mr. Godwin, of New College, and Rev. Edward White,
of Kentish Town, were among those present at his funerak He
was born in 1818 and died in 1871. A memorial of him was
published by Rev. Samuel Cox, who presided at his funerak He
left one son.
XXXII. — The " Rivulet " Controversy.
Mr. Lynch's "Rivulet" was bitterly attacked by orthodox
journalists, who considered its theology negative and its teach-
ing unscripturak The asperity and extravagance of calumny
displayed by these assailants was incredibly base. Lynch
defended himself with characteristic vigour and wit, both in
prose and poetry, and a large group of his ministerial brethren
united in an energetic protest againt the unscrupulous falsity,
ferocity, and venom of these attacks, led by Dr. Campbell, of
the Britii<Ji Banner, and IMr. Grant, editor of the Morning
Advertiser, the paper of the publicans and public-houses, a
circumstance which gave Mr. Lynch great opportunity of caustic
retort. These attacks were not very important, though very
noisy, and, at the time, provoked much newspaper comment,
but they might have been treated with silent contempt as only
of passing interest. Lynch, however, was sensitive, his temper
easily roused, and he could not hold his peace — one of the genus
irritahile. The storm which they occasioned has been forgotten.
The hymns are remembered, and have taken a permanent place
in English hymnology.
I have been, i)erhaps, too prolix in the record of my associa-
tion with Mr. Lynch. But beside that he was one of the most
remarkable men I ever knew, he exercised a greater influence
than any single person on my mind and character when it was
in its most growing and plastic condition.
RBMINISOENOBS. 43
XXXIII. — University College.
When Dr. Williams's examiners recommended me to wait a
year and study at University College, we had removed from
the City to Upper Kentish Town, within easy reach both of
University College and New College, where I studied after the
completion of my Glasgow course. Nearly opposite our house
lived Coventry Patmore, whom I frequently saw — rode by his
side on omnibus top when he was returning home from the
British Museum and I from University College. He invited me
into his house to see the portrait of his wife painted by Millais.
Another near neighbour was Alexander Herzen, the exiled
refugee from Germany who had been banished for the part he
had taken in the revolutionary movement of 1848. Another
near neighbour was Henry Graves, the very accomplished
engraver of pictures, brought out by his brother in Pall Mall.
His son was a fellow-student at University College Avhen I was
a medical student. W^e were companions in the botany class
under the very able supervision of Dr. Lindley. The business
place of young Graves became located in the " large room " of
the British Museum Library, where I occasionally met him.
During my first course at University College I attended the
Greek class under Professor Henry Maiden, and the mathe-
matical class under I'rofessor De Morgan, both highly accom-
plished scholars and teachers. Professor De Morgan I regarded
as one of the most accomplished men I ever knew. He might
have been Professor of many subjects besides Mathematics ;
such as Natural Philosophy, Greek, Latin, History (civil and
ecclesiastical). His mind was untrammelled by any orthodoxy.
He had the audacity to believe in spiritualism, on which Mrs.
De Morgan wrote a volume, entitled " From Matter to Spirit,"
with a brilliant and thoughtful chapter by her husband.
De Morgan was surprisingly ingenious in devising subjects
for exercise papers and contributed largely to the "Penny
Encyclopsedia," and his exposition of mathematical subjects was
full of instruction, both in mathematics and the philosophical
principles involved in it. I was greatly interested in his
teaching, as long as I could follow it, but when he launched into
his double algebra, which ho himself invented, I soon lagged
behind and ceased to understand him. Irrational functions, such
as tlie root of minus one, became rational under his new system,
but the process was deeper than I could follow. The students
were sometimes addicted to disorderly behaviour in class, such
as throwing paper pellets at distant fellow-students. When on
one occasion many such missiles were thrown at me — a pro-
ceeding which I strongly disapproved — I was rather surprised
that the professor looked at mo with an expression of mild
n KKMINISCENCKG.
roprvvich, as if 1 was (ho i;uilty porstui, fiir^ottiiifj; tliat I was tho
IKTAni attackinl, ami tlio missiles must como from the opposite
side of the rix>m. Ouco only did I si>o anger on the j;enlle,
plaoid features o[ Professor Maiden, and that was when one of
the students put on his hat durin<^ class time. The professor
llamed witli intlignation and lieret'ly exelaimed, " Will you he
gi>Hl enouj;h. sir, to take otT your hat?" Mr. Francis \\'illiam
Newman, brother to Cardinal Newman, was the j)rofessor of
Litin — a prtifound scholar, and a combative theolojrian — a
singular contrast to his brother. His " Phases of Faith," "Tho
Soul, Its Sorrows and its Aspirations," and "History of tho
Hebrew Monarchy " raised some fierce controversy. He was
more allied to the Unitarians than to any other body — a friend
and correspondent of Martincau. 1 heard him lecture onco or
twice as a visitor to his class. At the general meetings at tho
end of the session many distinguished men were present,
presiding or interested spectators — such as Lord Brougham, Mr.
Monkton Milnes, and others. Mr. Crabb Robinson, whose
literary breakfasts were so frequent and renowned, was generally
present, and Professor Tom Taylor, well known by his contribu-
tions to Punch. It was an inspiring and memorable circum-
stance in my life to find myself in close contact with so many
great men of world-wide reputation.
XXXR^. — Medical Studies.
After the New College studies came to an untimely end, and
I returned to University College as a medical student, these
associations were much enlarged. Besides the classes required
for a curriculum, before a degree can be obtained — viz.,
anatomy and dissections, physiology, chemistry, surgery,
medicine, morbid anatomy, materia medica, botany — I added
zoology and medical jurispioidence. These classes were
conducted by Ellis, Sharpey, Erichsem, Walsh, Jenner, Garrod,
Lindley, Grant, and Dr. Carpenter. Professor Grant, the
teacher of comparative anatomy and zoolog>', was an interesting
old Scotchman, who drew large diagrams to illustrate his
lectures, which he called coarse daubs. It was a very small
class, and the genial professor entertained us at breakfast at his
house during the session. Professor Graham, who taught
chemistry, was admirable and quite infallible as an experi-
menter, but hesitating and sometimes almost incoherent as a
speaker, and his pronunciation was something amazing; as
when he referred to a substance as " shootable for pharma-
shootical purposes." But he was one of the profoundest
expositors of chemical philosophy that ever lived, and I felt
intense reverence for his depth of thought, brilliance of research
REMINISCENCES. 45
and subtle demonstrative illustrations. In the chemistry class
one of my fellow-students was George Carey Foster, who became
afterwards Professor of Natural Philosophy. He and the family
with which he was connected were members of Mr. Lynch's
church and interested in the musical part of the services, in
which my elder brother and myself were leaders, first as
precentors, and subsequently I became organist. Professor
Foster gave me a copy of Beethoven's Mass in C, one of the
loveliest of all such compositions, which I still retain and value.
Dr. Maudesley, who became eminent as a specialist in brain
disease, was also a fellow-student. Another fellow-student was
Michiili Foster, who is well known by his "Expositions of ^'
Physiology." I resided for six months in the hospital as
physician's-assistant to Dr. Jenner, and occasionally accompanied
him in his carriage when visiting distant patients. He was
rather fond of quoting Tennyson's line from " In Memoriam,"
" I trust I have not wasted breath," after a lecture or a
classical demonstration ; and while we were riding together
I told him that we might retort by a line a little further on
in the same stanzas — " What matters science unto men, at
least to me ? " He was amused and interested in the aptness
of the repartee. At that time I was a crypto-homoeopath, but
took care to keep the fact to myself, though when resident
in the hospital I Avould sometimes administer a dose of a
homoeopathic medicine when I visited the wards late at night.
One of the patients so treated implored me to give him some
" more of the same stuff," which I did, for the success had been
something swift and striking ; but I asked the patient to say
nothing about it to students or doctors as such an exercise of
private judgment and personal action might get me into trouble.
Indeed, my medical heresies did leak out and exposed me to
some ridicule and dark looks, both from the medical staff and
the students. But it caused no other inconvenience. Mr.
Richard Quain was one of the hospital surgeons ; his nephew
became subsequently President of the General Medical Council.
Mr. Quain was a good surgeon, but I cannot say that I regarded
him as exceptionally gifted, either generally or professionally.
Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Jenner was an admirable classical
lecturer, and had at that time acquired fame by his original
researches into the diagnostic features of zymotic diseases,
especially typhoid and typhus fevers. Many students accom-
panied him to the Fever Hospital at Islington and were thus
shown typical cases of the various fevers. On one occasion
when a smallpox case was under observation, Dr. Jenner
remarked on the highly contagious character of the disease,
adding that in all probability one or more of the visiting
students would contract it, which turned out to bo true. For
•If) RKMINiaCENCES.
ennuo Umo I was ivs'ul(>nt at tho K(n-or Ih^spital, taking tlio work
of th«» n'siiloiit physician, who had faUon a victim to the disease*,
ami gained a kiiowleil^t* and (>xi)erienc(> of fev(>r cases which
became very useful to me when 1 practised on my own account.
l>r. .(enncr was somewhat l)i^ototl and intolerant on nictlical
matters, abhorred iioma^'pathy and all its believers, and if ho
had discovered my lieresies would doubtless have given up all
friendship with me. In diapjnosis and practical medicine I
rejiarded Dr. Walsii as very much his superior. I once saw the
great surgeon Lister, the most daring operator of his time, wiien
chlor<iform was unknown.
The lirst time I accompanied the surgeon on liis visits to tiie
men's wards over which he presided I nearly fainted at the
sight of pain and the ghastly pallor of advanced disease. I
became decidedly pale, cold sweat on my forehead, trembling all
over, and sat down by the table of the ward till one of my
fellow-students, Augustus Baylis, an old friend, and formerly a
pupil of my uncle, Dr. J. D. ■ilorell, came to my assistance, and,
after I had somewhat recovered, led me away from tho hospital,
and saw me into an omnibus, which took me home. This was
the only time that the sight of suffering or operative surgery
thus affected me. Afterwards I could look on at tho most
serious operations — amputations, removal of tumours from the
depth of the abdominal cavity, without tiie least inconvenience.
This is a necessary eciuipment for a medical practitioner, and
from repeated observation I am convinced that a doctor may
witness the most terrible sights in disease, tho acutest pain and
suffering, without becoming hard and unsympathetic. Indeed,
this may enlarge his sympathy and make it more intelligent;
while the control of his own emotions and their expression or
manifestation may be arguments in a corresponding measure.
XXXV. — Gl^vsgow Studies.
At Glasgow I went through the regular and necessary curri-
culum of three years' study before the degree of I\f.A. could be
obtained — logic, mental philosophy, and natural philosophy,
taught by Professors Buchanan, Fleming and William Thomson,
afterwards Lord Kelvin. I also attended the Greek class, pre-
sided over by Edmund Law Lushington, who married Tenny-
son's sister, and is described in the closing stanzas of In
Mevioriam : —
" And thou art worthy ; full of power ;
As gentle, liberal-minded, great ;
Consistent ; wearing all that weight
Of learning lightly, like a flower."
Also I attended one of Professor Ramsay's Latin classes, and
the mathematical class under Dr. James Thomson, father of
REMINISCENCES. 47
Lord Kelvin. Ramsay was an admirable scholar and contributed
many articles to Dr. William Smith's classical dictionaries. In
all those classes I found abundant interest and instruction.
Lord Kelvin's teaching, however, seemed to me too abstract, too
much addicted to tlio higher mathematics, and I soon ceased to
follow him. The lectures at tlie City Hall were given by many
distinguished men. Here my uncle (J. D. Morell) delivered
his four lectures before enumerated on the " Philosophical
Tendencies of the Age." Here Emerson came and spoke with
his well-known epigrammatic power. I was introduced to him
and walked by his side on his return to his hotel after the
lecture was over. His tall figure and the thoughtful expression
of his face impressed me deeply. Here also — or in another
hall — Charles Parry gave his pianoforte recitals, interesting
and memorable, and Lord Kelvin was one of his audience, for
he was musical — played the trumpet. He, too, invited the
English students and others to his house and was interested in
my rendering of the opening movements of Haydn's first
symphony in C major. My Scotch fellow-students were not
particularly musical. This movement of Haydn's opens with
one stroke of the common chord, followed by five repetitions
of the simple, key-note. These single notes were not very
intelligible to my audience, and I was a little surprised that
they burst into a roar of laughter, thinking I was playing the
fool on the instrument. But when the subsequent phrase, full
of sweet chromatic passages, followed, they saw their mistake,
and that their surprise was exactly what Haydn intended.
Lord Kelvin was not to be persuaded to give us a solo on his
own instrument. Charles Parry in his musical comedy, " Wanted
a Governess," i.e., wanted a governess fitted to fill the post of
tuition with competent skill, and then followed a list of the
things this ideal governess was expected to know — classics,
astronomy, geology, mathematics, and heaven knows what else.
Here also Henry Russell gave his musical recital, " The Ship on
Fire," singing " Man the Lifeboat " and other songs.
XXXVI. — John Newton Langley.
My great college chum was John Newton Langley, subse-
quently Dr. Langley, as the university subsequently bestowed
on him the degree of LL.D. He took an M.A. degree, with
" highest honours " in classics and philosophy. Like myself,
he was more attached to classics than mathematics. Ho was one
of the four competitors for the Williams bursary — the oldest of
the four. When leaving the Quadrangle for the natural philo-
sophy class, he would take a j)athotic farewell, as if going to
execution, of those bound for other classes, with a mock dying
commission, " Give my love to my wife and children."
48 RKMINISCENC KS.
I*niiploy was my Ix^Atm friond and companion in tho constitu-
tional walks which wc ttx^k, when wo talked over our studios
and discussed hi;j:h philosophy accordin<^ to our emtio concep-
tions. At «>no time he contracteil tyi)hoid fever, aii<l wIkmi ho
was convalescent I accompanied him to a most beautiful
hij^hland retreat, wiiere we lodged together in a rustic inn.
llis father had boon a schoolmaster, and died some years
afterwards in Australia. My chum intended to follow his father's
example and live by tuition. lUit when roliKion held sway over
him he renount-od his first intention and resolved to be a preacher
among the Dis.=?enters. However, after a course at Cheshunt
College, he joined tho Church of England, and ultimately
revert^Hi to his original intention and had a scIuxdI at Wolver-
Iiampton. His withdrawal from dissent was mainly due to the
intluence of F. D. Maurice, whom we both accepted as our
guide, philosopher and friend in thcx)logy — the most beloved
spirit we ever knew. When Langley married he gave his
eldest son the name Frederick (after Maurice) and Theobald
(after me), liis son being Frederick Theobald Langley. I
named my eldest son by the same combination, using the name
Maurice as primary, so that my son was Maurice Langley
Theobald, and we always called him Langley. ]\Iaurice was
godfather to Langley's eldest son, and he baptized mine.
F. T. Langley is now the chief acting partner in a firm of
solicitors at Wolverhampton, the head of the firm being Mr.
Henry Fowler, M.P., subsequently Lord Wolverhampton. My
fellow-student was feeble in health, probably incurably
damaged by the typhoid fever at Glasgow. He died at Bristol
some years ago, where he was secretary to the Bristol Univer-
sity, and lived at Red lands. The Glasgow professors were
much attached to their pupils. Langley was engaged by
Professor Ramsay as tutor to his daughter, and the other
professors were accustomed to receive the English students at
their houses for music and dinner. Lord Kelvin was at that
time a young man, and perhai)s looked younger that he actually
was. At tlie distribution of prizes it was rather amusing to
see the juvenile profes.sor hand a prize to a student evidently
much older than himself, with warm commendation of the
diligence by which he had won the distinction.
XXXVIL— Macaulay.
At one of the social meetings at a profes-sor's house I met
Lord Macaulay, who had been chosen Lord Rector for the year.
I had been on the Liberal (Jommittee of one of the four
"nations" into which the students were divided and spoke in
his favour. His address is published with his other works.
It was a historical retrospect of the 400 years during which the
REMINISCENCES- 49
college had existed, that year being the centennial anniversary
year. His conversation at breakfast the next morning was equally
characteristic — full of inexhaustible knowledge. Among other
topics introduced was that of celebrated diamonds, and the
Lord Rector had plenty of information about those possessed
by East Indian potentates, and told many curious facts as to
their value, their successive owners, their existing location,
and so on. After referring to some of these particulars he
was asked, "And what became of it after the rajah had parted
with it ? " and Macaulay continued his unfinished narrative
and completed the story. Carlyle's caustic comment on his
history — " Flow on, thou shining river " — was quite applicable
to the continuous stream of interesting talk which charmed
all who listened to him at that memorable breakfast. There
was no matter-of-fact marplot present to dispute the accuracy
of his facts or the authenticy of his narrative. The critics
have more than once made mincemeat of his narratives. But
nothing can spoil their interest, and, after all deductions have
been made, they are full of valuable instruction and charm-
ingly told narrative. The wholesale depreciation of Macaulay's
historical writings which have become so fashionable seems
to me extravagant, and to needlessly ignore or undervalue
their real merits.
XXXVIII. — Edward Miall and the "Nonconformist." Tub
Corn Law Orators.
When Edward Miall founded the Nonconformist newspaper, in
1841, he visited Danbury when I was at school there, to discuss
his project with my uncle. We always took in this paper, and
my interest in politics was keenly roused by the reading of it,
which I always did, from end to end. The Irish famine
of 1849 roused much political agitation, especially regarding
the Corn Laws, and this became a leading topic for news-
papers and orators, both Liberal and Conservative. For many
years Mr. Henry Vincent was constantly engaged lecturing on
political subjects, and I heard him discourse most eloquently
about the Corn Laws. Vincent had the gift of extraordinarily
eloquent utterance. Referring to tlio Corn Laws, ho would
represent a wealthy landowner as saying, " What can a cotton-
spinner know about the Corn Laws ? " His declamatory and
rhetorical blazing was extraordinarily vehement and ener-
getic. Thus, invoking the Spirit of Liberty, he would summon
its mystic presence in some such language as this : " Boy ! let
thy glorious features and thy inspiring presence be once more
heard tlirough the length and breadtli of this afllicted realm !
Boy ! let thy powerful spirit raise a worthy response in our
r»0 RKMINISCENCRS.
rulers and tlu^so most rnpabl(M>f roalisinp; its ileairefl." Without
a liri-ain of iTitirisni 1 listiMitHl tt> llu\so I'liniptunnl discourses.
Soiuo years afterwards 1 luvird Daniell O'C'ouneil, but he was
oKl ami feeble, and none of the lierv eloquence of early days
survived. All that 1 heard and read nuide ine an ardent Free
Tratler. I was fortunate enough to bo pre.'^ent at a ineetinf^of
the Anli-l'orn Law League^ at ( 'ovent (Jarden Theatre, and heard
Milner (Jibson, C'obden, antl \\ illiani Johnson Fox. (Iii)S()n
was quietly argumentative. (.'obdon was luminou.sly instruc-
tive, rich in fact and ligures drawn from Hluo Hooks and i)ul)lic
and private information. Fox was brilliantly eloquent, lie
was a small man, with a penetrating eye and a musical voice,
and his eloquence, once heard, was never to be forgotten. I
believe that some of the brilliant passages of his speeches were
travellers, as they were well entitled to be, and were produced
many times at his orations, lie would describe the glorious
effects of unfettered trade. " I see France sending her wines ;
I see America sending her various products; I see Kussia, I
see India, I see China, I see Italy '' — and as each country came
into view the impassioned speaker would describe, in a few
well-chosen words, their special contributions to human comfort
or necessity till the audience was spell-bound by the grand
panorama of ideal pictures, and the house rang with sustained
and uncontrollable applause. I have heard many eloquent
speakers, but for brilliancy of utterance, power of argument,
and majesty of representation, I think W. J. Fox was un-
surpassed. He became M.P. for Oldham. lie was a preacher
to the Unitarian, nearly Deislic, audience at South Place,
Finsbury, and he edited some periodical devoted to free speech
both in politics and theology. He had been a Homerton student
under Dr. John Pye-Smith, and, I believe, a fellow-student with
my uncle, Dr. J. D. ilorell, l)ut he abandoned orthodoxy soon
after his college days were passed.
I have occasionally heard John Bright, but only on slight,
unimportant occasions not requiring any set speech. The last
time I saw him was at the funeral of Edward Miall. ^liall,
Henry Kichards, M.P. for Cardiff, a Welshman, and formerly
Independent minister, and others, were accustomed to dine
together every week in order to discuss current politics and the
mode in which they should be treated in their public utterances
by Press or jjlatform.
XXXIX. — The Theatre. Helen Faucit, Macready,
Irving, Sothern.
During my Glasgow days I ventured, in company with a
fellow-student, to cross the threshold of a theatre. My visits
were frequent, and, I think, a useful contribution to a liberal
REMINISCENCES. 51
education. The first play I ever witnessed was the Lochj of
Lyons, by Bulwer Lytton, in whicli Helen Faucit took the
leading part. She was the greatest actress I ever saw. I saw
her as Rosalind in As You Like It, as Juliet in Romeo and
Juliet, as Lady Macbeth, and in one or two other plays, and her
acting well interpreted the play. She afterwards married Sir
Theodore Martin. I saw, also, Charles Kean, but he made no
special impression upon me. The greatest actor I ever saw was
jNlacready, whom I saw in several parts— Hamlet, Macbeth,
Richelieu, and (greatest of all) King Lear. I saw him again in
London as King Lear, and a more wonderful impersonation I
never saw. It was hard to realise that the noble, grand, mad
old man, playing with straws, and talking senselessly to his
fool, banished from his kingdom, and exposed to the pitiless
storm that was raging around him, was not a genuine reality,
and when Gloster, in an aside, says, " Is't not the king?" the
old king, who has overheard him, returns to his normal con-
dition — his madness vanishes in a moment ; with majestic
dignity he draws himself up to his full height and says, " Ay !
every inch a king'' (IV. vi. 105). Macready's rendering of this
sublime passage was incomparably splendid. No other actor
that I have ever heard approached Macready in power and
verisimilitude. Sir Henry Irving won a great reputation in his
time, and was considered a great actor. I never thought so.
No one ever put pieces on the stage more effectively, but as an
actor I never thought him even second-rate — not good, but
positively bad. His mannerism, his pronunciation ("Cod"
was always "Gut"), and his feeble style repelled me. For
example, the first soliloquy in Hamlet begins, "Oh that this too,
too solid flesh would melt." Macready spoke this soliloquy of
distress with the utmost possible agitation, pacing the platform
with frequent breaks and pauses. I saw Irving in the same
part, and he spoke the soliloquy in a calm, reflective way, seated
in his armchair, one leg cocked over the arm of the chair,
without a pause, without the least indication of the unutterable
agitation which the dramatist intended to express. And, again,
in Coriolanus, when Coriolanus confronts and defies his enemy,
TuUus Aufidius, and contradicts his accusation of cowardice
with the words, " Measureless liar ! " — to my mind this should
bo spoken in a voice of thunder, as the utterance of uncon-
trollable passion. Irving spoke it quietly, in a voice in which
no passion could bo heard. If it had been only a friendly
remonstrance — you are mistaken, or, you do me injustice —
it could not have been more pacifically uttered. I tliought
Irving could scarcely have understood the situation. No ! Irving
was a good stage manager, but a thoroughly bad actor, and his
reputation is to mo an insoluble riddle.
.>_ RrMIMSCFNCES.
Aftor Macroady, Sotliorn, in liis single part of Lord Diin-
ilroary, j^avo nio the most vivid impression of reality. In other
parts, as in David Garriek, he did not seem to rise ahovo the
average level. Never was a more vivid and amusing imi)ersona-
tion «^f a nniddle-headed aristocrat. It was a stroke of genius
by which he maile a second-rate part more interesting than all
the rest put together. David James in Our Boys was also
supremely effective.
XL, — F. D. M.uRicE AND HIS Associates.
"When I was " removed " from Xew College I had for some
time been accustomed to attend the afternoon s(>rvices at
Lincoln's Lui, where the l^ev. Frederick Denison Maurice was
the preacher. Anil I attended the working men's debates and
the Sunday evening Bible Classes presided over by ]\[aurice at
the hall of the Working Taylor's Association, in Castle Street,
Oxford Street. Thus 1 camo to know ^Maurice, and to know
him was lo love and revere him. No one associating with him
would recognise the great learning which is shown in the
philosophical articles which he contributed to the " Encyclo-
paedia Metropoliiana" — characteristic compositions, comprising
deep wisduni, profound scholarship, and great simplicity,
addressed alike to scholars and to youths and ladies. All
abstract ideas in his mind were connected with ordinary
spiritual experiences, and peasants, as well as adults and savans,
would feel their power and appreciate their interior meaning.
The debates were attended by ripe scholars and university
men, and Maurice was the medium by whom all were iinited.
When the speakers at these debates had concluded, ]\Iaurice
would sum up their conclusions, and in a few well-chosen
words express the thought of each one, accepting everything,
rejecting nothing. What was feeble or faulty or mistaken
became thus strong and valuable as he, in his usual style,
claimed some deep element of truth in every belief that the heart
of man can entertain. He was very kind to me when my
position at Xew College was endangered by my heresies. In-
vited me to breakfast at his house, talked over the differences
between me and the authorities, and suggested modes of accom-
modation without the sacrifice of truth or sincerity. When his
own turn came and he was impeached for heresy by Dr. Jelf and
the King's College Council, he referred, in a letter to one of the
associates of the working men, to his own case as resembling mine
and anticipated the same result. I was present at several of the
breakfasts when he received friends for interchange of thought
and experience. Here I met some interesting men : J. A. Lud-
low, who has recently died ; well known for his official work in
connection with insurance and investment institutions ; West-
REMINISCENCES. 53
lake and Vansitart Neale, who took active parts in the propa-
gation of Christian Socialism. Thomas Hughes, the immortal Tom
Brown, Lord Goodrich, afterwards Lord Eipon and Governor-
General of India, who took Maurice's idea with him to India,
did great good and roused fierce antagonism. Lord Goodrich
spoke occasionally at the debates, but not very fluently, and
with long pauses of hesitation, but the result was always
something sensible and worthy of being remembered . The whole
of his subsequent career in Parliament and in India bore traces
of ilaurice's influence. Also Mr. Hansard, who became rector
of Bethnal Green, whose son and my second son were fellows
at school, and very chummy. Walter Cooper, the Chartist
Taylor, who was at the head of the Taylor's Association in
Castle Street. He was a remarkably eloquent speaker, and be-
came vehemently rhetorical as soon as he began. Scarcely had
he spoken a word before his voice became ringing, his arm was
raised, and his gesticulations animated. Under him, in the
Taylor's business, was Gerald Massey, now widely known as a
poet, and a lecturer on various topics, especially spiritualism.
He had then published a small volume of " Lyrics of Love." He
gave me a copy. His great and most meritorious work is that
on Shakespeare's Sonnets, which is by far the best commentary
ever written on those enchanting poems.
XLI. — F. J. FuRNivALL — Maurice at Home — Kingsley.
Among those present at the debates and Bible-class meetings
Mr. Frederick James Furnivall was usually present — a hand-
some 3"oung man, not then known to fame as a Shakespearean
scholar and commentator, and what I saw of him did not lead
me to expect that he would achieve any high reputation. I
probably misjudged him, as he had not then given to the world
any fruits of his study and research. Maurice did not long
continue to influence Furnivall very strongly. Ho became an
agnostic in thought when he became a Shakespearean in litera-
ture. Indeed, his literary reputation is somewhat damaged by
his methods of flxing the chronology of the plays, by hunting up
weak and strong endings, run-on lines, central i)auses, rhymes
and blanks, end-stopped and un-stopped lines, in order to lix the
chronology and succession of the plays. All these cliaracteristics
have some significance, but Furnivall relied on them too
absolutely ; they can only be fairly used when tiieir limitations
are recognised, and due reliance is placed on histoiicnl and other
evidence. And I do not think a first class man of letters would
treat his adversaries with such contempt as Furnivall did. His
behaviour in tiiis respect was quite the reverse of gentlemanly.
Baconians are " over grown children " ; the Baconian hypothesis
K
.11 ItFMIMSCKNCKS.
" is inlinito l<>mf(>>l(>rv " ; ami lie wrolo to tlio vcnoiaMc' Dr.
'rintmpsoii, «)f .McHhiimik^ a Ikuoiiian author, coolly advising him
to put hiinsi'lf uiulor restraint till his luiiacy was cured. Ho
gave ine much thesiimeailvico. .My friend Langley and I visited
.Maurice at his liouso in Queen's Square, and found him in the
oom|>any of a clerical friend in higii discourse on eccle-
siastical ami philosophical questions. As we listened and
joined in the ctniversation a maid servant entered the room
to ren)ove the sofa on which .Maurice and his friend were
seated. Maurice at once moved and attempted to a.ssist the
servant in the removal of the sofa. lie stooped, ducked
uniler the seat, tried to raise the sofa on his shoulders, and to
take the work of the maid iipon himself. Langlc}' and I were
greatly amused ; his help was not in the least needed, and his
intervention was obviously futile, his strength and size were
too small to be of much use, but wo prized the opportunity of
seeing another side and another manifestation of his gentleness
and humility. He was as friendly with the maid as he would
have been with a bishop ; none were too lowly for his sym-
pathy. Louis lilanc was often present at the de])ates at the
Working Tailors' Hall, a small, dark, interesting man, at that
time an exile from his native land, after his connection with
the revolutionary movements of 1818. Once only Charles
Kingsley was present. I was introduced to him, and heard
him speak and lecture. He was a tall, powerful man, and when
we shook hands together, grasped my smaller hand with such
energy as to be quite painful. I learnt, especially from this
circumstance, to be very careful when shaking hands with
rheumatic persons, knowing that a hard squeeze might cause
much distress and long-lasting pain. It had no such efTect on
me, for rheumatism is no part of my constitutional infirmities,
but rather catarrh and pulmonary weakness, and the rapidity
of my breathing has often prompted questions as to my
asthmatic condition, but that also is no part of my physique.
Many of my near relations, including my eldest son, have (lied
of consumption. And in my younger days this seemed likely
to be my ending, for copious and exhausting night sweats were
very frequent, sometimes necessitating a change of linen three
times in one night. All this I have outgrown, and now at
the age of 82 am as likely as most persons to live ten years
longer.
XLH, — Glad.stone.
After completing my medical education, and becoming
.M.H.f'.S., I commenced practice at Kentish Town and Camden
Town, and married in 1858. But I did not long remain in Lon-
don ; after about a year I removed to Cambridge, Avhere I re-
REMINISCENCES. 55
mained scarcely a year, and then removed to King's Lynn,
and then to Blackheath. At Cambridge I had many memorable
experiences. The great and illustrious Dr. Whevvell was often
to be seen walking in Trumpington Road ; and at the Senate
House, I heard Gladstone speak. It was at a meeting to pro-
mote African missionar.y work, and Bishop Wilberforce was also
one of the speakei's, and others. But none spoke so luminously
and in all respects so admirably as Gladstone. A smooth,
easy flow of speech, always using the right word, and never
pausing for its selection, was its special characteristic. In
after years, when he was member for Greenwich, I frequently
heard him. I heard the famous " bag and baggage " speech,
spoken under a tent on Blackheath, when the wrath of the nation
was aroused by the Bulgarian atrocities, and the wrath of
Liberal politicians was stirred by the cynical way in which Mr.
D'Israeli referred to them. My eldest son Langley was with
me when we heard this speech, and I counselled him to take
deep note of the event, and the speech, for history was in the
making. I heard Gladstone at Woolwich when the Afghanistan
war broke out, leading among other tragic events to the death
of Sir Lewis Cavagnari. Gladstone's denunciation of Govern-
ment action, especially that of Lord Lytton, by which war was
provoked, was most powerful, and every statement he made
was supported by official documents, which he quoted. But
his invective Avas directed against the measures, not the men,
and he several times paused in his oration to tell his audience
that his blame was solely attached to the measures, not to their
advocates and supporters. " They are as good patriots as I
am." Never was a statesman so animated by the spirit of
Christian love and philosophic toleration. Some year or two
afterwards Lady Cavagnari, widow of Sir Lewis, became a
patient of mine in London. She had a suite of apartments
allotted to her at Hampton Court Palace, which was sarcas-
tically named " Quality Workhouse " ; she was a beautiful,
gracious lady, her beauty unspoiled even by the deep sorrow
caused by her husband's death.
XLIII. — Sterndale Bennett, Bach's Passion Music.
At Cambridge I was a member of the Fitzwilliam musical
society. Our chief soprano was Mrs. Ellicott, whoso husband
became Bishop of Bristol — a very admirable vocalist. Among
other music, we performed Sterndale I5ennett's Cantata, the May
Queen, conducted by the composer himself. Afterwards I joined
the Bach Society in London, traincul and conducted by liennett
himself, and sang in liach's Matthew passion music many
times — perhaps in nearly all the earlier performances of it in
')() KKMINISCENCKS.
l'inj»laiul. Ouco this inusic wjis ixM'fonnoil at Wiiulsor Castle.
This was in I'.astor in IS;")!). It was a ^roat event for all
eoncerned, tlie Queen, the I'rince Consort and the IJoyal Ilouso-
hohl bein<; present. The choir dined at various \\'inds(M' hotels
and after the evening performance had sujiper in St. (Jcorp;o'8
Hall at the Castle. We were somewhat disajtpointcd Ixn-auso
the nnisic was conducteil, not by Stcrndalc H(Minett, who sat
inactive in front of the orchestra, l)ut l)y .Mr. Anderson, tho
Queen's Hand Master. We thought he should have allowed
Sterndale IkMinett to take his place, for he alone knew the music
well, and we were accustt)med to his conducting. Indeed, at
one point wo nearly came to grief for want of skilled guidance.
In the Passion Music tho narrative i)art of the Evangelist's
history is given in recitative, and the spoken words in melody,
for single voices or chorus. There is one short chorus of only
a few bars, to the words, " Lord, is it I? " The words in recita-
tive leading to these words are, " And they were exceeding
s«)rrowful, and begun every one to say unto Him," and then
with instantaneous " attack " the little chorus follows, and the
words " 7.S it 1 .' '' are tossed about from one part to another
with passionate reiteration. Most accurate conducting is here
necessary or the whole chorus is spoilt. !Mr. Anderson did not
conduct with the requisite precision. Fortunately, tho choir
knew the music so well that we almost immediately recovered,
and few would notice the slight hesitation at the commence-
ment. It is now generally admitted that Bach's Passion JMusic
is the most sublime oratorio ever written. The majestic
choruses, the sublime chorales, the enciianting solo-melodies,
the stately-moving eloquent recitatives — all combine to jilace
this noble work of genius on a more exalted pinnacle than that
occupied by any other similar composition.
XLIV. — Prof. Flinders Petrie.
When practising at Blackhcath, I frequently acted as a sub-
stitute for my friend and colleague ^Ir. William Piowbotham, who
was often incapable of visiting owing to attacks of acute gout.
I take pride in having visited the family of Mr. Flinders Petrie,
and attended to his young son " Willie,' who had repeated
attacks of asthma. He is now known all over the world as
Professor Flinders Petrie, piofessor of Egyptology at University
College. He was the only child of an elderly couple, themselves
archaeologists, and Willie was an antiquarian Avhen a young
child. I used to chaff him for the litter of curios which were
scattered about his bedroom. His antiquarian studies and
researches began early, and when quite a youth he wrote a
curious paper on old or existing roads, and the course taken as
REMINISCENCES. 57
indicated by wayside hedges and trees. I have visited his
exhibition of Egyptian relics at University" College several
times, and always had some interesting conversation with him.
He shakes his head sceptically at the Baconian hypothesis, and
my " Studies '' which I sent him have not changed his attitude.
He now looks more like an Egyptian than any man I ever knew,
with his tall figure, black hair and beard, dark complexion and
oriental expression of feature. He has Avell earned his high
reputation. His family when they left Woolwich came to the
Avenue, Blackheath, and were my patients, and remained so
even after they had removed to Bromley, where Mrs. Petrie
died.
XLV. — John and Frederick Morgan.
While at Camden Town I attended the family of John
Morgan, the artist. His son Frederick still lives, and generally
exhibits at the Royal Academy. His pictures are Avell known,
especially those reproduced in oleograph. John Morgan was a
most interesting man ; his son inherits his artistic gifts, but
there is a humour and expression of character in the father's
pictures which those of tiie son do not possess in the same
degree. John Alorgan Avas full of humour, with subtle observa-
tion of men and manners, — -a great admirer of Thackeray ; and
ho generally had one of Thackeray's Avorks in his hand or his
pocket. His eldest daughter, some years younger than Frederick,
Avas born at this time, a few weeks before the birth of my eldest
daughter. And his " Lilly " and my " Emma " became bosom
friends. John Morgan Avas a delightful raconteur. He told us
how he went to one of the revival meetings of Moody and
Sankey, and joined those who, after the service, Avent into an
adjoining room, set apart for " Anxious Inquirers," Avhere they
received counsel and special prayer. John Morgan reported the
prayer of the evangelist wiio attended to him, thanking the
Lord that "our brother iMoody " had been instrumental in
touching so many hearts, and leading them to the Saviour. The
eA^mgelist asked his interesting penitent Avhat Avas his occupa-
tion, and John Morgan replied, " A painter," which was also
presumed to mean that he Avas also a plumber and glaziei'. Tli(>
story was infinitely amusing, but I could not help feeling that
the facetious narrator was a little infirm in reverence and
A'eracity. But to know the Morgans was both a pleasure and
contributory to romantic; thought and keen observation.
XLVL — William and Mary Howitt.
At Kentish Town I Ix^canu! acfiuaintcd Avitli William and
Mary Howitt, and through them 1 had some personal ac.()uaintaiice
with Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hail ("Shirt-collar Hall," as ho Avas
r)S Rl MINISCENCES.
humorously calloil, his initials hoiuK aptly dost rii)tiv(^ of his
luvk-i^oar. .Mr. aiul Mrs. llowitt wero thoninlho zenith of their
fanio as pools aiul journalists. Their eklest dauj^hter, Anna
Mary, was variously onilowed with <j;enius, both as artist and
pool ; anil 1 knew and attended her for many years after she
became the wife of Alaric .Vlfred Watts, son of the ]X)et of tiio
s;ime name, who became \'ice-l'resident of our l^acon Society.
The llowitts were confirmed Baconians, and, indeed, my lirst
knowledjije of the Haconian hy|)()thesis was <i;iven to me by Mr.
Watts. The circumstance is related, witliout names, on tho
lirst pap;e of my "Studies." Friendshi]) with the llowitts was
in itself a liberal education, and I saw much of them, William
llowitt had a vein of pugnacity in his nature, and waged liercc
and inlle.xiblo warfare against social abuses, especially tlie Game
Liiws, and the grinding op]^ression under which lai)d-la])ourcrs
and small artisans lived. .Mary llowitt was more devoted to
poetry, and some of her lyrics and ])oetic fancies hold thoir
l)lace in many recent anthologies, ^lr. and ]\lrs. Watts were
also true poets, and published a volume of iioems of their joint
production, entitled "Aurora," each poem signed either A..\.W.
or A.M.W. It is a collection of enchanting poetic dreams and
visions. This volume professes to be written under occult
influences, and all these interesting and accomplished people
were earnest believers in Spiritualism, and wrote prose and
poetry, and made lovely plain or coloured pictures, while their
hands were, as they contended, moved by unseen ])owers.
William llowitt wrote in prose, and the unseen intelligences,
which were supposed to dictate his utterances, were, like him-
self, vigorous in assailing various forms of social and political
evil. So far as I have observed, all si)iritual communications
take their complexion from the mind through whom they are
" ultimated " — as if sent by a twin spirit in the hidden realm. The
drawings were symbolic, representing spiritual facts and ideas
by outward forms — flowers, figures, temples, architectural de-
signs, etc. The llowitts lived in a small picturesque cottage
called the " Hermitage," on Highgate Rise, near where Coleridge
used to live, and I have hanging in my hall a small water-coloured
drawing by Mrs. Watts, re])resenting a summer-house in the
Hermitage garden, embowered and almost concealed by luxuriant
foliage.
XL VII. — Spiritualism.
It is the fashion to speak of Spiritualism with contempt, as
the product of imposture or delusion, but the testimony of such
sane and intellectual adherents as the Howitts is a suflicient
answer to this cheap scorn ; and I have seen many other
manifestations of occult power which no amount of ridicule can
discredit.
REMINISCENCES. 59
I have had a long conversation with a " voice,^^ for which no
visible body could be seen ; and a similar audible voice, when
I only listened but did not converse, was heard by me on
another occasion. Once I kept an appointment to meet a lady
who had been my patient for some years, but whom I had never
seen. We met at the house of a mutual friend, and besides the
mutual friend and my patient, I saw another elderly lady, whom
I took to be the mother of our mutual friend, and saluted her
with due civility. Some time afterwards I called on this common
friend, who had become my j^atient, and Avas introduced to her
mother, with Avhom she lived. To my surprise I was introduced
to a lady I had never seen before, and asked who the third lady
was who was present at my previous visit. I was told that no
third lady had been present, so that the third lady was visible
to myself alone. It seems that the two ladies visibly present
had noticed the somewhat distracted expression of my face at
the outset of the previous interview. My earlier patient wrote
me recently, — " I remember very well the episode, especially
the look on your face, which was explained when you told us of
your clairvoyance ; you were evidently looking at something or
someone ' beyond,' as we entered the room." Such experiences
as these have not been frequent to me ; indeed, I have no other
record unless the following may be regarded as similar. On
one occasion, late at night, I was reading fit was Stanley's " Life
of Dr. Arnold "), and I became drowsy, and the hands holding
the book dropped, although I did not go to sleep, but ceased
reading, and resolved to retire to rest, and, as it seemed to me,
rose from the two chairs on which I was reclining and left the
room. But I could not go further than the foot of the stairs
and returned, and as I returned, I saw my own body still
extended on the two chairs, and I remember how different my
trousers looked from an outsider's point of view to that of tlio
wearer. There must have been a (juasi-separation between soul
and body, the separated spirit having its own organs of per-
ception by which sight was possible without a material eye.
Thus my own small experiences confirmed the evidences of the
eminent persons I have named. And many other men of
intellectual powers have been Spiritualists ; I have already
referred to Professor Do Morgan and Mr. Lynch as Spiritualists,
and I might name many others. In some cases darkness seems
to be a necessary condition for spiritual manifestations. Hence
the "dark cabinet" has been used, and foolish critics have
contended tliat this was a contrivance to cover imposture. 1
saw the Davenports, wliosc occult displays Avere thus given, and
I am persuaded that the necessity of darkness coiikl not explain
away the phenomena manifested through them. Other mediums
have exhibited similar phenomena under similar conditions.
Ch) i;i;minis('i;nci:s.
Donlitloss iin]u>stuiv has hotMi a trii(> oxplaiiatioii in soiiio casrs,
ami uluMi trii-l\tM\v is (.IcttH'ted in ono caso, \\\c inh^wuro is imiiuMli-
aloly adopU'd that tho sami> cxplaiiatioii applit>s to all \\\r i'(>st, the
Ktj^ioal i-aiioii hciiiij; iujiiorcd that iiiiilatiou implies reality. I
am persuadoil that very few cases of trickery have really
cK-cunvil, aiul in tliese eases tiioir si^iiilicaneo has been
onDrinously exaggerated. Pitiless persecution has been resorted
to, and absolutely innocent persons have been sent to prison by
ignorant and prejudiced magistrates who are not one whit more
endowed with judii-ial imj)artiality in such cases than the most
casual and commonplace " man in the street." Spiritualists
themselves have cxi)osed and denounced trickery more
vehemently, and with better logic, than unbelievers.
My friend ^Ir. A. E. Waitc reminds me that the attitude of
journalists and the public generally in reference to Spiritualism,
has greatly altered during tiie hist few years. The bitter in-
tolerance and contempt, the plentiful imputations of trickery and
imposture, the prosecutions in the police courts, never occur
now. There is an undercut rent of belief, which i)rcvents
scurrility and persecution.
XL\'I[1. — J. J. Garth Wilkinson.
Aliout this time I became acquainted with another S|)iritualist
magnilicently endowed with intellect and imagination, Dr. James
John Garth Wilkinson. He was a medical practitioner and a
homceopathist, and was in frequent attendance on my father
and sister. Dr. Wilkinson was the most distinguished Sweden-
borgian of his time ; he edited and translated many of
Swedenborg's writings, and contributed introductory prefaces
of sterling excellence. The greatness and splendour of Dr.
Wilkinson's writings may be judged by the very cxtiaordinary
eulogium of them which Emerson wrote in his volume on
" lie]>resentative Men." "Swedenborg the Mystic " is the title of
one of the chapters, and in it he writes : "As to Swedenborg's
writings, now — after a century is complete — he has at last found
a pupil in ^Ir. Wilkinson, in London a philosophic critic, with a
co-equal vigour of understanding and imagination, comparable
only to Lord Bacon's. The admirable preliminary discourses
with which -Mr. Wilkin.son has enriched these volumes throws
all the contemporary philosophy of I'^ngland into the shade."
This is high praise, and when it was Avritten it was undenial^ly
just. But at that time Martineau's great philosophical works
liad not been published ; and I hold that Dr. .Martineau deserves
the same praise, and in even a greater degree. Swedenborgianism
is indeed the crowning exjn'ession of Spiritualism, and many
thoughtful Spiritualists have been more or less convinced
REMINISCENCES.
61
Swedenborgians. Dr. Wilkinson was of necessity a Spiritualist,
and was in full sympathy Avith its general modes of expression
both in England and America. He was himself possessed of
occult gifts, and published a small volume of poems, entitled
" Improvisations of the Spirit " — poems, as he affirmed, written
through his hand but not proceeding from his mind. On one
occasion when I visited him, he gave me a copy of this little
book, and told me how it was produced. Ho would simply put
his hand to paper, with pencil ready, and wait for power, which
soon came, and he wrote. " I will see," he said, " if anything is
communicated about you. He stands is the first phrase
given " ; and in a few minutes he puts into my hands the
following verses, —
" He stands upon a hill of green,
Where flowers are rare and sad ;
But brighter things are round him seen,
And things to make him glad.
The sky hath openings when the earth
Hath closed her bosom drear ;
Then gird thyself for spirit-birth,
And choke the snakes of fear."
These lines very aptly reflected the somewhat troubled and
sorrowful state of my mind at the time they were written. Dr.
Wilkinson's style of writing was singularly felicitous and
picturesque, more in his earlier writings than the later, which
seemed to me less poetic and more didactic. Indeed, I regarded
him as one of the greatest masters of eloquent and imaginative
English I have ever known. In this respect Wilkinson, Kuskin,
and Martineau are bracketted together in my mind. I did not
always assent to his teaching. He wrote a review of my uncle's
" Philosophy of Religion," and strongly controverted its main
thesis— that the essence of religion is a state of feeling, and that
one of absolute dependence. No one, he affirmed, ever felt this,
and no angel ; and I disputed his denial, believing that the deep
mystery of life and death, of nature, of boundless space, and
endless time, is a soundless deep which no philosophy can ever
fathom ; and that the sense of this inexplicable fact, and of our
inclusion in its mystery, does really involve a consciousness of
absolute dependence on a power which is for ever, and of
necessity hidden. This conviction remains, but my own bias
towards Swedenborgian philosophy, and its profound exposition
of tiie doctrine of Correspondencies as pervading all nature, and
linking together the natural and si)iritual realms, is Tinallerably
fixed. It is a priceless organum of literary and dramatic
criticism. Many of the events and metaphors in tlie Sliakespeare
plays illustrate this do(;trine, and sometimes in a very striking
way, as I will immediately prove by a sample. Before doing
n? RIMIMSCKNCKS.
this 1 m.iy rcronl tho fart tliat Spiritnalistii' pliciinnicna wove
alnimlant in \h\ Wilkinsoji's family. His hrotluM-'s wifr had
nu\><t ivinarkaMi' drawings j;iv(Mi thrmip;h h(M" hand. Sho was
iu>t an artist, and Avhon sho was told to use water colours and a
brusii, rather shrank from the attempt. JUit the result was
extraordinary. I saw a most wonderful i>icture drawn by her,
re|>resenlinj:; a shrub on which was ^rowinfj three l)oll-shape(l
tlowers of different c(»lours, deep blue, golden, and scarlet.
Kays of coloured light from these ilowers sj)read hnig, luminous
relleclions, the tiii'ee ^-olours mixing, and yet distinct, so that the
gold coidd be distinctly seen traversijig the scarlet and blue, and
so with the rest, all three shown in the same space. 1 am no
artist myself, but I doubt whether such blending without
cou fusion of different colours is possible by ordinary art.
XLIX. — Correspondencies in Sh.vkesi'e.mu:.
Of the doctrine of Correspondencies, as illustrated in Shakes-
jn'are, many illustrations might be given. iSo far as liacon is
concerned his I'li'do.-^oyhin i'rima is really a philosophy of
Corresj)ondencics, and most of the canons of that p]iilosoj)hy may
be illustrated from passages from Shakespeare. 1 have noticed
this in my " Studies " (p. 125) : " In the language of mystic
]ihiloso))hy, Shakespeare's art is the continent and ultimate of
Bacon's philosophy ; there is a perfect correspondence and con-
tinuity between them. As the natural world is created by influx
from the spiritual world, and is its counterpart and representa-
tive, so is the poetry of Shakespeare poured forth, as influ.x from
the creative thought of Bacon's science, giving to it a concrete
presentation —a living, organized counterpart." And the same
is implied in other passages. The most striking illustration I
can find is in Marlowe, who is regarded by most Baconians as one
of Bacon's aliases. In the Massacre of Paris, the Guisians arc
on the war-path hunting out heretics and killing then). They
come upon Ramus in his study, and are commanded by the Duke
De Guise to stab Jiim. Kamus remonstrates, and asks what
offence lie has given ; and Guise replies :
" Marrj' in having a smack in all
And yet didst never sound anything to its depth.
Was it not thou that scoff st the Organon,
And said it was a heap of vanities ?
He that will be a flat dichotomist,
And seen in nothing but Epitonies,
Is in }-our judgment thought a learned man."
Bacon also hated Ramus, and for the same reason ; for his
Dichotomies and Epitomies, " The canker of Epitonies," " a
rebel against Aristotle, etc.," are his words. It is not easy to
REMINISCENCES. 63
seo how a soldier could have taken this kind of offence, and
and revenged it so mercilessly. The slaughter of Ramus,
though an actual fact, became in Bacon's mind symbolical ; it
is a parable of his philosophy, to be interpreted by something-
analogous to Swedenborg's doctrine of correspondencies rather
than by literal construction. It is not perhaps likely that any
such mystical scene w;is contemplated by the poet — though even
this is possible. The internal sense, which was one of Bacon's
philosophical persuasions, ultimated itself in this way.
L. — T. Lake Harris.
Dr. Wilkinson's company was sought, especially by spiritualists
and Swedenborgians, from all parts of the Avorld, who had been
interested and instructed by his thoughtful and eloquent speech.
Through him I came to know one of the most remarkable men
of his time, Thomas Lake Harris, the founder of tlie J'ountain
Grove Settlement in California, to which Laurence Oliphant
was attracted. He claimed for himself the possession of super-
natural endowments both physical and mental. Death in his
case was to be abolished, and his translation into another state
of being was to he effected by some sucii process as St. Paul and
tJie early Christians anticipated for themselves and for tl)eir
brethren. But Harris was not caught up by the Lord in the air ;
he died of disease at an advanced age, and this was ahnost a
scandal to his followers ; but somehow tliey explained and justi-
lied it as an exceptional case. I lieard him preach several
times in Edward Street, Portman Square, and his discourses
and his prayers were in a strain of exalted fervour and pcv-
suasiveness that left no hearer unimpressed. VvJiile listening to
his rapt orations and petitions, goodness and piety appeared
entirely natural, and sin and selfishness almost inipossibki.
You might mistrust the supernatui-al gifts to which ho laid
claim; but few could fail to be stirred l)y his inspiring speech.
He was a true poet, and when liis poetry stoops to the level of
ordinary intelligence, it is oxquisitively beautiful. 1 will give
a specimen whicii I happen to remember. My reproduction of
it may not be absolutely faultless, but of the general accuracy
I am sure. It is a hymn on the birth of a new-born child, and
here it is : —
" It bloomed ia essence on an angel-eartlx
Then to our love was given,
Fair child of Paradise, we greet thy birth,
Sweet gift of inmost heaven.
WliJit Father-love above our own is yearning,
Wiiat Mothcr-Iove above
We dimly know ; in thy young life is burning
The lamps of Ood's own love.
(') I ri:mimsckncks.
(MiiM iif tilt' skies, tliy hoiitilir ossonro
Was thought fmin (ind's dwn limw,
Tluni in thine inmost hiist not left His i)iosciico
Though we embrace thee now.
Ctod of the angels, help us in receiving
This ehihi, for it is Tiiine,
Into our hearts, ailoring and believing,
To infold Thy love divine.
Help us to mould its life to Thine evangel
Till all its self-hood dies,
And it becomes, through love, a conscious angel.
Cleaving again the skies.
LI. — Judge Willis.
Soon after my settlement at Blacklicatli, I was in attendance
on the Outhwaite family, one of whose daughters became the
wife of Judge Willis, and here I met Judge AN'illis, who had just
begun practice as a barrister. He was one of the most extra-
ordinary men I ever met. In the first place he was a most
inexhaustible t:\lker, the most voluble man I ever met. What-
ever topic might arise, he Avould launch fortii into talk and
continue ad lib. And he was just as eloquent, rhetorical and
energetic in voice and action in speaking to a single person as
he would have been in addressing a large audience. On one
such occasion, when I alone was his audience, his wife was
occupied with needlework at the other side of the room, and
would occasionally interject, " William ! William ! " while his
harangue was proceeding ; but nothing arrested its impetuous
course. A dear cousin of mine, when I told her this, said it
reminded her of a similar event when I was at her father's
sciiool at Danbury. It was my turn to say " Grace before meat "
at tea-time ; and instead of saying Grace in the usual form, in
a single short sentence, I waggisidy launched out into a long
prayer, for the Queen, the Koyal Family, the Houses of
Parliament, all Ghurches and preachers, etc. The usher stand-
ing opposite tried to stop my extended form of Grace, occasionally
muttering, " Robert ! Kobert ! " but I would not be stopped.
The joke was so good that it need scarcely be counted as a
violation of the third commandment, for the Divine Name was
not irreverently used, nor in reality was it taken in vain.
Willis Avas devoted to puritanical literature, especially to
Milton and all his works ; he had a prodigious library, cover-
ing all four sides of a very higii room. His memory was
charged with ^Jiltonic poetry, which he would spout ad lib ; he
wrote also about Cowper, and other subjects. He was interested
in the Baconian theory and opposed to it. But his opposition
did not express itself in a very creditable way. He published a
trial, constructed by himself, in the case of " Shakspere versus
REMINISCENCES. 65
Bacon," a purely imaginary case, but published without any
intimation that it was not a reality. A very learned friend
wrote to mo about it in the following terms : " So ambiguous
were the terms of its introduction, that many Avho read it — Law
students especially, black boys from India, and beyond the
seas — thought it to be a genuine old law report of an actual case,
and went to the librarian of the Middle Temple, Mr. Hutchin-
son, a good Baconian, asking him if he could direct thom Avhere
to find the original, and the popular press was no less deceived,
for I remember one of those sagicious organs declaring that
Willis's 'discovery' had settled the Shakespeare conti-oversy,
and that it was ' all up ' with Bacon and the Baconians."
Another book which Willis wrote, " The Baconian Mint
Examined," was an argument against the 14th Chapter of my
"Studies " on the classic diction of Shakespeare. Willis under-
took to prove that the words which I produced to illustrate my
thesis showed no special classic knowledge, but were common-
places in the speech and literature of the time. I need not
enlarge on this, or show how remarkably fallacious were the
arguments he used and the paragraphs he quoted in refutation
of my contention. I can only say that for gross inaccuracy
and misrepresentation I never met with its equal in litera-
ture. In the preface to a cheap issue of my "Studies" I have
said, and so far as possible proved, that "throughout this book
Mr. Willis is engaged in contradicting what I have never
asserted, or in saying with argumentative, and even combative,
emphasis what I have never denied." In one instance he con-
victed me of a mistake, and in that case the Oxford Dictionary is
equally faulty. In reference to my admission of error, Willis,
with exquisite courtesy, said that my confession was made only
to cover the ignominy of my defeat. With all his blunders and
incivilities Willis was an amiable, kindly man, but his impetu-
osity made him violent in speech, pitiless in cross-examination of
witnesses and uncivil in addressing his fellow-counsel, and even
the judges of the court. His vehemence was once anmsingly
exhibited in Parliament, when in the exuberance of his eloquence
his hand came down with crushing violence on Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman's hat. As a county court judge his
violence lost its opportunity, and his kindness was often shown
by the way in which he helped unfortunate debtors out of his
own pocket. Notwithstanding these attacks on my book and
myself, he remained a good friend to the last, even after I had
rebuked and exposed his fallacies and absurdities in th(> pages
of Baconiana and in the new preface to my " Studies." He came
to my house when a clever little pianist, a patient of mine, gave
a pianoforte recital. He was no musician, as he was no philo-
sopher, and in both these respects he displayed the lack of these
nC* IM-MINISCKNCKS.
qualiti(\'>! on this iH'cnsiou. I asktvl him if ho was a nuisii-iaii, or
foiiltl siujx. "Only in chapel," was tlu> loply. In rcfonMiic to
sonio fonrso of action rrforrcd to as henelicial to humanity, lu>
said he know nothinj* of humanity or any such abstractions; all
he knew was sin^h^ men. Sotni after, with curious inconsistency,
lie spoke of his tJuty to society as a judfje. " Wliy, there yon
are!" I exclaimed, " admitting; your obligation to an abstrac-
tion, whii'h you hmo just said is non-existent, so far as you are
concerned."
LI I. — Grace Hdmpiiery.
As to the i)ianist whom .Tudi^e A\ illls lieard play at my liouse,
I may record sDmewliat of the history of my relations to lier.
One Sunday niorning her father came to me asking for some
medicine for his daughter, nearly eight years old, who liad an
attack of jaundice. I gave him what was required and pro-
mised t<^ call the next day. As he was leaving he said, " My
little girl has some talent for music ; she plays some of Bach's
fugues and Beethoven's sonatas." This interested me— that so
young a cliild should play such advanced music. The next da}',
when I called, I saw a little girl deeply jaundiced, lying in tAvo
chairs, quite unable to sit up. After attending to her medi-
cally, her mother, to show her keen musical perception, said,
" Grace, dear, tell the doctor what this note is," striking
the piano, " and this " — several times. The child each time
answered correctly. At my next visit she was better and could
sit up to the piano, and the little lady, sitting on a high
stool, too short to touch the ground with her feet, played
first Bacli's prelude and fugue in D major, Xo. 5 of tlie 4i<, then
Handel's "Harmonious IMacksmith" with variations, then
lieethoven's " Xel-cor-piu " variations without a mistake. The
child was a shrinking, timid little gii'l ; but as soon as she was
seated at the piano her timidity vanished, and the piano was as
much a toy as her doll. A short time afterwards I heard her in
public, in Baker Street, and before seating herself at the piano
she deposited her doll on a chair. " ^ly little minstrel," as I
called her, came to my house several times, and went with me
on some of my professional visits and played to anyone who
asked her, and everyone was surprised at her remarkable gift.
" This is genius, not simply talent," remarked one of my
patients to whom she played. She was 21 years of age last
March, 1911, and has now completed her musical education at
the Kensington School, where she won a scholarship for three
years, subsequently extended, in consideration of her great
promise, and has about six medals — gold, silver, and bronze.
She has played frequently at the school concerts. On one occa-
sion she took the solo part in Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, the
REMINISCENCES. 67
whole of which she has pla.yed to me, Memoriter. A musical
newspaper reports of one of her performances in these terms : —
" That i-ising young pianist, Grace Ilumphery, who has a most
sensitiA^e touch, played a beautiful romance by Sibellius with
delightful appreciation, following it with a brilliant performance
of a difficult and showy valse by Glazoimow. No less than five
recalls were i-equired to acknowledge the sincere applause which
was elicited ; but Miss Ilumphery is destined for higher work
than that essayed on this occasion." Grace is now an orphan,
having lost both father and mother during the past two
years.
LIII. — Minnie Theobald. Leslie's Choir.
I have a little more to record relating to my musical experi-
ence. ]My younger brother's second daughter has a great gift
as a violoncello player, and an extensive teaching clientele. She
has classes and has repeatedly played in public, and given
recitals on her own account, and is probably one of the best
lady cellists in the country. She studied at the Guildhall
School of Music and has sometimes acted for her teacher
when absent. Her father is musical, but less gifted than some
others of our family. He sings well, and was at one time a
member of Henry Leslie's choir. I applied for admission to
this same choir, but was not accepted because my voice was
not considered good enough. This failure I thought just
under the circumstances, but the trial of my voice did not
bring out its best qualities. I sang Mendelssohn's song,
" Italy," and played my own accompaniment. It would have
been better if someone else had accompanied me. And in a part-
song, which I did not know, I sang accurately at sight, but
the high tenor allotted to me was more suited to an alto voice
and was beyond my compass. I hoard afterwards that Mr.
Leslie spoke well of my performance, and when I mot him after-
wards at Cambridge, where he conducted his oratorio,
" Immanuel," in which I took part, I had some conversation
with him and referred to my rejection, and, as he seemed
troubled and a little surprised at my failure, I relieved ids mind
by telling him I had no complaint to make, liut thought thi^
reasons alleged were good and sufficient.
LIV. — Mr. John Farmer.
What I have said about my niece as a 'cellist may indicate
the fact that musical talent is hereditary in our family and has
culminated in my gifted niece. This is not entirely the case.
My own eldest daughter is as distinguished in pianoforte |)laying
as her cousin is in 'cello playing. When very young she showed
great talent for music and her musical memory was remarkable.
r»S KKMINISCKNCKS.
At that timt> I liocaino ac<|iiaiiito(l witli Mis. llaiioock, wliose
hrothor, Mr. .lolm l''arnuM% was music tcaclier at Harrow, and
sho persuatlt'il mo to tak(> my dau^lilcr to liim. Sli(> played to
him llollor's arraiigoiiuMit of Schuherl's "Forcllo" from
memory and s.)on became one of liis favourite pupils, i)hiyinf;
in the recitals p^iven by his more advance<l i)iipils, Mr. Norman
(irosvenor and Mr. (Jurney, who wrot(» a considcrabh" volume on
music, were her fellow-students at Harrow, and afterwards in
Bond Street, where Mr. Farmer had a branch school of musi(;.
She made rapid jn-o.^ress, and at Mr. l\armer's concerts played
virniorilrr Beethoven's " Waldstein Sonata," rjist//sarran<^-ement
for pianoforte solo of Bach's orfi;an fu;^ue in A minor, lirahm's
liunjxarian waltzes, and much of Schumann's delightful music,
including the pianoforte part in his quintette. Mr. Farmer was
an admirable teacher, and himself very skilful in playing the
comi)ositions of others and in improvisations on his own account.
He liad several canons in teachinji; music. P^irst of all l^ach
was to be always included, alike with the most elementary and
the most advanced pupils. l>en;innin^ with the Intentions for
beginners, he would go on to the various Suitor — the Chromatic
fantasia and fugue, the forty-eight j)ie]udes and fugues, and
the Concertos for two or three pianofortes. Another rule was
not to teach expression, but to leave the pupil to liis own
judgment and taste in order to find out the right and artistic
way of reproducing what he had learnt mechanically. A third
rule was never to require perfection on the first study of any
composition, but to leave a completer performance for repetition
work, so that practice was always divided between new and old
pieces. Another rule was to accustom his pupils to play either
to a company or in public. For this purpose recitation classes
were established, to which visitors were invited, and all the
puj)ils took part. Mr. Farmer had branch schools of music in
dilTerent parts of the country, and often sent the pupils wdiom
he called his " rocks," and Emma went to Derby to attend one
of these distant recitals. "When ]\lr. Farmer himself was present,
he introduced his pupils merely as learners, and told the
audience not to look for perfection. When Emma played at
Xotting Hill, I overheard one of the audience say that it was
all very well for ^Ir. Farmer to describe the performers as
elementary, — this young lady is evidently an old hand. But
she had not then been a year under ]\Ir. Farmer's tuition. Mr.
Farmer was full of wit, and sometimes shocked his interlocutors
by his uncompromising politics and ecclesiastics, in which he
really exaggerated his own democracy and dissent. He some-
times gave musical and dramatic sketches resembling the style
of Charles Parry, of former days. He would imitate the crude
and blundering play of ambitious pupils who had travelled far
REMINISCENCES. 69
and paid highly for the teaching of celebrated masters. The
typical young lady of this class was Miss Wimlecroft and her
brother Harry, whose father, an ignorant man, had made his
fortune, and resolved that his daughter should be well-taught.
He would boast of the large sums of money he had expended
for this purpose, adding, " But I don't grudge it a bit," which
Mr. Farmer related with inimitable provincial pronunciation.
Mr. Farmer would imitate Miss Wimelcroft playing "Mi' piece,"
looking alternately at the music and her own hands, and never
quite succeeding in reproducing the copy. Between these
comic episodes Mr. Farmer would flourish and fantasy on the
pianoforte Avith wonderful dexterity. When Emma married and
lived at Knockholt, Mr. Farmer visited her, and conducted, at
the village hall, a performance of his beautiful cantata, " Christ
and His Soldiers," Emma playing the accompaniments. When
he left Harrow he became organist at Baliol College, Oxford,
where Emma visited him, and afterwards, when he was very ill,
sent such gifts as she thought would be acceptable to a sick
and suffering man. One of his sons was an actor, and has
constantly taken part in Charley's Aunt.
LV.— M. L. Theobald.
My eldest son, Maurice Langley, was musical. He and I
played pianoforte duets, some of Bach's organ fugues, etc., and
he sang various songs to my accompaniment. Alas ! he died of
tuberculosis October 3rd, 1879, to my great and lasting sorrow.
For he was in many ways clever and thoughtful, a very
accomplished mathematician, thanks to Mr. Airey's admirable
teaching at the Merchant Taylor's School. He was also well
advanced in classics. He was my cherished companion, as well
as my dear son. After his death our friend Frederick Morgan
painted his portrait, which hangs up in my dining-room, taken
from a photograph which was made at Marazion, in Cornwall,
where he went when fatally ill, hoping to gain recovery at the
south coast. But it was a fruitless journey, and he died
about five weeks after his return. Mr. Airey came to see
Langley when he was dying, and when he left tears wore in
his eyes. He was a rugged, somewhat stern master, but had a
tender nature. After Langley's death he came to see Frederick
Morgan's portrait. Langl(>y and I were both choristers at St.
Stephen's, Lewisham, a very High Church, where the music
was admirable. The semi-papistical services alone would not
have attracted me, but I was drawn there by tlie noble, in-
tellectual preaching of Mr. Hancock, and for tlio sake of that
I endured without protest all the millinery and attitudinising
and sacerdotalism that would have in itself repelled me, and
70 REMINISCENCES.
which, indood. ;ihvays S(v^iiis to nio in conflict uith comnion-
sonso. irrcc(>ncil;il)K» ;ilikt> with i)hiloso|)hy and n'Ii.L!;i<)M. This,
howtn-cr, only shows how various arc the possihilitit^s ol" human
tho»i<:;ht and holiof, and that what one man may rofj;ard as
chihlish folly, or positive idolatry, may appear to another man
as the necessary form by which worship must express itself.
No liner expression of this side of toleration can he ^iven than
that l»y Tennyson in " fn .Memoriam " (see the XU-A j^rou)) of
stanzas).
LVI. — Lord .vnd Lady Mount Templk,
Canon Wilberforce.
Soon after commencinc; practice I became physician to St.
Saviour's Hospital, Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park, founded
and supported by Mrs. i'nlmer. It was especially devoted to
the practice of tiie ^Mattel system, wliich I accepted as a subor-
dinate brancii of homoeopathy. Here I learnt to know one of
the most gracious, refined, and benevolent ladies living. Lady
Mount Temple, and was present at many of the theological
meetings held at her house in Great Stanhope Street, where Mr.
Farquhar read a series of papers — profound and philosophical —
which were afterwards published in a volume entitled, " The
Gospel of Divine Humanity," a title suggestive of Sweden-
borgian alTmities. Some time afterwards I spent a few days at
Lord Mount Temple's beautiful house at Broadlands, in Hamp-
shire, ("anon Basil Wilberforce was then at Southampton, and
in I^ord Mount Temple's company on Sunday I heard him
]u'each, and subsequently lunched at his house. He visited
Broadlands during my stay there, and I had some interesting
conversation with him, narrating, among other things, some of
the spiritualistic events that had occurred in our family. The
Canon listened to the recital with thoughtful and sympathetic
interest, showing that he by no means shared the vulgar con-
tempt with which such facts were at that time received in
journals and in Society. Canon Wilberforce seemed to me to
be an earnest and eloquent preacher, not quite so eloquent as
his fatlier, Samuel, Bishop of Oxford, but quite as solid and
advanced as a thinker and a theologian.
Mattel's medicine though called a System of Electro Homoeo-
pathic medicine, is not really a System at all. It is not founded
on any laws of nature independent of that which governs all
8p(;ciflc treatment; and the medicines it employs are secret, —
and secrecy is the enemy of all genuine science. It has, however,
great value ; the remedies which it introduces have remarkable
efficacy, when rightly applied, and I have seen some cases of
heart disease much ameliorated by the use of the medicines
which the Count calls Ant-Angioiticos.
REMINISCENCES. 71
LVIL— Mrs. Talbot Coke.
In connection with St. Saviour's Hospital I was brought into
connection Avith many interesting persons. Lord Roberts and
Lady Roberts and family, and Colonel Pole-Carew, their
associate and friend in Lidia, were among my patients. Also
Mrs. Talbot-Coke and her father, Major Fitzgerald, and Mrs.
Peel, belonging to the family of the great statesman. These
were either patients or friends, or both. Mrs. Talbot-Coke was
accustomed to write for a weekly paper paragraphs relating
to household decoration, answering tlie questions of corre-
spondents, and suggesting modes of ornamentation, etc. The
wealth of knowledge shoAvn in these paragraphs was remark-
able. I asked her where it all came from, and she said, " Here,"
pointing significantly to her forehead.
LVni. — Toye's Orphanage,
At Blackheath one of the most interesting men I ever knew
was I\Ir. Toye, the founder of an orphanage, originally at Milwall,
subsequently at Lewisham. It was my pleasure and privilege
to attend Mr. Toye and the children of his Orphanage for some
years. The Orphanage was conducted on the same lines as
that of Mr. Miiller's at Bristol — that is, he depended for every
necessity, for every meal, for every article of clothing, on daily
providential supplies. He did not advertise, or pray so loudly
as to be overheard — he simply waited. Sometimes he had
finished the food supply at breakfast, and waited on the Lord
for dinner, and dinner Avas sure to arrive in duo time. He was
a remarkable man, patriarchal in appearance as he was saintly
in character. One of my friends, who often sent him supplies,
called him Polycarp. Once when I visited him he told me that
a little while before, when cold weather was approaching, he
was very anxious that the children should have cloaks — " it was
not to the Lord's honour that they should have no cloaks " —
and he made a somewhat urgent appeal to his celestial
Banker and Provider representing the serious danger lest the
Divine character should He be discredited by the impoverish-
ment of the orphanage, and the exposure of the children to in-
jury. Very soon afterwards, Mr, Toye told me a large parcel of
cloaks came from an unknown source, containing the exact num-
ber required to supply all the children. The good old man has
been dead many years ; his son still carries on the orphanage on
the same lines.
LIX. — Mrs, Carl Heath.
About this time I became acquainted with one of the most
remarkable families I ever knew, Mr, and Mrs. Holden and their
72 KKMIMSCKNCKR.
family at Rirnilnj^liain. It was a family of soniusos. Mrs.
lIoMoii wrote somo of tho sweetest and most intellectual letters
I ever rei-eiveil. The el(h>st daughter (now Mrs. Carl Heath) is
a |Hvtess of unusual exeellency, and has published several small
v«ilumes of poetry,— " The Son<j;s of Christine," " ArgeuKMie,"
" Sonixs at Dawn." " Israfel and .Kone." Another <lau<j;hter is
a very skilful animal |)ainter ; her i)ictures will even hear com-
parison with L:inds(>er's. Two other dau<iliters draw some-
what in the Burnc Jones style, illustratinjj; hooks of poems, etc.,
by lovely little etchings. The eldest son is an ehxjuent lecturer,
his chosen tojne being Socialism. I visited this family of
geniuses in 1885, when Mrs. Holden was suffering from advanced
cancer, from which she soon after died. Mr. Heath and his
father are known by their publications, and by tho work of tho
son as secretary for the Peace Society for promoting arbitration
as a substitute for war.
LX, — The B.vcon-Siiakespeare Controversy.
And here I approach the last chapters of my story, my con-
nection with the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy. 1 have referred
to my first introduction to it, through the Howitts and Mr. A.
A. Watts. When ^Irs. Pott published her edition of Bacon^s
Pronuis with a very able introduction from her own pen, I wrote
a review of it for the Nonconfovviist newspaper, to which I
frequently contributed reviews and brief essays. ]\Irs. Pott's
estimate of this curious scrap-book of phrases, sentences,
proverbs, etc., in English, French, Latin, Italian and Spanish, is I
think true, and the proofs that it was used in the composition
of Shakespeare unassailal)le ; but I thought she was too bent on
bringing Shakespeare into all the entries, and leaving none
for other uses. Consequently a largo number of the passages
produced as parallels are absolutely irrelevant. But with all
its inaccuracies, and they are numerous, it is a very valuable
book. I very soon became acquainted with 3Irs. Pott, and was
present when the Bacon Society was founded at her house. From
the first I edited the Bacon Journal, and sent contributions to
every number. Some of these are contained in my SJtakespeare
Studies in Baconian Light. After two or three years the
Bacon Journal ceased to be regularly published, but it was
subsequently revived as Baconiana, a quarterly journal which is
issued with tolerable regularity. The chief acting-editor is
Mr. W. H. Smedley, a well-furnished literary scholar, whose
library now amtains a large collection of books which formerly
belonged to Baajn, and contains many of his annotations, some
of which have marked reference to the Shakespeare plays. In
due time it is hoped that these annotations, with the paragraphs
annotated, may be published. They are sure to throw most
REMINISCENCES. 73
useful and convincing light on the many problems connected
with Bacon's authorship. Mr. Sraedley has written to various
journals many letters in vindication of Bacon as the true Shake-
speare, and I consider tliese letters give most powerful state-
ments of our case, and deserve a permanent place in our litera-
ture, and if the letters to which they are a reply were included,
so much the better. Nothing could show more convincingly
how current objections to the Baconian theory can be met.
Mr. Smedley is the father of Constance Smedley (Mrs. Arm-
field), whose excellent stories are well known. Another daughter
is professor of Chemical Science and Research at Manchester.
These facts give another illustration of the fact that Baconians
do not all belong to the idiotic section of the community, as our
opponents habitually assert. Our bacillus is not of the lunatic
type, but rather of the generative and productive order.
LXI. — Dr. Churton Collins.
When Mr. Churton Collins published his book ShakesiJeare
Studies, in which there is a chapter on the " Baconian Bacillus,"
I found it was so full of absolutely false statements, without
the slightest basis of fact to sustain them, especially about my-
self and my " Studies," that I wrote to Mr. Collins, pointing out
his errors, and demanding either proof, or retractation and
apology. This learned violator of the ninth commandment
could not, or certainly did not, justify his quasi-facts, and yet
declined to withdraw them or to apologise. Tlie whole
correspondence, Avith all the falsities in Mr. Collins' book, is
fully detailed in the pani])ldet which 1 issued, exposing this
extraordinary bahaviour. The Ethics of Criticism, as illustrated
hy Mr. Churton Collins. I have no wish to speak with
unnecessary harshness of this distinguished and learned man,
but, without a touch of asperity, I cannot conceive how ho can
be acquitted of wilful i'alseliood, so baseless are his assei'tions,
and so absolute their exposure. In other respects I doubt not
that his words may be accepted, and his accuracy admitted,
but in all that relates to the Baconian controversy, I have no
hesitation in denouncing him in the vehement ])hraso of
Coriolanus as a " Measureless fjiar." In this I know 1 am
violating the conventional maxim, De mortuis nil nisi bonum.
I decline assent to this mischievous aphorism, and prefer De
mortuis nil nisi verum ; but let the verum bo stated calmly
and without invective. Posterity is entitled to profit by a record
not only of the good deeds but also of the false and evil deeds
of distinguished men — and its judgment is, as a rule, jnerci-
ful ; the good is commended, sometimes exaggerated, and the
evil as far as possible excused and minimised ; for in litera-
ture there is no place for the uni)ardonablo sin.
KIMINISCENCES.
l.XII. Siii i;. |). Lawuknck.
Tho Raooni;iii c(Muimmily now nuinhors many infliuMifial and
many loarnml nuMi. In England our ricliost and nio^t gtMUMMUs
adhoront is Sir Edwin Dinning Lawrence, whoHo library at
Carlton House Terrace contains many j)ricelesa volumes; the
earliest editions of liacon's Onjanuin and other works, Shako-
peare folios, iiu-luding that of Iti^.'J, and all recent JJaconian
literature. Sir I'^dwinhas himself written a book entitled Ihicon
is Slmkcspearc It contains few new arguments ; its chief value
consists in the large number of jdates representing the monu-
ments and persons connected with Bacon, his life and works ;
aiid with Sluikspere his life and acts.
LXIII. — Baconianism in Scotland. Stronach. Dryerre.
We have had some very able and well informed adherents in
Scotland. Mr. George Stronach, of the Advocates Library,
Edinburgh ; Mrs. Helen Hinton Stewart, of Glasgow, w^ho lias
written a valuable work on the supernatural in Shakespeare, in
which Bacon's views on the supernatural are shown to corre-
spond exactly with that presented in the Siiakespearc plays. .Mrs.
Stewart now lives at nami)stead, and has more than once
visited me, and our conversations on the many topics in which
both are interested have been very pleasant. In music also our
tastes agree. Another very able advocate of our thesis is Mr.
Henry Dryerre, who lived at Blairgowrie, and was a constant
writer for the Glasgow Argus, to which he contributed a valu-
able series of papers on Baconianism. I have visited both
Stronach and Dryerre, going to Blairgowrie, especially in order
to visit professionally Mrs. Dryerre, who soon after died of
cancer. Dryerre was a delicate man, and when 1 first saw him
1 was struck by the milk-white pallor of liis complexion. He was
then suffering from the elementary stage of pernicious anaemia.
He spent a few days with me at Blackheath, on his way to the
Riviera, where he hoped to find recovery in the warmer atmos-
phere of the Mediterranean coast. My eldest daughter was at
Monte Carlo at tlie same time, and they often met. W'lien poor
Dryerre's condition was hopeless, Emma went to see him, and
directed the landlady to provide, at her expense, everything
necessary for his comfort. He died soon after, and his daughter
remained in the south, having been affianced to a young Italian
who resided there. Dryerre was one of the most tender-hearted
men I ever knew, and when we parted he kissed me most
fervently. He went with me to Knockholt and helped me on
my return home, when I had met with a serious accident, tear-
ing the capsule of my knee-joint, and causing injuries which
REMINISCENCES. 75
necessitated the use of splints anei bandages for some months.
I was a bed-ridden invalid when Dryerre took his loving and,
as it proved, lasting farewell. A volume of Wordsworth,
elegantly bound in morocco, which he gave me, is among my
most valued literary treasures. It is the edition admirably
edited by Henry Morley.
LXIV. — Ireland, Sir F. Cruise. Father Sutton.
In Ireland, the Baconians have had many highly intellectual
adherents and capable apologists. Mr. George Moure is among
them, but has written nothing about the subject. Also Sir Francis
Richard Cruise, M.D., a very able defender of other literary
reputations, has made a special study of Thomas a Kempis. He
is the Royal Physician in Ireland. I have had most pleasant
and instructive interviews with him in London, both on the
Baconian topic and others in which we alike take interest. He
has sent me his large volume on the life and writings of
Thomas a Kempis, and his own translation of the De Imita-
tione Christi, in which, besides more accurate translation, the
order of the several sections is revised. The most accomplished
of the Baconian adherents in Ireland is Father Sutton, S.J., of
Mumgret College, Limerick, a most genial and kindly man.
He has visited me and accompanied me to Knockholt, where he
won the admiration and affection of my daughter and her family.
He has written much for the New Ireland Review, including a
very laudatory review of my "Studies." These articles are
collected into a volume, entitled " The Shakespeare Enigma."
Father Sutton seems especially attracted by the mystic, Sweden-
borgian features in my " Studies," and has more than once
quoted the passage in which I have claimed that there is such a
correspondence between Bacon and Shakespeare that the con-
crete facts in Bacon are ultimated in the spiritual world of
Shakespeare (see p. 125 of the " Studies ").
LXV. — Professor Dowden. Bompas.]
Professor Dowden, of Dublin, is very friendly to Baconians,
and seems to me "almost persuaded" to join our ranks. He
does not yet own this ; on the contrary, he disowns the imputation
of a distinct Baconian belief; but I cannot holi) thinking that
there must bo some arricre pensee in his mind, and that it
will sooner or later come to the surface. He has written in the
Contemyorary Review a learned paper on the " Sell-re veal ment
of Shakespeare." In this he seeks for a " tangible personality "
in the plays. Others writers, especially l^alsac and Browning,
secrete crypto self-portraits in their works, and so does Shake-
speare. But the marks of a " tangible personality " which he
<ti UIMIMSCKNCKS.
points out havo nol llio least rosoiiiblanoo to the foatiirrs of
W illiain Sliaksporo, but aro entirely adapted to the perHonality
of Fraiu'is Uaeoii. And there an^ many otiiei' traees of personality
wliirli tlio learneti pi\)fessor, who knows all about them, judi-
ciously [I dare to say) omits, sui-h as the far-reachin;j; classical
knowleili^e, the familiarity with courts and royal environments, his
evident dislike of mobs, and jireference for aristocracy; his
friendship with certain noble lorils, such as Jx)rd Soutliam|)ton,
and the " incomparable jiair of brethren " to whom the Folio of
16l'3 is dedicated. Such traits as these belong essentially to
Bacon, and cainiot easily be connected with a playwright wdio
Avould not have dared to associate himself with a member of the
arist<.K'racy, or have dedicated his poems to him. No aristocrat
would have permitted any member of a despised and outcast
class, belonging to an illiterate family, most of whom a)uld
neither read nor write, never educated at any university or great
jniblic school, one who if educated at all could only possess such
educ^ation as could be obtained by more or less regular
attendance at a remote country grammar school, to put his name
to a dedication. Why did Professor Dowden omit to notice
such items of self-revealment as these ?
One of the members of our Bacon Society was Mr. George
Cox Bompas, a very distinguished lawyer, brother to his Honour
Judge Bompas, who was a fellow-student of mine at University
College. Mr. Bompas visited me at Blackheath. He has pub-
lished a very meritorious book on " The Problem of the
Shakespeare Play.''
LXVI, — America. Cryptograms. Donnelly. Mrs. Gallup.
Dr. 0. Owen.
The largest number of our adherents are in America, and
with many of these I have corresponded ; some have visited me.
In Ibbb Mr. Ignatius Donnelly published his book on " The
Shakespeare Cryptogram " in two large volumes. He came to
England to launch his book, and I met him first at the house of
-Mr. Francis Fearon, brother to Mrs. Pott, a keen lawyer and a
convinced Baconian. Afterwards Mr. Donnelly visited me at
Blackheath and stayed a few days. Mr. Donnelly gave me a
copy of his book, with the " compliments of his friend, Ignatius
Donnelly." The first volume of his book is a very able and con-
vincing statement of our case, as a matter of literary criticism.
Till Mr. Greenwood wrote his book there was no better exposi-
tion of the question. The second volume dealt wdth crypto-
gram, and on this I hesitate to speak, because my personal
impression of Mr. Donnelly made me think him as honest as he
is gifted. But in the cryptogram I see great gifts but small
REMINISCENCES. 77
honesty. I can find in it nothing but a gigantic imposture. In
reviewing the book in the Bacon Journal I said that it was
either an apocalypse or a fraud. Mr. Donnelly did not relish
this alternative, but I could not alter it. I do not wish to say
more ; I leave the question open. And I must say much the
same of Mrs. Gallup and her book on Bacon's " Biliteral
Cipher,'' and Dr. 0. Owen's books, in which he professes to
disclose a most amazing historical storj-, absolutely incredible
to me. I have met both Mrs. Gallup and Dr. Owen — the lady
seemed a prepossessing, matronly dame, the doctor a keen, sharp-
looking Yankee. He has lately become somewhat notorious by
his diggings in the river Wye in search of Bacon's MSS , which
were supposed to be secreted in some hermetically-closed cavity
at the bottom of the river. It has, of course, all come to nothing.
One can only suppose that he would not have undertaken a task
of so much labour and expense unless he had some belief in its
validity. Again I must leave both the doctor and the lady as
insoluble enigmas. I met Dr. Owen at the house of Sir E. D.
Lawrance, but had no personal intercourse with him.
LXVII. — South Africa. Caldecott.
Here also I met Dr. Hillier, afterwards M.P. for Hitchin,
whose recent death by suicide has caused so much sorrowful
interest. His uncle was house surgeon at University College
Hospital when I was resident — a hard-working, earnest student
with the merits and success of a plodder. I did not regard him
as the possessor of high intellectual gifts. Alfred Hillier visited
me at Blackheath and bought a copy of my book. He had
become a Baconian while practising as a physcian in South
Africa, and won some renown by his professional writings and
research. He was, I believe, intimate with my friend, the late Mr.
Henry Caldecott, a very earnest and enlightened Baconian, who
wrote and lectured much on our case — published a little
volume entitled " Spoils," Baconian nuggets gatliered by his
own research. He visited me at Blackheath and I found him
full of interesting knowledge, both in literary and Colonial
matters. Mrs. Caldecott is also a very superior lady. One of
her pupils was Olive Schreiner. Her daughter visited us and
stayed some time during the vacation of their school at Chelten-
ham. The eldest one died suddenly some time after, and was
found dead, in ball costume, some hours after her death. Mrs.
Caldecott has been a frequent correspondent of my daughter
and her letters are always deeply interesting.
LXVIII. — America, Applbton Morgan.
To return to America. One of the earliest writers on the
Bacon-Shakespeare controversy was Dr. James Appleton
78 Ki:MiNisrRNci:s.
.Morfjjaii. i>f Wosll'k'ld, Now .)orsi\v, a skilknl lawyer and a wrilcr
of iiH'\liaustil>K> wit ami inosislihlo forcr. In l8bS lit* pultlislu'd
tlio " SliaUt'spoaiv Myth, or William Sliak(\s])i'aro and Circ-iim-
staiuial EviiU>nc<»," with the very a|)i)ropriato motto from \'irgil —
" Sic vos non vobis iiiililicatis avcs ;
Sic vos non vobis vcllcra fertis ovcs :
Sic vos nun vohis incililicatis apes,
Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves."
1 wrote a review of this when is first appeared. Every page
sparkles witii wit. The "Myth" is only stated in the book, no
solution is attempted; Bacon's authorship is not distinctly
elaimeil, but is implied in many pages of tliis book, besides
in the I'art V., which is devoted to the Baconian theory, and
indeed to eject William Shakspere is equivalent to the substitu-
tion of Francis Bacon ; and Mr. Morgan states the case pro-Bacon
and contra-Shakspere with convincing clearness. And yet
withal he has posed as an orthodox Shakespearean, edited
Sh'ika^prart'ana, and discussed such inni-a-propos questions as to
whether any of the descendants of »Shaksi)ere were to bo found
in America. Tliese ilightsof fancy and fallacy were republished
in a volume entitled "Shakespeare in Fact and Fiction," and in
reviewing it I could not but chaff the author on the ambiguity
of his utterances — bowing his manly front in the iioase of
Kimmon, doing prostrate homage before the shrine which he
had desecrated — and likely to join Mr. Furnivall in mooning
among the Stratford-on-xVvon meadows, "watching the cows"
■whisking their tails in those consecrated pastures, in order to
study Sliakespeare in his ancestral haunts. 1 did not know
when 1 wrote know how my reproaches would affect Mr. Morgan ;
I presumed that he would take olfence, as most men would, and i
never e-\pected any friendly conmmnication from him. But
when my " Studies '' were published he wrote me a most genial
and friendly letter, and though 1 could not recall my reproaches
1 felt sorry 1 had been compelled to write them. And 1 have
had many ecpially pleasant letters from him, in which he sub-
scribes himself " With best wishes in scccuLa sccculormn, dear
Doctor, always faithfully yours, A.M." And in his own auto-
biography he refers to me as the " grand old man of the
Baconian camp." Never was a more kindly correspondent ; he
even admitted mistakes which 1 pointed out in reference to the
attitude of the Bacon Society to the Donnelly business, and
refers gfxid-humouredly to the " liimmon " sentence. Even in
recent years A]qdeton Morgan has posed as a doubtful Baconian
and a still more doubtful Shakespearean.
LXIX. — Dr. Isa^vc Hull Pl.vtt.
A debate between himself, refn-esenting Shakspere, and Dr.
REMINISCENCES. 79
Isaac Hull Piatt, representing Bacon, was held a year or two ago,
and no genuine orthodox Shakespearean ever made out a better
case for Shakspere than Appleton Morgan did; but he could not
answer his own book. Dr. Hull Piatt is a very accomplished
man of letters and an enlightened Baconian. I have had much
delightful correspondence witli him, and his portrait hangs in
my dining-room, side by side with Begley, Dowden, Martineau,
Beethoven, Dr. Morell, F. D. Maurice, Dr. W. Theopliilus
Davison, and George Macdonald. A year or two ago my deepest
sympathy was enlisted on his behalf by a terrible sorrow that
overtook him. His eldest son, 21, a promising young lawyer,
met with an accident at that most murderous and suicidal game, ■
football, by which the bones of his neck were broken, and he
became instantaneously paralysed. He lingered a year or two
and then died, patient and hopeful to the last. He himself
expected to recover, but his father, more skilful in surgical
prognosis, had no such expectation ; the young sufferer promised
his father a good thrashing when he recovered, as a penalty for his
despondency. " Never in my life," the doctor patlietically wrote
to me, " did 1 ever desire anything so much as that thrashing ! "
Dr. Piatt is a devoted admirer of Walt Wliitman, whose poetry
is almost an extension of Emerson's prose ; and has written and
sent me a brief biography of this remarkable peasant-poet and
mystic. 1 may here parenthetically note that I met liltuerson in
Glasgow, and heard him lecture, and walked side by side witti
him to his hotel after the lecture was over. Dr. Hull Piatt
joined Appleton Morgan in the editorship of Shakespeareana, a
journal vviuch opens its colunms to all who have any light in
criticism to supply about Shakespeare, and allows Baconians
the same liberty as others, i lioped that Dr. Piatt might visit
me as he himself intended, but his life is very insecure ; he lias
undergone some operations for gall-stones, and his health is too
inhrm for European travel. 1 have had many friendly letters
from Mr. W. H. Edwards, of l*ittsburg, who sent mo a copy of
his admirable book, " Shakspere Not Sliakespeare." 1 hoped ho
might visit me on a projected visit to Europe, but alas ! he lias
gone to the " Undiscovered country from which no traveller
returns."
LXX. — Plies in the Baconian Pot.
America has yielded a fairly good crop of folly and extrava-
gance, as well as wisdom and understanding, in tlie lieM of
Baconian polemics. Perhaps the most wild, extiaordinary and
extravagant book ever written on our case is that of an Anieiican
writer, Mr. J. E. lioc, who sent mo his book, " The Ah)i'tal ^hM)n,
or Bacon and His Masks." He claims for Bacon, and attorn])ts
to substantiate his claim by parallel passages, jnany books
SCi itr.MiMS(M;Nri:s
attrilmtod to oIIkm' ;iu(Iiors oxttMuliiif^ ovon into tlio cipilitccntli
c-fiitury. Amc^ii; tlicin Sfuhh's "Anatomy of Al)uscs," |{iiiton'H
"Anatomy of .Molanrholy," Dofoo's" luihinson Crusoe," Hunyan'a
" l'il;^rim's Trofxrcss " and "Holy ^\ ar," Do Foe's "History of
Apparitions," " History of the Devil," some or all of Addison's
writin<jjs, Swift's works, and heaven knows what else. Un-
ft>rtunately many of the eomparisons between those writings and
tiiose of Baeon are taken from the translations of IJaeon's
l.;itin, and in their prose form were never written by Bacon at
all. And even in English, Mr. Hoe confounds words which are
spelt alike, but are different in meaning. Thus, the word lose
or Kx^se, used in the current sense of privation and spelt /ca.sr
in Elizabethan literature, is confounded with the tcchinal word
lease, meaning term of occupation. Thus Bacon writes : —
" Flowers beaten or crushed lease the freshness and sweetness of
their odour " (" Syl. Syl." 390, etc.).
In the Sonnets tlie other sense is found and used with a
lawyer's technical accuracy : —
" So shall that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination" (Son. 13).
It is indeed strange that any fairly-educated man can fall into
such confusion.
LXXI. — Edwin Heed.
A far more sound and sane Baconian champion was Mr. Edwin
Reed, who has written largely on our controversy. He came to
England, and took lodgings near the British Museum in order
to prosecute his Baconian researches. He spent several days
with me, and I have had many charming letters from him,
abounding in instructive information, lucid expositions, and
sparkling wit. His book, "Francis Bacon our Shakespeare," is
well known, as well as his astonishing collection of
" Parallelisms." This volume of 400 pages contains 885
parallels between Bacon and Shakespeare, — most of them are
good, many bad, and many more indifferent. Indeed, 1 cannot
but think that Mr. Reed in his quest for parallels rather overdid
the business, and admitted many that were either not relevant
or unimportant ; and of course this gives the enemy cause and
opportunity to blaspheme. But that docs not matter ! Mr.
Reed was an earnest and enthusiastic worker in the field which
he has so chivalrously cultivated. His health w^as feeble and he
has joined the majority. His niece, Miss Victoria Drummond, is
now in England studying vocal music for operatic work. She
has visited me and been my guest for some days, — a most gifted
and companionable young lady.
REMINISCENCES. 81
LXXII. — Baconianism in Germany. Meier — Holzer.
Baconian study has greatly floiirislied in Germany, wliere
Shakespeare is read in the schools and universities almost as
much as Schiller and Goethe. The most distinguished
Baconians in Germany are Dr. Konrad Meier, of Dresden, and
Professor Holzer, of Heidelberg. With both of these I have had
much correspondence, and Dr. Meier has visited me and listened
"with pleasure and admiration to "my little minstrel," who
played to him Schumann's " Etudes Symphoniques," and other
classical works of Bach and Beethoven. Professor Holzer has
not visited me, but has sent his two daughters. Both of these
learned men write excellent English, but Holzer generally writes
to me in German. Dr. Meier has written a masterly volume on
" The Classical Element in Hamlet," full of new light on
Shakespeare's learning. 1 have translated it, but the translation
has never been published. It ought to be ; as a commentary on
Hamlet it is invaluable. No English edition of Hamlet is so
rich in classical annotations. Dr. Meier and Professor Holzer
are the only two German Baconians with whom I have corre-
sponded. But there are others not less learned and thorough.
Indeed, the German public seems to have favoured the Baconian
theory more than the English public have — about as nmcli as
the Americans. Mr. Edwin Borman published his elaborate
(not altogether sound) work, " Das Shakespeare Geheimniss,"
nearly twenty years ago, and the English translation of Henry
Brett is dated 1895. The translator's preface gives the names
of fifty -four learned scholars who are avowed Baconians, and
forty-three periodicals which have noticed it favourably, and
neither Meier or Holzer are included in his list, their adhesion
being more recent. Doubtless a much larger number could now
be compiled, for as soon as the question is started, it travels, and
additional recruits are constantly added. Dr. Holzer has written
many brief tractates — pamphlets on the " Bacon-Shakespeare
Frage," one of which I have translated and publislied, " Wer
War Shakspere ? ? ? " The title contains these three notes of
interrogation.
LXXIII. — Spedding. Bayley. Ames. Greenwood. Abbott.
M With most of the English advocates of Bacon I have conversed
or corresponded. I had a few letters from Mr. Spedding, who
sent me a copy of "Tlio Conference of Pleasure," witli a
reproduction of the Northumberland House iMS. Mr. ('astlo's
book and Lord Penzance's are valuabh', but [ have had no
communication with them. Mr. Harold Bayley, belonging to a
family well known in Swedenborgian circles, was the editor of
Baconiana before Mr. Smedley, and I have had much intercourse,
oral and epistolary, with him. Both ho and Mr. Parker
s*>
RIMINISCENCES.
WiHHlwanl are nn^inbors of tho ('oiincil of tlio l^acon v^ocirty,
wlioro I liavo met tlieni, Init shall j)robal)ly never sco thoin a^Jiin
as I cannot attend the meetings. Mr. Percy W. Aniea, the
learned secretary of the Hoyal Society of Literature, is one of my
valued friends, and by his invitation 1 read a i)a|)er, which is
published in the transactions of the Society, on " Bacon is a Poet,"
not directly claimiufi; for liiin the Shakespearean jdays and
poems, hut giving such illustiations of his jKx^tical gifts as lead
ilirivtiy to this conclusion. Mr. Ames has written and lectured
on this subject, for which he is well qualiiied l)y his knowledge
of Klizabethan literature. He is one of our most valued
champions. At the Hall of the Royal Society of Literature, I
heard (\anon l^eeching read a paper the object of which was to
refute the arguments of Mr. Greenwood in his masterly treatise,
" The Shakesjieare Question Ke-stated." It seemed to me that
Canon lieeching's paper was argumentatively feeble, and
needlessly censorious. ,Mr. Greenwood, who was present, had no
dillii-ulty in answering him. With Mr. Greenwood, besides
meeting him on this occasion, I have had much pleasant corre-
spondence. His work maj^ be regarded as a vade mecum for
Baconians. Although it is chiefly concerned with William
Shakspere as an impossible substitute for Paeon, it advocates
Paeon's claim with imanswerable force. Indeed, this is scarcely
neces-sary, except for the sake of making the argument complete.
As soon as the Stratford quasi-equivalent is removed. Paeon
necessarily steps into his place; there is no rival, althouiz:h one
or two others have been feebly advocated, especially l)y German
writers, Peter Avor and Karl Pleibtreu. Their advocacy of
Essex and Lord Montgomery are perfectly negligable quantities ;
no one that I have heard of either endorses or refutes them —
their literary olf.spring is born paralytic, quite unable to stand or
walk.
LXXIV. — Dr. Abbott.
I have had some correspondence and personal interviews with
Dr. Abbott. I saw him at tho City of London School, when
my second son was one of the boys. His edition of Bacon's
" Essays " gives much indirect Paconian argument, and his
introduction of Mrs. Pott's edition of the " Promus " shows
that our arguments have much impressed him. He is probably
a crj'pto-Baconian, though I have no positive evidence on this
point beyond my own impressions.
LXXV. — William Theobald.
My cousin, William Theobald, a few months older than my-
self, who died three years ago, was a learned scholar and a
REMINISCENCES. 83
staunch Baconian, and has brought lo tlie study of Shakespeare
an amount of classical knowledge never shown by any other
writer. His book, " The Classical Element in Shakespeare," is
his lasting monument. Like all such books, the classic refer-
ences are not all of equal validity. Some are probably quite
mistaken. But even these prove a classical atmosphere, both in
thought and expression. In this book no less than 130 books
or authors are referred to as containing passages which either
were, or might have been, sources of tiie corresponding passages
in Shakespeare, and he points to over one hundred passages
in Shakespeare which reflect passages in Ovid's " Metamor-
phoses," besides those in which other writings of Ovid are
reflected. My cousin's classical knowledge was first gained at
Harrow, and then increased by his own private study. He did
not study at any university, but lived in India and Burmah
most of his life, engaged in scientific research into the flora and
fauna of our Indian colonies.
LXXVL— G. Dawson. J. S. Mill. Chess. G. Macdonald.
In a few brief sentences I will refer to other interesting or
eminent persons whom I have known or heard speak. George
Dawson was gifted with remarkable powers of extemporaneous
discourse. He Avas fellow-student at Glasgow witli my uncle.
Dr. J. D. Morell, and at Glasgow he acquired his M.A. degree.
In the classes he was not particularly distinguished, but in the
debating society he was supreme. He became minister of the
Church of the Saviour at Birmingham, where I heard him
preach. The music there was admirable, the organ well played,
and the singing most delightful. I preached for him once, and
my text was, " A living dog is better than a dead lion," and the
choir sung Spohr's lovely melody, " Children pray this love to
cherish," as well as "Go when the morning shineth" to an
enchanting melody by Haydn.
The great and gifted philosopher John Stuart Mill lived very
near my residence at Blackheath, and I often saw him. I heard
him speak at St. Martin's Hall when he was candidate for tlie
Parliamentary representation of Westminster. His thoughtful
and instructive speech was listened to with admiration. At the
close he was vigorously heckled. Many questions were put,
some of which were intended to be posers, but no question
embarrassed him ; every one was answered with a fulness of
knowledge and depth of political thought, and an accuracy of
expression, as if he had made tliat particular topic his sp(^cial
study. I never know him personally, but often met Miss Helen
Taylor, his step-daughter, who was intimate with some liighly
intelligent patients of mine, the Lindley family. William
81 ki:mi\is('I"N(M"s.
Liiitlloy was nn arrliitoct ami civil ciij^iiu'iT. Iln lold nio that
tlio Cannon Slivct Station was const iiictcnl accordinjjj to hin
design, whether i^ivcn professionally or not 1 <lo not rcnicnihor ;
anil ho planned and superintended the execution of the watcM'-
works at Frankfort. Il(» was fairly Liberal, hut hated (llad-
stono, antl spoke of him with a rancour that shocked nic.
Probably (Jlatistone's theological orthodoxy alienated him from
William Lindley, ^vho was j)roft)undly sceptical — almost
atheistic. I was often at his house, where ho had parties for
chess, in which I tt)ok ])art. I iiave played with some of the
most noted of chess players, — Lowenthall, Steinitz, Hlackburn,
Bird, Zukertort, and olliers, and even on two rare occasions won
a j^ame of Lowenthal, and another of Blackburn ; but these
were pure acx?idents. These great players could give me a rook
or a knight and win, but the greatest players are liable to over-
sight. I won a game of the chess automaton at the Crystal
Palace. Gunsberg was the concealed player. I often saw ]\Ir.
3Iudie, the librarian, playing chess at Simpson's in the Strand.
I knew him well, and liad pleasant interviews with him, and
knew intimately some of ihe most influential gentlemen in his
establishment at New Oxford Street.
On several occasions I have lieard George Macdonald both
preach and lecture, and have had some personal intercourse with
him, — first at Manchester, before he won renown as a novelist,
but had published some poetry ; and afterwards at Kensington,
where I accosted him at the South Kensington Railway Station,
and reminded him of our meeting at Manchester. He thanked
me for stopping him and recalling the ]\lanchester meeting.
His Shakespeare lectures, especially on Lear and Hamlet, were
admirable and illuminating ; his poetry of an elevated tone,
both as to its poetic art and devout feeling. His preaching
was most inspiring, both intellectually and spiritually. He
was a truly great and noble man — a true poet, a real saint.
LXXVIL— Mrs. Resant. A. J. Scott. Sir H. Bishop.
Rev. W. T. D.wison.
I have repeatedly heard ]\Irs. Besant speak — a marvellously
gifted lady, fjuite unrivalled among ladies as a public speaker,
both for alUuence of thougiit and freedom of expression. Her
departure from the agnosticism of Bradlaugh, with whom she
was associated, to occult mysticism of theosophy, is a strange
and interesting story.
Professor A. J. Scott, principal of Owen's College, Manchester,
is a man whom I have frequently heard, and knew personally at
^Manchester. When I knew him first he was minister of a small
chapel at Woolwich, where an uncle of mine was one of his
REMINISCENCES. 85
constant hearers. I have heard him at Glasgow and London,
and his discourses were always couched in his highest vein of
philosophic thought.
Once I heard Sir Henry Bishop, whose song, " Bid me dis-
course," etc., besides his other vocal compositions, are well-
known. He lectured in Crosby Hall, where there was a literary
institution to which I belonged, singing his own songs to his
own accompaniment.
One of the noblest preachers I ever heard is the Rev. W.
Theophilus Davison, principal of the Wesleyan Training
College, Richmond. I heard him first at Scarborough, when
we were taking our usual summer holiday there, and his preach-
ing was so thoughtful and impressive that I went to a lecture
which he delivered a few days after on " The Friendship of
Books " (the title of one of Maurice's volumes). He occasion-
ally preaches at Blackheath, and I rarely fail to be present. He
is an interesting, scholarly man, author of some admirable books
and pamphlets on theological subjects. I have had some corre-
spondence with him, especially relating to Martineau, whom I
thought he somewhat undervalued, but the two are widely
separated, both in ecclesiastical position and in some of the
most vital points of Christian doctrine. Differences of opinion
in such men as these do not imply any personal hostility. It
is quite possible for one thinker not only to differ from another,
but to debate differences amicably and to profit by them.
LXXVin.— Dr. David Wilson. Dr. J. Kidd.
Among my own professional brethren I have been pleasantly
intimate with two, wide as the poles asunder — Dr. David
Wilson, a standi and stern homoeopathist, a faithful disciple of
Hahnemann, and Dr. Joseph Kidd, who is more associated with
the homoeopathic than the allopathic branch of the profession,
but who in truth is rather allopathic than homoeopathic. In
medical matters he is eclectic, rarely using any other medicines
than the crude tinctures ; it may be said of him tiiat ho uses
allopathic materials with homoeopathic applications. He believes
that more depends on the adjuncts of practice, skilful nursing
and regulated diet, than on any drugs. He never solves the
homoeopathic equation, selecting a drug corresponding exactly
to the case treated. I know him intimately and have repeatedly
met him in consultation, and in cases of illness in my family,
myself included, ho has either visited or treated us. In fertility
of medical and nursing expedients I have never met his equal,
and, if he is only nominally a homoeopath, ho must bo valued for
what he is, not for what he is not. lie is an excellent man,
benevolent, generous and devout, and in theology somewhat
G
}^6 RKMINISCRNOES.
allied to tho IMyinoutli Hrothrcn — the narrowest and inoBt
exclusive of all sects — and, so far aH tlieolo<^y and |)liiloso|)hy
are e(Hieerneil, I cannot juofess any j^rcat sympathy or admira-
tion for him ; and it has often appt'ared to me that men who are
greatly <:;if ted in practical and outward matters are exceptit)nally
delicient in iii^li thinkinfjj and philosi)phic insight. But there
is no human being without his limitations.
LXXIX. — My Experiences in Homceopathy.
I may here record one or two of my own personal experi-
ences in homoeopathy. On one occasion I was asked to come
out and see a man who had fallen on the pavement outside my
gate, and seemed to be very ill. I found a tall, gaunt-looking
man, deadly pale, and almost lifeless. As soon as ho had
somewhat revived, I stooped down and asked him what was the
cause of his collapse, and he replied that " it was only the cold
stage of ague.'' I asked some of the bystanders to help him
into my kitchen, and then I questioned him about his illness.
On reviewing his symptoms, I thought Brfjunia was the medi-
cine indicated, and I gave him at once a dose and a powder to
take Avith him, and asked him to see me again in a few days.
After a week or two ho came, looking absolutely well, strong
and radiant. The Bryonia cured the intermittent fever, and it
had never returned. At another time the same disease seemed to
point by its symptoms to Cina^ which surprised me, as Cina is
chiefly used in helminthiasis (worm diseases). Cina cured the
case at once. At another time Arsenicum seemed to mc to be
indicated, but it did no good, and, on more careful investiga-
tion. Sulphur appeared to be the right remedy, and it was
immediately successful. All these cases were treated with
transcendental — i.e., very infinitesimal — doses of the drug
indicated.
LXXX. — Slight Importance of Foolish or Extravagant
Advocacy.
I never have believed that either medical literature, or
Baconianism, or any other department of thought and action, is
materially injured by the mistakes and even frauds and absurdities
of some of its most conspicuous adherents. Baconianism is not
hurt by the tomfooleries of the inventors of cryptograms.
What is ingrained dishonesty \vithers before criticism. Error
dies and is soon forgotten ; the truth lives. Yet, even what
is false and fleeting may have its use in venti Hating the sub-
ject, and in provoking not only interesting discussion, but
investigation ; for anyone who attempts to expose or refute
whatever he thinks is bad or false must of necessity study the
REMINISCENCES, 87
whole question, and the fact soon emerges that any perversion
or unsound imitation is an unwilling testimony to the truth
which it caricatures or misrepresents.
LXXXI, — Rev. Walter Begley.
Too long, perhaps, have I waited before recording my
friendship with one of the most learned, genial and scholarly
men of his time — the Rev. Walter Begley. He was first and
best known by his discovery of Milton's " Nova Solyma,"
which he published in two volumes, with plentiful comment
and annotation. Another book which he unearthed and pub-
lished in facsimile was " Cromwell's Soldier's Catechism." Only
two copies of this book are known to exist. Begley edited it,
with an excellent and learned preface. He also published the
" Biblia Cabalistica," " Biblia Anagrammatica," and " Brevi-
arium Anagrammaticum," most remarkable books, whicli were
introduced and circulated by Mr. Begley. There is a vein of
mysticism in them all, somewhat resembling that of Thomas
Lake Harris, whom Mr. Begley greatly admired. Then fol-
lowed his first Baconian work — " Is It Shakespeare ? " and he
answers the question by the assertion of Bacon's claim. His
last book, indeed posthumous, is Bacon's " Nova Resuscitatio,"
a learned Baconian book in three volumes. For a year or two
before his death, in 1905, I had frequent and cordial corre-
spondence with him, and he sent me some of his later books.
Early in 1905 he wrote, " My nose is constantly bleeding. Can
you suggest any remedy ? " This was irresistible ; I promptly
sent him what I hoped would relieve. I had no more letters
from him, except to say that ophthalmia was added to the
epistaxis, and he could not see well enough to write at any
length. Some weeks afterwards his excellent and devoted nurse
wrote, "Mr. Begley is relieved by your medicine and values it
highly. Can you come and see him?" I did so about the
end of May, 1905, and was in constant attendance till he
died, early in December, and I followed in his funeral. It
was soon apparent that the patient was suffering from can-
cerous growths in the nasal passages and orbits, and was
hopelessly diseased. When I visited him, I found a nobk>
looking clerical gentleman, seated in an easy chair, with a
diaper suspended from his neck to catcii the peri)etual drip of
blood from his eyes and nose. Nothing arrested the
haemorrhage except frequent applications of lunar caustic.
Soon after he was bedridden, with general loss ol" po\v(M- and
gradually and constantly increasing stuix)!'. The " Nova
Resuscitatio " had been sent to the printer's, but Mr. liegloy
could not revise or even see the proof sheets, and it was
brought out under my supervision. It is a learned and
P?5 RRMINI8CENCE8.
(>rii;ii)al h^M^]{., and indicatos sovoral h(X>ks as written by Bacon,
but not boforo known to bo his. Mr. Ht'^Icy was a chiUUess
w ulowor and livrd at a house in West llanipstead, full of books
in all the iiH>ms and all the passages — many of them rare and
of fjreat value. After his death liis library was sold by auction,
and fetched over .tSOO, and was wortli at least three times as
much. Several of these b(xiks are now in my library, and by
the sale of du|)licates I pained more than I spent for all the
"lots" of b(xiks which I purchased. liegley had been a
village clergyman, but retired from clerical work and devoted
himself to lit(>rature. He describes himself as Scholar, liou-
quineur, l}ou(|uinist, Bibliophile and Bibliographe, a student of
books, a collector of l)ooks, a possessor of books, a lover of
books, and a writer of books. I possess many unpublished
MSS., some of which have appeared in liaconiana. I do not
think the rest are likely to become public property.
Note to Section X.
^fR. Jacks, in his book "Among the Idol-Makers," has a chapter
on George Marsh which is thus described in a review in the
Xation : —
" The Story of George Marsh : His Painful Efforts and Lifelong Failure
to be Converted." These experiences closely resemble those which I
experienced when under the influence of John Angell James The
reviewer quotes the following description of them :^" At seventeen,
the age at which conversion may be expected, he is placed in the
hands of a pious Simeonite, who has reduced the whole subject to the
precision of a mechanical diagram. Amongst its primarj^ conditions is
Repentance, and George was here gravelled for lack of matter: he was
an innocent, simple lad, and, like the young gentleman at Horace's wine
party, could recall no peccadilloes serious enough to breed remorse. He
is told that he is not to feel anguish over specific sins, but over his
calamitous condition as a fallen creature, so in his prayers that night
he repents in dust and ashes as a miserable sinner ; but waking next
morning particularly jolly, and being, above all things, an honest fellow,
he says, ' O Lord, it is a lie ; I am not at all miserable.' He reads
Bunyan, and prays the Devil to come out and fight him, but Apollyon
declines the combat. He meets with the vision of the Solitary in ' The
Excursion," being by this time at Oxford, and actually visits the spot in
the Lakes whence the Wanderer is supposed to have beheld it ; but ' the
stream will not flow and the hill will not rise.' He learns from ' Litera-
ture and Dogma ' that the secret of life is Conduct touched with Emotion.
The Conduct is attainable, but the Emotion will not come : the New
Birth, with its attendant spiritual joy, celestial insight, conscious accept-
ance, is aa remote as ever. He writes a book on the Psychology of
Religion ; it converts many readers, but leaves its author unconverted.
The close is ver>- beautiful ; in talk with Diogenes on his deathbed,
George finds that he has been converted all his life without knowing it."
EOBEHT BANKS ANU BON, RACQUET COURT, FLEET STREET.
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