SWINBURNE'S FRIEND.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 550, 3 July 1909, Page 12

SWINBURNE'S FRIEND.

\Mr. Theodore Watti-iJunton, to whom Swinburne left his is one of \ho moat fascinating personalities m the world ot letters. Kossotti onco said ot him, "He seeks ob&cuiity as otb,er meu seek tome,' 1 and this explains 'to borne extent his willingness to ailttei eclipse order to hvo tor many years as the uc\oteu iriend and conhdant of tho great puet whose death occurred a few weeks eince. Mr. Watts-Dunwu is himself a poet ot considerable ponci, 'and an unrivalled critic. Early |in hto bo practised as a solicitor, giyipg only his leisure time to hteraturo, but when 06 years ot age he cama up to London a.nd began to write regularjy for the London press, The "wonderful treatise on tho poetry of all countries," which he contributed to tho " Bnoyclopaodia," Bntannioa" has been described as htorary otown of that vast work, and tho greatest thing that has boon done in onticism since Goethe." His famous novel ""Aylwin," written soveral yeajs' , bofore it was published, and originally entitled "The Renascence of Wonder," evoked the glowing admiration, of tho many distinguished fnen,Ja ,imong whort) it W4s at first privately circulated, but tho author hesitated abont'entrusting it to tho general public. Fortunately, tho instantaneous success of Mr. Watts-Dunton's poem. "The Coming of Lovo," on'jts publication in 1897 led h,im to roiloct that if a poem dealing with gipsies could attain popularity a novel on a similar theme would bo still more likely to do sq. But neither publisher nor author was. prepared for the enthusiastic welcomo which the book received when it appeared in 1898. The firs,t edition was exhausted in a few days, and since then oyer a hundred thoneand copies havo been sold. The character of Sinfi Lovell in fhat story was dr\wn from Jife, and was immediately recognised by the gipsies themselves. "Aylwin" has already become a classic.

•• DONT!" Speaking at the anniversary dinnpr o f the Eoyal Library Fu.qd, Mr. Apdrcw Lang sa|c) they were listening {a the vqico. of prta w|iq, without false pride, but wjth fhe modest certainty ?f long experience, could describe hjrpfiftlf as a truly unpopolar "PtW TJuu

ho could display to thorn the seamy Bide of jihe profession of authorship! Lot them n.ot • suppose that they heari| the voice of envy; \he prizes pf which he meant novels, of fourao—were tlio bo 4 desorved in jhe world. Fnnn/Hbniflr, to the story-teller in a fourpenny -magazine, ha bestowed his benison on al] etory-tollers as lojig as they kept to their business and did not profess fo be pubjio instructors, instead of 'public amusers. jt was the purpoao of the Royal Jjiterary Fund tip aid authors who needed assistance, and all of thorn who woro not jiovolists were.apt to'need'it. ' ■ ; : His adviqe to the ardent youth who thought of coramenpiiig authorship iu tho field of history, poetry; th.o .essay, pritioisiri, (inthropologj, and :bo forth was, "Don't."- Their "richest men and wqmen, who denied themselves nothing, else, defied thomsplves bpokfl. It had : bosn ' that only 20 per cent., of tho qommop nQye(s at 6s. was bought by private purchasers', oirculating. libraries took |he other 80 per cgnt.:•'•:••The!- sevenppnny npyel was hanging over their heads,'and the public was being taught that no book gHoultf cost more than Bevenponco. : He need, got' point out to tho mathematician that tho result to the must bo ruin. In the .meantime, whilo thq public was thrifty in bobkbuyjrig, tho proT fessibn of authorship ought to be avoided byaUwho'had not othor. means of support. '•': The'toast" pf "literature" w«s given by - Sir Edward Clarke, who. remarked; pn tb,e ad T vantage of cheap books. 'For a few po\indß thg pQorest student or working man.migh,t obtain a library, which a hundred or a hundred and fifjy years ago could. scarcely ha,ve been'pdsßossed by.a mqp of.wpalth. ,

NOTES, Tho intimation of a pocket edition, of tho "English Men of Letters" suggests two questions that ofton crop up in conversation. Oao is whether the now series is quito on 0 level of merit with the old The answer may safoly bo (says the "Manchester Guardian' , ) a modihod affirmative, for if Raleigh's f'Sh_akspero" docs, not cqme up to Church's "Spenser," Leslie Stephen's or Myers's "Wordsworth," it makes a good second Moreover, Ine avorago is quito as high, ami there are no such disqpppintmqnts aa Button's ''Soott" or TroUopp's eray." The other relates to tho completeness of tho series It is still extending Those who that tho reason, wjiy was no volume pn Ben Johnson waa that in tho library of '"English Worthies/' edited by Mf Lang, John Addington had ala book pn fbat poet w ill be glad to pptico that Professor Gregory Smith is now writing a monograph for tho "English Men of Letters," In the same way, may expect a treatment; of Sir Richard Steele, although Mr. Lang's library included a biography by 5Jr Austin Dobson If, however, J|ie- ser|e.s o.lms at oven relative will require to contain a number 'of comppsito volumes There are many English writprs who, while J far too oxcellent to, bo ignored, ooul4 not furnish matter enough for 3 wholo volume They could be handled by batches Thus an issuo devoted to a quarttotto pf the'Metaphysicn,! school, one to poets of tho reigns of Charles or Jantes, and so on would fill up many painful blanks and supply many "felt wants " Ono may hopo the ing 18 not too' "groovy" to adopt such an irnovation. • Lecturing on the "Proso of Burke" at % Royal Institute tho other day, Professor Raleigh had some amnsing thinga to say about what he called "the advertising style" —style that has no personal or colour of the soul ''Macauloy has a good advertising style, he has one thesis to pvoye, Thq modem journalist is tho pupil, the creature, of Macaulay Ho has hia emphasis, his clearness, and his complete satisfaction with wmo point of view dictated by party or by the. necessities of tho, moment, and he has his perfectly admirablo halanc? and, conciseness We should have said (comments "Tho ISation") that both Dickers and Carlylo havo had almost aa much influence on journalistic styje aa Macaulay. though noither had "tho advertising style," if by this we, moan that they did not put much of themselves in,to their 'writings. There is,, by tho way, an amusing reference, to Burke, in ono of Horace Walpole's,letters "I dined with your secretary yesterday," ho tells George. Montagu "There were Garriok and a young Mr Burke, who wrote a book in the style of Lord Bollngbroke th,at was,much admired J Ho ib a sensible maHj but has not worn pf hjs author(sxa yet, and, thinks there 13 nothing)so charming as writers, and tq be ono. , ' Probate has been granted of the will of Swinburne, tho estate being valued at £34,282 The villi, a ehprt tjjpewritton document, dated February, roads as follows:—"I, Algernon Charles Swinourno, of s The . Putney Hill, in tho County of Surrey, Enquire, declare this to bo my last ■will 1 devise and, all my prpperty whatsoever and whercsoyer, both"" real and personal, to , Walter Theodore Watts-Dunton, of "fno Pines, , Putney Hill, aforesaid, and I appoint\him to be the solo oxecutor. In witness whereof, I, the said Algernon Charles Swinburne, have to tfiis m J wiU sot my hand "this third day of ?ebru,ary, qne thoueand nine hundred and four." The estates left by other pqote in recent years' are as follow:—Lord Tennyson, £57,206; Mr. Robert Browning, £18,775; Jlr. Matthew Arnpld, £1040; Mr. , Frederick Locker Lampson,' £30,419; Mr. Coventry Patmoro, £8777; and Mr. Wilfiam Morrie, £55,069.

The mysteries of history are endless, and now a book is announced to prove that Gibbon was "Junius? , Farqpus men seom to have hoen averse from advertising in'former days/ to havo been as obscure as the Man in tho Iron Mask. Homer was probably aomo. other man of the same name, if ho was not, as Samuel Butlor averred, a, woman. Sbakespoaro was Bacon, Charlotte Elronto wa.s hpi brother —but "Junius" has always been a nuzzle, though Mqeaulay wag quite euro (m ho was sure of everything) he was Sir Philip Francjs. Anyhow, Francis was so bored questions about it th,at he ro-' signed his membership of Brook's Club. So long as tho thing is done and "remains (tho Gazette" observes), tho noma of the doer matters little, as httlo as if Salmon wore; Gluckstein or Gluckatein were Salmon. ' " i