SIR A. T QUILLER COUCH.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 854, 28 June 1910, Page 5

SIR A. T QUILLER COUCH.

AM" APPRECIATION. Apropos of the distinction accorded f 'Q," the well-known novelist, an "Old Echool-fellow" writes:— Host unexpected of new literory iknights, Sir A. T. Quiller Couch is none .the less most acceptable. Whatever the. most varied claims of tho monarchs of ithe Isle of Man and the Kailyard, there .lives no more graceful master of the English language than "Q." Even when chosen for that difficult and thankless task, the completion of the, story of a. dead genius, he was equal to R. L. Stevenson. "Q"' has, lived an ideal literary life. As a schoolboy at Clifton, under Dr. Perciv'al, now Bishop of Hereford, he wrote gracefully for "Tho Cliftonian." At. Clifton, too, "Dead Eock" was commenced, a mere "idle effort of idle.' hours," as . he himself phrased it. At Clifton he was the companion of Robert Hichens, then hovering between music (under the guidance of Risely,. the Bristol organist) and literature (journalism then) as professions. At Clifton he was immensely, popular ompng masters and boys, and that, irresistible popularity. he carried gracefully to' Trinity College, Oxford, where he at once ' became a personage. At Oxford, •"Q," the scholar,, marked out to be a don of weight, gave "Dead Man's Rock", light-heartedly' to a delighted public, which at once took him from "Don-dom." Oxford lost a scholar, who might havo been a very great scholar, to give the world a master novelist. Since Oxford, ■f'Q" has been content with his own Cornwall. At Fowoy he reigns as literary autocrat of the duchy. Yachting is ' his great hobby—after writing., He is commodore of the Fowey Club, a very notable club, and 'is himself a fine seaman. "Q," also—and. this is least of his virtues—is the kindest , and most gracious of advisers and friends for young writers to go to. .'.. ...