SLEANINQS FROM LITERARY TREASURES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 16 July 1910, Page 9

SLEANINQS FROM LITERARY TREASURES.

'. .- This.is. theigreat season for literary tuctiqn sales in London, says the "Book Monthly" for_.June, andSothe-J b/s new ; catalogues i arp \vortlv consulting,' not by\ the.',.b'uyerhmV book ' treasures, -but ;by: the. oilier' man ':' whe . likes to read -things which- ha ye. .never been printed, before. ~:■,-';' ■• '.;.'• ?'•';', .. Now; ia one' catalogue wo 'come on » new. letter by'..Byron, written''from Venico' in October,"-1819, '"to his;sister "Augusto Leigh.' The sense of.it is, that he, wished the produce of the Newstead sale to,be invested in some other security than the funds because he thought the political situation precari- \ OUS. .•:■'■■ ';-..-' i . "If," he wrote, "there is to he a scene in England—to which all seems approaching—by • the violence of the political parties—you will probably see me in .'England in : the. next spring— ] . but ,1 -.have'not decided on the part I-ought" to take. They say in Italy— that 'Che' nasce Patrizio, iuuore Pat- . rizio'—and. lam "not democrat enough to ljlie : a tyranny of blackguards—such fellows .Ss Bristol. Hunts are a choice of evils with. Castlereagh—except that ■. a ■ gentleman scoundrel; is always pre- > ferable.-'to a vulgar one. To me it ap- ■ pears that you are on the eve ; of a revolution—which won't be made with rosewate'r, however. If so I will be one. As Listen .says, 'I love a row.'." In the'same catalogue-we find ter of August, 1766; .'to'"John Evelyn;. the diarist, in whose -haiidwritiiig.it :is endorsed-as follows :'■ "From Mr. Cowley; with his poeme-dedicated to me," ■■ which reference 'is to Cowley's noem, "The Garden." ' ' •, . '•'I write this note," the-letter runs,' ''only to excuse the length of ye en- ' - closed _ letter' and . therefore should do very, ill,'if-L.wero long here too. I should; have Teturned-you sooner .my! humble thanks for' ye great honour you have bin pleased to do me, but yet all entercours_. of our boats here with London has"- bn interrupted of .' late by ye men's fear, of becing Prcst, and I am not so ridiuuously vain as to . imagine yt any thing from nice could deserve ye/ .semling of a man' on pur- .' pose with it." ■ , . Cowley's communication,, it should be added, was written from- Chcrtsoy, which. explains the allusions, to boats, for; in those days the Thames had its .'. fleet which.alas, it has not now! Again wehavo an epistle by Evelyn himself written on Juile 19, 1661, to ..his wife, recommending her to prosecute her interest at Court. "It is believed," he advised her.' "that it would bo convenient you now '• improv'd your 'interest.'afresh, and made another attempt ;for the King's promise, 'in re-I .. guard it is certaine that sister of'my ti, of _Bathes has lately a confirmation ■of which she pretended too, so it.seems his Matie dos now begin to declare and owne the favours which he bestows. •In this affaire is ho tyme to be lost and therefore consult ; yr friends and make more if you can, etc... . ." .' -It is explained to us that Evelyn's wife was the only-daughter, of Sir B. Brown, .the famous diplomatist. Evelyn evidently considered that she had a, claim on the.King's bounty owing :to her father's impoverishment in the . Royal service. .--■-. "We turn to another Sotheby cata. .logue of the season, and we come upon a letter .written by Alexander Pope; . tho.'pQct, to.a contemporary and friend, . Lord .Polwarth. ..The letter'is quaintly dated from "Mr. Allen's. Bath, Jan. 10th, 1739," and it reads: "You; cannot think how ' threo months of this winter have thinn'd ray ' correspondence; the loaves have dropp'd off more and more each week. The world about St. Jamds's c'ou'd not faster forget a- retired minister; but T. .'think I can forget that AVorld much easier than he could do. I am learning Horace's Verse:— . "In unambitious silence bo my lot, Yet ne'er a friend forgetting till- forgot!" "You are reduced to philosophy, as Bohligbrokc was before you," says Pope in another' letter which now 1 goes to the hammer. Then by contrast there are; several letters from Bolingbrokc in which lie'alludes to Pope. In one written shortly after the poet's death lie . says, "It would bo a breach of that trust 'which Pope reposed in mo to give to any one such of his papers as 1 think that no one. should see." "If," he continues, and the allusion'is to the first Duke of Marlborough and his wife, "there are any that may be injurious to the lato Duke or to her Grace, even indirectly and covertly, as I hope there are not, thoy shall be destroyed and you shall be a witness of their destruction." Especially interesting is a series of eight autograph letters, four signed, ■the'remainder unsigned, all addressed by Pope to Lord Marchmout, between ' 1740 and 1743. Speaking of his own literary career he says: "I'may tell you that I am determined to publish no more in my life-time for many reasons, but principally through the zeal I have to speak the 'whole truth,' and neither to-praise or dispraise by halves or with worldly managements. J think fifty an age at which to write no longer for amusement, but for •somo use, and that designed to do some good. J never'had 'any uneasy desire.of fame or keen resentment of injuries."

We come in the catalogue upon a letter by Margaret, Duchess -of Burgundy, the. wife of Charles the Hold, 'which, suggests, the name of William Caxton, for she was "his patroness. "In. 1-169," notes the editor of the catalogues, "Caxton entered her service, exactly. in what capacity is unknown, and having more leisure than he had in his position of Governor of the Merchant Adventurers, he devoted a good deal of his time and energies to literature. 'When'he presented his' translation, of the .'Reeucil des Histoires do Troy' to his patroness in 1471, lie found that others of high vault wanted copies also, which induced him to set up his first press at Bruges." It is worth noting that the watermark on the paper containing .tho Duchess's letter appears to ho the same as found on paper used by Caxton, and it is, or course, quite likely that ho obtained writing-paper from his patroness. A number of'papers of one kind or another come on tho market by William Peiin, ,tho founder of. Pennsylvania, who Was an author as well a's an empire-maker. "Writing to one correspondent ho says, "Remember it, with ye ancients, tho heart recommended tho ■offering." But 1 , an American, who is nearer to us in point of years' and af-fection,-claims more attention than Penn; that is to say, Marion Crawford,: whoso library is being • dispersed at Sotheby's. You have only to glance overdue titles of the many volumes offerred, to see that hero, wo have the library of a working, novelist. Only two' presentation copies are to- be found among the entries, and they wore both works given to Mrs. Marion Crawford. One is. a copy of "Longfellow's Life, Journals and Correspondence," which Samuel Longfellow edited; the. other George Augustus Sala's "Life and' Adventures," which has this inscription on the title-page: "Mrs. Marion Crawford, from George Augustus Sala, one of the very earliest critics and the sincere admirer of her distinguished husband, Rome, 7-2-95." No doubt Marion -Crawford, whoso friendships like his literary ' activities were many,, received lots of . presentation .'books" from brother writers, and it is pleasant 'to think, as no doubt we arc entitled .to think;--that these will remain connected with his family. ' His" working library seems to have consisted of always good and sometimes rare editions, generally early editions of the-works which _a popular novelist would gather about him, alike as a result of his own taste and reading, and: as a helpful agency to him:in his any ,thorship; Marion Crawford had all great historians, Gibhon," Macaulay,' and so on. He travelled much himself and was fond of• travel, and wc find among his books those of Borrow and Dii Chaillu.. He apparently also read "the great .novelists,- for wo. conic,' iipon editions ■ and'; many .volumes'; of Lytton-,' Feiiniinoro.. Cooper,: Stevenson, and other-' great, .writers -.of fiction. , Works referring in. one way. or. another to 'England,. America, ; and.: Italy arc, apart, froni. what . has'.neen ; said, the three, most -notable classes., in Marion..Crawford's:library He'liad a copy of the. first edition of. "Our Mutual Friend," with Marcus Stone's illustration's, an' edition which, takes us back to' the year 1865. It is a pity that such, treasures as'. Marion Crawford gathered together- should now bo dispersed, hut on such an occasion there is always the consolation that the books which gave joy to him will, in their turn, give joy. to many others- ,