Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters Volume I Part 20

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Riedenburg, _Feb_. 20, 1847.

"I have often had the unpleasant office of inflicting you with my troublesome affairs, but perhaps never before has it been my lot to have such a necessity under the same sad _circ.u.mstances_ I now do.

"I have just learned, as much to my amazement as my horror, that Hugh Baker has fled from his home and family owing to money embarra.s.sments so great as to be overwhelming. What the amount may be I cannot even hazard a guess, but I suspect and believe it to be considerable.

"I neither am aware of how, when, or where he expended the large sums attributed to him, for I well knew that the family, who derived great advantage from the Inst.i.tution, practised for several years past every suitable economy, so that they are in no wise to blame for this shocking calamity. Of course the upshot is that he will be dismissed the first meeting the Board may have, and it only remains to be seen if his mother, now old and infirm, can continue to hold her situation. Several years back Hugh obtained Mrs B.'s unwilling permission to sell an annuity of 100 settled upon her,--the proceeds of which, and several hundred pounds besides in bank, he has made away with.

"No one knows anything now--whither he has fled, or what future course he purposes for himself. Meanwhile I believe the family are in circ.u.mstances so straitened--he having taken away every pound in the house--that even the most trifling a.s.sistance is called for. Will you, then, see Mrs B. or Miss Baker, and let them have 15 from me? I grieve to say I cannot do more at the moment, but my own position is one of grave anxiety. My present literary engagement ends in June. I have formed none other,--nor can I possibly, without the expense and inconvenience of a journey to London,--so that my income ceasing suddenly, and no exact or certain date of its renewal before me, I am--not unreasonably--anxious and uneasy.

"I looked to some arrangement of the disputed matter with Curry as the probable means to eke out the year, not intending to begin another serial till January 1848. This chance appears as remote as ever. C. & H. estimate at 600 to 800 the value of copyrights, for which Curry proposes 200,--this even irrespective of my claims on the score of 'Hinton' being sold without my consent, &c.

"Before leaving Ireland I paid 185 to save Hugh Baker from arrest, he averring that he had no other debts in the world. I gave him 57 more, in addition to various sums of 10 and 20 at different times during my residence in Templeogue. I also, as you are aware, paid from 38 to 40 per annum since my absence, and now the utter uselessness of these--to me, a working man--dreary sacrifices has completely overwhelmed me.

"It is only just to tell so old and true a friend as you that my wife, while deeply feeling for their miseries and willing to restrict her own expenditure to any extent to relieve them, has never given me the least encouragement to take their burthen on me, and has on every occasion done her utmost to stop unreasonable expectations, or what might a.s.sume the shape of claims.

"The announcement of this misfortune has come suddenly and without warning upon us. We believed--and with fair grounds--that we had removed the difficulties arising from past imprudence, and now we are to learn that all our sacrifices only deferred the stroke. If I seem too n.i.g.g.ard, or if, when you visit Mrs B. (and your visit will be taken as that of my oldest, truest friend), you find that this trifle is inadequate to the relief of the pressure, pray make it 5 or 10 more,--and with G.o.d's blessing I'll sit up an hour or so later for some time and pull it up.

"I scarcely have heart to ask you how you like my 'Knight' since last I heard. [?These] hard rubs clash too rudely on the spirits to give any zest for the sorrows of tale-writing or reading; and the trade of fiction-weaving is never more distasteful than when its mock excitements are placed side by side with flesh and blood afflictions. I am well weary of it!

"If I could resume relations with M'G. for a serial in his Mag. on fair terms I would soon pull up the leeway, but I am at a loss to guess the Scotchman's _tactiques_."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

"Bregenz, _March_ 14,1847.

"I am shocked by the want of common candour--common honesty--you experienced in your kind visit paid in my name. It was not true that H.

B.'s [? difficulty] was temporary--far from it. He is by this time at New Orleans, and so far from any amelioration in their affairs, I sincerely believe they cannot be worse. These are sad topics and sadder confessions, but I cannot afford to be misunderstood by _you_, and neither zeal nor false shame shall prevent me from telling the truth.

"As regards our part--and it is of that I must think princ.i.p.ally,--I believe that the best thing is, without making any definite pledges of aid, which to an income so precarious and uncertain as mine are always onerous, to contribute when and what we can; and although I know and feel all the great objections to a system which cannot check and may encourage unwarrantable expectations from us, and (I own I think now of ourselves) this plan would not have the apparent pressure of a positive debt,--if the world goes fairly well with us we will not be less generous in this way than we should have been just in the other.

"For the present there is no need of further interference; and I never hugged the aphorism, 'Sufficient for the day,' &c., with more satisfaction.

"As to Curry. The a/cs furnished were no a/cs. On the contrary, C. & H.

p.r.o.nounced them, on the test of a London accountant, 'mere swindles.'...

My hope is not to sell but to obtain some channel of purchase of the copyrights back again--in London (not C. & H., who have now begun a cheap issue of d.i.c.kens that will last some years),--and by a new and cheap edition, with notes, &c., make a better thing of it.

"I cannot say how anxiously I look to hearing from you about M'G. The whole thing has a gloomy aspect--that is, my present state of relations in Dublin and London gives me very grave alarm.

"I am glad my 'Knight' holds his ground with you. I trust I have not vulgarised the book merely by introducing low people, but I felt that mere nominal poverty could never be the full load of affliction high-born and high-minded people would experience in a fallen condition, and I was led to lay stress on the fact that altered social relations--inferior a.s.sociations--are heavier evils than brown bread and weak congou.

"I knew--I felt while I wrote it, with a heart very full--that the verse of my poor father's song would touch you.

"It is strange enough that the habit of describing emotions and sentiments in fiction should have heightened to a most painful degree my own susceptibilities, so that I really am as weak as a girl, and far more unable to buffet against the rocks of life than when, as a doctor, I encountered them really and bodily. Half a dozen years may have had its share in this, but only its share. Besides, we have been living a very retired solitary life,--my only neighbours are an old Austrian general and his staff. I have therefore been doing with my thoughts what they say has deteriorated Spanish n.o.bility--ruining them by frequent intermarriage.

"I am also fretted by a kind of vague consciousness that I have better stuff in me than I have yet shown; and though I was just as often disposed to regret as to indulge this belief, the confession will not entirely leave me, acting like a blunt spur on a lazy horse,--enough to irritate him but not to increase his speed."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Hotel Bain, Zurich, _March_ 20, 1847.

"Your most welcome letter came after me here, where, in the vague pursuit of a less expensive residence, I have come, intending by reason of late events to shorten sail, not knowing what weather may be in store for us.

"M'Glashan's [? offer of] arbitration promises well, but you are quite right not to concede the acknowledgment of the a/c as a preliminary. My object would be far rather to buy than to sell, but Curry asks 2500 for his interest,--nearly as much as he gave me originally. If we could induce him to make a reasonable demand, I think I could induce a publisher to treat for the books, so that I would be more disposed now simply to press the 'Hinton' settlement, which, according to the a/c you have sent me, is a complete puzzle--2000 being rated as 1000 copies (as you have yourself observed).... I believe M'Glashan intends fairly by me, but, from a careless remark of Hugh Baker, he fancied he was to be immediately examined before a Master in Chancery, and with native prudence [he] abstained from opening any correspondence in the conjuncture.... Chapman's letter will show you _his_ opinion of the trickery the Currys are attempting. He--Chapman--said 800 would not be more than a fair sum for my interest,--all claims of 'Hinton' being previously settled to my satisfaction.... M'O.'s estimate of Chapman (Hall is since dead) is perfectly correct. They are, as indeed is every bookseller of the London trade that I have conversed with, very inferior to M'G. himself in natural acuteness and knowledge of books, book-writers, and book-readers. He is without question the very ablest man in his walk, and--now that Blackwood* is gone--far above Murray, Colburn, Longman, and the rest of them; and in London, and with capital, would beat them hollow."

* William Blackwood, founder of the firm.

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

"Riedenburg, _April_ 13, 1847.

"M'Glashan is so far fair that he says he insisted that in my share of half profits the expense counted against me should be limited to the mere paper and press-work, and not the eleventh part of the whole original cost--authorship, engraving, stereotyping, &c. Now the question is, Is this the spirit and meaning of the a/c now furnished?*

* The letter enclosing Curry's a/c had not yet reached Lever. It had gone to Zurich (or via Zurich).--E. D.

"Am I then credited with all my due and debited with no more than my due? I ask this because, in my ignorance of figures, I shall be little the wiser when the a/c is before me.

"I am so far of opinion that it would be well not to couple any proportion for buying or selling with the settlement of a/cs, and for this reason: that no sum Curry could be induced to give me _now_ would be a fair compensation for my share of the profits of a reissue,--without which speculation in view he would never have made his present steps to obtain the sole copyrights,--and I am not in a position to repurchase the books, though if Curry would put a fair price on them I believe I could effect, through another, some arrangement on the subject....

"Lastly, if Curry does not make me a suitable offer to buy or to sell, and if he intends a reissue, then comes another feature of the case worth consideration, and which would all depend on the spirit and temper he may show. What arrangement could be made for the new edition appearing with revival prefaces, &c., by me? This, of course, is a last of all results.

"As to M'G., his letter is possibly a very candid and honest _expose_, but I have limited myself to the observation already quoted. With regard to the Magazine he has made a proposal--i.e., he has asked me to name my terms for a contribution of some length. I have done so, wishing to open sources of profit to myself by what I may term 'irresponsible labour'; for I really am tired of seeing my name before the public, and more than tired of the anxiety for success each new acknowledged book brings along with it. I scarcely suppose he will accede to my terms, which are sharp ones; but less than I have asked I cannot accept, because such would at once influence my treatment by others. I'll send him my first paper at once....

"We are about to move into Italy next month. I have taken a villa--a most beautifully situated thing--on the Lake of Como, where we have been last week, having crossed the Alps in twelve feet of snow,--a journey of more adventure and danger than you can well conceive.

"I intend to remain there till November--possibly the whole winter; but if not, we shall move down to Florence or Rome. Como, independent of its beauty, of which I really had formed no conception (it is Killarney with a tropical vegetation,--the aloe, the olive, the fig, pomegranate, with the cactus and magnolia growing wild), offers me the facility of visiting all the north of Italy by easy excursions,--Milan only four hours off, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Venice itself--all available. We shall have ample time to exchange some letters before I leave, and I only mention my plans now as to the reasons of my prompt reply to M'G., wishing to make up my future contract before I place the High Alps between myself and the printing-press."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Riedenburg, Bregenz, _April_ 16, 1847.

"It does not signify that Curry has not kept any separate a/cs of the cost of all copies above 10,000. It is easy to make the deduction requisite to such an understanding.

"M'G. and Chapman both concur in stating that I am only to be charged with the cost price and not the eleventh part of the whole original cost--that is, I am only chargeable with paper and press-work, and not with any of the cost of author, engraver, &c. These are M'G.'s words to me in a letter of last week. Chapman's words are as follows:--

"'By their own showing they owe you 280 to the end of Aug., but you have to dispute this, on the ground that only paper and print are to go to form the cost of the volumes, whereas they charge you authorship, engravings, in fact, everything from the beginning,--making the dry cost per vol. to be 4s. and a fraction.'