Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters Volume I Part 30

"Your letter reached me in the very nick of a negotiation of which Charley was the object. The Messrs Sandell, the Engineers to whom the Tuscan and some other of the Italian railroads have been conceded, have made me an offer to take him as a pupil and make him a C.E. I hesitated when first the proposition reached me, and I thought it was possible he might possess talents likely to win college honours and distinction, and make a fair chance of what follows on them. I find that this is less likely than I had believed; that his natural indolence requires the spur of a personal interest to stimulate it,--and this probably a real career may effect. He certainly likes the notion greatly, and appears as if the choice was really what he himself would have made. I accepted, therefore, and he does not return to Ireland. G.o.d grant that I may have done wisely what I have done maturely and after much reflection.

"I shall be chargeable with Charley's expenses for two years certain; after that I hope he will contribute to them himself. Though it was certainly advisable he should have encountered the rough-and-tumble of a school, yet probably I should not have incurred the great outlay had I antic.i.p.ated only this opening. However, it may be all for the best.

"In my career through life I have made what are popularly called many valuable acquaintances, but I can safely aver that I could not to-morrow get my son made a policeman or letter-carrier, with all my fine friends and t.i.tled a.s.sociates, and the offer of Messrs Sandell is the one solitary instance of a kindness in this wise I have ever met with. From what Mr S. tells me, I shall have to pay something like a hundred per annum for a couple of years. He will be stationed in Italy at various places, and Cha. will be at his headquarters, wherever that may be.

"J. Sandell is a pupil of Stevenson, and reputed to be a man of great knowledge of his profession. His offer to me was spontaneous and made in the most flattering manner, so that, everything considered, I should feel that I was not doing a prudent thing to reject it.

"Cha. tells me that Guillemand at the most can only take a quarter's salary for want of a previous notice of withdrawal, but I should deem him exceedingly shabby if he wanted _that_....

"We are here boating and bathing and swimming and salting ourselves all day long. It is the most enjoyable spot of the most enjoyable land, and we have a house five miles distant from any other, on the edge of the sea, and approachable only by boat. I cannot, however, write a line, for our whole time is spent on the water. What's to be done with K. J. and Mrs D., Heaven knows!

"I suppose you may have seen Maxwell. He is, or ought to be, in Ireland by this time. This affair of Charles was only decided upon this afternoon, and I don't lose a post in letting you know about it.

"I am greatly pleased at your opinion of 'The Dodds,' since through all its absurdity of incident and situation I have endeavoured to convey whatever I know of life and the world. I by no means intend to endorse as my own every judgment of K. J., but I mean that many of his remarks are, so far as I am capable of saying, just and correct, and when he does blunder, it is only for the sake of preserving that species of characteristic which should take off any appearance of dogmatism or pretension when speaking of more important subjects.

"As to the [? criticism] about foreigners and the Continent generally, I a.s.sure you I have not the courage to tell the things that have come under my own notice, while foreign notions of England are equally, if not more, ridiculous. I am quite prepared to hear 'genteel people' call K. J. very low and his family vulgar, but if so, I am consoled by the fact that it has touched the sore places in some sn.o.bbish nature; and in all ranks and conditions of our countrymen sn.o.bbery is the great prevailing vice. I am meanwhile amusing myself jotting down on paper the things which have so often afforded me real fun to contemplate in the world,--and so far from high colouring, my great effort is to tone down the picture to the sombre tints of verisimilitude and probability."

In October the weather made boating a somewhat dangerous pastime. In reply to M'Glashan's stereotyped complaint that Lever was "huddling his castastrophes," the novelist playfully replied that "a smashing Levanter" had half-filled his boat with water one day, and "all but closed the career of the author of 'Sir Jasper Carew' without a huddle." He begged M'Glashan to give himself a breathing-time, to clear his head by inhaling some fresh Italian air, to visit Florence and discuss with the author of 'Sir Jasper' the best means of putting the hero to bed. But M'Glashan could not be inveigled into the paying of a visit to the novelist; nor could he be induced to furnish Lever with the long letters which at one time had helped to keep him in touch with literary life in Ireland and elsewhere. The fact was that M'Glashan was beginning to break down.

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

"Florence, _Nov_. 24, 1853.

"A very strange, but I fear impracticable, offer has come to me from the United States, which I have sent to O'Sullivan for his counsel, to be then forwarded to John....

"Meanwhile--and to be in a measure prepared for the future--I want you to do a bit of diplomacy for me. My story of 'Carew' will finish in March, when 'The Dodds' also will close; and as Chapman & Hall contemplate the new issue of my older books, I suspect they will not be disposed to engage me contemporaneously with a new work, so that I shall be suddenly without any engagement in London or Dublin. What I want is, therefore, that you should sound M'Glashan as to a new serial story,--to be published by him both in the Magazine and in monthly numbers, as he did with 'O'Malley,' and _with my name_. I want the thing done adroitly, as if the notion originated with you, and so that, if he approved, you could then suggest it to me. If he said Yes, we could then talk of terms. At all events, you could say that an offer of American origin had been made to me, and if this (the serial) could be managed, _you_ would rather have it than the Transatlantic project."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_

"Hotel d'Odessa, Spezzia, _Dec_ 20, 1853.

"You write (as I am accustomed to feel) soberly and seriously. But there is this difference between us: you have borne the heavy burden of a long life of labour with n.o.ble earnestness and self-denial; I have, on the contrary, only to look back upon great opportunities neglected and fair abilities thrown away, capacity wasted, and a whole life squandered.

Yet if it were not for the necessity that has kept me before the world, perhaps I should have sunk down wearied and exhausted long ago: but as the old clown in the circus goes on grinning and grimacing even when the chalk won't hide his wrinkles, so do I make a show of light-heartedness I have long ceased to feel, or, what is more, to wish for!

"If I had the choice given me I'd rather be forsaken by my creditors than remembered by my friends.

"I am glad you like 'Carew.' It was more than pleasant to me to write it. What a strange confession, is it not?--as though saying that when an author came to take pleasure in his own book, he was reduced to the condition of a bear who loved sucking his own paw.

"We have come here to pa.s.s the winter, for though intrinsically little cheaper than Florence, as we are all driven to a hotel, we have got rid of horses and stable expenses altogether. Our economy up to this has not done much, but even a little seems to encourage, and I suppose that thrift is one of those remedies that requires to be introduced gradually into the system.

"I scribble a great deal--political hash amongst the rest--but not very profitable, for whatever is done without name is nearly always done without money. 'Garibaldi,' however, brought me about 50.

"Don't bore yourself writing to me; but, if you like, let me write to you. I have plenty--too much--time on my hands, and it is about the last pleasure left me to commune with one who, though he has known me so long, still loves me.

"Charles is working hard away at his new trade, and likes it. His masters, the Messrs Sandell, have built a large foundry, and make all the materials of the rail."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

"Casa Capponi, Florence, _Jan._ 23, 1854.

"I am fully aware how difficult--impossible I might say--it is to obtain any reply to any demand from M'Glashan, and am therefore not impatient on that score. Besides that, from his repeated remonstrances and complaints about 'Carew' lately, I am more than disenchanted to renew my connection with him.

"I hope soon again to be at work on something new for Chapman & Hall.

"John and Anne give me the only good news I ever heard of 'Sir Jasper'; but even were it worse than I like to believe, it can scarcely call for the criticisms M'G. forwards me. I really wrote it painstakingly and carefully, and, so far as in me lies, I try to do honestly with him.

"I have done nothing but feast and dance and other tomfooleries these last three weeks, for it is our Carnival; and to help me out of my slender exchequer, the Duke of Wellington has been here on a visit to us!"

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Florence, _Oct_. 1864.

"Read the article I have written on Sardinia and Austria in the forthcoming number of the Magazine. It is a bold suggestion,--but it has met such high sanction already in Piedmont, and has appeared in a translation at Turin, whither I sent it. Lord J. Russell is here,--I have dined with him twice,--and he comes to me on Sat.u.r.day. He is very silent and reserved, but of course this is all essential to one whose chance expressions are eagerly caught at--happy if they be not misrepresented."

'Maurice Tiernay' and 'Sir Jasper Carew' were issued as volumes of the Parlour Library, nothing appearing on the t.i.tle-pages to indicate that these two excellent works of fiction came from the pen of Charles Lever.

The author's reason for preserving anonymity sprang from a fear--not unwarrantable--that the public might get the idea in its head that he was "over-writing." His red-wrappered monthly-part novels had now become a kind of inst.i.tution in the book trade, and anything that would tend to depreciate the circulation of them was to be carefully avoided.

'The Dodd Family' had arrived at its serial end in April, and was published in book form; and Chapman & Hall had agreed to issue its successor, 'The Martins of Cro-Martin.' Lever was still endeavouring to make a bargain with 'The Dublin University' for a new serial. He was wavering about an American expedition, and Mr Chapman was all the while advocating a cheap reissue of his novels. These arrangements and projects afforded the novelist some mental relief, and he found himself able to attack his work with _verve_. In sending to M'Glashan the skeleton of a plot for his proposed Magazine serial, he described himself as labouring "with the zeal of an apostle and the sweat of a galley-slave." His fitful mind was disturbed presently by a rumour which reached him in July. It was whispered that 'The Dublin University'

would shortly be in the market. He wrote at once to Spencer asking this much-enduring man to inst.i.tute inquiries. There was nothing he would not sacrifice in order to obtain possession of the periodical. If he had it in his hands again, he was confident that he would be able to retain it and to make a good property of it. But the rumour--arising possibly out of a suspicion that M'Glashan was breaking down--proved to be premature.

Lever had contemplated a visit to Ireland during the spring. Having decided to lay the scene of his next novel in Ireland, he was anxious for "atmosphere." Late in July he set out from Casa Capponi, and M'Glashan received one morning an invitation to meet him at his hotel in Dublin. The novelist found his admonisher in a low state of spirits, and he exerted himself to rouse him from his despondency. To a certain extent he must have succeeded, for a nephew of Lever, who dined with the pair at the Imperial Hotel in Dublin, declares that it was "a roar of fun from beginning to end." Lorrequer was in most brilliant form, and even the waiters might have been observed rushing from the dining-room endeavouring to stifle their laughter.

Lever spent the time gaily in Dublin--reviving old friendships and making new friends, listening to good stories and telling better ones.

Amongst the old friends was M. J. Barry, who had been one of the most valued contributors to 'The Dublin University.' He told Barry that Florence was the ideal place for the literary man; that he himself lived there for about 1200 a-year* in a style which could not be adopted in London on 3000 a-year, or in Ireland for any sum. He owned that his tastes and habits were extravagant: his mode of life, he explained, was not merely a case of luxurious inclinations, but one of necessity. "It feeds my lamp," he said, "which would die out otherwise. My receptions are my studies. I find there characters, and I pick up a thousand things that are to me invaluable. You can't keep drawing wine off the cask perpetually and putting nothing in it."

* It is impossible to arrive at any definite conclusions concerning Lever's earnings from his writings. It is certain that during some years his annual income was not less than 2000. If the whole of the period from 'Harry Lorrequer' in 1837 to 'Lord Kilgobbin' in 1871; was taken into account, his estimate of 1200 a-year would not be very far astray. It is most likely an under-estimate. 60,000 would probably represent more accurately the sum of his literary earnings.

--E. D.

Amongst his entertainers in Dublin was the Viceregal Court. His _vis-a-vis_ at a dinner at the Viceregal Lodge was Sir Bernard Burke, the Ulster King-at-Arms. The remainder of the company was interested merely in military affairs or Court functions. No one at the table seemed to care whether the Irish humourist spoke or was silent--no one there was interested in such a paltry ent.i.ty as a mere man of intellect; so Lever, the life and soul of Florentine salons, preserved silence for most of the evening. When he did join in the conversation, he happened to venture an opinion that Sebastopol would not be taken for at least another year, and this resulted in his having to incur "as much ridicule as was consistent with viceregal politeness to bestow, and the small wit of small AD.C.'s to inflict." So far as he was concerned, this dinner-party was a dismal affair: it recalled some equally dismal dinner-parties, or receptions, at the grand-ducal court of Baden.

Apparently Lever made no headway in Dublin with the matter of the Magazine, but his visit to Ireland refreshed and invigorated him. The sight of Irish faces and of Irish scenery and the sound of Irish voices dissipated some Florentine languorousness, and enabled him to set to work spiritedly at his new novel, 'The Martins.'

During the autumn of 1854 he submitted to M'Glashan a proposal for an interesting series of papers--"Stories of the Ruined Houses of Ireland."

Nothing came of this. Towards the end of the year he contributed some further papers on Italian politics to 'The Dublin University.' One upon Sardinia and Austria created some attention in Italy, and a translation was published in Turin. English politics and foreign politics, viewed from the British standpoint, were affording him keen interest, and he had the privilege of discussing them under his own roof with a very distinguished personage, the Lord President of the Council, Lord John Russell.

Thoughts of entering Parliament were again crossing Lever's mind at this period; but his best friends, notably his brother John, sought to dissuade him from embarking upon a career which, for a man of his temperament, would be full of pitfalls, and would in all likelihood end in Nowhere.