Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters Volume I Part 6

"PORTSTEWART, _Feb_. 24, 1837.

"I have just received intelligence that the party who interests himself to obtain for me an introduction to Sir G. S. has failed, and I am again stranded. What course to take I really know not, but think my best plan, so far, at least, as I can see, is to set out for Brussels and present such letters as I already have, making myself acquainted with the bearings of the whole matter--to such an extent, at least, as personal observation can point. Longer hesitation would be not only miserable but injurious, for, having been obliged to make known my intention to many persons here, the thing has got abroad, and I am considered _en route_ already. Must, therefore, either resolve to go--or stay--without further delay. The expense of the _voyage d'experimente_ will, I know, be very heavy, do what I can,--and I can but ill spare the money,--but what else to do I know not. I wish you would write to John and say that if his friends have not heard from their correspondents, perhaps they would give me a letter to wait on Lady Seymour, which would decide the affair at once. Copeland will give his letter to Bulwer, and I have already one to Crampton. Should I fail in becoming known to and acknowledged by the Amba.s.sador, I have great doubt that it would be prudent to embark in so bold an enterprise under any other sanction or patronage whatever.... I am writing away for Currys' Magazine, and I have got into a series which will occupy some months, but the pay is small (seven guineas a sheet), and I cannot get a settlement until several sheets are due....

"I shall merely stay," he continues, "in London one day to procure an introduction to Mr Bulwer, and wait on those persons who interested themselves for me.... I go with no very sanguine hopes of success, and yet I think it better to make the trial than afterwards to regret that I haven't made it. One thing I have determined on--that I am ready to make any sacrifice of comfort or personal indulgence should my chance of succeeding give me any fair reason for remaining there [at Brussels]."

On the 27th March Mrs Lever wrote from Portstewart to Alexander Spencer:--

"I had a letter from Charles on Thursday, in which he expressed a strong wish that you should know what he is about. He left this for Brussels on the 1st of March, and will be detained there until after the 28th or 30th. I am not sure if you are aware that a permis is necessary before any physician can practise there, and it is obtained by the person applying for it undergoing an examination. Strange to say, the interested persons, the M.D.'s of Belgium, are the examiners. Charles, however, has been making interest to obtain it without--and hopes to succeed. I shall give you an extract from his letter. 'I cannot give any idea of the excitement my arrival has caused. Six families have written to Dublin to investigate my claims, character, &c.... Sir George Seymour'--he had two very handsome introductions to the Amba.s.sador--'told Crampton that if I am not the man destined to carry away _all_ the practice he is greatly mistaken. If I get the _permis_ (and I dont(sp) know whether I shall or not) the game is certainly dead in my favour.' Another extract. 'Sir Hamilton Seymour continues to be most kind, and is doing all possible to forward my views. In fact, if great anxiety on all sides here can ensure success, I have every prospect.'

Speaking of living in Brussels, he says: 'It is fully as cheap as most parts of Germany, and half--actually half--as cheap as Paris. I can get a house unfurnished for 60 per annum, and furnish it complete from top to bottom for 150.' An extract from the letter before the last.

'Different persons of quite different opinions on all things, agree in saying that from 800 to 1000 per annum can be made here by the first man. Ten families of the first rank here have been mentioned to me as being ready to support me if I stay.'"

On April 6th Mrs Lever wrote again to Spencer:--

"The commission have been tormenting him by repeated delays, putting off the examination of his papers, with the intention, he thinks, of disgusting him with the whole business, and they had nearly succeeded, but on sending for his pa.s.sport to leave at once, Sir G. Seymour went to him and requested him to remain until Monday (last), and that if there was any delay then he would demand an immediate answer being given.

I will give you an extract from his letter. 'If my permission be not granted on Wednesday next, or a perfect certainty of obtaining it in a day or two, I shall start from this and bring you over, for I'm resolved on practising here with the prospect held out to me. Already I am making about a pound a-day, and Sir H. Seymour said only five minutes since, I cannot recommend you getting into any sc.r.a.pe, but if you do so, I shall certainly do my best to get you out again.... All the high English here are ready to memorial the king to have me retained here.' He expects to be home on Sunday next, as he intended starting for Ireland the moment he obtained an answer, favourable or otherwise....

"I hope you will excuse my being so troublesome, but I am sure Charles will remain a very short time here, and I also know he must have money to move us and begin housekeeping, so should be most grateful if you could manage the loan* in any way, and I hope it will not be necessary for him to go by [way of] Dublin, as it would be additional expense. My health is very bad, and I should rather avoid any travelling that was not absolutely necessary. He has been spared knowing how ill I have been by the uncertainty of his stay in Brussels having prevented my writing to him since Sunday fortnight."

* Alexander Spencer managed all Lever's business affairs in Dublin. The loan Mrs Lever refers to here is a loan upon "Moatfield," which property her husband was loath to sell outright: it enshrined pleasant memories. In the days of Lever's wooing, the garden of Moatfield had furnished many a bouquet for Miss Baker.--E. D.

A letter from Lever, dated April 5, reached Spencer shortly after the receipt of Mrs Lever's note.

"Will you send by this post a few lines to my wife," the writer asks, "and say you have just heard from me, and that I hope to leave this [Brussels] on Sat.u.r.day at farthest, and probably will come home by Belfast if I miss the Derry steamer on Tuesday, which would pa.s.s my door on Wednesday,--this is as near as I can say? You must send me any money you can when I reach Portstewart, to pay my small debts, as I shall possibly leave a week after my arrival. Let Kate know this, and say I would write to her, but wrote last Sunday by Mr Kane. I am greatly f.a.gged and fretted by the delays and anxieties of my position."

The same day that he wrote to Spencer he forwarded a letter to M'Glashan:--

"My dear Sir,--The permit to practise is a matter so difficult to obtain, that in fact every English physician has been deterred from trying Brussels for that one and sole cause, and I have come here only to discover that there is a great opening for a fairly qualified and well introduced man,--the others who have been here for several years (before any permit was necessary) being underbred and uneducated men, and unfit for anything but second-cla.s.s apothecary practice. But still the right to practise, even among the English, is denied to all, except on pa.s.sing an examination before a jury _d'examen des medecins_, all interested in the rejection, and only anxious to make Brussels a close borough for themselves and their friends. So stand the affairs: and although I am appointed physician to the Emba.s.sy, and am this instant in personal attendance on the Amba.s.sador, I have no right, properly speaking, to practise, nor is it likely that I shall obtain it. However, unpleasant as this undoubtedly is, I find that by the protection of my Amba.s.sador, and the favour of the Government,--who are through his kind and most unwearied endeavour to serve me, my friends,--I may continue to exercise _les droits d'un medecin_, if not _sans peur_, at least _sans reproche_; and if they were to proceed legally against me, the king will interfere and remit my fine; at least so they tell me, and at last, if the persecution should continue, I have only to study for a month and obtain a Louvain degree, which settles all difficulties by one stroke.

As it is, I am here in good practice with bad pay. They say 600 a-year can be made. I do not believe it; but I think 400 might, and as everything is moderate, except rent and taxes, a man could do very comfortably on that I intend leaving this on Friday next to bring over my wife and weans, and settle at once.

"My patients here are all the first people,--Lord Stafford, Lady Faulkner, &c., among the number,--and all express a desire to keep me and serve my interests. In a word, I never met more kind offers, nor have I ever witnessed a fairer prospect, to the extent it offers, of success.

"I must raise a little money to furnish a house and bring over my family; and if you would put me on the way to obtain 200 or 250, I would not sell Moatfield. Otherwise I shall do so, as I have no time to lose. My step does not admit of delay, and when I reach home I must leave for Brussels almost immediately,--the opening is such that some one must fill it at once."

Lever set out from Portstewart in the first week of May 1837.

V. LETTERS FROM BRUSSELS 1837-1842

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"16 Rue Ducale, Brussels, _May_ 12, 1837.

"We reached this on Monday afternoon, having had a most agreeable journey through England, which we all bore admirably, and after a pa.s.sage of twenty-two hours reached Antwerp so little fatigued that we at once set out for Brussels, where we had the pleasure to find that our house was ready for us and perfectly prepared for our occupation. We at once drove thither, and have avoided all hotel expenses, and have the additional comfort of being at once at home after so much journeying. I have, of course, but little to communicate of Brussels since my arrival, save that I find myself as safe as ever in the estimation of the English here, and am already hard at work. Lady Faulkner and several of my old attaches have again sent for me, and although the _permis_ cannot be obtained sooner than August, if then, I have every hope that I escape (some time) any molestation. My only loss on the road was a carpet-bag containing all my groom's clothes, and amongst them a new suit of dark-grey livery, for which I had just paid 4, 10s. and was never worn.

These were left behind in the George Hotel, Dale Street, Liverpool, and although I have written about it I have not received any answer, and fear it is irretrievably gone. If there could be found any means of getting at the matter through Dublin, I would be extremely glad,--for if the bag were forwarded to the Burlington Hotel, Burlington Street, London, addressed to me, Brussels, by the Victoria steamer for Antwerp, it would still reach me and save me some money, and my man much raggedness.

"Mrs Innes is quite correct in her estimate of the Tighes in one respect, for previous to my going to Ireland they employed me several times but never fee'd [me], and they have no possible influence here, and are not in any society. I know all the best English already, and shall always be able to get my introductions through Sir Hamilton Seymour. I am quite certain, if permitted to practise, that I shall have the leading place; but however pleasant and agreeable, it never can be anything but a very small matter as regards income.

"This day has brought me my tenth patient, so you see I am not idling.

Lord Stafford has just sent for me, and I have been told that the Prince of Hesse (Philipstad) will consult me to-morrow. He is the brother of the Queen of England, and has great influence.

"Would you tell M'Glashan that I have got 'Rory O'More' from the author, and he shall have the review* for July No."

* A review of 'Rory O'More' appeared in 'The Dublin University Magazine' for January 1838, but, judging it by its illiberality, I should say the review was not written by Lever.--E. D.

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Brussels, _August_ 22, 1837.

"One of our Irish residents here going over for the 'rents,' gives me the opportunity to send a few and very hurried lines to you. I have been jogging on _a l'ordinaire_, nothing new or wonderful occurring except my being fined for prescribing _sans le permis_, and my having received in reply to a memorial a most civil response from his majesty, that from the representations made to him from such high and influential quarters on my professional capabilities, every facility shall be afforded me in submitting myself to the Jury d'Exam., when my little acquaintance with the French language shall be no barrier to my undergoing the tests prescribed. So far well, and I now await for the conference which is to p.r.o.nounce upon my fitness to practise.

"I have been most fortunate in all my cases, and my name is at the top of the wheel, so that if I pa.s.s this Exam., whatever success Brussels can yield I have every prospect of enjoying. Nothing but the small scale of remuneration is against the place being a good locality for a physician, and even already I have succeeded in getting ten francs per visit, which, if eventually adopted, would give me a very fair professional income. I am completely among the _corps diplomatique_ of all nations, and through the unceasing attentions of Sir H. Seymour my position is a most gratifying one. To his house I have the _entree_ at all hours, and to his box at the opera I am at all times _admis_. We ride out with him, and pa.s.s a couple of hours every day in his society.

Kate and the babes are doing well, and I am most grateful at my emanc.i.p.ation from [drudgery]."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Brussels, Rue Ducale, _Aug_. 29, 1837.

"Your ever warm interest for your friend is my safeguard that you will not be bored by so soon getting another letter from me; but, besides, I cannot forbear telling you that I have at last obtained the _permis_ to practise, having this day pa.s.sed an examination before the Medical profession who represent to the Minister the capacity of the candidate.

So far, therefore, all is settled; and I hope and trust no further difficulties be in my way towards a tolerable success in Brussels.

My practice lately has been less from the great emptiness of the city,--every one worth anything having fled up the Rhine, into Germany, or to Wiesbaden, Carlsbad, &c. But I am told that in the winter I shall have as much as I can attend to. All the high are exclusively with me, and I am extending my lines among the foreign missions--Austrian, Brazilian, &c. The king has spoken most favourably about me, and I am daily expecting a call to Court. I believe I mentioned that I was fined.

The penalty was remitted by his majesty; yet law expenses, fees to the Procureur du Roi, &c., make the affair amount to 500 francs (20).

This was a bore. Still, I made more than that considerably by the delinquency, so that after all I am no loser. I am dreadfully at a loss for a good groom that can ride [? postilion] occasionally (the latter is not a _sine qua non_), who is light weight, young, not tall, and perfectly sober. I brought a good one over here,--excellent in every respect,--but the cheapness of drink has made him an inveterate drunkard, and he neglects everything. If you could send anything like this (only sober by all means), I would most willingly pay his way out here. His only [? duty] is to mind two horses and ride and drive occasionally, and that very seldom. He has no housework to do. Wages 10 guineas a-year, all livery, and about 3 more for the manure. My wife and weans are quite well, and the former delighted with Brussels. Mr Waller is a great friend of ours. We dined with him and his wife to-day, and in fact we are as intimate with all the Emba.s.sy folk as possible. I should indeed be a very discontented fellow if I was not quite satisfied with my fortune here; and now that all minor obstacles are surmounted, have really everything our own way."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"Brussels, _Nov_. 7, 1837.

"My practice goes on favourably, my daily receipts ranging from two to three pounds usually....

"The D. U. M. people write so pressingly to me that I am once more in harness.... I have only my late evenings unoccupied. I find it sufficiently wearisome and fatiguing, but I am resolved to leave no shaft unworked that promises ore....

"Our gay season has not yet begun. Still, we have Sat.u.r.day soirees at the Emba.s.sy, to which we always go, and occasional _pet.i.ts diners_ with the chiefs of the _corps diplomatique_,--very pleasant and lively."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"16 Rue Ducale, Brussels, _Nov_. 1837.

".... I am quite sure of Mr b.u.t.t's being a safe and punctual person, and G.o.d forgive me if I wrong Mr Crowther, but I have not the same good opinion of him. _Coute que coute._