Philip Gilbert Hamerton Part 50

This was confirmed by the Secretary of the University of Aberdeen on March 3, 1894, in these terms:--

"DEAR SIR,--I have the pleasure of informing you that the Senatus of the University at its meeting to-day conferred upon you the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LL. D.).

"I am,

"Yours faithfully,

"ALEXANDER STEWART,

"Secretary of the Senatus."

Three days later Lady Reid wrote:--

"DEAR DR. HAMERTON,--We are delighted to see in this morning's newspaper the announcement of your LL.D.-ship. Though we have never had the pleasure of meeting, I feel almost as if I had known you for many years, your writings having given me such real pleasure ever since I first made your acquaintance in 'A Painter's Camp in the Highlands' in 1863.

"I hope you will kindly accept from me your Aberdeen LL.D.-hood, which is the outward visible sign of your new academic rank.

"My husband says it is 'a chromatic discord of the 1st Order,' but over the arrangements of such things the present generation has no control, their form and colors having been settled long ago.

"Sir George unites with me in kindest regards, and in the hope that you may long live to enjoy your most well-earned honors.

"Believe me,

"Yours very truly,

"MIA REID."

Shortly after Sir George Reid wrote: "You have done so much for the literature of art that the only wonder is your services have not been acknowledged by one or other of our Universities long ago. I am very glad that the honor has come to you from the University of Aberdeen."

Although my husband cared little for honors, this recognition--freely and spontaneously conferred by the University of Aberdeen, without any solicitation on his part--gave him real pleasure. He had never expected anything in this way from Oxford or Cambridge, because he had never been a student of either, and he fancied that this would always be against him. It reminds me of what he wrote to Mr. Seeley soon after our arrival in Paris, when he suffered from dulness:--

"I never was at Oxford. I always had a boyish dread of being sent there, and put into one of the colleges. I think I was marked for Balliol.

After my escape I felt towards the place much as a sound Protestant feels towards the Vatican. Here is a reflection that has sometimes occurred to me since my imprisonment here began: 'Dear me! why, if I can endure Paris, I might possibly have endured Oxford.'"

After congratulating the editor of the "Portfolio" on his new t.i.tle, Mr.

Seeley said: "My brother at Cambridge has been made a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George. What an extraordinary t.i.tle for a Professor! And you are now a Doctor of Laws. Will you kindly allow us to consult you in any legal difficulty?"

The new Doctor [Footnote: Mr. Hamerton and Professor Seeley were born on the same day, and there was an interval of only a few weeks between their deaths.] answered:--

"I congratulate you on having a brother who is a Knight Commander of St.

Michael and St. George too. They were both very valiant saints, dangerous to dragons and demons. The image that rose to my mind's eye when I read your letter was that of your brother in shining golden armor riding full tilt with spear in rest against a terrible dragon. I wish Lord Shaftesbury had lived to hear of it, for one reason, and your father for another.

"Thank you for your congratulations about my LL.D.-ship. In answer to your question, I beg to say that whilst the degree is but a just tribute to my legal knowledge, it does not confer the right to practise, so that you would do better to consult some professional man, such as a barrister or an attorney, even though his legal attainments might be far inferior to mine."

In the same year Mr. Hamerton was invited by the Society of Ill.u.s.trators to accept a Vice-Presidency along with Sir J. E. Millais, Sir F. Seymour Haden, and Mr. Holman Hunt.

Messrs. Scribner having planned a work on American wood-cuts, wrote to ascertain if my husband would undertake it. Mr. Burlingame's letter explains the scheme.

"DEAR MR. HAMERTON,--In the course of the publication of the Magazine, we have printed from time to time what we believe to be some of the best American wood-engravings. We are going to make a selection of about forty of them, thoroughly representative of the best men and subjects (though we have not tried, of course, to have the representation _complete_), and issue it as soon as we can in the form of India proofs, in a portfolio in a very limited edition--probably of less than 100 copies, made with the utmost care and all possible accessories to render the collection a standard one. Meaning to make it represent the highest point of wood-engraving (which is now fast yielding to the mechanical processes, so that the moment is perhaps the best we shall have), we want to accompany the publication with a short essay on the subject, to go with the portfolio in a little book, and afterwards to be bound up with the popular edition should we make one."

It was just one of those schemes that my husband could set his heart upon--requiring much knowledge and condensed writing. So he gladly accepted the task, and applied himself to it as soon as the engravings reached him.

On receiving the ma.n.u.script Mr. Burlingame wrote: "The paper on the engravers so thoroughly fulfilled our expectations, that we were more than ever glad that we asked your help in this (to us) important matter."

In the spring, before the opening of the Salons, there are always a good many minor exhibitions, and these we went to see, in order to judge of the prevailing artistic tendencies. I find this note in the diary:--

"March 17, 1894. Went with wife in the afternoon to see some pictures by the 'Eclectics' at Pet.i.t's. Most of them horribly bad, especially the Impressionists, but several by Boudot were excellent. These were landscapes, all in perfectly true tone and good color, with a great deal of sound, modest drawing. I wish I could paint like him. His work is evidently founded on painted studies from nature; indeed, much of it must have been painted directly from nature.

"Made a new plan for work, doing two tasks on alternate days: one the current book, the other some minor task--an article, for example. In this way both would get on, and the interval would not be long enough to lose hold of either."

He wrote about it to Mr. Seeley, and explained:--

"I don't know how it will answer yet, but have hopes. My great difficulty has always been (and it only increases with age) a certain want of readiness and flexibility in turning from one thing to another.

When I have a book in hand (and I always have one), it is most disagreeable to me to turn from it and write an article; and when the article is finished I lose always at least a day, and often several days, before I get well into swing with the book again. My natural tendency is to take up one task, and peg away at it till it is done."

At Roberts Brothers' request, Mr. Hamerton had agreed to write a translation of Renan's notice of his sister Henriette. However, he had to give it up, not being able to get answers to his letters from M. Ary Renan.

As he greatly appreciated the spirit and usefulness of the Inst.i.tution of the Franco-English Guild, founded by Miss Williams, he wrote for its "Review" an article on "Languages and Peace," and intended to write others. There are some notes in the diary at this time which prove that he could find some effects to enjoy in Paris:--

"March 13th. Went with Stephen to see Mr. Barker. We went on a walk to the terrace at Meudon, where we joined wife and daughter and Raoul.

Thence to a pond in the wood. Came back in the evening. Beautiful effects on the river."

"April 1st. Went to the Mont Valerien, and greatly enjoyed the views about it over Paris on one side, and the country on the other."

The best proof that my husband's nervous system was now strong and healthy, is that _for the first time in his life_ he proposed that we should go together to the private view of the Champ de Mars to meet the President of the Republic. We had a card of invitation, and I was so happy to see him well, and to mark the respectful greetings which met him from all quarters, that I enjoyed the day thoroughly. He was perfectly calm the whole time, in contrast with the excitement surging around him, and at night he wrote in the diary:--

"We went, wife and I, to the Champ de Mars, and saw the President of the Republic arrive, and all the artistic notabilities who received him.

After the lunch, saw the exhibition well, and selected two pictures for Scribner. Was much impressed by Tissot's 'Life of Christ.'

"We were much amused by the extravagance of the toilettes, particularly the feminine."

In April he called upon MM. Louis Deschamps and Checa for notes of a biographical kind. There was an instantaneous sympathy between him and M. Checa, who was very cordial and communicative, and who soon returned his visit. After the publication of the article concerning him, M. Checa wrote: "Je vous remercie tres vivement de cet article, surement le plus exact que l'on ait fait sur moi."

In the studio of M. Checa my husband had met an American artist, Mr. R.

J. Wickenden, who lived at Auvers, and who, being well acquainted with his works, wished to paint a portrait of the author. During the sittings a friendship was formed between model and painter. The portrait was exhibited in America at Mr. Keppel's.

Mr. Hamerton having been invited to preside at a meeting and dinner of the Society of Ill.u.s.trators, and to deliver a lecture on the history of their art, fixed an earlier date than he had intended for his proposed visit to London, to comply with their wishes.

He started alone on May 4, going by way of Dieppe, and wrote in the diary: "Capital pa.s.sage. Enjoyed sea and color very much indeed."

On the 6th he wrote to M. Raillard that he was well enough, but that on arriving at Charing Cross the trunk containing his clothes was missing.

He ended by saying: "And I have to preside over a dinner to-morrow! At all events I cannot do it in a flannel shirt!... I am in a pretty mess!"

He had almost decided to buy a ready-made suit in this emergency, when he recovered the lost trunk. After the dinner he wrote me a long account of it in French. The reception given him by the Ill.u.s.trators had been most cordial. His speech had been delivered without nervousness or hesitation, and with the curious illusion that he was listening to somebody else.

There had been an animated debate on the grievances of the Ill.u.s.trators, who complained of the small s.p.a.ce allotted to the exhibition of their works in the Academy. They seemed disposed to sign a protest, when he had offered to go and see Sir Frederick Leighton, and to talk the subject over with him, as president of the meeting. He ended his letter with a promise to have his photograph taken on the morrow by Messrs.

Elliott and Fry.

I was very glad of this decision about his portrait, for I had not a good likeness of him, except the fine photograph taken by Mr. Palmer; and of course since that time his features had altered. They retained their expression of intellectuality and dignity, softened, as it were, by the discipline and experience of years. Hitherto he had always resisted any attempt to publish his portrait among a series of celebrities; but this time he yielded to my entreaties; and he was afterwards satisfied to have done so, for the three photographs taken on the same day were all good likenesses. From the best of them was engraved--later--through the care and sympathy of Messrs. Scribner, the fine and striking portrait which appeared in their Magazine of February, 1895.