"I am very sorry not to be in Ireland now, when the [? ] have been invited to the Exhibition banquet on the 20th; but I have done with banquets now, and must address myself to my maccaroni with what appet.i.te I may."
_To Mr William Blackwood._
"Trieste, _July_ 13, 1871.
"I should have liked to have detained these proofs until I heard what your uncle might have to say to them, but I am afraid of delay, and send them back at once. My hope is that he will like them, though I cannot dare to think that my chief, Lord Granville, will approve of what I say of his speech at the Cobden dinner. At any rate, if they kick me out, I can go home and be a rebel, and if too old for a pike I am still good for a paragraph.
"All that London life with its flatteries and fat-feeding has sorely unfitted me for my cold mutton v. existence at home; but it cannot be helped, and I must try to get back into the old groove and work along as before.
"There is now a dull apathy over life--the consequence of all our late excitement; but we cannot always afford to pay for "stars," and Bismarck is too costly an _artiste_ to keep always on the boards. From all I see, the French are just as insolent and b.u.mptious as before they were licked,--showing us, if we like to see it, what the world would have had to endure had they been the conquerors!
"It is a sore grief to me that I cannot go to the Scott festival; but I have no leave and less money, and though I believe F. O. might grant me the one, they"d even stop my pay, which is the aggravation of insult.
"I hope sincerely you don"t feel it a matter of conscience to read all a man writes, for if so I"d shut up. Only a.s.suring you that now we have met and shaken hands, it is with increased pleasure I write myself, yours sincerely, Chas. Lever."
_To Mr John Blackwood._
"Trieste, _Aug_. 6, 1871.
"_En attendant_ to writing you a long letter, I send you these "O"Dowds"
now, which will give us more time to discuss them.
"That on our "National Donations" is, I hope, good. I know it is called for. The shabby scoundrels from Manchester that want to manage England like a mill and treat the monarch like an overseer deserve castigation, and I feel you will agree with me. Is not "Meat without Bone" good enough for use?
"I am so sorry not to be able to say all the civil things I should like to say of the Solicitor-General now, for when the trial is over I shall not be able to revive my generous indignation to the white heat it now enjoys.
"Why don"t you tell me some popular theme to O"Dowd? I"m here, as they say in Ireland, "at the back of good speed," and know nothing.
"A very curious trial occurred five years ago in Austria on a disputed ident.i.ty, and the man questioned substantiated his case. It would be interesting if a correct record could be had.
"Ballantine tells me that Jeune is gone to Australia, and will be back in November with proofs of the loss of the _Bella_, names of survivors, and existence in the colony of Arthur Orton up to November last. B. is sure of a verdict--at least, he is sure of his right to it."
_To Mr John Blackwood._
"Trieste, _Aug_. 5, 1871.
"It is time I should thank you and Mrs Blackwood for your cordial invitation to myself and my daughter to go and see you in Scotland, and we are only too sorry we cannot manage you a visit, and in talk--for it is all that is left us--to ride over the links of Fife, and even a.s.sist at golf.
"Even if I could have plucked up courage to go over now, I "stopped"
myself by letting my "vice" go on leave,--a piece of generosity on my part that has cost me heavier than I thought for, and gave me nearer opportunities of intimacy with Cardiff captains and Hull skippers than I care for.
"Of course, it is out of the question trying to write except on my "off days," when I shut out the whole rabble.
"I begin to think that Gladstone has been carried away by pure anger in all his late doings. It is purely womanish and hysterical throughout. To hit off this I have thrown off the short "O"Dowd," "What if they were to be Court-martialled?" which, with a little change, will perhaps do.
"It is one of those cases which will be as long kept before the public, for it is the attack on a great principle--and in that sense no mere grievance of the hour.
"As a means of lowering the House of Lords--if such was the intention--it has totally failed, and even "Pall Mall" has come to the side of the Peers, which is significant.
"I see Seymour, my old friend, has got his first verdict in the Hertford case. It is 70,000 a-year at issue, but of course the great battle will be fought before "the Lords,""
_To Mr John Blackwood._
"Trieste, _Aug_. 17,1871.
"About half an hour after your pleasant letter and its handsome enclosure reached me, Langford came in. He was on his way to Venice, but, like a good fellow, stopped to dine with myself and daughter.
"We are delighted with him,--not only with his talk about books and writers, Garrick men and reviewers, but with his fine fresh-hearted appreciation of all he sees in his tour. He likes everything, and travels really to enjoy it.
"I wish I knew how to detain him here a little longer; though, G.o.d knows, no place nor no man has fewer pretensions to lay an embargo on any one.
"I took him out to see Miramar last evening, and we both wished greatly you had been with us. It was a cool drive of some miles along the Adriatic, with the Dalmatian mountains in front, and to the westward the whole Julian Alps snow-topped and edged. I know you would have enjoyed it.
"I am so glad you like the O"Ds. As I grow older I become more and more distrustful of all I do; in fact, I feel like the man who does not know when he draws on his banker that he may not have overdrawn his account and have his cheque returned. This is very like intellectual bankruptcy, or the dread of it, which is much the same.
"The finest part of Scott"s nature to my thinking was the grand heroic spirit--that trumpet-stop on his organ--which elevated our commonplace people and stirred the heart of all that was high-spirited and generous amongst us. It was the anti-climax to our realism and sensationalism--detective Police Literature or Watch-house Romance.
"This was the tone I wanted to see praised and recommended, and I was sorry to see how little it was touched on. The very influence that a gentleman exerts in society on a knot of inferiors was the sort of influence Scott brought to bear upon the whole nation. All felt that there was at least one there before whom nothing mean or low or shabby should be exhibited."
_To Mr John Blackwood._
"Trieste, _Aug_. 28, 1871.
"The day after Langford left this, my horse, treading on a sharp stone that cut his frog, fell on me and crushed my foot,--not severely, but enough to bring on the worst attack of gout I ever had in my life, and which all my precautions have only kept down up to this from seizing on the stomach. My foot was about as big and as shapely as Cardwell"s head.
I am now unable to move, and howl if any one approaches me rashly.
"I told Langford of a curious police trial for swindling here at Vienna--curious as ill.u.s.trating Austrian criminal procedure, &c. He thought I ought to report it in "O"Dowd." I send it off now for your opinion and judgment (and hope favourably). It might want a little retouching here and there, but you will see and say.
"I was delighted with your "Scott" speech--the best of them of all that I read, and I see it has been copied and recopied largely. Your allusion to Wilson was perfect, and such a just homage to a really great man whom all the c.o.c.kneyism in the world cannot disparage.
"I am in such d.a.m.nable pain that I can hardly write a line, but I want you to see the "Police" sketch at once. Can I have a proof, if you like it, early? as perhaps when I am able to move I shall have to get to some of the sulphur springs in Styria at once.
"My enemy is now making a demonstration about my left knee, and, as the newspapers say, _La situation est difficile_.
"I am not so ill but that I can desire to be remembered to Mrs Blackwood."
_To Mr John Blackwood._