XVIII
MY WORKSHOP AND OTHERS
The women-folk are few up there, For "t were not fair, you know, That they our heavenly bliss should share Who vex us here below!
The few are those who have been kind To husbands such as we: They knew our fads and didn"t mind-- Says Dibdin"s ghost to me.
It has never been explained to my satisfaction why women, as a cla.s.s, are the enemies of books, and are particularly hostile to bibliomania.
The exceptions met with now and then simply prove the rule. Judge Methuen declares that bibliophobia is but one phase of jealousy; that one"s wife hates one"s books because she fears that her husband is in love, or is going to be in love, with those companions of his student hours. If, instead of being folios, quartos, octavos, and the like, the Judge"s books were buxom, blithe maidens, his wife could hardly be more jealous of the Judge"s attentions to them than she is under existing circ.u.mstances. On one occasion, having found the Judge on two successive afternoons sitting alone in the library with Pliny in his lap, this spirited lady s.n.a.t.c.hed the insidious volume from her husband"s embraces and locked it up in one of the kitchen pantries; nor did she release the object of her displeasure until the Judge had promised solemnly to be more circ.u.mspect in the future, and had further mollified his wife"s anger by bringing home a new silk dress and a bonnet of exceptional loveliness.
Other instances of a similar character have demonstrated that Mrs.
Methuen regards with implacable antipathy the volumes upon which my learned and ingenious friend would fain lavish the superabundance of his affection. Many years ago the Judge was compelled to resort to every kind of artifice in order to sneak new books into his house, and had he not been imbued with the true afflatus of bibliomania he would long ago have broken down under the heartless tyranny of his vindictive spouse.
When I look around me and survey the persecution to which book-lovers are subjected by their wives, I thank the G.o.ddess Fortune that she has cast my lot among the celibates; indeed, it is still one of the few serious questions I have not yet solved, viz.: whether a man can at the same time be true to a wife and to bibliomania. Both are exacting mistresses, and neither will tolerate a rival.
Dr. O"Rell has a theory that the trouble with most wives is that they are not caught young enough; he quotes Dr. Johnson"s sage remark to the effect that "much can be made of a Scotchman if caught young," and he a.s.serts that this is equally true of woman. Mrs. O"Rell was a mere girl when she wedded with the doctor, and the result of thirty years"
experience and training is that this model woman sympathizes with her excellent husband"s tastes, and actually has a feeling of contempt for other wives who have never heard of Father Prout and Kit North, and who object to their husbands" smoking in bed.
I recall with what enthusiasm I once heard this superior creature commend the doctor for having accepted in lieu of a fee a set of Calvin"s "Inst.i.tutes," with copious notes, in twelve octavo volumes, and a portfolio of colored fox-hunting prints. My admiration for this model wife could find expression in no other way; I jumped from my chair, seized her in my arms, and imprinted upon her brow a fervent but respectful kiss.
It would be hard to imagine a prettier picture than that presented to my vision as I looked in from the porch of the doctor"s residence upon the doctor"s family gathered together in the library after dinner. The doctor himself, snuggled down in a vast easy-chair, was dividing his attention between a brier pipe and the odes of Propertius; his wife, beside him in her rocker, smiled and smiled again over the quaint humor of Mrs. Gaskell"s "Cranford"; upon yonder settee, Francis Mahony Methuen, the oldest son, was deep in the perusal of Wilson"s "Tales of the Border"; his brother, Russell Lowell, was equally absorbed in the pathetic tale of "The Man without a Country"; Let.i.tia Landon Methuen, the daughter, was quietly sobbing over the tragedy of "Evangeline"; in his high chair sat the chubby baby boy, Beranger Methuen, crowing gleefully over an ill.u.s.trated copy of that grand old cla.s.sic, "Poems for Infant Minds by Two Young Persons."
For several moments I stood spellbound, regarding with ineffable rapture this inspiring spectacle. "How manifold are thy blessings, O Bibliomania," thought I, "and how graciously they are distributed in this joyous circle, wherein it is permitted to see not only the maturer members, but, alas, the youth and even the babes and sucklings drinking freely and gratefully at the fountain-head of thy delights!"
Dr. O"Rell"s library is one of the most charming apartments I know of.
It looks out upon every variety of scenery, for Dr. O"Rell has had constructed at considerable expense a light iron framework from which are suspended at different times cunningly painted canvases representing landscapes and marines corresponding to the most whimsical fancy.
In the dead of winter, the doctor often has a desire to look out upon a cheery landscape; thereupon, by a simple manipulation of a keyboard, there is unrolled a panorama of velvety hillsides and flowery meads, of grazing sheep, and of piping rustics; so natural is the spectacle that one can almost hear the music of the reeds, and fancy himself in Arcadia. If in midsummer the heat is oppressive and life seems burthensome, forthwith another canvas is outspread, and the glories of the Alps appear, or a stretch of blue sea, or a corner of a primeval forest.
So there is an outlook for every mood, and I doubt not that this ingenious provision contributes potently towards promoting bibliomaniac harmony and prosperity in my friend"s household. It is true that I myself am not susceptible to external influences when once I am surrounded by books; I do not care a fig whether my library overlooks a garden or a desert; give me my dear companions in their dress of leather, cloth, or boards, and it matters not to me whether G.o.d sends storm or sunshine, flowers or hail, light or darkness, noise or calm.
Yet I know and admit that environment means much to most people, and I do most heartily applaud Dr. O"Rell"s versatile device.
I have always thought that De Quincey"s workshop would have given me great delight. The particular thing that excited De Quincey"s choler was interference with his books and ma.n.u.scripts, which he piled atop of one another upon the floor and over his desk, until at last there would be but a narrow little pathway from the desk to the fireplace and from the fireplace to the door; and his writing-table--gracious! what a Pelion upon Ossa of confusion it must have been!
Yet De Quincey insisted that he knew "just where everything was," and he merely exacted that the servants attempt no such vandalism as "cleaning up" in his workshop. Of course there would presently come a time when there was no more room on the table and when the little pathway to the fireplace and the door would be no longer visible; then, with a sigh, De Quincey would lock the door of that room and betake himself to other quarters, which in turn would eventually become quite as littered up, cluttered up, and impa.s.sable as the first rooms.
From all that can be gathered upon the subject it would appear that De Quincey was careless in his treatment of books; I have read somewhere (but I forget where) that he used his forefinger as a paper-cutter and that he did not hesitate to mutilate old folios which he borrowed. But he was extraordinarily tender with his ma.n.u.scripts; and he was wont to carry in his pockets a soft brush with which he used to dust off his ma.n.u.scripts most carefully before handing them to the publisher.
Sir Walter Scott was similarly careful with his books, and he used, for purposes of dusting them, the end of a fox"s tail set in a handle of silver. Scott, was, however, particular and systematic in the arrangement of his books, and his work-room, with its choice bric-a-brac and its interesting collection of pictures and framed letters, was a veritable paradise to the visiting book-lover and curio-lover. He was as fond of early rising as Francis Jeffrey was averse to it, and both these eminent men were strongly attached to animal pets. Jeffrey particularly affected an aged and garrulous parrot and an equally disreputable little dog. Scott was so stanch a friend of dogs that wherever he went he was accompanied by one or two--sometimes by a whole kennel--of these faithful brutes.
In Mrs. Gordon"s n.o.ble "Memoirs" we have a vivid picture of Professor Wilson"s workroom. All was confusion there: "his room was a strange mixture of what may be called order and untidiness, for there was not a sc.r.a.p of paper or a book that his hand could not light upon in a moment, while to the casual eye, in search of discovery, it would appear chaos." Wilson had no love for fine furniture, and he seems to have crowded his books together without regard to any system of cla.s.sification. He had a habit of mixing his books around with fishing-tackle, and his charming biographer tells us it was no uncommon thing to find the "Wealth of Nations," "Boxiana," the "Faerie Queen,"
Jeremy Taylor, and Ben Jonson occupying close quarters with fishing-rods, boxing-gloves, and tins of barley-sugar.
Charles Lamb"s favorite workshop was in an attic; upon the walls of this room he and his sister pasted old prints and gay pictures, and this resulted in giving the place a cheery aspect. Lamb loved old books, old friends, old times; "he evades the present, he works at the future, and his affections revert to and settle on the past,"--so says Hazlitt. His favorite books seem to have been Bunyan"s "Holy War,"
Browne"s "Urn-Burial," Burton"s "Anatomy of Melancholy," Fuller"s "Worthies," and Taylor"s "Holy Living and Dying." Thomas Westwood tells us that there were few modern volumes in his library, it being his custom to give away and throw away (as the same writer a.s.serts) presentation copies of contemporaneous literature. Says Barry Cornwall: "Lamb"s pleasures lay amongst the books of the old English writers," and Lamb himself uttered these memorable words: "I cannot sit and think--books think for me."
Wordsworth, on the other hand, cared little for books; his library was a small one, embracing hardly more than five hundred volumes. He drew his inspiration not from books, but from Nature. From all that I have heard of him I judge him to have been a very dull man. Allibone relates of him that he once remarked that he did not consider himself a witty poet. "Indeed," quoth he, "I don"t think I ever was witty but once in my life."
His friends urged him to tell them about it. After some hesitation, he said: "Well, I will tell you. I was standing some time ago at the entrance of Rydal Mount. A man accosted me with the question: "Pray, sir, have you seen my wife pa.s.s by?" Whereupon I retorted, "Why, my good friend, I didn"t know till this moment that you had a wife.""
Ill.u.s.trative of Wordsworth"s vanity, it is told that when it was reported that the next Waverley novel was to be "Rob Roy," the poet took down his "Ballads" and read to the company "Rob Roy"s Grave."
Then he said gravely: "I do not know what more Mr. Scott can have to say on the subject."
Wordsworth and d.i.c.kens disliked each other cordially. Having been asked his opinion of the young novelist, Wordsworth answered: "Why, I"m not much given to turn critic on people I meet; but, as you ask me, I will cordially avow that I thought him a very talkative young person--but I dare say he may be very clever. Mind, I don"t want to say a word against him, for I have never read a line he has written."
The same inquirer subsequently asked d.i.c.kens how he liked Wordsworth.
"Like him!" roared d.i.c.kens, "not at all; he is a dreadful Old a.s.s!"
XIX
OUR DEBT TO MONKISH MEN
Where one has the time and the money to devote to the collection of missals and illuminated books, the avocation must be a very delightful one. I never look upon a missal or upon a bit of antique illumination that I do not invest that object with a certain poetic romance, and I picture to myself long lines of monkish men bending over their tasks, and applying themselves with pious enthusiasm thereto. We should not flatter ourselves that the enjoyment of the delights of bibliomania was reserved to one time and generation; a greater than any of us lived many centuries ago, and went his bibliomaniacal way, gathering together treasures from every quarter, and diffusing every where a veneration and love for books.
Richard de Bury was the king, if not the father, of bibliomaniacs; his immortal work reveals to us that long before the invention of printing men were tormented and enraptured by those very same desires, envies, jealousies, greeds, enthusiasms, and pa.s.sions which possess and control bibliomaniacs at the present time. That vanity was sometimes the controlling pa.s.sion with the early collectors is evidenced in a pa.s.sage in Barclay"s satire, "The Ship of Fools"; there are the stanzas which apply so neatly to certain people I know that sometimes I actually suspect that Barclay"s prophetic eye must have had these nineteenth-century charlatans in view.
But yet I have them in great reverence And honor, saving them from filth and ordure By often brushing and much diligence.
Full goodly bound in pleasant coverture Of damask, satin, or else of velvet pure, I keep them sure, fearing lest they should be lost, For in them is the cunning wherein I me boast.
But if it fortune that any learned man Within my house fall to disputation, I draw the curtains to show my books them, That they of my cunning should make probation; I love not to fall into altercation, And while they come, my books I turn and wind, For all is in them, and nothing in my mind.
Richard de Bury had exceptional opportunities for gratifying his bibliomaniac pa.s.sions. He was chancellor and treasurer of Edward III., and his official position gained him access to public and private libraries and to the society of literary men. Moreover, when it became known that he was fond of such things, people from every quarter sent him and brought him old books; it may be that they hoped in this wise to court his official favor, or perhaps they were prompted by the less selfish motive of gladdening the bibliomaniac soul.
"The flying fame of our love," says de Bury, "had already spread in all directions, and it was reported not only that we had a longing desire for books, and especially for old ones, but that any one could more easily obtain our favors by quartos than by money. Wherefore, when supported by the bounty of the aforesaid prince of worthy memory, we were enabled to oppose or advance, to appoint or to discharge; crazy quartos and tottering folios, precious however in our sight as in our affections, flowed in most rapidly from the great and the small, instead of new year"s gifts and remunerations, and instead of presents and jewels. Then the cabinets of the most n.o.ble monasteries were opened, cases were unlocked, caskets were unclasped, and sleeping volumes which had slumbered for long ages in their sepulchres were roused up, and those that lay hid in dark places were overwhelmed with the rays of a new light. Among these, as time served, we sat down more voluptuously than the delicate physician could do amidst his stores of aromatics, and where we found an object of love we found also an a.s.suagement."
"If," says de Bury, "we would have ama.s.sed cups of gold and silver, excellent horses, or no mean sums of money, we could in those days have laid up abundance of wealth for ourselves. But we regarded books, not pounds; and valued codices more than florins, and preferred paltry pamphlets to pampered palfreys. On tedious emba.s.sies and in perilous times, we carried about with us that fondness for books which many waters could not extinguish."
And what books they were in those old days! What tall folios! What stout quartos! How magnificent were the bindings, wrought often in silver devices, sometimes in gold, and not infrequently in silver and gold, with splendid jewels and precious stones to add their value to that of the precious volume which they adorned. The works of Justin, Seneca, Martial, Terence, and Claudian were highly popular with the bibliophiles of early times; and the writings of Ovid, Tully, Horace, Cato, Aristotle, Sall.u.s.t, Hippocrates, Macrobius, Augustine, Bede, Gregory, Origen, etc. But for the veneration and love for books which the monks of the mediaeval ages had, what would have been preserved to us of the cla.s.sics of the Greeks and the Romans?
The same auspicious fate that prompted those bibliomaniacal monks to hide away ma.n.u.script treasures in the cellars of their monasteries, inspired Poggio Bracciolini several centuries later to hunt out and invade those sacred hiding-places, and these quests were rewarded with finds whose value cannot be overestimated. All that we have of the histories of Livy come to us through Poggio"s industry as a ma.n.u.script-hunter; this same worthy found and brought away from different monasteries a perfect copy of Quintilian, a Cicero"s oration for Caecina, a complete Tertullian, a Petronius Arbiter, and fifteen or twenty other cla.s.sics almost as valuable as those I have named. From German monasteries, Poggio"s friend, Nicolas of Treves, brought away twelve comedies of Plautus and a fragment of Aulus Gellius.
Dear as their pagan books were to the monkish collectors, it was upon their Bibles, their psalters, and their other religious books that these mediaeval bibliomaniacs expended their choicest art and their most loving care. St. Cuthbert"s "Gospels," preserved in the British Museum, was written by Egfrith, a monk, circa 720; Aethelwald bound the book in gold and precious stones, and Bilfrid, a hermit, illuminated it by prefixing to each gospel a beautiful painting representing one of the Evangelists, and a tessellated cross, executed in a most elaborate manner. Bilfrid also illuminated the large capital letters at the beginning of the gospels. This precious volume was still further enriched by Aldred of Durham, who interlined it with a Saxon Gloss, or version of the Latin text of St. Jerome.
"Of the exact pecuniary value of books during the middle ages," says Merryweather, "we have no means of judging. The few instances that have accidentally been recorded are totally inadequate to enable us to form an opinion. The extravagant estimate given by some as to the value of books in those days is merely conjectural, as it necessarily must be when we remember that the price was guided by the accuracy of the transcription, the splendor of the binding (which was often gorgeous to excess), and by the beauty and richness of the illuminations. Many of the ma.n.u.scripts of the middle ages are magnificent in the extreme; sometimes inscribed in liquid gold on parchment of the richest purple, and adorned with illuminations of exquisite workmanship."
With such a veneration and love for books obtaining in the cloister and at the fireside, what pathos is revealed to us in the supplication which invited G.o.d"s blessing upon the beloved tomes: "O Lord, send the virtue of thy Holy Spirit upon these our books; that cleansing them from all earthly things, by thy holy blessing, they may mercifully enlighten our hearts and give us true understanding; and grant that by thy teachings they may brightly preserve and make full an abundance of good works according to thy will."
And what inspiration and cheer does every book-lover find in the letter which that grand old bibliomaniac, Alcuin, addressed to Charlemagne: "I, your Flaccus, according to your admonitions and good will, administer to some in the house of St. Martin the sweets of the Holy Scriptures; others I inebriate with the study of ancient wisdom; and others I fill with the fruits of grammatical lore. Many I seek to instruct in the order of the stars which illuminate the glorious vault of heaven, so that they may be made ornaments to the holy church of G.o.d and the court of your imperial majesty; that the goodness of G.o.d and your kindness may not be altogether unproductive of good. But in doing this I discover the want of much, especially those exquisite books of scholastic learning which I possessed in my own country, through the industry of my good and most devout master, Egbert. I therefore entreat your Excellence to permit me to send into Britain some of our youths to procure those books which we so much desire, and thus transplant into France the flowers of Britain, that they may fructify and perfume, not only the garden at York, but also the Paradise of Tours, and that we may say in the words of the song: "Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit;" and to the young: "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;" or exhort in the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Every one that thirsteth to come to the waters, and ye that have no money, come ye, buy and eat: yea, come buy wine and milk, without money and without price.""
I was meaning to have somewhat to say about Alcuin, and had intended to pay my respects to Canute, Alfred, the Abbot of St. Albans, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the Prior of Dover, and other mediaeval worthies, when Judge Methuen came in and interrupted the thread of my meditation. The Judge brings me some verses done recently by a poet-friend of his, and he asks me to give them a place in these memoirs as ill.u.s.trating the vanity of human confidence.
One day I got a missive Writ in a dainty hand, Which made my manly bosom With vanity expand.