CHAPTER VI
THE AUTOGRAPHS OF STATECRAFT, SOCIETY, AND
DIPLOMACY
Unpublished letters of the two Pitts, Lord Chesterfield, and Lord Stanhope
James Howell (1595-1666).
"Letters of affairs from such as manage them, or are privy to them," writes Lord Bacon, "are, of all others, the best instructors for history, and to a diligent reader, the best histories in themselves." Hence the peculiar and exceptional value of the autographs of Statecraft and Diplomacy as important sources of reliable information in dealing with the annals of any given period of national life. Writers like Frederic Masson have discovered that the faded and forgotten correspondence of men and women of fashion constitute a veritable treasury of knowledge concerning the manners and customs of our ancestors during the past three centuries. Almost all the American autographs of great value[37] may be classed in this category. It is obvious that some writers, like Lord Chesterfield, united in their persons the attributes of statesmen, diplomatists, and men of fashion.
Eighty years ago it is evident the money value of the letters of celebrated statesmen in no way corresponded with their worth as potential aids to history-making. The chronicler of 1827 already alluded to makes no secret of the fact. "Hands which the reins of empire might have swayed," he frankly confesses, "are hands of very inferior value on paper. Sir Francis Walsingham, the able and upright secretary of Queen Elizabeth, must have five other celebrated persons added to mount up to 9s. The price of the great Sir Robert Walpole, who discovered the price of more than half the House of Commons, and made the whole of the Government run smoothly, is 18s. Mr. Pitt, the Pilot that weathered the storm, and Mr. Perceval, who fell by the ball of an assassin, join hands to reach 13s.; and Lord Castlereagh, who once towered high above the heads of the people, now needs the help of Lord Grenville, and a Lord Chief Justice, to lift him up to a like sum. The average value of a common Lord Chancellor is about 2s. 6d. Lenthall, the Speaker of the House of Commons in the Long Parliament, and Thurloe, the Secretary of Oliver Cromwell, are valued together at 52s. 6d."
I am hardly disposed to altogether credit this statement, as large sums, comparatively speaking, were paid even then for documents signed by Thomas More, the Earl of Pembroke (Shakespeare's friend), and Francis Bacon, who, according to the writer, would be pitilessly relegated to the half-crown class. In Frederic Barker's catalogue for 1887 I find a Privy Council letter, signed by Bacon and several others, priced at £7 7s., and Mr. Waller, ten years before, offers a 2 p. A.L.S. of the younger Pitt for 18s. It was nevertheless a letter of considerable historical value. In this kind of autographs important finds may often be made by buying letters written by little known personages to eminent politicians. In a recent sale at Sotheby's a dozen letters addressed to William Windham went for 1s. the lot. It is quite possible they may enshrine some unknown State secret. I lately saw at the shop of Messrs. Ellis, in New Bond Street, a deed signed not only by Bacon but his wife, and nearly the whole of his relatives and connections. It is in an excellent state of preservation, and was priced at £30.
At the present moment, when the sixth generation of our Royal Family is represented in the Senior Service, two letters of the elder Pitt, the Great Commoner, arranging for the entry into the Navy of the first Prince of the House of Brunswick to join it, cannot but be interesting. These letters were addressed in 1759 to Lord Holdernesse, and concern the Duke of York, a younger brother of King George III.[38]
William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham) to Lord Holdernesse.
past 5 o'clock
(1758-9?).
Dear Lord,—I have the very great satisfaction to acquaint your Lordship that the King has been graciously pleased to approve that Prince Edward should go on board the fleet and enter into the Department of the Navy. His Majesty, at the same time signifyd his Intentions to the Duke of Newcastle not to allot any appointments to the Prince on this account. Proper representations, however will be made for an allowance for Table at least, which it is hoped will not be without effect.
I am doubly happy, my Dear Lord, at the favourable and speedy determination of this very important arrangement, and cannot do sufficient Justice to the Instant and efficacious attentions paid to the Intentions of Leicester House, which I had the great honour to be commanded to make known.
I am ever
My dear Lord's
most affectionate Friend
and humble servant
W. Pitt
The King reviews the Cavalry Monday next.
William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham).
Monday ½ past 4
My Dear Lord,—I am able to put your mind entirely at ease as to some doubts which seemed to have arisen, by acquainting your Lordship that in consequence of the signification of the King's pleasure by me, the Lords of the Admiralty have ordered Captain Howe to enter Prince Edward in the Ship's books, as a volunteer for wages and victuals, and his Retinue as part of the allowed complement of the Ship. This is the Form and puts everything out of doubt. The King is pressing for the Departure of the Expedition, and has named General Bligh to command the Forces. Lord Ligonier is gone to the General to acquaint him of the King's pleasure. I conceive Howe will sail by Thursday at latest if the weather permits. Preparations having been ordered to be made for the Reception of Prince Edward on Board of Captain Howe's own ship, Mr. Cleveland informs me that everything will be provided for His Royal Highness's accomodation if Bligh accepts (for such is the style of our army) and the King should approve the Draught of Instructions to be laid before His Majesty tomorrow, nothing but a wind will be wanting.
Prince Ferdinand recommends the continuation of attack on their coasts as la guerre la plus sensible à la France de l'attaquer dans ses Foyers. And yet this great Prince is certainly a Stranger to the Common Council, Beckford and the Buchaneers. Olmutz may draw into some length; 10,000 men in the Place and old General Marshall defending it with great vigour. I could not possibly see General Elliot this morning, being obliged to go to Kensington, and I am this evening to be at a meeting by seven. I am,
Ever my dear Lord's
Most Affectionate Friend
W. Pitt.
Seven years later, on the afternoon of February 22, 1766, the Premier, after a tempestuous debate, concluded a letter to his wife in the country thus:—
Love to the sweet babes, patriotic or not, tho' I hope impetuous William is not behind in feelings of that kind. Send the saddle horses if you please, so as to be in town early tomorrow morning. I propose and hope to execute my journey to Hayes by 11. Your ever loving husband
W. Pitt.
The patriotism of William Pitt the younger, born in the very year Prince Edward joined Captain Howe's ship as a "volunteer for wages and victuals," was soon to blossom forth not only in an infantile drama,[39] but in a poem hitherto unpublished, which I had the good fortune to obtain through Mr. F. Sabin. It was the joint work of "impetuous William" and his sister in the spring of 1777, and is in the handwriting of the former:—
ON POETRY
Harriett Pitt, May 1771, 13 years old.
William Pitt, 12 years old.
LAST PAGE OF UNPUBLISHED HOLOGRAPH POEM IN HANDWRITING OF WILLIAM PITT, MAY, 1771.
LAST WHIP ISSUED BY WILLIAM PITT AND SIGNED BY HIM, DECEMBER 31, 1805.
SIGNATURE OF SIR ISAAC HEARD, GARTER, ON CARD OF ADMISSION TO THE FUNERAL OF WILLIAM PITT 1806.
Here is a letter written by him thirty-three years later, after his return to office on the resignation of Addington. It shows conclusively that his share in helping the Fatherland to weather the storm was physical as well as moral:—
William Pitt in Downing Street to Lieut.-Colonel Dillon of Walmer.
Downing Street, September 1, 1804.
My dear Sir,—As the Harvest is now nearly over, I imagine this would be a very fitting time for proposing to assemble your Battalion on permanent duty; and there seems chance enough of the occasion arriving for actual Service, to make it desirable that there should be as little delay as possible. Lord Carrington has gone to Deal Castle to-day, and if you can contrive to see him tomorrow, or next day, I shall be glad if you will settle with him the necessary arrangements. I think the time should not be less than Three weeks, and in that case, an extra allowance will be made of a guinea pr Man, which added to the usual pay will amount to 2s pr day for the whole period. This will enable us to give the men full compensation for at least six or seven hours a day, on an average; and will therefore allow of three or four long Field Days in each week, and only short drills in the remaining days; and such arrangement would, I think, answer every purpose. I should hope you might fix the commencement of permanent duty for Monday fortnight, very soon after which day I hope to come to Walmer to make some stay. I shall be at Dover on Tuesday next for a day, but have some business which will carry me from thence along the Coast, and probably back to town before I reach Walmer.
Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely,
W. Pitt.
In June, 1909, an extraordinary series of letters by Pitt, Burke, and others was offered for sale. They were manifestly of supreme importance to the history of England during one of her most terrible political crises. I am glad to say certain steps were taken which led to the issue of the following notice:—
SALE OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS,
June 9th and 10th.
WINDHAM CORRESPONDENCE.
Lots 519 to 550.
Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge
having Sold these Lots privately, by direction
of the Executors, they will not be included in
the Sale on June 10th.[40]
The patriotism of Pitt certainly finds no echo in the following extraordinary letter of his opponent, Lord Stanhope, which I purchased in Paris for 15 francs:—
The Earl of Stanhope to M. Palloy, Entrepreneur de la demolition de la Bastille, Grenadier Volontier de la 1ere Division de l'Armée Parisienne, Rue du Fossé St. Bernard, Paris:—
Cheevening House
near Sevenoaks Kent
Aout 25 1790
Monsieur,—Je vous rend bien des Graces pour votre lettre obligéante du 7e courant. On vous a mal informé quand on vous a dit que nous avions à notre fête à Londres un Chapiteau d'une des Colonnes de la Bastille; ce n'était point partie d'une colonne; mais seulement une vraie pierre de la Bastille, comme nous nous sommes assurés. Je ne profiterez [sic] donc, par de votre trés obligéante offre, mais je ne vous en suis par moins obligé. Je me rejouis, chaque jour de la demolition de la Bastille et de la Liberté des Français
Je suis, Monsieur,
Votre très humble et obeissant serviteur
Stanhope
à M Palloy
A year or so ago I was lucky enough to secure the official dispatch-box bearing the Royal cipher and his initials, which Pitt left behind him at Bath, when returning to Putney a few days before his death. In it is his last Whip, signed on December 31, 1805. On January 21st he was dying, and on the 23rd he died. This melancholy document now lies within the forgotten dispatch-box!
Chesterfield—the "great" Earl of Chesterfield—died when the younger Pitt was fourteen years old. It is more correct to describe him as a contemporary of his father, the Great Commoner. He was, as an amusing and able letter-writer, superior to both, but he loved society and they did not. In the recent Haber Sale at New York (December 10, 1909) a very fine Chesterfield letter only fetched £3 8s. It is thus described:—
CHESTERFIELD (PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, FOURTH EARL OF). A.L.S., 2 pp. 4to, London, June 14, 1746. (Endorsed on the back "To Thos. Prior.") With portrait.
Thomas Prior was the Irish philanthropist, with whom Earl Chesterfield became acquainted while Viceroy of Ireland.
A remarkable letter proposing schemes for manufactures in Ireland. He first suggests glass manufacture, and next writing and printing paper, and states that the specimens shown him of Irish manufacture impressed him greatly, and only "industry is wanting"; another suggestion is the manufacture of starch, and he writes that he has been shown a method of making it from potatoes easily and cheaply, and while the law in England prevents it being made from anything else than flour in that country, that law might not apply in Ireland, and proceeds: "These are the Jobbs that I wish the People in Ireland would attend with as much Industry and Care as they do Jobbs of a very different Nature." Many other reflections show sound common sense.
Two years ago I gave £4 each for five unknown and unpublished letters, written between 1762 and 1771 by Chesterfield to his relative, Mr. Welbore Ellis Agar ("Gatty"). The specimen I now give of them is interesting, as it concerns Bath, a city which I regard as the great source and centre of the lighter and more gossipy letters of the eighteenth century:—
Bath, October ye 8th 1771.
Dear Gatty,—When we parted we agreed to correspond by way of letter, but we did not as I remember stipulate which should make the first advance, but as I always sacrificed my Dignity to my pleasure, I here make the first step though Cozen and Counsillor to the King and your Unkle, which is a kind of Deputy Parent. Admire my condescension. To begin, then, with an account of my Caducity. I made my journey to this place in two days, which I did not think I could have done, much tired with it but alive. Since I came I have seen no mortal till last night, when I went to the Ball with which the new rooms were opened and when I was there I knew not one creature except Lord and Lady Vere. The new rooms are really Magnificent finely finished and furnished, the Dancing-room, which the Lady Thanet used to call the Posture-room, particularly spacious and adorned. A large and fine play room, and a convenient Tea room well contrived, either to drink or part with that liquor. So much for this and more I cannot tell you, for as for the people who are not yet many, they are absolute strangers to me, and I to them. In my review of the fair sex last night I did not see one tolerably handsome, so that I am in no danger of falling in love this season, and indeed my heart and mind are so engrossed by Mr. Agar's fair cousin Mrs. Mathews, that I have no room left for a second choice. I hope that at her return to England, he will do me what good offices he can with her; my way is to end my letters abruptly, and without a well-turned period.
So God bless you
Chesterfield.
A.L.S. OF EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, OCTOBER 8, 1771, DESCRIBING THE INAUGURAL BALL AT THE NEW BATH ASSEMBLY ROOMS.
The Mrs. Mathews alluded to in the letter was probably the wife of Captain Mathews, who afterwards fought a duel with Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Here is another Chesterfield letter from a different source:—
Earl of Chesterfield to Mrs. Montague, May 14, 1771.
Lord Chesterfield presents his respects to Mrs. Montague and desires her to accept of the enclosed trifle for her poor women; his charity purse is at present as light as hers can possibly be, not from being as formerly his Play-purse too but from the various applications of wretched objects which humanity cannot withstand.
Of the early nineteenth-century statesmen letter-writers Brougham was one of the most prolific, but I have already spoken of a curious "find" of somewhat sensational Brougham correspondence in Paris.[41] His ordinary letters only fetch from 3s. to 5s. Far more costly are the letters of Curran, Grattan, and O'Connell. Here is a typical letter of the "Liberator," written from Bath:—
Daniel O'Connell to Mr. W. H. Curran.
Bath, October 14, 1817.
My dear Curran,—I have wept over your letter. Oh God your Father never offended me,—we once differed on the subject of the details of our Petition, but if my information on facts respecting that detail was not superior to his, I feel my inferiority in every other respect too sensibly to dare to differ with him. As Brutus was called the last of the Romans so Ireland will weep over him as the last survivor of those great spirits who almost burst the iron Bondage of Britain and would have made her free but that the ancient curse has still bound her and she lingers yet in slavery. How naturally does the thought fly from his bed of sickness to the sorrows of Ireland. The Boldest, best, most eloquent, most enthusiastic, and perhaps more than the most persevering of her Patriots, he was. Alas he leaves none like or second to him. You will my friend think I declaim while I only run rapidly through the thoughts that his illness crowds upon me. You do well, quite well. It will, in every respect, console you to recollect that you have done your duty. I rejoice with all the joy of my heart can mingle with his state that you have this precious opportunity of doing that duty cordially and well. If your letter afforded me hope that I could see your Father, so as to be able to converse with him, I would answer your letter in person, as it is I wait only your reply to go to you. It would suit most convenient not to leave this before Saturday, but your reply will command me. The Funeral must be Public. I will of course attend it. We will arouse everything Irish in London and pay a tribute to his memory unequalled by any which London has witnessed. Tell Phillips I only wait a reply to join you both. Do you think of conveying his remains to Ireland? this if practicable would be best. Write, or get Phillips to write, as soon as you receive this. You perceive that I write in the extreme of haste, but I am for ten thousand reasons convinced that you should listen to no suggestion of a private funeral. You would repent it only once, that is all your life. Would to God I could offer you consolation.
Believe me, my dear friend, to be most faithfully yours,
Daniel O'Connell.
Mr. Gladstone was, like Wellington and Brougham, a writer of innumerable letters. There was a demand for them once, but at the present moment, by the irony of fate, an average Gladstone letter fetches less than one of his wife. Special circumstances, however, may give them special value. This is exemplified in the case of the Gladstone-Manning correspondence written from Balmoral, which I found at Brighton. The introduction of the economical and space-saving postcard spoiled Gladstone as a letter-writer in his old age. Here is a typical letter of his, relating to the present of a bust of O'Connell and interesting at the present political juncture:—
Mr. Gladstone to Mrs. O'Connell.
10 Downing Street January 28. 1882.
My dear Madam,—I accept with many thanks the Bust you have been so kind to send me. It is a most interesting memorial of early days, and of a man of powerful mind and will, and profound attachment to his Country; whose name can never be forgotten there.
In my early years of Parliamentary life, casual circumstances brought me into slight personal relations with Mr. O'Connel, and I have ever retained the lively recollection of his courtesy and kindness.
I remain, my dear Madam, your very faithful and obedient,
W. E. Gladstone.
I must not omit to thank you for the kind terms in which you speak of my efforts on behalf of Ireland, and I cling in that confidence to the hope that a happy future is yet in store for her.
Four years ago I saw ten letters of the late Lord Beaconsfield catalogued at £70. Personally I regard him as almost the last of the now extinct race of letter-writers, for the epistolary art has succumbed beyond hope of recovery to the combined influences of the telegraph, the telephone, the type-writer and the halfpenny newspaper. A "newspaper" letter, as Mrs. Montagu, Lord Lyttelton, and Lord Bath used to call them, would be as ridiculous as a conversation on les belles lettres. How Lord Beaconsfield's life is ever to be written with any hope of completeness, I cannot imagine. Hundreds of his letters have been sold since his death, and a specimen of average interest can now be obtained for 20s. or less. I have gradually acquired thirty or forty and am certain that sooner or later a rise in price is inevitable. People will soon discover that in the fragmentary and wholly unsatisfactory published collections of Beaconsfield's letters the originals have been ruthlessly mangled or transformed. I shall only include two examples in this book, beginning with a very early one from the inevitable Bath:—
Benjamin Disraeli to his Sister.
(Franked by E. Lytton Bulwer.)
Bath, Thursday [Jany 24 1833]
My Dearest,—You ought to have recd my letter on Sunday and I should have answered your's immediately, but it is almost impossible to get a frank out of Bulwer and I thought my father wd go quite mad if he received an unprivileged letter under present circumstances. We quit this place tomorrow and shd have done so to-day, but dine with a Mr. Murray here. I like Bath very much. At a public ball I met the Horfords, Hawksleys etc. Bulwer and myself went in very late and got quite mobbed.
I have nearly finished Iskander, a very pretty thing indeed, and have printed the 1st Vol of Alroy.
I have answered the agric. affair which was forwarded to me from London.
Directly I am in town I will write about the bills.
The Horfords (father and brother here) asked us to dine, but were engaged.
Met the Bayntums, but not Clementina. Rather think I may to day.
yrs ever
B. D.
Let me have a letter in Duke St. Bulwer is getting on immensely and I shd not be surprised if we shortly see him in a most eminent position, but this not to be spoken of. Met Ensor.
Omitting many letters of piquant interest I come to one written in the autumn of 1851, in which the rising statesman deals somewhat severely with his old friend, The Times. It runs as follows:—
Hughenden, Sept 19 1851
My dear Sa,—Your mischance was very vexatious, but I was glad to hear that you had arrived all safe in such kind quarters.
I see Jem on Tuesday, who passed a longish morning here.
At Monday I was at Aylesbury where I was obliged to dine with the old society—Lowndes, Stone, Howard Wyse, Bernard, Hale, Isham, and Young of Quainton and 3 clergymen supported me, and Lowndes of Chesham in the chair. I made a good speech on a difficult subject, and the meeting seemed in heart. I saw to-day in The Times two columns of incoherent and contradictory nonsense wh made me blush, tho' I ought to be hardened by this time on such subjects. I have seen no other papers. They can't be worse, and perhaps may in some degree neutralise the nonsense of The Times. I am only afraid the world will think it all Delphi and diplomatic, and that the wordy obscurity was intentional, whereas I flattered myself I was as terse and simple as suited a farmer's table.
I am rather improving and getting on a little.
I hope you will enjoy yourself very much.
We went over to Cliefden the other day—there is one bed of flowers, called the scarlet ribbon—4,000 geraniums—the Duchess's[42] own design, very new and wonderful, winding over a lawn like a sea-serpent, but the plantation in sad order. The gardener has £10 per week to pay everything in his department, as the Duchess will not spend more on a place which yields nothing. My kind remembrances to Mrs. Peacock.
Affecly yrs.
D.
ONE PAGE OF A.L.S. OF MR. DISRAELI (AFTERWARDS LORD BEACONSFIELD) ON CHURCH MATTERS, N.D.
I venture to think that in the near future the letters of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, will be found as essential to the annals of the Victorian era, as those of Pitt, Windham, and Burke are to those of the reign of George III.
CHAPTER VII
THE LITERARY AUTOGRAPHS OF THREE CENTURIES
From the days of Shakespeare and Spenser to those of Thackeray, Dickens, Tennyson, and Meredith—The value of literary autographs and MSS.
In a man's letters, you know, Madame, his soul lies naked—his letters are only the mirror of his heart.—Dr. Johnson to Mrs. Thrale.
Political interest is ephemeral, but literary interest is eternal.—Adrian H. Joline, "Meditations of an Autograph Collector."
By a felicitous coincidence two literary autographs of more than ordinary interest have come to light at the moment I was preparing to write the present chapter. The first is the discovery in the Record Office by Dr. Wallace of the signed deposition of Shakespeare in an early seventeenth-century lawsuit, under the circumstances picturesquely set forth in the issue of Harper's Monthly Magazine for March, 1910. Without conceding to Dr. Wallace's "find" the supreme importance claimed for it by this able and patient examiner of ancient MSS., there can be no doubt that it deals a fatal and final blow to the Baconian theory. On the very day I read Dr. Wallace's article, Mr. J. H. Stonehouse[43] showed me several fictitious Shakespeare signatures fabricated by W. H. Ireland nearly forty years after the appearance of "Vortigern," for the avowed purpose of demonstrating his ability to imitate them. I cannot help thinking that Dr. Wallace's article lends increased interest to the letter of the Shakespearean actor, Dowton, which has already been alluded to in these pages.[44] In the elaborate essay in which the fifth Shakespeare signature has been enshrined will be found reproductions of the other four.[45]
THE SIGNATURE OF SHAKESPEARE ON THE LAST PAGE OF HIS WILL.
Mr. Adrian Joline's theory as to the "eternity of interest" in literary autographs receives support from the exceptionally high prices they have commanded from the early days of the collection of MSS., when the signatures of kings and statesmen were almost at a discount. "I shall now," writes the chronicler of autograph prices in 1827, "set poetry, philosophy, history, and works of imagination against sceptres, swords, robes, and big-wigs.... Addison is worth £2 15s., Pope £3 5s., and Swift £3. Thomson has sold for £5 10s. and Burns for £3 10s. Churchill, the abuser of his compatriots, is valued at £1 18s. In philosophy Dr. Franklin reaches £1 17s.; in history, Hume is valued at £1 18s. and Gibbon at only 8s. The sturdy moralist Johnson ranks at £1 16s., the graceful trifler Sterne at £2 2s., Smollett at £2 10s., and Richardson at £1. Scott only yields 8s." In the half-century which intervened between 1827 and 1877 the prices of literary autographs had risen by leaps and bounds. In his catalogue of 1876 Mr. Waller asked £8 10s. for a short Latin essay of Thomas Gray, while Longfellow is priced at £1 18s., George Borrow at £3 3s., and Wordsworth at £1 1s. A fine letter of Schiller's is priced at £2 5s. In the next catalogue (1878) I find the following: Gibbon (a fine A.L.S.) £4 4s.; Voltaire (a 2 pp. A.L.S.) £3 15s.; Rousseau, a series of letters, including one of the philosopher, £3 10s.; five verses by Scott, £4 4s.; William Cowper, A.L.S., £3 7s. 6d.; Gray, a bundle of printed matter including one hundred lines of MS., £6 6s. In the late Mr. Frederick Barker's catalogues of the same period we have Edmund Burke (A.L.S.), £3 3s.; Thomas Hood (A.L.S.), £2 2s.; Voltaire (A.L.S.), £4 4s.; Horace Walpole (A.L.S.), £3 5s.; and a love-letter from John Keats to Fanny Brawne, £28.
In cataloguing the last-named item Mr. Barker says "that one of these celebrated letters realised by auction a short time since no less than £47." He also prices two A.L.S. of Robert Burns at £35 and £32 respectively. It will be remembered that in 1827 the price for a Burns letter was £3 10s. only. For a letter of Schiller (4 pp., 8vo, 1801) Mr. Barker asks £7 7s. In several catalogues of this period I find Keats letters averaging £20 to £30. The interesting catalogue issued by Mr. Barker in 1891 is remarkable for its wealth of literary rariora. Autograph letters are priced in it as follows: Schiller, £10 10s.; Burns, £25; Wordsworth, £3 3s.; Thackeray, £25. The last-named letter is worth describing. It was addressed to Miss Holmes, with a postscript on the inside of the envelope, and on the third sheet a clever sketch of Thackeray and Bulwer Lytton standing behind a lady seated at a piano. The letter itself runs thus:—
There is a comfortable Hotel in this street, kept by a respectable family man, the charges are Beds gratis, Breakfasts, thank you, dinner and tea, ditto, servants included in these charges. Get a cab from the station, and come straightway to No. 13. I dine out with the Dean of St. Paul's (you have heard of a large meeting house we have between Ludgate Hill and Cheapside, with a round roof?). Some night we will have a select T party, but not whilst you are staying here. When you are in your lodgings. Why I will ask Sir Edward George Earle Lytton, Bulwer Lytton himself. Bulwer's boots are very fine in the accompanying masterly design (refer to the sketch), remark the traces of emotion on the cheeks of the other author (the notorious W. M. T.), I have caricatured Dr. Newman (with an immense nose) and the Cardinal too, you ought to know that.
This letter would be now worth quite £50, and some of the fine illustrated Thackeray letters now in possession of Mr. Frank Sabin would probably be cheap at £100 each. Mr. Sabin's collection of the Thackerayana is probably unrivalled both as regards the United Kingdom and America.[46]
In Mr. Barker's 1891 catalogue there are four letters of Shelley, priced at £18 18s., £19 19s., £10 10s., and £9 9s. respectively. There is also a Schiller at £25, and an Alexander Pope covering one page 8vo only at £8. Darwin is already at £1 10s., Disraeli at 18s., and the Dickens letters average about £2. A letter of Dr. Priestley, worth perhaps 5s. in 1827, is now offered at £2 2s.
DEED CONTAINING THE SIGNATURE OF FRANCIS BACON, LORD VERULAM, AND NEARLY ALL THE MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY, TEMP. JAMES I.
(In the collection of Messrs. Ellis.)
I am permitted by Mr. F. Sabin to reproduce a very early literary letter addressed in 1690 by John Evelyn to Samuel Pepys. It must not be forgotten that Evelyn was one of the earliest collectors of MSS.
Depfd, 25—7:—90.
'Tis now (methinks) so very long since I saw or heard from my Ext Friend: that I cannot but enquire after his Health: If he aske what I am doing all this while? Sarcinam compono, I am making up my fardle, that I may march the freer: for the meane time—
Do you expect a more proper Conjuncture than this approaching Session, to do yourself Right—by publishing that which all good men (who love and honour you) cannot but rejoice to see? you owe it to God, to your Country & to yr Selfe, and therefore I hope you seriously think of & resolve upon it.
I am just now making a step to Wotton to Visite my good Brother there, Importunately desiring to see me: himselfe succumbing apace to Age and its Accidents: I think not of staying above a week or ten daies, & within a little after my returne be almost ready to remove our small family neerer you for the winter, In which I promise myselfe the Hapynesse of a Conversation the most Gratefull to
Sr
Your Most Humble
Faithfull Servant
J Evelyn
I rent this page from the other before I was aware, and now tis to full to begin againe for good man̄ers.
Give my most Humble Service to Dr. Gule.
A.L.S. OF JOHN EVELYN TO SAMUEL PEPYS, DEPTFORD, SEPTEMBER 25, 1700.
(In the collection of Mr. Frank Sabin.)
Milton, to a certain extent, was a contemporary of both Pepys and Evelyn, but he had been dead sixteen years at the date of the letter now quoted. The value of Milton's autographs is fully discussed by Dr. Scott in the pages of The Archivist.[47] When the subject first attracted my attention early in 1904 much excitement was caused by the appearance in Sotheby's Salerooms of what was alleged to be 32 pp. of the MS. of "Paradise Lost." The value of the document was warmly discussed at the time and sensational bidding was anticipated. It was bought in, but I believe it was ultimately sold to an American collector for £5,000 or thereabouts. Mr. Quaritch now possesses a very fine Milton deed, which is priced at £420, and is dated November 27, 1623. It is signed by John Milton, as one of the witnesses to the Marriage Covenant between Edward Phillips of London and Anne, daughter of John Milton, Citizen and Scrivener of London.
Letters of Dryden and Cowley have fetched very high prices,[48] and the autograph of Edmund Waller is also rare, but Alexander Pope's letters are abundant, although they are much less valuable than those of Swift. A good letter of Pope can be obtained for from £7 to £10. The late Mr. Frederick Barker told me he was once asked as an autographic expert to advise a well-known nobleman, Lord H., who said he had a bundle of letters written by one of the Popes in his possession and desired to ascertain their value, but as they were merely signed "A Pope" he did not know which of the Holy Fathers was responsible for them! Mr. Barker of course identified the "bard of Twickenham" as their author. They were bound up under his supervision, and fetched over £200, but still the owner was not quite satisfied! Of the four Pope letters in my collection, only one has ever been published, and that but partially. It is of such manifest historical interest that I do not apologise for reproducing it in its entirety:—
Alexander Pope at Twickenham to Ralph Allen, Esq., Widcombe, Bath.
(November 2. 1738.)
Dear Sir,—I trouble you with my answers to the Inclosed wch I beg you to give to Mr Lyttelton as I wd do him all ye Good I can, wh the Virtues I know him possest of, deserve; and therefore I wd Present him with so Honest a Man as you, and you with so Honest a man as he: The Matter concerning Urns I wd gladly leave in yr Care, and I desire four small ones with their Pedestals, may be made, and two of a size larger. I'l send those sizes to you and I send a Draft of ye two sorts, 4 of one and 2 of ye other. I am going to insert in the body of my Works, my two last Poems in Quarto. I always Profit myself of ye opinion of ye publick to correct myself on such occasions. And sometimes the Merits of particular Men, whose names I have made free with for examples either of Good or of Bad, determine me to alteration. I have found the Virtue in you more than I certainly knew before till I had made experiment of it, I mean Humility! I must therefore in justice to my own conscience of it bear testimony to it and change the epithet I first gave you of Low-born, to Humble. I shall take care to do you the justice to tell everybody this change was not made at yours, or at any friends request for you: but my own knowledge (of) you merited it. I receive daily fresh proofs of your kind remembrance of me. The Bristol waters, the Guinea Hens, the Oyl and Wine (two Scripture benedictions) all came safe except ye wine, wch was turned on one side, and spilt at ye Corks. However tis no loss to me for that sort I dare not drink on acct of ye Bile, but my friends may and that is the same thing as if I did. Adieu! Is Mr Hook with you? I wish I were, for a month at least; for less I wd not come. Pray advise him not to be so modest. I hope he sees Mr. Lyttelton. I must expect your good offices with Mrs. Allen, so let her know I honour a good woman much but a good Wife more.
I am ever, yours faithfully,
A. Pope
Twitnam. Nov 2 (1738).
My other three Pope letters are unknown. They are addressed to Mr. Bethel on Tower Hill, London, Mr. Charles Ford in Park Place, and Mr. Jonathan Richardson, of Queen Square, London. The last-named was catalogued last year as written to Samuel Richardson. I gave £5 for it. Mr. Barker valued it at £8 in 1891. It provides an antidote to the unkind things Pope wrote about "Sulphureous" Bath on other occasions:—
Bath. November 14. 1742.
De Sir,—The whole purpose of this is only to tell you that the length of my stay at this distance from you, has not made me unmindful of you; and that I think you have regard enough for me to be pleased to hear, I have been, and am, better than usual. In about a fortnight or three weeks I hope to find you as little altered as possible at yr age, as when I left you, as I am at mine. God send you all Ease, philosophical and physical.
I am your sincerely-affectionate friend and servant,
A. Pope
My services to yr Son.
The letters of Horace Walpole, who generally wrote for posterity, are valuable,[49] but by no means as costly as those of Thomas Gray. Mr. Quaritch lately showed a group of holograph letters, illustrating the "quadruple alliance" of Gray, Walpole, West, and Ashton, which began at Eton. It included two fairly long letters of Gray and Walpole. I consider the collection very cheap at £55. Here is a characteristic unpublished note written by Horace Walpole to Hannah More, while the latter was staying with the Garricks in the Adelphi:—
Horace Walpole to Hannah More.
March 11.
I heard at Mrs. Ord's last night that you are not well. I wou'd fain flatter myself that you had only a pain in your apprehension of the coaches full of mob that were crowding the streets, but as I do not take for granted whatever will excuse me from caring, as people that are indifferent readily do, I beg to hear from yourself how you are. I do not mean from your own hand, but lips—send me an exact message, and if it is a good one it will give real pleasure to yours most sincerely,
H. Walpole.
PS.—Mrs. Prospero, who is my Miranda, was there last night with a true blue embroidered favour, that cast a ten times more important colour on her accents and made her as potent in her own eyes as Sycorax.
To Miss More at the Adelphi.
The value of Johnson's letters has varied very little during the past quarter of a century, an A.L.S. of exceptional interest often bringing £40 or £50. Possibly his historic letters to Macpherson and Chesterfield or his ultimatum to Mrs. Thrale would now fetch considerably more. In the Haber Sale at New York a 2 pp. 4to A.L.S. dated April 13, 1779, to Cadell brought £17. I possess several Johnson letters, many of them unpublished and written during the last year of his life. The following A.L.S. to Mr. Ryland was seemingly unknown to Dr. Birkbeck Hill:—
To Mr. Ryland, Merchant in London.
Dear Sir,—I have slackened in my diligence of correspondence, certainly not by ingratitude or less delight to hear from my friends, and as little would I have it imputed to idleness, or amusement of any other kind. The truth is that I care not much to think on my own state. I have for some time past grown worse, the water makes slow advances, and my breath though not so much obstructed as in some former periods of my disorder is very short. I am not however heartless. The water has, since its first great effusion, invaded me thrice, and thrice has retreated. Accept my sincere thanks for your care in laying down the stone[50] wh you and young Mr. Ryland have done. I doubt not of finding [it] well done, if ever I can make my mind firm enough to visit it. I am now contriving to return, and hope to be yet no disgrace to our monthly meeting[51] when I shall be with you, as my resolution is not very steady and as chance must have some part in the opportunity, I cannot tell. Do not omit to write, for your letters are a great part of my comfort.
I am,
Dear Sir
Your most humble servant
Sam Johnson
Pray write.
Lichfield, Oct. 30, 1784.
THE TWO LAST PAGES OF THE MS. JOURNAL OF MRS. THRALE'S TOUR IN WALES, JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1774, DESCRIBING THE DINNER AT BURKE'S.
Six months before his death he writes thus to Mr. Nicoll on the subject of Cook's voyages:—
To Mr. Nicoll,
Bookseller,
In the Strand, London.
You were pleased to promise me that when the great Voyage should be published, you would send it to me. I am now at Pembroke College, Oxford, and if you can conveniently enclose it in a parcel, or send it any other way, I shall think the perusal of it a great favour.
I am,
Sir
Your most humble servant
Sam Johnson
June 8 1784
Curiously enough, one of the last subjects upon which Johnson concentrated his waning energies in 1783-84 was that of the possibilities of the balloon, which he persistently called "ballon."[52]
For some years I have been an assiduous collector of the letters and MSS. of George Crabbe. I now possess his two historic letters to Edmund Burke. It was in the earliest of these (once the property of Sir Theodore Martin) that he made his despairing appeal for pecuniary aid to save him from suicide or starvation. Fifty-one years later, George Crabbe, Rector of Trowbridge, lay a-dying. He receives in his sick-chamber the following letter from John Forster:—
John Forster to George Crabbe.
[Letter franked by Edward Lytton Bulwer.]
4 Burton St.
Burton Crescent, London
Jany 20 '32
Revd. Sir,—I beg, very respectfully to submit to your inspection the enclosed paper.[53] May I venture to hope that your sympathy with the cause of the world of letters—independently of considerations unfortunately still more urgent, will induce you to lend the favour of your distinguished name to a project now become necessary to rescue Mr. Leigh Hunt from a hard crisis in his fortune
With the greatest respect,
I am, Sir,
Your very obdt. servant
John Forster.
After Crabbe's death the following almost illegible draft of a reply was found amongst his papers:—
It wd ill become me who have been so greatly [much] indebted to the kindness of my Friends, that [I should refuse to do what I could] disregard [not respond to] the application you are so good as to make on behalf of Mr. Leigh Hunt. My influence I fear is small [living] residing as, I do, where little except Cloth is made, little except Newspapers read. This is, however, not without exceptions. [It is] I consider it as doing myself Honour to join [however feebly] my [name with those endeavouring] attempt to serve [a distinguished member of] a man for whose welfare [those] such distinguished persons are interested [whose names are connected] to the [printed copy] paper [of the paper] printed [destined] for general Circulation
I am Sir ——
History had repeated itself, only the rôles were reversed. In 1832 the benefactor was Crabbe, and the distressed man of letters Hunt!
I have elected to speak of Burke amongst the writers, although he can claim a high place amongst the statesmen. His letters are always valuable, although the price fetched for two exceptionally fine specimens at the Haber Sale (New York, December 10, 1909) was disappointing. A long letter, written in his twentieth year, brought only £4 8s.; a splendid letter from Bath a short time before his death was sold for £6 8s. The following letter from Edmund Burke to Mrs. Montagu (one of many I have the good fortune to possess) has a distinct vein of American interest:—
Westminster,
May 4 1776, Friday.
Dear Madam,—I was in hopes, that I might have sent you, together with my acknowledgement for your kindness, the only reward you desire for acts of friendship, an account of the full effect of them. Mrs. James's letter was undoubtedly what it ought to be on application from you. We have nothing to complain of Mrs. J. in point of civility but there is no further result of your indisposition. As yet indeed we do not despair. But to give the application its full effect on him, if in answer to Mrs. J. you keep the matter in some degree alive, I do not question but that it will succeed at last. Almost all the others are secure.
I cannot at all express how much obliged I am for the extremely friendly manner in which you take up my friends Mr. Burke's case. He is himself as sensible, as he is worthy of your goodness. It is something to be distinguished by the regards of those who regard but few. But to have a distinguished part in the mind where all have their places is much more flattering.
We have now almost finished our tedious Sessions; and I hope to make you my acknowledgement when you return, somewhat more at leisure. The news from America is not very pleasing. Indeed I know of no News but that of Peace which can be so, to any well-disposed mind. General Howe has been driven from Boston, partly by scarcity, partly by a sharp Cannonade and Bombardment. He therefore made his disposition so well that they had not induced his return soon enough to give him any disturbance. He has collected everything with him and he has retired to the only place we have now on that extensive coast, Halifax, where, I doubt, for some little time at least he will not be much better commanded in point of provision though he will be practically out of reach of an enemy. Mrs. Burke joins me with all the rest of the family in faithful pledge to you, in the best compliments to yourself and to your most agreeable Miss Gregory.
I am, with the most sincere regard and highest esteem
Dear Madam,
Your sincere friend
and very obliged and humble servant,
Edm. Burke.
Passing to the nineteenth century, which was to witness the eclipse of the art of letter-writing as well as the disappearance of the frank, we come to the age of Keats, Shelley, Byron and Lamb. It was at the beginning of this eventful epoch that Goethe wrote the lines to Blücher, which form one of the shortest autographs I possess, but not the least curious or valuable:—
HOLOGRAPH LINES BY GOETHE ON BLÜCHER, CIRCA 1812-13.
My friend, Mr. G. L. de St. M. Watson, gives me a forcible metrical translation:
A.L.S. OF JOHN KEATS (THREE PAGES) TO J. H. REYNOLDS, FEBRUARY 28, 1820.
Goethe was an enthusiastic collector of MSS. as well as a poet. Of the autograph cult he wrote:—
As I personally possess a considerable collection of autographs and often take occasion to examine and reflect upon them, it seems to me that every one who directs his thoughts to this subject may succeed in taking several steps in the right direction, which may lead to his own improvement and satisfaction, if not to the instruction of others.
The value of Keats, Shelley, Byron and Scott letters I have already spoken of. In the Haber Sale a Keats letter brought £500! Letters of Charles Lamb range from £4 to £10 or more in price. I purchased the following note to Hone for £2 2s. and believe I secured a bargain:—
To Mr. Hone.
45 Ludgate Hill
Dear Sir,—I was not very well or in spirits when your pleasing note reached me or should have noticed sooner. Our Hebrew Brethren seem to appreciate the good news of this life in more liberal latitude than we to judge from frequent graces. One I think you must have omitted "After concluding a bargain." Their distinction of "fruits growing upon trees" and "upon the ground" I can understand. A sow makes quite a different grunt her grace from eating chestnuts and pignuts. The last is a little above Ela with this and wishing grace be with you,
Yours
C. Lamb
9 Nov. 1821.
A.L.S. OF LORD BYRON TO MR. PERRY, MARCH 1, 1812.
Of the literary autograph letters and MSS. of the Victorian era the highest prices are obtained for those of Alfred Tennyson and George Meredith. In a catalogue lately issued by Messrs. Sotheran[54] the author's copy of Tennyson's "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington," with thirty lines of MS. additions and a large number of alterations and corrections, is priced at £120. The MS. draft of his famous dedication to Queen Victoria published in 1853, and consisting of eight four-line verses, is considered a little more valuable. An ordinary 8vo letter of one page frequently fetches as much as £2 or £3. George Meredith's MSS. have been lately sold for several hundred pounds, and an ordinary letter would be cheap at anything between £2 and £3. Through the kindness of my friend Mr. Clement Shorter I am able to give a specimen of Meredith's handwriting.
LINES FROM THE "ILIAD." SPECIMEN OF THE MS. OF THE LATE MR. GEORGE MEREDITH.
(By kind permission of Mr. Clement K. Shorter.)
W. M. Thackeray and Charles Dickens were both voluminous letter-writers. The letters of the former now command higher prices than those of any Victorian writer. He also frequently illustrated his witty notes with amusing sketches in pen and ink and other oddities. One of these (from the splendid collection of Mr. Sabin) forms one of the illustrations of this volume. Into another he introduces a typical Scotch "sandwich-man" carrying on his back the advertisement of the Thackeray Lectures at Merchants' Hall, Glasgow. From my own collection I give a very interesting example of Thackeray's wit, in the shape of a letter addressed to Count d'Orsay, on the subject of the proposed publication of a sacred picture by the famous dandy. On the back of the circular announcing its appearance he wrote:—
My dear Count,—This note has just come to hand, and you see I take the freedom with you of speaking the truth. I dont like this announcement at all. Our Saviour and the Count d'Orsay ought not to appear in those big letters. It somehow looks as if you and our Lord were on a par, and put forth as equal attractions by the publisher. Dont mind my saying this, for I'm sure this sort of announcement (merely on account of the unfortunate typography) is likely to shock many honest folks.
Yours always faithfully
W M Thackeray.
In the earlier part of his career, Thackeray wrote a running hand very different to the upright calligraphy of his later life.
A.L.S. OF W. M. THACKERAY TO COUNT D'ORSAY ON FLY-LEAF OF CIRCULAR ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF A PICTURE, N.D.
Early Dickens letters of any length are eagerly sought for, and sell for nearly three times as much as those written between 1850 and his death. I am able to give illustrations of some exceptionally early Thackeray and Dickens letters, which came into the possession of Mr. George Gregory, of Bath, through whose hands the Autograph Album of the first Mrs. Sheridan recently passed. The earliest Dickens letter, of the fifteen autographs in my collection, was written when he was in his twenty-ninth year. It is interesting as containing a frank exposition of his political creed:—
Charles Dickens at Broadstairs to Frederick Dickens, Commissariat, Treasury, Whitehall.
Sunday September Twelfth 1841.
My dear Fred,—The wording of the Minute is certainly discouraging. If I saw any way of helping you by coming up to town, I would do so, immediately. But I cannot possibly apply to the Tories for anything. I daresay they would be glad enough if I would, but I cannot with any regard to honor, consistency, or truth, ask any favour of people whom politically, I despise and abhor. It would tie my hands, seal my lips, rob my pen of its honesty, and bind me neck and heels in discreditable fetters.
Is Archer in Town? If so, have you spoken to him? If not, when is he coming? You should speak to him certainly. I have told you before, that I am much afraid you have not treated him with that show of respect, which he has a right to claim. Why in the name of God should he have a personal dislike to you, but for some such reason as this?
If you think, and I see no objection to your asking Mr. Archer the question, that without doing anything improper, you might memorialise the Treasury, I will draw a memorial for you. If you have reason to think this would be unofficial and ill-advised, I know of nothing better than waiting and hoping.
I should be as sorry as you, if you were to lose this step. Let me hear from you by return
Affectionately always
C. D.
EARLY A.L.S. OF W. M. THACKERAY TO MR. MACRONE, PUBLISHER, DISCOVERED BY MR. GEORGE GREGORY, OF BATH.
(First style of handwriting in 1836.)
The touching letter recording his feelings at the death of his little daughter is, I think, a human document of more than ordinary interest:—
Charles Dickens to Thomas Mitton.
Devonshire Terrace
Nineteenth April 1851
My Dear Mitton,—I have been in trouble, or I should have written to you sooner. My wife has been, and is, far from well. Frederick caused me much vexation and expense. My poor father's death caused me much distress—and more expense—but of that, in such a case I say nothing. I came to London last Monday to preside at a public dinner—played with little Dora my youngest child before I went—and was told, when I left the chair, that she had died in a moment. I am quite myself again, but I have undergone a great deal.
I send you all the papers I have relating to Thompson's affair. I am in town again now and shall be at home on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings. I am not going back to Malvern, but have let this house until September, and taken the Fort at Broadstairs.
Yrs faithfully
C. D.
Here is one of the last letters he ever wrote, to which I have already alluded as a rare specimen of a valuable autograph written in duplicate:—
Charles Dickens to J. B. Buckstone.
Gad's Hill Place,
Higham by Rochester, Kent
Sunday Fifteenth May 1870.
5 Hyde Park Place W.
My Dear Buckstone,—I send a duplicate of this note to your private address at Sydenham in case it should miss you at the Haymarket.
For a few years past, I have been liable, at wholly uncertain and incalculable times, to a severe attack of Neuralgia in the foot, about once in the course of the year. It began in an injury to the finer muscles or nerves, occasioned by over-walking in deep snow. When it comes on, I cannot stand and can bear no covering whatever on the sensitive place. One of these seizures is upon me now. Until it leaves me I could no more walk into St. James's Hall than I could fly in.
I hope you will present my duty to the Prince, and assure His Royal Highness that nothing short of my being (most unfortunately) disabled for the moment, would have prevented my attending as a Trustee of the Fund, at the dinner, and warmly express my poor sense of the great and inestimable service his Royal Highness renders to a most deserving Institution by so very kindly commending it to the public.
Faithfully your's always
Charles Dickens
J. B. Buckstone Eqr
A.L.S. OF HONOURABLE MRS. NORTON CONTAINING AN INVITATION TO MEET CHARLES DICKENS, THE AUTHOR OF "PICKWICK," AT DINNER.
EARLY LETTER OF CHARLES DICKENS TO MR. MACRONE (1836) FROM FURNIVAL'S INN.
(Now in the collection of Mr. Peter Keary.)
A.L.S. OF "PERDITA" (MARY ROBINSON) TO GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES, JANUARY 19, 1785.
Carlyle's letters vary in price from £2 2s. to £5 5s. or more. The following note explains how the specimen of his calligraphy I reproduce was obtained for an autograph hunter by his nephew in 1877:—
Newlands Cottage
7th December 1877
My dear Sir,—I was much pleased to have your's of the 4th inst. I enclose card of admission to the Installn at Edinburgh which I cribbed from the Govr's Sunday coat long after its date, and which to tell the truth I did not intend to part with; but I think it so thoroughly what your friend would like that I have resolved to send it.
All Uncle Tom's late letters to his relatives are written on scraps of paper that might be at hand when he finished work for the day and signed 'T. C.' only—all full signatures in letters in my possession have long ago been clipped off....
Always faithfully your's
James Carlyle.
The letters of Whistler have quadrupled in value since his death. I possess several of them, but only give as an illustration of his handwriting a post-card from Lyme Regis bearing by way of signature the once familiar butterfly. "Mark Twain" was also a very amusing letter-writer. The following postscript is characteristic of his humour:—
Since penning the foregoing the "Atlantic" has come to hand with that most thoroughly and entirely satisfactory notice of "Roughing it," and I am as uplifted and reassured by it as a mother who has given birth to a white baby when she was awfully afraid it was going to be a mulatto. I have been afraid and shaky all along, but now unless the N. of "Tribune" gives the book a black eye, I am all right.
With many thanks
Twain
HOLOGRAPH ORDER OF ADMISSION OF THOMAS CARLYLE TO HIS RECTORIAL ADDRESS AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY, DATED MARCH 23, 1866.
George Augustus Sala and Edmund Yates were friends and contemporaries of Charles Dickens, and survived him. They are both entitled to a place amongst the last of the Victorian letter-writers. The minute handwriting of Sala was even more distinct than that of Thackeray. Here is a typical Sala letter:—
Hotel de Flandre, Montagne de la Cour, Brussels,
Thursday November Twenty Seventh 1884.
Dear Lady Wolseley,—My wife who during my absence is my Postmistress General, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of State for Home and Foreign Affairs and Chief Commissioner of Works all rolled into one, has forwarded me your note, and has scribbled on the margin "with two lovely photographs." I hasten to thank you for the graceful and thoughtful kindness which has prompted your welcome gift. I am proud to believe that you know how much I admire and esteem your illustrious husband; how eagerly I have followed the course of his splendid and well-deserved fortunes, and how highly I value the friendship with which during so many years he has honoured me. It is really to me a pleasure to have grown old when I remember that amongst my most prized relics at home are a visiting card inscribed "Major Wolseley, for Mr. Sala, St. Lawrence Hall, Montreal 1863"; the walking stick which Sir Garnet Wolseley brought me home from South Africa; the letter which Lord Wolseley wrote me from the Kremlin, Moscow on Coronation Day 1883, to which I am now able to add "two lovely photographs" and your kind note. Were I going alone on my long and arduous journey, my abiding hope would be, of course, to come home safe and sound to my wife. Happily we are not to be separated (although the friendly but cynical solicitor, who made my will just before I left town was good enough to remark you must add a codicil in case you are both drowned); so we shall both, during our wanderings be able to nourish the pleasant hope that we shall be permitted on our return to pay our homage to the Earl and Countess Wolseley. I have, dear Madam, in my time, prophesied a great deal more in print about your Lord than you are aware of, and I am confident that my latest prediction will come true—and more than true. Meanwhile, I am,
Your Ladyship's faithful and obliged servant
George Augustus Sala
Some hundreds of Edmund Yates's letters are in my possession, and I have utilised them to extra-illustrate his "Recollections" which I have extended to seventeen volumes. In the last edition of his entertaining book he alludes to the pleasure a letter from Mr. Charles Kent, the friend of Dickens, gave him in "troublous times." More than twenty years after I gladly gave 5s. for the original in the auction room:—
To Charles Kent Esq
1 Campden Grove, Kensington, W
Ah! my dear old friend, how good and thoughtful of you and what a perfectly acceptable gift!
(vide to-day's Times)
I am receiving such evidences of love and sympathy from my friends, and such kindness from officials here, that I am fairly broken down by them.
God bless you
Edmund Yates
Holloway, Jany 17 '85