12 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh. - Has enjoyed reading Trevelyan's paper [on metre see 18/91] even more than he did hearing it read, as he can 'go more slowly and try the rhythms in [his] own way'; has got 'more understanding' of the subject than he has from anything else, and will 'certainly print' the paper [in the collection of pieces by members of the English Association]. Will probably drop the introduction, and if he may if the space is limited omit Horace's "Ode" and the translation by Milton. Now has several papers from 'Yvor Evans'; Rylands; Sparrow; Wattie; and Dickins; but is 'specially grateful' for Trevelyan's. Sends thanks to Mrs Trevelyan for her card, which he ought to have acknowledged. Will have a proof sent to Trevelyan so that he can check the translation. Hopes that they will see him this winter. Has a 'dreadful incubus' of a paper to prepare for Manchester; is also 'slaving at Scott's letters and getting some interesting new light'. Janet will be married in November; the French relatives will come too so they will be 'pretty full', but if Trevelyan could come up after that it would be 'a great pleasure to have some rational talk'. Thinks [Donald] Tovey is in Germany, but he will be 'looking homeward soon' as the arrangements for his concerts have come out.
12 Regent Terrace, Edinburgh. - If Trevelyan is in Edinburgh in autumn or early winter, the Griersons would always be glad if he stayed with them for a day or two. Has been 'burdened with the duty' of collecting essays and studies by members of the English Association; finds this difficult, as he does not have a 'very wide literary acquaintance', having lived so far from London. Several younger men have promised him articles, but they 'are all rather comers-on than established names' and he has been 'ignored' by the older ones he approached on the Secretary's advice. Realised last night that he should ask Trevelyan whether he would be willing to offer the article on Metre which he read aloud to them, or another; asks him to reply at least since 'M.L. James [sic: M. R. James?] and other Olympians... have not deemed a poor Scottish Professor worth even of that'. Hopes Trevelyan is having a good holiday. He himself lectured eight hours a week at Heidelberg till the end of July, and since then has been busy with 'Scott letters and Carlyle and students' theses' and so on: thinks he needs to get away. Thinks [Donald] Tovey will be in Germany in September; the Griersons had hopes he would come to Heidelberg when they were there and help him entertain his friends; they gave a reception at the Hotel but 'had to rely on Janet for the music'. This went off well, however, and everyone was very kind; Grierson 'struck up quite a friendship with [Friedrich] Gundolf'. Sends regards to Trevelyan's wife and son. Dined with the Dutch poet Boutens on the way home and had a 'great evening'. Notes in a postscript that he had a 'pleasant lunch' in Cambridge with [Goldsworthy] Lowes Dickinson in June.
35 Bickerton Road, Headington, Oxford.—Asks whether there is any evidence of Nashe’s Unfortunate Traveller being read in the 18th century.
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Transcript
Oxford. {1} February 21st, 1939
35, Bickerton Road | Headington
Dear Sir,
I thank you very much for your kind offer of giving me your advice about some doubtful points in my work about Th. Nash.
As you know, I am engaged in a study upon ‘Th. Nashe and the Picaresque’ in the Unfortunate Traveller. I think as you do that this book is an interesting attempt in a new direction, and though of the same province as the Picaresque novel, equally far from the early English rogue literature (jest-books, conny-catching pamphlets) and the Spanish Picaresque (Lazarillo de Tormes, and later on, Guzman de Alfarache). This seems to me to be characteristic of what is commonly called the English Picaresque with Defoe and Smollett. And I should like to know if there is now any evidence of Nash’s “Unfortunate Traveller” being read in the XVIIIth Century? From your edition of Nash, I see that only pamphlets of his seem to have been known in that time; but is it known whether Sir W. Scott came to be aquainted† with the story of C. Agrippa’s magic mirror (which he was to use in the “Lay of the last Minstrel”, 1805) through this novel of Nash?
Yours very truly
Edgar Kofler
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{1} This word is underlined, not printed.
† Sic.
Perhaps a draft. In another hand, with some emendations by Houghton.
Rowmore House - Is glad to hear that the Park side accommodation promises to be comfortable; glad to have the reviews of ['Adonis, Attis, Osiris'], Miss [Isabella?] Anderson has been reading the book and the reviews; is glad he likes the Skinners; wonders who will be head of Westminster College, hopes it won't be Ian Maclaren [John Watson], has no patience with him or Mr [Samuel Rutherford?] Crockett, who 'degrade themselves from the high office to write rubbishy tales'; she was afraid at one time to read James' book, and did not read all of it, but now she is not afraid, and thinks that if he continues to dig, that he 'will find Him in it all'; Mrs Marryat has his book and wishes to come see her; Evelyn Ireland is ill with measles; Mr [Walter Edward?] Ireland is due to give a lecture on his visit to Italy; has been reading [Sir Walter Scott's] 'The Pirate' and 'The Fortunes of Nigel'.
Including one song specially written by James Ballantine.
Naples. - Amused by Milnes' examples of Kestner's English, and adds his own; indebtedness to Torlonias; Milnes' prospects. Drove to Pozzuoli with Sir Walter Scott today; Scott confessed that he had reviewed a work on bridges without any knowledge of the subject; Gell's work on Troy was once badly reviewed by Sir William Drummond owing to a misunderstanding about an invitation. Scott was lively and in tolerable health; his speech little changed; 'I remember when the Lay [of the Last Minstrel] first came out he read it at the Priory, L[ord] Abercorn's, & the deuce a word did those of the company who were born south of Trent understand of it'. Milnes should enjoy more worldly pursuits while he has the chance. [Halley's] comet not expected to threaten disaster as it was largely transparent on its last appearance; recounts Scott's anecdote about Mrs __ and the 'supernatural' apparition of Dr Gordon. Odd behaviour of the Heydebrecks makes them hard to assist; Lord Hertford's recommendations for avoiding political fights when entertaining; reform and revolution in England; Rome; would like to force some good from Mezzofante.
Endorsed by Luigi Chiaveri.
6 Henrietta Street, Brunswick Square, W.C.—Discusses suggested emendations to the text of Shakespeare.
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Transcript
Selle, saddle, French—sella Latin & Italian.
——————————
Quotations from Spenser’s Faerie Queene—
———
“He left his loftie steed with golden selle,
And goodlie gorgeous barbe.”
Book ii. Canto ii. Stanza xi.
“what mightie warrior that mote be,
That rode in golden selle with single spear.”
B. ii. C. iii. St. xii.
“They met, and low in dust was Guardi laid,
’Twixt either army, from his selle down rest.”
N.B. I cannot find the whereabouts. G.R.F.
“Nathless the prince would not forsake his selle,
(For well of yore he learnèd had to ride).”
B. ii. C. viii. St. xxxi.
“So sore he sous’d him on the compass’d crest,
That forcèd him to leave his loftie selle.”
B. ix. C. iv. St. xxx.
No doubt more may be found—especially in the noble Edition by Tyrwhitt.* {1} My sight is not good enough for such researches.
“The tyrant frown’d from his loftie selle,
And with his lookes made all his monsters tremble.”
Fairfax—Godfrey of Boulogne. B2. S. 7.
———
Extracts from Sir Walter Scott’s Poems
“Returned Lord Marmion,
Down hastily he sprang from selle.”
Canto iii. Stanza 31.
“Where many a yeoman, bold and free,
Revelled as merrily and well,
As those that sat in lordly selle.”
Canto vi. St. 8.
“Fair was his seat in knightly selle.”
Lord of the Isles, Canto vi. St. 14.
alluding to Edward the Second at Bannockburn.
“From gory selle and reeling steed”
Cadyon Castle.
with a note. “Selle, saddle, a word used by Spenser and other ancient authors.”—
There is an instance in Chaucer, but I cannot put my hand on it.
Will not the above quoted passages justify you in putting “selle” for “selfe” in Macbeth. The suggestion by Singleton of “sell” is evidently right so far as sound goes—but there is no such noun in good English, and therefore is inadmissable. The word proposed by Bailey “its seat” is not near so good as selle. The early printers might easily mistake selle for selfe—hence the con-tinued error. “its-selle”—“its-selfe” {2}—I believe that the change would be most welcome to all true Shakspeareans.
For the reading in Hamlet the change advocated by me is fully discussed in a Note in my Book. There can hardly be a doubt on the proposed substitution being correct—hern-shaw (a young heron) for the stupid word, hand-saw—printer’s error again.
I strongly recommend you to retain, as given in many Editions—“Enter a gentle Astringer,” in “Alls Well” &c. In his Glossary, Harvey defines “astringer” as a “Gentleman Falconer” {2}. This is near the meaning—but “gentle” has nothing to do with a man, but means a bird—the French phrase “faucon gentil,” stands for “a tercel-gentle,” and Juliet exclaims—
“O for a falconer’s voice,
To hire this tassel-gentle back again.” R. & J. ii. 2.
“The falcon as the tercel,” Troilus & Cressida. Act III. 2.
The French word “tiercelet,” means “a tassel, tiercel, or tercel, the male of a hawk.” Fr. Dict.
“Achès”—noun & verb. The elder Disraeli, in his admirable “Curiosities of Literature,” tells us that the word was always written by our early authors as one of two syllables. There are more instances than the famous passage in the Tempest, for pronouncing achès as two syll. for which John Kemble was so brutally treated by the ignorant “groundlings.”
Thus in Coriolanus the metre requires the word to be divided.
“It makes the consuls base, and my soul achès
To know when two authorities are up.” Act III. Sc. 1.
So also in Timon of Athens—Act V. Sc. 2.
“Their fears of hostile strokes, their achès, losses.”
In Romeo & Juliet the Nurse exclaims—
“Lord, how my head achès, what a head have I.” Act II. 5.
In Butler’s Hudibras we have the couplet—Book II. 2.
“As no man of his own self catches
The itch, or amorous French achès.” line 455* {3}.
Do you agree with me and many authorities, that Perkin Warbeck was an impostor; “that Flemish counterfeit” as Sir W. Scott calls him in Marmion. Some years ago I read a paper, never published, on the Young Princes, before the Lond. & Midx Archæological Society {4}, of which I am now a V.P. I shall be happy to send it to you if it could be of service.
I remain
Yours very sincerely,
G. R. French
6 Henrietta St Brunswick Sqre W.C.
Augt 14, 1880
Wm Aldis Wright Esqre
Trinity Coll. Cambridge
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{1} Footnote: ‘*of Chaucer’.
{2} Opening inverted commas supplied.
{3} Footnote (inserted after the next paragraph): ‘*add. “Or ling’ringly his lungs consume, | Or meets with achès in the bone”. | Knight of the Burning Pestle. Act ii. Sc.’ (The number of the scene is wanting.)
{4} French read a paper to the Society on 11 April 1864 ‘On the localities connected with Shakespeare’s Plays in general, but especially the places in London and Westminster recorded in the Histories from King Richard II. to Henry VIII. inclusive.’ A discussion of this paper at the next meeting (9 May) was concluded by another paper by French on the death of the two young Princes in the Tower. (Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaelogical Society, vol. iii, p. 99.)
Thanks his mother for her letter. Has got a letter from Archie, who at first did not like [his new school?] much but 'says he likes it better now'; is going to reply today. Promises not to 'pull my eyes'. Hopes Aunt Meggie [Price] is better. Asks if his mother can send him some stamps. Is in the same room as before, with the same boys. Has nearly finished Marmion [by Sir Walter Scott]. Notes in a postscript that the new boys are Isaac mi[nor], Carnegie, Thomson, Lennox, and Clerk.
Embossed notepaper for New Club, Edinburgh. - All of Sir Walter Scott's pallbearers are dead.
24 Cheyne Row, Chelsea. - Apologizes for not answering his 'kind letter' sooner. Her uncle [Thomas Carlyle] has been more ill than she has ever seen him before for 'some weeks', but she is glad that he has now recovered and 'back into his old ways', except for being forced to drive out in the afternoon instead of taking his usual walk. They have hired a fly for the drives; he keeps on his dressing gown with a fur coat on top, and with 'hot water at his feet, he never will allow that the weather is cold even the mercury fall below the freezing point'. At home he reads, and she sometimes has trouble getting to go to bed at one or two in the morning.
He 'remembers Miss Crabbe very well'; wishes that FitzGerald had come to see him when 'so near'. She read [George Crabbe's] Tales of the Hall when around fifteen, though she 'did not understand them & as was natural found them dull*. Can 'read Scott very well', but is 'by no means an enthusiastic admirer'; her 'uncle's opinion has nothing to do with mine (!)' and he always tell her she should be ashamed to say she 'never could get to the end of Waverley, which fascinated him so much that he read it straight through almost at one sitting'.
Her uncle sends his 'kindest regards'.
Halford, Shipston on Stour [on mourning stationery] - Discusses a passage in Euphorion [of Chalcis, as quoted by Athenaeus] and whether it means competitors were beheaded after being being severely beaten; has bought [J. G.] Lockhart's ['Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart'] and discusses the differing Toryism of Scott and [Samuel] Johnson.
9 East Links, N[orth[ Berwick]. - Sir William Stirling Maxwell has passed on Houghton's enquiry about surviving pallbearers of Sir Walter Scott: his sons, son-in-law [John Gibson Lockhart], grandson, Lord Polwarth, William Scott of Raeburn, Robert Rutherford, Sir James Russell and William Keith. Has enquired of Mrs Peat about Scott's cousins Charles and James Scott. Scott's great granddaughter Miss Hope Scott is the only surviving descendant; the nearest male relative, General Scott, lives abroad and cannot attend the banquet. Postscript: Suggested toast for proposal by Houghton is 'The Roof tree of Abbotsford: Stirling-Maxwell can explain its Scottish significance if necessary.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Delighted to hear of what Robert, Elizabeth, and Julian are reading [something by Byron?]; 'curious' how 'such trifles' are only written by people of the calibre of Byron, Scott, Burns and Macaulay; gives several quotations. Gratified by what Robert says about the letter to Lady Desborough [11/199 probably also refers to this]. Robert seems to be confusing separate incidents from Garibaldi's life. Best Christmas wishes to Robert and family. Caroline much 'appreciates and cherishes' Elizabeth's letters.
Halford, Shipston on Stour. Dated 21 July, 1905 - Discusses a passage in Euphorion [of Chalcis, as quoted by Athenaeus] and whether it means competitors were beheaded after being being severely beaten; has bought [J. G.] Lockhart's ['Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart'] and discusses the differing Toryism of Scott and [Samuel] Johnson.
Woolsthorpe Rectory, Grantham. - Has left his copy of [Meredith's] "The Egoist" in the bedroom he had at Wallington; asks Trevy to bring it to Cambridge. It is a wet Sunday, and he does not want to 'read any more Thicker for the present'. Has 'never enjoyed sightseeing so much' as on his trip to Edinburgh. Asks if Trevy has read [Robert] Louis Stevenson's book about the town ["Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes"]: 'quite astonishing how many things' Stevenson can do: he is 'Charles Lamb, as well as the writer of the "Wrecker"]. Asks if Trevy likes [Sir Walter Scott's] "Heart of Midlothian"; he himself has read it twice before but 'never liked it half so much' as he did in Edinburgh; also read an 'idolatrous life of Queen Mary' [Mary, Queen of Scots?]; notes that it is 'harder to fall in love with women the more real they are', moving from fictional characters 'such as Beatrice Esmond or Balzac's duchesses', through women from history, 'an actress in a part', and finally to 'actual women in real life'. Tells an anecdote as 'the strongest possible argument for the Return to Nature': a boy of three and a half staying with them in Yorkshire happened to come into Marsh's room when he had no clothes on and 'professed great pleasure at the sight'; next day at lunch the boy asked loudly 'why don't you come down naked? (he pronounced it nackéd) you really must not wear clothes'.
Seems he 'compromised [Arthur] Longhurst rather by relating this anecdote', as his mother asked him what was so funny in the letter. Longhurst 'passed in his [Sandhurst] exam, 3rd of the Varsity Candidate'; Marsh is proud of his coaching, as Longhurst got 90 percent in Latin and Greek. Is going to [Bertrand] Russell on 'Monday week'.
Catalogue of the loan exhibition in commemoration of Sir Walter Scott at Edinburgh in the Galleries of the Royal Scottish Academy, National Gallery, in July and August 1871. Printed at Edinburgh by Thomas and Archibald Constable.
The Shiffolds. - Thanks her for her letter and present, a 'charming edition of the Drayton' which he will enjoy reading again, perhaps to Julian. 'Very kind' of her to send Julian the Browning and is sure he will 'appreciate it, since he has no Browning, though he knows and likes some of the poems'. He seems well, and has generally 'got on well this term, and certainly seems happy there'.
Thinks he is himself 'much better now for having been to Dr Anderson', but since he still has to go to London for two or three days a week, he does not wish to miss more of Julian's birthday than he can help; hopes therefore that she will not mind him visiting her this month, though he may later on in the spring.
Is just finishing his Aeschylus translation [the Oresteia], though it will need much revision before he can publish; it has been a 'very tough job'. Bessie has just started reading aloud [Scott's] Heart of Midlothian, which Robert has 'quite forgotten'; they read it in the first edition, which the 'Vaughan Williamses of Leith Hill Place' have lent them. Sends love to his father and to Booa [Mary Prestwich].
On embossed notepaper, '23 Rutland Street, Edinburgh'. - Fine sketch of the 'noble savage' [Landor]; its superiority to Forster's 'big and bumptious book'; glad Forster has been chastised in Temple Bar for his biography of Dickens. Houghton's moving sketch of Heine. Is sending a book, a 'curious record of Scottish character' and a drollity of Sir Walter [Scott's] friend Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe' which is 'quite Rabelaisian'.
Enclosed: photograph of sketch by C. K. Sharpe of 'A Sucking Seal Exhibited at Dalkeith June 1839', annotated by Brown.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Good to read about Julian's 'encounter with country things' [see 46/230]. The people around Stratford who 'profess to be weather-wise', and perhaps are so, say that after a long winter like this, Spring will come very quickly and be 'fruitful'; true that he has never admired the daffodils so much. Caroline was saying she 'always has the cadence of the Bruce-Logan cuckoo [a poem attributed to both John Logan and Michael Bruce] in her ears; [John?] Bright always recited it to them at 'his annual dinner - no other guest, and a fruit table, by special request - at 30 Ennismore Gardens'. They have finished reading "The Grasshoppers" [by Cecily Sidgwick] which is am 'admirable novel', and are about to begin Gosse's "Life" of Swinburne. Interested to hear Elizabeth's opinion of [Walter Scott's] "Guy Mannering" and 'Hatteraick's language' [in that novel]; expects it was 'good enough for Scott's readers', and it is 'as like Dutch' as the 'serious conversation in "Old Mortality"' which Sir George has been reading to Mary Caroline was to 'the language which Morton and Edith must have talked'.
Printed notepaper for Star Yard, Lower King St, Manchester. - Requests copy of one of Milnes' poems for his autograph collection, which includes Scott, Byron, Moore, Wordsworth, Southey and Tennyson; already has envelope addressed to Sir John Potter by Milnes.
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Quotes Macaulay ["Lays of Ancient Rome: The Battle of the Lake Regillus]" and Horace [Odes 3.18: in Latin] since a letter from George this morning, about 'a very different scene in Italy" reminded him that it was the Nones of December. George is very well, which is a relief since they had seen a notice in the paper about his ambulance carrying away '400 cholera patients'; two of his Italian ambulance orderlies died of it in forty eight hours, but none of the Englishmen have it and it seems to be 'yielding to the cold'. Quotes George's description of the eviction, under Austrian shell-fire, of the hill-station hospitals beyond Quisca [Kojsko], at length; he gives a 'most curious account of men's behaviour under fire' illustrating 'the sort of courage required in this... novel form of war'. They get each other's 'Sunday letter' quite regularly on the following Sunday, by official bag. Caroline did not need to leave the train carriage from Scot's Gap to Stratford, so is no worse, though the 'fog was as bad as bad'; is greatly relieved to have her here. They have begun to read [Sir Walter] Scott's "Life" aloud, after having read "Illumination" and "All's Well That Ends Well", which must have been 'a rattling play to act'. Agrees with Robert that the 'arrangement' of The Old Wives' [Tale]" [Arnold Bennett] is 'strange but very masterly'. Very much enjoyed their long time with Elizabeth and Julian; glad it did them both good. Has been reading the very good article on Chaucer in the 'Biographical Dictionary' by [John Wesley] Hales, of whom he has 'never consciously heard', though he was '4th Classic in Henry Sidgwick's year and Sidgwick was always so interested in other college men of his time'.
The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - They are 'at last having delightful weather', and have heard the cuckoo most days this week. Julian is 'especially delighted by the cuckoo', and 'goes out early in the morning by himself to listen for it'. They discuss which poem is better - Logan's 'Hail, beauteous stranger...', 'if it is his and not [Michael] Bruce's, which seems uncertain', or Wordsworth's 'O blithe newcomer...'- and decide that 'on the whole' they prefer Wordsworth's, though like the other too; thinks it was a favourite of [John] Bright.
Took Julian out for a walk today, and 'he did a lot of climbing fir-trees, at which he is fairly good now. When he had got up as high as he could, he said he wished to write a poem, and dictated one to [Robert], not a very good one, but probably as good as most poems written twenty feet from the ground up a tree'.
Mrs Gibson leaves them next Wednesday; she has been with them three months, with her baby, and 'has been a very pleasant inmate'. Her husband will have to stay in America for now, but 'they seem to be treating him very hospitably'. Bessie and Julian are going to Aunt Annie's on the 14th, 'unless someone else at the Park comes out with the measles before then', which is unlikely. They are reading Guy Mannering aloud; Bessie 'has a prejudice against Scott, but has to admit that this is a good book'. She is however puzzled that 'Dirk Hatteraick is a Dutchman, and yet always talks German'; at first she believed 'Scott must have thought the Dutch talked German', but Robert told her 'Scott knew more about modern Europe than that'; still, it is odd. Sends love to his mother. They are 'so glad to hear that Booa is really better'.
Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Sends wishes for 'a very much quieter, and not unhappy, year', though they can hardly hope for it; whatever comes they will 'all bear together'. Glad to hear the children [Julian and the Abercrombies' boys?] are doing well; if Julian is reading a few words now he will soon get on; remembers reading everything he could find in Walter Scott and elsewhere 'about eating and fighting'; 'has had [his] fill of both since'. Must try to read [Dickens's] "Our Mutual Friend". Has reached Livy's account of Scipio in Africa, so is very near the end; comments on the 'grand general picture' given, as well as the 'glimmerings of "research"' in the history.
10 Strathearn Road, Edinburgh. - Formation of Committee to celebrate Scott centenary in Edinburgh on 9th August; encloses list of members (no longer present); general invitations have been sent to the United States; invites Houghton to attend
Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Glad Miss Barthorp has recovered her luggage; there is nothing which causes more anxiety. Julian is a great comfort to him and Caroline; he plays games in 'a rational understanding way', is easily and satisfactorily amused, and goes on 'famous walks' with Sir George. On Sunday they went to the Roman Catholic chapel, and Julian was so interested by its 'humble beauties' that yesterday they went to the parish church. Asks if Elizabeth can ask Robert about Gustave Droz's "Babolain", which is said in 'William Johnson's admirable biography' to be as good as [Austen's] "Persuasion", [Charlotte Bronte's] "Villette, and [Scott's] "The Antiquary", and the London Library has it. Glad to think of Elizabeth and Robert at home.
Pleased his book has been well received at Trinity, would have liked to visit Cambridge to see the Public Acts but detained on court business