WILLIAM SHARP (FIONA MACLEOD) A MEMOIR COMPILED BY HIS WIFE ELIZABETH A. SHARP by ELIZABETH A. SHARP (best ebook reader ubuntu txt) đ
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lid enclosed it, where something lovelier than mortal sleep subtly
dwelt, there was one at least of his friends who forgot all sorrow in
a great gladness for the blind poetânow no longer blind, if he be not
overwhelmed in a sleep beyond our ken. At such a moment the infinite
satisfaction of Death seems beautiful largess for the turmoil of a few
âdark disastrous years.ââ
The Spring of 1887 brought a more kindly condition of circumstances
to us, in the form of good steady work. Mr. Eric Robertson had then
been selected to fill the vacant chair of Literature and Logic at the
University of Lahore, and, on accepting, he suggested to Mr. Joseph
Henderson that William Sharp should be his successor as Editor of the
âLiterary Chairâ in _The Young Folkâs Paper_âthe boysâ weekly paper for
which Robert Louis Stevenson had written his âTreasure Island.â âThe
Literary Olympicâ was a portion of the paper devoted to the efforts in
prose and verse of the Young Folk who wished to exercise their budding
literary talents. Their papers were examined, criticised; a few of the
most meritorious were printed, prefaced by an article of criticism and
instruction written by their Editor and critic. The work itself was
congenial; and the interest was heightened by the fact that it put
us into touch with the youth of all classes, in England, Scotland,
and Ireland, in town and country, alike. Several of the popular
novelists and essayists of to-day received the chief early training
in the âOlympic.â Many were the confidential personal letters to the
unknown editor, who was imagined by one or two young aspirants to be
white-haired and venerable. This work, moreover, could be done at home,
by us both; and it brought a reliable income, a condition of security
hitherto unknown to us, which proved an excellent tonic to the delicate
Editor.
In August a letter came from Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton suggesting the
possibility that an original poem, _The Ode to Mother Careyâs Chicken_
contributed to my little anthology _Sea-Music_, should be re-printed in
_The Young Folkâs Paper_:
âI do especially want it to be read by boys,â he wrote, âwho would
understand and appreciate it thoroughly.â The poem appeared; and
drew forth an appreciative letter from a young blacksmith who had
sent contributions to âThe Literary Olympic.â Mr. Watts-Duntonâs
acknowledgment to the âEditorâ was thus expressed:
âI have seen the poem in the paper and am much gratified to be enabled
to speak, thus, to thousands of the boys of Great Britain, the
finestâby far the finestâboys in the world as I always think. It was a
friendly act on your part and the preliminary remarks are most kind and
touching.
âI sincerely hope that your indisposition has, by this time, left you,
and shall be glad to get a line to say that it has. The young manâs
letter is most interesting. What pleases me most is the manly pride he
takes in his business. A blacksmith is almost the only artisan whose
occupation is tinged with the older romance as Gabriel[2] often used
to say. I love still to watch them at the forgeâthe sparks flying
round them. I hope he may not forsake such a calling for the literary
struggle.â
* * * * *
In the early part of the year âThe Sport of Chanceâ had run serially
through _The Peopleâs Friend_. Its success incited the author to write
a sensational boysâ story for _The Young Folkâs Paper_; and accordingly
in the Xmas number of that weekly appeared the first installment of
âUnder the Banner of St. James,â a tale of the conquest of Peru. This
story was followed at intervals by others such as âThe Secret of the
Seven Fountains,â âJack Noelâs Legacy,â âThe Red Riders.â Although the
weaving of these sensational plots was a great enjoyment to the writer
of them, he at no time regarded them as other than useful pot-boilers.
A letter written about this time to the American poet E. C. Stedman
led to a life-long friendship with him of so genial a nature that, on
becoming personally acquainted in New York two years later, the older
poet laughingly declared that he adopted the younger man from across
the seas as his âEnglish son.â
In an article on âBritish Songâ in _The Victorian Poets_, the Scottish
poet was referred to as a Colonial. He wrote to the author to point
out the mistake âsince you are so kindly going to do me the honour of
mention in your forthcoming supplementary work, I should not like to be
misrepresented.â
In replying Mr. Stedman explained that no great harm has been done:
Something in your work made me suspect that, despite your Australian
tone, etc., you did not hail (as we Yankees say) from the Colonies.
So you will find in my new vol. of _Victorian Poets_ that I do not
place you with the Colonial poets, but just preceding them, and I have
a reference to your Rosetti volume. The limited space afforded by my
supplementary chapter has made my references to the new men altogether
too brief and inadequate. Of this I am seriously aware, but trust that
you and others will take into consideration the scope and aim of the
chapter. You see I have learned that âThe Human Inheritanceâ is scarce!
Of course I shall value greatly a copy from the authorâs hands. And I
count among the two pleasant things connected with my prose workâmy
earlier and natural metier being that of a poetâsuch letters as yours,
which put me into agreeable relations with distant comrades-in-arms.
Beginning, as you have, with the opening of a new literary period,
and with what you have already done, I am sure you have a fine career
before youâthat will extend long after your American Reviewer has
ceased to watch and profit by its course.
Very sincerely yours,
EDMUND C. STEDMAN.
A few months later Mr. Stedman wrote again:
NEW YORK, March 27, 1888.
MY DEAR SHARP,
Let me thank you heartily, if somewhat tardily, for your very handsome
and magnanimous review of the _Victorian Poets_. It breathes the
spirit of fairnessâand even generosityâthroughout. You have been more
than âa little blindâ to my faults, and to my virtues most open-eyed
and âvery kindâ indeed. I am sufficiently sure of my own _purpose_ to
believe that you _have_ ground for perceiving that the spirit of my
major criticisms is _essential_, rather than merely âtechnical.â I
look more to the breadth and imagination of the poet than to minute
detailsâthough a stickler for natural melody and the lasting canons
of art. The real value of the book lies, of course, in the chapters
on some of the elder poets. You are quite right in pointing out
the impossibility of correct proportion in the details of the last
chapter. It is added to give more completeness to the work as a whole.
For the same reason, the earlier chapters on âThe General Choirâ
were originally introduced; but in them I knew my ground better, and
could point out with more assurance the tendencies of the various
âgroups.â But I write merely to say that I am heartily satisfied
with your criticism, and grateful for it; and that I often read your
other reviews with advantageâand shall watch your career, already so
fruitful, with great interest. A man who comes down to first principles
and looks at things broadly, as you are doing, is sure in the end to be
a man of mark.
Very faithfully yours,
EDMUND C. STEDMAN.
* * * * *
One desirable result of this good fortune was a change of residence
to a higher part of the town, where the air was purer, and access to
green fields easier. To this end in the Spring of 1887 we took a little
house for three years in Goldhurst Terrace, South Hampstead. As it was
numbered 17_a_, much annoyance was caused as our letters frequently
were delivered at No. 17. A name therefore had to be found, and we
dubbed our new home _Wescam_, a name made up of the initials of my
husband, myself and our friend Mrs. Caird whose town house was within
two minutesâ walk of us. There was a sunny study for the invalid on the
ground floor, to obviate as much as possible the need of going up and
down stairs. The immediate improvement in his health from the higher
air and new conditions was so marked that we had every reason to hope
it would before many months be practically re-established.
The most important undertaking after the long illness was the monograph
on Shelley written for _Great Writersâ Series_ (Walter Scott) and
published in the autumn of 1887. It was a work of love, for Shelley
had been the inspiring genius of his youth, the chief influence in his
verse till he knew Rossetti. He was in sympathy with much of Shelleyâs
thought: with his hatred of rigid conventionality, of the tyranny of
social laws; with his antagonism to existing marriage and divorce laws,
with his belief in the sanctity of passion when called forth by high
and true emotion. He exclaimed that
âIt is my main endeavour in this short life of Shelley to avoid all
misstatement and exaggeration; to give as real a narrative of his life
from the most reliable sources as lies within my power; to recount
without detailed criticism and as simply and concisely as practicable,
the record of his poetic achievements. To this end I shall chiefly rely
on anecdote and explanatory detail, or poems and passages noteworthy
for their autobiographical or idiosyncratic value, and on indisputable
facts.â
He proposed merely to give a condensation of all really important
material; and based his monograph mainly on Professor Dowdenâs
memorable work (then recently published). Many statements written by
William Sharp about Shelley may be quoted as autobiographic of himself.
For instance: âFrom early childhood he was a mentally restless child.
Trifles unnoticed by most children seem to have made keen and permanent
impression on himâthe sound of wind, the leafy whisper of trees,
running water. The imaginative faculties came so early into play, that
the unconscious desire to create resulted in the invention of weird
tales sometimes based on remote fact in the experience of more or less
weird hallucinations.â
Or again: âThe fire of his mind for ever consuming his excitable body,
his swift and ardent emotions, his over keen susceptibilities all
combined to increase the frailty of his physical health.â Or this in
particular: âHe did not outgrow his tendency to invest every new and
sympathetic correspondent (and I would add, friend) with lives of ideal
splendour.â
And in explanation of each idealization appearing to him âas the
type of that ideal Beauty which had haunted his imagination from
early boyhood,â he adds: âNo fellow mortal could have satisfied the
desire of his heart. Perhaps this almost fantastic yearning for the
unattainableâthis desire of the moth for the starâis the heritage of
many of us. It is a longing that shall be insatiable even in death.â
With Shelley he might have said of himself: âI think one is always in
love with something or other; the errorâand I confess it is not easy
for spirits cased in flesh and blood to avoid itâconsists in seeking
in a mortal image the likeness of what is, perhaps, eternal.â
From the many letters the biographer received after the publication of
his book I select three:
BRASENOSE COLLEGE, Nov. 23d.
MY DEAR SHARP,
I am reading your short life of Shelley with great pleasure and profit.
Many thanks for your kindness in sending it. It seems to me that with a
full, nay! an enthusiastic, appreciation of Shelley and his work, you
unite a shrewdness and good sense rare in those who have treated this
subject. And then your book is pleasant and effective, in contrast to a
French book on Shelley of which I read reluctantly a good deal lately.
Your book leaves a very definite image on the brain.
With sincere kind regards,
Very truly yours,
WALTER PATER.
CIMIEZ, PRĂS NICE.
22d Dec., 1887.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I wonder how it is with you now, whether you are better, which I
sincerely hope, and already in the Isle of Wight? but I suppose you
will only go after Christmas. To-day it is so cold here that I wonder
what it must be like with you; there is snow on the mountains behind
the house and the sea looks iron-gray and ungenial.
I never told you I think how much I liked your âShelley,â which I think
gives a very succinct and fair statement of the poetâs life and works.
It is just what is wanted by the public at large, and I thought your
remarks on Shelleyâs relations with Harriet exceedingly sympathetic and
to the point; as well as what you say touching his married life with
Mary; the passage on page
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