The collected letters of George Gissing : Vol. 5, 1892-1895. [5] 0821410679

Citation preview

The Collected Letters of

G EO RG E GISSING

The Collected Letters of

GEORGE GISSING V O L U M E FIV E • 1 8 9 2 - 1 8 9 5

P a u lF . M attheisen

•

A rth u r C. Y ou ng

P ierre Coustillas E D IT O R S

*

O H IO U N IV E R S IT Y P R E S S A T H E N S • O H IO

J. B^ta Library TRENT LNiViriGiTY Thomas

PETERBOROUGH, O NTARIO

'Ar'Ul

, 'pVK

'* o f \

This book has been composed in Galliard by Professional Book Com positors Designed by Laury A. Egan Introduction and Notes © 1 9 9 4 by Paul F. Mattheisen, A rthur C. Young, and Pierre Coustillas Printed in the United States o f America All rights reserved Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper 00 Library o f Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Revised for volume 5) Gissing, George, 1 8 5 7 -1 9 0 3 . The collected letters o f George Gissing. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: v. 1. 1 8 6 3 - 1 8 8 0 — v. 2. 1 8 8 1 - 1 8 8 5 — [etc.] — v. 5. 1 8 9 2 -1 8 9 5 . 1. Gissing, George, 1 8 5 7 - 1 9 0 3 — Correspondence. 2. Novelists, English— 19th century— Correspondence. I. Mattheisen, Paul F. II. Young, Arthur C. III. Coustillas, Pierre. IV. Title. P R 4 7 1 7 .A 4 1 9 9 0 8 2 3 '.8 [B ] 8 9 -2 6 5 7 7 ISBN 0 -8 2 1 4 -0 9 5 5 -7 (v. 1 : acid-free paper) ISBN 0 -8 2 1 4 -1 0 6 7 -9 (v. 5 : acid-free paper)

Contents *

List ofAbbreviations

vii

Chronology o f George Gissitig’s Life

ix

Acknowledgments

xv

Introduction to Volume Five T H E LE T TE R S

xvii 3

Selected Index o f Persons

355

Selected Index o f Titles, Places and Miscellanea

363

Corrigenda for Volumes I, II, III, and IV

370

List ofAbbreviations *

ATL Bertz BL Bod. Colg. CZA DC Fleury

GAI

GCH GEF GJ GN GOF Graham HHR Hunt. Kelly Kohler Lasner I.e. LG C

LE

The Alexander Turnbull Li bran,', Wellington, NewZealand. The Letters o f George Gissing to Eduard Bertz 1887-1903, ed. Ar­ thur C. Young (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1961). British Library. Bodleian Library, Oxford. Colgate University Library. Central Zionist Archive, Jerusalem. Dartmouth College. The Letters o f George Gissing to Gabrielle Fleury, ed. Pierre Coustil­ las (New York: The New York Public Library, 1964). Selections, Autobiographical and Imaginative, from the Works o f George Gissing, ed. Alfred Gissing (New York: Jonathan Cape and Harri­ son Smith, 1929). Gissing: The Critical Heritage, ed. Pierre Coustillas and Colin Par­ tridge (London and Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972). George Gissing: Essays and Fiction, ed. Pierre Coustillas (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1970). The Gissing Journal. The Gissing Newsletter. George Gissing on Fiction, ed. Jacob and Cynthia Korg (London: Enitharmon Press, 1978). Michael Graham, London. Henry Hick’s Recollections o f George Gissing, ed. Pierre Coustillas (London: Enitharmon Press, 1973). The Huntington Library. Helen Kelly, The Boston BookAnnex. The private collection o f Christopher Kohler,o f Dorking, Surrey. The personal collection o f Mark SamuelsLasner, Washington, D.C. Letter card. The Letters o f George Gissing to Edward Clodd, ed. Pierre Coustillas, (London: Enitharmon Press, 1973). Letters to an Editor, ed. Clement Shorter, privately printed, 1915.

Vlll

LGG LGW Lilly LL

Man. Miller NLS NYPL p.c. PML RSPB Spiers t.c. SU L UR UTAL Yale

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

The Letters o f George Gissing to Members o f his Family (London: Constable, 1927). George Gissing and H. G. Wells: Their Friendship and Correspon­ dence, ed. Royal A. Gettmann (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1961). Lilly Library, Indiana University. Landscapes and Literati: Unpublished Letters ofW .H . Hudson and George Gissing, ed. Dennis Shrubsall and Pierre Coustillas (Wil­ ton: Michael Russell, 1985). University o f Manchester. Jane Miller, London. The National Library o f Scotland. The New York Public Library. Postcard. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City. Royal Society for the Protection o f Birds. Private collection o f John Spiers, Brighton. Typed copy. Stanford University Library. University o f Rochester, New York. University o f Texas at Austin Library. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale Univer­ sity.

Chronology *

G e o r g e R o b e r t G is s in g

1857

Nov. 22

1859 Sept. 15 Nov. 25 1860 1863 Oct. 27 1 8 6 3 -1 8 70

1867 1870 1871

April 4 Dec. 28

1872 1 8 7 5 -6

Winter

1876

March May 31 June 6 June 7 Sept. Dec.

1877

March 1

1857-1903

Born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, eldest child of Thomas Waller and Margaret Bedford Gissing. William Gissing born. Algernon Gissing born. Margaret Emily Gissing born. At some time during these years attends Miss Milner s school for children and then the Rev. Joseph Harrison’s collegiate school, both in the Unitarian school building in Back Lane. Attends classes in the School of Art after it opens in 1866. Ellen Sophia Gissing born. Thomas Waller Gissing dies. George, William, and Algernon sent to Lindow Grove School, Alderley Edge, Cheshire. Enters Owens College, Manchester, living at Alderley Edge. Meets Marianne Helen Harrison, b. February 25, 1858. Begins living with Marianne Helen Harrison, known as Nell. Caught stealing money in the cloakroom of Owens College. Convicted and sentenced to one month’s im­ prisonment. Expelled from Owens College. Sails to America. Takes a temporary position as teacher at Waltham High School, Waltham, Massachusetts. Fails to appear for classes, apparently having left for Chicago.

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

X

March-July July-Aug.

Sept. Oct. 3 Oct.-Nov. 1878

Jan.

July 12 July 24 Sept. 2 Nov. 8 1879

1880

Jan. 17 April Oct. 27

c. Nov. 12 Jan. Feb. 26 April 16 May 28 July 9 Sept. 4 Nov. 27

1881 1882

Dec. 5 Jan. July 27 Jan. 19 May

Sells short stories to Chicago papers. Journeys to Troy, New York, assists pho­ tographer traveling in Massachusetts and Maine. Sails from Boston, returning to England. Arrives in Liverpool. At some time during these months, takes up life in London, where Nell joins him. Begins first novel (unpublished). Publishes “The Artist’s Child” (revised) in Tinsley’s Magazine (first published in the Alliance, Chicago, June 30, 1877). Writes of having begun another novel. Never published. Publisher rejects first novel. Sends poems to Comhill (never published). William tells him o f the inheritance to be received on majority (November 22). First meets Eduard Bertz. Receives inheritance. Marries Nell (Marianne Helen Harrison) in London, according to the rites o f the Estab­ lished Church. Finishes Workers in .the Dawn. Workers rejected by several publishers. Signs agreement with Remington, pays for publication o f Workers from inheritance. William Gissing dies. Sends copy o f Workers to Algernon. Sends copy o f Workers to Frederic Harrison, the start o f a long friendship. John Morley agrees to publish “Notes on Social Democracy” in the Pall M all Gazette. Turgenev asks him to write quarterly articles for Vestnik Evropy. Tutoring Frederic Harrison’s sons. Starts using positivist calendar. Bertz sails for Rugby, Tennessee. Nell is sent to invalid home in Battersea. Nell, who had left the invalid home and lived in Seaford, now moves to Kennington

CHRONOLOGY

Oct. 6 Dec. 26 Dec. 27 1883 1884

June 8 March 16 Easter June Aug. 28 Nov. Nov. 24

1885

May-June Aug. 12 Nov. 5

Dec. 11 1886

1887

1888

1889

March March 20 June June 30 Jan. 15 April June 23 Feb. 29 March 19 Sept. 26 Nov. March 1 March 24 April

XI

and then back to Soho Square, Gissing pro­ viding £1 a week. By this date Nell had returned to Gissing. Bentley offers fifty guineas for '■''Mrs. Grundy’s Enemies11 (never published). Nell moves to Brixton, taking half the furniture. Bertz returns from America. At work on new novel and a play to be entitled “■Madcaps” (never published). Bertz returns to German)'. The Unclassed published by Chapman and Hall. Meets Mrs. Elizabeth Sarah Gaussen. Working on Isabel Clarendon. Takes three-year lease on 7. K Cornwall Residences. Ellen Gissing stays with him in London for two weeks. Isabel Clarendon sent to publisher. A Life’s Morning (first entitled “Emily”) sent to Smith and Elder under pseudonym o f Osmond Waymark. Algernon spends several months with him in London. Demos published by Smith and Elder. Travels to France. Isabel Clarendon published by Chapman and Hall. Meets Thomas Hardy. Completes Thyrza, later goes to Eastbourne for a rest. Thyrza published by Smith and Elder. Meets Edward Clodd. In Eastbourne, hears o f Nell’sdeath. Begins The Nether World. With Plitt, goes to Paris on way to Italy. A Life’s Morning published by Smith and Elder. Returns from Italy. Meets W. H. Hudson. The Nether World published by Smith and Elder.

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

Xl l

May

1890

June 9 Nov. 11 Feb. 28 March Sept. 24

1891

Jan. 14 Feb. 25 April Aug. 9

1892

Aug. 25 Sept. 26 Dec. 10 Feb.

1893

May April

1894

May 10 June 26 June 1 Sept. 15 Nov. 7 Dec.

1895

April April 21

April 25 July 13 Dec.

Receives request for permission to translate Demos into German (1892). First writes to Edith Sichel. Departs for Greece. Returns to London from Greece, after a short stay in Italy. The Emancipated published by Bentley. On or before this date, meets Edith Underwood. Moves to 24 Prospect Park, Exeter. Marries Edith Underwood at St. Pancras Registry Office. New Grub Street published by Smith and Elder. Asks A. P. Watt to find publisher for “Godwin Peak” (Bom in Exile). Moves to 1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. Lawrence and Bullen offer to publish a novel. Walter Leonard is born, his first son. Denzil Ouarrier published by Lawrence and Bullen. Bom in Exile published by A. and C. Black. The Odd Women published by Lawrence and Bullen. , First letter from Clara Collet. Moves to 76 Burton Road, Brixton. Relinquishes house in Brixton, goes first to Clevedon, then Dorking, then Epsom. Moves to Eversley, Worple Road, Epsom. Meets Eliza Orme. In the Tear o f Jubilee published by Lawrence and Bullen. Eve’s Ransom published by Lawrence and Bullen. Accepts Edward Clodd’s invitation to long Whitsuntide weekend at Aldeburgh, beginning a long friendship. Begins correspondence with Henry' Hick. At Omar Khayyam Club, meets George Meredith, whom he visits in September. Sleeping Fires published by Unwin.

CHRONOLOGY

1896

1897

Jan. Jan. 20 April 22 Nov. 20 Feb. 10 April May 31 Sept. 17 Sept. 22 Nov.

1898

Dec. 15 Feb. March 9 April 12 April 18 May 6 June 23 July 6 July 26 August Sept. 7 Oct. 8

1899

May 6

1900

June 2 Oct. April 2 May 1 May 25 Nov. 19

xm

The Paying Guest published by Cassell. Alfred Charles bom. Decides to leave Walter with his sisters. At Omar Khayyam dinner meets H. G. Wells. Leaves Edith, lives alone at Budleigh Salterton until the end o f May'. The Whirlpool published by' Lawrence and Bullen. Returns to live with Edith. Parts with Edith after nearly seven y'ears o f marriage. Leaves London for Siena to write book on Dickens. Human Odds and Ends published by Lawrence and Bullen. Arrives in Rome, after five weeks in Calabria. Charles Dickens: A Critical Study published by Blackie. Wells and his wife visit him in Rome. Leaves Rome to visit Bertz in Germany. Leaves Berlin, arrives at Henry' Hick’s at 11:00 p.m. Rents house at 7 Clifton Terrace, Dorking. Receives first letter from Gabrielle Fleury. Meets Mile. Fleury at H. G. Wells’s home. Gabrielle spends day at Dorking. The Town Traveller published by Methuen. Sees Alfred and Edith for the last time. Gabrielle returns to England, spends week at Dorking. Leaves to join Gabrielle at Rouen, where on the following day the two have private cere­ mony o f union. Takes up residence at 13 rue de Siam, Paris. The Crown o f Life published by Methuen. Goes to England, visits family, Clodd, and Wells. Returns to France. Moves to St. Honore-les-Bains (Nievre), tak­ ing the Villa des Roses for the summer. Returns to Paris.

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

XI V

1901

May May 27 June 24 June

1902

Early Aug. Dec. 3 Jan. April 24 July 2 Oct.

1903

Jan. July 1 Dec. 28

1904 1905

Sept. June

Our Friend the Charlatan published by Chapman and Hall. Arrives at Wells’s home with Gabrielle, who returns alone to Paris after a week. Enters East Anglian Sanatorium at Nayland, Suffolk. By the Ionian Sea published by Chapman and Hall. Returns to France. Moves to Villa Souvenir, Arcachon. Edith sent to an asylum. Moves from Arcachon to St. Jean de Luz for a month, then to Paris. Moves to St. Jean de Luz. Forster’s Life o f Dickens published by Chapman and Hall. The Private Papers o f Henry Ryecrofi published by Constable. Moves to St. Jean Pied de Port. Dies at 1:15 p.m. on the thirty-third anniver­ sary o f his father’s death. Veranilda published by Constable. Will Warburton published by Constable.

Acknowledgments *

ot the letters in this volume are in the three great collections of Gissing papers, at Yale University, the New York Public Library, and Indiana University Library', a collection formerly in the Pforzheimer Li­ brary'. For permission to publish these we are grateful to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library' at Yale, to the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library', and to the Lilly Library at Indiana University. Increas­ ingly, however, we are able to draw on smaller collections and other sources, and for permission to publish those materials here we wish to thank the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, Australia; the British Library; the Bodleian Library'; the Central Zionist Archive, Jerusalem; Colgate Univer­ sity Library'; Robert Collet; Dartmouth College; Michael Graham; the Huntington Library; Helen Kelly o f the Boston Book Annex; Chris Kohler; Mark Samuels Lasner; the University o f Manchester; the National Library o f Scotland; the Pierpont Morgan Library; the University o f Rochester; the Royal Society for the Protection o f Birds; John Spiers; Stanford University Library'; the University o f Texas at Austin; and Wake Forest University. For their important and generous personal help we wish to recognize here Winston Atkins, o f the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University o f Texas at Austin; Francesco Badolato; Wayne F. Coonradt, photographer; the Epsom Public Library; Nicole Gabet, Librarian o f the English Department, University o f Lille; Elfrieda Heyer, Department of German, Binghamton University; C.C. Kohler; Professor Saul Levin, De­ partment o f Classics, Binghamton University; Agn£s Marcetteau, o f the Municipal Library o f Nantes; Professor Donald J. Mattheisen, University o f Massachusetts at Lowell; Ursula Mattheisen; Margaret De Motte, o f the Manchester Public Library; Xavier Petremand, Gissing’s great-grandson; Anthony Petyt o f the Gissing Trust; Charles Seaton, Librarian o f the Specta­ tor ; John Sloan, Balliol College, Oxford; Wulfhard Stahl; Aubrey Stevenson, Leicestershire County Local Studies Librarian; Ros Stinton, Librarian, Brad­ ford; Professor Martha Vogeler, California State University at Fullerton; and particularly Helene Coustillas for her considerable help at all stages of this work. o st

M

Introduction to Volume Five *

a letter o f May 1892 to his German friend Eduard Bertz, Gissing lu­ cidly noted that in Born in Exile, a novel composed the year before, he had turned his back on his past self. His semi-autobiographical hero, God­ win Peak, fails to secure the love o f a young lad}' whose affection he had hoped to win through a stratagem, whereupon he goes abroad and dies. True to his word, Gissing did not attempt to resuscitate him anymore than Trollope did Mrs. Proudie, and although he was obliquely to review again his past as a youth in The Whirlpool and The Private Papers o f Henry Ryecroft, he never reconsidered in fiction that Manchester phase o f it which was so memorably enlightened by a noble idealism yet bore the hallmark o f a piti­ ful ignorance o f the world. In January' 1892—where this volume o f his let­ ters begins—he had o f necessity to look forward. He was now a married man and a father, a stage never reached by Godwin Peak, and he still had to conquer an audience whose number would guarantee a steadier and higher income than hitherto. The publication ot New Grub Street had drawn con­ siderable attention to his name; it had even fostered some controversy (po­ tentially a profitable state o f things in terms o f £.s.d.), but the sale o f the book’s copyright to Smith 8c Elder had deprived him o f the financial reward he could expect from the three editions which had appeared within a few months. Despite his recent difficulty in disposing o f Bom in Exile advan­ tageously, even with the assistance o f an agent, he felt that he could at long last expect professional success, and he already contemplated, once his son Walter had grown out o f infancy, leaving Exeter, a semi-rural, semi-urban paradise when he had discovered it after more than a decade o f metropoli­ tan confinement. However, the general movement o f the present volume, with its span o f three and a half years, shows no steady progress toward the conquest o f an enlarged public; it proves that whatever optimism he was still capable o f after a series o f debilitating battles with morally rigid, unfair, or timid publishers was not altogether justified. His letters establish that he was to experience another period o f some three years o f frustration before he could see the plainest evidence o f success he ever had. Quite suddenly in the first six months of 1895 recognition became so manifest that he himself could not deny it. It culminated with the famous dinner o f the Omar Khayyam Club on July 13 when, together with Meredith and Hardy, he was N

I

XV111

TH E LE T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

saluted by his fellow-writers as one o f the three prominent living English novelists. It was by then acknowledged that he had already made his mark in English literature and that his work was not destined to be forgotten. O f all the parameters o f his progress, the strictly professional one must be examined first. For one thing, the years 1 8 9 2 -1 8 9 5 saw an increase in the bulk and scope o f his literary production, which coincided with his emancipation from the exploitation by publishers o f the older type, Chap­ man & Hall, Smith, Elder & Co, as well as that arch-philistine Bentley. In Arthur Henry Bullen and his young partner Henry Walton Lawrence, Giss­ ing found sensible men who did not think o f themselves as guardians o f public morality and authorities in matters o f literary taste. They entered into friendly, mutually confident relations with him; they liked his novels and knew why, and this was a pleasant change from the unperceptive attitudes o f men like George Bentley or James Payn, who were largely indifferent to his artistic merits and, even when they had some vague inkling o f his original­ ity, could hardly refrain from complaining about his “gloom” and his re­ fusal to make concessions to the average fun-loving reader. Not only did Bullen want Gissing’s new books, he was anxious to reissue in single­ volume form the early ones which had failed to reach that stage, so that they might be purchased, read and possibly studied, and not merely borrowed, as was the case o f the cumbrous three-deckers on the shelves o f the circulat­ ing libraries. The letter Gissing received from Bullen on February 7, 1893, o f which only a partial transcription has apparently survived, was couched in a language that caused him to stand and marvel: “We count it a privilege to publish your books. I f we lose money in issuing popular editions of your earlier novels it won’t trouble us. The pleasure o f seeing your books col­ lected would atone for any loss; but we fancy they might ultimately be prof­ itable.” No wonder the recipient, after asking himself in his diary whether any struggling author was ever thus addressed, recorded that, on that par­ ticular day, he got on splendidly. During the same period, the two partners published in succession Denzil Quarrier, The Odd Women, In the Tear o f Ju bi­ lee, and Eve’s Ransom. They would gladly have added to their list Bom in Exile, recently placed by A. P. Watt with Adam & Charles Black, but the copyright o f the book did not become available until the business o f Law­ rence & Bullen had begun to shake on its foundations, so that they never reissued it. Eventually they contented themselves with reprinting The Eman­ cipated in 1893 and The Unclassed in 1895. As we noted in Volume IV, the republication o f the former title gave Bentley, who owned the copyright, one last opportunity to play a dirty trick on Gissing. Had a solicitor been sent to Burlington Street, he would have discovered that “the old Man o f the Sea,” as Gissing called him, had lost not £52, as he professed, but

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

xix

£23.16s.5d, and that the air o f high-minded loser he assumed was that o f a man who, by deliberately doubling the figure o f his losses, was trying to convert a loss into a profit. Not only did Lawrence & Bullen behave cordially to their favorite mod­ ern novelist and show him their accounts o f his books, they did their best to push the sales outside the United Kingdom, placing Denzil Quarrier and The Odd Women in America with Macmillan and In the Tear o f Jubilee and Eve’s Ransom with Appleton, the first two titles appearing also in the Colon­ ial Libraries o f George Robertson & Co. and Heinemann respectively. From 1894 onwards all the Gissing titles in the hands o f Lawrence & Bullen, except The Odd Women, were included in George Bell and Sons’ In­ dian and Colonial Libraries, and they sold quickly. Yet, despite Bullen’s earnest efforts to give all these books a distinction which he was convinced they had, the novelist’s accounts held by the Berg Collection and the Lilly Library', complemented by such documents as the sale reports Bullen sent to Gissing on December 31, 1894, do not reveal any striking improvement until the mid-nineties, when Eve’s Ransom proved a better seller than pre­ vious titles, and The Whirlpool in 1897 a still better one. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to recall that the venerable three-decker had by then met its fate, and that any comparison between the sales figures o f novels in the statutory' tripartite format and in one volume priced at six shillings is bound to include subjective elements. However limited may have been the commercial capacities o f Bullen, a scholar turned publisher, his letters establish that he had a way all his own o f obtaining concessions from Gissing when a passage in some manuscript prompted him to beg for alterations. We see him here addressing his friend with combined self-confidence and humility, and winning him round with an ease doubtless partly ascribable to the fact that Gissing respected him for his intellectual distinction, a quality he had readily acknowledged in Mere­ dith in the days o f The Unclassed and Isabel Clarendon, but had found sadly lacking in James Payn, the third-rate novelist and editor who had judged his manuscripts from Demos to New Grub Street. Evidence o f Bullen’s requests for alterations, direct or otherwise, is extant for The Odd Women, In the Tear o f Jubilee and—later— The Whirlpool, and so is proof that Gissing did not au­ tomatically give way. In the case o f The Odd Women, however, although re­ grettably neither the manuscript nor his reply to Bullen’s assessment o f it has yet emerged from oblivion, it is clear that he made the alterations sug­ gested. Only one chapter is devoted to the sisters’ antecedents, and the modern reader is aware o f no especially painful details in it, nor does Mrs. Luke Widdowson’s conversation with Monica before the wedding strike one as overlong, nor George Eliot’s name appear in the printed version.

XX

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

No trace o f similar adjustments at the publishers’ request has been noted concerning the books that Gissing agreed to contribute to the small onevolume “libraries” o f fiction which sprang into existence amidst the pub­ lishing revolution o f 1 8 9 4 -9 5 . The negotiations for The Paying Guest are poorly documented—none o f the letters to or from Max Pemberton seems to have survived—and those with Fisher Unwin reveal no difficulty o f which the author had any knowledge. The correspondence with T. Fisher Unwin makes smooth, urbane reading, suggesting that both men were anxious to appear on their best behavior. Indeed one is surprised to see how readily Unwin, so close-fisted with W. H. Hudson and Conrad for instance, ac­ cepted Gissing’s terms for the world copyright o f Sleeping Fires, £5 per thousand words. He must have got back from Appleton, who brought out the story in America, a substantial proportion o f the £150 he paid Gissing. Besides, had Unwin lost money on the book, he would not have been so keen on publishing other Gissing titles in 1904, when the writer’s death had increased the demand for his works, a keenness which resulted in the inclu­ sion o f By the Ionian Sea in his Colonial Library in the following year. An even greater and virtually unknown merit attaches to Unwin: when he was confronted with the two sharply conflicting evaluations o f Sleeping Fires submitted by his readers, W. H. Chesson and Edward Garnett, he chose to disregard Garnett’s severe yet partly justified strictures. Meanwhile Gissing’s books published before 1892 were having different fates. Bullen, as previously noted, wished to give them a new lease on life, but Gissing was disinclined to reexperience through rewriting his years o f deprivation and misery. The still-born revision o f Workers in the Dawn, which he could not carry further than the end o f Volume One, may date back to those years. Nor was he tempted by the prospect o f resuscitating Isabel Clarendon, and he still resisted Bullen’s offer to reissue The Unclassed, although he knew that both Meredith and Hardy had praised its worthy unconventionality. Bom in Exile, in the hands o f Adam & Charles Black and, for the Colonies, in turn, o f E. A. Petherick and George Bell 8c Sons, was doing well. Gissing wondered at the significance o f the successive onevolume editions, fearing they only meant reductions in price, a view only partly confirmed by the publishers’ records, which show that the passage from the 6/- to the 3/6 and to the 2/- editions had been planned from the start, as well as a clever printing system which avoided entire resetting be­ tween the three- and one-volume editions. As regards the five titles which Smith, Elder sedulously kept in print, Gissing was altogether in the dark, seeing only the publishers’ advertisements. UI only wish,” he wrote to Bertz on September 2 9 ,1 8 9 3 , “I had had the courage and the foresight to refuse to sell those books o f mine out and out to Smith 8c Elder. They would now

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

xxi

have been a source o f income.” This was being unduly self-critical—he should have laid the blame at the publishers’ door. He was forgetting that when he had temporarily chosen to retain the copyright ot'Thyrza, the pub­ lishers had refused to share with him the profit on one-volume editions, but had cynically proceeded to publish such editions the moment they had pur­ chased the copyright o f the book for the sum o f £10. Gissing’s ever-latent masochism crops up here. Near starvation had been his sole motive for sell­ ing the copyrights o f his novels. But he was entirely right about these books as a lost source o f income. The publishers' records testify that they printed no less than 33,500 copies o f his novels in his lifetime and at least another 4 ,000 in the five years after his death. A fair proportion o f the correspondence that Gissing is known to have had with his publishers from 1892 to mid-1895 is printed here for the first time. Its significance is matched by that o f his letters to editors and to his literary' agent William Morris Colles, whose services he sought in 1893. It is remarkable that both groups are almost entirely connected with his new activity' as a short story writer, and that they tend to outnumber the corre­ spondence with the family'—his struggling brother at Broadway or else­ where and his mother and sisters in Wakefield. The role play'ed by Clement King Shorter, a self-made man who rose to the position o f editor, at one time, o f five magazines simultaneously, becomes evident as early as 1893. However, if he was instrumental in turning Gissing for some years into a part-time nouvelliste, he was not the editor who gave him the starting-push. That merit devolves to William Blackwood, who accepted, and after much delay published, Gissing’s earliest story o f the 1890s, “A Victim o f Circum­ stances,” the setting o f which was suggested to him by a visit to Glaston­ bury' on July 31, 1891. The unexpectedly high fee (£20) he received from the Scottish firm at a time when his domestic expenses were rising considerably prompted him to seek a new source o f income in short fiction, a medium increasingly popular in the many magazines flourishing in those days. With charming urbanity' Blackwood encouraged him to submit other stories for “Maga,” as he called his magazine. Gissing’s hope was short-lived. He promptly sent “A Minstrel o f the Byways,” which was with equal prompt­ ness rejected. There ended his relations with Blackwood—the story'has not survived this rejection—but Shorter immediately took over. That Gissing owed many favors to Shorter was never denied by him. Most o f his stories that achieved publication in the Illustrated London News, the English Illustrated Magazine and (later) the Sketch were commissioned by Shorter, but their correspondence betrays occasional tensions between the two men. Gissing could not help regarding Shorter as an unpredictable dealer in literary' wares whose lack o f classical education was a serious handi­

xxn

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

cap. Some delightful blunders must have been in his mind when he referred to him jocularly in his letters to and conversations with Clara Collet. An­ other grudge he bore Shorter was his inadequate fees for world copyright. An attempt at resistance regarding American rights can be found in a letter o f September 1893, but it was soon given up. This was a regrettable deci­ sion. Later events proved that Gissing’s short stories were quite saleable to American magazines—in 1 9 0 2 -1 9 0 3 his agent Pinker was to demonstrate with “The Scrupulous Father” that a Gissing short story could find accep­ tance, with very satisfactory financial results, on both sides o f the Atlantic. Earlier examples, probably unknown to the author, have come to light, stories that were reprinted in LittelVs Living Age, the Rochester Union and Advertiser, the New York Commercial Advertiser and the New York Times, let alone reprints in the Australian and New Zealand press. The proceeds o f these sales went to the owners o f the serial rights, that is the owners o f the papers edited by Shorter. Lastly Gissing soon realized that Shorter could be as exasperatingly inconsistent in his judgments o f literary achievements as in his attitude to the authors he published. The strongly worded, dignified rejection o f an ill-considered remonstrance apropos o f the publication o f Eve’s Ransom in volume form in April 1895 shows Gissing at his best and Shorter at his worst. The correspondence with the other editors or their staffs is different in tone, bearing witness to the author’s growing reputation and to the respect with which he was regarded. His opinion about matters o f real or assumed public interest was increasingly sought—why did he not write plays? who should be the new Poet Laureate? what was the place o f realism in fiction? what were his favorite books?—questions which he preferred not to leave unanswered. In previous years he had rarely responded to such requests, though far less frequent; now he considered them as free advertisements, as possible passports to greater fame in an age when writers could no longer afford to remain in the shade. Characteristically he did not always record these minor writings in his diary and he rarely mentioned them in his letters to his relatives and friends. His stance became more businesslike; it looked as though Reardon was occasionally prepared to lend an ear to Jasper Milvain. Crucial was the role played by William Morris Colles in this process. But for his encouragements and pressures Gissing would not have written so many short stories. He succeeded in selling them to a number o f journals and magazines with widely different readerships, from the earnest and polit­ ically aggressive National Review, whose editor, Leopold James Maxse, had married a former Gissing pupil, Kitty Lushington, to a lowbrow weekly like To-Day or a popular monthly such as The Idler, both in the hands o f Jerome K. Jerome, managing the while to place a good many others with the Illus-

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

xxiii

Prated London News and the English Illustrated Magazine besides those com­ missioned by Shorter himself for these magazines. Positive in the main, Colles’s influence had some negative aspects which time made more and more conspicuous. For one thing he egged on Gissing to produce ever more and at an ever quicker pace, a dangerous situation for a writer with an exacting artistic conscience; and, more importantly, he would have liked to be entrusted with the sale o f novels as well as o f tales and sketches, being convinced that he could obtain better terms and larger advances than those Gissing got from Lawrence & Bullen. Now if such friendly pressures were flattering to a man who for years had been a victim o f his publishers, they proved embarrassing insofar as no complaint could be lodged against pub­ lishers o f an altogether different type whom Gissing called his friends. Be­ sides, Colles’s determination implied that Gissing was primarily bent on making money, a degrading prospect. Should a collected edition of his works prove some day a viable proposition, the difficulty o f the task, Gissing reckoned, would be commensurate with the number of publishers to be ne­ gotiated with. Understandably he wished to keep his more solid works (he regarded Sleeping Fires and The Paying Guest as “frothy stuff’ for ephemeral series) in the hands o f Lawrence & Bullen, but Colles, who knew how to create a guilty conscience ex nihilo, maneuvred so astutely that he exacted from him a promise that he would write, mainly to please the agent, a short novel especially for serialization. Things had reached that stage where the present volume o f correspondence stops; the next will show that, if the pro­ ject materialized in 1897 with The Town Traveller, Colles’s was a Pyrrhic victor)'. The letter o f January' 19, 1895, which deals with miscellaneous temporary' difficulties, carries a conclusion which reads like a solemn warn­ ing: “Remember that I work slowly; I shall never be able to turn out very much. What I am bent on doing, is to write books which will be read, not only to-day, but some years hence. If, as I sincerely hope, you are able to manage the serial agreements for much of my work to come, it is in the interest of both o f us that I should move onward no whit less carefully than hitherto. I dare not lose the respect o f the highest class o f readers for the sake o f immediate profit.” By that date Colles had greatly contributed to reducing Gissing’s profes­ sional isolation. Editors and publishers, and more generally individuals connected with the book trade either as actors or as observers, came across his name with astonishing frequency. His settling in Brixton was the turningpoint. The contacts with Lawrence & Bullen, Shorter, and Colles led to further contacts with interesting personalities who became friends or at least acquaintances. He now readily admitted that his former strictness in matters of frequent association with journalists and other literary people

xxiv

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

had been excessive. His advice to Algernon when the latter was requested to supply biographical details to a London Figaro journalist in April 1892 re­ vealed an incipient change in his attitude. In September o f the next year he confessed to Bertz, who had qualms about the possible use of his American adventures in a novel: “For my own part, I am growing less thin-skinned in this matter o f literary scruple. It is an age o f vulgarity, & the terrifying ex­ amples before our eyes make us fear to exercise even a legitimate freedom. But if one’s spirit be not vulgar, it is surely safe to obey the dictates o f liter­ ary instinct.” He justified his greater tolerance by the fact that society was being levelled down. Keeping aloof might amount to self-destruction. So we see him dining with literary people, some o f whom, such as William Robertson Nicoll, were regular suppliers o f copy for columns o f literary gossip in newspapers and magazines. In a decade retrospectively famous for the development o f illustrations in periodicals, portraits o f him were re­ quested by editors, who made appointments on his behalf with photogra­ phers, who subsequently supplied admirers. The firms o f Alfred Ellis, Elliott and Fry, Russell and Sons, and Mendelssohn helped to make his face famil­ iar to the reading public, who were now prepared to accept writers among the wide spectrum o f contemporary celebrities. Gissing was puzzled by these developments, wondering who on earth bought his portraits when the sales of his books were still so modest. The increasing amount o f comment on his work did not escape his no­ tice. Not only were his novels more and more widely reviewed (he did not care for the average journalistic comment, which missed so much o f his in­ tentions and too often implicitly denied him his fundamental right to have an intelligently sombre view o f life), but general assessments appeared in the more serious journals and even sometimes in newspapers. He digested these recurrent manifestations o f interest, yet remained sceptical. With two fellow-writers he was especially discreet about those overall appreciations misleadingly suggestive o f his belonging to the class o f authors who made a comfortable living by their pen—his own brother Algernon, a frequent borrower who never learned the noble art o f refunding, and his friend Morley Roberts, another (occasional) borrower, all too apt to show signs o f jealousy. Letters from strangers—a majority o f them women expressing their admiration and seeking advice or solace—he invariably answered, and some o f his replies have survived. Varying greatly in length and content, they are usually noncommittal except on one subject—the pains o f literary life. The comments he makes on the epistles o f some dense-minded corre­ spondents resist any possible misinterpretation; for instance, his reply to one Philip Bergson about the ending o f Thyrza, placidly civil and informa­ tive, reads ironically if perused in conjunction with his comments on Berg-

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

XXV

son’s letter for Clara Collet’s benefit. Quite naturally the unsolicited praise o f his more respectable fellow-writers carried greater weight with him. Gosse’s admission that he followed his career and read his “powerful and mournful studies o f life” with much interest and sympathy did not pass un­ noticed, but Gosse later created some embarrassment when he combined two letters from Gissing in print, a situation which Gissing thought might make some readers doubt his own tact as a gentleman. Although he did not admit it openly, the Harrisons’ invitation to stay with them if he had to be in London for a short time also touched him deeply. Grumble as he did when he received invitations from strangers who were anxious to become ac­ quainted with him, he wras at least partly pleased that some cultured people should be moved to express their sympathy for a writer who would only ad­ dress his readers’ better selves. Furthermore, considering his usual dishar­ mony with average British public opinion, any laudator)' mail from abroad w'as heartily relished; the paradox inherent in being read more apprecia­ tively by foreigners than by his ow'n countrymen had an aftertaste o f re­ venge. One imagines howr w'ryly he would have chuckled at the sight of some Japanese editions o f the intenvar period, at a time when English pub­ lishers allowed most o f his works to run out o f print. Inevitably not all good new's about his w'ork reached him. Bibliographical research has exhumed some major signs o f foreign recognition that escaped his notice altogether— for instance, the serial publication o f six o f his novels in Russian periodicals— but w'hatever he happened to hear of, notably from France, say, the lecture on his w'orks at the Institut Rudy or the translation o f some o f his short stories in the Revue bleue, invariably elated him, even though the financial rew'ard w'as negligible. As much as in his early days in London, when he liked to visit the book­ shops that he subsequently celebrated in The Private Papers o f Henry Ryecroft and spent hours in news-rooms, he was an attentive watcher o f the literary scene. The letters in the present volume are a valuable index to his thoughts on the writers o f the day, those whose work has held its own as well as those who have sunk into oblivion. A hundred years after, his judgments strike one as remarkably perceptive and to the point. Thus, few present-day com­ mentators w'ould take up the cudgels to defend Lucas Malet’s The Wages o f Sin and Baring-Gould’s The Gaverocks; there is no critical disagreement either about William Black not troubling himself much about plot or inci­ dent in novels to which Meredith’s obiter dictum has clung—“all fishing and sunset.” Mrs. Humphry Ward more than ever appears to us, as she did to him, to have been unoriginal in technique, to have had a mature mind and wide knowledge, and to have developed “with great labour the intellectual advance o f ever)' character.” The letter o f April 9, 1892 contains a para-

X XV I

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

graph on Barrie, Quiller-Couch, Conan Doyle and Andrew Lang, which, despite the subsequent work o f the four writers, does not invite drastic revi­ sion. “The power o f log-rolling, in our present state o f journalism,” he truthfully observed, “is simply limitless.” His varying attitudes to some o f the bigger names are worth studying. About Meredith qua novelist he al­ ready had second thoughts by 1892; his respect for him was never wanting, but one feels that, had he lived into the 1920s, he might well have agreed with E. M. Forster and Virginia Woolf, in whose eyes the reputation of the much flattered sage o f Box Hill had not worn well, and explained why. For Kipling he was still full o f admiration, but the apology o f rampant imperial­ ism by the Bombay-born, adventure-loving author o f Plain Tales from, the Hills who had won the enthusiastic consideration o f K L. Stevenson and Henry James, was soon to rouse his fear and disapproval, witness his appre­ ciation o f the Barrack-Room Ballads in 1892 and the quite different use he made o f the book in his 1897 novel, The Whirlpool. Less justifiable is his abrupt change o f tone about Tess o f the d’Urbervilles between two letters o f January 1892 to Bertz and to his brother Algernon. In the intervening week he had read the hostile comment o f the Saturday Review on the story', and a phrase which has remained famous: “Mr. Hardy must look to his gram­ mar.” Perhaps Gissing did not wish to sound too critical o f one o f his more distinguished fellow artists in a letter to a foreign friend, but felt freer to do so with his younger sister (September 3, 1889) or his brother. Yet one can­ not help suspecting that he watched a little too complacently for criticism o f an artist whose weaker points he rightly nailed to the counter. In this as in other spheres, his exactingness was often productive o f disappointments. If Gissing the writer ceased to be an author without a face in the early and mid-nineties, if his professional contacts proved that it paid to escape from one’s ivory tower, Gissing the man remained in some respects just as iso­ lated as ever, if not more. By marrying an uneducated, lower-class girl with an unattractive personality which soon revealed its worst potentialities, he had deliberately ruled out the possibility o f satisfactory social relationships with old and new friends. It was all very well in 1 8 9 0 -9 1 to ignore this and brush aside objections out o f bravado, but life might soon become intoler­ able. As has been noted in the introduction to Volume Four, signs of dete­ rioration in the domestic atmosphere began to appear in late 1891, even before Walter’s birth. The mole on the child’s face disturbed both father and mother. Who was biologically responsible for it? The question was doubtless present in their minds. Walter’s being sent to stay with strangers at Brampton Speke was a temporary way o f solving difficulties. The letter o f March 6, 1892 reflects the ambiguous situation. The infant flourished as­

IN T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

xxvii

tonishingly, but he did so away from home. Perhaps neither parent was sorry' to have the ugly child out o f sight for a few weeks. The praise o f the Phillips household (ufor once, we have come across really admirable people in these farmers—the true yeoman breed’1) may mean more than it seems. While Walter was away, a potential cause of marital friction was removed, Gissing s confidence in Edith’s capacity to cope adequately with the child was limited. A question to Algernon on April 13 clearly indicates difficul­ ties: “Apropos of the infant’s return, how often ought he to have his bottle in the four & twenty hours? Was not Enid brought up in that way? When ought he to go to bed?11n the next few weeks Gissing’s anxiety rose sharply and he made his younger sister a confidante of the trouble he experienced. The mole over the child’s eye seemed to get larger; people in the street mar­ velled at the sad spectacle. In the following year Gissing mentioned this to Hudson, who suggested that Dr. Tom Robinson, a friend o f Roberts and a specialist in skin diseases, might be able to help, but the problem was not to be solved until the end of the decade. O f Edith’s intense dislike o f her own son both correspondence and diary offer signal evidence. Her immediate pregnancy, followed by the painful birth o f an unsightly child, greatly dis­ turbed her; her bad temper, hitherto somewhat dissolved in an all too ob­ vious moodiness, became an outstanding characteristic, made all the more irksome to Gissing by its association with irrationality. Some appearances, even nowadays, are misleading. The well-written let­ ter from Edith to Katie, evidently a fair copy, cannot have been written by Edith unaided—later letters to Walter and to Clara Collet will make dem­ onstration superfluous. While it tackles with great candor the difficulties the parents were having with their child, it expresses consideration for George’s need of peace, and an attitude to servants—“it is difficult to choose from among silly and incapable people”—which is too characteristic o f her husband not to betray his intervention. The reference to A Masquer­ ader and to George’s liking for it has a pathetic side. Edith was not to pretend having intellectual interests, however vague, for long. In another context Gissing was to call himself later an unteachable man; Edith was soon to prove an unteachable woman. Still he made brave efforts to deal with do­ mestic difficulties in a civilized manner. This volume o f letters shows that the family left home a number o f times for fairly long periods. I f this meant extra expenses, at least strictly material problems in the home were thus relegated to the back o f George’s consciousness—o f his conscience as well. With a wife like Edith he could never forget household troubles. Ironically he was compelled to let himself be absorbed by those aspects o f daily life which he stigmatized as being the sole concern o f his mother. That he could

xxviii

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

work with relative mental ease away from home testifies to a capacity for detachment and artistic absorption o f which few people can boast, but the strain he bore doubtless told on his health insidiously. Much to his sorrow, his attempts to establish friendly intercourse be­ tween Edith and members of his family failed utterly. As early as June 1892, at which time Margaret’s visit served as a test, it was clear that no satisfac­ tory understanding between people o f such different backgrounds and turns o f mind could be contemplated. With characteristic lower-class prejudice, Edith came to hate all her husband’s relatives, and no special acumen is re­ quired to reconstruct the rising tensions which eventually led to Gissing’s decision to take Walter away to Wakefield in 1896. She would not go away from home—there is but scant record o f outings and o f visits to her own relatives—and her attitude by 1895 had become quite anti-social. Her life was punctuated with quarrels with the servants, a complete list o f whom in the Gissings’ successive homes from 1891 to 1897 would be edifyingly long. The servant question, which holds a significant place in the novels and short stories, was lived by Gissing with painful intensity. Walter was another butt o f Edith’s ill-feeling, so that his father was always uneasy when he had to leave home for a few days, even a few hours. To him, he complained to his friend Morley Roberts in March 1895, fell the task o f keeping house and bringing up his son. Greater freedom might come, he thought, when the boy was older, but no such circumstances materialized; chance played havoc with his most earnest hopes. With most correspondents he was uncommunicative about his home life. Doubtless all his relatives in Yorkshire and Worcestershire read between the lines o f his letters, but this dolorous situation was only one o f the many predicaments the whole Gissing family had to face. Algernon was chroni­ cally impecunious; he went on publishing three-volume novels with Hurst & Blackett, only because his repeated efforts to find other publishers such as Blackwood or Heinemann led him to dead ends. Unlike his brother, whose income was rising steadily, he could not make more than £50 from a novel. Hurst & Blackett would not take the risk o f publishing one-volume editions, fearing that the cost o f resetting might prove unjustified. George, who still turned to him in the early nineties when he needed legal informa­ tion, bravely read and commented upon his novels, noting some progress but deploring Algernon’s incapacity to build a plot that was not spoilt by artificiality. The letter o f January 9, 1895, written after Blackett had rejected Algernon’s new book, sums up the latter’s tragic situation with a candor which should have brought him to his senses; it lays bare his heavy respon­ sibility in having tried to capitalize on George’s reputation, not all readers paying much attention to first names. Yet, as will appear in later volumes, he

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

XXIX

somehow struggled out o f the lurch in which he had landed himself. George, his sisters, and Katie’s relatives helped as best they could, groaning audibly. Margaret, Ellen, and their mother fought on against the threat o f poverty in their parochial atmosphere, but they bore the strain with dignity. One wonders whether Algernon ever came to realize how much his own selfish­ ness and obstinacy in following a barren path weighed on all around him. Algernon was one o f the few persons who met his brother’s wife. If Edith was reluctant to leave home, George was not anxious to make any o f his ac­ quaintances witnesses to his strange domestic arrangements. He went so far as to say that his friends should be grateful to him for sparing them the sight of his private circumstances, and this is very much the impression we derive from his account o f Walter Grahame’s unexpected and embarrassing visit to St. Leonard’s Terrace in 1893. Grahame’s subsequent comment, in reply to an enquiry from Alfred Gissing in the 1930s, that he still had in mind the image o f his tutor as a man with a devoted wife, does not carry much weight. It only means that either Edith behaved decently on that oc­ casion or that Grahame, who can hardly have failed to have read The Private Life o f Henry Maitland, was determined to say nothing even vaguely critical. Contrastingly, Morley Roberts, one o f the few people who were able to ob­ serve Edith closely, passed a severe judgment on her in his fictionalized bi­ ography o f his old college friend, a book which unsurprisingly was to offend all the members o f the Gissing circle in 1912. What W. H. Hudson and his wife thought o f Edith, they kept to themselves. Hudson cared for birds as much as, if not more than, for humans, and the married life o f his friends was a matter which failed to draw remarks from him. Henry' Hick, a former school fellow, saw Edith once, heard Gissing’s complaints about his wife and mentally classified the case as a hopeless one. Bertz, who had known Gissing since 1879, did not even know o f the existence o f Edith un­ til 1898, when a separation had become inevitable. So Clara Collet, who makes a very' significant entry' in the present volume, certainly qualifies, to­ gether with Eliza Orme, as one o f the two persons who knew Edith best. They’ were remarkable women, level-headed, emancipated, humane, who were to help Gissing materially when the domestic crisis came to a head. Both o f them were social investigators, familiar with the mode o f life and mental handicaps o f lower-class women. Miss Collet’s kindness to both George and Edith, to whose home she was the only regular visitor in their Brixton and Epsom days, is amply documented in the correspondence. With moderate success she tried to extract them from the mind-crippling domestic rut; she was convinced at first that Gissing was partly responsible for his wife’s stay-at-home attitude, but she came to revise her views alto­ gether. In a very' important letter from her to Gabrielle Fleury' dated January'

XXX

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E G ISSING

6, 1935, which reviews the problems of the Gissing household with the wisdom o f hindsight, she stigmatizes the commonness o f Edith’s mind, “its littleness, its selfishness, the entire absence o f any affection for anyone and her mental laziness.” To us to-day it matters to realize that Clara Collet s late comment partook o f the nature o f a confession. It was only after the separation o f the Gissing couple, and as a result o f two calls upon Edith, that she formed such an opinion o f her. “In the 4 years I had known them [that is, 1 8 9 3 -1 8 9 7 ] I had hardly ever talked to G. alone after the first eve­ ning when I made his acquaintance. She had spent a day with me afterwards on the river 8c in the early spring o f 1894 they had gone with Walter to lodgings recommended by my sister 8c I went down to another part o f St. Leonards 8c had a longish walk with her. Listening to her alone always made me vaguely uncomfortable 8c not at all anxious to know her better. I wanted to make the best of her 8c never criticized her at all.” During the two years o f their acquaintance we are concerned with in this volume, Clara Collet was essentially a friendly observer, generous and tact­ ful, who succeeded in combining intellectual relations with George—they read each other’s writings, past and present, with keen appreciation, they discussed social and literary matters, and managed to build a cultural entente which largely ignored the difference o f sex—with a courteous, uncondescending, practical attitude towards Edith. Clara’s position must have been a very delicate one between a husband very much in need o f sympathy, whose esteem had first to be conquered then sustained, and a wife whose primitive instincts and mental make-up by no means predisposed her to ac­ cept the occasional presence in her home o f a distinguished stranger she could not even pretend to understand. The existence o f Walter, some eigh­ teen months old when she first visited the Gissings, obviously acted as a cata­ lyst. Miss Collet’s extraordinarily altruistic promise to bear all the costs of Walter’s upbringing should his father ever break down, coming as it did a few months after Bullen’s no less extraordinary manifestation of esteem for his work, certainly helped him to bear the burden o f Edith’s oppressive commonness. His touching honesty in his correspondence with the tactful Clara cannot have failed to appeal to a woman who had first felt attracted to his personality through his books. The weary straightforwardness with which he tried to explain to her why her kindness to them, to Edith in particular, could not be allowed free play is bound to have strengthened her considera­ tion for him. This woman, we can now say, came to understand him thor­ oughly. In retrospect she clearly saw that Edith “did grow steadily worse so long as the marriage lasted,” and she expressed her conviction that no man “could have guessed what lay under that apparently quiet, soft demeanour” o f Edith, which until 1897 she found it difficult to reconcile with Gis-

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

XXXI

sing s statements about and behavior to her. Candid though the two friends were, they left much unsaid o f each other’s thoughts. There were areas— witness the passage on Zola in the letter o f August 27, 1893—where they both feared to tread. Their relations remained circumscribed by thc pudeur which often remains an insuperable barrier between men and women, but they undoubtedly gave Gissing’s life in his Brixton days a balance which, from the spring o f 1895, was also ensured by two male friendships—those with Henry Hick and, more importantly, Edward Clodd. Basically Clodd’s resumption in 1895 o f his still-born relationship with Gissing—they had met through the agnostic clergyman Charles Anderson, who had praised Tljyrza—implied recognition o f his rising status in English letters. It is no accident that it happened almost simultaneously with the still imperfectly documented contacts with the Henry Normans and the Tra­ verses. When he invited Gissing to his Whitsuntide house party at Aldeburgh, Clodd still had in mind his fellow-writer’s reply on being asked for his address in 1887—“I have none.” Now, he possibly still had none in the sense that he would not have dreamt o f inviting Clodd to meet Edith and his three-year-old son at Eversley, Worple Road, Epsom, but the tide had turned abruptly in the last few months, his name was met everywhere in the press, publishers and editors were anxious to secure his collaboration, more money fell into his banking-account, ever more strangers wrote to him, so that his self-respect was being restored and he could feel that he had lived down that discreditable episode o f his youth from which had stemmed years o f poverty and frustration. Edward Clodd, a self-made man with a genius for friendship, a genial agnostic fighting the battle for enlightenment, a tactful, gifted all-rounder with an enviable scientific and literary culture, was just the sort o f friend that Gissing needed. Recently discovered letters o f 1902 and 1903 from him to Gissing will in due course make that defini­ tion o f him totally acceptable. The earliest letters printed here already show that Clodd was, like Clara Collet though in a different way, a powerful civ­ ilizing influence on a man whom domestic troubles and other carking cares ran the risk o f embittering. With Clodd, as with George Whale and other such kindred spirits, Gissing was to be always at his best, a man who, in the words o f William Robertson Nicoll, “entered with interest into all that was passing, and smiled and laughed with the rest.” Clodd’s friendship was to give him more courage, not only to go on writing in a way that was all his own on account o f its lucid pessimism born o f a frustrated romantic ego, but to go on fighting for dear life with so many odds against him. The role o f Bertz during the early nineties was for the most part a more muted one than in the previous three years. An inevitable ambiguity crept into Gissing’s relations with him when Gissing had chosen, after the emo-

XXX11

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

tionally troubled year 1890, to remain silent about his second marriage. Perhaps Bertz became aware through Morley Roberts o f his friend s mar­ ried state, but if he did, he kept the news to himself, and their correspon­ dence became for a long while the correspondence o f two isolated beings. If Gissing made slow but steady headway, Bertz, after Ottmann’s bankruptcy, went through an unproductive period during which he kept complaining about his bodily ailments, his oft-changing surroundings, his incapacity to make a living by his pen and to produce a successor to Gluck und Glos. One feels a note o f sorely tried forbearance in some o f the letters to Bertz o f 1893 and 1894: “Ah, if you could get into better health! O f course so much o f your nervous illness is due to solitude and the consequent unhealthy conditions o f life.” Gissing urged him to stick to the autobiographical pro­ ject which ultimately materialized in Das Sabinergut, after protracted hesita­ tion. “The scene will be original; your treatment o f the theme is bound to be highly interesting. Now do, do write this book!” And, much later, when Bertz was gratuitously speculating that the sales o f his next book would not equal those o f Gluck und Glas, his jeremiads brought Gissing to the verge o f impatience: “But, my dear fellow, you are ill.” However, Bertz eventually emerged from his morass o f uncertainty with the final version o f Das Sabi­ nergut, and this fresh departure was paralleled by his English friend’s rise to recognition with which the present volume concludes. One would perhaps have to go as far back as the days when James Payn accepted A Life’s Morn­ ing and Demos in quick succession to find Gissing in such good humor as he evinced in his letters o f early May 1895 or tho$e o f the following month to some privileged correspondents about his memorable weekend at Clodd’s seaside home. Having discovered that he had a balance in the bank o f £436, he described with a typical mixture o f optimism and black humor his new, never realized plan: “My purpose now is to press on till I have saved £1000, which I shall invest for the youth,” the knickerbockered Walter, whose rage just then was for watering the garden. “It would mean £25 a year, at least; enough to keep him from starvation.” This ephemeral joy was that o f a man (so continued his letter to his sister Ellen) who toiled—happily—at a novel called “The Spendthrift,” had an Autonym novel, Sleeping Fires, ready for publication in November, had just written a short story for the Minster, and waited for the appearance o f no less than another eight in the London M aga­ zine, Chapman’s Magazine o f Fiction and To-Day\ Nine months later the birth o f a second child and indeed other events not all o f them domestic were to sober him. Like the previous volumes, the present one offers a kaleidoscope o f opin­ ions and sentiments about personal and impersonal problems. For instance, the historians who have echoed his views on the golden Jubilee in the novel

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

xxxiii

concerned with that event will find a savagely phrased non-fictional gloss in his letter to Clara Collet o f August 24, 1894, where he observes that it “signified so much that is contemptible— snobbery, blatant ochlocracy, shams gigantic & innumerable—all thrown together into an exhibition o f human folly not often surpassed for effectiveness.” O f a piece with this are his remarks about vulgarity at the individual level as denounced in Lord Rosebery barely a year later. Living in Epsom on Derby day was a trying ex­ perience for Gissing, who at all times, much like his father, detested popu­ lar rejoicings. “Rosebery [whose country house, The Durdans, was within walking distance o f Worple Road] seems to me the disgrace o f his country. He must be very sparingly endowed with brains, & in moral perception to­ tally lacking. His example has done harm unutterable. . . . One pardons a silly fellow' like the Prince o f Wales, but the Premier o f England should kno\\r better.” Not unfairly Gissing associated Rosebery with the Epsom race crowds, as recorded in a Commonplace Book entry reporting a snatch of conversation overheard on the day o f the Diamond Jubilee: “He was Prime Minister, & won the Derby, & married the richest heiress o f the year.” The remover o f grievances he was to develop into in Henry Ryecroft can be traced to such remarks, in which transpires that puritanical strain noted by Clara Collet, which coexisted with genuinely liberal attitudes. He had not been living mam' years in London before his youthful idealization o f the working class had shaded into an acute consciousness, later lent to Osmond Waymark, that his zeal in fav or o f the people was based on a mistaken likening o f his cause to theirs. Gissing the idealist was frightened by the levelling down o f the noblest human values at a time when he could no longer even pretend to believe that some form o f levelling up was conceivable. The same idea crops up when he discusses with Bertz the notion o f an aristocracy of the mind and its desirable rule in a country spoilt by the pretense o f educa­ tion under the influence o f America. It is again subjacent in his attitudes to such men o f letters as Walter Besant and Jerome K. Jerome, two noted vec­ tors o f the popular culture he had satirized in New Grub Street, where he de­ nounced the birth o f a new breed o f periodicals for the quarter-educated. And the same basic stance is discernible in his first letter to Gosse, which ultimately developed into an appendix to Questions at Issue, focusing on the utter lack o f appreciation o f verse by the millions o f young men and women issued from the board schools. Class distinctions—he was convinced—were imperishable. So, after all, he observed cynically in his praise o f an unidenti­ fied article by Clara Collet on penny weeklies, let these prosper if the masses cannot digest more truthful pictures o f life than the sentimental tales o f the typical penny fiction. O f his views o f the middle classes his novels o f the period, from The Odd

XXXIV

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

Women to The Paying Guest, offer a far more complex picture than his cor­ respondence, which is hardly the natural place for such a discussion. Yet the famous letter to Roberts o f February 10, 1895, so often quoted and re­ printed, answers our curiosity with great clarity and vigor. It should serve as a warning to any commentator who is tempted to distort or oversimplify Gissing’s analysis o f a world that he could observe at close quarters as soon as he left his Brixton or Epsom home for a day’s visit to London. It is a powerful counterblast to James Ashcroft Noble’s attack on In the Tear o f Ju ­ bilee in the Spectator and a convincing invitation to do justice to his percep­ tive and balanced representation o f multifarious human types between the working class and the aristocracy, among whom he selected the class o f young men distinctive o f his time, “well educated, fairly bred, but without money” as his most significant contribution to the fictional representation o f English society in the last two decades o f the century. In this letter, which was intended to supply Roberts with arguments for a printed counterattack against Noble etgenus omne, Gissing remains the lineal descendant o f the young man who, in 1 8 7 9 -1 8 8 0 , attended left-wing political meetings with his uncle William Stannard and his cousin Willie. So does he when he re­ joices in the liberalizing o f literature, which he was shortly afterwards to celebrate ironically in his preface to the second edition o f The Unclassed. So does he again when he expresses his lifelong, inherited concern for the sta­ tus of women in English society. This volume is studded with signs o f it. Never, apparently, has his confession to William Blackwood, a stolid publisher coupled with a mild liberal, that “everything that concerns the education o f women—the one interest o f our time, the one thing needful,” strongly appealed to him, been noticed in print. He was convinced—con­ vinced in the flesh—that much o f the misery o f life, at least for the many young men o f his generation who had married beneath them intellectually, was due to the inadequate education given to women, and Eduard Bertz’s response to The Odd Women was for him a fresh opportunity to voice a deep-seated belief. “Among our English emancipated women [he wrote this some six weeks before meeting Clara Collet, who was to be in his eyes the archetype o f intelligent female emancipation] there is a majority o f admira­ ble persons; they have lost no single good quality o f their sex, & they have gained enormously on the intellectual (& even on the moral) side by the process o f enlightenment,—that is to say, o f brain development. I am driven frantic by the crass imbecility o f the typical woman.” The statement would be an adequate motto to a collected edition o f his work. It accounts for the contradictory assessments o f his view o f the woman question by modern feminists, from the rabidly radical to the placidly conservative. Probably a period o f “sexual anarchy” (the title chosen recently by Elaine Showalter for

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E FIVE

XXXV

a book on the question) would ensue, but Gissing was humorously optimis­ tic: “Nothing good will perish; we can trust the forces o f nature, which tend to conservatism.” To the end o f his life, one o f his greatest delights was the sight o f a beautiful woman, intelligent and cultivated—Gabrielle Fleury says as much in her unpublished recollections o f him, and she knew that he had imagined he had found in her an embodiment o f that ideal. Complementar­ ily she also knew, from the letters o f condolence she received from female strangers after his death, that women could respond touchingly to his work. Not a single letter o f protest from any woman angered by his many descrip­ tions o f weak-minded and sharp-tongued matrons is on record. But, as the above quotation from the letter to Bertz implies, he could in his correspon­ dence as well as in print give a vile woman the name she deserved. The selfrighteous letter to Bullen o f November 13, 1894, when In the Tear o f Jubilee was on the point o f publication, came from the pen o f a man who knew his subject, and knew he knew it. One last aspect o f the volume strikes the observer in the light o f future developments. From 1894 onwards, although only in his late thirties, Gis­ sing was markedly inclined to look back upon his past. Chance played no part in his visits to Halesworth, his father’s birthplace, to Wakefield, where he went to reminisce over his father’s grave and was welcomed by a number o f people who, albeit aware o f his youthful misconduct, would only admire what he was at present and what he bade fair to become. Nor was it acciden­ tally that some years after rereading his brother William’s letters, he visited his grave in 1895, spending a day in Manchester on his way to Wilmslow. The discover}' o f Suffolk, more particularly o f the scenes o f his father’s childhood when he was a pupil at Harvey’s Academy and the protege of Ellen Sophia Whittington, may well have urged him to accept Clodd’s invi­ tation to Aldeburgh the next year because it would enable him to immerse himself again in the atmosphere o f his forefathers’ country. The idea, re­ vealed posthumously, o f writing a book on Wakefield as it was in Thomas Waller Gissing’s lifetime—doubtless a tribute that would have been fraught with emotion—probably occurred to him during those visits o f the mid1890s. Concurrently a revival o f interest in the Graeco-Roman world, which had been one o f his major areas o f cultural exploration from his school days to the early 1880s, manifested itself. The old project o f writing a historical novel regained some currency, as appears from a nostalgic allusion to Italy in a letter o f December 1894, and his subsequent reading o f Montalembert’s Monks o f the West. Despite his extreme busyness, reflected for instance in his letter o f June 5, 1895 to Mrs. Hick, he looked forward to the time when, perhaps in a house o f his own, some Ryecroftean cottage, he would

xxxvi

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

be able—but the place must have historical associations, that was absolutely indispensable—to turn to a type o f literature altogether innocent o f the pressures o f the present. His aspirations were modest enough—to be free o f the debasing constraints o f a niggardly income, to enjoy a few o f life’s nice­ ties and occasionally to indulge his generous impulses. But that was a dream. For the moment he was caught in the whirlpool o f book and serial production, a whirlpool stirred up by the demise o f the three-decker and the atomization o f fiction; yet he must sooner or later write a substantial story that would be a worthy successor to The Odd Women and In the Tear o f Jubilee. His domestic life was a subject o f great anxiety, with an intractable wife to endure and partly to conceal, a difficult child to educate, and relatives to humor. His new friends were a precious asset—in their presence he could be his better self, a civilized, highly cul­ tured, joy-loving individual whose work was finding greater favor with the anonymous public and would still be valued tomorrow and after tomorrow. But this life o f mid-1895 was and, unless he was relieved o f the conjugal burden he had self-punishingly attached to himself, would remain a com­ partmentalized life. Often prone to self-criticism, he blamed himself for his weakness when he pondered his predicament; yet, though he was partly right in doing so, he was a man endowed with uncommon courage who managed to do good work under circumstances that would have stifled the powers o f many an equally gifted and wiser writer. Indeed there were mo­ ments when he was nothing short o f heroic. Would this be acknowledged if he ever came to be a member o f what George Eliot, in her Positivist poem, had called the Choir Invisible?

Paul F. Mattheisen

Pierre Coustillas

Arthur C. Toung

Emeritus, SUNY-Binghamton

University o f Lille

Emeritus, Russell Sage College

The Collected Letters of

G EO R G E GISSING

The Letters *

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale. Bertz. 1. St. Leonard's Terrace, Exeter. January' 15, 1892.

Dear Friend, I felt sure that you were too quick in discouraging yourself with regard to “Gluck u. Glas,” & now this second letter confirms me. It rejoices me that you have such valuable reviews.1 Geib’s treatment o f you was unkind 8c un­ just, 8c you ought not to have allowed it to weigh for a moment.2 The book is a good book, 8c will be followed by a better. Don’t waver; go on with your work; you can write novels which are by no means “pot-boilers,” 8c I see no reason why you should feel any distaste for what is a distinct branch o f art. I have heard from Ottmann.3 He asked me for my photograph, 8c I sent the small head 8c shoulders (which you have)—not the dark profile, which would not come out well in a woodcut.4 I don’t care much about this kind o f thing, 8c it was not worth while having a new portrait taken. The one I sent is supposed to be a fair likeness. He also sent me the number o f the Litterarisches Echo containing your re­ view o f the “Cis-Moll-Sonate.”5 O f course I read it with interest, but with the knowledge that it was written against the grain. Yes, he undoubtedly made a mistake as to the price o f your book. An enormous number would have to be sold to yield anything like a decent profit. For a full novel (newly pub?) English publishers find it impossible to go below 3/6, 8c even then the profits are small. They will be small even on my “Denzil Quarrier,” to be pub? at 6/-. You will be glad to hear that Watt has at last sold “Godwin Peak.” MessP A 8c C Black (very solid publishers who arc just beginning to extend their business) have bought the British rights for £150. Out o f this I have to pay Watt 10 per cent, so that my hope o f getting more through him is frustrated. The book will not be pub? till next October.6 Before then, I shall revise it. As soon as Thomas Hardy’s new book comes out on the Continent (“Tess o f the Durbervilles”) pray read it.7 I have not yet done so, but the re­ viewers are unanimous in a huge chorus o f eulogy. They call it a “great

4

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

book,” & from all I hear I believe it deserves the name. It is glaringly un­ conventional, & earns its applause in the very teeth o f a great deal o f puri­ tanic prejudice. Hardy is a nobly artistic nature. I am glad & proud that he has yet a future o f growth before him.—Do read the book. I shall be anxious to see “Victoria Schulze.” Either you or Ottmann will send it me. As for what you tell me about your autobiographic sketch, how can I be other than delighted to know that you have thus recorded our friendship.8 This association has stood the test o f a good many years now, & it will last until there are no more years to count. By the bye, I quite agree with the Deutsche Romanzeitung as to your humour.9 O f course you are partly unconscious o f possessing it; quite right that it should be so. It blends with your sadness, as all true humour has ever done. True humour cannot, however, be cultivated. Only hit upon sympa­ thetic situations, & your treatment o f them will never lack the humorous sub-note. At present I am only reading, but I must sit down to my desk again be­ fore long. I walk a good deal, & am in reasonably good health. Snow & frost here, but day after day a bright blue sky. Roberts’s volume o f short stories, just pub? by Lawrence & Bullen, con­ tains some good things.10 But it has a lot o f American tales for which you would not care at all. Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 'H e refers to the review described in note 9 below. ' 2O tto Geib ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 2 0 ) , a professor o f Roman and Civil Law and Baden-Wurttemberg Private Law at the University o f Tubingen, was a friend o f Bertz’s, but evidently wrote an un­ kind review. ^Victor Ottmann ( 1 8 6 9 - 1 9 4 4 ) , who published Bertz’s novel, had just founded a publishing firm in Leipzig and also a literary journal entitled Das litterarische Echo. H e became an author o f novels, travel books, biographies, etc., translated Andersen and Ibsen, and edited several books on art, literature, and the theatre. Gissing corresponded with him in 1 8 9 2 . These were the two photographs taken by G. and J. Hall, the Wakefield photographers, on August 2 2 , 1888. The one which Gissing sent for use in Ottmann’s catalogue is reproduced as a frontispiece to the edition o f his diary, and the profile can be seen on the dustjacket o f John Goode’s George Gissing: Ideology and Fiction (1 9 7 8 ).

Die Cis-moll-Sonate (Leipzig, 1 8 9 1 ) was a “novella” by Gerhard von Amyntor, the pseud­ onym of D agobert von Gerhardt ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 9 1 0 ) , a prolific novelist who also wrote two epic poems and a play. He was born in Liegnitz (German Silesia, now Poland) and seems to have at­ tained the rank o f M ajor in the German-French war o f 1 8 7 0 -1 8 7 1 . 6It was published in May as Bom in Exile. Hardy’s novel was published by Tauchnitz in two volumes in 1 8 9 2 . Since a notice o f it ap­ peared in the Allgemeine Bibliographie fu r Deutschland o f February 4 , it must have come out in January. For Gissing’s changing response to this work see letter o f January 2 2 .

J A N U A R Y 15, 1 8 9 2

5

8 • • “Victoria Schulze,” a story by Bertz, was printed in O ttm ann’s Das litterarische Echo along with an autobiographical sketch o f the author (diary, March 14). For a translation o f the pas­ sage pertaining to Gissing, see letter to Ellen o f March 14, n. 6. B ertz’s book was reviewed by Dr. J. W. Bruinter in the “ Neue Bucher” column in the

Deutsche Roman-Zeitung, 1 8 9 2 , no. 10, p. 7 1 6 (no specific date is given, but since it was a weekly journal published in Berlin with volumes running from O ctober to October, we con­ jecture that this issue appeared in the week starting on December 14, 18 9 1 ): ‘7c/; bitteden Leser,

stch den Namen des Verfassersgut anzuchen: cr weifi dann wie sich ein Dichter ersten Ranges schreibt. § Bertz tntt zum erstenmale mit seinem Roman an die Offentlichkeit. Walrrlich, wenn einer so anfdngt, mufi man ihm das Hochste zutrauen. Das Werk ist in jcder Bezieliung hervorragend. Bertz hat dasZeug zum deutschen Dickens, nach dem wir Wdchter von der Zinnen unsschon so lange vergeblich ausgeschaut haben. Seine grojie humoristische Art tntt freilich noch etiros zurtlck; vielleicht mochte auch in ihm sich die bedauerliche Scheu der deutschen Olympia•von dem fnschen butnor einnisten. Die Pflege dieses Humors mochte ich dem Verfasserim Interesse umerer Dichtungganz besonders arts Herz legen, wenn es auch ein bifichen aufKosten des Gedankenhaftengeschieht. Denn hier in dem Gedankenhaften, dessen magischen Einflufi attf einen feingebildeten, denkenden Kopf, der womoglich a u f einmal seiti ganzes Konnen bieten mochte, ich wohl entschuldbar finde, liegt die Gefahr fu r die Weiterentwicklung dieses alles verspnchenden Talentes. Bertz bringtschon vielleicht zu viel des Guten; fast uber jede Frage, die unsere Zeit stellt, leifit er in allerdings kiinstlerischer Weise seine Menschen sich ausspreclien. In spdteren Werken sind daher schablon i’sierende Wiederholungen zu befurchten, wenn Bertz nicht noch rechtzeitig einsieht, daft Weisheit nur in kleinen Dosengeboten wirkt. Der Schdpfer eines Felix wird dan wohlmeinenden Kritiker diese Ermahnungen nicht verargen. Dieser hat die Pjlicht der deutschen Dichtung ein solches Talent unbekiimmert zu erhalten.” [“I ask the reader to take a good look at the author’s name: he will then learn to recognize the name o f a first-rate poet. § W ith this novel, Bertz appears publicly for the first time. Truly, when a writer begins like this he can be expected to reach the highest achievement. The work is superb in ever)' re­ spect. Bertz has what it takes to be the German Dickens, whom we guardians o f the merlons have long been looking for in vain. O f course, his immensely humorous style is as yet some­ what restrained; perhaps the regrettable reserve o f the German Olympians as regards fresh hum or seeks to possess him. For the sake o f our poetry, I should like cordially to enjoin upon the author the cultivation o f this hum or, even if at the expense o f ideas. For here, in the thoughtfulness— the magic influence o f which on a well-educated mind (possibly wishing to evoke all his abilities at once) may well be pardonable— lies the danger for the further devel­ opm ent o f this all-promising talent. Perhaps Bertz has already produced too much of a good thing; even though done artistically, he lets his characters address almost every question that ou r age raises. That is why one fears that later works might contain cliche-like repetitions, if Bertz doesn’t understand early enough that wisdom is effective only if offered in small doses. The creator o f a Felix won’t be offended by these admonitions from a well-meaning critic who is obliged to support freely such a talent for German poetry” (our translation).]

10King Billy o f Ballarat, and other Stories, 1892.

*

T H E LE T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

6

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. January 18, 1 8 9 2 .

Hope you have received my letter already. Delighted to hear o f your cheerful mood. All goes well with me. Am revising “Godwin Peak,” o f which I shall change the name. To a new task very soon. Ever yours, G. G. *

To Algernon MS: N Y P L .

LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. January 2 2 , 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Alg., Bullen writes to ask that I will give him the chance o f publishing my next novel;1 this is pleasant, & o f course I shall offer him the book—when it gets written. But “Godwin Peak”—which will probably be called “Bom in Exile”— has to come out first, so I have a long time before me. He has sold the Con­ tinental rights in “Denzil Quarrier” to Heinemann & Balestier for 25 guas—an excellent bargain I think, & half this comes to me. We have had a most difficult time o f it during the last few weeks. Edith, when just able to walk, was seized with influenza. We had to send the child away, & I was lucky in finding some really trustworthy people out at a little village called Brampford Speke, four miles from Exeter. There he remains, thriving on milk warm from the cow, & I think we shall let him stay as long as he does thrive, for the payment is only 6/- a week.2 At last we are alone in the house—save for a young servant—& there is a modicum o f peace once more. Edith has just left the house, that’s all, & o f course has caught a vio­ lent toothache. Remarkable, as you often say, how fate pursues the people o f small income & valuable time. I hope you have made a good beginning with your new novel. The title is capital.3 Not long ago I read “The Wages o f Sin,” which has gone through so many editions.4 The book is simply wooden; not a living person in it, & the dialogue preposterous. Intellect the author has, but not a gleam o f dramatic power.

JANUARY 22, 1892

7

I have tried to read “The Gaverocks” by Baring Gould.5 A worthless pro­ duction; one is astonished that good type 8c paper can be wasted on such drivel. O f course you have observed the chorus o f eulogy excited by Thomas’s new novel.6 I believe it is in many respects a fine work, & as I like 8c respect Hardy I should wish to make the most o f it. But, something whispers to me that the praise it receives is exaggerated. The current Saturday reviews it with acrid disfavour, says “Mr. Hardy must look to his grammar,” 8c so on; insists upon the melodramatic nature o f characters 8c story.7 Thomas is a man o f fine intellect, but he has done weaker work than any strong novelist on record, 8c I have no doubt uTess” has a good deal o f that weak element. He cannot make educated people converse. — By the bye, in that matter Bar­ ing Gould is simply a raving lunatic. The German “Demos” comes out this month. Publisher is putting my portrait into his Catalogue. Let me hear soon. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'Lawrence & Bullen published The Odd Women in 1893. 2O n January 14, chiefly because o f Edith’s continuing illness, Gissing sent the boy to be cared for by a Mrs. Phillips, who lived on a farm at Brampford Speke. 3Since A Masquerader was published a little later, Gissing probably means Between Two Opin­

ions (1 8 9 3 ). 4By Lucas M alet (pseud, for Mrs. Mary St. Leger Harrison, 1 8 5 2 - 1 9 3 1 , the younger daughter o f Charles Kingsley). The British Museum Catalogue lists three editions in 1891. 5Sabine Baring-Gould ( 1 8 3 4 - 1 9 2 4 ) , novelist, writer, and clergyman, probably best known as the author o f “ Onward Christian Soldiers.” The Gaverocks was published in 1 8 8 7 . H e was from an old Devonshire family, but in the 1 8 6 0 s he had been a curate at Horbury, three miles from Wakefield, where he m et his wife, a lower-class girl, whom he married in 1 8 6 8 after hav­ ing had her “educated” at his own expense. The marriage was a local scandal and was opposed by the Baring-Gould family. A recently discovered letter from Sabine Baring-Gould to Thomas Waller Gissing, dated June 8 , 1 8 6 9 , and now in the hands o f Xavier Petremand, Gissing’s great-grandson, establishes that the two men corresponded on botanical matters and were on friendly terms.

6Tess o f the D ’Urbervilles appeared serially in The Graphic from July 4 to Decem ber 2 6 , 1891. It had been bowdlerized for that purpose, but was restored when published as a book during the week o f November 29. 7Saturday Review, January 16, 1 8 9 2 : “Let it at once be said that there is not one single touch o f nature either in John Durbeyfield nor in any other character in the book. All are stagey, and some are farcical.” The reviewer was entirely negative, finding both the characters and the story unpleasant, and finally noting that Hardy “would do well to look to his gram mar 7 3 -7 4 ).

*

(pp.

8

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

To Catherine Gissing MS: Yale.

Penzance.1 February 13, 1892.

Dear Katie, Many thanks for your letter. I was glad to know o f the arrangements Alg. had made, for he has not yet written to me.2 The day before yesterday I posted to him the Bookman, which I daresay he will be glad to read in those northern solitudes. We return to Exeter to-morrow. The week has not been a bad one for this time o f year, but as only two days were really bright, we have not done much in the way o f sight-seeing. Land’s End, which is ten miles away, & only to be reached by coach or carriage, must be put off for another holiday. However, we have walked in many directions. One interesting excursion was to S! Just, a bleak little town close to Cape Cornwall, with tin miles [mines] all about. The universal use o f granite for buildings, & the absence o f trees (on the uplands), gives the towns & villages a bare, cold look which is often very striking. Yesterday we were at S! Ives, a really delightful place, far better as a seaside resort than Penzance. Within easy reach o f the quaint old town are three or four wide bays with beaches o f yellow sand—grand for bathing. From a height not more than a mile away, one sees the Cornish coast for a good thirty miles. I think I never saw a more picturesque spot, in England. For children it would be simply perfect:—boats without end, sand, rocks, no promenade. • This morning—Edith being kept to the house by a bad tooth-ache—I have walked to S5 Michael’s M! & back. I had thought it higher, but it makes a fine picture. The house on the top is inhabited by some wealthy family—a breezy situation. I hear the copies o f “Denzil Quarrier” are waiting for me at Exeter. One shall be sent to Wakefield. “New Grub Street” is appearing (in German) in a daily newspaper pub? at Buda-Pesth. So I am read on the banks o f the Danube.3 Well, I must get home & to work. Another novel must be finished before the end o f the summer. That which I have hitherto called “Godwin Peak” is now named “Born in Exile,” & will be issued next October by A. & C. Black. We hear that little Gubbins is well & growing enormously. I have read absolutely nothing o f Barrie’s, but there can be no doubt that he is a man o f considerable powers. The man o f the day, however, is Rudyard Kipling. I believe he has done wonderful things, & is likely to do more. But I can’t get hold o f these new books; it is much if I now 8c then find

F E B R U A R Y 16, 1 8 9 2

9

something o f moderate interest in our Exeter library. Very absurd, o f course, for one whose business is literature, but—cash, cash! With kindest remembrances to you 8c all about you (I wish I could see Enid, 8c so does Edith), Ever yours, George Gissing4 'A ccording to the diary, Gissing finished “ rcvisal o f vol. II” o f Bom in Exile on January 27, and on the thirty-first "thought of taking a holiday at Penzance when the book is out o f hand.” He finished it on February 5, and left for Penzance on Monday, February 8 , returning to E xe­ ter on February 15. 2See letter to Algernon o f February 18. 3See next letter, n. 1. 4 • • In another hand: “ Note. 'D ear Katie,’ to whom this letter was written, was the wife o f Al­ gernon Gissing, a brother o f George Gissing.”

*

To Algernon ms NYPL. LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. February 16, 1892.

My dear Alg., We are back from our week’s holiday at Penzance. It is wonderfully warm down there; a fire was needless. Two glorious days we had; the rest were heavily clouded—ordinary Cornish weather. We didn’t get to Land’s End (ten miles by coach or carriage) but had a day at Just, 8c another at Sc Ives. The latter is a delightful place; the most picturesque Seaside spot I have seen in England. I should like to stay there for several weeks in summer weather. I don’t know whether to send you a copy o f “Denzil Quarrier.” It isn’t worth much, but you can have one if you like. You red1 the Bookman? I gave a good month’s work to the MS. o f “Godwin Peak,” 8c greatly bet­ tered it. The name is to be “Born in Exile.” Adam 8c Charles like this title. By the bye, on Smith’s shelves at Penzance I saw “A Moorland Idyl.” I always see your books at the library library [sic\ I have just had a letter from a woman in Vienna who tells me that she has translated “New Grub Street,” 8c that it is appearing in a great daily news­ paper at Buda-Pesth. So I am read on the banks o f the Danube! She wants the right o f translating my next books. For “N.G.S.” she has paid absolute cash to S. 8c E .1

TH E L E TTE R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

10

Did I tell you that “Denzil Quarrier” is pubd on the Continent by Heinemann 8c Balestier [?] They give 25 guineas. H alf all these foreign profits come to me. But of course I have to pay off the £105. Your silence seems to prove that you are working hard. You have not, I hope, written to Penzance? If so, let me have a postcard, & I will send for the letter. . . . Exeter feels very cold after Cornwall. Indeed, I discover that it is about the coldest 8c windiest spot in Devon. Living is cheap down there. At Ives we had a dinner: two cold joints, vegetables, apple tart with % lb. o f Cornish cream, cheese, 8c all for 1/2 each. I think I have never got below that. I suppose you have finished the proofs. Probably you think too ill of the book; I shall be curious to see it. At the time o f writing (a good test) you didn’t think it bad. Let me hear soon. —Infant still at Brampford Speke, 8c just going through vaccination. Every affectionately, G. G. ’Smith & Elder’s ledgers are silent about this payment. Adele Berger ( 1 8 6 6 - 1 9 0 0 ) trans­ lated several novels and dramas from English, French, Italian, Russian, and Dutch. H er trans­ lation o f New Grub Street appeared serially, under the title Ein Mann des Tages, from December 2 9 to April 30, in the Pester Lloyd, a Budapest daily paper, but never as a separate volume. 2Unlike Smith & Elder, Lawrence & Bullen treated Gissing quite generously, giving him his share o f the 25 guineas without waiting for repayment o f the advance o f £ 1 0 5 to be earned by royalties.

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. February 16, 1 8 9 2 .

Dear Friend, I have to-day sent you a copy o f “Denzil Quarrier.” If you don’t care much for it, just make a cross at the head o f your next letter, 8c never mind further comment. The past week I have spent down in Cornwall, chiefly at Penzance. A fine district, 8c a delightfully warm climate, though very humid. I walked a good deal, 8c have benefited by the holiday. Now for very serious work again. Whilst at Penzance, I received a letter from a certain Adele Berger,1 of

F E B R U A R Y 16, 1 8 9 2

11

Vienna, asking permission to translate my next novel. She has already trans­ lated “New Grub Street,” (having bought the right from Smith 8c Elder) 8c it is actually being published in the Pester Lloyd. I am read by those “qui profundum Danubium bibunt”!2 Eja! In reply, I referred her to Lawrence & Bullen, apropos o f “D. Q.” More­ over, I begged her to send me just one copy o f the Pester Lloyd; for I am highly curious to see how my novel looks,—above all, to see how she has translated the title. Before going from home, I gave a month’s hard work to the revision of “Godwin Peak,” 8c, I am sure, greatly improved the book.3 It now repre­ sents an important feature o f my life; I shall be eager for its publication. The title decided upon is: “Born in Exile”—the significance whereof I dare say you will guess.4 A. 8c C. Black, who are to publish it next October, say they are well pleased with the name. The book I now have in mind is to deal with the great question of “throwing pearls before swine.” It will present those people who, congeni­ tally incapable o f true education, have yet been taught to consider them­ selves too good for manual, or any humble, work. As yet I have chiefly dealt with types expressing the struggle o f natures endowed above their stations; now I turn to those who are below it. The story will be a study o f vulgarism— the all but triumphant force o f our time. Women will be the chief characters.5 What progress with your own work? I do hope you are still as cheerful as when you last wrote. Do not allow small reverses to depress you. Try to work steadily on. I think I told you o f my correspondence with Ottmann. Probably he will be sending me a copy o f the German “Demos.” Lawrence 8c Bullen have done very well with the business arrangements concerning “D. Q.” It is to be pub? by Macmillan in New York at 1 dollar; in Australia; 8c by Heinemann 8c Balestier on the Continent. The latter have given 25 guineas. O f all foreign profits (after the £105 is repaid) I am to re­ ceive half. They have written to ask that I will give them a chance of publish­ ing my next book, 8c this I shall o f course do, for they have behaved generously. Already their name is well known; I am astonished at the number o f books—mostly expensive—which they have already published. Who in heaven’s name buys all the books that come forth? This is an end­ less mystery'. Day by day new publishing firms appear, 8c the weekly issue of books is appalling. There must be thousands o f people who are accumulat­ ing huge libraries,—yet I don’t know one o f them. You will see from the Athenaeum that Mrs Ward’s new book promises to repeat the success o f “Robert Elsmere.”6 I have not read it, indeed I have no means o f seeing the newest books. Her method is precisely what mine was

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

12

when I wrote “Workers in the Dawn.” O f course she has a mature mind, & wide knowledge; but artistically I believe she is at the very point I had reached, after study o f George Eliot, some ten years ago. Her books are enormously long, & she developes with great labour the intellectual ad­ vance o f every character. I have been much rejoiced by that news from Vienna. You, also, will be glad, I know. We are progressing towards spring. May you work well, & be physically at ease! Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing Very interesting, this attempt o f the Emperor’s to revive religious edu­ cation.7 Afternoon. Your letter has just arrived. I am delighted to hear o f the new edition of “Gluck und Glas,” & o f the invitation from the Verein.8 Yes, you are going ahead, & will continue to do so. Let me hear more o f your novel as it progresses. I have laughed over those ludicrous mis-translations.9 It is a pity, but pray do not trouble yourself for a moment. Someday, if it seems necessary, the worst errors can perhaps be corrected. But remember that no one will give such thought to the matter as you do. As you say, the readers about whom I need care will read me in English. Yes, Stead is an ass.10 I forbade my bookseller to send me the second part o f the “Ghost Stories.” But one gets a great deal o f information out of the Review o f Reviews; I often find it profitable. Shall wait eagerly for the Echo. G. G. *Scc previous letter and n. 1. 2Horace, Odes IV, xv, 2 1 . The M S o f Bom in Exile is in the Huntington Library. He refers, o f course, to himself. Gissing had returned from a week at Penzance on February 15, and in the next day’s diary entry wrote “Thinking over new book.” A novel in which women would be the chief characters suggests The Odd Women, but Gissing did not begin that novel until August 15, when he wrote in his diary' “Once more to begin a new story'.” 6Mrs. Humphry W ard ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 9 2 0 ) , The History o f David Grieve, 1 8 9 2 . It went through at least six editions in that year alone. As reported in the London Times, the first clause o f Em peror William’s Elementary Educa­ tion Bill read as follows: “The work o f the elementary schools is to conduct the religious, moral, and patriotic training o f the young, as well as to instruct them in the general knowledge and proficiency required in'civil life” (February 9 , p. 5). He seems to refer to the Verein der Biicherfreunde o f Berlin, which appears to have been a

F E B R U A R Y 18, 1 8 9 2

13

Society or Association, but was also a publishing company, founded in 1 8 9 1 , publishing seven o r eight works a year. The title page o f Bertz’s Das Sabinergut reads at the bottom : “ Berlin / Verein der Biicherfreunde / Schall & Grund.” The “invitation” from the Verein may have been an invitation to publish his next novel under that imprint. In writing to Whitman on July 2 0 / 2 2 , 1 8 8 9 , however, Bertz mentioned having received Karl Knortz’s Walt Whitman. Vor-

traggehalten irn Deutschen Gesellig-Wissenschaftlichen Verein von New York, and this may be the Verein he means here, although we cannot trace a connection. Diary, February 16: “Letter from Bertz, saying that the German transl. o f ‘Demos’ is ludi­ crously bad.” 10William Thom as Stead ( 1 8 4 9 - 1 9 1 2 ) was editor o f the Pall Mall Gazette ( 1 8 8 3 - 1 8 8 9 ) and founder in 1 8 9 0 o f the Review o f Reviews, in which Real Ghost Stories and More Ghost Stories were issued as extra numbers.

*

To Algernon m s -.

Yale. GOF. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. February 18, 1892.

My dear Alg., I wish it were possible for you to overcome this depression, or mental ob­ struction, or whatever it may be that so harasses you. Doubtless it comes of solitude, & one cannot see how to remove that miser)'. It seems a preposter­ ous thing that you 8c I should be at opposite ends o f England, when our proximity would be of so much use to both.1 Really, I think this must be gravely thought of, before long. I know not what proposal to make, but surely something will suggest itself before very long. I am getting to work at a new book,2 8c, as usual, want to know a lot of things that I cannot easily find out. One, for instance: Is the salary of a Clerk to the Poor Law Guardians in a country Union (1 8 7 0 -1 8 8 4 ) suffi­ cient for a man to live upon? Would he hold that office as the sole occupa­ tion o f his time? Might he also be Registrar o f Births 8cc, 8c what would that salary be? I find that Assistant Overseer is a paid officer, but cannot learn what he gets, or how his duties differ from those o f Clerk to Guardians. No need to go into details. I merely need the facts o f position 8c income. Letters certainly go very quickly from here to Northumberland; I had thought it a matter o f at least a day 8c a half. I had a letter from Katie the other day. She seemed well 8c reasonably cheerful. It is clear to me that what people like in your books is the rustic air, 8c the

14

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

free delineation o f simple characters. There is a vast (& not unintelligent public) which is only annoyed by psychological subtleties. These people like a broad picture o f country life,—the more local colour the better. Think o f Black, 8c how little he troubles himself about plot or incident.3 Bear in mind the vast country population o f England; it seems undeniable that they had rather read about things familiar to them than o f townish grandeurs or miseries. You have no cause whatever to be discouraged by the reception of the last book—the opposite. Take heart o f grace, 8c get, if only, a couple o f pages done daily. Don’t trouble much about style: the result will be favour­ able to style. Write straight on; then you can afford a few weeks to revise the book, 8c even rewrite a few chapters if necessary. Complication o f story will not serve you, be sure. Try to work up to some moving human situation— that’s the essential. This morning I have rec? a letter from a madman (M.A. Cantab., he says,) who assures me that “in a very few days” I shall have proof o f the miracle o f drying up the Red Sea!4 Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. Algernon had gone to W ooler, in Northumberland, on January 2 5 . Several entries in Lucy Bruce’s diary' shed light on the family illnesses at this time and on the poverty and instability o f Algernon. Katie, Enid, and Algernon had arrived at Westfield Grove, the new Gissing home, on December 19, when “ Both Kity [M rs. Bruce’s name for Katie] and Alg look[ed] fearfully ill.” The next day we read that Gissing’s m other was in bed, but the Bruces spent Christmas Day there, bringing many gifts, chiefly the food for Christmas. On January 1 “Kity and Enid came early. First visit o f K. after haemorrhage.” Katie visited the Bruces a good many times be­ tween January 1 and January 18, and then on January 2 0 “Alg came in evening, had supper and

after seemed bright and like his old self, before rather silent and distrait, says he cannot work in Wakefield, ideas not bright at all.” Algernon then left on the 2 5 th , and on the 28th we read: “Kitzie O'c] came and sat awhile evidently wanting to be with her husband at W ooler.” On Feb­ ruary 12: “M et Mrs. Gissing in our walk, she looking old and depressed.” February 20: “Nell Gissing came and said they could no longer do with them [Katie and Enid] at Westfield Park [the name o f the district], and on February 2 5 : “Said goodbye last night to Kity and Alg. They go home to Willersey to-morrow.” Another o f his false starts, abandoned on the 22nd. W illiam Black ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 8 9 8 ) was a popular Scottish novelist whose dialectical technique Gissing urged his brother to study. See letter o f July 2 , 1 8 9 2 . The man was Ernest E. Fisher, o f Fulham, mentioned twice in the diary, but he cannot be identified.

M A R C H 6, 1 8 9 2

15

To Algernon MS: N Y PL.

LGG. 1. St. Leonard's Terrace, Exeter. M arch 6 , 1892.

My dear Alg., Heaven be thanked that you are in better spirits. As you say, the best of the year is before us, & may bring some solace. Get as comfortable as may be; the imaginative worker cannot do much without aid o f material com­ fort. As for the clerical acquaintances, I should cling to them. There is no need whatever to cry one’s opinions from the house tops:— 8c, after all, these opinions are not aggressive. If the two men are gentlemen—probably the case—there is no reason whatever why you should not meet them on a common ground o f humanism. I shall send a copy o f “D.Q.” Roberts tells me he has seen good reviews. At our reading room, I have come across notices in the World 8c the Saturday—both full oflaudation.1 On the other hand, I happened at the sta­ tion yesterday to take up the New Review, 8c, in the literary article, came across two lines o f comment which informed me that “D.Q.” was highly of­ fensive, 8c that “its crude violence o f colouring sets the teeth on edge.”2 Now to this man I should reply in Sam’s words: “You lie, 8c you know you lie.” Whatever my fault, it is not crudeness o f colouring—as I think you will agree; least o f all in this particular book, where the tone is kept studiously sober. I have rec? specimens of the German transl!1o f “New Grub Street”—most conscientiously done. It really delights me to think that I am read day after day in Buda-Pesth. The title, however, is inadequate: “Ein Mann des Tages.” The woman tells me she will find a better one when the novel comes out as a book.3 It seems that Adam 8c Charles are going to bring out “Born in Exile” this spring.4 At all events, the proofs are coming rapidly, 8c in the Athencmm the book has been ment? among A 8c C ’s spring publications.5 I hope it will be so, for this will clear the way. Lawrence 8c Bullen seem to thrive. They have just moved into “more ex­ tensive premises” in Henrietta St, Covent Garden. The list o f their publica­ tions is already very long. But they don’t advertise much. Shall I—or not—send the Bookman? It contains a doubtful notice of “D.Q.”—though a prominent one.6 The infant flourishes astonishingly. Has got over his vaccination, 8c al­ ready clutches at objects, wants to crawl, See. If only he had not that great mole on the forehead!7 Edith goes to spend a few days at Brampford Speke

16

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

with him next week. For once, we have come across really admirable people in these farmers—the true yeoman breed. I should much like to see Enid. What arrangements about her education? I suppose Katie will take it in hand for a year or two. It is stated that Mrs. Ward has red1 in all, for “David Grieve,” some £18,000! Incredible! Five hundred a year for life! And in ten years no mor­ tal wall care to read the book. I suppose “A Masquerader” will soon be out. Ten to one it will meet with more favour than you anticipate. Our love to all. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. A domestic hint. We have taken to burning coke, & find it very advantageous mixed 3:2 with coal. 1World, February 2 4 , p. 2 4 : aM r. George Gissing has been doing excellent work again. Den­ zil Quarrier (Lawrence and Bullen) is better than TheNether World o r New Grub Street—better, because more compressed and com pact, less harrowing, more artistic. The one volume in which the story is told will be read through at a sitting, and give food for reflection for many hours. It is not light and diverting; neither is life, o f which it is a transcript. But it is very pow ­ erful, very cruel, very true.” Saturday Review, M arch 5, 1 8 9 2 , pp. 2 7 5 - 7 6 . The reviewer said that the story “is almost excellent,” that it was “charmingly written, in a clear, simple style.” H. D. Traill, “ Literature,” New Review. He said that Du M aurier’s “least pleasant bits o f sat­ ire are less offensive than the least unpleasant o f M r. George Gissing’s pictures o f ‘the way we live now.’ Those exhibited in his Denzil Quarrier . . . resemble those o f his New Grub Street, that is to say, while not without a certain force o f handling, they are vulgarly exaggerated in ‘line,’ and in colour o f a crude violence to set the teeth on edge” (pp. 3 7 1 - 7 8 ) . It was not published in book form. This translation, however, revised by Helga Herborth and Wulfhard Heinrichs, was published under the title Zeilengeld by Franz Greno (Nordlingen, 1986). It was published in April.

Athenaeum, February 2 7 , p. 2 7 8 , The book is listed in “The Spring Publishing Season” col­ umn, in a paragraph given to Messrs A. and C. Black’s new and forthcoming books.

Bookman, M arch 1 8 9 2 . The reviewer admitted that the book is so good at the beginning that we want to speculate on the course o f the story from the clues, but while we look for re­ sults from a study o f character, the catastrophe comes about by external and incredible villainy. In the characters themselves, he said, there is room tor a tragedy o f character, but Gissing gives us one o f circumstances, with a somewhat comm onplace moral. “ Lilian is simply a victim to Denzil Quarrier’s rashness and self-will, carried to a pitch hardly consonant with sanity.” “Still, M r. Gissing has a right to tell his story in his own way, and it may be our fault and not his that that way is not what we anticipated from the beginning.” “It is an interesting story, and the electioneering scenes and characters are cleverly drawn” (p. 2 1 5 ). Diary, December 10: “The baby has a very ugly dark patch over right eye. D on’t know the meaning o f it.” Gissing’s sisters, however, arranged to have the mole removed in M arch 1 8 9 9 .

*

M A R C H 8, 1 8 9 2

17

To The Editor of Blackwood’s Magazine1 MS: NLS.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. March 7 , 1892.

Sir, At the end o f last November I ventured to send you a short story entitled UA Victim o f Circumstances.” Would you kindly let me know whether you have yet been able to consider it? I begin to fear that it may have been re­ turned, & somehow have failed to reach me. Yours faithfully, George Gissing The Editor o f Blackwood’s Magazine.2 'W illiam Blackwood III ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 1 2 ) , grandson o f the founder, was editor from 1 8 7 9 ­ 1900. 'U p p er left corner, in another hand “Ackd M ar 8 / 9 2 . AAV.”

*

From Blackwood & Sons MS: N L S .'

4 5 George Street, Edinburgh. M arch 8 , 1892.

Dear Sir, In Mf Blackwood’s absence abroad we beg to acknowledge your letter, and to say that before leaving Mf Blackwood read your story “A Victim of Circumstances,” and had pleasure in laying it aside for use in the Magazine. Had M r Blackwood been at home you should doubtless have heard from him ere this, and as we shall now send on your letter to him, it is probable an early opening may be found for the story, when we shall send you proof for correction.2 We are yours very' truly, (sigd) W.mBlackwood & Sons, per [illegible initials]3 George Gissing Esq. 'Taken from a transcript. 2Published in Blackwood’s Magazine in January', 1893. 3This was noted by the librarian who copied this letter, but the initials are very likely A. W ., as seen in note 2 to the previous letter.

18

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

*

To Ellen MS: Lilly.

LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. M arch 14, 1892.

My dear Nellie, Do, if possible, find me the date o f that number o f The Queen o f which you speak.1 1 have heard nothing o f this lecture, but it is very important in­ deed, & I must find out about it. The Ethical Society is known to me; the lecturers are people o f very good standing.2 —Things go forward, you see! No, I did not expect you to like “D. Q.” Yet it is very favourably reviewed. The Times o f Saturday had a good notice. The Saturday Review, amid much laudation, remarked “perhaps this author succeeds better with a bolder subject”3—that, to you, will sound strange. The book is, in fact, a strong dcfence o f conventionality, & most people seem to understand that. But alas! you will not like my future work—least o f all “Born in Exile,” the proofs o f which I am now correcting. It is very unfortunate, but o f course I must work in the direction which I feel to be, for me, the true one. Doubtless you understand that. The new spirit in fic­ tion is pretty sure to repel you; yet never cease to reflect that there are a great many people o f substantially your own way o f thinking who welcome the new movement as a vast improvement upon the old worn-out processes. —I shall be very curious to see what “The Guardian” says about “D. Q.”4 It is always very complimentary to me. Edith has just spent four days out at Brampford Speke with little Gubsey.5 He has got over his vaccination (it had to be repeated) & seems very strong. In about a month’s time he will probably come home. He is in short clothes, & kicks so strongly that it is difficult to hold him for long. I wish you could see him, but when can that come to pass? You must have had a very hard time o f it in consequence o f the servant’s illness; I hope things will now get into order again. We manage here very well with a young girl, who has got into our ways; may she remain! I am just beginning a new book. Must finish it before the end o f the summer. By the bye, a little story o f mine, which I think you will like, has just been accepted by Blackwood’s Magazine. It is called “A Victim o f Circumstances.” The scene is laid at Glastonbury. I suppose it will bring me about seven or eight guineas. It is considered a difficult thing to get admission to Blackwood. Very fine sunny weather with us just now, but continuous frost.

M A R C H 14, 1 8 9 2

19

Bertz’s novel continues to succeed. A little biography o f him has just been printed, 8c in it stands the following: “Schon im Beginn seines Lebens in London hatte er das Gluck, den englischen Romanschriftsteller George Gissing kennen zu lernen, mit vvelchem ihn seitdem die herzlichste Freundschaft verbindet.”6 I begin to have hope o f escaping the workhouse. Little Gubsey may per­ chance be brought up as something better than a cabdriver. Do you suffer for want o f coals?7 I fear we shall live through great trou­ bles yet, owing to the social revolution that is in progress. You will have un­ derstood, in part, my attitude to this revolution. We cannot resist it, but I throw in what weight I may have on the side o f those who believe in an aris­ tocracy o f b ra in s as against the brute domination o f the quarter-educated mob. Much love to Mother 8c Madge. Ever yours affectionately, G. G. At last writing, Alg. was once more cheerful 8c hopeful. 'in the diary for this date Gissing describes this as “a long report in The Queen o f a lecture delivd by a lady to the London Ethical Society on ‘The Novels o f George Gissing.’ ” He re­ ceived a copy on the 19th , and identified the lecturer as Clara E. Collet, noting that the report appeared in the issue o f M arch 5 (p. 3 9 5 ). Collet, who spoke at Essex Hall on Sunday, Febru­ ary 2 8 , was concerned to prove that while Gissing’s ten novels were sometimes gloomy and depressing, they were not morbid, since Gissing had a healthy mind. She noted that his works get progressively less theoretical and more realistic, but that he understands little o f the women o f “the Grubstreet o f real life,” who would have “overcome their difficulties probably.” She said that it was easier to paint sorrow than joy, but that Gissing “gives the antidote to his own pessimism.” Miss Collet had published an article with a similar title, “George Gissing’s Novels” in the Charity Organization Review, O ctober 1 8 9 1 , pp. 3 7 5 - 8 0 , with the subtitle A First Impression.” ^ h e Society for Ethical Culture was first founded in New York City by Dr. Felix Adler in 1 8 7 6 “to assert the supreme importance o f the ethical factor in all relations o f life, personal, social, national, and international, apart from any theological or metaphysical considerations. As part o f the ethical culture movement societies were soon established in other American cit­ ies, and in 1 8 8 7 Stanton C oit founded the South Place Ethical Society in London. ^London Times, M arch 12, p. 5. The writer dubbed it an “electioneering” novel satirizing the “working o f representative institutions in the borough o f Polterham, and said it was a story o f more than usual psychological interest.” For the Saturday Review see letter o f March 6 , n. 1. Gissing quotes from the final sentence o f it: “A bolder theme may possibly suit this author better, and good honest work may be always expected o f him.” 4London Guardian, M arch 2 3 , 1 8 9 2 . Calling the novel “excellent reading,” the reviewer crit­ icized only the “theme” as “unpleasant”: “All the politicians, male and female, o f Polterham are eminently lively and life-like. The only fault we should venture to find with this part o f the novel is that the stage is rather to o crowded for its size, though we confess that we would not willingly lose any o f the performers” (p. 4 3 9 ). As to Gissing’s claim that the Guardian reviews were always complimentary to him, the reader can consult six o f the reviews reprinted in GCH,

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

20

where it will be seen that they are usually quite favorable, despite some objections to the narra­ tive technique and the philosophical tendency o f Isabel Clarendon, to the pessimism o f A Life’s

Morning and to the so-called colorlessness o f Sidney and Jane and the crudeness o f the Bank Holiday scenes in The Nether World. The review o f The Emancipated was quite negative, citing . . an absence o f definiteness and vigour about the characters. W ith the exception o f Reuben Elgar, no one makes any vivid impression on the mind.” The reviewer complained that none o f the characters is attractive: “ It is a hard unlovely view o f life throughout. The book is o f course well written and well put together, and all the Italian part is good, the descriptions vivid, yet not too obtrusive.” The review o f New Grub Street was chiefly positive, since the re­ viewer thought it Gissing’s best work, but characteristically the writer complained o f the somber vision o f life in it. 5Edith visited him from M arch 8 to 12. “Right at the beginning o f his life in London, he had the good fortune o f getting to know the English novelist George Gissing, with whom he has since maintained a hearty friendship.” See letter to Bertz o f M arch 17 and n. 1. On February' 10 the Coal Porters’ Union struck, causing the price o f coal to rise rapidly. On March 2 , anticipating a full strike, the dealers raised the price another 10s per ton. On M arch 12 between 3 0 0 ,0 0 0 and 4 0 0 ,0 0 0 miners struck.

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

[Exeter.] M arch 15, [1 8 9 2 ],

“A Masquerader” was yesterday announced as “just ready.” Hope to have copy before long. Great disgust at Wakf.d over “D. Q.” Am sending Bookman. G. G. *

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. M arch 17, 1892.

Dear Friend, I have to thank you for a very long letter, for Zapp’s play, & for the Echo. 1 It is high time I acknowledged these things. First, o f your “Victoria Schulze.” I think it a capital little combination o f pathos 8c humour. Probably it will confirm those critics who have com­ pared you with Dickens. O f course I understand well enough how impossi­

M A R C H 17, 1 8 9 2

21

ble it is to make such a comparison. Intellectually, you are a century ahead o f Dickens. Indeed, such phrases are profitless, 8c never agreeable to a writ­ er; they only mean that the critic is rather shallow 8c decidedly lazy, though he may mean well. Still, I repeat that this little story is a delicately humorous bit o f work; in places it all but brought tears to my eyes, 8c at the end it left me with a feeling o f contentment. You will doubtless write more short stories. How interesting your biography is! Strangers must think that your life has been strangely varied. Reading it thus, I felt that familiarity had half spoiled for me the decided picturesqueness o f your experiences. Ah, but it is only a skeleton! —Do you know' what I hope? That you will some day write a full autobiography—or at all events autobiographic chapters. It would be profoundly interesting, 8c need not include anything too painful to your­ self. —Remember how many distinguished writers have only begun their serious production at the age which you have now reached.2 It is to be hoped that you have a long spell o f work before you, 8c that the autobiog­ raphy will some day be a natural thing. Many thanks for the very kind reference to me. I read it with great pleasure. The review' o f “Gluck u. Glas” is sympathetic. But surely Felix ought not to be called “dilettierender Geistesproletarier”—an unhappy phrase. I no­ tice that Spillmann calls attention to the passage which I myself spoke of: “Nur die Bildung hat Wert” 8cc.3 Do allow' yourself to be encouraged 8c enspirited by this appreciation. Indeed, I think you are feeling much better than o f old. Go on with “Menschenangesicht.” The subject is naturally suggested by your practical knowl­ edge o f actors. As for the title, I am unable to judge, but—is it specific enough? Adele Berger has sent me three cuttings from the Pester Lloyd. Unfortun­ ately, she has had to call the story “Ein Mann des Tages,” but hopes to find a better title when it appears in book form. The translation seems to me very good; certainly it is very' conscientious. Take the following passage, which seems to me a satisfactory test: “Der Nebel wurde dichter; sie sah zu den Fenstern auf und bemerkte, dasz sie triib gelblich waren. Dann entdeckte ihr Auge einen iiber die Galerie schreitenden Beamten und in ihrer grotesken Stimmung, ihrer hohnischen Verzweiflung kam er ihr wie eine verlorene Seele vor, die verdammt ist, ewig suchend durch endlose Regale zu wandern. Und die Leser, die an den Radiuslinien dieser Pulte saszen, was waren sie, als ungliickliche Fliegen, in einem ungeheueren Netz gefangen, dessen Kern der grosze Zirkel des Katalogs war? Es ward dunkler und dunkler; den hohen Buchermauern

22

T H E LE T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

schienen sichtbare Staubchen zu entsteigen, die die Dunkelheit noch verstarkten”—u.s.w. (Vol. I. p. 195.)4 Now, shall I tell you how the French translator o f “Demos”5 would have rendered this passage? Thus: “II faisait de plus en plus sombre. On n’y voyait guere. Marianne soufFrait d’un profond abattement.” Absolutely! — I have compared that chapter o f “Demos” o f which you speak, & it is disgraceful. No translation at all; simply a rough sketch o f the contents o f the chapter, such as I might have scribbled out before sitting down to compose. (By the bye, when you write again, will you kindly let me know the proper way to address a letter to this Adele Berger? I mean, the form o f name. Should it be Frau Adele Berger—or how?) Well, well! We must remember that such a translation as your “Phobe” is the rarest o f things—a rendering by one who is himself an artist in fiction. I am now correcting the proofs o f “Born in Exile.” I should not wonder if they publish this spring, after all. —My brother’s new book is just out.6 Now for “Denzil Quarrier.” I am glad indeed that you had nothing worse to say o f it. Strangely, it has been very well reviewed; the Times gave a prom­ inent notice the other day. People seem to think it psychologically interest­ ing. I wish you could have liked Eustace Glazzard. I thought the man painfully human.7 However, it is very good that you think I am progressing in the matter o f form. Yes, I am inclined to think that the purely impersonal method o f narrative has its advantages. O f course it approximates to the dramatic. No English writer that I know (unless it be George Moore) has yet succeeded in adopt­ ing this method. Still, I shall never try (& you do not wish me) to suppress my own spirit. To do that, it seems to me, would be to renounce the specific character o f the novelist. Better, in that case, to write plays. Zapp’s drama (which shall soon be returned to you) has a strange re­ semblance to “D. Q.”—very strange. But I cannot like it. It seems to me rather crude—as you hint. After reading it, I sympathized with nobody— though trying to do so. Remarkable, by the way, how English opinion is progressing in the mat­ ter o f subject for fiction. In a very laudatory notice o f “D. Q.,” the Saturday Review says: “A bolder subject would better suit this writer.” That would have been extraordinary a few years ago. They tell me that not a single paper has objected to the theme. —Indeed, after Hardy’s “Tess,” one can scarcely see the limits o f artistic freedom. Certainly my position improves. I am told that, recently, a lecture was de­ livered before the London Ethical Society on “The Novels o f George Gis-

M A R C H 17, 1 8 9 2

23

sing.” O f this I heard nothing at the time, but it is very important. I don’t even yet know who the lecturer was. The Society is not contemptible; I used to attend its lectures occasionally. Roberts often inquires about you. He is always ill, but does a great deal of work, 8c decidedly improves. Some things in “King Billy” are very' strong. After all, my new book will not be what I said.8 I am still groping about. But I am glad to tell you that a short story called “A Victim o f Circum­ stances” has been accepted by ‘■‘'Blackwood’s Magazine.” It isn’t worth much. You shall have it when it comes out. I now understand your Lotte better.9 A curious pathos about that episode in your life. Yes, it would be interesting to go to the parsonage; do, if possible—8c if you are sure that no depression will result. It rejoices me to see your portrait again.10 All goes well, be sure! Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 'Diary, M arch 14: “Reed from Bertz a new issue o f Ottmann’s Litterarisches Echo, containing his ‘Victoria Schulze,’ and a short biograph)' o f him, in which it is said: [he then quotes the German passage in the letter to Ellen o f M arch 14 and translated in n. 6 ot that letter]. Bertz’s life reads strangely; sounds very varied and adventurous. H ow would mine read, it truly writ­ ten?” Arthur Zapp ( 1 8 5 2 - 1 9 2 5 ) was a prolific German novelist, dramatist, philologist, lin­ guist and translator o f works in English and French. His dozens o f books cover the period 1 8 8 6 - 1 9 2 4 . The play he mentions was probably Arthur Zapp’s Auszerhalb der Gesellschaft: in 4 Aujzugeti (Berlin, 1 8 9 1 ). This issue o f the Echo, no file o f which seems to have survived, may also have contained the review o f Gluck und Glas to which Gissing refers below. 2He was 39. 3See letter o f September 2 1 , 1 8 9 1 . Spillmann was probably Joseph Spillmann ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 0 5 ) , a historian, author o f travel narratives and popular stories with religious themes. 4See New Grub Street, Chapter VIII. 5It was translated by Fanny Le Breton, a Parisian who published it under the pseudonym “ Hephell” in 1 8 9 0 . She was a prolific translator, having by 1 8 8 8 published at least eleven translations o f books by such authors as Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Ouida, Mayne Reid and H ugh Conway. See letter to Ellen o f M arch 14, 1 8 8 8 , and n. 3.

6A Masquerader. 7Since Glazzard betrays his friend Quarrier by revealing his bigamous marriage, Gissing’s meaning is unclear, and we repeat with concurrence Young’s opinion that Glazzard’s character is more painful than human. ^ h a t is, the book in which women would be the chief characters, described in his letter to Bertz o f February 16. 9L otte, the heroine o f Gluck und Glas, was apparently drawn from real life. 10That is, the photograph printed with his biography in Das litterarische Echo. The copy Gis­ sing received from Bertz is dated August 1891.

*

24

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

To Algernon MS: Yale. GOF. 1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. April 3, 1892.

My dear Alg., I understand perfectly who Clare Langtoft really was. What I had not grasped was that she had received any name at all before her banishment af­ ter birth.1 Perhaps this implied a little carelessness in me. P. 48 o f Vol I ac­ counts for my state o f mind; the words “immediately” & “forthwith” explain what I mean.2 To be sure they are only applied to a popular rumour. Very likely readers in general will not stumble thus. From the name o f your next book, I take it that there will be one distinct central figure.3 Indeed I hope so; I think it very necessary. To have such a figure—obvious from the first page as the character o f the book—would help you vastly in holding your picture together. A p. 6 ^

Your letter this morning. I am inclined to think that I have behaved rather foolishly in the adv^ business. By all means let the Figaro man write what he likes about you;4 we simply cannot afford to be so scrupulous. Not long ago, Roberts gave them his portrait & sketch o f his life. At that time, he asked Fred Chapman’s opinion on the matter, & was advised by all means to agree.5 Chapman said that all men o f any note had passed through the Figaro. The paper has scarcely any London circulation, but a very large one in the provinces. It may do you good—must, indeed, do some good. At the same time, I have been asked for portrait for the Novel Review, & shall let them have it. Roberts has undertaken to write a sketch o f my work for same occasion.6 Edith is in London for two or three days, & I am getting as much work done as possible meanwhile. Weather still magnificent. Watt is negotiating for American sale o f “Born in Exile.” Hope he will get something.7 Work steadily on. You progress, undoubtedly. I will send you any review I can get hold of. Doesn’t Blackett let you have them? It would be a capital thing if Scott would reprint “A Moorland Idyl” 8—though perhaps the new book would be still more likely to find favour with him. But let us hope that Blackett will see his way to a cheap edition this time. Have you seen it stated that Mark Twain receives £200 a week for paltry letters from the Continent contributed to Illust? London News—or Graphic, I forget which.9 Ever yours, dear Alg., G.G.

A P R I L 9, 1 8 9 2

25

’in the diary entry for M areh 31 Gissing says that he "Finished Alg’s book, and wrote to him.” That letter is missing, but this is his reply to Algernon’s response to it. 2At the opening o f A Masquerader, Clare Langtoft is introduced as a young lady whose par­ ents are unknown to her, now spending some weeks in the country near the estate o f the Whinstones. In Chapter II we are told that many years earlier Whinstone had been disappointed when his first child turned out to be a girl, not the son he had hoped for. On p. 4 8 the narrator explains the eonsequenees: "This practical joke was looked upon by the injured father as little short o f a premeditated insult on the part o f both mother and infant, and, as it was stated, he immediately decided to show both that he eould effectually retaliate. With this intention, it was solemnly averred, Mr. W hinstone had forthwith banished the offensive offspring trom his home, and forbidden the m other to hold any kind o f intercourse with it.”

iBetween Two Opinions. 4ln the missing letter o f Mareh 31 Gissing must have urged his brother to ignore the Figaro's request. The artiele on Algernon appeared as "Figaro’s Coming Man: Mr. Algernon Gissing,”

London Figaro, April 2 7 , 1 8 9 2 , pp. 3 - 4 . See next letter, and n. 2. 5See letter o f January 2 4 , 1 8 9 1 , n. 3. Frederic Chapman ( 1 8 2 3 - 1 8 9 5 ) joined the eompany headed by his cousin Edward in 1 8 4 1 , then beeame a partner in 1 8 4 7 and head o f it in 1864, founding the Fortnightly Review in 1 8 6 5 . He published Morley Roberts’s In Low Relief (1 8 9 0 ). 6Roberts’s artiele appeared in the May, 1 8 9 2 number (the first one edited by H. H. Cham­ pion, a friend o f R oberts), pp. 9 6 - 1 0 3 . The portrait, the profile taken by the Hall brothers on August 22, 1 8 8 8 , appeared on p. 96. 'Bom in Exile was not published in Ameriea until 1968. ^Valter Seott, the London publisher, who did not publish a reprint o f Algernon’s novel. 9Twain wrote thirteen sueh artieles under the heading "The Tramp Abroad Again,” for the

Illustrated London News, from November 14, 1891 to Oetober 2 2 , 1892.

*

To Algernon MS: Yale.

GOF. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. April 9 , 1892.

My dear Alg., I should say your sketch will do very well; o f course they will work it up with what flourishes their nature bids.1 No, I think the kinship needn t be mentioned; the fact o f the matter is that my position doesn’t warrant any reference o f that kind; not one person in every hundred reading the Figaro (or any other paper) will have heard my name.2 Doubtless this has brought you a measure o f encouragement. I hope you will work on more hopefully. Marvellous weather: unprecedented, say the chroniclers, for something like thirty years. But o f course it can’t last. The infant will come home early next week. Heaven be thanked the worst o f his infancy is over—or one hopes so.

26

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

Do you know that the name Snooks is merely a contraction o f Sevenoaks?3 Do you know, also, that the pronunciation o f good in Devon is really the same as the Scottish guidl In fact the oo sound, long or short, is all but the French u. In writing to Wilson, I should simply incorporate the facts you mention in an easy letter.4 The proofs o f “B. in E.” are finished, so I hope they will have the book out before long. This leaves me free for the end o f the year. Have been reading through Elia once more.5 Admirable source o f stylis­ tic refinements. Roberts, having disposed o f five books in h a lf a year to Lawrence & Bullen, is distressed, though hardly surprised, that they decline another— just yet.6 —The men are advertising pretty widely, & promise to become a good firm. From a page o f theirs in Notes & Queries, I see that they have published a great many luxurious reprints, numbered copies & so on.7 That, I suppose, will be their special care. Lord, lord! What a life it is, this o f literature! The humorous side o f it overpowering. I strongly suspect that the man Barrie is monstrously & unaccountably over-rated.8 A great man o f pretty much the same standing is QuillerCouch.9 Then again there is Conan Doyle.10 But it is very mysterious how these mushroom reputations come into being. I believe the power o f log­ rolling, in our present state o f journalism, is simply limitless. Seriously, I think that Andrew Lang,11 & two other such men, if they gave their minds to it, could sell some thousands o f copies o f any new book in a fortnight. Love to Katie & Enid. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. ^ e e previous letter, n. 4. The sketch appeared on p. 3. The kinship between Algernon and George is not mentioned in the article. Gissing was either expressing his bitterness here or he was unaware that the Figaro had re­ viewed seven of his novels: The Unclassed, September 2 0 , 1 8 8 4 ; Isabel Clarendon, August 7 , 1 8 8 6 ; Demos, April 2 4 , 1 8 8 6 ; Thyrza, May 2 1 , 1 8 8 7 ; The Emancipated, June 14, 1 8 9 0 ; New Grub Street, June 13, 1 8 9 1 ; and Denzil Quarrier, April 6 ,1 8 9 2 . Reviews o f his books in Figaro tended to be extremely favorable, but in any case the readership would certainly be familiar with Gissing’s name. The reviews are reprinted together with the articles on Morley Roberts and Algernon Gissing in Pierre Coustillas, “ Gissing and the London Figaro," GJ 2 7 , no. 4 (O ctober 1 9 9 1 ), pp. 1 -1 5 . During his stay in Rome in the spring o f 1 8 9 8 , Gissing may have conveyed this interesting fact to H. G. Wells, who used it in his story “Miss W inchelsea’s H eart.” We refer the reader to the letter to Wells o f July 16, 1 8 9 8 , n. 3, which will appear in the seventh volume o f this edition.

A P R I L 9, 1 8 9 2

27

Hvilson was probably the editor o f the London Figaro, though no name is given there. The feature article was clearly based on Algernon’s letter; it is casual and rather sketchy concerning the details o f his career, concerned chiefly with his personal tastes and experiences. Charles Lamb’s Essays o f Elia. 6Lawrence & Bullen published Songs o f Energy (1 8 9 1 ), King Billy o f Ballarat and Other Stories ( 1 8 9 1 ) , Land-Travel and Sea-Faring ( 1 8 9 1 ) , and The Mate o f the Vancouver (1 8 9 2 ). The fifth book was Cecil Roberts's Adrift in America, edited by his brother Morley (1 8 9 1 ). 7In Notes and Queries for April 2 (advertising pages preceding p. 2 6 0 ) there is a full page ad in which Denzil Quarrier is listed am ong several finely bound and numbered editions o f such authors as Herrick and Marvell, together with some lesser works in popular, unnumbered editions. 8

■

•

•

J. M. Barrie ( 1 8 6 0 - 1 9 3 7 ) had not yet written his most remembered work, Peter Pan, but his novel The Little Minister, serialized in Good Words in 1 8 9 1 , was an instant success andestablished his reputation as a novelist. In 1 8 9 1 he also turned to writing drama. Ibsen’s Ghost was staged by the actor-owner J. L. Toole at Henry Irving’s suggestion, and Toole paid him £ 2 0 0 for Walker, London, which ran to 511 performances, beginning on February 2 5 , 1892. The British Weekly put out an illustrated supplement entided J. M. Barrie, A Literary and Biographi­

cal Portrait. 9Arthur Quiller-Couch ( 1 8 6 3 - 1 9 4 4 ) , one o f the young writers (along with Barrie, Massingham, and Augustine Birrell) whom T. W. Reid acquired for his weekly paper The Speaker, had written such popular novels as Dead M an’s Rock (1 8 8 7 ) and The Astonishing History o f Troy

Town (1 8 8 8 ), as well as literary criticism. 10A rthur Conan Doyle ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 3 0 ) had written such stories as Micah Clarke (1 8 8 9 ) and The Captain ofthe Polestar (1 8 9 0 ), but o f course was best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories A Study in Scarlet ( 1 8 8 7 ) , The Sign o f Four ( 1 8 9 0 ), and a series o f shorter ones such as “A Scandal in Bohemia” (July 1 8 9 1 ) which appeared regularly in The Strand Magazine. "A n d rew Lang ( 1 8 4 4 - 1 9 1 2 ) , a prolific writer on many subjects, had already written several books o f verse such as xxii Ballades in Blue China (1 8 8 0 ), some prose works such as Letters to Dead Authors (1886), and a number ofim p ortan t anthropological works such as Myth, Ritual

and Religion (1 8 8 7 ).

To Algernon MS p.c. Yale. [Exeter.] [April 9 , 1892.]

I forgot to say: add to your details a complete list o f books, dated. G.G. *

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

28

To Ellen MS: Lilly.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. April 11, 1892.

My dear Nelly, I am glad to hear that you go to the seaside after Easter. I f this weather continue, 8c it is wonderful enough to portend miracles, you will have a magnificent time. Well, twenty-five is not a very great age. It is to be hoped that you will see many another decade. I am writing to ask Madge if she could not come to see us before very long. I do wish it were possible. Little Gubsey comes home to-morrow, 8c I think Madge would like to inspect him. Persuade her, if you can. Alg. has been much inspirited by receiving a request from the London Figaro for his portrait 8c a sketch o f his career.1 In spite o f its obvious fault, I think “A Masquerader” decidedly the best thing he has yet done. Most o f the characters are intelligible people. But he cannot yet piece a story to­ gether. How they have lived—he 8c Katie 8c Enid—I am wholly unable to under­ stand.2 I find the expenses here scarcely to be covered by £200 a year; 8c yet we live with excessive homeliness. The lecture at the Ethical Society was by a Miss Clara Collet, M.A., whom I do not know, but who has a sociological article in the current Nine­ teenth Century.3 Obviously a woman o f brains. The report in the Queen4 was very bad, 8c only allowed me to gather that she maintained that G. G.’s mind was healthy 8c not, as many people say, morbid. The fact o f the lecture astonishes me. It is surely significant. My next book will be called, perhaps, “A Suit o f Sackcloth.” I am begin­ ning it rather torpidly. Astounding weather! Not a cloud for more than a fortnight. Now, I sup­ pose, there will be drought 8c famine. With much love, dear Nelly, George XSee letter o f April 3, n. 4. Since Algernon’s income from his novels was pitifully meagre, it seems clear that the relatives— the Gissings, the Bruces and the Thompsons— must have helped in some way. 3Clara Collet, “Prospects o f M arriage for W om en,” April 1 8 9 2 , pp. 5 3 7 - 5 2 , reprinted in her Educated Working Women (1 9 0 2 ), pp. 2 7 - 6 5 . 4See letter o f M arch 14 and n. 1.

A P R I L 13, 1 8 9 2

29

*

To Algernon MS: Yale. 1 St. Leonard's Terrace, Exeter. April 13, 1892.

My dear Alg., I have a preference for the side face, but both I think very good. Unmis­ takably literary.1 I do hope they will be merciful in the wood-cut. You red1 my letter 8c post-card? Over the leaf, I copy a notice o f “A Masquerader” in this week’s (to-day’s) World. I believe the reviews in this rather contemptible paper have a distinct commercial value. For what reason I know not, the World has taken to laud­ ing me somewhat excessively o f late.2 Apropos o f the infant's return, how often ought he to have his bottle in the four 8c twenty hours?3 Was not Enid brought up in that way? When ought he to go to bed? Hitherto, the people have kept him up till midnight. —No hurry about these questions. Roberts has sent me a draft o f his paper on me for the Novel Review.4 I am sorry to say that it is not worth much. In the face o f this, it does not grieve me to hear that there is an uncertainty about its being accepted. Change in the weather this morning. Sky thickly veiled. O f course there must be rain before long. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. “Mr. Algernon Gissing has not before written anything so pleasing as A Masquerader (Hurst 8c Blackett). The title is a misnomer (it ought to be “masquer”), but the story is excellent of its kind 8c for its scope. There is a certain dignity o f tone 8c feeling in it which is very attractive—a mingling of simplicity 8c enthusiasm, the knowledge 8c cultus of nature, 8c a veritable belief in true love, 8c that “Love is Enough,” which we have come to miss somehow in these latter days, 8c greet with a surprised welcome.”5 On copying this, I feel it to be rather good. The writer has undoubtedly felt the peculiar distinction o f your work. 'Photographs for the sketch o f him in the London Figaro. 2In his Commonplace Book Gissing took particular note o f the World’s review ot New Grub Street: “W hy does not some influential friend of M r George Gissing point out to him how

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

30

greatly, by his selection o f grim subjects, which he treats after the m ost depressing fashion, he is endangering his otherwise indubitable claim to rank am ong the first o f rising novelists? Step by step he advances in his art. Demos was clever, The Nether World was better, and New Grub Street is best o f all: but the low key in which they one and all are pitched, the desperate gloom o f pessimism and poverty in which their action takes place, the hopeless unrelieved misery which pervades their pages, will undoubtedly prevent their author from achieving the amount o f popularity, which is due to his talent, his experience, and his excellent English” (April 2 9 , 1 8 9 1 , p. 2 8 ). O f this, Gissing wrote in his Commonplace Book: “Now here is twaddle! H ow can a man endanger such a claim by mere choice o f subject? H e may endanger the vulgar recogni­ tion ofhis claim” (p. 55). M ore recently, the World had given Denzil Quarrier a. laudator)' review on February 24: “ Mr. George Gissing has been doing excellent work again. Denzil Quarrier (Lawrence & Bullen) is better than The Nether World o r New Grub Street— better, because more compressed and com pact, less harrowing, more artistic. The one volume in which the story is told will be read through at a sitting, and give food for reflection for many hours. It is not light o r diverting; neither is life, o f which it is a transcript. But it is very powerful, very cruel, very true” (p. 2 4 ). 3On April 13 Gissing had his son Walter brought back from Brampford Speke to Exeter. 4See letter o f April 3, n. 6. SWorld, April 13, p. 2 6 , col. 2. We have left uncorrected the few slight errors in transcription.

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

[Exeter.] [April 16, 1892.]

Rather remarkable notice o f “A.M.” in to-day’s Athenaeum.1 You will see that my opinion is generally confirmed by reviewers. Blackett’s judgment was imbecile. G. G. *For details o f this review, see next letter, n. 1.

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

[Exeter.] [April 2 1 , 1892.]

Read again 8c perpend! Most undoubtedly the notice is meant to be favou­ rable. The reference to G[eorge] M[eredith] is intended distinctly as a com­ pliment. Look at the “maze” sentence, 8c what follows. The whole notice is

A P R I L 2 4, 1 8 9 2

31

better written than such things usually are, &: is assuredly not intended for contempt or censure.1 Experto crede. Wish I could get hold o f “Tess.” You remember I anticipated your judg­ ment. A fierce attack on it in “Quarterly.”2 Heart)' thanks to K. for letter. E. will write very soon. G. G. A very fine Stradivarius might reasonably cost 500 guas. This I know, but cannot tell the highest possible figure. 'A lgernon’s A Masquerader was reviewed in the “ Novels o f the Week” column in the Athe­ naeum for April 16. The writer complained that the logic o f the plot, worked out, he claimed, “by a method manifestly borrowed (whether consciously or unconsciously) from M r. George M eredith,” was far too opaque for the reader to follow, calling the book a “labyrinth which looks ven' different to the leader who knows his way and to the companion who threads the maze for the first time." Apparendy Gissing refers to the following as the “maze” sentence: “ But the labyrinth piques curiosity, and it is not a labyrinth o f stone walls or bare palisade, but o f glistening garden hedges, fringed with flowers and illumined by the sun.” “W hat follows” is a brief characterization o f the novel as “a play o f genuine and artificial characters, under cir­ cumstances which alternate between the natural and the conventional.” Algernon may have been upset by the final sentence: “To say that the story is more interesting than natural is, per­ haps, a hazardous opinion, which the individual may be inclined to test for himself1 (pp. 4 9 6 -9 7 ). ^ h i s was a review o f several novels under the general dtle “Culture and Anarchy,” in the issue for April, pp. 3 1 9 - 2 6 . O f Tot, the writer says that Hardy “has told an extremely disagree­ able story in an extremely disagreeable way” (p. 3 2 3 ).

*

From Edith Gissing to Catherine Gissing1 MS. Yale. April 2 4 , 1892.

Dear Katie, Day after day I have meant to write a line in reply to your very kind letter, but till now it has been quite impossible. From morning till night we are both o f us worn out. We are making a serious trial of your system. The diffi­ culty is not to get the boy to sleep in the evening, for he generally goes off after his last bottle; but he has to be fed twice in the night, and will not sleep after five in the morning. In the day he is terrible, he will never keep quiet except when amused. But things are made worse just now by the beginning o f teething, and he has been utterly spoilt at Brampford Speke where they fed him every half hour. We have advertised for a strong nurse, but it is difficult to choose from among silly and incapable people. We are going to give sixteen pounds a year. Otherwise George would be quite unable to work.

T H E LE T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

32

I made a beginning o f A Masquerader, but was o f course stopped; how­ ever, I hope soon to continue. George tells me he likes the book. With best wishes to you all, Affectionately yours, Edith Gissing 'This is Edith’s reply to the letter from Katie mentioned in the previous letter.

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale. Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. May 1, 1 8 9 2 .

Dear Friend, A May Day which does not dishonour its reputation tempts me to sit down & write to you. There is warm sunshine & still air. Birds are loud about me. May it be the same at Frankfurt! A. & C. Black are behaving to me with much decency. The other day they sent me a printed list o f some 200 periodicals, requesting me to mark those to which I wished a copy o f “Born in Exile” to be sent for review; also, to let them know the addresses o f private persons to whom I wanted copies sent. Accordingly, you will receive the book direct from the publishers, &, I hope, very soon; for the Athenaeum o f yesterday mentions it as already published.1 Heinemann & Balestier have not sent me a copy o f “Denzil Quarrier,” but do not on any account obtain one for me, thanks.2 Roberts has got “King Billy” from them,3 & I shall presently send them my address. As yet, I hear nothing from Ottmann. Doubtless he is waiting until all three vols. are published;4 then he will probably send me a copy. But we must not trouble him. The poor man is struggling with financial difficul­ ties, & such a position always demands consideration. As to the title “Menschenangesicht,” o f course you are right. A foreigner cannot judge o f these niceties. It pleases me very much to hear your good opinion o f Roberts’s book. It has been reviewed very favourably. I think “Mithridates the King” is a really remarkable bit o f work, & “Father and Son,” which you refer to, could not easily be surpassed as an example o f the horror to be extracted from scien­ tific suggestions. Those letters from old comrades prove how very widely your book is be­

M A Y 1, 1 8 9 2

33

ing read. I should think your next production will be welcomed by a public o f considerable extent. I, unfortunately, have not yet made a serious beginning with a new book. The subject is pretty clear before me, (it will not be quite what I suggested to you,5) but I cannot think o f a good title, 8c, for the first time, this fact seems to delay me. I want to deal with the flood o f blackguardism which nowadays is pouring forth over the society which is raised by wealth above the lowest Sc yet is not sufficiently educated to rank with the highest. Im­ possible to take up a newspaper without being impressed with this fact o f extending & deepening Vulgarity. It seems to be greatly due to American influence, but there can be no doubt that the ground is prepared for it by the pretence o f education afforded by our School-board system. Society is being levelled down, & with strange rapidity. Democracy' scarcely pretends to a noble aim; it is triumphing by the force o f its appeal to lower motives. Thus, I am convinced, the gulf between the really refined 8c the masses grows, 8c will grow, constantly wider. Before long, we shall have an Aristoc­ racy o f mind 8: manners more distinct from the vast majority o f the popula­ tion than Aristocracy has ever been in England. It will not be a fighting Aristocracy, but a retiring &c reticent; scornful, hopeless. My brother’s latest book has been respectfully treated. It is not strong, but there is some good writing in it, 8c the fresh moorland spirit is really re­ freshing. I f his next production is still better, I will see that you have a copy o f it. It was o f course useless to trouble you with mere apprentice work. I think he may in time develope a style which will be a distinct improvement upon that o f William Black.6 I am reading Lucretius, steadily, 8c have got through more than half. It requires an effort o f the mind, but the reward is undeniable. Two German novelists are attracting attention in England just now: Ilse Frapan 8c Sudermann.7 Do you know much o f them? It seems to me that “Gluck und Glas” might very well be translated to form a volume o f Heinemann’s International Library, which you will have seen advertized in the Athenaeum.8 I wish I had the time to do this. I suppose you would not care to draw Heinemann’s attention to the book, in the hope that he might select it for translation? I notice that it is more than a month since the date o f your letter to which I am now replying. You are well, I trust, 8c have been busy. Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 1Athenaeum, April 3 0 , p. 564. ^ h a t is, the edition published in Leipzig for Heinemann and Balestier s English Library' senes.

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

34

3King Billy o f Ballarat, published in 1 8 9 1 , was no. 91 in The English Library series. 4O f Demos. 5See letter o f February 16, where he projects a novel in which women will be the chief characters. 6See letter o f February 18, n. 3. 7llse Frapan-Akunian (pseudonym for Ilse Akunian, nee Levien, 1 8 5 2 - 1 9 0 8 ) was a psycho­ logical novelist and short story writer, her most recent work being a collection o f short stories entitled Bittersuss (1 8 9 1 ). Hermann Sudermann ( 1 8 5 7 - 1 9 2 8 ) was a successful novelist and playwright, recent author o f Sodoms Ende (drama, 1 8 9 1 ) and Jolanthes Hocbzeit (a tale, 1 8 9 2 ). He meant the ad which appeared on April 3 0 , p. 5 8 4 , Heinemann’s International Library being a recent venture with Edmund Gosse as editor. The series o f “ remarkable novels” listed, each with an introduction by Gosse, contained translations from seven languages: French, Norwegian, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. The novels were mostly by wellknown authors like Maupassant, Bjornson, Tolstoy o r M atilde Serao, and perhaps Bertz felt he had hardly a chance o f seeing his own work selected.

*

To Algernon MS: I.e. Yale. 1. St. L .’s Terrace. May 10, 1892.

My dear Alg., Roberts’s article doesn’t read so badly, after all.11 send it you to-day. Will you please post it at your leisure to Wakefield, & ask them to return it to me. —A. & C. Black asked me to whom they should send copies o f “B. in E.” & I gave them three names; to me, unfortunately, they sent only one copy—so that I have received only four in all. However, they have been very decent, even consulting me as to the papers &c to which copies should be sent for review. Madge is coming to us on the 1 2 * June to stay for a fortnight. Your kind letter just come. Delighted you think so well o f “B. in E.” I myself take rather a pride in it; it cost me great labour. By the bye, look on the first page o f the article on Jessie Fothergill, in the “Novel Review,” & you will see another o f the indications that my position grows more secure.2 You shall know o f any review worth mentioning. Very glad indeed to hear that Katie progresses. Our love to her. The baby is uproarious, but our nurse now has him at night, & we are able to keep him out o f doors nearly all day. The doctor says that milk is no longer suffi­ cient for him; he must have a special food. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G.

M AY 11, 1 8 9 2

35

'See letter o f April 3 , n. 6. 2Linda Gardiner, "Jessie Fothergill’s Novels," Novel Review, May 1 8 9 2 , pp. 1 5 3 - 6 0 . On the hrst page the writer stresses the value o f novelists who portray the age in which they wrote: “ ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Evelina’ come down to us as photographs o f life in Jane Austen’s and Fanny Burney’s days. They arc our M orrises and Oliphants o f yesterday. W hat would we not give for a Dickens or a George Gissing o f 1813 o r 1 778?”

*

To Ellen ms

N YFL 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. May 11, 1892.

My dear Nelly, Things go but moderately well with us. The infant is a terrible trouble; he refuses to sleep at night, 8c there is a perpetual quarrelling with the nurse to prevent her from feeding him ever)' quarter o f an hour. We suspect she gives him secret supplies o f cold milk whilst he is out in the perambulator. Im­ possible to find a servant who can be trusted. The poor little chap is deplorably ugly. His great mole over the eye seems to increase in size, 8c will for ever be a deformity. Then, his face is fre­ quently in a rash, 8c he scratches his nose 8c cheeks till they are a sad specta­ cle. People look at him in the street 8c marvel at his unsightliness. For all that, he seems o f quick intelligence, 8c when not crying, he laughs uproariously at everything 8c everybody. I can only hope that before the end o f the present year the worst trouble will be over. It is not likely I shall do much work till autumn. Alg. will forward to you a copy o f the Novel Review for May, which con­ tains an article on me by Roberts, with portrait. Please return it hither when you have done with it. I hear you have enjoyed yourself at the seaside, 8c I hope you feel stronger. Absorption in ceaseless domestic trouble makes one selfish, 8c little dis­ posed even to inquire about the fate o f others. I wonder whether it would be at all possible for Madge to bring with her about a pound o f really good sticky P a r k i n If not feasible, don’t let her think o f it. Alg’s book has been well reviewed. It is a great improvement. Perhaps the next will be better still. Magnificent weather at present. But it is melancholy to think that the summer will pass away, 8c I shall not taste one single day o f it.

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

36

To be away from uproar, I have taken as a study the front room at the top o f the house. Probably it will be too hot. Love to Mother 8c Madge. Ever yours, dear Nelly, G. G. 'A typical northern England cake made with oatmeal, butter, molasses and ginger.

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale. Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. May 2 0 , 1892.

Dear Friend, I have to thank you for two long 8c profitable letters. I must try to answer them with corresponding care. In judging the tendency o f “Born in Exile,” it is probable that you have been misled by the fact that the character o f Godwin Peak is obviously, in a great degree, sympathetic to the author. But you will not find that Peak’s tone is to be henceforth mine—do not fear it. Indeed, it seems to me that the tone o f the whole book is by no means identical with that o f Peak’s personality; certainly I did not mean it to be so.,Peak is myself—one phase o f myself. I described him with gusto, but surely I did not, in depicting the other characters, take his point o f view? To a certain extent you admit this. I understand very well the fear that has been excited in you, for you are well aware o f those parts o f my character on which Roberts has laid stress.1 No, I hope to be more 8c more objective in my work; I hope to, 8c mean to. Al­ ready I have begun my new book, 8c herein you will see how I regard the pursuit o f money 8c ease as it affects the mass o f the London population; you will see, moreover, that I am very far from over-rating the moral worth, the value as individuals, o f what we call the educated classes. Indeed, your first letter set me to work, after long delay. As usual, I have to thank you for impulse 8c encouragement. I am trying to do precisely what you hoped I should—that is to say, to present the other side o f the shield.2 Your sugges­ tions greatly helped to clear my mind. “Born in Exile” was a book I had to write. It is o ff my mind, 8c now I go on with a sense o f relief. No, no; you 8c I are not going to part so widely— don’t think it. This new book will appeal strongly to your sympathies. To tell you the truth, I was disappointed with Roberts’s article. I don’t think he understands my work in the very least!

MAY 2 0, 1 8 9 2

37

You must not think o f sending me anything in return for the Review. On no account! Already I am indebted to you for several things. Let us wait awhile, 8c we shall be able to exchange gifts more frequently. Your valuable suggestions concerning the title for the German uNew Grub Street” I at once submitted to Adele Berger, 8c I hope to hear her opinion o f them. It was unlikely that Ottmann would accept that second book of mine—in any case, until he knew whether the first was going to sell. I am very glad indeed that the “Demos” is after all not so painfully bad. No doubt I shall receive a copy very shortly. Let Ottmann take his time. But I thought you had had that photograph o f me long ago. Unfortu­ nately, I have not another copy to send you. O f course it pleases me very much that it is to be your article which Ott­ mann reprints,3 with the additional paragraph. Most certainly there is no man living who has followed my work as you have, no one who understands it anything like so well. And I think I may say that no one else will ever take half the trouble that you have done to arrive at a just estimate o f my literary personality. Here in England, people know very little indeed about me; I suppose the critics, en masse, entertain a ludicrously distorted idea o f what I have done, 8c what I have tried to do. Shall I ever be the subject o f a serious study in one o f the leading periodicals—as Meredith 8c Hardy 8c Marion Crawford4—8c all the rest o f them— have been again 8c again? It is doubtful; probably not before my death. And yet I was told by M!le Le Breton that her acquaintance, the editor o f the Edinburgh Review^ insisted to her on the importance o f my work.—It is true that there are occasional little signs o f spreading recognition, but this affects only a small, very small, section o f the public. It will interest me greatly to see what you one day make o f “The French Prisoners” in German.6 Probably you would change the phrase rather than the spirit. The book remains very clear in my mind; it is no insignificant predecessor to “Gluck und Glas”; indeed, an intelligent critic would divine the later in the earlier work. I have received two copies o f “D. Q.” from Heinemann 8c Balestier. May you receive from Ottmann the sum for which you venture to hope! Oh, you ought to have very much more than that! But it is to be hoped that the book will continue to sell. Undoubtedly it has been far more than a common success. I wonder very much indeed what sort o f school that can be in Lancaster! I thought at first that the man must have chosen it for a German text-book, but, on reflecting, I see that the book as a whole would never do even for older schoolboys. The thing remains a mystery. Yes, if you could establish your health in the manner proposed it would be an enormous blessing. Follow the plan, by all means, if possible.

38

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

Many thanks for information about Ilse Frapan & Sudermann. The search for a satisfactory subject for a new book is terribly worrying. At times it has made me ill. Combined with your abominable toothache, it must have driven you to distraction. In years gone by, I suffered wretchedly from my teeth, but it is now long since they troubled me; I hope your heroic remedy will at length give you ease. After all, Rehfeldt is certainly a use & comfort to you now & then.7 O f course he must have very little time to spare for social pleasures; the life of an active doctor is a thought that frightens me, as often as I contemplate it. To accept it with resignation, one must surely be o f a very positive mind. Let me beg you not to postpone very long the commencement o f some new work. I want you to write a good deal yet. The subjects ideally adapted to one’s mind & mood are o f course very few; they occur only in moments o f happy inspiration. One has often to struggle vehemently with what seems uncongenial matter—& indeed there comes a reward from such struggle. One’s powers grow in the process. I can’t find a title. It must wait unfound for the present. By the bye, Rudyard Kipling’s book o f ballads is most remarkable work.8 Try to get it if H. and B. publish it. But it will require all your knowledge o f English to read with complete understanding. I have only seen extracts. Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 'in the article entitled “George Gissing” in the Novel Review (M ay 1 8 9 2 ), Morley Roberts stressed the pessimistic element which the reviewers had frequently emphasized, saying that Gissing “has been consistently hopeless; consistently careless o f criticism; consistently patho­ logical. F or he is o f the order o f realists whose work, whether they know it o r not, is neither more nor less than the study o f disease in one form o r another” (p. 9 9 ). 2It seems probable that Gissing had read Browning’s essay on Shelley’s letters, which was published in 1 8 8 8 by the Shelley Society, and if he had also brought it to the attention o f Bertz, as also seems probable, then here he is calling Bertz’s attention to Browning’s descrip­ tion o f the objective/subjective poet as one who presents “the perfect shield, with the gold and the silver side set up for all com ers to challenge,” Gissing interpreting the subjective aspect as the moral side. The passage may be read in the Cambridge edition o f Browning’s works (H oughton Mifflin), p. 1009. 3This was the long article in three parts described in the letter o f Decem ber 14, 1 8 8 9 , n. 1, written first for the Deutsche Presse and now reprinted in Ottmann’s Litterarisches Echo. Francis M arion Crawford ( 1 8 5 4 - 1 9 0 9 ) was an American novelist born in Tuscany, the son o f a New York sculptor who had settled in Rome. H e had studied at Cam bridge, Karlsruhe, and Heidelberg, and took up the study o f Sanskrit while living in Rome. 5Henry Reeve ( 1 8 1 3 - 1 8 9 5 ) was editor from 1 8 5 5 to 1895. 6This was the boys’ story which Bertz had written during his English exile in 1 8 8 4 , for which Macmillan paid him the £ 2 5 which enabled him to return to Germany. 7Some o f Bertz’s letters to Dr. Heinrich Rehfeldt ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 9 1 0 ) , a close friend, are preserved

J U N E 1, 1 8 9 2

39

in the Yale University Library'. Rehfeldt studied medicine in Leipzig and W urzburg, wrote a medical dissertation at W urzburg on Tetanus and Delirium Tremens, set up as a doctor in West-Prussia but the following year moved to Frankfurt-on-Oder, where from 1 8 8 2 to 1910 he was the chief physician at a hospital. He was the founder o f a General Medical Society', the Society o f Natural Science, and the Association of Civil Servants. 8Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses ( Methuen, 1 8 9 2 ) was indeed published in Heinemann and Balestier’s English Library, also in 1 8 9 2 .

*

To Ellen MS: Lilly.

1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. May 2 7 , 1892.

My dear Nelly, Yes, it is “Born in Exile1' o f which you have heard. I did not send the book, for two reasons. In the first place you would greatly dislike it, 8c therefore nothing would be gained by your reading it. Secondly, I have not a copy to send. The publishers asked me to give them a list o f persons to w'hom I should like them to send copies. I mentioned three people. These copies wrere dispatched 8c I received only one for myself, greatly to my surprise. How'ever, the book is in no way seriously offensive, be assured. Some day or other perhaps you will be able to read it. You are well, I hope. I am toiling at a new novel. Pray excuse half a sheet; I have no more paper. Ever yours, G. G. *

To Algernon MS p.c. Yale.

Exeter. June 1, 1892.

No wonder you were puzzled. The Standard was sent by mistake for the Chronicle, which comes by this post. I have recd it from Roberts. Madge comes here on the 13!h G. G. I enclose Chronicle in Bookman, as a corrective to foolishness therein.1

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

40

'in the regular column “A t the Circulating Library,” dated May 3 (in the June Bookman), the first item is a brief notice o f Bom in Exile beginning “M r. Gissing’s new story has been sent to me. It is a concentration o f all the nausea o f life.” N oting that “there is nothing . . . to re­ lieve the m onotony o f gloom ,” the writer says “Perhaps it is the m ost frankly hopeless book ever thrust on a happy-go-lucky world,” adding that “you revolt utterly from all it has to say o r to show you” (p. 9 1 ). The Daily Chronicle, however, in a review entitled “O u r One English Realist,” said that Gissing “has mastered the technique o f the Realist’s craft. H e has gone on steadily from strength to strength, and this, his latest achievement, is also his best. As an ar­ rangement in black and grey it would be hard to beat from the point o f view o f artistic presen­ tation.” In spite o f “obvious blemishes,” it said, such as making up words and stopping to analyze a scene, this novel is “one o f the cleverest and best written books o f the season” (M ay 2 6 , p. 3).

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

Saturday, [June 4 , 1892],

By an extraordinary combination o f mishaps, a copy o f the Chronicle which I sent to Bertz has been lost on the way. I f you still have yours, would you put it carefully into a wrapper, & address to: Herrn Eduard Bertz. Bergstrasse, 52. Frankfurt a.d. Oder. •Germany. Will cost a penny. Title “A Modern Instance” has been used by Howells.1 G. G. 'William Dean Howells ( 1 8 3 7 - 1 9 2 0 ) , then the m ost popular o f American novelists, pub­ lished A Modem Instance in 1882.

*

To Algernon MS: Yale.

LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. June 19, 1892.

My dear Alg., I had no idea you were so near the end o f your book. This piece o f work must have been more speedily done than usual. I f you are satisfied with the

J U N E 19, 1 8 9 2

41

title, I have no doubt it is a good one;1 doubt on the point seems always to be the proof that a title might be bettered. I was going to tell you that Blackett has advertised “A Masquerader” up to quite lately in the daily papers—I mean independently o f his list. His two quotations have been from The World 8c The Guardian} I f you offer the book to L. 8c B. there is no doubt they will give you a speedy reply. Their terms would probably be something on account, 8c a royalty for the rest; o f course I cannot feel sure what they would offer. There would be no harm, I should think, in trying them, for if the result were unsatisfactory, Blackett would doubtless be ready with his £50, 8c perhaps more, this time. You will do very well if you get a 2-vol. book done in what remains o f the summer. My work, alas, cannot be ready before late in autumn. I am very uncertain about it. The weather seems to be improving again. We have had some good walks, 8: Madge has already become much sun-burnt.3 Yesterday we spent at Budleigh Salterton, 8: returned with a great quantity o f yellow iris, grow­ ing thickly in the marshy meadows about there. Madge will stay till next Saturday. After her return home, Mother goes to Scarboro’. So you think o f passing the winter in Jersey. That might, perhaps, be good for you. I think it likely that a study o f the scenery, 8c to a certain ex­ tent o f the people, might enable you to produce some story which would prove attractive. Singular families must be discoverable in Jersey—I mean English settlers o f more or less picturesque antecedents. The difficulty for you seems to be the cost o f living, seeing that you must pay the Willersey rent at the same time. And how would you provide for the safety o f the house meanwhile? My ow'n plan for the future stands somehow thus: when the infant is quite out o f arms, I hope to take a house either at S! Albans, or Hatfield, or Barnet; so as to be quite near to London 8c yet away from the baleful at­ mosphere. That might, perchance, be a definite 8c final settlement, if all goes well. I shall not be able to dispense with immediate study o f London for very much longer. My health, I think, has profited considerably by this sojourn amid the fields. Let me know what you do with the MS. L 8c B’s address: 16 Henrietta S! Covent Garden W.C. Would you care to drop them a line in advance? Love to Katie 8c Enid. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. Has your story anything to do, even casually, with vegetarianism?4 Should like to know this when you are sending a line.

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

42

1Stt the postcard assigned June 4 . Algernon’s next published book was entitled Between Two Opinions, not published until 1893. 2Blackett’s ads quoted from the World, “Pages in W aiting,” April 13, p. 2 6 , and from the Guardian, “Short Reviews,” April 2 0 , p. 586. 3According to the letter-card dated May 10, M adge was supposed to arrive on June 12, a Sunday, but the diary for Sunday, June 19, records her arrival “Last Monday,” June 13. She left on June 25. Two o f Gissing’s diary entries show that Edith and the Gissings did not get on with one another. On June 19 he says only that M adge’s visit was “fairly successful, but o f course no hope o f genuine understanding bet. her and Edith.” After his sister had left on June 2 5 he wrote more strongly: “Visit, as regards E., profoundly disagreeable, and rendering pros­ pects of future intercourse with Wakefield very doubtful.” ‘hrhere is no mention o f vegetarianism in Algernon’s Between Two Opinions.

* To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. June 19, 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Friend, Yesterday I received from Ottmann two copies o f the Echo containing your “G G” article.1 I have ready [sic] the article with no little satisfaction. Roberts, you see, has not the critical faculty; you, on the other hand, pos­ sess it in a very high degree. I am convinced that it is a great advantage for me to be introduced to German readers by such a study as this o f yours; your serious writing calls for serious attention. Roberts thinks well & kindly o f my work, but his tone is altogether too journalistic to influence people o f the better sort. I like very much what you have added to the earlier essay. In­ deed, as I have often said, my obligations to you are very' great—not easily to be acknowledged. The portrait has come out very well, I think, though the expression is somewhat altered—perhaps for the better. In the advertisement o f “Demos,” I see that Erzahlung has been altered to Roman 2—a good thing. It is good news that the 3-vol. edition o f uGliick und Glas” is going through the press. I shall be very glad to see what sort o f illustrations are put on the cover. They will be better, I hope, than those which figure on the cheapest issue o f my books—mere “railway” pictures. Those days o f warmth & comparative quietness must have been very grateful to you. It is hard indeed that one’s work must always be performed under conditions more or less unfavourable. We are always being told that

J U N E 19, 1 8 9 2

43

the struggle against adverse circumstances is for the good o f our art, 8c that with prosperity comes relaxation o f effort. It is so, undoubtedly, with some men, but chiefly with those who have nothing very particular to say. You, I am convinced, would work all the better for being at ease in your mind as regards material difficulties, & most assuredly I should do so. Probably you received the Daily Chronicle review o f “Born in Exile,” posted to you by my brother. It was the paper which got lost on the way to you, before. The writer at all events gives a very fair 8c full account o f my book. I believe this is as yet the only favourable notice.3 I saw one in the Saturday Review which surpassed in abusive misrepresentation anything I have come across, concerning my own work, o f late years.4 People dislike the story & the characters. I can’t help it. My work goes on very slowly, 8c with perpetual alterations. Just now I must be rather out o f sorts, I suppose. In a short time you shall hear at greater length o f what I am trying to do. Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 'This was the article entitled “George Gissing, ein Real-Idealist,” first published in the

Deutsche Presse, identified in the letter o f December 14, 1 8 8 9 . On June 19 Gissing wrote in his diary: “Have reed. Ottmann’s Litterarisches Echo for June, which contains my portrait and Bertz's article on me.” ^ h e book also has Erzahlung on the title page, but the 1 8 9 3 edition published by Muller has Raman. 3The reviews which had appeared in the Speaker and the Morning Post (both reprinted in GCH) confirm Gissing’s opinion, but by this time there had appeared a good many others, not all o f them unfavorable. For instance the Literary World (M ay 2 7 , pp. 5 1 0 - 1 1 ) acknowledged Gissing’s earnestness, and the Athenaeum (M ay 2 8 , p. 6 9 3 ) praised his psychological shrewd ness. 4It appeared in the issue o f June 11, and concludes as follows: “There is plenty about theol­ ogy', geology', and all sorts o f other ‘ologies’ and ‘isms’ in M r Gissing’s pages; for his charac­ ters, when gravelled for lack o f m atter, have a simple habit o f asking each other, in the manner o f the American interviewer, ‘Well, what do you think o f such an one,’ or ‘W hat is y'our opin­ ion o f this, that, and the other?’ and away go their tongues at score, making free with the con ­ tents o f M r Gissing’s commonplace book. It is all very well to quote, as does the author o f Bom in Exile, ‘Oui, repondit Pococurante, il est beau d’ecrire ce qu’on pense; e’est le privilege de l'hom me,’ but he should remember that what is ‘beau’ to the writer may be anything but ‘beau’ to the reader, and that if it be the privilege o f one man to write, it may be, at least, equally within the rights o f others to skip” (p. 6 8 8 ).

*

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E G ISSING

44

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

[Exeter.] June 2 3 , 1892.

Subject seems to me very promising. Should prefer “Past. New,”1—but perhaps consult Black! Glorious day to-day at Teignmouth 8c Dawlish. Magnificent evening. Madge returns on Saturday. Hope to hear o f further projects shortly. Evans, incomprehensible!2 G. G. ' “Pastures New,” a title taken from M ilton’s Lycidas, 1. 1 9 3 , is a title which Gissing sug­ gested to his brother on O ctober 3 1 , 1 8 8 3 , in the days o f Algernon’s apprenticeship. 2M orton Evans ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 9 3 7 ) , Algernon’s friend who worked as a civil servant in the Woods and Forest Department.

*

To Algernon MS: Yale.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. July 2 , 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Alg., Once more hard at work. Doubtless you have seen Madge; I hope she en­ joyed herself at Broadway. The M S.,1 1 suppose, has gone to L. & B. Very satisfactory notice of “B. in E.” in The Times yesterday; nearly half a column. Oddly enough, they say that the note o f my work is “somewhat provincial.”2 What the deuce does that mean? Please return enclosed letter when you write. It is from the madman of whom I told you. Raving lunacy, clearly. “I am a theosophist; you are Martin Luther.” He seems to follow my work, for he writes through A. 8c C. Black.3 The Guardian used about your book the old familiar expressions: “open air tone,” 8c that kind o f thing.4 Not so good as The World. Happening to see it stated that Hardy uses copying ink, 8c thus, with the common press, secures a copy of all his work, I was foolish enough to go 8c invest 13/6 in a press 8c appurtenances.5 I find it useless. My writing is too small 8c fine; it won’t print off. Still, I shall buy another kind of ink, 8c try again.

J U L Y 11, 1 8 9 2

45

Glorious weather! Greetings to all o f you. Ever yours, dear Alg., G.G. You will see that I have been trying to copy this letter. A ridiculous failure, & the letter itself spoilt. 'O f Between Two Opiniotis, published by H urst and Blackett in 1893. 2July 1, 1 8 9 2 , p. 18: “His novels appeal neither to the heart, nor the senses, nor the imagina­ tion, but almost exclusively to the head; and they, moreover, are pervaded by a certain provin­ cialism o f tone and topic. The principal characters belong to a group o f rather clever young men educated at the institute o f a big Midland town; and the odour o f this institute and its classes tends to cling to the story from beginning to end.” 3Diary, June 28: “Letter from a madman who wrote to me some months ago, from Fulham; signed Ernest E. Fisher. One sentence is T am a theosophist; you are Martin Luther.’ ” 4Guardiati, review o f A Masquerader, April 2 0 , 1 8 9 2 . It was, in fact, quite negative: “Mr. Gissing’s new book . . . is pleasant reading, for it is full o f the breezy atmosphere o f the Border country' and o f out-of-door life. W e confess, however, to being a little puzzled by the story, and the different relations o f the various characters to one another. So many lies are told that it is difficult to be sure at which precise moment the truth begins, and we are left even at the end a little uncertain as to whose daughter M argaret really is. Her parents are not to be congratulated in any case, for she is a thoroughly offensive person, and it would be difficult to surpass the vulgarity o f the love-making between her and her two admirers. N or is it pleasant to have the possibility' o f love between a brother and a sister even hinted at, and, unless Mrs. M onk’s last statement, like the others, was a lie, she at any rate knew o f the relationship be­ tween Hugh and Clare. The language is at times very colloquial, and the use o f the word ‘what­ ever’ quite inadmissible in what is intended to be the conversation o f ladies and gentlemen. Maisie’s character is well drawn, especially in the scenes between her and Rutherford, and her attitude towards H ugh is capable o f more analysis and development than it has received” (p. 5 8 6 ). 3Also called a letterpress, this copying device transferred an impression from a manuscript written in copying ink to a translucent sheet. Since the impression was reversed, the copy had to be read from the opposite side.

*

To George J. Gissing1 MS: Kohler.

1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. July 11, 1892.

My dear Sir, Your kind letter has been forwarded to me from my old London flat, which I forsook a couple o f years ago—nearly. Many thanks for all the trouble you have taken. I am greatly puzzled to explain how Mr. Steinitz got

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E G ISSING

46

hold o f your address at all. If from a Directory, how odd that he did not see my own name & former address, still printed in the Vol. o f ’92! The Ger­ man translation o f “Demos” was made by his wife. O f course I shall write at once to the address you give me, & explain the mistake that has befallen. Worse things o f the kind have happened. A story goes that some French­ man, having been introduced to the little known Mortimer Collins aston­ ished that author by speaking with enthusiasm o f his works. Finally, the foreigner exclaimed: “Best o f all, I like the Woman in White!”2 A terrible sit­ uation it must have been. However, you are in the happy, thrice happy, position o f not being an au­ thor o f fiction. On that indeed I must congratulate you, & therewith again thank you for your obliging communication. Believe me, dear Sir, Very faithfully yours, George Gissing h issin g mentions this man in his diary entry o f July 11: “Odd letter from one G. Gissing, o f Maryville, Stanton Road, W. Croydon, who says that a M r Steinitz has called there and left the German ‘Dem os,’ with a letter for me. Adding that he is often congratulated on his work as a novelist— in mistake for me. But how the deuce did Steinitz get that address? M ust write to him and to G. Gissing to-night.” The man can be identified as George John Gissing ( 1 8 4 6 ­ 1 9 1 9 ), a linen collar manufacturer. 2This, o f course, was the famous novel by Wilkie Collins ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 8 9 ) , published in 1 8 6 0 . M ortim er Collins ( 1 8 2 7 - 1 8 7 6 ) was a man ofletters, son o f a solicitor, who was Mathematical M aster o f Queen Elizabeth’s College, Guernsey, from 1 8 5 0 to 1 8 5 6 , and thereafter devoted himself to literature. He was a miscellaneous writer o f verse; periodical essays, political squibs, and humorous novels.

*

To Eduard Bertz MS.- Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. August 7 , 1892.

Dear Friend, It is long since I heard from you; but I hope this means that you have been busy through the bright months. Yesterday I received from Ottmann the new Echo, in which was an an­ nouncement o f the new edition o f “Gluck und Glas,” with extracts from the best reviews. It all read very pleasantly. A short time ago, a curious thing happened. I received a letter from a

A U G U S T 7, 1 8 9 2

47

man at Croydon who signed himself UG. ]. Gissing.” He wrote to say that, during his absence from home, a Mr. Steinitz had called, & had left a letter & a parcel, both addressed to UG. Gissing.” There was evidently (he con­ tinued) a mistake, for he saw that “the well known novelist” was intended.— Well, I wrote back, & got the letter & parcel. The former was from Frau Steinitz, who said that a cousin o f her husband’s, passing through London, would leave with me a copy o f the German “Demos.” Now it is a very strange thing that Steinitz should have gone to Croydon. The letter he had to deliver was addressed to me at 7. K. Cornwall Resi­ dences—to which address, by the bye, my unknown namesake wrote. I can only suppose that Steinitz, on finding I had removed, consulted a Direc­ tors', 8c discov ered the name o f the man at Croydon. Well, I wrote to Steinitz—he having left his address at Croydon. He an­ swered, but without explanations, merely asking if he could see me. I wrote again, explaining to him that Exeter was a very long way from London, 8c that, moreover, I was just on the point o f going for a holiday to the north of England—whence I am now' returned.1 I concluded by asking if I could be o f any use to him in London. But I have not since heard. O f course I replied to the letter o f Frau Steinitz. I have looked through the German “Demos,” 8c see that it is translated pretty closely. O f course your remarks on that subject suffice to me. I am very glad that you think it passable. The summer has, for me, been all but wasted. I have begun several stories, but in each case only to destroy what I wrote. Now, alter a holiday,2 I am again making a beginning, 8c I think with better hope. I must get a book done so as to have some money before the end o f the year. Did you receive, at last, the Chronicle review o f “Born in Exile”? On the whole, the book has been respectfully received. The Times gave it about a third o f a column.3 But o f course these people do not pretend to like it. I am getting a very solid bad-reputation for gloominess 8c misanthropy. Indeed I feel very envious as to what you have been doing all this time. As likely as not, there will be a letter from you before this has had time to reach Germany. Politics have ruined this season for the publishers, 8c I fear there is no very cheerful outlook; now that the Home Rulers have obtained a majority, there are sure to be perpetual uproars in 8c out o f Parliament tor the next year or two.4 However, I suppose a quiet person here 8c there will continue to read books. Have you seen Daudet’s “Rose et Ninette”?5 I know it only by English re­ views, which declare it to be quite unworthy o f him. Yet he is comparatively

T H E LE T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

48

a young man, & with his regular life he ought not to have broken down so soon. Perhaps the sufferings o f childhood & youth are now telling upon him. Nothing whatever that interests me has appeared in England. I have just glanced through “David Grieve,” & I think it is better than the reviews led me to expect. But o f terrific length—longer, I should think, than a novel o f Thackeray. It would certainly interest you, for the ethical features o f the book are noteworthy. I don’t in the least agree with the people who cry out that religion & morals may not be discussed (by the characters) in a novel. Anything whatever may be discussed that is discussed by actual men & women. It is said that Mrs. Ward received in all, for this novel, the pretty sum o f £20,000. Ye gods! Poor old Bismarck!6 —I f only one had knowledge o f the world sufficient for the treating o f great subjects; what a study would there be in a man such as Bismarck! Well, I will envelope this & post it, in the hope that it may bring a reply. Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 1This was merely an excuse; he did not make such a trip. 2Only for a day at Seaton (on the coast, between Sidmouth and Lyme Regis) on the 5th. 3See letter o f July 2, n. 2. As an example o f other favorable opinions we offer the final lines from the review in the Graphic o f July 2 3 : “The novel is well .worth perusal by anybody who is interested in the curiosities o f current bewilderments, whether as sharing in them or as an ob­ server; and the many portraits, which few will fail to recognise as types, are admirably drawn, and are as fresh to fiction as they are increasingly familiar to experience" (p. 102). 4Gladstone and his supporters, who advocated Hom e Rule for Ireland, won the general election o f 1892. 5Published in 1 8 92 . 6After the death o f Em peror Frederick III in 1 8 8 8 , Chancellor Bismarck, who had inaugu­ rated a long period o f vast social reform, lost the two-year struggle for supremacy with W il­ liam II, and was dismissed in 1890. H e spent the rest o f his life writing speeches and articles defending his own policies and criticising the emperor.

*

A U G U S T 30, 1892

49

To Algernon MS: Yale.

GOF. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace. August 2 3 , 1892.

My dear Alg., I lament over this decision. But send o ff to Blackett at once.1 I only hope the confounded season of the year won’t delay him, as it has the other peo­ ple. Don’t trouble for a moment about the cash; I shall do well enough. I suppose you have been grievously hindered by this suspense. I am nothing like near the end o f Vol 1., 8c the weather is crushing. All to-day I have been writing a letter for the P.M.G. The editor sent a circular asking tor my opinion on an article of Archer’s in the Fortnightly, which urges novelists (me by name) to work for the stage.2 I have sent rather a sav­ age criticism o f all things dramatic. The infant is in excellent health, 8c gives little if any trouble. But Edith has been frantic o f late with neuralgia—a stock complaint o f hers, always getting worse. How' is Katie? Our love to her 8c to Enid. I run out to catch a post. Hope to write again before long. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'Algernon had sent Between Two Opinions to Lawrence and Bullen, who evidently rejected it. 2\Villiam A rcher, in “The Drama in the D oldrum s,” which appeared in the Fortnightly Re­

view (A ugust 1, 1 8 9 2 , pp. 1 4 6 - 6 7 ) , was concerned with urging more authors to write the “ higher dram a,” and named Gissing as one o f the serious novelists who should turn to it. Gis­ sing’s response, printed below, appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette o f September 10, under the title “Why I Don’t W rite Plays. XV: M r. George Gissing” (p. 3).

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: I.e. Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. August 3 0 , 1892.

Dear Friend, Many thanks to you for this book. I heartily wish your name had been added as the translator; but I see that in no case is a translator mentioned. Doubtless this reprint is good for me. By the bye, what poor stuff, that story o f Maupassant’s.1

50

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

Your verses please me very much. The thought is a very happy one, & de­ lightfully expressed. You are far from having abandoned poetry! It is inher­ ent in your nature, & appears in all your work. I rejoice that you write so hopefully, in spite o f Ottmann’s rascally behav­ iour. The fellow must be very shameless, but I cannot think you will lose in the end. I suppose these men put off paying until the last possible moment. Still, you want the money, & at least ought to receive an account. The re­ views o f your book have been remarkable. Get on with another; success has come to you. Yes, Ottmann sent me a cloth-bound copy o f “Demos,” & I acknowl­ edged it.2 My sister3 has already read “Gluck und Glas,” with much satisfaction. But if you care to send a copy, I will gladly present it to her, from you. Roberts, alas, does not read German—a foolish neglect on his part. My slow work has brought me nearly to the end of Vol I o f a new book. It deals with the women who, from the marriage point o f view, are superfluous. “The Odd Women,” I shall perhaps call it. “La Debacle” I have not yet seen & fear I shall not.4 “L ’lmmortel” will amuse you, but it is far from being one o f Daudet’s best.5 All good wishes to you. Ever yours, George Gissing 'The book was entitled Das Kind von Guy de Maupassant und andere Novellen (Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin, W ien, 1 8 9 2 ), a volume in the series Bibliothek der fremden Zungen. Maupassant’s story “L ’Enfant” appeared along with Bertz’s translation o f Gissing’s “Phoebe” (pp. 1 3 - 5 1 ) . Gissing’s copy o f “Phobes Gluck,” as it appeared in Aus fremden Zungen in 1 8 9 1 , is in the collection o f Chris Kohler. Bertz wrote under the title “Uebersetzt von Eduard Bertz.” 2The German translation published by Ottmann just before he went bankrupt was issued in two formats, both in three-volume form: one in decorated red cloth, the other in paper covers. They are both extraordinarily scarce. 3Ellen. 4By Emile Zola, published in 1892. Published in 1888.

*

To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.1 Reprinted from the issue o f September 10, 1 8 9 2 , p. 3.

You are so good as to desire my opinion on certain views concerning drama and novel set forth by Mr. William Archer in the current Fortnightly. With all possible brevity I will group a few o f my thoughts on the subject under the three heads you suggest.

S E P T E M B E R 10, 1 8 9 2

51

1. Certainly I think it a misfortune that the English mind distinguishes so broadly between a writer for the stage and an artist in narrative fiction. But to say this is merely to lament the social conditions o f our time. The acted drama is essentially a popular entertainment; author and player live alike upon the applause o f crowds. When the drama flourished in England, it was by virtue o f popular interests, for in those days the paying public was the intelligent public. Dramatists had no temptation to write below their powers; the better their work, the surer its reception by those patrons o f the theatre upon whom success depended. Trash might be produced in abun­ dance, but only because genius and talent are always rare. Conflicts between the artistic sense and motives o f self-interest there could—at the happy moments—be little or none. Nowadays, the paying public are the unintelligent multitude. The people who make a manager's fortune represent a class intellectually beneath the groundlings o f Shakspeare’s time—and if some thought fit to tickle the groundlings’ ears can it be pretended that to this section o f the “house” a company bent on profit first directed its glance? When Johnson, or when Lamb, sat in the pit, they had no such fellow playgoers about them as now crush together at the unopened doors, but a majority o f men who with us would merit the style o f gentle. Our democratic populace, rich and poor, did not exist. What class o f readers made the vogue o f the Waverley Novels? Those books were never popular, as the word is now understood; price alone proves that. Nor was Sheridan popular in this sense. The spiritual mates of those who now pay for a stall at Drury Lane or the Adelphi sat then in stalls o f another kind—cobbler’s or huckster’s—and recked not o f dramatic lit­ erature. Our thronging multitude, with leisure and money undreamt o f by their predecessors, must somehow find amusement after a daytime o f more or less exhausting labour; to supply this amusement is naturally a profitable business; and so it comes about that the literary ideal o f a stage-play is sup­ planted on the stage itself by the very practical notions o f a popular impre­ sario. Hence the sundering o f theatre and literature. By producing new plays such as would commend themselves to intellectual people (supposing such plays obtainable), a manager not easily discouraged might perchance, after a few seasons, count upon a regular audience that would half fill his theatre. For he would be appealing to the minority; not, as in former days, to the whole playgoing public. Where is this manager? Nay, if he came into being, his enterprise must needs be rather a depressing affair. He and his supporters would suffer from the declared lack o f popular enthusiasm. Conceivably we may some day have a theatre for those who think, quite distinct from the houses sought out by those who are conscious only o f crude sensations. But at present we may be grateful that one form o f literary

52

TH E LE T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

art, thanks to the mode o f its publication, can be cultivated regardless o f the basest opinion. Professed playwrights may be left to entertain their admir­ ers. A novelist who would deliberately contend with them has to study a craft which goes, or ought to go, sorely against his conscience. I cannot see that the man o f letters suffers in any way, except financially, under his exclu­ sion from the stage. The history o f culture prepares us to take for granted that a period will have its predominant artistic form, and that o f our time is narrative fiction. There seems to be no reason in the nature o f things why an author who deals imaginatively with the scenes and problems o f life should not, at will, cast his work into one shape or the other, according to his material and his aim in handling it. A playwright will declare to you that the conditions o f scenic representation demand a special art; one must learn what can, and what cannot, practically be done upon the stage, &c. But no, this is nothing to the point. Dismiss the modern stage-carpenter (who possibly has a legit­ imate sphere, though quite away from the drama), and any artist in narra­ tive can construct a play which will be perfectly actable—that is to say, which will conflict in no particular with the genuine “conditions o f scenic representation.” To dismiss the stage carpenter, however, is to cut out more than half the play demanded by our impresario and his patrons; and the mere drama—vivid, subtle, entertaining, as you please—would not be o f the kind to draw a paying audience. It would contain no claptrap, no ludicrous outrage o f probability, no determined exhilaration at the close. I f the theme were very simple, each act would stand by itself as a chapter in the story; were it elaborate, the acts would inevitably be divided into scenes, on the Elizabethan model. But why discuss these details? No ordinary theatre would produce the work. Some years ago I witnessed in Paris the stage version o f Daudet’s “Fromont J e u n e I t was a harrowing spectacle; yet Daudet had shared in the work o f dramatization. Even in Paris it had been judged necessary so to mutilate and distort the delightful novel that not one single merit o f the original re­ mained. The work had become grossly commonplace. Desiree Delabelle was happily married; Sidonie—bah! More recently I was foolish enough to visit the Odeon, in order to see Dostoieffsky’s “Crime et Chatiment.” The noble work (which o f Dostoieffsky’s is less than noble?) was turned into a vulgar melodrama—yet half-heartedly, so that it did not take the public. I f a story-writer experience a strong impulse to write a play, why, let him obey the impulse, and the gods be with him! If half a dozen or more work under like constraints o f soul, then we shall soon have the conceivable thea­ tre, with its nightly half-audiences. Is any such dramatic revival within view? 2. Speaking for myself, I have never written anything in scenic form, nor

S E P T E M B E R 10, 1 8 9 2

53

any story which might have taken the form o f a play. My interest in the thea­ tre of to-day is so slight that probably I could not work for the stage to my own satisfaction or that o f anyone else. It is certain that Mr. Archer’s kind invitation (and who has a better right to urge the cause o f the drama?) leaves me cold. 3. In reading some o f Ibsen’s plays, I have regretted that they were plays. “Hedda Gabler,” for instance, seems to me a strangling o f rich possibilities which might have been worked out in the generous scheme o f a novel. On the stage it is admirably effective, so o f course my objection stands defeated; the author has done what he purposed. I mention the thought merely to throw light upon my own way o f regarding art-material. In dealing with the complex life o f to-day I am not content to offer only dialogue. The artist, I agree, must not come forward among his characters; but on the other hand, it appears to me that his novel will be artistically val­ uable in proportion to his success in making it an expression o f his own in­ dividuality. To talk about being uobjective” is all very well for those who sw'ear by w'ords. No novelist was ever objective, or ever will be. His work is a bit o f life as seen by him. It is his business to make us feel a distinct pleasure in seeing the world with his eyes. Now, to be sure, a skilful dramatist does this, up to a certain point. For my own part, I wish to go beyond that point, to have scope for painting, to take in the external world and (by convention, w'hich no novelist has set aside) the unuttered life o f soul. Stage directions and soliloquy will not answer my purpose. And again, though my tastes are scarcely pornographic, I wish, when oc­ casion demands it, to write o f things that may neither be transacted nor dis­ cussed corampopulo. This is an old debate; let the allusion suffice. I rage not against the dramatic censor, for it seems to me that a modern audience will never receive with genuine satisfaction all the action and dialogue which each individual might reasonably study in a book. What does all this mean but that I conceive myself impelled to pursue one walk o f art in preference to another? 'Edw ard Tyas C ook ( 1 8 5 7 - 1 9 1 9 ) was editor o f the Pall Mall Gazette from 1 8 9 0 to 1 8 9 2 , o f the Westminster Gazette from 1 8 9 3 to 1 8 9 6 , o f the Daily News from 1 8 9 6 to 1 9 0 1 , and wrote various books on Ruskin and handbooks to the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery, and the Greek and Roman Antiquities in the British Museum.

*

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

54

To Algernon MS: I.e. NYPL. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. September 17, 1892.

My dear Alg., What is this I hear, in a letter from Nelly, o f Mother’s coming to you for a month? Is Katie going away?1 I f nothing happens, I shall have finished my book in a fortnight. I have written it at a great speed, but I think it equals anything I have done yet. How I wish it were possible for us to see each other after that. A change I must have, but I don’t quite know how to get it. The infant makes it so diffi­ cult for us to go about all together. We think o f lodgings for a time in Lon­ don, 8c indeed I can’t get on without the Mus. Brit, much longer. Anything from Blackett? I am getting very anxious on your account. O f course September is the worst month for publishing business. Hardy’s new novel begins in the 111. Lond. News for Oct. I.2 I shall read it. Haven’t yet seen “Tess.” We go blackberrying a good deal, but otherwise I do nothing save sit at desk. No time for books. Do you see the Rev. o f Reviews. Remarkable account o f a novel by Bjornson this month, 8c fine portrait o f him.3 Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'A lgernon’s wife was going to stay with her parents, James and Kate Baseley, in Jersey for a month, while Gissing’s m other went to Algernon during that time. Lucy Bruce’s diary sheds light on the disastrous financial affairs o f the Baseleys at this time. On O ctober 3 she “H ad a long talk with Flossie [one o f the Baseley girls, sister o f Algernon’s wife] about terrible affairs at Jersey,” and on O ctober 6 “ Decided to send Kate [her sister] £ 5 but not to guarantee any­ thing for a permanency.” On O ctober 11: “Astounding news from Jersey that Kate is going to London in the midst o f their extreme poverty to [her daughter] Vita’s wedding.”

2The Well-Beloved, serialized as The Pursuit o f the Well-Beloved in the Illustrated London News from October 1 to December 17. 3

•

•

This was a long treatment o f the Norwegian novelist Bjornstjerne Bjornson ( 1 8 3 2 - 1 9 1 0 ) and his novel The Heritage o f the Kurts. Part I was entitled “The A uthor” (pp. 2 8 8 - 9 2 ) and signed by Chr. Collin. Part II, “The Book” (pp. 2 9 2 - 9 7 ) , was unsigned, but the Index attrib­ utes the authorship o f the article itself to G. Halliday and G. Steffan. Bjornson, then the lead­ ing Norwegian novelist, but also a poet and dramatist, won the Nobel prize in 1 9 0 8 . One o f his “songs” became the Norwegian national anthem.

*

S E P T E M B E R 26, 1892

55

To Algernon MS: I.e. N YPL.

1. St. Leonard's Terrace, Exeter. September 2 0 , 1892.

My dear Alg., I tell you what we will do. A week before the 21?r o f Oct., we will go to Weymouth, Sc remain in lodgings there until Katie’s arrival. Perhaps the weather will be decent, Sc it is an interesting place. Then, I could come on with Katie to Willersey, Sc Edith with infant would go to London, where eventually I should join them.1 I hope nothing will interfere with this plan, which seems feasible enough. It is very annoying that you should have to wait so long for Blackett’s reply. But he is probably back in town by now. An astonishing letter yesterday from a man—one Bernard Traille, busi­ ness manager o f the Opera House, Sydney,—who proposes a dramatization o f “New Grub Street.” I have replied with a request for nearer particulars. The idea seems to me rather a wild one. He writes from London, 8c I don’t know whether he means the theatrical adaptation for England or Australia. Am forging ahead. Think I shall call the book “The Odd Women.” Always yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'Gissing and his wife were to meet Algernon’s wife Katie at Weymouth on her return from Jersey. The arrangement Gissing discusses here and in some o f the following letters is ex­ plained in note 1 to the letter o f O ctober 21.

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace. Monday, [September 2 6 , 1892],

We have an opportunity o f taking rooms at Weymouth for week previous to the 21?t o f Oct. Shall we decide that K. returns on the 21?t—Friday—at all events not sooner than that. And will it not be advisable for her to remain over night at Weymouth. That can be arranged. Any news? G. G. *

56

T H E LE T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

To Algernon MS: NYPL. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. O ctober 6 , 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Alg., You probably do not know that Tennyson died at half-past one this (Thursday) morning.1 To-morrow I shall send you a newspaper. A marvel­ lously peaceful end. Within a few hours o f death, he called for his Shakspere, & turned to “Cymbeline,” & glanced over a page or two. Abbey burial, ol course. Who will be the next Laureate? Naturally, they think o f Swinburne.2 Many thanks for your letter. —No, no; you must not attribute so much importance to Hardy’s taste for my books.3 The tendency he has now devel­ oped was shown long ago—in “Two on a Tower,” for instance.4 By the bye, there is a very fine portrait o f him (full page) in last Saturday’s London News, together with the first installment o f his new novel “The Pursuit o f the Well-beloved.”5 —I have not read “Tess,” but I have no doubt whatever that it has received exaggerated praise. Tragic power is hardly his attribute. But I, o f course, rejoice in the boldness o f his new undertakings. Yesterday, I sent the MS. o f “The Odd Women” to Bullen. He asked me, at the time o f “Denzil Quarrier,” to give them the refusal o f my next. It is doubtful whether they will take it, for I fear “D.Q.” had done very poorly. When I have spent some days at Willersey, I mean to go on into War­ wickshire, & have a careful look at Birmingham, Dudley & Wolverhamp­ ton. I want to use them in the next story, if possible. Perhaps I may spend some three weeks in those towns. I will bring some o f Roberts’s stories. He is going ahead rapidly. Work quietly on at your new book. I f one does only a couple o f pages a day, how quickly it mounts up! “The Odd Women” has been written at the rate o f five daily—o f course far too quick a speed. I hope to take more time over the next. Edith will go to London from Weymouth by the L[ondon] & S[outh]W[estern]. It is more convenient. Shall be delighted to see you & Mother. My love to her. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'Thursday, October 6 , 1 8 9 2 , at 1:35. According to Sir Edm und Gosse, in his 1 9 1 7 biography o f Swinburne, ‘‘expert opinion was practically unanimous” for Swinburne, but Gladstone thought that the “turbulency” o f his political opinions made it impossible (pp. 2 7 6 - 7 7 ) . In 1 8 9 6 , Alfred Austin ( 1 8 3 5 - 1 9 1 3 ) was appointed Poet Laureate.

O C T O B E R 14, 1 8 9 2

57

3See letter o f November 3, n. 7. 4

■

•

-

Gissing seems to refer to Hardy’s frankness about sexual relationships, for which that novel (1 8 8 2 ) was criticized, and because o f which Tess o f the D 'Urbemllcs had to be bowdlerized for serial publication in 1891. ^ h is is an uncom m on photograph o f Hardy taken by Wheeler, in Weymouth, which ap­ peared in the issue o f the Illustrated London News o f O ctober 1, p. 4 2 4 , and is reproduced in the present volume.

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

[O ctober 9 , 1892.]

Am sending Spec, which has notice already.1 —Don’t trouble about the affairs you mention. —Thanks for forwarded letter; it is a bookseller’s bill, sent through misunderstanding. On the 16'h you will receive “Review o f Reviews,” which please keep till my arrival. Leave on Friday. A tremendous journey. Three changes, & one wait of an hour.2 Altogether four hours on way. G. G. Monday Glad B[lackett] has sent at last. Finish new thing, & turn elsewhither. 'A ccording to the diary’ Gissing had heard from Algernon on Sunday, O ctober 9 , the day after the article he mentions appeared, and so we give that date to this card (rather than the postmark date o f O ctober 1 0 ), assuming that “Monday,” O ctober 10, dates the P.S. H e is al­ m ost certainly referring to the article in the Spectator for O ctober 8 , pp. 4 8 4 - 8 5 , entitled “Top­ ics o f the Day. The Death o f Tennyson.” In the “ News o f the Week” column, p. 4 8 1 , there is also a paragraph announcing Tennyson’s death. 2O n O ctober 14 he left for Weymouth at 10:45 and arrived at 4 :0 0 .

*

From A. H. Bullen MS:

NYPL. 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London, W. C. October 14, 1892.

My dear Mr. Gissing, I have read “The Odd Women,” and think that it will sustain or even en­ hance your reputation. In fact I am inclined to agree with you that it is your

58

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

best book. Whether it will be popular I, o f course, cannot say; but I am sure that it will be far more successful than “Denzil Quarrier.” I don’t know whether you ever make any alterations in your books; but I venture to offer a few suggestions. The opening chapters, describing the sufferings o f the sisters, repel the reader. I f they were shortened, and if some o f the more painful details were toned down, I think it would be an advantage. Then there is that dreadful person Mrs. Luke Widdowson. Her conversa­ tion with Monica before the wedding might be curtailed.1 It would be well, I think, to expunge the passage about George Eliot— seeing that Cross (if I mistake not) is alive.2 What I should like to do would be to send you the first proofs in slips. Then the expense o f correction would be slight. Please understand that I make these suggestions with all humility. The opening chapters I found te­ dious; and I fear that I should not be singular in this respect. When the ini­ tial difficulty had been overcome I settled down to the enjoyment o f your masterly book. Now as to the terms. We should publish the book in 3 vols. at the usual price o f 31s/6d. You probably know that the price to Mudie, Smith, etc., would be 15/ (less disct.),— 13 copies counting as 12. We should print 500 copies in the first instance, & should keep the type standing. From the 3 vol. form we should go straight to the 3s/6d. 1 vol.3 In the case o f this novel we should advertise freely. We think that 3/- per copy (13 as 12) would be a fair royalty for the 3 vol. edition, and 6d per copy (13 as 12) for the 3s/6d edition. As regards the American, Continental, and Colonial editions, we would send you half the profits. In advance o f the English royalties we would pay 50 gs. down and another 50gs. on the day o f publication. We would send you statements twice a year—in January & in July. Kindly let us know whether these terms would be satisfactory to you. Meanwhile I beg to enclose a cheque for £13-2-6, being your share o f the 25 gs. which we received from Heinemann & Balestier for the Continental copyright o f Denzil Quarrier. —I have recently read “The Emancipated,” which you mentioned in one o f your letters. It is a book that we should like to issue at 3s/6d (allowing you a royalty o f 6d per copy) if you could put it in our way.4 I read it with keen pleasure. Yours sincerely, A. H. Bullen *As the present whereabouts o f the MS are unknown, we cannot fully realize the signifi­ cance o f Bullen’s suggestions.

O C T O B E R 18, 1 8 9 2

59

2John Walter C ross ( 1 8 4 0 - 1 9 2 4 ) , whom M ar)'Ann Evans (G eorge Eliot) married in 1880, after years o f life in com m on with George Henry Lewes. The one-volume edition (1 8 9 4 ) was actually published at 6 / - , as were to be all the onevolume editions o f Gissing’s works published by Lawrence & Bullen in his lifetime. The Emancipated was, again, published in 1 8 9 3 at 6 / - , not at 3s.6d.

*

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

[Weymouth.] [O ctober 15, 1892.]

Our address is: C/o Mrs. Craig 8 Belgrave Terrace Dorchester Road We^Tiiouth. Will meet K[atie] at the landing-stage. For fear o f accident, better let her know our address. Will write again to let you know train. To-day glorious weather. Precisely June returned. ' G.G. *

To Algernon MS: p.c. Yale.

8. Belgrave Terrace, Dorchester Rd., Weymouth. Tuesday, [O ctober 18, 1892],

Forgot to acknowledge your letter with stamps. Have got the pens. Best train from here is 10.20 a.m. Reaches Reading at 2.25, Oxford at 3.20, & Evesham at 5.28. After all, E. will go with us as far as Swindon, where we are obliged to change for Reading. Shall bring Illust? London News, the Tennyson number.1 Also Roberts’s books. G. G.2 'The issue o f O ctober 15 was occasioned by Tennyson’s death, but not exclusively devoted to him. The first page was an engraving o f “The Late Alfred, Baron Tennyson, Poet Laureate,” taken from “a hitherto unpublished portrait by Mr. H . H. C am eron.” The number also con­ tained ten dedicatory poems by such poets as William Watson and Richard Garnett, a tew brief

TH E L E TTERS OF G EO RG E GISSING

60

stories on Tennyson, and a heavily illustrated feature article entitled “The late Alfred, Baron Tennyson,” pp. 4 8 3 - 9 0 . 2In another hand: “Despite the incongruities & apparent horrors in the inner secrets o f na­ ture, still from nature’s aspects 8c works do we get all our ideas o f beauty & [illegible word].”

*

From Richard Bentley & Son MS: BL. 8 New Burlington St., London W. O ctober 19, 1 8 9 2 . To George Gissing Esq 1 St Leonard’s Terrace Exeter

Dear Sir, If we are not able ourselves to find an opportunity for a one volume edi­ tion o f “The Emancipated ” we should not like to stand in the way o f anyone else doing so. We have referred to our publication ledger to see in what po­ sition the book stands. We find that up to to-day the expenses upon the book (including the £150 paid to the author) have amounted to £444 and the receipts during the same period to £392.1 This o f course is an accident o f publishing, & we should not mention it had you not enquired as to the terms on which we would cede the copyright. I f with a full knowledge o f the circumstances o f the case you can see your way to making a proposition that will come to our rescue we shall have pleasure in giving it both imme­ diate and favourable consideration. We remain dear Sir, Yours faithfully Richard Bentley & Son p. N. T. B. 'A ccording to the Bentley ledgers in the British Library', Bendey’s total expenses amounted to £ 4 4 3 .0 .9 , and his total receipts to £ 4 1 9 .4 .4 . His total loss, then, came to £ 2 3 .1 6 .5 , a loss which was nearly erased by his accepting £ 2 1 (letter o f Novem ber 2 8 ), leaving a final amount o f only £ 1 .1 6 .5 .

*

O C T O B E R 21, 1892

61

To Algernon MS: NYPL. 8. Belgrave Terrace, Weymouth. Friday, O ctober 2 1 , 1892.

My dear Alg., Your telegram is just arrived. I am sorry' you troubled, as we had a letter from Katie last night. She said that Enid was better, but doubted whether it would be possible for her to cross till Monday. Now we are obliged to leave here to-morrow (Saturday) by the 10.20, seeing that all Edith’s arrangements are made at the London end. I have asked Mrs. Craig to let Katie have a room here for one night, any day next week, so that perhaps you will write S: let her know this. It is some distance from the landing stage, Sc with her luggage she had better take a fly. Katie says she will perhaps telegraph to us to-day, to let us know whether she is likely to be able to cross on Monday. For my own part, I would gladly stay till Monday, but Edith declares it impossible (after the experience o f the journey hither with the child) to go all the way to London alone. I must therefore accompany her as far as Swindon, Sc then come on to Evesham, as arranged.1 However, if it seems to you that Katie ought not to have the night here alone, Sc the subsequent journey, either you or I will come over again to Wey­ mouth to meet her. I should fancy that the shortest way is to go from Eve­ sham to Didcot, Sc thence to Weymouth. But I have a Bradshaw, Sc we will talk it over. Your letter for Katie has arrived. I would post it on to her, but the address on her letter “Bagot, Jersey,” seems to me inadequate, so I had better return the letter to you at once. For that same reason, I cannot even write to her, but must trust to you to let her hear what is going on. I hope you will receive this by the first post to-morrow (Saturday). Yours, dear Alg., G. G. Don’t trouble about Katie’s expenses here. We will see to that subse­ quently. Let her discharge the little account to Mrs. Craig independently. 5 p.m. There is no telegram from Katie, so I fear this means she does not think o f crossing on Monday. I will post this now. Shall reach Evesham to-morrow by the train I mentioned. Don’t trouble to come if weather be bad—as is most probable. 'O n O ctober 14 Gissing and his family had gone to Weymouth, where Katie was to join them on her return after a month in Jersey, but was prevented from making the trip because of

62

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

the illness o f Enid. She could not meet Gissing on the 2 1 s t, and on O ctober 2 2 he went as far as Swindon with Edith, who continued on to London, and then set out for Evesham, walking the seven miles from there to Willersey, where he met Algernon and their mother. On N o ­ vember 3 Gissing went to Birmingham while Algernon set o ff for Jersey to join his wife and daughter Enid, whose slow convalescence Gissing refers to in the letter o f Novem ber 11. Gis­ sing returned to Exeter on November 24.

*

To Ellen MS: Lilly. Willersey. O ctober 2 5 , 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Nelly, They remind me that I have long neglected to write to you. The finishing o f my book was a great toil; then came the removal to Weymouth, & subse­ quent bustlings. I am now free for a few weeks, & you must hear how things have progressed. Edith & little Grobsey have gone to London, where they will remain, I dare say, until the end o f the winter.1 The little chap is well, & chortles all day long; when I see him again, I fear he will regard me as a stranger. He can stand, & even raise himself to his feet, & will surely soon walk. His thin hair gets dark, & his two little teeth—very jagged & poor—have as yet no successors. You know we were to have met Katie at Weymouth, but Enid’s illness, now happily over, altered all that. No doubt you are annoyed at Mother’s detention here, but I suppose another fortnight will see her at home again. She wishes me to say that you shall have a line from her very soon. On Saturday I go to Birmingham, where I shall take lodgings for a month or two, just to study that region for use in a new book. Lawrence & Bullen will publish “The Odd Women” in three Vols. They pay me a hundred guineas in advance, my due being a royalty o f 3/- on each copy sold in the 3 -vol. edition, & 6d on each copy in the subsequent 3/6 edition. Bullen is enthusiastic about the book; he says they will advertise largely. I was very glad to hear that anecdote o f the Scarboro’ book-stall. By the bye, at Oxford station I saw six copies o f “New Grub Street” prominently displayed. You are hard at work again, o f course. —Do you, I wonder, eat quite enough? I am convinced that the food department is o f great importance. Try to get a good variety o f food, &, above all, things that you can eat with

N O V E M B E R 3, 1 8 9 2

63

gusto. And as soon as ever you are able to afford it, havea glass o f decent Claret every day for dinner;—that is a vast aid. My love to Madge. I hope you both manage to keepwarm this horrible weather. It will be cheerful in Birmingham! Ever yours, dear Nelly, G. G. *She returned on November 2 8 .

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale. Bertz. [1 2 9 Ladywood Road], Birmingham. November 3, 1892.

My dear Friend, You have indeed a calamity to report. I grieve over it exceedingly. It is an extreme instance o f ill fortune that this thing should have happened just when you had a reasonable prospect o f profiting by the great success o f your book. One feels disposed to rage against fate—were it not so idle. I can only be glad that you do not allow the blow to depress you, 8c that you speak so earnestly o f the work before you. Surely someone will take up the great business which Ottmann has started?1 The stock (especially in the case o f your book “Gluck und Glas”) cannot be worthless, 8c some man will con­ tinue the sale o f these publications.2 I shall be very anxious to hear what sort o f assistance you receive from the Verband. This is a juncture which ought to prove the value o f such a society. In any event, you are one o f Ottmann’s legal creditors. I suppose it is vain to hope that he will in future be actuated by a sense o f honour? Yet his interests may somehow prove to be identical with yours, in the long run. Do not say that you will devote yourself henceforth to historic fiction. O f that you cannot be sure. I am convinced that you will write most excellent historic stories; 8c, as you say, there is undoubtedly a good public for that kind o f work; but that will not occupy you exclusively, I am sure. You will write modern stories as well. Just at present the fate o f “Gliick u. Glas” has disgusted you; but this impression will pass away. Go on with the Luther book by all means;3—in fact, do whatever you feel strongly inclined to do; 8c, above all, lose no more time than you can help. In the rush o f authors nowadays, it is vastly important to keep one’s name frequently before the public.

64

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

You see that I write from Birmingham. I have been spending a fortnight with my brother in Worcestershire, 8c now I am here to look about me for the purpose o f getting new material. In a few days I shall be able to send you a fixed address, but as yet I have no abode. Before leaving Exeter, I finished my novel, which is called “The Odd Women.” It is to be published very shortly by Lawrence 8c Bullen,4 who will pay me 100 guineas in advance o f royalties. I am glad to make this kind o f arrangement, as I am sure I shall profit by these books (to a small extent) in years to come. Smith 8c Elder are certainly deriving a good annual sum from those five books o f mine which they hold. Wherever I travel, I see these books, in one or other edition, on the bookstalls 8c in the shops. O f the cheap edition o f “New Grub Street” they have obviously printed many thousands.5 It is a grievous pity that I could not afford to keep an interest in these publications. Frequent references in periodicals prove to me that I am becoming pretty well known. My title “New Grub Street” has even been accepted for popular use, witness the fact that a column o f reviews in the Graphic the other day was headed “In New Grub Street.”6 A monthly paper called The Bookman stated, not long ago, that it was known that “Mr. Thomas Hardy has a spe­ cial admiration for the writings o f George Gissing.”7 In view o f Hardy’s great popularity just now, this was a valuable advertisement. So much about myself. —Your “Mancherlei Mar” will, I am sure, be full o f interesting things. I repeat: try to get it done before long. Publish it whilst your reputation is still fresh. You have suffered many blows o f fate, but all the more likely that your day o f success 8c quiet is drawing near. Work steadily on with the short stories 8c with “Junker Georg.”8 I am sorry to hear o f your having to spend so much time over that translation from Bjornson.9 You need all for your own productions. I suppose you have read much about Tennyson since his death. Well, we have lost our one indisputably great poet; for my own part, I agree with those who think him a worthy successor o f Theocritus 8c Virgil. He had not much to say, but his utterance is consummate, the very perfection o f lan­ guage. His place among the Immortals is far more certainly assured than that of Byron—perhaps than that o f Shelley. You say that “In Memoriam” wearies you. Yes, but read his shorter poems—“CEnone,” “Lucretius,” “Guinevere,” 8c “Locksley Hall,” 8c all the lyrics; read “Maud” 8c perhaps “The Princess.” (I should have mentioned “The Lotos Eaters.”) No poet ever wrote more musically, or with greater command o f picturesque, sug­ gestive language. Remember that his best work belongs to a past genera­ tion. He is not o f to-day—any more than Keats is.

N O V E M B E R 10, 1 8 9 2

65

You shall hear again from me very soon. You known [sic] well how sincerely I sympathize with you in this wretched calamity. But you do not need en­ couragement, for you have done fine work, & will do finer. Ever yours, dear old Friend, George Gissing 'O ttm ann’s publishing business was founded (that is, registered) on August 3, 1 8 9 1 , but bankruptcy proceedings were instituted on O ctober 5, 1892. Glilck und Glas was reissued by Reissner in 1893. ^The title was “In Luthers Heimat,” listed in 1 9 0 3 , but publication uncertain. 4lt was published in April, 1893. Smith, Elder held the copyrights to Demos, Thyrza, A Life's Morninpf, The Nether World, and New Grub Street. T o illustrate Gissing’s point, we give the publication information for New Grub Street: 7 5 0 copies ot the 6 / - edition were printed (plus 1 ,5 0 0 for Petherick’s Colonial edition), and 2 ,5 0 0 ot the 1 8 9 2 edition (in either red limp cloth, at 2 / 6 or pictorial covers, i.e. yellowback, at 2 / - ) . Another 2 ,0 0 0 , bound either in red cloth or pictorial covers, were printed in 1893. 6 “In New Grub Street,” a two-column review o f new novels, in the Graphic issue o f August 2 0 , p. 223. ' “ News N otes,” Bookman, October: “The opinions o f novelists on novels are always interest­ ing, whether one agrees with them or not. M r. Hardy is known specially to admire the writings o f George Gissing” (p. 6). 8Another boys’ ston ’. 9 •• • * Bjornstjerne Bjornson (see letter o f September 17, 1 8 9 2 , n. 3 ), then the leading Norwe­ gian novelist, but also a poet and dramatist. It is not known what Bertz was translating.

*

From Richard Bentley & Son MS: BL.

8 New Burlington St. November 10, 1892.

Dear Sir, Since we last wrote to you with reference to “The Emancipated,” we have had an opportunity o f referring the matter to M r Bentley one day when he was in town, and he is anxious that no impediment should be placed in your way in regard to a reprint o f the book. Under these circumstances we should not ask to be recouped the defi­ ciency on the three volume edition, but possibly some arrangement could be made for a nominal payment in recognition o f the transfer, say perhaps twenty guineas.1 Hoping by this means that the execution o f your wishes for a cheap edi­ tion may be facilitated,

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

66

We remain, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, Richard Bentley & Son per RKJ 'See Bullen’s letter o f November 28.

*

To Mary Bedford MS: PM L.

160 Brighton Road, Birmingham. November 11, 1892.

Dear Mary, After an unsatisfactory week in lodgings taken at haphazard, I am remov­ ing to far better quarters.1 1 don’t think it is likely that, after this, any letter for me will be addressed to Willersey; but, if that should happen, may I trust to your kindness to forward it to the above address? 1 am studying Birmingham to some purpose, I think. It is a huge, de­ pressing place—redeemed only by the fine Public Library. I walk some ten or twelve miles a day about the dreary streets: fortunately the weather is tolerable. Alg. writes to me that they have constant rain & storm in Jersey, & that poor little Enid will be long recovering her strength. Mother & I had a dinner at the railway station,2 & parted. I daresay the news o f the great railway accident didn’t make her northward journey any pleasanter. Please remember me very kindly to Auntie. I very much wish Broadway were nearer; it is rather wretched not to have a soul to speak to. Looking back out o f this hideous town, I quite appreciate your devotion to those ex­ quisite fields & lanes. Indeed, I never enjoyed the country more than during this last visit to Alg. Sincerely yours, George Gissing JHe had taken lodgings at 1 2 9 Ladyvvood Road on N ovem ber 3 , and moved to Brighton Road on the tenth. 2

•

•

Gissing had spent several days with his brother at Willersey, the visit recorded in his diary entry o f O ctober 3 0 and mentioned in the paragraph below, then travelled with his m other to Birmingham, where the two had lunch at the railway station, after which his m other went on to Wakefield and Gissing went in search o f rooms. The railway accident occurred on N o ­ vember 2 , when the East coast Scotch express out o f Edinburgh, while travelling at a high rate

N O V E M B E R 11, 1 8 9 2

67

of speed, ran into a goods train near Thirsk. The most frightening aspect o f it was that several coaches caught fire; eight persons were killed on the spot, two others died a short time later, and several others were more o r less severely burned.

*

To Algernon MS: NYPL. 160 Brighton Road, Birmingham. November 11, 1892.

My dear Alg., Your bad weather will surely come to an end before long, 8c the winter may be all the better for it. Furious storms still in the Atlantic, I see. Your illness pointed, I should think, to a reduced state o f body, consequent upon worries. I hope you will soon be feeling better. Well, perhaps the day may come when we shall enjoy a holiday without any annoying interruption. For me, those ten days among the fields were extremely delightful. I have found quarters in the Moseley region, very comfortable 8c cheap. The cost is only 11/6 a week, inclusive o f fire 8c gas. But Edith is going to stay in London for the present, 8c I think it likely that, as soon as I have got all my materials for a new book, we shall meet again at Exeter—perhaps by the end o f this month. None the less, I am resolved to come north again in the spring, that you 8c the Wakefield people may see little Grobs. This is o f course a hideous 8c depressing place, but I think I see my way to make use o f it. The Central Public Library is astonishing; the reference de­ partment is not practically inferior to the British Museum. Magnificent reading-rooms, vast 8c ornate. A large case exhibits the books recently pur­ chased, 8c it seems to me that they have all o f any moment pub? during the past year. By the bye, I find that you are included in the Supplement to Allibone, but only your first book, as the final date is ’88.1 Together with us they have put “Gissing T. W. A Flora o f Wakefield.” Probably because o f a pre­ sumed connection. I was very glad o f these things. —Our page in the Brit. Museum Catalogue must be getting rather imposing. Moseley is the district for anyone who wants decent lodgings. Edgbaston consists for the most part o f substantial private houses. But here in Brighton Road I can live peacefully. Close by is a railway station, whence I get for ld\ to New Street, 8c equally close the steam tram. The surroundings are dis­ tinctly suburban, 8c in summer there must be pleasant walks within reach. Aston is a fearful region—smoke 8c squalor. I am going to use it par­ ticularly.

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E G ISSING

68

Thanks for the Daily News cutting.2 There is a portrait o f Roberts in the Novel Review.3 In a few days I shall go 8c examine Dudley,—perhaps also Walsall, 8c one or two other such places. As yet I have no cold; only severe rheumatism across the shoulders every morning. I hope Enid’s slow convalescence will not depress you & be a check upon your work. She could not, fortunately, be in a better place. Very glad to hear that Katie keeps well. Let me hear again in a fortnight or so. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. lAllibone’s Dictionary o f Authors: Supplement (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1 8 9 1 ), I, p. 6 7 5 . 2Very likely this was a cutting o f the article in the issue o f Novem ber 4 , p. 5, entitled “M r. George M eredith,” a story on M eredith’s election as President o f the Society o f Authors consequent on Tennyson’s death: “M r. George Meredith has been elected to succeed Lord Tennyson as President o f the Society o f Authors. . . . There was a strong muster o f the Council o f the Society o f Authors at the meeting convened yesterday [3rd ] at the society’s rooms in Portugal-street, for the purpose o f choosing a president in the room o f the late Lord Tennyson. . . .” 3Raymond Blathwayt, “A C hat with M r. Morley R oberts,” Novel Review, November 1 8 9 2 , pp. 6 9 8 - 7 0 8 . The portrait is on p. 6 9 9 .

*

To the Editor of Blackwood’s Magazine MS: NLS.

. 160 Brighton Road, Birmingham. November 17, 1 8 9 2 .

Dear Sir, I am sorry to be obliged to trouble you with reference to my story UA Victim o f Circumstances.” Twelve months ago, on writing to make inquiry, I was informed that you had put the story aside for use in the Magazine.1 This news was gratifying to me, 8c from month to month I have hoped that proofs would arrive. Unfortunately I cannot let the date o f publication re­ main indefinite. —I wonder whether it would be possible for you to pay for the story before it appears. If not, 8c if there seems to be no likelihood o f speedy publication, I fear I have no choice but to request you to return me the MS. Most assuredly I do not wish to withdraw it from your hands, but literature is unhappily a trade,—8c on that account you will, I hope, excuse this application.2 Yours faithfully, George Gissing

N O V E M B E R 18, 1 8 9 2

69

The Editor Blackwood’s Magazine 'See letters o f November 2 5 , 1 8 9 1 , and March 7 and 8 , 1892. 2U pper left corner in another hand: “£ 2 0 sent Nov. 1 8 /9 2 A.W.”

*

From William Blackwood MS: N L S .1 4 5 George Street, Edinburgh. November 18, 1892.

My dear Sir, I am very sorry indeed that you should have had occasion to write me again about your excellent story “A Victim o f Circumstances,” and had I only thought o f it, I should have had great pleasure in sending you the hon­ orarium for it on acceptance. But I have been purposely delaying the ap­ pearance o f the story, as it seemed to me so admirably suited for the New Year’s number o f the Magazine, and as I purposed using it in January in any case, and owing to the long delay, I feel I am conferring no favour by asking you to accept the enclosed cheque for £20 in acknowledgment of it. I shall send vou proof as soon as the December number is out o f hand, and should you again be good enough to send me something for the Magazine, I shall make a point o f giving you early insertion, as being only due to you after your long patience. In haste, Yours very truly, (signed) William Blackwood George Gissing Esq. 'Taken from a transcript supplied by the N LS.

*

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

70

To William Blackwood MS: NLS.

1 60 Brighton Road, Birmingham. November 2 0 , 1892.

Dear Sir, I thank you very much for your kind letter. Now that I know what you had in view, I o f course wish that I had not troubled you,—but it is so fatally easy to do the wrong thing. Enclosed is a receipt for the cheque you were so good as to send me. Will you please to let the proof o f the story be sent to my usual address: 1 S': Leonard’s Terrace Exeter. I remain, dear Sir, Very truly yours, George Gissing William Blackwood Esq.rc 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. November 2 1 , 1 8 9 2 .

Received o f the Editor o f Blackwood’s Magazine the sum o f Twenty Pounds, payment for my story entitled “A Victim o f Circumstances.” George Gissing *

To Edmund Gosse MS: BL.

Questions at Issue. 1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. November 2 0 , 1 8 9 2 .

Sir, Will you pardon me if I address you in a line or two, merely to say with what satisfaction I have read your “Tennyson” paper in the “New Review,” which has only just come into my hands?1 The popular mind is my study, & I know that Tennyson’s song no more reached it than it reached the young-eyed Cherubim. Nor does any song reach the populace, rich & poor, unless, as you suggest, it be such as ap­ pears in The Referee.2 I am guilty o f presumption in sending this note, but the impulse is too

N O V E M B E R 20, 1892

71

strong. It rejoices me beyond measure, after the nonsense that has been poured forth, to hear veracity on this subject.3 Believe me, Sir, Yours gratefully, George Gissing Edmund Gosse Esq. 'Edm und Gosse, “Tennyson,” New Review, November 1 8 9 2 , pp. 5 1 3 - 2 4 . Early in Gosse’s essay he proposed the thesis that “ Poetry is not a democratic art. We are constantly being told by the flexible scribes who live to flatter the multitude that the truest poetry is that which speaks to the million, that moves the great heart o f the masses. In his private consciousness no one knows better than the lettered man who writes such sentences that they are not true. Since the pastoral days in which poets made great verses for a little clan, it has never been true that poetry’ o f the noblest kind was really appreciated by the masses” (p. 5 1 4 ). T h e Referee was a Sunday sporting paper founded in 1 8 7 7 and edited until 1891 by its proprietor, Henry Sampson ( 1 8 4 1 - 1 8 9 1 ) . Gosse did not name this paper, but he felt that the excessive popular adulatiou given to Tennyson on his death was occasioned more by the man than by his poetry, and he was anxious lest such a confusion be taken to signal the death o f poetry itself as being subject to the mass mentality: “The recuperative force o f the arts has never yet failed the human race, and will not fail us now. All the Tit-Bits and Pearson’s Weeklies in the world will not be able to destroy a fragment o f pure and original literature, although the tastes they foster may delay its recognition and curtail its rewards. . . . And poetry', which survived the death o f Chaucer, will recover even from the death o f Tennyson” (p. 5 2 3 ). Gissing’s re­ mark on the Cherubim alludes to The Merchant o f Venice, V, i, 5 8 - 6 5 in the Riverside edition: Look how the floor o f heaven Is thick inlaid with patens o f bright gold. There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st But in his m otion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eye’d cherubins; Such harmony is in immortal souls, But whilst this muddy vesture o f decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 3Several m onths later Gosse wrote to ask Gissing for an expanded statement o f his views on this subject, one which he could use in his volume Questions at Issue, along with his own essay on Tennyson. See letter o f M arch 18, 1893.

*

72

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E G ISSING

To Algernon MS: NYPL.

1 6 0 Brighton Road, Birmingham. November 2 2 , 1892.

My dear Alg., Having got together a good deal o f material, I go hence on Thursday, re­ turning to Exeter. The proofs o f “The Odd Women” require work o f a kind I cannot easily manage in lodgings— re-writing & laborious correcting. For that kind o f thing I must be in my own study, with desk to write at & vols. of reference handy. By the bye, I wrote to Blackwood the other day, asking him what he meant to do with my short story. In reply came an extremely civil letter from W. B. My “excellent” story was to appear in the New-Year’s Number, which it would suit admirably.1 The long delay was regretted, but he promised that if I sent him anything else, I should have speedy admittance. And therewith a cheque for Twenty Pounds—to my great astonishment. The story took me three days, & I supposed it would bring me six guineas at most, being so short. This is something like a rate o f payment, what? I shall, as soon as possible, get to work at a new book, so as to be free, for once in my life, when the green time comes round. We must hear those owls on a summer night, indeed we must. I cannot tell you who [sic] I enjoyed those ten days at Willersey; they did me vast good.2 The Broadway people surprised me the other day with a little hamper o f fine apples.3 Uncommonly kind o f them, i’ faith. When ever you see them again, remember to let them know my appreciation o f this gift. I wonder how little Enid is going on. Surely you have better weather by now. But it seems to have been an unusually bad autumn all along the chan­ nel. The Brighton season o f November has been ruined by mists & rain. My affectionate greetings to Katie & the little maid. Birmingham is a place o f great conveniences. I have had my dinner of late at one or other o f the B ’ham Coffee House Company’s establishments. These are really magnificent, especially the one in Corporation Street. My meal to-day (excellent roast-beef with two vegetables) cost 9? What may have come to pass o f late years I know not, but formerly there was no such provision as this in London. Everything is on such a spacious scale, so com­ fortable & inviting in appearance. With one shilling a day for all meals, I see that a man may live here very tolerably. But rents are very' high, & rates a perpetual subject o f groaning. The excellent municipalism has to be heavily paid for.4

N O V E M B E R 22, 1892

73

I have been over to Dudley—a strange region, I promise you. The castle surprised me.5 A grand ruin, very extensive, on the top o f a great hill which is shut in for use as a public park. In summer it must be very enjoyable, for there are trees over the whole hill, & surprisingly picturesque glens, glades, slopes, natural terraces. Walks constructed, but no other interference with nature. Wandering there, in absolute seclusion, one hears from below the clash 8c clang o f the town’s industry. Any hint o f proofs yet from Blackett? I wrote the other day to the F. Harrisons, 8c in reply comes an invitation to me to settle myselt at their house if ever I want to be in London for a short time.6 Very cordial this. Keep a good heart, my dear Alg.! We shall weather these dreary times yet, 8c drink our bottle together o f an evening. Drink in the Channel air, in the meantime, 8c think out a story o f vigorous interest for the many-headed. Yours ever, G. G. '“A Victim o f Circumstances,” Blackwood’s Magazine," January 1 8 9 3 , pp. 6 9 - 8 6 , unsigned. 2He visited Algernon at Willersey from October 2 2 to November 3. On October 30 he w rote in the diary: “A t 9 in evening, when mist was thick, Alg. and 1 again went up the hill to hear the owls crying. There were several o f them, answering each other far and near;— ‘Tu-tuw h oo-oo!’ is the general cry. Some voices deeper and more tremulous than others, as if with age.” By “the Broadway people” he means “Aunt” Emma Shailer and Mar)' Bedford ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 3 1 ) ; Mary's brother Tom ( 1 8 6 1 - 1 9 3 7 ) had moved to Weston-super-Mare. B irm in gh am at this time was regarded as a model o f urban development and management, owing largely to the tenure as mayor during the 1 8 7 0 s o f Joseph Chamberlain, the Radical politician, who took a leading role in municipal reform in connection with gas and water supply, housing for workpeople, free libraries, and other concerns. Gissing was impressed by the heritage well described by Asa Briggs in his chapter on Birmingham in Victorian Cities ( 1 9 6 3 ; Pelican Books, 1 9 6 8 , p. 1 9 3 ): “The choice o f Chamberlain as M ayor was to have far more than local importance, yet it must figure dramatically in any study ofV ictorian cities. His three years o f office from 1 8 7 3 to 1 8 7 6 saw the implementation o f a civic gospel which had its origins not only in the economic and social alliances . . . but in religious idealism and mount­ i n g dissatisfaction with narrow conceptions o f the proper scope o f local government. . . . City government was never quite the same again.” h 'h e region was W orcestershire, and Dudley, the place where coal was first used for smelt­ ing iron, was known as the “Capital o f the Black Country.” On a hill in the center are the ruins o f a Norman castle, the only important ruin o f its kind in the county. 6He had w'ritten to Mrs. Harrison on November 16 and received her reply on November 18, but these letters are apparently lost.

*

TH E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

74

From Edmund Gosse MS: Kohler.

2 9 , Delamere Terrace, W estbourne Square, W. November 2 6 , 1892.

My dear Sir, I greatly value the letter which you have had the kindness to send me. It confirms in the most authoritative manner an impression which I had formed more by intuition than experience. May I venture to say with how much interest and sympathy I follow your career and read your powerful and mournful studies o f life? With sincere thanks for your valued letter believe me My dear Sir, Yours very faithfully, Edmund Gosse G. Gissing Esq. *

From A. H. Bullen MS: NYPL.

Lawrence 8c Bullen, 16 Henrietta Street, Co.vent Garden, / London W. C. November 2 8 , 1892.

My dear Mr. Gissing, I am writing to Bentley to say that we shall be pleased to purchase the copyright o f the Emancipated for twenty guineas. In the course o f the spring we will issue an edition in 1 vol., and will share the profits with you.1 The printers cannot get The Odd Women into pages until they have Chap­ ters I & II; but I don’t want to hurry you. Yours sincerely, A. H. Bullen 'See also Bentley’s letters to Gissing o f O ctober 19 and November 10. In response to Bullen’s letter here, Bentley replied on November 2 9 as follows: “Gentlemen, / In reply to your letter o f yesterday’s date with reference to M r. Gissing’s story o f “The Emancipated,”— we shall be prepared to transfer to you the remaining copyright o f the above in exchange for Twenty Guineas ( £ 2 1 ) , or, if you would like the assignment at Stationers’ Hall, for £ 2 1.1 0 — ” (B L , signed “p. R.K.J.” )

•

*

N O V E M B E R 28, 1892

75

To Algernon MS: Yale. LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. November 2 8 , 1892.

My dear Alg., Herewith two pretty typical entries from Med. Direct.—if anything more wanted, let me know. Edith 8c infant come home this afternoon.1 —Weather warm 8c tending to sunnyness. But they tell me there have been nine unbroken weeks o f mist 8c rain. In fact, our house, externally, is a mere bed o f lichenous 8c fungoid growth. The door-steps are a bright green. Three days devoted to purely domestic labour. This is wrong, 8c should somehow be avoided. Happily, I have been able to engage a servant for Wednesday. I doubt whether your gloomy days will last. The season has been wretched everywhere in Channel neighbourhood. At B’ham I happened to see, in the New Review, an article by Gosse on Tennyson, wherein he threw scorn upon the journalistic assumption that Tennyson was enjoyed by the multitude. This delighted me, 8c I sent Gosse a note to say so. Yesterday came a reply: “I greatly value the letter which you have had the kindness to send me. It confirms in the most authoritative manner an impression I had formed more by intuition than experience.— May I venture to say with how much interest 8c sympathy I follow your ca­ reer 8c read your powerful 8c mournful studies o f life.—With sincere thanks for your valued letter” 8cc. —Pleasant this. I hope you are getting into smoother water. Obviously it is only a ques­ tion o f time with Enid. My love to her 8c to Katie. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'E d ith and W alter had been staying in London with her sister, Mrs. Bosher, since October 2 2 , but on O ctober 3 0 Gissing received her letter saying that her sister was already tired o f her and hoped she would leave soon, leading him to exclaim in his diary entry for that day, “ No dealing with these low-class Londoners.” Gissing then wrote her that he would take lodgings for the whole family in Birmingham, but she stayed in London, although Gissing received another letter from her on November 18 saying that she was anxious to get home. Gissing re­ turned to Exeter on November 2 4 and Edith on the twenty-eighth.

*

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

76

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. December 2 , 1892.

My dear Friend, I have been away from home for five or six weeks, partly living with my brother in Worcestershire, 8c partly getting materials for a new book in the so-called Black Country—the region to the west & north o f Birmingham, a veritable Inferno, flaring at night with the chimneys o f iron-works, & blasted by coal 8c iron mining. It is not my purpose to deal with the working-class o f that district. I shall use it as a picturesque background to a story o f middle-class life, insisting on the degree to which people have become machines, in harmony with the machinery amid which they spend their lives.1 At present I am correcting proofs of “The Odd Women,” which will come out early next year. It is to be, as usual, in three volumes. The publishers ad­ vance me a hundred guineas. The royalty is 3/- on each 3 -vol. copy sold, 8c 6? on each o f the subsequent 3/6 edition. But I have ceased to hope for larger sums o f money from my books. A short story o f mine (o f which I spoke to you long ago) called “A Vic­ tim o f Circumstances” is to appear in the January number o f Blackwood’s Magazine. O f course you shall have a copy. The payment for it, to my aston­ ishment, is as much as £20. . I wonder whether you have yet anything to report concerning Ottmann’s affairs. In all probability you have thought very little about the matter. We artists cannot afford to trouble ourselves much about pecuniary questions,— provided always that there is daily bread. I hope to hear that you have been progressing with new work. Above all, I trust that you have been able to ad­ here to the subject you took up. There is nothing more wearying & distress­ ing than a failure o f one’s confidence, time after time, in a scheme o f literary work. I know it myself only too well. Again 8c again 8c yet again I have begun a novel; only to write a few chapters 8c throw them aside as useless. Many, many months have I thus wasted. If I had confessed to you all such failures, you would have feared for me very often. But I have to keep most o f my miseries to myself. After all this time, I am returning to you Zapp’s play, by book-post.2 Have you heard anything o f him lately? Probably you have seen that our Society o f Authors has elected Meredith as President in the place o f Tennyson.3 I suppose there can be no rational doubt that Meredith is the strongest literary man, all things considered, at

D E C E M B E R 2, 1 89 2

77

present among us. I do not feel enthusiastic about his novels, but I recog­ nize his great power o f characterization, & the profoundness o f his intellec­ tual glance.4 He has done fine things in poetry, too; but his latest verse is more obscure than the worst o f Browning.5 Obscurity in poetry is a contra­ diction in terms. However deep the thought, it must be pellucidly expressed. Roberts has joined the Society tor the benefit o f its “authors’ agency.” He tells me that he never sells his own stories nowadays; the agent does every­ thing for him, &, it seems, decidedly to his profit.6 He is producing a great deal, & the demand for his work grows. Roberts is essentially a popular man. He has thorough sympathy with the robust human being. And natu­ rally enough he is called an imitator o f Kipling. Yet he does not in truth im­ itate; it is only that his experience has lain in spheres similar to Kipling’s. I shall not send you good wishes for Christmas, for I know you will have no merriment. Neither shall I be jovial;7 w^e are independent o f that kind o f thing. My good wishes to you, old friend, are, as you know, perennial. One of the latest memories o f my life will be of the evenings we spent together in the years long ago, in Chelsa & at South Tottenham, & in other places. They have a glow' in my mind. Ever yours, George Gissing *The title was to be “ Gods o f Iron.” He describes his intent in the letter to Algernon o f Feb­ ruary 2 8 , 1893. "B en z had lent it to him nine m onths earlier, and Gissing acknowledged receipt o fit in the letter o f M arch 17. 3See letter to Algernon o f Novem ber 11 and n. 2. Tennyson had been President o f the So­ ciety o f Authors since its inception, and Meredith’s election to succeed him was considered a measure o f the considerable literary reputation that had come to a writer who had spent more than thirty' years as a reader for Chapman & Hall at a very modest salary. By December o f 1892 Meredith turned to William M orris Colles, the literary agent, in order to help turn his fame into greater material rewards. 4Gissing had considerably changed his mind about M eredith, whom he once revered this side o f idolatry. On April 2 9 , 1 8 8 5 , he wrote to Algernon about Diana o f the Crossways: “The book is right glorious,— Shakspeare in modern English; but, mind you, to be read twice, or, if need be, thrice. There is a preface, which is a plea for philosophic fiction; an admirable piece o f writing, the English alone rendering it worthy o f the carefullest pondering. M ore ‘brain stu ff in the book than in any I have read for long.” On O ctober 10 o f the same year, he wrote to Algernon the following after re-reading Evan Harrington: “It is incomprehensible that Meredith is so neglected; George Eliot never did such work, & Thackeray is shallow in comparison.”

5The Empty Purse, with Odes to the Comic Spirit, 1 8 9 2 , was, as Gissing says, difficult, abstract and prosaic, but it dealt with some o f M eredith’s m ost important ideas, and it sold better than his other poetry had done. 6Roberts then, and Gissing later, engaged William M orris Colles, the literary agent for the Authors’ Society.

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

78

7ln his diary entry for Decem ber 31 Gissing summed up the past year briefly: The year 1 8 9 2 , on the whole profitless. Marked by domestic misery and discomfort. The one piece o f work, ‘The Odd W om en,’ scribbled in 6 weeks as the autumn drew to an end, and I have no high opinion o f it. Have read next to nothing; classical studies utterly neglected. W ith my new plan o f having a study away from the wretched home, may hope to achieve m ore in year to com e.” On Decem ber 15 he had engaged a sitting room at 7 Eaton Place, Heavitree Road, to use as a daily study. C annot do anything at home. Rent to be 6 / - with fire extra. Begin next Monday.”

*

From William Blackwood MS: N L S .1

4 5 George Street, Edinburgh. December 3 , 1892.

Dear Sir, I enclose proof o f your touching story “A Victim o f Circumstances,” which reads very well in print, though the saddening realism that runs through it may detract from its popularity with many readers. Kindly correct proof for press, and let me have it back on or before the

12^ If you have anything written or on the stocks likely to suit me, I shall be very pleased to read them. Believe me yours very truly, (signed)William Blackwood George Gissing Esq. P. S. I f you wish to read a book for amusement get from library “Across France in a Caravan,”2 & you will enjoy a night in an arm chair. “Mona Ma­ clean” too has a freshness & originality that is not met with every day. “The Spectator” wrote last week confirming the high opinion I formed o f it when I read it in M S.3 W. B. 'Taken from a transcript.

2Across France in a Caravan, by George Nugent Banks, a book which Blackwood had just published (advertised as “ By the author o f ‘A Day o f My Life at E to n ,’ ” without the author’s name).

3Mona Maclean, Medical Student (1 8 9 2 ), by Graham Travers. The Athenaeum reviewer (D e ­ cember 3, p. 7 7 4 ) thought the name might be a pseudonym, possibly for a woman, but praised the book highly as a first novel, criticizing it only for using too many technical medical terms and for being “a book with a purpose.” In fact Graham Travers was M argaret Todd ( 1 8 5 9 ­ 1 9 1 8 ), a Scottish writer who studied medicine in Edinburgh and was assistant physician to the Hospital for W omen and Children there. This was her first novel. Blackwood refers to the Spec­

D E C E M B E R 6, 1 8 9 2

79

tator of November 26: "Mona Maclean, Medical Student, is the cleverest novel we have read for a long time, and yet it is thoroughly enjoyable as well. . . . There is plenty o f brilliance in Mona Maclean, but no smartness whatever; it is intellectual comedy which can dispense with catch­ penny point-making; it affects us in the same way in which we should be affected by the con ­ versation of an able and cultivated woman speaking in a happy mood upon a congenial theme. . . . [The book’s] entertaining quality does not exclude a ecrtain fine seriousness o f in­ tent which gives it an intellectual and moral, as well as a merely narrative or dramatic, interest.” (p. 7 7 5 ).

*

To William Blackwood m s.

NLS. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. December 6 , 1892.

Dear Sir, Herewith I return the proof o f “A Victim o f Circumstances.” The correc­ tions I have had to make are not many, but attention to them will effect some improvement. I am ven' glad indeed that you find the story interesting. It occurred to me one summer day w'hen I w'as at Glastonbury. Unfortunately, it is very seldom indeed that I get an idea for a short story,—or indeed for any story that is likely to meet with public approval; & in the simplest sense I am un­ able to w’rite save o f things that strongly interest me. But it is my hope that before long I may be able to answer your kind invitation by sending some­ thing not unsuitable to the Magazine. Many thanks for your suggestion o f the readable books. I have seen many notices o f “Mona Maclean,” & must get hold o f it. Everything that con­ cerns the education o f women—the one interest o f our time, the one thing needful—strongly appeals to me. Very truly yours, George Gissing William Blackwood Esqfe *

80

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

To Algernon MS: NYPL. LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. Christmas Day 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Alg., Hearty good wishes to you, & to Katie & Enid, for the new year! We draw strangely near to a new century. I count greatly on Jan. I f , 1900; a bottle o f good Burgundy must be secured for that day. Here is another fellow writing to me about dramatization—this time for “A Life’s Morning,” but as he does not put a single “by your leave,” & coolly demands my cooperation for dialogue, I shall not answer his letter.1 Did you ever come across “The Recreations o f a Country Parson”— (A.K.H. Boyd)? It really is very pleasant reading—somewhat in the style o f “Dreamthorp.”2 I am thoroughly well at work on a new book—scene in Birmingham. Must manage two this next year. “A Victim o f Circumstances” is in Jan. Blackwood. I must lend you a copy some day—if he sends me one. You speak o f projects for a fixed abode. For my own part, I am seriously inclined, at Michaelmas o f next year, to make a move to suburbs o f Bir­ mingham, at all events for a year or two. Those Midlands interest me, & the free libraries are so excellent. Music, too, is obtainable, o f good quality, on reasonable terms. _ For yourself, I suppose the far north would really be most congenial. There must be a good deal o f intellectual life in Newcastle, & you may de­ pend upon it—as reflection will assure you—that it is a good thing for an author to be clearly associated with some locality. But o f course you would reflect maturely on such a definite movement. You have noticed what a strongly literary paper the Daily Chronicle has become? Always safe to buy it, when occasion demands journalistic reading. —I like it none the less because the literary reviewers seem rather fond o f dragging my name in, with or without due occasion.3 A week or two ago I brought out & read a great batch o f dear old Will’s let­ ters. They struck me as remarkable, not only by their revelation o f a charac­ ter rarely surpassed, I should think, for delicate unselfishness, but judged as mere writing. One or two o f them seem to me as good as letters written by men o f the epistolary time,—really models o f such composition. —Eheu, eheu! Your short book must be well nigh finished. Cassells, as you know, are

D E C E M B E R 28, 1892

81

publishing a series o f 1-vol. stories. Would it not be well to try them? Is not Wemyss Reid still their taster?4 They seem to be honourable people, & pub­ lish hugely. Have you seen that William Watson, the poet, has gone mad? And that, just after a grant o f £200 from Royal Bounty. But he is said to be recover­ ing.5 Was demented once before. I think very highly o f the man’s work; wish I could buy his vols. Greetings to Katie & Enid. Ever yours, dear Alg., George Gissing *Diary, Decem ber 21: “ Letter from a man this morning, who proposes to dramatize ‘A Life s Morning. Impudently written: 'I shall want your assistance in dialogue.’ No reply, I think.”

2Dreamtborp was a collection o f essays by Alexander Smith ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 8 6 7 ) , the “spasmodic” poet, published in 1 8 6 3 . A. K. H. Boyd ( 1 8 2 5 - 1 8 9 9 ) was at this time First Minister o f St. An­ drews. The first series o f “ Recreations o f a C ountry Parson” was published in 1 8 5 9 , and reissued in 1892. As an example ot what he means, we cite a sentence from a paragraph on November 2 2 , announcing the forthcom ing publication o f a novel by Thomas W right ( 1 8 5 9 - 1 9 3 6 ) , poet, novelist and biographer, whose Life o f William Cowper had appeared earlier in 1892: “The Fleetstreet ston' is historical in a large measure, and its title is T h e Mystery o f St. Dunstan’s,’ a mys­ tery that lies in the Fleet-street o f the past, not in Mr. Gissing’s ‘New Grub Street’ ” (“Writers and Readers,” p. 3). The literary' editor ot the Chronicle was Henry Norman, whom Gissing met and became friendly with in 1895. T h o m a s Wemyss Reid ( 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 0 5 ) was a Scottish journalist who edited the Leeds Mercury from 1 8 7 0 to 1 8 8 7 , then became the general manager o f Cassell’s and later editor o f the

Speaker. ^Villiam W atson ( 1 8 5 8 - 1 9 3 5 ) published Lachrymae Musarum in 1 8 9 2 , and in 1 8 9 4 com ­ memorated his recovery from serious illness with his poem “ VitaNuova .”

*

To William Blackwood MS: NLS.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. December 2 8 , 1892.

Dear Sir, I have to thank you for the Jan. number o f your Magazine, & for the courteous letter which accompanied it. It is a great pleasure to me be \sic\ find myself among your contributors, & I hope I may be able to send you another sketch which you will think worthy o f publication. Many thanks for your kind offer to present a copy to any acquaintance o f

82

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

mine on the press. But I am in the happy position (for an author) o f know­ ing not a single reviewer, nor any person of journalistic influence. With good wishes for the New Year, I remain, dear Sir, Very truly yours, George Gissing William Blackwood Esqfc *

To Ellen MS: NYPL. LGG.

1 St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. December 3 0 , 1 8 9 2 .

My dear Nelly, I have indeed been wretchedly remiss in the matter o f writing to you. I hardly know why. Letter-writing is, I suppose, so uncongenial to me that I practise a great deal o f dilatoriness whenever the thought o f it comes up. Many thanks for New Year’s wishes, 8c for the card you sent to Edith. We wish you all, in turn, as much good as 1893 can bring. I fear your feeling o f heaviness is generally due to overwork, & lack o f lively recreation— rest for the mind. One must, undoubtedly, set apart an hour or two in the day for mere amusement o f kind or another \sic\—& amusement quite unlike our ordinary concerns. I don’t do it myself, for the time 8c opportunity are not to be had; but I should be better for it. At all events, don’t sit up late at night. Sufficiency o f early sleep is a great point. I shall send you George Sand’s book. Don’t return it if it will be o f any use to you. Yes, I should think it might serve the purpose you mention. Also, you shall have a copy o f “Blackwood,” which unfortunately I must beg you to return when you have done with it. Blackwood himself writes very eulogistically o f the story, 8c requests future contributions. Is there any other book you would like me to send? German, or other? If so, please let me know. You will, I am sure, enjoy your holidays. Ah, how I envy this going about among people. Never to speak with a soul outside one’s household is very trying. I have an idea that it might be well to change my abode, for a year or two, to Birmingham. The new book I am engaged upon deals with that region, 8c I think I might make further use o f it.1 Moreover, the Birmingham librar­ ies 8c reading-rooms are admirable; I should benefit by them. And if Alg.

J A N U A R Y 15, 1 8 9 3

83

remains at Willersey, I might be able to see him more frequently,—though there is talk, by the bye, o f their going to Newcastle. I f such a move is made—on our part, I mean—it would probably be at next Michaelmas. Really, I think I have got all the good—health chiefly—that will come to me out o f Devon, 8c it does not do to stagnate. We went to hear “Elijah,” but it was very poorly done. Curious that the people o f Exeter will not support anything good in drama or music. Alto­ gether, I should fancy no town in England has a more unintellectual popu­ lation. And the country people are ignorance embodied. The little lad goes on very well. He has five teeth, 8c can very nearly walk. He knows the meaning o f a great many words, 8c evidently observes all that goes on; this morning, for instance, he picked up a comb in the bedroom, 8c at once attempted, comically enough, to comb his little pate. Hair he has scarcely any. He gives us very' little trouble now o’ nights. We give him sopped biscuit in addition to milk. Mother spoke o f eggs, but I fear it is im­ possible to obtain such a thing as a new egg in Exeter,—just as good butter is hardly to be purchased. But he must have some stronger food before long. The socks, please tell Mother, fit him excellently. He is delighted with his squirrel. We have taught him to handle it with peculiar gentleness, 8c he coos over it. A book with pictures makes him chortle delightedly. Much love to all o f you. May things go well with you, dear girl. For my­ self, I think I can keep out o f the workhouse. Affectionately, George ^T he Iron Gods,” subsequently abandoned and used in Eve’s Ransom.

* To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. January 15, 1893.

Dear Friend, I ought before this to have thanked you for sending the new edition o f your book—alas! only two volumes. The illustrations are not, o f course, worthy o f the text; but one does not expect that. They might have been much worse. I lament yet again over your disaster. But there is the hope that your next production will make a new issue o f “Gliick und Glas” imperative.1

84

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

The other day I sent you a copy o f the January Blackwood. The story called “A Victim o f Circumstances” is mine. Unfortunately, it is Blackwood’s rule to publish fiction anonymously, so that I get little good from appearing in his famous magazine. However, he invites me to write again; & the payment is high—£20 for that short story. I wonder whether you will care for it at all? Doubtless your winter is terrible. Here in Devonshire it has been freezing very hard; the one consolation is frequency o f sunshine. I hope your health has not been disturbed by the weather, & that writing progresses. I am now correcting the last sheets o f “The Odd Women,” & I hope it will soon be out. By the bye, the title means “Les Femmes Superflues”—the women who are odd in the sense that they do not make a match;—as we say “an odd glove.” The book o f course explains this. It doesn’t read badly, I think. Lawrence & Bullen have purchased the copyright o f “The Emancipated” from Bentley, & mean to bring out a cheap edition. For the last four weeks I have been working hard at a new book,—that o f which the scene lies in & about Birmingham. It will be considerably stronger than anything I have written o f late. I am very glad indeed that you like the subject. On the whole, it will be a hopeful book. The principal characters find their task in vigorous social work o f the higher—the intellectual—kind. I have some good female types, I think. I am glad indeed to hear that Rehfeldt proves such a helpful friend to you. How very curious I shall be to discover how you have dealt with this Luther subject! I have high expectations, for I know how thoroughly you grasp a theme o f this kind. —Why, o f course a book for boys may be a work o f art; but yours will be more than ordinary boys’ literature, in every sense. I entirely appreciate your delight in the historic atmosphere. The restfulness o f it is divine. Now I must answer your question about Don,2 as at length I am able to do so. The good old fellow is dead. Here is an extract from Roberts’s letter to me. “He had ailed for some time, & had been attended by a Vet. at 5/- the visit. But he got worse & worse, so at last he went into hospital altogether. He came back for a week, but had to go to hospital again, & there he died suddenly, in the night. I don’t think he really suffered much; in fact I am sure of it, or he would have been mercifully put out o f life. This life o f his had been one o f high rank, & I believe his notion was that he was the cause o f the Universe. Whether he remembered Bertz it is impossible to say, but the girls3 frequently asked him ‘Where’s Bertz?’—whereupon he always barked. He was wept by everyone, the whole street was grieved; our own

JANUARY 23, 1893

85

people really cried. At all events, the good old chap could not have had a better home these last ten years.” I gather that this death took place not long ago. Roberts does not men­ tion the date, 8c he is so busy that I seldom get a letter from him nowadays. I hope the news will not distress you,—for indeed you knew that Don drew near to his end. How well I remember him in the old days! All good wishes for this new year, old Friend. May it see the publication o f your Luther book, 8c a settlement o f the fate o f “Gluck und Glas.” Ever yours, George Gissing The only Bertz book which could have acquired a second edition was Gluck und Glas, pub­ lished in 1 8 9 1 , but the issue is uncertain because the second edition o f that book is commonly listed as the one published by Reissner in 1 8 9 3 . Yet the 1 8 9 5 volume o f Kurschners Deutscher Literatur-Kalender lists a second edition in 1 8 9 2 , which would be the one Gissing refers to, ex­ cept that the 1 8 9 7 volume complicates the matter by listing only the first edition and a subse­ quent edition o f 1 8 9 3 , which would be the Reissner issue. We may perhaps speculate that whatever Ottmann ran off late in 1 8 9 2 , after selling out the first printing o f 4 ,0 0 0 copies, was apparently first regarded as a second edition but later as a second impression o f the first. Then, after O ttm ann went bankrupt, what was still available o f the stock would seem to have been reissued with illustrations. The prize collie which Bertz had acquired while he was in England, but which Roberts had agreed to take when B ertz returned to Germany. In the diary entry for December 18, 1 8 9 2 , Gissing wrote: "L etter from Roberts, telling o f the death o f Bertz’s dog Don.” ^ h a t is, Roberts’s sisters M arion ( 1 8 5 6 - 1 9 3 2 ) , Bertha Annie, later Mrs. Blane (1 8 6 2 ­ 1 9 4 4 ), and E oren ce Ida ( 1 8 6 4 - 1 9 5 3 ) .

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: p.c. Yale. Bertz. [January 2 3 , 1893].

Many thanks for letter. Roberts, I am sure, will be glad to hear from you. His address is 35 Tavistock Place London W. C. Have finished Vol I. o f new book, 8c am now writing short story for Blackwood.1—Excellent news about your “G. u. G.”!2 G. G. *The story was first entitled “A Shrewd Investment” and then “A Minstrel o f the Byways,” but it was rejected on February 11 and never published. 2This probably means that Bertz had either repurchased the copyright o f Gluck und Glas

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

86

from the bankrupt Ottm ann, o r at least had determined that he could do so. Gissing congratu­ lates him on that in his letter o f April 16 below.

*

To William Blackwood MS: NLS.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. January 2 8 , 1 8 9 3 .

Dear Sir, The story which I herewith send you—“A Minstrel o f the Byways”—has amused me in the writing. I wonder whether you will think that others may also find amusement in it. Faithfully yours, George Gissing William Blackwood Esq^ *

To Algernon MS: N YPL. LGG.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. January' 2 9 , 1 8 9 3 .

My dear Alg., It is long since I had news o f you. Surely the weather o f Jersey has im­ proved;1 for here we have had warmth & sunshine the last week or more. I hope Katie & Enid are both comfortable. Your proofs, I suppose, have been arriving. We shall appear about the same time, for I have just got through proofs & revises o f “The Odd Women”—a great task, for I made many alterations. The expense to Bullen will be considerable, but he ought to have done as I asked him, & returned me the MS. The book was announced in Chronicle gossip2 a few days ago. In addition to this work, I have also written Vol I o f my new novel, & a short story called “A Minstrel o f the Byways,” which I hope Blackwood, or someone else, will take.3 By the end o f March, if all goes well, I shall have finished the book. That will probably allow me to do a second book this year. The little chap grows & flourishes. He makes an attempt at three words:

JANUARY 29, 1893

87

Book, Brush, 8c Crust—which take the form o f Boo1—Bur’—& Cur’. A book he seizes with cry of delight; I have much ado to keep him from de­ nuding all the lower shelves; he points at pictures, 8c chuckles. His other mania is to get hold of a brush, 8c scrub the floor. Unfortunately his hair will not grow; he has scarcely any. And the spot on his forehead is a great disfigurement. About our removal, everything is uncertain. I have recently been made to think o f London again by the announcement that a great Public Library is shortly to be opened in Brixton,—one of Tait’s [sic] gifts.4 They say it will be far the best local library in London. Now that part—South Brixton, close to Clapham—is a high 8c healthy position, with tram 8c train to ever)' part o f town at cost of about 3!1 — Really, I don’t know what to do. I simply must not go anywhere if there is not a good reading room at hand, as, in my per­ sonal isolation, I am so greatly dependent for material 8c suggestion on the daily 8c weekly papers. Have you any ideas about returning [?] I want, if possible, to come north in the early summer, 8c o f course we ought to see you. Don’t be anxious about accommodation. It would not be till the warm weather, 8c we could easily get a room for a week in Willersey. Then we should go on to Wake­ field for a week. Or the other way about: we shall see. A letter from Mother, groaning over miseries with servants. Our own troubles are just as bad: the girl we now have does not possess even elemen­ tary' notions o f cleanliness;—she puts a saucepan bodily into a washing-up dish with cups 8c plates, 8c wipes up dirt on the floor with the best towels. —By this time I have seen much o f the rustic nature in these parts, 8c I really don’t understand how' it would be possible for the low Irish to be more helpless 8c more dirt)'. Again, as everywhere else, there can be no shadow of doubt as to the evil effect o f their so-called education. Love to all o f you. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G. 'A lgernon had been living in Willersey, near Broadway, but part o f Gissing’s diary entry for Decem ber 13, 1 8 9 2 , reads: “ Letter from Alg., who is working in Jersey.” He went there on November 3, 1 8 9 2 , and returned on February 2 0 , 1893. 2Dai!y Chronicle, “W riters and Readers,” January 2 0 . The writer pointed out that “odd wom en” means “those who do not marry and have to make their own living,” and called the story'“a social study” (p. 3). 3Black\vood returned the story' on February 11. Apparently Gissing did not offer it to another magazine, and the M S has never been found. 4Sir Henry' Tate ( 1 8 1 9 - 1 8 9 9 ) made a fortune with an invention to cut sugar loaves into small cubes, which were sold throughout the world as “Tate’s Cube Sugar.” He became a pub­ lic benefactor, known now chiefly for his gift of the gallery of British Art which bears his name

88

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E G ISSING

and which was built to house his own collection (opened in 1 8 9 7 ). Besides other public gifts, he built a Free Library in Brixton, which opened in 1 8 9 3 .

*

To Algernon MS: NYPL.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. February 9 , 1 8 9 3 .

My dear Alg., I heartily agree with you in this notion that you would do better to write romance. That is a perfectly legitimate form o f art, o f course. It will never do to go on writing against the grain. Plan exactly such a book as you will have pleasure in writing: that is the safe way. Have done with modern problems; they only worry you. Did you send the short book to Cassells?1 You don’t mention. With regard to our visit, let things come about naturally. Don’t give thought to it. I only wish the little man were six months older; then it would be much simpler to travel with him. As it is, there are plenty of difficulties. The account o f Enid is very good. I am convinced that a child cannot do better than learn by heart good, simple poetry. The idea o f the best authori­ ties on education nowadays is that there should be no reading & writing be­ fore the age o f six. . You saw that Stead’s experiment in the new way o f teaching foreign lan­ guages seemed fairly successful.2 It seems to me a rational method enough. I shall never let Grobsey toil for weary years over Greek & Latin grammar & exercises, with the result at the end that he cannot read a Greek or a Latin book. It must be managed differently somehow. Here is an account o f the arrangements about “The Odd Women.” — Heinemann & Balestier have given 35 guas. for right to publish in their Continental library,3 & have also purchased 1500 copies, in sheets, for their Colonial library,4 at 1/- a copy,—the sheets to be supplied from New York by Macmillans. In America, Macmillans publish, 8c allow Bullen 10%. —In each case, half the profits are mine. —I have just rec^1 seven guineas on the American sale o f “Denzil Quarrier” up to June ’92. Now you will see that all this is a great improvement on my old relations with Smith, Elder. Did I tell you that Bullen has purchased from Bentley the copyright o f “The Emancipated” [?] They are to bring it out at 3/6.5 They want also “Isabel Clarendon.”6 O f course I am glad to see my books collected.

F E B R U A R Y 9, 1 8 9 3

89

I am getting towards the middle ot my new book—a solid piece o f work.7 Yes, I can understand your miseries in lodgings. And in a house one is cursed with servants. But still it is better to have one’s own four walls, undoubtedly. Do you notice that Besant is now being abused for his work on behalf o f the Authors’ Society?8 Comical, very. I suspect he was practically forced to resign his chairmanship. There can be no doubt that his optimism has led him into follies. It is nonsense declaring that publishers never incur risk, & it has now been sufficiently proved that, all along, Besant has neglected to consider the ordinary business expenses o f a publisher—his offices, clerks, warehouses, &c. These, ot course, must be taken into account in ever)' cal­ culation about profits. Our love to Katie & Enid. Very glad to hear they are so well. Ever yours, dear Alg., G.G. 'Since all ot Algernon’s books at this time were three-volume novels, this apparently refers to an unpublished MS. The Sport o f Stars, published in 1 8 9 6 [1 8 9 5 ] by H urst and Blackett, was only two volumes, but since Cassell had launched a series o f one-volume novels, this seems an unlikely candidate for the “short book.” ^ h e “new way” was that dexised by Francois Gouin, a French scholar who in 1 8 8 6 pub­ lished L ’A rtd'etiseigner et d ’etudier lesLangues, translated into English in 1 8 9 2 by Howard Swan and V ictor Beds as The A rt o f Teaching and Studying Languages. Gouin began by observing the way children between the ages o f 2% and 3 learn their own languages, and after concluding that the organ o f language is the ear, not the eye, he developed a complicated system based on the principles that children learn by sentences rather than words, that the verb is o f chief im­ portance, and that a series o f sentences is remembered by visual reference to the order o f ac­ tions in time. The system seems to have caught on in England, being the subject o f several studies well into the twentieth century'. W. T. Stead, then editor o f The Review o f Reviews, ex­ plained it in an article entitled “H ow to Learn a Language in Six M onths” (July, 1 8 9 2 , pp. 7 0 1 - 0 8 ) . At the end o f it he announced that he had offered his own children to Messrs. Swan and Betis “to be experimented upon.” His final report on their success appeared in the issue for M arch, 1 8 9 3 , pp. 1 9 3 - 9 9 , but what Gissing had read was “A Royal Road to Learn Language: The Result o f a Six M onths’ Experim ent,’’ January 1 8 9 3 , pp. 7 0 - 7 5 . There had also been a Progress Report published in the Review o f Reviews in September, 1 8 9 2 , pp. 2 8 6 - 8 7 . 3Although they did pay 3 5 guineas for it, they did not publish the book. 4lt appeared as No. 6 in Heinemann’s Colonial Library'. SThis was the second edition, 1893. 6But on February' 12, 1 8 9 6 , Gissing wrote to Bullen informing him o f his decision to give up the revision he had begun. /“The Iron G ods,” a book he subsequently abandoned. In the diary' for April 2 2 he writes: “Though 1 have only 2 0 pp. to write o f ‘The Iron Gods’ I doubt whether I shall ever finish it. Am much dissatisfied. Would prefer to rewrite and re-construct the whole thing.” His next ref­ erence to a current novel is on July 10: “Think o f calling my book— ‘Miss Lord o f C am ber­ well,’ ” which ultimately became In the Tear o f jubilee. This might suggest a rewriting and reconstructing o f the earlier work, but it was not until five days later, on July 15, that he de­

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

90

cides "to rewrite the B’ham book,” and on August 1 he appears to have given it up: D oubt whether I’ll go on with it.” A month later, on September 1, he finally “worked out scheme for beginning o f ‘Miss L ord o f Camberwell,’ ” and on September 12 he “at last got to work on Camberwell book.” W hen he finished it on April 13, 1 8 9 4 , he turned to Eve’s Ransom, in which the setting alternates between London and Birmingham. In the diary entry for April 19, 1 8 9 4 , he says “I am using as much as possible o f my old Birmingham story,” and on p. 3 7 6 o f

Eve’s Ransom M aurice Hilliard remarks: “I am no longer slaving under the iron gods.” It is clear that this is where he used the materials from his abandoned novel. 8In his efforts to help authors financially, the novelist Walter Besant ( 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 0 1 ) founded the Society o f Authors, with Tennyson as president. H e was in charge o f the Committee o f Management from 1 8 8 9 to 1 8 9 2 , and his activities on behalf o f authors’ rights led him to in­ dulge in publisher bashing, making intemperate statements that incurred the wrath o f many publishers, even accusing them o f keeping double sets o f books, one for the author and the other and correct one for their own files. The most articulate spokesman for the publishers was William Heinemann, who sent a series o f letters to the Athenaeum beginning on Decem ber 3 , 1 8 9 2 , and extending into 1 8 9 3 . These, o f course, were answered by Besant and others. The ex­ change is reprinted in Heinemann’s The Hardships o f Publishing (London: Privately Printed, 1893).

*

To Ellen MS: NYPL.

1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. February 12, 1893.

My dear Nelly, • I have added to the scheme o f French pronunciation.1 Please compare with yours, & return. Thanks for your note. Fear we shall not be able to use Ruskin’s cloth.2 Too narrow, & not bright enough. Here are the publishing arrangements for “The Odd Women.”— Conti­ nental right has been purchased for 35 guas. Colonial publishers have taken 1500 copies, in sheets, at 1/- each (very cheap edition, o f course.) In Amer­ ica, the New York house o f Macmillans will publish simultaneously with London issue. O f all foreign profits, I get half Bullen writes me an extraordinary letter. After saying that he will soon bring out a cheap ed!1o f “The Emancipated,” which he has purchased from Bentley, & that he wishes to get as many as possible o f my earlier books, he adds: “We count it a privilege to publish your books. I f we lose money in bringing out cheap editions o f your earlier works, it will not trouble us. The pleasure o f seeing them collected will atone for any loss. And we think they may some day be profitable. Whatever the profits, you shall have half.”

FEBR U A R Y 25, 1893

91

Was ever author so written to before? I have just red1 7 guineas from America, my share o f sales o f “Denzil Quarrier” up to June o f last year. Bullen sends me a copy o f each issue o f his “Muses Library,” a very beau­ tiful collection o f old poets, at 5/- a volume. —On the whole, it is well I made his acquaintance. My one lament is that Alg. can not have some encouragement in his wretched toil. How he works on, I know not.— I feel sure that the Horace can be obtained in the French edition. Don’t you see it mentioned on the cover o f your Cicero?— But there is an excellent translation in the “Globe” series. Ever affectionately, & with love to all, George Five pages ot Gissing’s notes on French pronunciation are now in the Harry Ransom L i­ brary, University o f Texas, and tour pages o f MS notes on French phonetics are at Yale. A kind ot hand-woven linen cloth produced near Keswick, Cumberland.

*

To Algernon MS: p .c . Yale.

[Exeter.] Saturday, [February 2 5 , 1893],

Hope you are safely back. —“B. two O.” pub? yesterday. —A 6/- edn. of “B. in Ex.” announced. Finished 2?d V. of new book.1 G. G. 'A lgernon had gone to work in Jersey on November 3 , 1 8 9 2 , and returned to Willersey on February' 2 0 , 1 8 9 3 . Gissing received a copy o f Algernon’s novel Between Two Opinions on M arch 2 and one o f the 6 / - ed. o f Bom in Exile on February 2 7 . It may be o f interest here to note the clever way in which A. & C. Black reduced their expenses in the production o f these cheaper editions by avoiding the need to reset the text entirely. The printers simply reduced the blank spaces between the lines, occasionally pushing back into the penultimate line o f a para­ graph in the 6 / - ed. a word which, in the three-decker, stood by itself as the final line. Some other readjustments can be noticed, but only in exceptional cases was the line-by-line layout modified, and practically always with a view to saving an occasional line o f print.

*

TH E LE T T E R S OF G EO RG E GISSING

92

To Algernon MS: Yale.

LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. February 2 8 , 1 8 9 3 .

My dear Alg., Don’t let us make so much o f this trifling matter. Herewith a ten-pound note, which I trust will come safely into your hands.1 O f course it is very miserable for you to be thus thwarted on all sides, but there is always hope. We shall see how “Bet. Two Opinions” is received.2 Send a copy as soon as you can. I think my 3Td vol. will take me to the end o f March. I then go up to Lon­ don, to search for a possible house in the Brixton region. The removal, though costly, can hardly be avoided, for I shall soon be in need o f new material such as I can only get in London. My outlay on books, owing to lack o f a big library, has o f late been excessive. The weather has been rather doleful this last week, & will have added to your burden. But I hope you have the sunshine this morning, as here. You had better try again, I should think, with the short MS. There are several new firms who seem to be looking out for authors,—among them Hutchinson & C?,3 whose list grows, I notice. Would you care for a few addresses? Or will you try some o f the better known people? You have the satisfaction o f knowing that it would be impossible to live more cheaply than at Willersey.— This ceaseless trouble about money, all around one, has made me strike a rather clearer note on socialistic matters in my new book. The name I pro­ pose is “Gods o f Iron,”—meaning Machinery, which is no longer a servant but a tyrannous oppressor o f mankind. One way or another this frantic so­ cial struggle must be eased. I have a few people who work their way to an idea on the subject:—that the intellect o f the country must proclaim for Collectivism, but by no means for Democracy unrestrained. Love to Katie & Enid. I hope you had no great suffering in the transit. Ever yours dear Alg., G. G. 1Algernon had written to ask for the £ 1 0 . 2It was published in February. See letters o f M arch 2 5 and April 11 for comm ents from the Saturday Review and the Athenaeum. 3Hutchinson did publish Algernon’s novel The Scholar o f Bygate in 1 8 9 7 , but it was a threedecker; the “short M S” is the “short book” mentioned in the letter o f February 9 and n. 1, evi­ dently unpublished.

M A R C H 11, 1 8 9 3

93

* To Algernon MS: Yale.

GOF. 1. St. Leonard's Terrace, Exeter. M arch 11, 1893.

My dear Alg., I find a great deal o f good writing in "Between Two Opinions,” but I fear the general objection will be that there is not enough story. How enor­ mously it would help you if you could deliberately construct what is called a plot,—help you, I mean, not only with the public, but in the mere writing. It is quite grievous to me to feel here & there how you must have laboured through a chapter. Now with a contrived story, situation follows situation, & there is always the obvious matter for description or dialogue. To be sure, you have a narrative, & interesting enough from one point o f view, but I am convinced you would do well to invent something more out o f the common way o f life. I have just been reading Crawford’s “Tale o f a Lonely Parish.”1 Now this is a wretchedly poor book, from every point o f view, yet people read it, & simply because there is an out o f the way story. It is that o f a woman whose husband is sentenced to penal servitude for forgery, & who goes to live as a widow at a little village in Essex. O f course the thing is paltry,—& yet its paltriness chiefly consists in the poor handling, shallowness o f characteriza­ tion. Enough for Crawford’s readers that they want to know “what will happen.” Perhaps you meant this when you spoke o f writing romance. If so, I more than ever agree with you. I am afraid I may be giving advice which contra­ dicts that I have formerly offered. I remember begging you to take simply human situations. Yet, after all, that does not seem to give you impetus enough. —And perhaps it is better not to advise at all. You know best what your mind prompts you to write. It is never good to attempt anything invita minerva. Well, you are enjoying this magnificent weather, at all events. To me it is a great assistance in work. I have been inquiring about houses at Brixton. I shall not be able to get one under £ 3 0 ,—nearly £40 with rates, I fear. But somehow it must be managed. I shall go up in April & search. Love to your household. Ever yours, dear Alg., G. G.

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

94

'Gissing means Francis Marion Crawford ( 1 8 5 4 - 1 9 0 9 ) . The novel he mentions was pub­ lished in 1886.

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale.

Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. M arch 11, 1 8 9 3 .

My dear Friend, With the sunshine o f spring about me, I must write & ask how you have weathered the winter. Here in Devon it has been wonderfully mild; a great deal o f calm, clear weather,—& greatly to my advantage. In about three weeks, I hope to have finished my book. I think o f calling it— “The Iron Gods” a name you will understand. Do you care for the title [?] On the whole it is a cheerful book,—the last volume progressively so; the only book o f mine o f which this could be said. Here is an account o f the arrangements for the foreign publication o f “The Odd Women.” For their Continental issue, Heinemann & Balestier have given 35 guineas; for their Colonial, they have purchased 1500 copies, in sheets,—these sheets to be supplied by Macmillans from New York. The American issue is to be at a dollar.1 —When the book will be out, I don’t know, but I suppose very shortly. I have just received 7 guineas as my share o f the American sale o f “Denzil Quarrier” up to the end o f June 1892. Better than nothing. It seems to me I was very lucky when I made acquaintance with Bullen. His firm is rapidly making a repute for the publication o f high-class & ex­ pensive books,—editions de luxe, & so on. Bullen is a scholar, & has just pub­ lished an edition o f Anacreon. In his last letter to me there was a passage which excited my astonishment, as it will yours. He writes: “We count it a privilege to publish your books. I f we lose money in reissuing your early works, it will not trouble us; the pleasure o f seeing them collected would atone for any loss. And yet we fancy that they may some day be profitable.” —Did ever author receive such a letter from a publisher before? They deal with me in the most open way, mentioning every detail o f publication,—things o f which Smith & Elder never spoke a word. This, o f course, is encouraging.

M A R C H 11, 1 8 9 3

95

Roberts tells me that he is going abroad. But he has ceased to send me any particulars o f his life & work. That is inevitable, when a man has taken to the journalistic side ot literature. But I am not without hope that he may still find patience to produce a solid book. If you can send me any verse that you write, you know how glad I should always be to see it. The variety ot your work has always seemed to me, from one point o f view, very' enviable. I wish I could do something more than write 3 -Vol. novels. Let me know how it goes with Luther. That story' you tell me o f him is very grotesque. Yes, these are the things disclosed when one comes to grub into history'. But one must not take too much account o f them. The brain is dependent upon the stomach, but it is not the stomach. Like Malvolio, let us uthink nobly o f the soul,”2 & wish that men had more o f it. Apropos—the incredible things that happen. A socialist member o f the London municipal government,—a man who wrote verse, & talked enthu­ siastically, & had earned the respect o f distinguished people, (he is five & twenty,)—has just been convicted o f robbing a prostitute o f three shillings, & sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment.3 Here is a psychological prob­ lem! He doesn’t seem to have been particularly poor. Personal acquaintance with the man might help one to a solution,—yet all who knew him refused, before the trial, to believe his guilt. It is such a morning as I have seldom known in England. A sky o f pro­ found blue, without a speck o f cloud. Only the faintest breeze. I hear the clucking o f fowls, & the twittering o f birds in the trees about. Divine weather! —Where is my Homer? Let us have a page o f the Odyssey. Ever yours, dear Friend, George Gissing 'Published in Macmillans’ Dollar Novel series.

2Twelfth Night, IV, ii. 59. Fred erick Henderson, a member o f the London County Council, was charged with stealing the three shillings from Ada Gray, a woman he had met in a public house and then accompa­ nied to a brothel, where the theft occurred (London Times, February 2 8 , p. 3). The newspaper reported that he was found guilty and was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment at hard labor, not the eight months Gissing claimed {Times, M arch 10, p. 9).

*

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

96

To Edmund Gosse MS: NYPL. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. M arch 18, 1 8 9 3 .

My dear Sir, With great pleasure I will write the letter you suggest. I shall be able to post it in a day or two.1 That you should care to print these views o f mine in an appendix to your book gives me no little satisfaction. Believe me, my dear Sir, Faithfully yours, George Gissing Edmund Gosse Esqfe 'Diary, M arch 18: “Letter from Edmund Gosse, saying he would like to print as appendix to a collection o f some o f his critical papers, a letter from me on the subject o f poetry am ong the p o o r,— an enlargement o f what I wrote to him last Decem ber. A ccordingly spent the day in writing such a letter.”

* To Edmund Gosse Reprinted from Edmund Gosse, Questions a t Issue, pp. 3 2 5 - 3 1 . 1 [M arch 2 0 , 1 8 9 3 .]2

Sir,—Will you pardon me if I venture to say with what satisfaction I have read your remarks about Tennyson in The New Review, which has only just come into my hands? The popular mind is my study, and I know that Tennyson’s song no more reached it than it reached the young-eyed cherumbim. Nor does any song reach the populace, rich and poor, unless, as you suggest, it be such as ap­ pears in The Referee. After fifteen years’ observation o f the poorer classes o f English folk, chiefly in London and the south, I am pretty well assured that, whatever civ­ ilising agencies may be at work among the democracy, poetry is not one o f them. Reading, o f one kind or another, is universal; study, serious and pro­ gressive, is no longer confined to the ranks that enjoy a liberal education; but the populace, the industrial and trading masses, not merely remain without interest in poetry, but do not so much as understand what the term poetry means. In other intellectual points, the grades o f unlettered life are numerous; as regards appreciation o f verse, the People are one. From the

M A R C H 20, 1893

97

w°rk-girl, with her penny novelette, to the artisan who has collected a little library, the natural inclination ot all who represent their class is to neglect verse as something exotic, something without appeal to their instincts. They either do not read it at all—the common case—or (with an exception to be noticed) they take it as a quaint variety o f prose, which custom has conse­ crated to religion, to the affections, and to certain phases o f facetiousness. In London, through all orders o f society below the liberally educated, it is a most exceptional thing to meet with a person who seeks for verse as verse; who recognises the name o f any greater poet not hackneyed in the newspapers, or who even distantly apprehends the nature o f the poet’s art. In the north of England, where more native melody is found, self-taught readers of poetry are, I believe, not so rare; but they must still be greatly the exception. As to the influence o f board-schools, one cannot doubt that the younger generation are even less inclined to a taste for poetry than their fa­ thers. Some elderly people, in Sunday languor, take up a book o f verse with which they have been familiar since early days (Mrs. Hemans, Eliza Cook, Montgomery', Longfellow); whereas their children cannot endure printed matter cut into rhythmic lengths, unless the oddity solicit them in the col­ umns o f a paper specially addressed to their intelligence. At the instigation o f those zealous persons who impress upon shopkeep­ ers, clerks and artisans, the duty o f ‘self-culture in leisure hours,’ there un­ doubtedly goes on some systematic reading o f verse—the exceptional case to which I alluded. It is undertaken in a resolute spirit by pallid men, who study the poet just as they study the historian, the economist, the master of physical science, and their pathetic endeavour is directed by that species of criticism which demands—exclusively—from poetry' its ‘message for our time.’ Hence, no doubt, the conviction o f many who go down to the great democratic deep that multitudes are hungering for the poet’s word. Here, as in other kindred matters, the hope o f such enthusiasts arises from imper­ fect understanding. Not in lecture-hall and classroom can the mind o f the people be discovered. Optimism has made a fancy picture o f the representa­ tive working-man, ludicrous beyond expression to those who know him in his habitat; and the supremely ludicrous touch is that which attributes to him a capacity for enjoying pure literature. I have in mind a typical artisan family, occupying a house to themselves, the younger members grown up and, in their own opinion, very' far above those who are called ‘the poor.’ They possess perhaps a dozen volumes: a novel or two, some bound magazines, a few musty works o f popular in­ struction or amusement; all casually acquired and held in no value. O f these people I am able confidently to assert (as the result o f specific inquiry) that they have in their abode no book o f verse—that they never read verse when

98

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

they can avoid it—that among their intimates is no person who reads or wishes to read verse—that they never knew o f any one buying a book o f verse—and that not one o f them, from childhood upwards, ever heard a piece o f verse read aloud at the fireside. In this respect, as in many others, the family beyond doubt is typical. They stand between the brutal and the intelligent o f working-folk. There must be an overwhelming number o f such households through the land, representing a vast populace absolutely irresponsive to the word o f any poet. The custodian o f a Free Library in a southern city informs me that ‘hardly once in a month’ does a volume o f verse pass over his counter; that the ex­ ceptional applicant (seeking Byron or Longfellow) is generally‘the wife o f a tradesman’; and that an offer o f verse to man or woman who comes simply for ‘a book’ is invariably rejected; ‘they won’t even look at it.’ What else could one have anticipated? To love poetry is a boon o f nature, most sparingly bestowed; appreciation o f the poet’s art is an outcome o f studious leisure. Even an honest liking for verse, without discernment, de­ pends upon complex conditions o f birth, breeding, education. No one seeks to disparage the laborious masses on the ground o f their incapacity for delights necessarily the privilege o f a few. It was needless folly to pre­ tend that, because one or two o f Tennyson’s poems became largely known through popular recitation, therefore Tennyson was dear to the heart o f the people, a subject o f their pride whilst he lived, o f their mourning when he departed. My point is that no poet holds this place in the esteem o f the En­ glish lower orders. Tennyson? The mere price o f his works is prohibitive to people who think a shilling a very large outlay for printed paper. H alf a dozen o f his poems at most would obtain a hearing from the average uneducated person. We know very well the kind o f home in which Tennyson is really beloved for the sake o f perhaps half his work—and that not the better half. Between such households and the best discoverable in the world o f which I speak, lies a chasm o f utter severance. In default o f other tests, Tennyson might be used as a touch-stone to distinguish the last o f gentle-folk from the first o f the unprivileged. On the day o f his funeral, I spoke o f the dead poet to a live schoolmaster, a teacher o f poor children,3 and he avowed to me, quite simply, that he ‘couldn’t stand poetry—except a few hymns;’ that he had thoroughly dis­ liked it ever since the day, when as a schoolboy, he had to learn by heart por­ tions o f The Lady o f the Lake. I doubt whether this person could have named three pieces o f Tennyson’s writing. He spoke with the consciousness o f be­ ing supported by general opinion in his own world. Some days before, I was sitting in a public room,4 where two men, re­

M A R C H 20, 1893

99

tired shopkeepers, exchanged an occasional word as they read the morn­ ing’s news. ‘A great deal here about Lord Tennyson,’ said one. The ‘Lord’ was significant; I listened anxiously for his companion’s reply. ‘Ah—yes.’ The man moved uneasily, and added at once: ‘What do you think about this long-distance ride?’ In that room (I frequented it on successive days with this object) not a syllable did I hear regarding Tennyson save the sentence faithfully recorded. This was in the south o f England; perhaps it could not have happened in the north. As a boy, I at one time went daily to school by train.5 It happened once that I was alone in the carriage with a commercial traveller; my Horace was open before me, and it elicited a remark from the man o f samples, who spoke with the accent o f that northern county, and certainly did not belong to the educated class. After a word or two, he opened his bag, and took out an ancient copy, battered, thumbed, pencilled, of—Horatius Flaccus. With­ out this, he told me, he never travelled. From a bare smattering obtained at school, he had pursued the study o f Latin; Horace was dear to him; he indi­ cated favourite odes— Everywhere there are the many and the few. What o f the multitude in higher spheres? Their leisure is ample; literature lies thick about them. It would be amusing to know how many give one hour a month to the greater poets. . . . Believe me, Sir, yours faithfully, George Gissing To Edmund Gosse, Esq. 'Gissing wrote this letter on M arch 18, the day he heard from Gosse asking him to write it, then spent the next day revising it, and finally copied it over and mailed it on M arch 2 0 , which is accordingly the date we assign it. We have taken the text from the version published by Gosse because the original seems to have been lost, but it should be noted that the two were not entirely the same. On April 2 2 Gissing wrote in his diary: “Reed from Gosse a p roof o f my letter to be printed in his book. H e has combined the note I sent him from Birmingham with the long letter I recently w rote at his request. This rather troubles me, for readers will think that I had the impudence to send a stranger that long rigmarole, uninvited. In reality, what I sent first o f all was only the first two paragraphs.” 2In its printed form , Gosse dated this letter November 2 0 , 1 8 9 2 , the date o f Gissing’s origi­ nal letter which was the occasion o f Gosse’s request for this one. 3Gissing probably had in mind his E xeter landlord, Charles Bryan, master o f Newtown board-school, Exeter. ‘Very likely the Exeter Public Reading-room which, he told Bertz on May 1 5 ,1 8 9 1 , he went to every day “to see the London daily papers, & one or two magazines.” sGissing refers to his journeys from Alderley Edge to M anchester, from January 1873 to about June 1875.

*

100

TH E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

To W. H. Hudson1 MS: RSPB.

LL. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. M arch 2 2 , 1 8 9 3 .

My dear Hudson, How glad I am to hear from you once more! And how glad to receive this copy o f your book, for which my heartiest thanks. As yet I have only been able to cut open the pages, but many a delightful word & thought has caught my eye. I shall read with enjoyment, be sure o f it. Hartley1s little pic­ tures are very pleasing;2 I am so glad you were able to get him to do this work. Pray, how can you suggest that I ever expressed or felt a slight interest in that paper o f yours which I read in the Universal?3 Impossible. I recollect nothing but pleasure in anything o f yours I have read, from the “Purple Land” onwards. My ignorance o f natural history is abysmal, but I flatter myself that I know something o f literary style, & that I can rejoice in a fine nature when it is exhibited to me in pages o f authorship or elsewhere. Satis! Believe me when I say that I have followed the evidences o f your literary success with the most genuine pleasure. I read literary papers far more as­ siduously than I used to, for I have become hardened against the word o f the reviewer as it affects myself; many are the notices o f your last two books that I have gone through with eager interest.4 It pleased me to find that al­ most all these writers perforce spoke amiably o f you. I enjoyed their appre­ ciation & their praise. Let me tell you what my plans are for the Easter time. Taking advantage o f a cheap ticket, I shall leave Exeter on Thursday (day before Good Friday) & be in London till, I think, the Saturday o f the following week—the last day the ticket will serve. Now, is that, by mishap, just the time that you are likely to be in Devon? I should be so very glad if you could be here when I could walk about with you. It is not in my power to offer you a room, but I should rejoice to see you sitting at my table. We live in the most primitive way; thank heaven, you would not mind that. My purpose in coming to London is to examine the districts o f Brixton, Herne Hill, & round there; for at Michaelmas we shall have to find quarters somewhere thereabouts. I fix upon that region because o f Tate’s library; I cannot afford to buy papers, but must be able to see them daily. It is healthy, too, I imagine, a point to be considered now that I have a little boy growing up. My idea is that I shall have to take rooms merely in the first instance, & then, after our removal thither, look about at leisure for a house.

M A R C H 22, 1893

101

I was hoping, naturally, to have a word with you whilst I was in London. Pray let me know whether we shall indeed miss each other. I f by any means possible, come down just a little later. But o f course your convenience must rule the matter. So you also are ignorant as to Roberts’s whereabouts. He wrote me a hasty line some time ago, saying that he was shortly going abroad.5 O f course I quite understand how' his time is taken up; he seems to have done a great deal o f writing lately, for his stories appear everywhere. And he has such multitudes o f acquaintances. I am rejoiced that his days o f hardship are over. We three must yet crush a bottle o f Burgundy together, 8c talk as in the days that were. Aye, 8c Hartley too. Shall I tell you about my doings? Lawrence 8c Bullen will publish a novel o f mine—“The Odd Women”—very soon. It appears simultaneously in New York, on the Continent 8c in Australia. Another novel I have nearly fin­ ished. The scene lies mostly in Birmingham. I think o f calling it “The Iron Gods.” Edmund Gosse has asked me to contribute to a volume he is now print­ ing an appendix (in form o f letter) on the appreciation o f poetry o f the lower classes. This I have written; it will amuse you to read it, I think. My only connexion with Gosse is that I sent him a line on reading an article o f his some months ago, an article in which he scoffed at the newspaper asser­ tion that all classes enjoyed Tennyson. I told him that this truth-speaking had greatly relieved one at least o f his readers.—And hence his recent request. Please remember me kindly to Mrs. Hudson, with my best thanks for the remembrance she sends. All good be with you,—8c if it can be managed, let us meet down here. Ever yours, George Gissing 'F o r Hudson, see letter o f December 6 , 1 8 8 9 , n. 1. 2In his diary for April 8 , 1 8 9 1 , Gissing records sending a copy o f New Grub Street to H ud­ son, but apparently they had not kept in touch since then. The book was Hudson’s Idle Days in Patagonia, which had been published in January, containing illustrations by Alfred Hartley ( 1 8 5 5 - 1 9 3 3 ) , painter and etcher, friend o f both Gissing and M orley Roberts. His portrait o f Hudson was shown at the Suffolk Gallery in the fall o f 1 8 9 1 . 3One o f the essays in the book, entitled “The Plains o f Patagonia,” had been published in the

Universal Review in August, 1 8 9 0 , pp. 5 4 9 - 6 3 . 4Gissing probably means Idle Days in Patagonia and its predecessor, The N aturalist in L a Plata, 1 8 9 2 . F or lists o f reviews o f these two books, see John R. Payne, W. H. Hudson: A Bibli­ ography (Folkestone: Dawson, 1 9 7 7 ). sIn his diary entry' for April 5 he noted that there was “much talk o f Roberts, who has disap­ peared from all his friends,” but on April 2 9 he dined with Roberts and discovered that “he has

102

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

been rambling over the Continent, together with H[enry] H[yde] Cham pion, the labour-party politician. He now lives with Champion in a villa at St. John’s W ood. Makes a mystery o f his whereabouts, I know not why.”

* To Algernon MS: NYPL.

LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. M arch 2 5 , 1893.

My dear Alg., There is a most laudatory notice o f your book in to-day’s Saturday, 1 say­ ing it is the best thing you have done, & much else that is agreeable. Get Blackett to send you the notices: it is impossible for him to refuse, though he may delay a little. A. & C. Black amuse themselves by repeatedly advertizing “Born in Ex­ ile” as a new novel, in 1. vol. 6/-. And yet, when I complained to them that the copy they sent me bore no indication o f its being a new edition, they professed gratitude & deplored the error.2 Next Thursday I take advantage o f a week’s cheap excursion ticket, & go to London, to hunt about Brixton. Shall probably return before the end o f the following week. Edmund Gosse is going to print as an appendix to a new book o f his a letter from me on the estimate in which poetry is held by the lower classes. It came out o f the correspondence o f which I told you. A week ago he wrote asking for the new letter, & I sent it speedily.3 It will be a good thing for me. Incredible weather! Day after day, cloudless 8c hot. The other day I had Walter Grahame here;4 he came on a holiday from Oxford, & had lunch with us. Disagreeable to receive one’s friends in the midst o f squalor, but it is impossible to break off with everybody. It seems, after all, very unlikely that we shall get even as far as the mid­ lands this year. Everything points to a removal even before Michaelmas. I have given my landlord the half year’s notice.5 The house is getting inches deep in sheer filth, & it is long since I drank out o f a tea-cup that had been washed. Little man thrives, but is a vast o f [sic] trouble—incredible trouble. Out o f the question, I see, to take him into anyone else’s house. Love to Katie & Enid. Yours, dear Alg., G.G. Hudson has sent me his “Idle Days in Patagonia,”—a beautiful book.

A P R I L 11, 1 8 9 3

103

Saturday Review, M arch 2 5 , 1 8 9 3 , pp. 3 2 4 - 2 5 : "M r. Algernon Gissing has not, we think, done better work than his last novel, ‘ Between Two Opinions.’ ” The review’d ' praises Alger­ non’s talent in dealing with rural scenery, and says that he “writes excellently well about the bucolic folk, perhaps more faithfully than Mr. Hardy” (p. 3 2 5 ). An interesting consequence o f A. & C. Black’s tactics here was that some papers which had not reviewed the three-volume edition did review the 6 / - edition. We cite, for example, the

Glasgow Herald, “ Novels and Stories,” M arch 9 , 1 8 9 3 , p. 9 , and Black and White, “ Born in E x­ ile,” June 3, 1 8 9 3 , p. 67 1 . ^ h e letter which Gosse published, dated M arch [2 0 ], is printed above. 4W alter Grahame ( 1 8 7 2 - 1 9 4 8 ) was one o f Gissing’s early pupils, with whom he occasion­ ally corresponded. He became a student at Balliol College, Oxford, but his academic achieve­ m ent was not outstanding, given his early promise while he was Gissing’s pupil: he took a second class “ M oderations” in 1 8 9 3 , and then a third in Literae Humaniores. For a long letter about his recollections o f Gissing, written to Alfred in the 1 930s, see letter to Mrs. Harrison of April 2 1 ,1 8 9 1 , n. 3. As to the visit Gissing mentions here, he received a note from Grahame on M arch 2 0 , and then the following day recorded the event in his diary: “Grahame arrived at 1.39. Gave him for lunch a couple o f fowls (cooked last night), apple tart (cold from pastry­ cook’s) with cream , and a bottle o f Burgundy. Afterwards walked about with him. Left him at 6 , and at eight he came to sit for an hour, having dined— 1 hope— at the Clarence, where he stays to-night.” Grahame left the next day: “In morning walked with Grahame, on his way to Budleigh Salterton, as far as St George Clyst, and back to dinner at 1.” ^The landlord was Charles Bryan, 5 2 , master o f Newtown board-school, a widower with seven children ranging in age from 7 to 2 1 , living at 6 , St. Leonard’s Terrace. On this same day, M arch 2 5 , Gissing recorded the following in his diary: “Sent the quarter’s rent to Bryan, and gave him notice o f leaving at Michaelmas or sooner.”

*

To Algernon MS: N YPL. LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. April 11, 1893.

My dear Alg., Blackett is advertising an extract from that Saturday notice I spoke of: uWe are inclined to think that Mr. Alg" Gissing has done no better work than this latest novel.”1 Have you thought o f trying Longmans with the new book? I should fancy they would let you hear pretty quickly. As to Bentley, I am doubtful, after all the tries we have had with him. It might be worth while making the attempt with Longmans, I think.2 As to Nodier, I fear you would find it very difficult to persuade a pub­ lisher.3 He is regarded as old-fashioned, quite out o f date, I fear. And I know not in what form his works can be obtained. Yes, I can quite understand that the “Idyl” should be your most successful

104

T H E L E T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

book hitherto. That is partly owing to the excellence o f the local colour, partly to the variety o f the story. Now, if your new book is really more vig­ orous in the matter o f story, I should have good hope o f it. Blackett, at all events, would in that case be very unlikely to reject it altogether. The Edinburgh notion, mentioned in your last letter, would only be hopeful if you had acquaintances there, & o f the right kind. Without ac­ quaintances, what is one to do? Now, I am not at all sure that the Authors’ Agency would not be o f some use to you. Unfortunately, it costs a guinea to join the Society. If you write the kind o f thing that is at all likely to be accepted for serial publication, undoubtedly the Agency would be o f great help. Roberts declares that it has been the means o f trebling his income. —But there again, o f course some delay would be inevitable, whilst bargains were being made on your behalf. On the whole, I should advise you to sell the new book, if possible, to Blackett, & then fall to upon a story written expressly with a view to serial publication,—i.e. with short, eventful chapters. With this, I should risk my guinea to the Agency. My own outlook is not brilliant. Bullen tells me that Heinemann is want­ ing to back out o f his bargain for the Continental Ed" o f “The Odd Women”—which, by the bye, was published yesterday. I, too, shall have to make concessions o f some kind to popular taste, or fall into penury again. When I leave here, at Michaelmas, we are going into unfurnished rooms, at Brixton, & then there must be vigorous efforts made.4 Mother, we hope, is coming to us shortly for a fortnight. On the whole, I fear that I have wasted two years here in Devon. It is ob­ viously in London that my material lies, & I must work hard to recover lost ground. But o f course I keep up courage: that is the sine qua non. You shall have a copy o f “The Odd Women” when I have red1the parcel.5 I have small hope o f its success. We are having a bad time with the little man’s teething. Doctor coming in,—no sleep at night—&c. Love to you all. —Sursum corda! That’s all one can say. Yours ever, dear Alg., G.G. *Scc previous letter. The Athenaeum, however (M arch 2 5 ), trounced the book thoroughly: u ‘Between Two Opinions’ is not presented with any power o r distinction.” Besides its “longwindedness,” the reviewer said it had a “woeful lack o f simplicity and spontaneity” (p. 3 7 3 ). His next book, A t Society’s Expense, was published by Blackett. Charles Nodier ( 1 7 8 0 - 1 8 4 4 ) , a French writer o f romantic tales. Perhaps Algernon wanted to translate one o f his works. 4On June 2 6 Gissing moved to 7 6 Burton Road, Brixton S.W.

A P R I L 16, 1 8 9 3

105

Gissing received his six copies on the 14th and sent one to Algernon the next day, inscribed “A.G. from G.G., April 1 8 9 3 ” (Lilly Library, Indiana University).

*

To Eduard Bertz MS: Yale. Bertz. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. April 16, 1893.

My dear Friend, Your last letter makes me gloomy. I grieve that you are fallen again into this deep melancholy. But it will not hold you long. Even now, I try to hope that you have recovered courage to work again. It is good that you have got back the copyright o f uGliick und Glas.” Won’t you correspond with publishers about it? It is a wise thing to be ac­ tive; the mere expectation o f letters helps to keep one lively. And howr I wish you could write another novel which would follow up the success o f “Gluck und Glas.” Indeed, that is what you ought to do. You know' how' easily you w'ould find a good publisher—not a man o f straw, like Ottmann. Why—oh w'hy—waste the precious years? Do make use o f the success you have achieved. I have often meant to ask you: Did it never occur to you to write a novel o f English life? Now', why not use your very exceptional knowledge in this di­ rection? You could make a remarkable book. There is no reason why you should not write with the most absolute freedom. Adapt your experiences. Don’t be withheld by fear o f giving offence to me, or to any other English acquaintance; as far as I am concerned, I simply am incapable o f such feel­ ing, as I think you know. Think over this suggestion, I beg o f you: I believe it may be fruitful. The “Sabinergut” may be a good idea,1 but I think an English book would be still better. You could plan it & write it in a few months. Yesterday (Saturday) I posted to you a copy o f “The Odd Women.”2 Don’t feel obliged to read it at once. At Easter I spent a week in London, & saw my publishers.3 They are young, enthusiastic men, evidently with a good deal o f money. Their editions de luxe of old books are having a most profitable sale. Before long, I shall go back to London for good. I want the streets again. The Editor o f “The English Illustrated”4 has asked me for a short story o f low life. I think I have a good idea for it.5 Roberts has suddenly disappeared from all his friends. He may have gone

TH E LE T T E R S OF G EO R G E GISSING

106

to Africa, but no one knows. It is some eccentric freak o f his. By his ex­ traordinary behaviour o f late he has made himself the talk o f a large section o f London society. Some men declare that he is mad. But I fancy it is only affectation: he wishes to be talked about.6 Sursum corda! You will write more cheerfully next time. Ever yours, dear old Friend, George Gissing 'That is, a novel based on his experience in America. See letter o f August 2 4 . in scrib ed “Eduard Bertz from his friend George Gissing. April 1 8 9 3 Exeter,” now in the Dartmouth College Library. 3Arthur Henry Bullen ( 1 8 5 7 - 1 9 2 0 ) and Harry W . Lawrence (c .1 8 6 9 - 1 9 3 7 ) . Lawrence parted company with Bullen in 1 9 0 0 , but little is known o f his life after that. H e worked for the Medici Society. 4Clement King Shorter ( 1 8 5 7 - 1 9 2 6 ) .

5“ L o u

a n d L i z , ” p u b l i s h e d in th e A u g u s t i s s u e o f th e

English Illustrated Magazine,

pp.

7 9 3 -8 0 1 . 6See letter to Hudson o f M arch 2 2 , n. 6.

*

To Algernon MS: Hunt.

LGG. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, E x e te r.

April 2 3 , 1893.

My dear Alg., A compositor, out o f his time, may earn anything from 36/- to £3 a week. I am very glad to hear that you go ahead in such good spirits. As to the title, might you not express the same thing more euphoniously? It is bad to begin with two short words; you observe that the tongue stumbles on them. Would it not be better, uAt Society’s Expense.” —Thinking over it again, I see that the objectionable point in “At the Expense of,” is the beginning with three unaccented syllables. For that reason “At the Cost o f Society,” would sound more smoothly. But I prefer “At Society’s Expense.” How­ ever, just give the matter a thought. Here are a few notes on Florida, culled from Chambers.1 Principal Towns: Tallahassee (seat o f gov!); Jacksonville; S! Augustine (the Spanish capital, & the oldest settlement in Anglo-Saxon America.) The whole state remarkable for its wateriness. Some o f the streams rise from springs o f 250 fathoms deep. In the south, an enormous district called

A P R I L 23, 1893

107

the Everglades is always inundated. In favourable localities, a good yield of sugar, cotton 8c rice. Great growth o f timber for ship-building. Coasts 8c rivers swarm with fish. Climate comparatively salubrious. Railways recent. I wonder whether this will be sufficient. We had heavy' rain in the past night; things much brighter this morning in consequence. Strange that the swallows 8c martins have not yet shown themselves here. Laburnums are in full blooni, 8c the May, white 8c pink, is out in the gardens. A pestilent idiot in Germany (meteorologist o f some repute) has been prophesying European earthquakes o f the most serious nature. The papers have given much attention to it. I feel a personal animosity against such a man. As if we had not trouble 8c misery enough, public 8c private, without such suggestions—pretty sure to be nothing but a false alarm.2 Blackett continues to advertize you pretty freely in the newspapers—I mean separately from his other novels. But I have not seen any more notices. The fact is, that mere space does not allow o f a notice o f all the myriad books that appear. I suppose, as time goes on, only a very few books will be selected for review; 8c the worst o f it is that the choice depends almost en­ tirely on personal reasons. It will interest me very' much to see whether you can make any profit— with the next novel y'ou write—out o f the Authors’ Agency. The thing is worth trying, I am sure. Love to you all, G.G. 1Chambers’s Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary o f Universal Knowledge fo r the People. This was first published in the 1 8 6 0 s, but underwent revisions in several editions, including one in 1884. In A t Society’s Expense, Helen Pildacre changes her identity, assumes the name o f Helen Ilderton, and pretends to com e from Florida, but Algernon uses none o f the following details in the novel. ^The “pestilent idiot” has not been identified, but earthquakes and shocks were becoming disturbingly frequent in Servia, Hungary, Bulgaria and generally throughout eastern Europe and Sicily, the m ost recent and m ost destructive being on the Greek island o f Zante, where on April 17 a quake was said to have collapsed every building on the island.

*

T H E L E T T E R S OF G E O R G E GISSING

108

To C. W. Tinckam1 MS: A TL. 1. St. Leonard’s Terrace, Exeter. May 8 , 1 8 9 3 .

Dear Sir, Thank you for your reply to my advJ in Dalton’s.2 As I cannot come up to town for a few weeks, might I ask you to let me have a little more information regarding the rooms which you think might suit me? To begin with, I will mention that I am engaged exclusively in literary work. I have lived at Exeter for the last two years, & reference to my land­ lord here would o f course be permitted.3 Our child (a boy) is 18 months old. On his account, I wish to find a house where there is a possibility o f taking the air without always going into the public ways. Would you kindly describe to me the situation o f your house in relation to Brixton Road or Hill? I have a general knowledge o f that locality, but do not happen to know Burton Road.4 Further, might I ask if your family consists o f many members? I am sure you will forgive this question, having regard to the necessities o f the case. And I should like to know what rent you would ask for the four rooms, that I may decide at once whether I need trouble you further on the subject. I think I may say that we are very quiet people; the nature o f my work makes quietness necessary. I want to be within, say, ten minutes’ walk o f the new reading-room; a condition which your house evidently satisfies. Prox­ imity to quiet & domestic people would greatly add to our comfort,—as also the possibility o f remaining for some time in the same abode. I am, dear Sir, Yours truly, G. Gissing C. W. Tinckam Esq"-' 'Charles William Tinckam (c. 1 8 4 7 - 1 9 3 5 ) worked for the publishing firm o f Sampson Low. On April 2 0 Gissing had sent an advertisement for four unfurnished room s at Brixton to

Dalton’s Advertiser. 3Charles Bryan, as explained in the letter o f M arch 2 5 , n. 5. Burton Road is a short street running into Brixton Road from the east. It is about half a mile north o f Brixton Station.

*

M A Y 16, 1 8 9 3

109

To Algernon MS: N YPL. LGG. 1. St. L.'s Terrace, Exeter. May 16, 1893.

Dear Alg., Mother has been with us since Sat., & all goes well. On Friday we shall all go together to Burnham (Somerset), that Mother may have a breath o f the sea before going home, 8c that her backward journey may be shortened. Letters addressed here will be forwarded.1 I have arranged to take the upper part o f a house in Brixton, landlord a man who has been 20 years in office o f Sampson Low.2 If you are really go­ ing to London, could you get a lodging in same neighbourhood. Splendid reading-room at hand. Terms would be very moderate in Brixton for a bedsitting-room, if you could manage with that. I am to pay 13/- a week— unfurnished, o f course. I think we shall move at Midsummer. Please tell Katie that I will send her The Ring