The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part A: 1881-1884 [Course Book ed.] 9781400858675

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THE C O L L E C T E D L E T T E R S OF

WILLIAM MORRIS VOLUME II

^K

E D I T E D BY N O R M A N KELVIN A S S I S T A N T E D I T O R : GALE SIGAL

William

T H E C O L L E C T E D L E T T E R S OF

MORRIS

V O L U M E II 1881-1884

P R I N C E T O N

UNIVERSITY

PRESS

COPYRIGHT © 1987 BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON, NEWJERSEY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, GUILDFORD, SURREY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK HAS BEEN AIDED BY A GRANT FROM THE ANDREW W. MELLON FUND OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS CLOTHBOUND EDITIONS OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOKS ARE PRINTED ON ACID-FREE PAPER, AND BINDING MATERIALS ARE CHOSEN FOR STRENGTH AND DURABILITY THE PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME WAS MADE POSSIBLE (IN PART) BY A GRANT FROM THE PROGRAM FOR EDITIONS OF THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, AN INDEPENDENT FEDERAL AGENCY

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA MORRIS, WILLIAM, 1 8 3 4 - 1 8 9 6 . THE COLLECTED LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS. INCLUDES BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND INDEXES. CONTENTS: V. I . 1 8 4 8 - 1 8 8 0 . — V . 2 , PT. A. 1 8 8 1 - 1 8 8 4 . V. 2 , PT B. 1 8 8 5 - 1 8 8 8 . I . MORRIS, WILLIAM,

1834-1896—CORRESPONDENCE.

2 . AUTHORS, ENGLISH—I9TH CENTURY—CORRESPONDENCE. 3 . ARTISTS—ENGLAND—CORRESPONDENCE. I. KELVIN, NORMAN. II. TITLE. PR5083.A4

1984

821'.8 [B]

ISBN O - 6 9 1 - 0 6 5 O I - 2 (V. I : ALK

82-47604 PAPER)

TO PHYLLIS, JANE, AND ELIZABETH

CONTENTS

LIST OF I L L U S T R A T I O N S

IX

EDITORIAL PRACTICES

XV

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

XVU

INTRODUCTION

XlX

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

XXXV

A B B R E V I A T I O N S OF M A N U S C R I P T L O C A T I O N S A B B R E V I A T I O N S OF W O R K S F R E Q U E N T L Y CITED

T H E L E T T E R S · 1881-1884

[ vii ]

xli xlvU

3-365

LIST OF I L L U S T R A T I O N S

William Morris, 1888 (The Pierpont Morgan Library). Frederick Startridge Ellis, c. 1895-1896 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

2

Frederic Harrison, c. 1880 (The Bodleian Library).

7

5

Thomas Wardle, c. 1885 (courtesy of Christine Woods). Thomas Coglan Horsfall, c. 1910 (City of Manchester Art Galleries). No . 1 Palace Green, London home of the Howards, built by Philip Webb and decorated by Morris and Company (William Morris Gallery). Merton Abbey (William Morris Gallery).

20 25

Thomas James Sanderson, Jane Cobden, Jane Morris, and Annie Cobden in Siena, 1881 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

30

William Blake Richmond, c. 1880 (National Portrait Gallery, London). William De Morgan, early 1880's (National Portrait Gallery, London). Portrait of Morris by W. B. Richmond, 1882 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

11 13

38 43 120

Brother Rabbit pattern, 1882 (Victoria and Albert Museum). 144 May Morris, c. 1883 (National Portrait Gallery, London). 158 Dining room, Kelmscott House (William Morris Gallery). 161 Goose Girl cartoon designed by Walter Crane; tapestry based on this design completed in 1883 (Victoria and Albert Museum). 162 Walter Crane, c. 1891 (National Portrait Gallery, London). 163 Pomona tapestry by William Morris (Victoria and Albert Museum). 164 Seventeenth-century Italian cut velvet and the patterns named after the tributaries of the Thames that derive from it, designed 1883-1884 (Victoria and Albert Museum). 166-172 John Ruskin, c. 1885 (National Portrait Gallery, London). 185 [ ix ]

LIST OF I L L U S T R A T I O N S

Strawberry Thief pattern, 1883 (Victoria and Albert Museum).

191

Holland Park carpet, designed 1883 (courtesy ofJoseph Dunlap).

193

Emma Lazarus, 1883 (Library of Congress).

205

Georgiana Burne-Jones with Phil and Margaret in the background. Painting by Edward Burne-Jones, begun in 1883 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London; and courtesy of Lance Thirkell).

218

H. M. Hyndman, c. 1910 (H. W. Lee and E. Archbold, Social Democracy in Britain: Fifty Years of the Socialist Movement [London: The Social Democratic Federation, 1935] opposite p. 32).

220

Democratic Federation membership card designed by William Morris, 1883 (H. W. Lee and E. Archbold, Social Democracy in Britain: Fifty Years of the Socialist Movement [London: The Social Democratic Federation, 1935] opposite p. 176).

224

Andreas Sheu, c. 1885 (Austrian National Library, Picture Archive and Portrait Collection, Vienna).

226

Burne-Jones's caricatures of Morris and of himself (Letters to Katie Lewis, 1883; British Museum).

232

Burne-Jones's caricatures of himself triumphing over Morris (Burne-Jones Account Book, Fitzwilliam Museum) and of Morris weaving (William Morris Gallery).

233

Charles Rowley, c. 1900 (Manchester Public Libraries).

240

Cover of Λ Summary of the Principles of Socialism by H. M. Hynd­ man and William Morris (British Library).

257

Jane Morris in her garden at Kelmscott House, 1884 (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge).

265

George Bernard Shaw, 1896 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

291

Annie Besant, early 1880's (National Portrait Gallery, London).

293

Ernest Belfort Bax, c. 1915 (H. W. Lee and E. Archbold, Social Democracy in Britain: Fifty Years of the Socialist Movement [London: The Social Democratic Federation, 1935] opposite p. 64).

294

Harry Quelch, c. 1919 (H. W. Lee and E. Archbold, Social Democracy in Britain: Fifty Years of the Socialist Movement [London: The Social Democratic Federation, 1935] opposite p. 128).

296

Morris's copy of the French translation of Das Kapital, bound by Cobden-Sanderson, 1883-1884 (The Estelle Doheny College Collection).

334

[ x ]

LIST OF I L L U S T R A T I O N S

John Burns in his workshop with unidentified apprentice, c. 1888 (National Portrait Gallery, London). First page of the first number of The Commonweal, second edition (William Morris Gallery). Woodcut designed by Walter Crane as an ornament for Socialist League publications (including the Manifesto on the Sudan War), 1885 (Institute for International Social History, Amsterdam). Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, c. 1880 (British Library).

388 398

Jenny Morris, c. 1885 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

407

Embroidery by May Morris, Kelmscott House (National Portrait Gallery, London). "Viking Ship," stained glass window designed by Burne-Jones for Vinland (Delaware Art Museum). Burne-Jones's cartoons of Thor, Odin, and Frey for Vinland, Newport (City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery). Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League, photographed by F. Hollyer, 1885 (courtesy of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum). Membership card, Hammersmith Branch, Socialist League, designed by Walter Crane (Philip Henderson, The Letters of William Morris to his Family and Friends, p. 332). "The Earthly Paradox," caricature of Morris by John P. Stafford, from Funny Folks, 1886 (William Morris Gallery). James Frederick Henderson, c. 1896 (Norfolk County Library). The Reverend John Glasse, c. 1886 (the Kirk Session of Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland Kirk, Edinburgh). John Bruce Glasier, c. 1905 (courtesy of the British Labour Party). "Mrs. Grundy Frightened At Her Own Shadow" by Walter Crane, Commonweal, May 1, 1886 (Institute for International Social History, Amsterdam). Pencil sketch of Morris by John Butler Yeats, drawn in Dublin, 1886 (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin). May Morris, 1886 (William Morris Gallery). Police summons issued to Morris, July 18, 1886 (British Library). Inglesham Church (photographs by Norman Kelvin, 1986). May Morris and Henry Halliday Sparling (at left) with Steffan (a Swedish economist) and his wife (National Portrait Gallery, London). [ xi ]

379 387

414 423 424

446

448 455 470 521 527

531 542 550 564 581

603

LIST OF I L L U S T R A T I O N S

John Henry Dearie, 1930, portrait by E. R. Payne (William Morris Gallery).

676

Clouds carpet, designed by Morris in 1887 (Victoria and Albert Museum). William Morris, 1887 (William Morris Gallery).

697 701

"Bloody Sunday," November 13, 1887: St. Martin's Lane, where the police dispersed a contingent of the unemployed approaching Trafalgar Square from Clerkenwell Green; Trafalgar Square: R. H. B. Marsham, Magistrate of Greenwich Police Court, arrives escorted by the Life Guards (The Graphic, November 19, 1887).

713

"The Convict." Tom Merry's cartoon of R. B. Cunninghame Graham at Pentonville Jail, published in St. Stephen's Review, January 28, 1888. 717 Drawing of "Soul of William Morris" and note from C. R. Ashbee's journals, December 6, 1887 (The Library of King's College, Cambridge, with permission of Felicity Ashbee). 722-723 Cover of Morris's "A Death Song" for Alfred Linnell, with woodcut by Walter Crane (British Library). 726 Jenny Morris, late 1880's (William Morris Gallery). 743 Cartoon by Walter Crane, 1888, commemorating the Paris Commune (Institute for International Social History, Amsterdam). 749 Flyer satirizing Morris and the anti-Parliamentary branches, distributed by Socialist League parliamentarists (Institute for International Social History, Amsterdam). 784 Coach house, Kelmscott House, meeting room of the Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League (William Morris Gallery). Morris with members of the Norwich Branch of the Socialist League (William Morris Gallery).

793 795

Hammersmith rug, c. 1880. Morris's wedding gift to Margaret Burne-Jones Mackail, 1888 (Victoria and Albert Museum). 800 Cover of the Catalogue for the First Exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, 1888, designed by Walter Crane (William Morris Gallery). 811 Adoration of the Magi tapestry, 1890 (courtesy of Joseph R. Dunlap; photograph by Dennis Fro me). J. W. and Margaret Mackail at Clouds after a fancy dress party, c. 1888 (William Morris Gallery). (Inset)]. W. Mackail in 1905 (courtesy of Lance Thirkell). [ Xu ]

814

815

LIST OF I L L U S T R A T I O N S

Laura Mary Forster, c. 1880 (King's College, Cambridge). Binding by Laura Mary Forster for a volume of Ruskin's Praeterita, late 1880's (King's College, Cambridge). Interior of Kelmscott Church (photograph by Norman Kelvin, 1986). The Three Fates (Victoria and Albert Museum). Emery Walker, c. 1889 (National Portrait Gallery, London).

[ xiu ]

822 823 832 834 837

EDITORIAL PRACTICES

Transcription FOR MOST of the letters, the text has been taken from the holograph original. In cases where the only extant source is a printed text (notably Mackail's 1899 biography), the letter or whatever part of it was quoted is reprinted here. Inevitably, the translation of a holographic document to the printed page introduces some distortion of the original. Certain visual cues are lost: in particular, the end of a handwritten line may indicate the completion of a sentence even though a period is not used; space left between sentences may signify the sense of a new paragraph whether or not a new line is started or an indentation appears; a sentence may contain interpolated or crossed-out material indicating the writer's second thoughts. These features appear often in Morris's letters. My ideal has been to remain completely faithful to the text, but the realities of putting into print documents which were in no way intended for posterity have forced me to adopt certain conventions for the sake of readability with which the reader will want to be familiar. Morris's paragraphing, occasionally but not often, presents a problem. In some letters he seems to intend the end of a paragraph by concluding a sentence well before the edge of the page and beginning the next sentence on a new line without, however, any indentation. On the few occasions when this has in fact been the case, I have introduced an indentation to signify the new paragraph that Morris clearly seemed to intend. Material crossed out by Morris, but still readable and representing a variation from what he finally wrote, is given in angle brackets. False starts in spelling, however, are not shown. Occasionally I have expanded a word that Morris abbreviated, interpolated a clarifying word, or added sic to avoid confusion. In all such cases the added material is enclosed in square brackets. Question marks in square brackets indicate uncertainty in reading the preceding word. Most of the time Morris's handwriting is perfectly legible. Dates and addresses have been placed at the upper right. When a date, or any part of one, has been supplied by the editor, it is given in square brackets. A question mark indicates that the suggested date is a plausible

[ xv ]

EDITORIAL PRACTICES

one only. When there is no question mark, the bracketed date is offered with confidence, since it was arrived at through internal evidence, crossreference, or other compelling information, such as entries in Morris's diaries. Letters that could be assigned only approximate dates have been placed in best-guess chronological order. Apart from these liberties, Morris's words stand as they were written. Misspellings, run-on sentences, most abbreviated words, idiosyncratic punctuation and capitalization, occasional obscure passages or apparent slips of the pen are by and large not the subjects of editorial notation except as noted above, in the belief that the reader will prefer to work things out or ponder the ambiguities as Morris's actual correspondents may have had to do. In the publication of historical evidence there is no reason for the editor to come between the document and the reader except insofar as the translation from the original medium to print poses problems that must be solved typographically. Annotation A note giving the location of the holograph manuscript, or the published source if the original letter no longer survives, will be found following each letter. Previous publication in biographical or critical works, not including short excerpts, is also noted. The other notes then follow. I try to give useful, and sometimes new information about Morris's correspondents, the people and things he mentions, his work, and his connections with the events of the time, without overwhelming the letters themselves. In the case of well-known figures, for whom full biographies and other studies are readily available, a brief identification is given on first appearance, and thereafter such details are added as throw light on the letter at hand. For lesser-known figures, about whom information is harder to come by, a somewhat longer biographical account is provided at first mention. Cross-references from later references back to the first note are given when it has seemed particularly useful to do so, but in general readers should use the indexes to locate information. I should also mention that the notes occasionally provide comment on a peculiarity in the text. The letters collected here are the fruits of fifteen years of searching. There may be others not yet found. Any letters that come to light too late for publication in chronological order will be included in an appendix to the last volume of this edition.

[ xvi ]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

"To THE THANKS recorded in the Acknowledgments for Volume I, I would like to add here my gratitude to those individuals and institutions whose help has put me in their debt since the first volume was completed. I want to thank the Research Foundation of the City University of New York for its support of this edition, and to acknowledge my large obligation to the National Endowment for the Humanities for its part in the funding that has made progress to this point possible. The obligation is formally acknowledged on p. iv of this edition. For assistance in providing information, or for aid with the logistics of my research effort, I am indebted to Debra Capodilupo of the Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island; Stephen G. Daitz; Marian Frangois; Robert Ghiradella; Rachel Grover, University of Toronto Library; Michael A. Halls, Modern Archivist, King's College, Cambridge; Sue Hanson, Special Collections Librarian, Case Western Reserve University Library; David James, District Archivist, West Yorkshire Archive Service; GeorgeJenks, Ellen Clark Bertrand Library, Bucknell University; Karl Kabelac, University of Rochester Library; S. H. Mayor of the Cheshunt Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Howard B. Meyers; Anthony P. Shearman, City Librarian, Edinburgh; Dean Paul Sherwin, City College of New York; and Carole Silver. For making available copies of Morris's letters and for giving me permission to publish them, I am grateful to R. C.H. Briggs; the Ellen Clark Bertrand Library, Bucknell University; University Printer, Cambridge; Department of Special Collections of University Libraries, Case Western Reserve; Dr. R. L. Coupe; Joseph R. Dunlap; Dr. Howard Garber; Alfred G. Gimson; Goldman and Goldman, Inc.; L. W. Towner and Mrs. Lucille Wehner, Special Collections Department, The Newberry Library; the collection of The Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport, Rhode Island; Norfolk Record Office; and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. Gale Sigal has made a splendid and essential contribution to this work over a long period of time, and I have therefore appointed her Assistant Editor. Her editorial skill, her sharp eye, her subtle and discriminating judgment, and her firm sense of logic helped to iron out many questions and to push the work forward. Undaunted by the profusion of details, she [ xvii ]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

carefully and with finesse organized the diverse materials into coherent and manageable units. Her dedication to this project, and the efficiency and intelligence with which she demonstrated it, are apparent on every page of the final typescript. Stephen K. Meyers, who became associated with this edition during the final preparation of Volume I, has continued his contribution, and its cumulative effect is present throughout Volume II. His special undertaking was to conduct a library search for information, needed to complete annotations, that had not been located in several previous efforts. The intelligence and resourcefulness that he brought to the task have resulted in success where earlier search had failed. He has my special gratitude, and the reader, provided in a note with an unusual detail that might have remained undiscovered and thus unadded, will benefit from the debt to Mr. Meyers I have happily incurred. For special help in providing information needed for this volume at a late stage, I am pleased to add my thanks to Dr. Joyce Bellamy, University of Hull; Dr. Frank Felsenstein, University of Leeds; Linda Parry, Victoria and Albert Museum; and Nicholas Poole-Wilson, Bernard Quaritch, Ltd. For assistance in reading page proofs—participation that made a difference—I am indebted to Rafat Ispahany, Debra Mendizza, and Donald Taffurrelli, all of the City University of New York. To Cathie Brettschneider, the copyeditor for this volume, who joined the work at the half-way mark, and to Judith May, who began the copy editing before becoming Biological Sciences Editor at Princeton University Press, my sincere thanks for their able and necessary help. Anyone who either knows or can imagine what copyediting a work of this complexity entails will know what is owed to those involved in it. Again, my final thanks are reserved for my family. Their support when needed, and their forebearance when needed even more, have made it possible for me to make my own contribution to this book. Their only reward for accepting the ongoing work as part of their lives has been to see the first two volumes appear. The reader who recognizes an imbalance here should know that I recognize it, too. To my wife, Phyllis, then, and to my daughters, Elizabeth and Jane, my most special thanks of all.

[ xviii ]

INTRODUCTION

covered in this volume, 1881 through 1888, are among the most vigorous in Morris's career. They record the sharp swing from optimism that public events can be affected by political ideas to disillusion about the people holding the ideas, and finally show the signs—in 1888— of a new, more personal, beginning and the reformulated purpose to come. Moreover, the letters, as always tell us who among Morris's friends and associates were most important to him in the years in which they were written. They also address several matters essential for an understanding of Morris: his definition of the word "political"; his shift from writing poetry to prose; and his complex of interests embracing language, narrative, and the decorative arts. To speak first of his friendships, the letters show that the oldest ones— those with Burne-Jones, Philip Webb, Cormell Price, and Charles Faulkner—were uninterrupted. The ties with Edward Burne-Jones, however, had to withstand arguments over socialism, a matter hinted at in BurneJones's Account Books, suggested by entries in Cormell Price's diaries, and accented by Georgiana Burne-Jones's note, in 1885, to the editor of Commonweal, requesting that the magazine—the journal of the Socialist League—be sent to Mrs., not Mr., Burne-Jones. But the letters also indicate changes in previous friendships. Morris apparently wrote more frequently to Aglaia Coronio in 1881 than in any subsequent year—more often than in the seven following years together—permitting the conjecture that in 1882 Rossetti's death and Morris's turn to socialism made visiting her even less necessary than it had been previously. As for the letters to Thomas Wardle—always among Morris's most vivid because they show him at his active best, engaged and engrossed in his art—they, too, are bunched in 1881; and for the first months they express strong dissatisfaction with Wardle's dyeing, a discontent that contributed to Morris's decision to establish his own works at Merton Abbey later in the year. In February, he was already writing to Jane Morris: "Tom Wardle is a heap of trouble to us; nothing will he do right, & he does write the longest winded letters containing lies of various sorts: we shall have to take the chintzes ourselves before long and are now really looking about for premises." T H E YEARS

[

xix

]

INTRODUCTION The correspondence with George Howard, another strong presence in the letters of the 1870's, seems also to have been more frequent in 1881 than in any following year, though the random scattering of friendly letters after 1881 discourages seeing a pattern similar to the one in the letters to Aglaia Coronio and Thomas Wardle. Probably the separation between George and Rosalind Howard in the 1880's, and the awkwardness of visiting them, had more to do with the falling off in correspondence than anything else, even Morris's turn to socialism. As for this change, it is more than likely that George Howard, for whom politics was a natural activity, either mildly sympathized with Morris's socialism, perceiving less of a gap between it and Radical Liberalism than Morris did, or had decided to accept with good will Morris's defection from the Liberal Party. Morris also makes new friends in these years, at first largely through socialism; and for varying lengths of time some of these are also political mentors: Andreas Scheu and Belfort Bax especially play the role (along with H. M. Hyndman and Edward Aveling, neither—on the evidence of the letters—ever a friend). The letters to Scheu are an essential source of information about the Social Democratic Federation and Morris's conflict with Hyndman, and about the rise and fall of the Socialist League as well. Similarly, the letters to John Bruce Glasier, leader of the Edinburgh Branch of the Socialist League and more a follower of Morris in this period than a mentor, have both tactical focus and spontaneity; they record Morris's thoughts and moods throughout the conflicts with other socialists that marked nearly every year of the period covered in this volume. The letters to Glasier are particularly valuable as evidence of the strenuous efforts Morris made in 1887 and 1888 to prevent the Socialist League from declaring for parliamentarism. Of equal interest, however, and in some ways more interesting, are the letters to comparative strangers, to whom Morris wrote in response to queries and who, on the evidence available, never became more than fugitive acquaintances. Although letters to close associates like Scheu and Glasier tell us about tactics and moods and occasionally record a deeply felt moral-political belief, those to strangers carefully, elaborately, and painstakingly define socialism, meet objections to its theory, and give us Morris's self-portrait as a socialist. Equally important, several of the strangers or passing acquaintances who receive these letters are Christian Socialists, or clergymen interested in social questions. In 1883, the best letters of this kind are those to C. E. Maurice, the son of the Christian Socialist leader, F. D. Maurice; and in 1888, the longest and most thorough exposition of what Morris believes socialism is, and should be, occur in the letters to the Rev. George Bainton. In between, there are similar if [ xx ]

INTRODUCTION briefer letters to the Reverends Oswald Birchall, Morris's neighbor at Kelmscott, Stopford Brooke, and William Sharman. This is not the place to raise the question, already carefully explored by E. P. Thompson and others, of the relation between Christian social awareness and secular socialism in England. The interest here is in Morris's character and temperament. Despite his disapproval of reliance on organized religion for social change (and as a source of answers to theological questions), his earnest searching and explication when writing to clergymen, suggesting sympathies perhaps not recognized by him, established a link between him and them. Such sympathies made it possible for Morris to explain himself to them effectively, to define areas of agreement and disagreement, but best of all to feel that he was respected and was not the object of the sharp tactical opposition or even derision that he had come to expect from some fellow secular socialists. What is even more important about his correspondence with clergymen, however, is that it was when writing to them that he most confidently undertook to define for himself the word "political." The need to do so was forced upon him both by dissatisfaction with what others had said, beginning even in his Liberal period, and by the dissatisfaction of others with him, almost as soon as he became a socialist. The letters gave him an opportunity to formulate the definition through dialogue, the external dialogue with the clergymen encouraging an internal dialogue with himself. It is when Morris corresponds with the Christian activist C. E. Maurice that the internal dialogue first appears. In June 1883, six months after joining the Democratic Federation, he wrote to Maurice: "I used to think that one might further real Socialistic progress by doing what one could on the lines of ordinary middle class Radicalism: I have been driven of late into the conclusion that I was mistaken; that Radicalism . . . will never develope into anything more than Radicalism . . . and will always be under the control of rich capitalists: they will have no objection to its political development, if they think they can stop it there: but as to real social changes, they will not allow them if they can help it. . . ." The emphasis is of course Morris's; he is separating the word "political," in its usual nineteenth-century meaning of negotiation in parliament among conflicting interests, from the word "change," which presumably is to come about in some way that is other than "political." Assuming for the moment that Morris wants radical change by any means, we cannot ignore the fact that his contemporaries in and out of the Democratic Federation would—unless they were anarchists—have described any method to bring about the change as "political." And so even at the outset of his

[ xxi ]

INTRODUCTION career as a socialist, Morris has set himself apart, perhaps unknowingly as yet, from those with whom he strongly wants to make common cause. To see further what Morris, at the beginning of his socialist career, rejects, we can look at his letter to Maurice sent a few days after the one mentioned above. The word to be repudiated this time is "system," and Morris begins by asserting that the present capitalist "supply and demand" system is not "eternal," noting—presumably as one who has been reading and discussing Marx's work—that the arrangement of citizen and slave of the ancient world and the medieval one of seigneur and serf gave way to the "present contract system between rich and poor" and that it too will be succeeded. But he adds: "I do not believe in the world being saved by any system; — I only assert the necessity of attacking systems grown corrupt. . . ." Once again, Morris's approach to a central nineteenth-century concept is to distrust it. A system is not to be replaced by another system, and since "political" activity in his day, as in ours, implied a particular organization of society—that is, a "system," both as a context for that activity and as an immediate result of it—Morris's two negations reinforce each other. To this a third can be added: Morris's rejection of "theory," after several years of asserting in letters and lectures his commitment to "scientific socialism." Writing to an unknown correspondent (possibly E. J. Collings of Bolton) on December 30, 1887, he said: " . . . Socialism does not rest on the Marxian theory; many complete socialists do not agree with him on this point [the theory of value]; and of course the disproving of a theory which professes to account for the facts, no more gets rid of the facts than the mediaeval theory of astronomy destroyed the sun. What people really want to know is why they cannot get at the raw material & instruments of labour without being taxed for the maintenance of a proprietary class; and why labour is so disorganized that all the inventions of modern times leave us rather worse off than we were before. This can be shown them without pitting Marx against Jevons [who devised a statistical approach to economics] or vice versa." Whether people do want answers not based on theory, or prefer theoretically based ones, or ask different questions altogether, is not to the point here. What is apposite is that Morris's comments dispatch "theory" to join "political" and "system" in discard. What is left? First, it is useful to note that the one word of the three to which he returns is "political," and that he does redefine it for himself. In the letters of 1888 to the Rev. George Bainton already cited, Morris speaks of "political" in a way that makes clear his oppositional—even antithetical—use of the term in the context of contemporary assumptions. His is the root meaning of the word. It is Aristotelian in its approach, [ xxii ]

INTRODUCTION and it focuses on the concept of the body politic as a single entity, deliberately excluding the connotation signifying conflict and negotiation of interests. On April 2, 1888, Morris wrote to Bainton: "Properly speaking in a condition of equality politics would no longer exist; but to use the word as distinguishing the social habits that have not to do directly with production, the political position of Socialism is to substitute the relation of persons to persons for the relation of things to persons." This much might have come straight from Engels' Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, but Morris shows no interest in explaining how the word "political" illuminates the relationships among people (in the future) who live, as he says later in the letter, in a state of "personal equality." The positive meaning of political is at best negative: "[I]n such a state of society [i.e., socialist] laws of repression would be minimized"; and, externally, "there could no longer be rivalry between those inhabiting different places; nationality except as a geographical or ethnological expression would have no meaning." Clearly Morris, still reluctant to use the word political at all, is not certain about what it does or will mean, only about what it will not signify. In his next letter to Bainton, written two days later, he tried to come closer: "You must not forget . . . that the socialism of today . . . like every vital movement [is] a political one, that is to say one that embraces the daily life of the whole people. . . ." But the stress on "whole people" annihilates the practical in connection with "political" as thoroughly as did his negative definition of the word in his previous letter. Even when using the word with deliberate attention to meaning, it would seem, Morris can focus only on the concept of the body politic as a single organism—as the realized commonwealth and not the process for bringing the commonwealth about. His approach to the word can be dismissed as naive, or useless, but more important, it can be linked to what is significant in his position and response. And what is of special significance, I believe, is that at the heart of his discomfort with the word "political" is not only his dislike of contending factions but his distrust of language as it was used by both his friends and his enemies. On several occasions in his letters, as well as in his lectures, he made clear his belief that middle-class society had created a language in which truth of feeling and honesty of thought were impossible. His socialist bias also fed on the prevailing attitudes that "civilization," having become decadent, compared unfavorably with the barbarism that preceded it. Morris's view is expressed in a letter he wrote to Georgiana Burne-Jones in May 1885: "I have [no] more faith than a grain of mustard seed in the future history of'civilization', which I know now is doomed to destruction, and probably before very long: what a joy it is to think of! and how often

[ xxiii ]

INTRODUCTION it consoles me to think of barbarism once more flooding the world, and real feelings and passions, however rudimentary, taking the place of our wretched hypocrisies." Connected with this is Morris's (only half-) humorous complaint to Scheu in August of the previous year that the true Germanic—that is, barbaric—vigor of English had been debased by the Latin-French influence, a point that he made again more seriously in a letter to the Pall Mall Gazette on December 14, 1886, in which he strenuously objected to the misreporting of his lecture on "Early England" at the Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League two days earlier: "I pointed out . . . that the [Romans] were commercial and individualistic, and that their chief characteristic was vulgarity . . . whereas the [English, Saxon, and Jutes] had an elevated literature founded on the ideas of the dignity of life which naturally spring from the consciousness of belonging to a corporation of freemen." And in the lecture itself he had described Beowulf, the chief surviving work of these tribes, as "worthy of a great people for its sincerity of language and beauty of expression" and free from anything "coarse, ignoble, or degrading." The Romans—"commercial and individualistic"—are both an analogue to the middle classes of nineteenth-century England and a part of the historical process that leads to them. The barbarians—the Anglo-Saxons and the Jutes—however, are neither analogues nor part of the historical process that leads to the nineteenth-century socialists: there is for Morris no dialectic. They are rather a model, a historical point of departure used nonhistorically, for the future, for the society that Morris—disregarding Marx as he does when he rejects the words "system," "theory," and "politics"—consciously thinks of as the ideal. There is, in brief, a personal use of history here that, though it results in no system, establishes a nondialectical idealism as a principle of understanding. In a letter to Georgiana Burne-Jones, after the annual convention of the Socialist League in 1888 (during which he had exerted all his energies to thwart the move toward parliamentarism initiated by the Bloomsbury Branch and by his close colleague Belfort Bax), after in fact the Bloomsbury Branch had been suspended from the Socialist League and had responded by reorganizing independently of it, Morris said: "I am a little dispirited over our movement. . . . Perhaps we Leaguers have been somewhat too stiff in our refusal of compromise. I have always felt that it was rather a matter of temperament than of principle. . . . But then in all the wearisome shilly-shally of parliamentary politics I should be absolutely useless: the immediate end to be gained, the pushing things just a trifle nearer to State Socialism, which when realized seems to me but a dull goal — all this quite sickens me. . . . Preaching the ideal is surely always necessary." "Preaching the ideal" is in fact a key to politics and language in Morris's [ xxiv ]

INTRODUCTION thought and to the meaning the word "political" had for him. Paul Meier has argued that Morris fastens on the vision of "pure communism," the stateless state that was to follow state socialism in nineteenth-century Marxist theory. Others—including Engels—accused Morris of giving comfort to the anarchists through his dislike of the political process and his absorption in a vision of a future society. Undoubtedly there is truth in both these estimates, but Morris's focus on the ideal condition, his praise of the barbarian "corporation of freemen" whose elevated literature manifested "sincerity of language," is a result also, as noted, of his distrust of all nineteenth-century language—that of both the commercial classes and the socialists who opposed and often derided him. Language in the nineteenth century had become for him decadent on the one hand and manipulative on the other. His insistence on "preaching the ideal," in celebrating an imagined corporate social entity in which the nineteenth-century links between the word "political" and the words "system," "theory," and "negotiation" have been dissolved, is a desire too for an ideal language, one resembling in its virtues the language of the Germanic settlers of England. He was not to find an ideal body politic, nor was he to find or create an ideal language, but his reaching for them had consequences more interesting than the predictable unattainability of the objects. In his own work this reaching had contributed first, I believe, to his shift from poetry to prose. He had told Fred Henderson, in a letter of N o vember 6, 1885, that "language is utterly degraded in our daily lives and poets have to make a new tongue each for himself." Because he began his long narrative poem, The Pilgrims of Hope, about the time he defined to Henderson the obligation of the modern poet, Morris must surely have been aware of this need for himself; and the mildly self-deprecating references to The Pilgrims ofHope in his letters might have been stronger even as the conclusion that the poem failed is strong. His own effort to "make a new tongue" in The Pilgrims of Hope was unsuccessful, and surely this had something to do with his never again attempting a major poem. The Pilgrims of Hope is, literally, a political poem—the story of three British volunteers who fight for the Paris Commune. In his quarrels with other socialists over the meaning of political terms, Morris had discovered he was reaching for a language that would describe an idealized society and serve as means of communication within it. In writing The Pilgrims of Hope, however, he failed to create in poetry a language that would describe, express, and idealize—transform into an epic of modern times—a social-political event that had captured his imagination. If not as a result of this failure, then certainly in sequence to it, he shifted to prose, used in the early romances of the period of The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine [ xxv ]

INTRODUCTION but largely abandoned for literary work when his career as a poet, from 1857 on, became serious and successful. In the last decade of his life, Morris wrote a series of extraordinary prose romances, which take as their subject either the past or the future, and in which the nineteenth century, controlled by the perspective of past or future, serves one or the other, stands in inferior relation to it: is subordinated, that is, to a past or future that is idealized. And in the prose he shaped for these romances he liberated himself at once from the need to quarrel with socialists, the need to use the "corrupt" language of the "commercial classes," and the need to make poetic language "new." Significantly, the poetic passages that are integral to certain of these romances (and that are a borrowing from the technique of the Icelandic sagas) are fairly dreadful at times, whereas the prose often has a simplicity, charm, and rhythmic power that approach Morris's prescription for a fresh language. Equally important, politics, language, and art become a single theme in the first four of these romances, written or begun between 1886 and 1889 (one year beyond the period covered in this volume). Taken together, these works can be read as a search by Morris, within a series of fictive or historical political situations, to define and then redefine the role of the artist, and of art, in society; and it is a search that begins with the poet as a special individual, and poetry as the chief art, and that ends with the near abolition of both. The first romance is A Dream of John Ball, initially published serially in The Commonweal from November 13, 1886, through January 22, 1887. Adopting his characteristic role of dreamer, Morris returns in this work to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, and to the Battle of London. When asked who he is, he calls himself Bard, and thus becomes an important figure at the right hand of the egalitarian (but traditionally heroic) leader, John Ball. But the function Morris gives himself is even more important than the traditional bardic one, for he does not sing of the past but of the future, and as a seer he treats John Ball to a fairly good Marxist account of what will happen in England after the fourteenth century. Thus the poet helps define John Ball's political goal, and though this is an intervention of art into history, the purpose is not to change past events but to interpret or alter their significance for the future—to define for the nineteenth century the event of which John Ball was a part just as the intervention Actively clarifies his private meditations. The next prose romances to be written were The House of the Wolfings (1888) and The Roots of the Mountains (1889). Morris, in writing them, reached back to a period earlier than the fourteenth century. The exact year and place of The House of the Wolfings are not specified, but it is the period in which the Gothic tribes encountered the Romans, [ xxvi ]

INTRODUCTION while moving through Central Europe. It is the time when Nordic barbarism, with all its individual and social virtues, confronted the decadent, tax-gathering civilization of the South; though Morris, for both historical and dramatic reasons, is careful to stress also the efficiency and courage of the Romans in battle. The Wolfings, the Gothic tribe at the center of this work, are led by Thiodolf, a man who is both elected warrior leader and singer of songs— joined in the latter capacity by the literally divine woman he loves, Wood Sun, and occasionally by other central and heroic figures. It is as if Morris were experimenting: if barbarism (based as it is on the small harmonious group ruled by thoroughly democratic institutions) provides a true model for the ideal society, then even the fourteenth-century conception of the poet in John Ball, connected as it is to the division of function between poet and activist, finally will not do. By combining the function of leader and poet in one figure, Morris makes him a representative of the whole people, an incarnation of "politics" embracing "the daily life of the whole people"; and a poet who similarly demonstrates that art—that is, his songs sung in behalf of everyone in the tribe of the Wolfings—is for the whole people. Morris, in The House of the Wolfings, moves toward his own nineteenth-century political-moral imperative. He moves a step closer in The Roots of the Mountains. Placed again in the age of barbarism, at an unspecified but later date, the contention this time is between heroic Goths and degraded Huns. The warrior leader of the Goths, Face of God, is a bard, but Morris also extends literally the artistic implications of Thiodolf s role in Wolfings as representative of everyone. Face of God not only represents the people, as their elected war leader, but is also joined in song by the entire tribe—and by their allies, a remnant of the Wolfing people—on the occasions when important actions are being explained, undertaken, recalled, or celebrated. This, metaphorically, is Morris's furthest reach in his effort to visualize poetry as art for everyone, made by everyone. It may or may not be significant that his next prose romance, News from Nowhere (1890) was largely written during the year of the final disheartening struggle with fellow socialists, and that the completion of the work's serial run in Commonweal that year was followed by Morris's ouster from the editorship of the journal and his departure from the League. What 15 significant, indeed striking, about News from Nowhere, if it is approached in chronological order, is that there are no poets of any special significance at all in this work, which moves us from the dark ages in which the good barbarism of the Goths flourished to the twenty-first century—past the fourteenth-century division between noble and peasant or serf and past the truly dark period of capitalism. It is as if Morris has finally [ xxvii ]

INTRODUCTION lost all faith in words devoted to describing the present and all interest or hope in communicating through words not only with capitalists, who were the first to ruin the language, but with fellow socialists, who had found him wanting in theory and in the understanding of words they regarded as essential to discourse and polemics. Whether or not this "as if" actually corresponds to what went on in Morris's conscious or even unconscious mind, is not to be known. What is known, however, is that the most important art praticed in News from Nowhere is visual decoration: the dyeing and embroidery of cloth, the carving of everything from door lintels to tobacco pipes. The visual has effectively replaced the verbal in Morris's effort to hypothesize an art that will be for the pleasure of all, and that will be made by all, and will stand in an equal relation to the language of politics. It is as if the decorative arts were finally the language in which there was neither reason nor possibility of dishonesty in communication, in which people were able to communicate their thoughts and feelings about the happiness they were experiencing in an ideal society—the happiness, as Morris said in a letter to Bainton written May 6, 1888, that "consisted in the pleasurable exercise of our energies." In the whole issue of Morris's thoughts about language, and about the visual as a language, two additional matters that deserve attention are his letter to the Pall Mall Gazette, in November 1886, opposing the establishment of a chair in English literature in Oxford; and the record, simply, of his career as a designer during the years covered in this volume. As for the first, he argued that the holder of the chair would devote himself to solipsistic interpretation, that is, would use words in an arbitrary manner. Were it a chair in philology, Morris said, he would not object. That is, were the holder of the chair to concern himself with the history of sequential meanings of words, Morris would approve. Whatever the record of conflicting meanings of words in the past, the indeterminacy is not to be consciously encouraged, as a matter of social policy. Implicit is a commitment to the concrete and to that paradox that equates the concrete with the ideal—that sees concrete and definite language as a reflection of social coherence, and interpretative language as both a reflection of social chaos and an instrument for promoting the chaos. Because, however, Morris no longer had faith in the power of concrete words to effect social change, his strategy was once again to distrust the struggle of word with word but, recognizing that in fact words do contend, to offer no literal alternative. The alternative was to affirm metaphorically the necessity for the concrete: to oppose the visual to the linguistic as a metaphoric argument rather than as a directly social one. It is not only in News from Nowhere that Morris opposed the visual and the linguistic but in his own career as well. If he wrote little poetry of con[ xxviii ]

INTRODUCTION sequence in the 1880's—unless Pilgrims of Hope be ranked with his best, and I have ranked it decidedly below his earlier major poems—he did produce some of his best designs for wallpapers and fabrics. Notable among the wallpaper patterns are "Wild Tulip" (1884), "Lily and Pomegranate" (1886), "Willough Boughs" (1887), and "Bruges" (1888); and among textiles, "Brother Rabbit" (1882)—the first textile produced at Merton Abbey, "Rose and Thistle" (1881), "Bird and Anemone" (1881), "Eyebright" (1883), "Strawberry T h i e f (1883), and "Corncockle" (1883); and the designs that take their names from the tributaries of the Thames: "Windrush" (1883), "Evenlode" (1883), "Kennet" (1883), "Wey" (1883), "Cray" (1884), "Wandle" (1884), and "Medway" (1885). This is a selective list but long and notable enough to stand as strong evidence that the conflicts, frustrations, and growing dislike of language as polemic did not interfere with his productivity as a maker of visual patterns, whatever expression of hope or anger—I doubt of despair—an interpretation of the patterns themselves might reveal. My own reading is to see confidence and pleasure expressed in the color and form of most of these designs; to see boldness and inventiveness, despite the free borrowing from Oriental and Italian patterns; to see in them Morris's satisfaction in expressing the definite, in self-expression through the concrete, a form of self-realization that he felt was no longer possible through the verbal resource of the English language. It remains now to raise the largest question of all about Morris in the 1880's. What was, or is, his historical importance? His role in the political history of this period was not, by the usual measures of political history, a large one. As for the literature he produced, although the prose romances have a beguiling sweetness and authenticity of feeling (particularly in the erotic passages, central in all of them), and although Newsfiom Nowhere in particular has clarity and the charm of apposite humor, only occasionally does Morris's language acquire the force, color, imagery, or rhythmic spontaneity that he would have been the first to demand in art, or the brevity and condensation of metaphoric statement that our own modernism requires. His importance lies, I have argued so far, not in these but in the metaphoric meaning of the tact and strategy that resolved the search for a vision of art, artist, and perfected society by substituting the visual for the verbal. I would argue further that one of the metaphoric meanings of this tact and strategy is that it takes a position, in part historical, in part universal, in the space where art and politics meet. This can be pursued further by returning to the literal situation in the Socialist League at the end of the 1880's, that is, to Morris's actual historical situation, and by reassessing his political response in terms of the position I have suggested he defined for himself through his romances. The [ xxix ]

INTRODUCTION

problem as it became articulated during the years of Morris's most intense activity in behalf of the Socialist League (1885-1888) was his seeming anarchism. How to discuss the problem is one of the most vexing questions that can be raised about him in conventional political terms. As I noted earlier, Paul Meier has argued that what motivated Morris was the vision of the withering away of the state at the end of history, or at the last stage promised by Marxist theory. Engels, who knew Morris, regarded him as muddle-headed, as an unwitting ally of the anarchists in the Socialist League. Dispassionate review of the evidence, particularly of the letters, requires us to see that while Morris repudiated the theory of anarchism and abhorred its tactics, his own yearning for freedom from restraint, his equation of the idea of perfectibility in human society with the idea of the least amount of coercion possible, his faith that there can be rational thinking in politics and that self-evident self-interest can lead to immediate acceptance of the common good, and his insistence on small groups as the defining units of human society make the association between Morris and philosophical anarchism too close to dismiss as an error in interpretation. There is an analogy here with Morris's relation to Marxism: he accepted Marx's analysis of history, but with respect to what might be called the sociology and the short-term prophetic view—or the agenda for the next stage—of Marxist socialists around him, he refused to enter into the lingustic debates that represented a struggle for power and might have had a dialectical consequence for him. In his response to anarchism as to Marxism, that is, his method was to bring to words not only the political attitudes he had been taught, but the literary history that he had freely shaped for himself and that had shaped him so decisively. If this matter still needs to be better understood, both E. P. Thompson in his biography of Morris and Raymond Williams in Culture and Society took an important step toward that goal when they raised the possibility that Morris's radicalism owed as much to the English Romantic tradition as it did to Marxism. I would add to this essential view the recommendation that Engels' dismissal of Morris as a mere poet be stood on its head, that Morris's importance in political history be seen as dependent on his being a poet—a view, incidentally, much in evidence in Thompson's biography, though it is not the main theme. News from Nowhere, because it concludes the search for a reconciliation of art and politics, and because it reflects the defining isolation that marked Morris's political career at the end of the 1880's, is more than apposite to a consideration of what it means to say that Morris's role as a poet defines his political importance I have already suggested that it was in the line of development discern-

[ xxx ]

INTRODUCTION ible from A Dream of John Ball to Newsfiom Nowhere that Morris took up the issue of language and politics, assumed that "truth" was the essential substance of both art and politics, and solved the problem for art negatively by eliminating language as a major medium for art. But in News from Nowhere, he also attempted a kind of minimalist reduction of the vocabulary of politics. The entire work is an extended dialogue in which inhabitants of Nowhere take up key nineteenth-century social and political terms like "payment," "competition," "aristocracy," "vulgar," and indeed "politics" itself (meaning parliamentarism)—words introduced in Guest's queries—and answer Guest by eliminating the words, by explaining that they have become meaningless in this society of the future. And there are no new words to replace them: the language of design expresses most effectively the egalitarianism, the truth, the concrete meaning, the inventive freshness, and the vigor required to rescue us from the corrupted, worn-out vehicle. But the metatruth of all this is that it required verbal language to establish the decorative arts as a nonverbal language. It required words to create their political dimension, and it is only through these words that the metaphoric meaning of News from Nowhere enters into the political dialogue of Morris's own day. His intention, certainly, in writing the work was to enter into that dialogue: to interpret political action, already in progress or planned. And by interposing language into an action—the language of art into the action of politics—his intention was to create a resistance to the action and an alteration of it, though the degree of his success, even in historical retrospect, may be unmeasurable. Perhaps more important, Morris's language, asserting the meaning of the decorative arts, enters into a dialectical relation with the will to power, and this language can functionally be called a "poetic" language to distinguish it from the conventional language of political power. When the will to political power is articulated, the poetic language challenges its silences: it locates and reports the absence of ambivalence, irony, dreams, love of truth, the critique of morality, and the irreducible definition of an individual as the locus of feeling. Thus, Engels' dismissal of Morris as a sentimentalist and a poet, made incidentally when Morris was beginning the long engagement with language described here (though Engels no doubt had in mind earlier works, like The Earthly Paradise), is precisely the reason for not dismissing him from political-historical discourse. If there is a component in political thought that is utterly free from poetry, that is a priori or a posteriori to the formulations of the poetic imagination, it is precisely that element that poetic works like News from Nowhere alter— certainly when they direct attention to the silences in political statements, [ xxxi ]

INTRODUCTION and even when they celebrate or praise the objectives of the political will, for to celebrate or praise is to interpret, too, and thus to redirect or even transform. Moreover, if one takes the position that all acts are political—including writing a work like News from Nowhere or letters that deplore the Latinization of English or that rebuff socialists wanting to know what Morris means by "theory," "system," or "political," even if all such acts are viewed as merely a variant of political will—it is important to make distinctions. The will of a hyndman or Engels, or of ajohn Burns or Belfort Bax, is self-defined as political and aimed at competition for control of the state apparatus. Morris's will is aimed at imagining small social groups living in implausible harmony internally and with each other but with no external control; it is aimed not at using power but at abolishing its use in human relations: it is aimed chiefly at releasing human energies so that they might be exercised in pleasurable pursuits, the making of art being the first of these. The speculative paths open to us, if we turn to the years that follow those covered in this volume, are several. We could, most obviously, look in Morris's letters and in his career in the 1890's for a further resolution of the word-versus-image polarity. We would, I believe, find it in his focus on the Kelmscott Press, in which the emphasis, clearly expressed in the letters of the 1890's, is not on printing new books in which words are used in new ways—in which language is renewed—but on printing established books. Here the concern is with the design of the type and the decoration and pattern of the page—with the decorative arts once again. Alternatively, we can think of Morris as in dialogue with the modern movement. Though he never himself achieved in language the fresh imagery he demanded, the modern movement came closer. It started with the same criticism of Victorian prose and poetry that he had announced and did so for similar reasons, but—although sometimes ambivalent—finally did not attempt to see socialism or the conditions of an ideal society as the remedy. At its most characteristic, it subordinated Morris's demand that society be better in the future to a demand that art be better in the present. As a result or not, modernism moved toward the renewal of language for which Morris had called, but did so without accepting the challenge of his egalitarianism. Although following Morris's injunction that each must make his or her own language (it is doubtful that Morris was ever regarded as a source of this imperative), the moderns chose to write without his concern that art should be for everyone. From Morris's point of view, the early moderns would probably be condemned as bourgeois decadents. Yet what they were doing historically was resolving the tension between politics and art by relegating pol[ xxxii ]

INTRODUCTION itics to a subsidiary position. Arguably, they were also, in their own way, continuing in the line Morris began when he insisted that his major concern as a socialist was to establish social conditions in which art and creativity could flourish: the emphasis on the primacy of art is already there. But the early modern writers realized this primacy in the words of their poems and novels, whereas for Morris craftsmanship—a kind of action— replaced words, became a metaphor for them, so that the making of typefaces and the practicing of all the book arts in the work of the Kelmscott Press were an extension into the real world of the social and political statement about art contained in the emphasis on the visual and decorative. And yet, as we get further away from the early modern movement ourselves, the divide between Morris and the poets and novelists of that movement seems less clearly assignable. Perhaps the real separation between Morris and the early moderns who were his contemporaries, or were soon to arrive on the scene, is that they accepted the world of the end of the nineteenth century as their subject matter, as their donnee, whereas he did not. Although in his socialist lectures on contemporary conditions he did, of course, address himself to the present, in his art the present was always resolving itself into its component parts: the past and the future. And for him these not only were the essential conditions for discourse about the present but also served as sources of imagery in which to express the aspirations of the present. The word "political" used to signify absence of faction, decorative images intended as signifiers of universal meaning—these were responses to the present, but they were responses that fractured the present into the past or future rather than encountered it in its contradictory wholeness. Perhaps one reason that Morris could not confront the present directly, as his subject matter for art, was that he lacked the intense individualism that allows the ego to raid its world imperialistically for its materials. But this does not mean that a different kind of artistic ego was not operating. His mind, finally, always needed to engage the art depicting or expressing the self in a dialogue with politics— to see the work of the individual as ever engaging a social-political world, real or imagined and always detailed. In the experiments with language in all four of the romances discussed here, the purpose is to call attention to the values of the society that produced the language, and in all except John Ball to see the language as universal among the society's members. And this conscious intention creates a dialogue between Morris's art and the practical forms of political discourse of his contemporaries and of those who use them today. By universalizing language, Morris implicitly questions the need for faction, for multiple interests in a society, and thus as Lionel Trilling has pointed out, he questions the need for aggression. As the subtitle oiNewsjrom Nowhere announces, he aims finally at "an epoch [ xxxiii ]

INTRODUCTION of rest." Given the unlikelihood of barbarism returning, or even being wanted, he asserts by implication that it is only in repose that language can again be honest and meaningful. In brief, only when we are out of history will the word become truth again. And since we know that we cannot drop out of history, into "an epoch of rest," we recognize the essential meaning of Morris's use of the decorative arts—of visual images—as a metaphor for a universal, truthful language. The latter cannot be written, not because—or not merely because—Morris lacked the talent to invent it, but because the conditions that would produce it will not occur. For vigor in language, our actual choices will be the intensely individualistic language of the modern period or a return to the barbarism that Morris more than once imagined he wanted. As for the political mind—for the thinker or actor who takes immersion in history and faction as an ongoing, endless process—Morris's importance in engaging that mind in a dialogue is to insist that it is in the dialogue between history and art that political choices are defined. For Morris not only asks the question, what kind of society do we want? He also asks, what are the ends of that society? How do art, daily life, and language relate in that society? Morris has, in brief, forced a discussion of the implications and consequences of political choice. Almost by definition it is in the area of silence in political discourse that these questions lie; located there, too, are what one can, without embarrassment, call spiritual consequences of political choices. By forcing a dialogue between his language—even his language of pictures— and the language of the acknowledged political-historical figure, Morris takes not only a real and earned place in political history but an essential one. He asks, finally, as has been noted by others, where have we arrived, and where do we want to go, in the history of desire. Norman Kelvin The City College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York January 1986

[ xxxiv ]

MORRIS CHRONOLOGY

on "A Calendar of Principal Events in Morris's Life," May Morris, William Monis: Artist, Writer, Socialist, II (Oxford, 1936), 632-37; and on the letters in the present edition. BASED

1834

Born, March 24, at Elm House, Walthamstow.

1840

Family moves to Woodford Hall, Walthamstow.

1847

Father dies.

1848

Goes to school at Marlborough. Family moves to Water House, Walthamstow.

1851

Leaves school at Christmas, after school rebellion in November.

1852

Reads with Dr. F. B. Guy, Forest School, Walthamstow. Matriculates at Exeter College, Oxford, in June. Plans to prepare for the Church.

1853

Goes to Oxford in January. Meets Edward Burne-Jones, C. J. Faulkner, R. W. Dixon, Harry Macdonald, and William FuIford. In rooms at Exeter College by December. During this and following year reads Ruskin's Stones of Venice, Carlyle's Past and Present, Thorp's Northern Mythologies, and Charlotte Yonge's The Heir ofRedclyffe.

1854

Visits Belgium and Northern France in the summer, seeing the paintings of Memling and Van Eyck, and Amiens, Beauvais, and Rouen Cathedrals. Meets Cormell Price. Reads Ruskin's Edinburgh Lectures and becomes aware of the Pre-Raphaelites. Morris, Burne-Jones, and their circle plan a monastic brotherhood.

1855

Reads Chaucer and Malory. Makes second tour of France, accompanied by Burne-Jones and Fulford. Morris decides not to take orders, and to follow art as a career.

1856

Edits and finances the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine. Articled to G. E. Street, the architect, in whose Oxford office he meets [ xxxv ]

MORRIS C H R O N O L O G Y

Philip Webb. Takes his B. A. degree. Moves to London with Street's office and shares rooms with Burne-Jones. Meets Rossetti and abandons architecture for painting by end of the year. 1857

Decorative work begins at 17 Red Lion Square. Frescoes in the Oxford Union painted, under leadership of Rossetti. Meets Jane Burden. Macmillan rejects The Defence ofGuenevere.

1858

The Defence of Guenevere published by Bell and Daldy at Morris's own expense. With Faulkner and Webb, visits France again.

1859

Morris and Jane Burden married on April 26. Tour of France, Belgium, and the Rhineland. Philip Webb builds Red House, at Upton, Kent, for them.

1860

Morrises move into Red House. Edward Burne-Jones and Georgiana Macdonald married on June 9.

1861

Firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. founded. Jane Alice ("Jenny") born January 17. Morris begins writing stories for The Earthly Paradise.

1862

Mary ("May") Morris born March 25. Firm shows work at the Great Exhibition and is awarded two gold medals.

1864

Morris ill with rheumatic fever. The Burne-Joneses decide against sharing Red House, and the plan for a "Palace of Art" there is abandoned.

1865

Red House sold to a retired naval officer and Morris family moves to 26 Queen Square, London, where the Firm also sets up shop.

1866

The Earthly Paradise takes form. Morris visits France again, with Warington Taylor and William Fulford.

1867

The Life and Death of Jason, originally intended as a tale in The Earthly Paradise, published separately in January. Firm begins decoration of dining room at South Kensington Museum.

1868

The Earthly Paradise, Volume I, published in April. Morris begins studying Icelandic with Eirikr Magnusson.

1869

"The Saga of Gunnlaug Worm-tongue" published in the Fortnightly Review (January). The Story of Grettir the Strong published in June. Morris takes his wife to Bad Ems for her health. Burne-Jones's breakdown, precipitated by affair with Mary Zambaco»

[ xxxvi ]

MORRIS C H R O N O L O G Y

1870

Volumes II and III of The Earthly Paradise published. Translation (with Magnusson) of Volsunga Saga published. Completes first illuminated manuscript, A Book of Verse, as gift for Georgiana Burne-Jones. Meets Aglaia Coronio and begins long friendship and correspondence.

1871

Takes Kelmscott Manor, Lechlade, Gloucestershire, in joint tenancy with Rossetti in June. Rossetti and Jane Morris and children take up residence there. InJuIy Morris leaves on first Icelandic trip, accompanied by Faulkner, Magnusson, and W. H. Evans. Makes an illuminated Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam for Edward Burne-Jones. A second (on vellum), a gift for Georgiana Burne-Jones, begun and completed following year.

1872

Morris family leaves Queen Square (Firm continues there) for Horrington House, Turnham Green. Love is Enough published. Rossetti suffers breakdown and attempts suicide.

1873

With Burne-Jones, visits Florence and Siena in spring. Second trip to Iceland in summer.

1874

Rossetti gives up his share of Kelmscott Manor. Morris takes family on trip to Belgium. In winter of 1874-75, begins illuminated Aeneid on vellum.

1875

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Co. dissolved and reestablished as Morris and Co., with Morris as single owner. Takes M. A. degree at Oxford. Three Northern Love Stories published. Begins experiments with dyeing, staying with Thomas Wardie, at Leek, for the purpose. Morris's translation of The Aeneid published.

1876

Becomes Treasurer of Eastern Question Association and begins first period of political activity. Appointed Examiner at School of Art, South Kensington. Jenny suffers first epileptic attack and becomes semi-invalid for the rest of her life. Sigurd the Volsung published.

1877

Gives first public lecture, "The Decorative Arts." Helps found the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ("AntiScrape") and becomes its first secretary.

1878

Takes family on visit to Venice, Verona, and Padua in spring. Move to Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, on return. Morris begins tapestry weaving. Russo-Turkish war ends with Treaty [ xxxvii ]

MORRIS C H R O N O L O G Y

of San Stefano in March; after Congress of Berlin, June-July, EQA becomes inactive. 1879

Leads protest by S.P. A.B. against proposed restorations at St. Marks, Venice. Becomes treasurer of the National Liberal League. First meeting with H. M. Hyndman, founder in 1881 of the Democratic Federation.

1880

Firm decorates Throne Room at St. James's Palace.

1881

Merton Abbey works of Morris and Co. started.

1882

Hopes and Fears for Art (first collection of essays) published. Death of Rossetti on April 9.

1883

Joins Democratic Federation on January 13. Made Honorary Fellow of Exeter College on same day. Death of Karl Marx, March 14. High warp tapestry started at Merton Abbey works. Lecture, "Art and Democracy," sponsored by Russell Club and delivered in University Hall, Oxford, with Ruskin in chair, in November.

1884

Partially subsidizes Justice, organ of the Democratic Federation. Chants for Socialists and A Summary of the Principles of Socialism (with H. M. Hyndman) published. In dissension with Hyndman at end of year, and along with others resigns from Democratic Federation (renamed Social Democratic Federation in August).

1885

The Socialist League founded and Commonweal started with Morris as editor. Free speech demonstration, Dod Street, on September 20. Morris arrested (charge dismissed in court next day) when protesting sentencing of free speech demonstrators. The Pilgrims of Hope published in Commonweal, 1885-86.

1886

Demonstration of unemployed in Trafalgar Square, February 8 ("Black Monday"). A Dream of John Ball appears in Commonweal, 1886-87. A Short Account of the Commune of Paris (with E. Belfort Bax and Victor Dave) published.

1887

Morris's translation of the Odyssey published in April. The Tables Turned; or Nupkins Awakened produced at hall of Socialist League on October 15. Trafalgar Square demonstration attacked by police, November 13 ("Bloody Sunday"). Pall bearer at funeral of Alfred Linnell, who was fatally injured in demons tr a don _ [ xxxviii ]

MORRIS C H R O N O L O G Y

1888

Signs of Change, second volume of lectures, published in May. Lectures on tapestry weaving at the first exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Attends the first Art Congress, held in Liverpool. The House of the Wolfings published in December. (Takes interest in its design and begins to consider the technique of printing.)

1889

Delegate at International Socialist Congress, July, in Paris, at which Second International is founded. London Dock Strike (August 14-September 14). The Roots of the Mountains published in November. Opens series of lectures at second exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Attends Art Congress in Edinburgh (November).

1890

Designs type, preparing to start the Kelmscott Press. News from Nowhere appears in Commonweal. Leaves Socialist League at end of year and forms Hammersmith Socialist Society.

1891

The Kelmscott Press begins printing in January; its first book, The Story of the Glittering Plain, issued in May. Poems by the Way and first volume of Saga Library published in October. Serious illness. Takes Jenny to France. Address on Pre-Raphaelites at Municipal Art Gallery, Birmingham, in October.

1892

Death of Tennyson on October 13. Morris mentioned as possible candidate for Laureateship. Reputedly declines to be considered. Elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild for the year. Principal Kelmscott Press books: The Defence ofGuenevere, The Golden Legend, The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. Second volume of Saga Library published.

1893

Joint Manifesto of English Socialists drawn up by Morris, G. B. Shaw, and H. M. Hyndman. Socialism: Its Growth and Outcome (with E. Belfort Bax) published. Principal Kelmscott Press books: More's Utopia, News from Nowhere.

1894

Morris's mother dies at age of 90. Principal Kelmscott Press books: The Wood Beyond the World, Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon, Keats's Poems, and Rossetti's Sonnets and Lyrical Poems.

1895

Goes to Rottingdean for his health. Death of Friedrich Engels in August. Kelmscott Press publishes Beowulf (Morris's translation) and The Life and Death of Jason. Purchases Huntingfield Psalter and Tiptoft Missal. Speaks at Sergius Stepniak's funeral. [ xxxix ]

MORRIS C H R O N O L O G Y

1896

Kelmscott Press publishes Chaucer and The Well at the World's End. Sea voyage to Norway in attempt to restore health. Death of Morris, October 3.

1898

Death of Burne-Jones.

1900

Death of Ruskin.

1914

Death of Jane Morris.

1915

Death of Philip Webb.

1920

Death of Georgiana Burne-Jones.

1935

Death of Jenny Morris.

1938

Death of May Morris.

[ χι ]

ABBREVIATIONS OF MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

(Printed text locations are included in list of Abbreviations of Works Frequently Cited.) Andersen Coll. Balliol Bass Coll. Berg

Collection of Elmer L. Andersen Balliol College, Oxford Estate of the late Freeman Bass Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection, New York Public Library

Berger Coll. Birmingham BL, Add. MSS.

Collection of Sanford and Helen Berger Birmingham (England) Public Libraries British Library (British Museum), London, Additional Manuscripts

BL, Ashley MSS.

British Library (British Museum), London, Ashley Manuscripts British Library (British Museum), London, Scrapbook made by Sarah Gostling, Reading Room

BL, Socialist Items, 1886-1888 BL, Testimonials

Blanke Coll. Bodleian Bowker Briggs Coll. Brown Bryn Mawr

British Library (British Museum), London, Reading Room, Testimonials, etc., 1876-1891, p. 11 of pamphlet number 6, letter number 11 Collection of Howard Blanke Bodleian Library, Oxford Frederick G. Melcher Library, R. R. Bowker Company, New York Collection of Ronald C. H. Briggs Brown University Library, Providence, Rhode Island Bryn Mawr College Library, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania [ xli ]

ABBREVIATIONS / MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

Bucknell

Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

Case West. Res.

Department of Special Collections of Case Western Reserve University Libraries, Cleveland, Ohio Special Collections Department, Honnold Library, Claremont Colleges, California Collection of Cyril Clemens

Claremont Clemens Coll. Columbia Cornell Coupe Coll. CUP Derbyshire Doheny

Doyle Coll. Dufty Coll. Duke

Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York Collection of Dr. R. L. Coupe Cambridge University Press Derbyshire Museum Service, Derby Estelle Doheny Collection of the Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library, St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, California Collection of T. Doyle Collection of A. R. Dufty, CBE

Dunlap Coll.

Sir Thomas Wardle Papers, Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Collection ofJoseph Riggs Dunlap

Exeter College

Exeter College Library, Oxford

Fitzwilliam

Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Fitzwilliam, Blunt Archive

Diaries and Other Papers of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, including Letters from Jane Morris. The Department of Manuscripts and Printed Books of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge University

Folger

Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D. C.

Fredeman Coll.

Collection of William E. Fredeman

Gimson Coll.

Collection of Alfred G. Gimson

Goldman

Goldman and Goldman, Inc.

Harvard

Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

[ xlii ]

ABBREVIATIONS / MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

Horsfall

D. F. Skinner, "T. C. Horsfall, A Memoir" (unpublished typescript), property of Mrs. D. M. Betts

Howard Papers

Castle Howard Archives, Castle Howard, Yorkshire London Borough of Hammersmith Public Libraries Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California

HPL Huntington Iceland IISH

National Library of Iceland, Reykjavik International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam

Illinois

University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign

IMLM Iowa

Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Moscow Iowa State Education Association, Des Moines

Jesus College King's College

Jesus College, Cambridge King's College, Cambridge

Kirklees

Kirklees Libraries and Museum Services, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

Labour Party

The Library, Transport House, Labour Party Archives

Lange Coll.

Collection of Thomas V. Lange

Leipzig

Karl Marx University, Leipzig

Leuba Coll.

Collection of Walter Leuba

LohfColl.

Collection of Kenneth A. Lohf

Loyola

E. M. Cudahy Library, Loyola University Library, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois

LSE

British Library of Political and Economic Science, London School of Economics and Political Science

Mackail notebook

William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London

McGiIl

Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, McGiIl University Libraries, Montreal

MCL

Manchester Central Library [ xliii ]

ABBREVIATIONS / MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

McMinn Papers

McMinn Papers, Society of Antiquaries, London

McWilliams Coll. MFA

Collection of David Jackson McWilliams

Newport NLS NLW

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Newport County Preservation Society National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth

Norfolk Nuffield NYPL NYU

Norfolk Record Office Nuffield College Library, Oxford Manuscript Division, New York Public Library The Fales Library, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, New York University, New York

Ohio Page Arnot Coll. Pennsylvania Philadelphia PML

Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus Collection of Robin Page Arnot Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Free Library of Philadelphia J. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Princeton, Scheide Princeton T.

Scheide Library, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey Rossetti Collection of Janet Camp Troxell, Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey

PRO Quaritch Ray Coll. Rochester

Public Record Office, London Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London Collection of Gordon N. Ray

Rosenbach

The Philip H. and A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation, Philadelphia The John Rylands Library, Manchester Collection of S. B. Schimmel

Rylands Schimmel Coll. Scripps Sheffield Soc. Ant.

The University of Rochester Library, Rochester, New York

Ella Strong Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, California City of Sheffield Library Society of Antiquaries, London [ xliv ]

ABBREVIATIONS / MANUSCRIPT LOCATIONS

Spilstead Coll.

Collection of H. L. Spilstead

Stansky Coll.

Collection of Peter Stansky

SUNY, Buffalo

Lockwood Memorial Library, State University of New York, Buffalo

Swales Coll.

Collection ofJohn D. Swales George Arents Research Library for Special Collections, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Syracuse

Taylor Texas

Taylor Institution Library, Oxford

Thomas

Alan G. Thomas, Bookseller, London Angeli-Dennis Papers, Norman Colbeck Collection, and Penkill Papers in the Special Collections Division, University of British Columbia Library, Vancouver Department of Special Collections, Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles Department of Special Collections, Spencer Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence University of Sheffield Library Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto Victoria and Albert Museum Library, London Francis FitzRandolph Rare Book Room, Vassar College Library, Poughkeepsie, New York Collection of Michael L. Walker Collection ofJohnJ. Walsdorf William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, London West Sussex County Archives, Chichester Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Osborn Collection, Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut Collection of the late Arnold Yates

UBC: Angeli-Dennis, Colbeck, Penkill Papers UCLA UKansas USheffield UToronto V&A Vassar Walker Coll. WalsdorfColl. Walthamstow West Sussex Yale B. Yale O. Yates Coll.

Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin

[ xlv ]

ABBREVIATIONS OF WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED

ACES Catalogue, 1888 ACES Catalogue, 1889 Adams

Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Catalogue of the First Exhibition (London: The New Gallery, 1888) Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. Catalogue of the Second Exhibition (London: The New Gallery, 1889) Oscar Fay Adams and William J. Rolfe, eds., Atalanta's Race and Other Tales from the Earthly Paradise by William Morris (Boston: Ticknor and Co., 1888)

Allingham, Diary

D. Radford and H. Allingham, eds., William Allingham's Diary (Fontwell, Sussex: Centaur Press 1967). Originally published in 1907; Centaur Press issued the Diary in a new edition rather than as a reprint.

Allingham, Letters

H. Paterson Allingham and E. Baumer Williams, eds., Letters to William Allingham (London: Longmans Green, 1911)

Anscombe and Gere

Isabelle Anscombe and Charlotte Gere, Arts and Crafis in Britain and America (London: Academy Editions; New York: Rizzoli, 1978) Arts and Crafis Essays by Members of the Arts and Crafis Exhibition Society (Rivington: Percival and Co., 1893; rpt., London and Bombay: Longmans Green, 1899) Ernest Belfort Bax, Reminiscences and Reflections ofa mid and late Victorian (London: Allen and George Unwin, 1918; New York: J. Seltzer, 1920) Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, The Land War in Ireland (London: Stephen Swift and Co., 1912) Peter Faulkner, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and the Morrises (London: William Morris Society, 1981)

Arts and Crafis Essays

Bax

Blunt Blunt and the Morrises

[ xlvii ]

A B B R E V I A T I O N S I WORKS CITED

Boos, Diary

"William Morris's Socialist Diary," ed. and annotated, with introduction and biographical notes, by Florence Boos, History Workshop (Spring 1982)

Brockway

A. F. Brockway, Socialism Over Sixty Years: The Life ofjowett ofBradford (London: George Allen and Un win, 1946)

Buxton Forman

H. Buxton Forman, The Books of William Morris (1897; rpt., New York: Burt Franklin, 1969)

Callen

Anthea Callen, Women Artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1879-1914 (New York: Pantheon, 1979; London: Architectural Press, 1979)

Clark

Fiona Clark, William Morris, Wallpapers and Chintzes (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1973; London: Academy Editions, 1973)

Clutton-Brock

Arthur Clutton-Brock, William Morris: His Work and Influence (London: Williams and Norgate; New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1914)

Cobden-Sanderson

T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, The Journals of T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, 2 vols. (1926; rpt., New York: Burt Franklin, 1969)

Crane

Walter Crane, An Artist's Reminiscences (London: MethuenandCo., 1907)

Crittall

Elizabeth Crittall and R. B. Pugh, eds., A History of Wiltshire (Oxford Univ. Press, 1953)

CW

William Morris, Collected Works, ed. May Morris, 24 vols. (1910-1915; rpt., New York: Russell and Russell, 1966). The Introductions to these volumes have been separately reissued as May Morris, The Introductions to the Collected Works of William Morris, 2 vols. (New York: Oriole Editions, 1973)

DLB

Joyce M. Bellamy and John Saville, Dictionary of Labour Biography (London: Macmillan, 1972-)

Engels-Lafargue

Frederick Engels, Paul and Laura Lafargue Correspondence, trans. Yvonne Kapp, 2 vols. (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1959)

Ensor

R . C K . Ensor, England: 1870-1914 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936) [ xlviii ]

A B B R E V I A T I O N S I WORKS CITED

Fairclough and Leary

Oliver Fairclough and Emmeline Leary, Textiles by William Morris and Morris & Co., 1861-1940 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1981)

Faulkner

Peter Faulkner, ed., William Morris: The Critical Heritage (London and New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973)

Fitzgerald

Penelope Fitzgerald, Edward Bume-Jones (London: Michael Joseph, 1975)

Girouard

Mark Girouard, The Victorian Country House, rev. ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1979) John Bruce Glasier, William Morris and the Early Days of the Socialist Movement (London: Longmans Green, 1921)

Glasier

Ham. Min. Book

Hammersmith Minute Book, Socialist League & Hammersmith Socialist Society, BL, Add. MSS. 45891-45893

Harris

Richard Lee Harris, "William Morris, Erikur Magnusson and the Icelandic Famine Relief Efforts of 1882," Saga Book Vol. XXParts 1-2, Viking Society for Northern Research, (University College, London, 1978-1979)

Harrison and Waters Henderson, Letters

Martin Harrison and Bill Waters, Bume-Jones (London: Barrie and Jenkins, 1973) Philip Henderson, ed., The Letters of William Moms to His Family and Friends (London: Longmans Green, 1950)

Henderson, Life

Philip Henderson, William Morris: His Life, Work, and Friends (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967) Elbert Hubbard, A Book of William Morris (East Aurora, N. Y : The Roycrofters, 1907) Henry Mayers Hyndman, The Record of an Adventurous Life (New York: Macmillan, 1911) Heinrich Jacob, The World of Emma Lazarus (New York: Schocken Books, 1949) William Morris's Journal for 1881, BL, Add. MSS. 45407 William Morris's Journal for 1887, BL, Add. MSS. 45408

Hubbard Hyndman Jacob, Emma Lazarus Journal for 1881 Journal for 1887

[ xlix ]

A B B R E V I A T I O N S I WORKS CITED

Kapp

Yvonne Kapp, Eleanor Marx, 2 vols. (London: Lawrence and Wishart; New York: Pantheon, 1972)

Lane

Joseph Lane, An Anti-Statist Communist Manifesto (1887; rpt: Orkney: Cienfuegoes Press, 1978) Cecil Y. Lang, ed., The Swinburne Letters, 6 vols. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1959-1962) Dan H. Laurence, ed., Bernard Shaw. Collected Letters, 4 vols. (New York: Viking; London: Max Reinhardt, 1965-1988)

Lang Laurence

Leatham LeBourgeois, "WM to GBS" Lecture Diary Lee

LeMire

Lethaby Lindsay Longford

Mackail Mackail notebook

James Leatham, William Morris: Master of Many Crafts (Peterhead: Sentinel Office, 1899) John Y. LeBourgeois, "William Morris to George Bernard Shaw," Durham University Journal, N.S. 34, 2 (March 1973), 205-211 William Morris's Lecture Diary for 1887, BL, Add. Mss. 45408 H. W. Lee, Social-Democracy in Britain: Fifty Years of the Socialist Movement (London: The Social Democratic Federation, 1935) Eugene D. LeMire, ed., The Unpublished Lectures of William Morris (Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press, 1969) W. R. Lethaby, Philip Webb and His Work (Oxford Univ. Press, 1935; rpt., London: Raven Oak Press, 1980) Jack Lindsay, William Morris (London: Constable, 1975) Elizabeth Longford, A Pilgrimage of Passion: The Life of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1979; New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980) J. W. Mackail, The Life of William Morris, 2 vols. (London: Longmans Green, 1899) William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow (Compiled by Mackail in preparation for writing The Life of William Morris, it consists for the most part of summary statements by Mackail of information about

[ 1]

A B B R E V I A T I O N S / WORKS CITED

Morris as well as lists of dates, names, and brief summaries of the contents of letters with occasional direct quote of a few of Morris's own words.) When an excerpt from Mackail's notebook is quoted, the words given are the entire extract that Mackail recorded. Mackenzie

Norman and Jeanne Mackenzie, The Fabians (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977)

Magnus, Philip

Philip Magnus, Gladstone (London: John Murray, 1954; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1960)

Marillier

H. C. Marillier, History of the Merton Abbey Works Founded by William Morris (London: Constable and Co., 1927)

Mavor

James Mavor, My Windows on the Street of the World (London and Toronto: J. M. Dent and Sons; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1923)

McMinn

Ney Iannes McMinn, "Letters of William Morris to the Press." Ph.D. diss., Northwestern University, 1928

Meier

Paul Meier, La Pensee Utopique de William Morris, 2 vols. (Paris: Editions Sociales, 1972); translated by Frank Gubb with the title William Morris: The Marxist Dreamer (Sussex: The Harvester Press, 1978)

Memorials

Georgiana Burne-Jones, Memorials ofEdward BurneJones, 2 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1906)

Mitchell

Charles Mitchell, "William Morris at St. James's Palace," The Architectural Review, 101, 601 (January 1947), 37-39

MM

May Morris, ed., William Morris, Artist, Writer, Socialist, 2 vols. (1936; rpt., New York: Russell and Russell, 1966)

B. Morris

Barbara Morris, "William Morris and the South Kensington Museum," Victorian Poetry, 13, 3 and 4 (1975), 159-75

Naylor

Gillian Naylor, The Arts and Crafts Movement: a Study of its Sources, Ideals and Influence on Design Theory (London: Studio Vista, 1971) [ H ]

A B B R E V I A T I O N S / WORKS C I T E D

Pevsner, Hertfordshire

Arthur N. Nethercot, The First Five Lives of Annie Besant (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1961) Robin Page Arnot, William Morris: The Man and the Myth (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1964) Linda Parry, William Morris Textiles (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson; New York: Viking Press, 1983) E. R. Pease, History of the Fabian Society (London: The Fabian Society and George Allen and Unwin, 1925) Henry Pelling, Origins of the Labour Party, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965) Nicholas Pevsner, Buildings of Britain: Hertfordshire (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1935)

Pevsner, South Devon

Nicholas Pevsner, Buildings of Britain: South Devon (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1935)

Pevsner and Nairn, Sussex

Nicholas Pevsner and Ian Nairn, Buildings of Britain: Sussex (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1935; Baltimore, Md.: Penguin Books, 1965)

Rowley

Charles Rowley, Fifty Years of Work Without Wages (London and New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911) Ralph L. Rusk, ed., Letters to Emma Lazarus in the Columbia University Library (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1939)

Nethercot Page Arnot Parry

Pease, History

Pelling

Rusk

Scheu

Andreas Scheu, Umsturzkeime (Vienna: Wiener Volkebuchhandlung, 1923). The letters from Morris to Scheu were translated into German by Scheu and published at the end of his chapter on Morris.

Scott

Autobiographical Notes of the Life of William Bell Scott . . . 1830-1882, ed. W. Minto, 2 vols. (London: Osgood, Mcllvaine and Co.; New York: Harper and Bros., 1892) A. Charles Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and His Circle, 2 vols. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1974-1975)

Sewter

Sparling

H. Halliday Sparling, The Kelmscott Press and William Morris Master-Craftsman (London: Macmillan,

[ Hi ]

A B B R E V I A T I O N S / WORKS CITED

Stansky Stirling

E. P. Thompson

L. Thompson P. Thompson

S. Thompson Tsuzuki, Carpenter Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx Tsuzuki, Hyndman Vallance

Wise

1924; rpt., Folkestone: William Dawson and Sons, 1975) Peter Stansky, Redesigning the World (Princeton, N J . : Princeton Univ. Press, 1984) Anna M. W. Stirling, William De Morgan and His Wife (London: Butterworth; New York: Holt, 1922) E. P. Thompson, William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary (1st ed., London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1955; 2nd ed., London: Merlin Press, 1977, and New York: Pantheon, 1977). References are to the readily available second edition unless otherwise indicated. L. Thompson, The Enthusiasts: A Biography of John and Katherine Bruce Glasier (London: Gollanz, 1971) Paul Thompson, The Work of William Morris (1st ed., London: Heineman, 1967; 2nd ed., London: Quartet Books, 1977). References are to the first edition. Susan Otis Thompson, American Book Design (New York and London: R. R. Bowker, 1977) Chushichi Tsuzuki, Edward Carpenter, 1844-1929: Prophet of Human Fellowship (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1980) Chushichi Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, 1855-1898: A Socialist Tragedy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967) Chushichi Tsuzuki, H. M. Hyndman and British Socialism, ed. Henry Pelling (Oxford Univ. Press, 1961) Aymer Vallance, William Morris: His Art, His Writings and His Public Life (London: George Bell and Sons, 1898) T. Wise, Letters on Socialism (London: Privately printed, 1894)

[ Hii ]

T H E C O L L E C T E D L E T T E R S OF

WILLIAM M O R R I S V O L U M E

II

William Morris, 1888.

1881 / LETTER N O . 661

660 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES 1

[January 1, 1881]

I have of late been somewhat melancholy (rather too strong a word, but I don't know another), not so much so as not to enjoy life in a way, but just so much as a man of middle age who has met with rubs (though less than his share of them) may sometimes be allowed to be. When one is just so much subdued one is apt to turn more specially from thinking of one's own affairs to more worthy matters; and my mind is very full of the great change which I hope is slowly coming over the world, and of which surely this new year will be one of the landmarks. Though to me, as I suppose to you, every day begins and ends a year, I was fain to catch hold of ancient custom; nor perhaps will you think it ceremonious or superstitious if I try to join thoughts with you to-day in writing a word of hope for the new year, that it may do a good turn of work toward the abasement of the rich and the raising up of the poor, which is of all things most to be longed for, till people can at last rub out from their dictionaries altogether these dreadful words rich and poor. 2 TEXT: Mackail, II, 24. Published: Henderson, Letters, 143. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 26, n. 3. 2 The way in which Morris speaks here of social and economic injustice anticipates his joining the Democratic Federation two years later. Among his letters surviving from the early 1880's, those to Georgiana Burne-Jones reveal most openly his feelings about social injustice and his hopes for change.

661 · T o GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

Cambridge

January 8 [1881?] Dear Howard I shall be very happy, and am with many thanks Yours affectionately] William Morris MS: Howard Papers.

[ 3 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 662 · T o FREDERICK STARTRIDGE E L L I S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 17 [1881?] M y dear Ellis 1 I shall be in your neighbourhood o n Thursday probably about 12. & will call in then: b u t I suppose I shall see you at the meeting that day: 2 I w a n t that bothering matter settled. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Princeton T. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 55a, n. 1. Possibly a meeting of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (S.P.A.B.) to plan a protest to the Prefect of Florence against the intended restoration of the Bigallo. (Such meetings were regularly held on Thursdays.) See letter no. 664. 2

663 · T o A G L A I A IONIDES C O R O N I O

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Sunday [January 23, 1881]1 M y dear Aglaia 2 T h a n k you kindly: I w o u l d call in t o m o r r o w about 5 p . m . if you w o u l d be in: I saw Janey off yesterday: otherwise I w o u l d have answered your note before. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1

Morris kept a daily journal during 1881 (BL, Add. MSS. 45407) His journal entry for January 22, 1881, reads: "Folkestone. Saw offjaney by boat to Bologna about 4 p.m." She was going to stay with the Howards in Italy. 2 See Volume I, letter no. I l l , n. 1.

664 · T o T H E P R E F E C T O F F L O R E N C E

[January 26, 1881?]1

T h e C o m m i t t e e of the S.P.A.B., having been informed that it is i n tended to restore the beautiful structure k n o w n c o m m o n l y as the Bigallo in Florence, cannot help feeling uneasy at the intelligence in view of the m a n y restorations which have been inflicted on ancient m o n u m e n t s of art t h r o u g h o u t Europe: the C o m m i t t e e therefore begs most respectfully to lay the following observations before your premising that w e are [ 4 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 664

Frederick Startridge Ellis, c. 1895-1896.

sure that this restoration is prompted by the most laudable feelings, and that the superintendence of the works will be entrusted to competent hands and that the protest the Committee feels itself bound to make is made against principles, not against incidental shortcomings. It appears that the Bigallo is in no need of substantial repairs, and that the threatened restoration aims at reproducing ancient features now lost or injured: it is intended, in short, to make it appear as if it had been recently finished in the 14th Century, as though the lapse of time had passed it by untouched while it has changed so completely the manners of men & their ways of thought and their civil and domestic life. This Committee [ 5 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

more than doubts the desirability of this transformation if it could be effected, and has no doubt that it is impossible to effect it. Every stroke by which the ingenious masons of today carry out the conjectures of the learned architect on the intentions of the ancient builders will reveal the fact that they are living in the 19th, not in the 14th Century: the painter who will be employed to restore the remains of fresco on the walls will surely feel ashamed that while he is obliterating what is left of the thought of his long-dead brother in the arts, he is expressing no thought of his own: when all is done, the Bigallo will be, as far as its surface is concerned, a modern building with the openly ridiculous pretense of being an old one: it will no longer have any share in the past of Florence, so full of sad & glorious memories: it will be an academical toy, a mere study of medieval architecture, a thing good and useful to be done on paper by students and learned men; but fatal & destructive to art when carried out at the expense of an example of the past art, a relic of the past life of a mighty city. It is true that to many these opinions may seem strange; it is true that some years ago, such a work as this that is planned or as the disastrous socalled restoration of that loveliest of Churches, S. Minato, would have been carried through without misgiving among the learned, though surely the glaring inconsistency might strike here & there some ingenious and simple person who could both contemplate the past of his great city with pleasure & look forward to its future with hope; but the Committee feel sure that the opinion of cultivated persons is turning in favour of real art & genuine history and, that it will not be long before it will be universal among them to look upon the 'restorations' of the last 50 years as works most injurious to art, as failures which would be ridiculous if they were not so lamentable. The Committee feel this so strongly, and are at the same time so confident that you will understand the eager interest they cannot fail to take in the welfare of the monuments of your most glorious & beautiful city, that they have ventured to trouble you with these remarks, & now most respectfully implore you to use your influence in preventing what they fear will prove to be the final ruin of a most beautiful piece of architecture and a most interesting monument of the past history of Florence. We have &c2 MS: Berger Coll. 1 Morris's journal entry for January 26, 1881, reads: "wrote letter for S.P.A.B." The S.P.A.B. Annual Report for 1881 records the sending of a letter to the Prefect of Florence early in the year. 2 This draft of the letter is unsigned, but the handwriting is Morris's.

[ 6 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O . 6 6 5

Frederic Harrison, c. 1880.

665 · T o F R E D E R I C H A R R I S O N

26, Q u e e n Square,

Bloomsbury, London [January 1881?]

Dear Mr. Harrison 1 Many thanks for cheque for £1.1. duly received. It certainly was satisfactory to see people get their senses again in that matter: I wish I were clear that they will do so over the present troubles, and give up (shrie) screaming for police-tyranny. 2 Yours very truly William Morris MS: Cornell. 1 Frederic Harrison (1831-1923), the Positivist leader. He and Morris had taken opposite sides on the Eastern Question in 1870. Thereafter, however, they were in sympathy on a number of political issues. 2 Probably a reference to the Irish Coercion Bill that was soon to be debated. Passed on March 2, 1881, the Act suspended habeas corpus and authorized arbitrary and preventive arrest.

[ 7 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 666 · T o A G L A I A IONIDES C O R O N I O

26, Queen Square,

Bloomsbury, London January 28, 1881 M y dear Aglaia I have to thank y o u very much for taking all this trouble about m y affairs: don't be at all p u t out about the double order, I shall be really glad to get the 2 parcels: w h e n shall I have them? Also please let m e have the bill for t h e m that I may settle in haste. I quite understand about the p o w der: 'tis the 'cream' of the Kermes. 1 I shall be very glad to see the specimens of dye-plants from Greece. I was thinking of calling o n M o n d a y afternoon if you are like to be in. 2 Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Aglaia Coronio had apparently helped Morris obtain supplies of kermes, and she may have written to him a couple of days earlier to say that they had arrived. The entry for January 27 in his journal for 1881 reads: "News of my Kermes from Greece." 2 The entry for January 31 in Morris's Diary reads: "called on AgI."

667 · T o T H E D I R E C T O R O F T H E N A T I O N A L LIBERAL L A N D C O M P A N Y

26, Queen Square,

Bloomsbury, London February 1, 1881 Gentlemen I made acquaintance with Mr. Every 1 (who I understand is a candidate for the Secretaryship of your Company) in the a u t u m n of 1877 about the time of the meeting convoked by the Eastern Question Association at St James Hall: I was then busy in doing m y best to further the views of the Association, of the C o m m i t t e e of which I was a member, and I was very anxious that those views should be properly laid before the leaders of the London w o r k i n g (Man) m e n w h o I heard were not quite clear, t h o u g h radicals generally, as to which side to take in Eastern matters: M r . Every was of very great use at the time in bringing me into communication with some of these gentlemen, the matter was thoroughly talked over at friendly meetings held in these premises, and as a result, a manifesto was put forth by them & published in the papers, which I have n o d o u b t had great influence a m o n g w o r k i n g men. Mr. Every w o r k e d at all this with both great zeal & great discretion and was thoroughly single-hearted in the matter, I had m u c h conversation with h i m about that time, and found him thoroughly imbued with liberal [ 8 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 668

principles & I thought with a very clear comprehension of the points at issue in those days. I repeat that I believe him to have been of great service to the Liberal cause, in a matter which was at the time doubtful, & have then & since considered him worthy of the success which I hope he will attain to in this instance I am Gentlemen Yours obediently William Morris To the Director of the National Liberal Land Company, Limited MS: Berger Coll. 1 Frederick Every. The first surviving letter to him, dated October 6, 1873, concerns Morris's first lecture to the Trades Guild of Learning. See Volume I, letter no. 212.

668 ·

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London February 8, 1881

RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

Dear Madam Thank you for your note: please to make any arrangement that suits you best that does not involve my sleeping more than one night at Nottingham, since unfortunately I am much pressed for time. As to my audience, that seems to me you can tell better about than I can: I am afraid I shall have mighty little to say that can interest people much after having just squeezed a lecture out of me:1 please let me know what arrangements you make about time & place. I am Dear Madam Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Iowa. 1 On March 16, 1881, Morris was to speak before the Nottingham Kyrle Society at The Castle, Nottingham. (See LeMire, p. 237.) The lecture was published by May Morris (MM, I, 197-205) with the title, "Nottingham Kyrle Society, 1881."

[ 9 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

669 · T o

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London February 9, 1881

My dear Aglaia I was so sorry to hear that you were bad: Friday I shall not be at home — never am on Fridays:1 Saturday I shall be. Monday & Tuesday I shall be in the country (worse luck) on a journey to my sister.2 N o news of Kermes. 3 1 could call on you one day next week Wednesday say. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Friday, February 11, may or may not have been a typical Friday for Morris, but his journal entry for that date reads as follows: "to Grange: to Howards: to Queen Sq: saw to dyeing greens: called at Marks' to see carpet: then books: called at KF. dined Webb." 2 See letter no. 676. 5 It is not clear whether Morris expected the kermes to come from Greece on Aglaia's instructions or in a package from her mailed in London. See letter no. 666.

670 · T o THOMAS WARDLE

26, Queen Square,

Bloomsbury, London

February 9, 1881 My dear Wardle1 When I saw you last I called your attention to the faults in printing our goods, which were almost always such as would be considered great blemishes by our Customers, & in many cases, so bad as to ruin the effect to an artistic eye. I am sorry to say that the last goods African marigold & red marigold sent are worse instead of better: they are in fact quite unsaleable; I should consider myself disgraced by offering them for sale: I laboured hard on making good designs for these and on getting the colour good: they are now so printed & coloured that they are no better than caricatures of my careful work. The effect of this is ruinous to our business, and is sure to make an end of it: the goods you now send up are never as good as those you sent up two years ago: please to consider my position and ask yourself what you would expect if you were in my case, & pray do something to set the thing on its legs again. Yours faithfully William Morris T. Wardle, Esqre. MS: Duke. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 278, n.4.

[ io ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

670

Thomas Wardle, c. 1885.

[

11

]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

671 · To

THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL 1

February 9, 1881

Dear Sir, Thanks for your letter. I am glad you are going on with your scheme of a Museum. I should be glad to help you in any way; but I think you have got hold of the wrong end of the stick in 2 cases. First as to the workmen's model cottage — I'm sure it won't do. 2 In the first place, there is no furniture fit for him (or indeed for a swine of discretion) to buy; in the next what furniture a workman can buy should be exactly the same (if his room be big enough) as a lord buys; 3 I will have nothing to do with anything, however good the intention, which to my mind tends to keep up the division of men into classes; we shall have neither art nor anything else worth having till we have got rid of that nuisance. If you will alter "workman's cottage" into "small house" I will do what I can (which I fear will be but little) and the passage can stand, but otherwise out it must come. Number 2 don't concern me personally but since you have mentioned it, I venture to say a word or two on the subject; of course, I appreciate the intention of keeping naked figures out of your picture gallery, but please observe that on such a pretty road one stops not. The next step must be in the direction of Mohamed and you will be bound to refuse admittance to human figures clad also. Meantime you will notice that your rule will exclude Michael Angelo's "Creation of Man" and his "Fall" and his "Deluge" and dozens of other sublime works in which no man could find the least provocation to lust. I don't object to your rule because 'tis too narrow, but because 'tis not to the point. 'Tis impossible to teach people art or reverence for the human body without showing them that 'tis possible to be "naked and not ashamed". Any other teaching would tend to make people hypocritical but not clean.4 Asking your pardon for this rigamarole and wishing you all success. I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, William Morris TEXT: Horsfall. 1

Thomas Coglan Horsfall (1841-1932), a Manchester philanthropist who believed that the wealthy middle class had an obligation to superintend the leisure activities of the working class and to establish a way of life for them that would maintain their physical, mental, and moral health. To this end, he worked to establish an art museum in Manchester. His scheme, first outlined in a letter to the Manchester Guardian (printed February 27, 1877), proposed both a museum and a schools' picture loan collection. A copy of the letter reached Ruskin who, in the July 1877 edition of Fors Clavigera, printed Horsfall's proposals. Encouraged by Ruskin, Horsfall expanded his ideas and published them in pamphlet form as An Art Gallery for Manchester. In December 1887 an Art Museum Committee was created. George Milner, future chairman of the Art Museum, and W.E.A. Axon, city librarian and antiquarian, were enthusiastic supporters. Among those whose advice Horsfall sought were

[ 12 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 671

Thomas Coglan Horsfall, c. 1910.

[ 13 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

Ruskin, G. F. Watts, Sir Frederick Leighton, Stopford Brooke, and Morns, who wrote this letter during the planning stage for the museum. The scheme for a museum was not fully realized until 1886, when the collection Horsfall had been assembling was finally established at Ancoats Hall. Included in that collection were not only oil and water-color paintings, sculpture, and graphics but contemporary fabrics, wallpapers, and furniture by designers such as Morris and Crane. The Museum had a "Workmen's Model Room" and a "Mothers' Room"; the founders of the Museum wished to stress the fact that good design could be bought relatively cheaply. They also provided detailed explanations of the technical processes involved in the manufacture of furniture and furnishings. The "Mothers' Room" contained mainly pictures of childhood, and the intention was to promote family life. But children rarely came with their parents, and the scheme was a failure. More successful were the "model rooms," furnished with goods at prices comparable to what workmen usually paid for ordinary articles. For visitors to Ancoats Hall, Horsfall wrote What to Look for in Pictures (1887) and Suggestions for a Guide Book for Life. In 1901 Horsfall became president of an amalgamated Art Museum and University Settlement, which incorporated the original aims of the art museum: to disseminate a love of nature, art, music, and literature. Much of this information is from Michael Harrison of the City of Birmingham Polytechnic, "Art and Philanthropy: T. C. Horsfall and the Manchester Art Museum" (unpublished typescript). See also The Times, February 3, 1932, p. 14. 2 It would seem from Morris's initial opposition to the model room that the final scheme, which included only furniture of superior design, some of it manufactured by Morris and Co., owed something to his views. 3 On this point, Horsfall apparently remained adamant, believing in the need to maintain the distinction between rich and poor. 4 Horsfall's early decision to exclude nudes was rescinded under pressure from Morris and Leighton. See Harrison, "Art and Philanthropy: T. C. Horsfall and the Manchester Art Museum," p. 10.

672 · To JANE MORRIS

Hammersmith February 10 [1881]

My dearest Janey1 'Tis all right, my gout is gone as far as any pain goes, & only hangs about me as a threat: probably with the providential purpose of making me slim again, as I am really now dieting myself in order to take as little physic as may be: I was in town yesterday & Monday, & that did me no harm. It was thoughtless of me to say anything about such a trifle, only I thought you would see by the tone of my letter that there was nothing much amiss. So Carlyle is off to learn the great secret at last:2 though his work was over it is a kind of a miss of him. I am afraid I have little to say: though I was going to write to you today anyhow. 1st weather: stormy & wild; sometimes disgusting sometimes beautiful & sunny: today wettish but very warm. 2nd work: I am still on my lecture which bothers me sorely: I know what I want to say, but the

[ 14 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 672

cursed words go to water between my fingers: this is all along of those frogs & their making such fools of us. 3 3rd, Politics — Not pleasant, & yet I suppose, properly speaking not unhopeful: if I say I don't trust the present government I mean to say that I don't trust it to (to) show as radical;4 Whig it is & will remain: the Coercion bill will soon be read now: 5 it is a very bad bill, but I fancy the government will give way a little in committee; and anyhow Forster6 dont intend to use it tyrannically. Then as to the land bill,7 my impression is that at first they intended a very poor affair, not worth fighting for: but that the aspect of the liberal party has shown them that they must flit at least a moderately good bill, & be in earnest to shove it through. There will be a great fight over it; but I believe the Government to be much stronger in the Country than we thought for, and I believe that it will pass the commons with a good majority; that the party will vote solid: then will come the danger: I don't think the Gods will be so good to us as to make the Lords reject it in the lump; in which case we should have some fun: no, they will cut it & carve it, & send it back to the Commons without legs: this will test the Liberal Majority, & the Government; if the Majority is a real one all will be well; even if it be doubtful & the Government has courage, the country will help it through; but I confess I doubt the Liberal Majority in the house and the Government may get timid, & let the Lords bully them. In that case Gladstone's influence will be so shaken that the Liberal Party will fall to pieces, & good men & true must set to work to build up a Radical Party out of them, and make themselves leaders out of the stones of the streets for all I can see. But I repeat the Government ie Gladstone is much stronger in the country than I thought for, and if he could only stop these damned little wars he might stop in till he has carried the regular liberal program, and we should make a good step forward. But little wars with defeats & inglorious victories dovetailed into one another shake a Government terribly, & especially a Liberal one. 8 Well, my dear, my note is all politics; but I have but little news else, I believe Jenny is going to add a line. 9 1 do hope you are getting on pretty well. With all love Your loving W M MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Published: Henderson, Letters, 143-44; MM, II, 580. 1 In December 1880 Jane Morris wrote to Rossetti: "I am getting quite excited about my journey. I start on Jan 4: we go to Bordighiera on the Riviera, a place more sheltered than Onegha was, I remember passing it." John Bryson and Janet Camp Troxell, eds., Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Jane Morris: Their Correspondence (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), p. 167. For first identification ofjane Morris, see Volume I, letter no. 22, n. 4. 2 Thomas Carlyle died on February 4, 1881.

[ 15 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 3 For Morris's views on the effect of the French language upon English, see his essay "Early England," LeMire, p. 158; and Introduction p. xxiv. He may also have been irritated by French policy toward Greece and Turkey. 4 This was the second ministry of Gladstone. He returned to office in the general election of 1880, helped by the unpopularity of Disraeli's jingoism and by the democratic aspirations of much of the electorate, though he had no definite program of social reform. 5 The Irish Coercion Bill of 1881. See letter no. 665, n. 2. 6 William Edward Forster (see Volume I, letter no. 492, n. 4), appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland by Gladstone in 1880, and served until 1882. 7 The Irish Land Bill was introduced on April 7, 1881. It aimed at establishing for the tenant fair rent, fixity of tenure, and the right of free sale (that is, the right to part with his interest). 8 The fighting in Afghanistan continued; England was at war with the Boers in the Transvaal; and campaigns had been launched against the Kaffirs and the Zulus. 9 On February 2, 1881, Jane Morris wrote to Rossetti from Bordighera: "I am at last settled where I suppose I shall be during my stay in Italy in the Howard's house. . . . You ask about Jenny—May, I have neither with me, the invitation was for me only, and they stay to keep house for their Father. They are becoming good housekeepers, and I think it does them good to be made responsible beings sometimes." (Bryson and Troxell, p. 172.) Henry James called on the Howards in March 1881, and wrote to Fanny Kemble: "I didn't fall in love with Mrs. William Morris, the strange, pale, livid, gaunt, silent, and yet in a manner graceful and picturesque, wife of the poet and paper-maker, who is spending the winter with the Howards; though doubtless she too has her merits She has, for instance, wonderful aesthetic hair." LeonEdel, ed., Letters ofHenryJames (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1974), II, 352.

673 · To

THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

[February 11-28, 1881]

You must not let your own good will lead you astray which it is like to do if it makes you over anxious to see matters moving in your own day. I mean to say that 'tis better to hold fast by one or two principles, and if our action on them lead to no visible result, to take the matter calmly and be contented to have done one's own stroke of work; a platitude this perhaps. Now, as to the art which the poor buy, my platitude strikes home closer here, for such a mess we are in that unless we heed it, we shall hardly manage to keep at once our consciences and our lives. But, armed as aforesaid, let us face the truth, which seems to me this: that a man of 30/— a week can only have any share of art if art is in such condition that it touches everything that man makes, but 'tis at present so far from being in that condition that, on the contrary, 'tis only here and there that art touches the matters of our daily life: therefore it is not possible at present for a man at 30/— a week (a father of a family at any rate) to have any share in art; a hard conclusion indeed, yet to that belief I will do my best to bring all men who care for living art, or for justice. For it is at

[ 16 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 673

least firm ground to stand on, albeit at the bottom of the pit. Standing on that ground, we shall at least make up our minds to one thing; not to try to make a poor man's art for the poor while we keep a rich man's art for ourselves: not to say, there, that suits your condition, I wouldn't have it myself but 'tis good enough for you. We should also soon find out not only that the man at 30/— can't have art, but also that he at £30 can scarcely have it, and will get less and less the longer things go on as they are, and should make up our minds to alter them: palliation is no use when evils are great, and when people have not begun to strike at the root. Educate your workmen into general discontent: that is the only remedy. Stuff into them what they will learn, chiefly natural science and politics, I fancy. Of course, if people come to ask you for advice about art you must do your best. A tough job you'll have of it, I fear. Meanwhile, as for ourselves, the middle classes: if I understand rightly what Ruskin said to you, I do most heartily agree with it: I say, do with as little furniture, as little ornament, as you possibly can: my gloss on that is have what you do have good: but look upon it as unmanly to have a luxurious home. I say with the utmost seriousness, that it seems as if luxury were going to stifle civilisation: and I protest against it from my soul. The furniture for a workman's cottage? What can be done? If it be well made instead of ill made it will cost not twice as much, but twenty times as much: crede mihi experte. I have made rough furniture, oftenest of the type of what would have been found in a yeoman's stead of old, and I have been aghast at the cost of it. No, if you must give a £78 man advice about his house, it had better be to keep it as clean as a new pin, not to have much carpet, and stick up on his walls any engravings he really likes and to do a little window gardening, what the smoke will allow him to. For the rest, is it not enough, and even as much as can be done, to go on steadily with your Museum, founding your hopes on what indirect influence it may have on working people: it will perhaps attract some among them to genuine study of art: at any rate, it will be an instrument of education, I hope a most powerful one; and it will educate most by showing people not make-shifts but masterpieces. TEXT: Horsfall.

[ 17 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

674 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London February 16, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

My dear Wardle I do not quite understand what you mean by saying that your work is superior to what it was 2 years ago, while admitting that the mechanical part is not so good: But I must take it on myself to say that we have not been able to keep the work up to an artistic standard such as satisfies me: the colouring has always had a tendency to fall to pieces: I have often taken goods below my standard of excellence in hopes that the next time we might do better, but the result has not been satisfactory to me, and since I am the designer of these things & know what I want, there can be no appeal against my judgement. I do not understand what you mean by tyranny to your workman: it is no tyranny to expect a printer to make his blocks register properly: as to the method you speak of I suppose you are alluding to our present plan of giving our final order after seeing fents of your stock: we began this plan in order to give you as much latitude as possible in carrying out our original instructions: the only alternative would be to order by number representative of the standard of which both you & we have a copy: would you prefer returning to that plan? if so we have no objection, But in any case we must have goods near enough to the standard not to make my design a failure owing to difference in colouring: neither will the public stand such defects in printing as have been common lately; nor have I the face to ask them. What I want you to understand is this, that my position depends entirely on my keeping up the excellence of my goods: the public know my pretensions in this matter, &, very properly, will not let me be worse than my word: and I am determined whatever may be the cost in all ways not to fail in it. In conclusion you must remember I am now asking you to do nothing new or experimental, nothing but what you have done before. lam Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke.

[ 18 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 676

675 · T o

ALFRED

W. NEWPORT

DEACON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 16, 1881

My dear Sir1 I have just received the book you have so kindly sent me as a memorial of poor O'Shaughnessy, 2 1 beg to thank you very heartily for thinking of me in connection with the loss you have suffered. lam Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris A.W.N. Deacon, Eqre. MS: UKansas. 1 Rev. Alfred W. N. Deacon (1847-1915) edited the posthumously published poems of Arthur O'Shaughnessy, Songs of a Worker (London, 1881). Deacon was made Honorary Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1908; he also edited the London Students' Gazette and wrote art criticism for various journals. 2 O'Shaughnessy (see Volume I, letter no. 200, n. 1) died on January 30, 1881.

676 · To JANE

Hammersmith February [17?] 18811

MORRIS

Dearest Janey I was very glad to get your last & to find you were getting on so well: 'tis a triumph to have to say it as one may today that you are well out of our weather: the last few days have been triumphantly beastly: wet first fog afterwards. I fancy my gout is quite gone now, and I feel myself: only I am scarcely drinking wine: not above a glass in 2 days: to the great advantage of the housekeeping. On Monday I went the long-promised voyage to Alice:2 I went with Vinall,3 starting one afternoon & coming back the next evening. The house is not a bad one: plan very fair, somewhat plain, but looks human: — all but the furniture which Gill would stick in it, & which I suppose he half repents of now, since he is getting me to do some things for him. The day was^bright (for an hou) after the morning down there & Alice took me a beautiful walk down to the Tavy near where it runs into the Tamar: it was so hot! in fact beautiful as the place is it would be long before I got used to it; when it is at all warm one can scarce drag one leg after the other — that's Devonshire. So George is come (by this time) back: I thought James Lowthers name would fetch him: 4 I don't know what chance he has of getting in. I am [ 19 ]

L E T T E R S OF W I L L I A M

MORRIS

N o . 1 Palace Green, London h o m e o f the Howards, built by Philip Webb and decorated by Morris and C o m p a n y .

[ 20 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

676

hard at work for him at Palace Green. 5 Work at St James all finished6 & happily, with good profit: so don't spare to ask for cash if you want it — when shall I send you some? I am hard at work at my lecture, 7 which is giving me a great deal of trouble. I get nervous about what I say or rather how I say it: however I hope Saturday will about break the neck of it. Bells8 carpet is well on, & I believe if it were not really dark today it (will) would look well. Matthews is about again. I am after gravel, also I am going to get the paths bordered: 1 inch-thick oak planks is what I am going to use: this is Old Boyce's 9 advice, & I like the idea: the garden will begin to look decent if we can do this well. The girls are both very good, though May is whiles a little pale: they will tell you all their news. We are going to entertain the Grange at dinner on Friday —Jenny house-keeper. Now this is but a shabby note: but I am really rather driven by my lecture-work, so you must excuse it my dear. Norman gave us news of Mr. Dick, 10 who finds it so hot westaway that he cannot lie abed after 6 AM — a thing hard to believe under any circumstances. Norman & his fiancee11 were at dinner at the Grange yesterday our girls there also. Goodbye, my dear, take care of yourself: anaphase pay your way duly to Mrs. Howard: I can't go owing money to Earl-Kin. Politics look a little more promising on the whole. Goodbye, with love Your loving William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 145. 1 Henderson (p. 145) dates this letter February 27, but the date should probably be around February 17, since Morris refers to a visit to his sister that took place on February 14-15. He wrote to Jane weekly, and there is another letter dated February 23. 2 Morris's youngest sister, Alice, was married to Reginald Gill, a banker, and lived in Bickham, Devonshire. Gill was later killed in a hunting accident, and Alice moved to Tunbridge Wells. See Henderson, Life, p. 5. 3 See Volume I, letter no. 480, n. 9. 4 George Howard (see Volume I, letter no. 44, n. 1) returned from Italy in order to stand again as the Liberal candidate in a by-election caused by the death of Sir Richard Musgrave. The Conservative candidate was James Lowther (1840-1904), former parliamentary secretary to the Poor Law Board under Disraeli (1867-1868) and chief secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (1878-1880). Howard won the contest. See letter no. 678. 5 A reference to the Howards' London home at No. 1 Palace Green, which Morris was redecorating. See Volume I, letter no. 601, n. 1. 6 See Volume I, letter no. 651, n. 2. 7 "The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization." 8 Presumably the wall-hanging for Sir Lowthian Bell (see Volume I, letter no. 416, n. 1) at Rounton Grange. For a description, see P. Thompson, p. 110.

[ 21 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 9 Probably G. P. Boyce (see Volume I, letter no. 23, n. 1), the painter, and a supporter of theS.P.A.B. 10 Norman de l'Aigle Grosvenor (1845-1898) and Richard Cecil Grosvenor (see Volume I, letter no. 640, n. 3), sons of Robert Grosvenor, first Baron Ebury. 11 Caroline Susan Theodora, daughter ofJames Stuart Whortley. She and Norman Grosvenor were married in June 1881.

677 · T o

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London, W.C. February 18, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

Dear Wardle I have your letter which seems to me somewhat incoherent: the pieces you have just sent us up I am sorry to say do not better the matter: we cannot use them: I (am afraid) think they offer a commentary on your assertions as to our rigidity which you ought not to disregard. I must repeat that if you will only do as well as you have done I will ask for no more: if you are unable to do so, I do not see how the business can go on: our customers will see to that. You are in error if you suppose that I am not responsible for instructions sent to you: when the pieces come in if they are right there is no more to say; if they are wrong or doubtful my opinion as to their acceptance is taken: for every piece you have had returned to you I am personally responsible. I am sorry that you thought my note as to Marigold 14191 silly: the English seems to me plain enough: if you wish further explanation it is this: it is important in these much-divided patterns that there should be strong contrast between the colour and the white: your pattern was somewhat below our standard, & I thought you might raise it somewhat — voila tout. I am of course sorry for any troubles that you may have in your printing for us, and I claim for myself that I have made every allowance possible: but beyond a certain point I cannot go: just consider what would be the result if I were to stock myself with unsaleable goods: it must bring the business to an end; and would do you no good while it injured me. Consider also if I am likely to be over particular: when we order goods we want them for sale, if we have to send them back it is an injury to our sales: I assure you positively that I have been so far from rejecting pieces on slight grounds, that I have often accepted them when I knew they were not up to the mark: really when you come to think of it coolly you must see that this is the case. In conclusion I repeat what I have often said on this matter: I do not expect dead matches: I leave a margin for variations as wide as I can; but the [ 22 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 678

very fact of that margin being as wide as I can make it compels me to reject everything that goes beyond that margin as being of no use: if you cannot keep within that margin we can no longer work together. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke. 1 See letter no. 670.

678 · To JANE MORRIS

February 23, 1881

Dearest Janey I am glad you are getting on so well: don't find fault with your weather whatever it is: 'tis now nearly a fortnight since Londoners have seen the sun: it is now snowing hard and very cold: I confess it dispirits me. News — well there isn't much: as for accidents and offenses: Old Mr. Jones 1 is up in town; had to be fetched; the old chap being queer & ill: I suppose he is going to go soon: he is nearly 80. Tom Wardle is a heap of trouble to us; nothing will he do right, 2 & he does write the longest winded letters containing lies of various kinds: we shall have to take to the chintzes ourselves before long and are now really looking about for premises: Edgar went to look at the print-works at Crayford on Monday: They seemed promising: how queer it would be if we were to set up our work there again: by choice if'tis to be had, I had rather get hold of some place on the Coin, say about West Drayton: it would take no longer getting down there, or not so long as I am to Queen Sq: now. 3 Politics. We are nervous about the Candahar matter: I do think our side ought to start putting a little pressure on government to make them do what they doubtless want to do in the matter. 4 The Coercion bill being now over, 5 we [are] all looking for the land-bill:61 cant say I feel any confidence in the government & only half confidence in the Liberal Associations:7 what a pity it is that there is not a proper radical club properly organized for political purposes, who could act speedily in such junctures. Meantime, as I said in my last, the Government seems strong, & will do so till towards the time of the next General Election: if between that & now it doesn't do something to encourage its (sup) real supporters I fear we shall have another 1874 business. I have told the babes to send you a paper with my Kyrle speech in it. 8 I have finished my lecture: but of course I can't send the M. S. S. across: if 'tis printed before you come home I will send you a copy. [ 23 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

George has been promised a place in the House when the Land Bill is introduced — whenever that will be. I see George has issued his manifesto: mighty official.9 I don't suppose he will get in: but one must needs hope that he may, if'tis only for the sake of keepingj. Lowther out. 10 I am starting designing the long carpet for Naworth 11 as Bell's gets on apace: 'tis rather a difficult job, & I am puffing & blowing over it rather: hence and from our manufacture-meeting, I suppose a long dream I had; how we were making carpets by the riverside & yet in Red Lion Sq: the rooms very large & desirable — The babies are very good: Jenny very well indeed; May now & then not quite up to the mark; but never bad I think: they are for Aglaias to a party this evening and I at home to my work. Goodbye my dear take care of yourself. Your loving W M MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Extract published: Mackail, II, 33; MM, II, 581; Henderson, Letters, 144-45. 1 Burne-Jones's father, Edward Richard Jones (d. 1889), a gilder and frame-maker of Welsh descent. 2 See letter no. 677. 3 This is the first reference in the surviving letters to the search for new premises that led to the taking of Merton Abbey, Surrey, on June 7, 1881 (see letter no.697) The search began because, as Mackail notes (II, 31-32), Morris wanted "a single place in which the business" of the firm "could be so far concentrated that he could dye his own silks and cottons and wools, weave his own carpets and tapestries and brocades, print his own chintzes, and put together his own painted windows." (Dissatisfaction with Thomas Wardle's dyeing was also a factor.) The work was to be "carried out by men trained in [his] own methods, and working under his own eye " William De Morgan (see Volume I, letter no. 356, n.3), about to set up pottery works for manufacturing tiles and majolica, joined in the quest: their factories, they agreed, should if possible be placed together. The outskirts of London were searched all around before the Merton premises were taken, and it was not until late December "that everything had been cleared out from Queen Square and its annexes, and the new works were fairly set a-going." In William De Morgan and his Wife, Stirling writes (p. 26): "The building [Merton Abbey] had once been the silk weaving factory of Huguenot refugees. Seven acres of ground went with it. The remains of an ancient well marked the site of the twelfth century Augustinian priory where Walter de Merton (d. 1277) founder of Merton College, Oxford (1264-74) was educated." 4 In the Queen's speech at the opening of Parliament, the intention had been expressed to withdraw British troops from Kandahar, Afghanistan. 5 The last night of debate on the Irish Coercion Bill was February 24; it became law on March 2, 1881. 6 See letter no. 672, n. 7. 7 Liberal associations had already become well organized by the 1830's. In 1877 the National Liberal Federation was established, Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914) being the moving spirit. It was known as the "Caucus." 8 On January 27, 1881, Morris spoke on behalf of the Kyrle Society at ajoint meeting of

[ 24 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

678

M e r t o n Abbey.

the National Health and Kyrle Societies to consider ways to reduce smoke pollution in London and to bring art and music to the people. (See The Times, January 28, 1881, p. 10.) Morris's speech was published in The Women's Union Journal, 6 (February 1881), 13-16. See also LeMire, pp. 237, 295. 9 The Times, February 21, 1881, reported (p. 6) that George Howard had issued an address on February 19 in which he said he would give his support to the present Government, since he was assured "at the present critical time that it deserves the cooperation of all who love progress and reform" and "of those who value law and order and . . . the efficiency and dignity of Parliament." 10 See letter no. 676, n. 4. 11 The Vase ofFlowers. This carpet for George Howard, was the largest the firm had so far undertaken. Morris's entry for February 20, 1881, in his Diary reads in part: "Began a sketch of Howard's carpet." See also Henderson, Life, p. 230.

[ 25 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

679 · To

GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London February 28, 1881

My dear George Here is a scratch of the pen from a somewhat down-trodden radical to congratulate you very heartily on defeating the enemy in East Cumberland.1 Keep it a-going: & before long please give us radicals something more to rejoice in, that we may be enthusiastic (and numerous) at the poll next general election: & so long life & good fun to you: so wishes Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. 1 In Morris's Diary, the entry for Sunday, February 27, 1881, reads: "News of G.H. return for E. Cumberland."

680 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London February 28, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

My dear Wardle I have your letter, & shall be happy to see you when you come up to town: meantime all I have to say is that I must be the judge of whether the goods when we receive them are near enough to our standards to make them saleable: take what means you think best to make them represent my standards worthily; and I will help you as much as I can while you are about it. You in turn must trust to what you know is a fact that I shall try to make it as easy for you as I can, & also that it is against my interest to send back any goods if I can help it. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke.

[ 26 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 682 681 · T o WILLIAM B E L L S C O T T

26, Queen Square,

Bloomsbury, London Monday [February 28, 1881] M y dear Scott 1 I d o n ' t k n o w if y o u have had tickets: I hope you will be able to come as well as to the evening meeting. 2 Yours ever truly William Morris MS: Harvard. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 103, n. 1. See Volume I, letter no. 655. Morris's lecture was at 7 o'clock. Apparently there was an earlier gathering, too—perhaps the annual meeting of the London Institution. 2

682 · T w o L E T T E R S T O E D W A R D WILLIAMS B Y R O N N I C H O L S O N

a.

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 28, 1881

Dear Mr. Nicholson 1 T h a n k you for your note and the tickets: 2 as to your honorarium, since you press the matter, I will find some w a y of disposing of it which will take it off m y conscience. As to tickets, I have been so m u c h asked for t h e m that I will further trespass o n your kindness b y asking y o u to send me another VT. dozen*, which I believe will all be used b y people w h o ought to be there. Yours very truly William Morris or 8. MSS: McMinn Papers. 1 2

See Volume I, letter no. 67, n. 1. See Volume I, letter no. 655.

b.

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London March 2, 1881

Dear Mr. Nicholson I a m afraid y o u will think m e very importunate b u t I am asking for a few m o r e tickets, this time for some of m y o w n employe's; could you let

[ 27 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

me have 7 more (seven) If there is any inconvenience in this pray let me know, as I should be very sorry to do anything which would trouble your subscribers. Yours very truly William Morris

683 · T o S I D N E Y C O L V I N

26, Q u e e n Square,

Bloomsbury, London M a r c h 2, 1881

My dear Colvin 1 I ask your pardon for not answering your letter: I laid it before the Committee without delay, and the matter is now in train: our protest will go off after one of the Committee has been to Stratford:21 hope we can do something: perhaps in this case it will be easier, as Shakespearean Enthusiasm may be a lever to help. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Folger. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 114, n. 1. 2 There was a plan to pull down and rebuild the tower and spire of Stratford-on-Avon Church. The S.P.A.B. Committee wrote to William Butterfield (1814-1900), the proposed architect, requesting more information, and at the same time a local movement began protesting the restoration. The scheme was shelved for six months, and Butterfield resigned the commission. See Annual Report of the S.P. A B.,June 1881.

684 · To JANE MORRIS

March 3 [1881]

Dearest Janey I am at home today so I am breaking off working at G[eorge] H[oward's] carpet-design to write you a line, though 'tis like to be of the stupidest: why have I not De Morgans talent for jokes; he is inexhaustible. So George is in; which on the whole is good; though things political are in a very queer condition: the papers are amusing to a cynic at present; so hard at work they are to discover some magic for explaining the all too natural drubbing we have caught at the hands of the Boers. 1 1 am in hopes the matter will be taken up somewhat by people outside parliament for inside it all or nearly all people seem to be behaving ill enough: there is to be a meeting of the Transvaal Committee tomorrow & I imagine they will [ 28 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 684

do something: the public meeting they called was a great success.2 Meantime you see the Government has 'knuckled down' to the Tories about the arms bill, 3 & the Land Bill is put off again:41 really begin to think it won't be brought in this session — or by this Government. I shall probably see George tomorrow morning, as I shall go to Palace Green to look after my work, which is getting on now. I go to the De Ms tonight. W. De M. is all agog about premises hunting now, & has just heard of some at Hemel Hemstead (nr. St Albans)5 Webb & Wardle are going on Saturday to walk up a stream that runs into Thames at Isleworth. Norton's eldest boy 6 was at the Grange last night, grown 6 ft high; a nice Yankee lad very naive & talkative. Tomorrow I go down to Hadham to see the last of Arthur before he goes to India: lucky he, that he didn't have to run down hill at Majuba, though I see that his old battalion seem to have run the fastest & so lost fewest men. 7 Isy is to be there & Alice,8 and the whole clamjamfry of them. The babes seem very well: May at any rate refuses to plead guilty to a head-ache: we have played numberless games at dummy; at which Jenny don't at all like being beaten, & refuses to look upon it as a joke when I get the 4 honours in my hand. The wooden edging is finished, & without looking too like Chatsworth, is neat; but old Matthews is very dilatory about the gravel: I wish it were all done. As to weather, it is better, & we have had 2 or 3 days good sunshine, but it has been always very cold, and today is E wind again, and plenty of it, a regular iron day. I have got a new carpet hand: that makes eleven: Bell's carpet goes on merrily, but I think they are getting a little slow & lazy some of them: I must make a great show of taking their time & so forth. Babies are not writing today: at least May is at work at a letter but is not ready: so I will send off this scrap as it is. By all means my dear go round to Florence if you [wish], & tell me what you want of money: the year is so late, that you had better not think of coming home yet: as aforesaid the weather is steadily cold. With love from all I am Your loving W. M MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 146. 1 In the Transvaal, annexed by Britain in 1877, the Boers began to fight for independence in 1880. When Gladstone, in January 1881, said that self-government was at the time out of the question, the war intensified. On February 27, 1881, the Boers won a decisive victory at Majuba Hill. This was the "drubbing" that prompted Morris's comments.

[ 29 ]

L E T T E R S OF W I L L I A M

MORRIS

T h o m a s J a m e s Sanderson, Jane Cobden, Jane Morris, and Annie Cobden in Siena, 1881.

[ 30

]

1881 / LETTER N O . 686 2 The Times, February 22, reported (p. 7) that on the previous day "a crowded and excited meeting called by a committee formed for 'the promoting of the independence of the Transvaal' was held in the Memonal Hall, Farringdon Street, to protest against the war in South Africa." 3 On February 29, Sir William Harcourt introduced the Peace Preservation Bill, which made illegal the possession of arms within certain districts, created the power to search suspected persons and houses, and regulated the sale of arms. See Annual Register, 1881, Part I, pp. 67, 68. 4 Gladstone's Irish Land Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on April 7, 1881. 5 William De Morgan (see letter no. 678, n. 3) was about to set up a pottery works for the manufacture of his lustred tiles and majolica. 6 Eliot Norton (1863-1932), son of Charles Eliot Norton (see Volume I, letter no. 63, n. I)7 Morris's brother, Colonel Arthur Morris (b. 1841). See Morris's Diary for 1881, March 4: "to Hadham Arthur going to India next week." See also n. 1 above. 8 Morris's sisters, Isabella and Alice (see Volume I, letter no. 1, n. 1).

685 · To EDWARD WILLIAMS BYRON NICHOLSON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 9, 1881

Dear Mr. Nicholson Holman Hunt does me the honour to wish to hear my lecture: I venture to complete my circle of crimes in dunning you, by asking you if you have a place left to send him a ticket You would do me a great favour by doing so: his address is 2 Warwick Gardens Kensington W. With many excuses I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: McMinn Papers.

686 · FROM Two LETTERS TO JANE MORRIS

a.

March 10, 1881 I went with De Morgan to Crayford on Monday, the whole country about seems much spoiled since we were there; but Crayford itself less than most places. However, it wouldn't do: though the buildings were

[ 31 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS big and solid and very cheap: for one thing the time of getting there is u n conscionable, over an hour — on the whole it wasn't to be thought of. 1 1 saw Hall Place once m o r e and it made the stomach in m e turn r o u n d w i t h desire of an old house. TEXTS: Mackail, II, 34. 1

Morris's brother Edgar had looked at a prmt-works in Crayford in February (see letter 678). Morris and De Morgan followed this lead in their search for new premises for Morns and Co.

b.

March 17, 1881 D e M . and I went to look at premises at M e r t o n in Surrey, whereof m o r e hereafter: they seem as if they w o u l d do, 1 and if so, and w e can get them, then a m I for evermore a bird of this world-without-end-for-everlasting hole of a London. 1

See letter no. 678, n. 3

687 · T o AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday, March 19 [1881]1 M y dear Aglaia I was minded to 'drop d o w n upon you' o n M o n d a y afternoon if you are likely to be in: in case you are not will you kindly send a line to Q u e e n Sq: Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1

Morris's Diary for 1881, Monday, March 21: ".

688 · T o J A N E MORRIS

called on Agla[ia]."

March 19 [1881]

Dearest Janey Wardle & Webb are gone today to have a look at those premises at M e r ton: 1 y o u k n o w they went before w e did, & s o m e h o w saw the w r o n g place w h e r e o n they reported that it would never do & that it wasn't w o r t h while m y going to look at them: howsoever D e M o r g a n & I made o u r selves into an opposition and went d o w n there & saw the right places: whereon j u d g e of our j o y w h e n w e found that the ' t w o clever ones' had

[ 32 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 688

gone wrong: (you see it) there are decided advantages about the real places: first, it would scarcely take one longer to get there from Hammersmith than it now does to Queen Sq: next it is already a print-works (for those hideous red & green table cloths & so forth) so that the plant would be really useful to us: 3rd the buildings are not bad: 4th the rent (£200) can be managed, if we can settle all that, as at present what is offered for sale is the tail-end of a lease & the plant. 5th the water is abundant and good. 6th though the suburb as such is woeful beyond conception, yet the place itself is even very pretty: summa, I think it will come to taking it, if we can get it on fair terms: — and there I shall be as aforesaid a London bird: if we don't get it, & I don't quite know what we shall do: I expect such places are rare near London. I have just come in from the garden, which is really looking nice now; the seeds mostly in, & the daffodils almost out in blossom: I am sorry to say though that the frost killed almost out all the wall-flowers: poor old Matthews is very slow; but I don't like sacking him: even on selfish grounds, a new system of horticulture will be more than the garden or I can stand. Politics seem getting much quieter here: it seems like that we shall make peace with the Boers in spite of the Yells of the Jingoes & the colonists:2 that will be one good thing: the Tories are going to move a vote of censure for the quitting of Candahar; they will be beat, as 'tis sure to be a party division, & that will be another good thing: 3 the Irish seem now to be waiting to see what the land-bill is to be;41 hope they will behave decently about it, & that the bill is to be good: I suppose you saw Bright's letter to Karl Blind about the Boer War;5 it was hearty & like himself again, which was encouraging:6 as to the Czar's slaying — what can one say but that ill comes of ill?7 You will see about the gunpowder at the Mansion House: 8 the Jingo prints assume as a matter of course that it was a Fenian affair: I should think 'tis more like that it was a mere piece of craziness bred out of all these rumours and horrors. Well, I went to Nottingham 9 & was entertained at the house of some good people, whereof the youngers were Ruskinites, & the elders stiffish religionists: my audience at the castle was polite & attentive; but I fear they were sorely puzzled at what I said; as might well be, since if they acted on it Nottingham trade would come to an end: strange to say while other places have been depressed Nottingham has fairly flourished these last few years: albeit it lives on producing a perfectly useless luxury: machine lace. Tis a finely situated town, and the great old market-place is a rarity in England, but it is spreading all over the valley & up the hills in a ghastly fashion. [ 33 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Spring seems to be come now; though strange to say the wind having got round to the W. yesterday it turned cold again; I suppose a storm is brewing. I dined with old Scott10 yesterday: he looked very old: is near 70 he told me: he was very quiet — as indeed we all were, save Letitia,11 who gabbled — but not unkindly. Jenny & May are gone to their Coffee-Tavern. What larks! We are to have a drawing-room meeting here next Thursday — I wish it was Friday Morning. I see May has a letter on the stocks also — so goodbye. Your loving W. M. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Published: Henderson, Letters, 147-48. 1 See letter no. 678, n. 3. 2 A peace agreement was signed on March 24. 3 On March 26, Edward Stanhope's motion against withdrawal of British troops from Kandahar was defeated. See The Times, March 28, 1881, p. 8. 4 The Irish Land Bill, introduced April 7, 1881, included the "three F's" (fixity of tenure, fair rents, free sale). 5 John Bright (1811-1889) had been an opponent of Disraeli during the Eastern crisis of 1876-1879, and in 1881, as a member of Gladstone's cabinet, supported reestablishment of autonomy for the Transvaal. Karl Blind (1826-1907), a German political refugee, settled in England in 1852 and from 1878 actively supported nationalist and democratic movements in many countries. At a meeting of the Transvaal committee, Blind had announced that an international manifesto, asking for peace and Transvaal independence, had been addressed to John Bright. In his answer, published in The Times, March 17, p. 7, Bright assured Blind that he would use his influence for peace. 6 Bright had had a nervous breakdown and in 1880 had been able to do only a limited amount of work. He was in good health again in March 1881. 7 Czar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated on March 13, 1881. 8 On March 16 an attempt was made to blow up the Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor of London. 9 Morris made a speech before the Nottingham Kyrle Society on March 16, 1881. See LeMire, p. 296. 10 William Bell Scott. 11 Scott's wife (see Volume I, letter no. 103, n. 4).

689 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London March 21, 1881

HENRY BROADHURST

Dear Mr. Broadhurst 1 At a meeting of the Radical Union, of which I am a member, 2 on Saturday, 3 the possibility of incorporating the National Liberal League with it was canvassed, and the secretary4 was to write to you on the subject; on this point I want to say that while I am quite prepared to go on heartily [ 34 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 690

with the N. L.L. if anything can be done with it, it seems to me it would be a pity to lose what work has been done there, if it is to be carried no further, & {that that) the junction of the two bodies seems to me desirable under these circumstances: I believe we (the N.L.L.) are in debt somewhat, but don't know to what amount: the balance of cash in my hands amounts to £10.11.0: will you let me know how much this will leave us short, and I will then consider if I personally as Treasurer (cannot) can make myself responsible for the balance against us I am Dear Mr. Broadhurst Yours very truly William Morris P. S. If you wish to see me before Saturday5 & are not too busy, I could manage it. MS: Andersen Coll. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 402, n. 3. 2 In 1881 an attempt was made to form a Radical Union out of the working-class political clubs of London. Morris was a member of the executive committee of the new group. George Wardle (see Volume I, letter no. 81, n. 2) recalled that Morris "hoped to organize a strong political party out of the radical elements or out of the trades unions." (See MM, II, 603.) In 1883 Morris himself recalled that he joined the Radical Union to express his discontent with the Liberal Party and to signify his readiness to become a socialist. See letter no. 911. 3 Morris's Diary for 1881, Saturday, March 19: ". . . to Radical Union." 4 Herbert Burrows (1845-1921) was active in London radical clubs and was editor of a collection of Mazzini's writings. He also collaborated with Annie Besant on A Short Glossary of Theosophkal Terms. 5 Morris's Diary for 1881, Saturday, March 26: ". . . in afternoon to meeting of N.L.L. unsatisfactory."

690 · To

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 23 [1881]1

My dear Aglaia I will come on Tuesday: is one to put on a crow-tail coat? Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 For March 29, 1881, which was a Tuesday, Morris's Diary reads: "To dinner at Constjantine] Ion[ides]."

[ 35 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 691 · T o M A R Y SMITH M U N D E L L A

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 24, 1881 Dear M a d a m 1 I will come with m u c h pleasure o n 6th April, and w i t h m a n y thanks am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: USheffield. 1 Mary Smith Mundella (d. 1890), daughter of a Nottingham manufacturer, was A. J. Mundella's wife (see Volume I, letter 356, n. 1).

692 · T o THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

March 24, 1881

I don't suppose you differ from m e in thinking that even for a rich m a n to multiply his ornamental goods overmuch is a great folly and trouble: that beauty and convenience, n o t show and luxury, in such matters should be every man's rule: as to the naked figures, I wish I could convince y o u because I think it is important for the arts that these things should be looked on in a healthy w a y : 1 1 think it must always be a capital office of art to show people what man's b o d y could be if he didn't degrade it: that in these days and these northern countries of swaddling clothes, that office is specially necessary to neutralise the evil teaching of the bestialities of the theatre, and the indecent vulgarities of the fashionable milliner. As to the subjects of pictures, y o u seem to m e to have taken a w r o n g turn: I have studied the subject enough (though b u t little) to k n o w that since the dawn of history mankind has invented n o typal new stories. T h i n k n o w : the same story which Herodotus has heard from an Egyptian priest w a s told in o u r fathers days by a Swabian peasant to G r i m m , and t w o years ago b y a H i n d o o nurse to an English child: surely this language must be m o r e universal than the temporary tales of the squabbles of t w o bewildered clans. You m a y be sure that as long as art exists people will consciously o r u n consciously g o o n telling the same stories, though doubtless w h e n art is real they will d o it in their o w n way. O n e thing I think w e ought to remember (I don't say that you forget it, t h o u g h others might take u p your words and by acting on t h e m forget it) to wit: that those w h o want to make art educational must accept the n e cessity of showing people things decidedly above their daily life, or even

[ 36 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 693

above what we fancy is their average intelligence. Never speak down to your audience, speak up to the dignity of your subject— that is the rule. TEXT: Horsfall. 1

See letter no. 671, n. 4.

693 · To JANE MORRIS

March 31 [1881]

Dearest Janey I am just writing a few lines to put into Jenny's envelope: I hope you got the money all safe: Debney 1 sent it on Monday, & you are to draw on Praed's Correspondent at Florence. I have been hard at it all the morning pointing Howards carpet; 2 1 am almost afraid it looks over big in pattern: however I have the alternative pattern; only that must be done in 6 X 6, which will rather knock the bottom out of my profit. I am glad if you are having it at all warm at Florence: it has been mighty cold here for a fortnight, though bright enough: though things are not growing the garden looks pretty — looked at as a substitute for the real thing: I should think there must be quite six pennorth of daffodils in it. The Richmonds 3 make many a moan at old Matthew's stupidity, & I suppose we get our full share of the benefit of it: however I suppose we are not much worse off than others in that matter. Now there is nothing new in politics since the Transvaal matter, except the Candahar debate, 4 which was not encouraging to the Tories: the majority was much bigger than was expected: the Government are going to prosecute the 'Freiheit' for singing triumph over the killing of the Czar:5 that seems to me to be a mistake, & has an ugly flavour of old Pam's Conspiracy-to-murder-bill, which unseated him in the height of his popularity. 6 I don't know if you read the Labby & Lawson case;7 we are chuckling over it here: it was very amusing, & if any thing could hurt the Telegraph, that would half finish it, I think: but people are such a dishonest set, that I don't suppose they will care. We are still after the Merton Abbey works: they certainly look likely, so long as we dont pay too much for our whistle, which I am not enclined to do: one thing to be said is that just now we could take new premises: and you see if we are to expand at all we must have room. If we don't get new premises now, I should be for drawing in our horns, reducing our expenses, & trying if [we could] not make nearly as much money with less [ 37 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

William Blake Richmond, c. 1880. risk: and yet I doubt if'tis possible: I fancy we must try to push ourselves. Did the babes tell you how I met Oscar Wilde at the Richmond's? 8 1 must admit that as the devil is painted blacker than he is, so it fares with O. W. Not but what he is an ass: but he certainly is clever too. Let me know as soon as possible as to when you are like to be in Paris, & I will try to manage it:9 what joy for the babes! You must be having a [ 38 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 694

fine time of it, & will enjoy the works of art in real Italy. I am just off to anti-scrape, & will speak of the Campo Santo: what the deuce is Murray about to let such things go on without a row? 10 Goodbye my dear with all love. Your loving W.M. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Published: MM, II, 583-84. Extract published: CW, 13, xxx; Henderson, Letters, 148. 1 Lawrence Debney, of Morris and Co. 2 See letter no. 678, n. 11. 3 W. B. Richmond (see Volume I, letter no. 558, n. 2) and his wife (see letter no. 937, n. 2) lived near Kelmscott House. Matthews was the gardener for both the Morrises and the Richmonds. 4 See letter no. 688, n. 3. 5 On March 31 Johann Most (1846-1906), editor of the German socialist paper Freiheit, was charged with incitement to murder for having printed a "libel" of Alexander II of Russia (assassinated earlier that month), which had in turn encouraged "persons unknown" to "commit the crime of murder in Europe out of Her Majesty's dominion." 6 In 1858 the Orsini bomb plot against Napoleon III, which was planned in England, prompted Palmerston to introduce a bill increasing the penalty for conspiracy to murder. The defeat of the bill caused his resignation and the return of the Disraeli-Derby ministry. 7 This refers to the libel suit brought by Edward Levy-Lawson (1833-1916), editor and part owner of the Daily Telegraph, against Henry Labouchere (1831-1912), M.P., the owner of Truth. An article in Truth asserted that the Levy-Lawson family had adopted the name "Lawson" to conceal the fact that they were Jewish. The article also contained derogatory comments on Edward Levy-Lawson's character. The trial resulted in a hung jury, and Lord Coleridge, the presiding judge, dismissed the case. See Hesketh Pearson, Labby: The Life and Character ofHenry Labouchere (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1936), pp. 131-55. 8 For an account of this meeting, see Henderson, Life, pp. 228-30. 9 Morris and the children did join Jane Morris in Paris in May. See letter no. 699, n. 1. 10 Charles Fairfax Murray (see Volume I, letter no. 78, n. 1) was the S.P. A.B. corresponding secretary in Florence at the time.

694 · Two LETTERS TO GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

a.

[April 1-3, 1881?]1

(EXCERPT)

Borax is the name of the culprit: the colour-makers, finding that the glass-painters wanted a colour that would burn well at a lowish temperature, mixed borax with it, to that end; but unluckily glass of borax is soluble in water, and hence the tears wept by our windows — and our purses. We use harder colour now, so that if any window of ours goes now it must be from other causes; bad burning or the like; I don't think as things go that this is like to happen to us. [ 39 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

I am very glad indeed that you think the east window a success; I was very nervous about it, as the cartoons were so good that I should have been quite upset if I had not done them something like justice. 2 TEXT: Mackail, II, 56. Published: Henderson, Letters, 162-63. 1 Henderson dates this letter 1882, but it probably should be dated spring or summer 1881. 2 Probably a reference to the memorial window placed in Brampton Church in memory of Charles Howard, George Howard's father. Rosalind Howard's private ledger contains an entry under the date 1881: "Memorial east window at Brampton £150"; and Philip Webb wrote to Howard on December 28, 1881: "I am glad that you were pleased with the . . window at. . . Brampton." Brampton Church was rebuilt by the Howards in the late 1870's to designs by Webb.

b.

26, Q u e e n Square, Bloomsbury, London

April 7, 1881 My dear George "Tis all too true about the Naworth windows: we (and I believe all other glass painters) were beguiled by an untrustworthy colour, having borax in it, some years ago; & the windows painted with this are going all over the country of course we have taken warning & our work will now be all right: We have given instructions to our man to take out the faulty glass which we will restore at once, and pay for that same ourselves — worse luck! Hope you are all getting on well: I hear from Janey at Florence & she seems well. Yrs affectionately William Morris Thank you, I will come to Naworth with pleasure in the autumn MS: Howard Papers. Published: Mackail, II, 55-56.

695 · To

THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

April 7, 1881

Dear Mr. Horsfall, I have read your paper with much interest: what it really seems to me to point to is that you have found out that popular art is dead and are uncomfortable at that. In my opinion, as you probably know, the causes and remedies for this must be sought for deeply enough. Meantime, it does indeed drive the imaginative artists who still exist, to choose subjects that [ 40 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 695

few people know anything about, or to treat subjects that people do know in a way that people cannot understand: and the unimaginative artists, (many of them able men enough) it drives into mere fatuities of subject, which, as you see clearly, they would have avoided in happier times. But you may be sure that nobody but artists ever have cared or ever will care really about art: in those earlier times most people, all save exceptions, were artists. Meantime 'tis no use trying to get artists by themselves to do this or that: least of all to expect them to paint down to the sensibilities of people who are quite ignorant of art; and of literature, too, for that matter; for who does read poetry or anything else except newspapers and new novels? Out of my immediate circle, I don't know anyone who has any memory of Walter Scott (novels, I mean) or who really knows Shakespeare. I know the latter pretty well, though I am not a blind worshipper of him; and the former I read and re-read for ever: nevertheless, I don't see subjects for painters in either of them, how should there be? Art is not a subject for art; that is not my discovery, nor perhaps even Ruskin's in whose works I first saw it stated in words; but 'tis true emphatically. The only limitation I should put upon subjects would be upon landscape painters; and to them I should insist on all their pictures being really portraits of real country. I mean I take no interest in made-up landscapes: where is it? is my first question when I see a landscape: some of my friends would call this taking a literary view of painting: indeed, I take that view of all painting, as I see you do. With which word of agreement, I send my crusty letter.1 Yours faithfully, William Morris TEXT: Horsfall. 1 To this letter Horsfall replied: "That art cannot be the subject of art is perhaps true, but the art of a writer can take a painter to nature and that nature can be a subject for painting. I can't help thinking that you do not see subjects for pictures in your favourite books only because you know they are not the favourite books of many other people. If we could feel that the imagination of most of our neighbours was made as active by the Antiquary or The Heart of Midlothian, as an Athenian probably felt that his neighbours' imaginations were by the story of Meleager, then we, unconsciously, should see with our inward eyes quite differently as we read or remembered the tales from what we now do and should, I think, discover lots of painters' subjects in them. I have often felt the difference of effect in oneself of that which one likes alone, and that which one likes and knows that other people also like." "T. C. Horsfall: A Memoir" (unpublished typescript) by D. F. Skinner, pp. 74-75, in the possession of Mrs. D.M.H. Betts.

[ 41 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 696 · T o T H O M A S W A R D L E

26, Queen Square,

Bloomsbury, London April 11, 1881 Dear Wardle I shall be happy to make the carpet or rug, & shall have a l o o m free in about a m o n t h : I will send you d o w n a set of the colours w e shall use in in worsted, & y o u will match them as near as convenient: h o w about the whites in tussore? a yellowish white is best. I will give you the quantities of the colours as near as I can, but cannot count on being exact in them; so you may have to dye fresh lots. I should tell you before you decide o n the matter, that a silk rug should b y rights be w o v e n of a finer pitch than any I have got opportunities for doing at present: h o w e v e r I will d o m y best if you wish it, & shall be curious to see the result: the weft should be made of cotton or tussore shoddy. Yours very truly William Morris Ms: Duke.

697 · T o W I L L I A M F R E N D D E M O R G A N

Kelmscott House,

Hammersmith Saturday [April 16, 1881]1 Dear D e M o r g a n I wish y o u w o u l d come over t o - m o r r o w . T h e fictionary sounds likely to become a factory: 2 Welsh 3 has practically accepted o u r offer. Also w e have practically settled matters with the lawyers and the owners; so adieu Blockley 4 and j o y for ever, and welcome grubbiness, London, low spirits and boundless riches. Your affec W. Morris TEXT: Stirling, 127. 1 Morris's Diary for 1881, Sunday, April 17: "later De Morgan called for a few minutes — anxious about Merton Abbey." 2 Morris's Diary for 1881, June 7: "signed lease of Merton Abbey." Anna Stirling quotes De Morgan: "My own settlement at Merton came about in this wise. Morris and I were always talking over an imaginary factory which I was to occupyjointly with him. It wasn't so much that we believed in it — indeed, we always called it the Fictionary — as that it gave us an endless excuse for going over premises" (Stirling, p. 120). 3 The Welch Brothers, calico printers, were the outgoing tenants. (See Parry, p. 43.) In the letter, Morris misspelled "Welch," as he did names—and words in general—in other letters. For names, the correct spelling here and elsewhere is that given in the annotation. 4 Mackail says (II, 32-33) that when Morris in September began the search for new prem-

[ 42 ]

1881 I L E T T E R N O .

697

William D e M o r g a n , early 1880's.

ises, he looked first at abandoned mills in Blockley, near Chipping Campden, and "fell in love with the place." But since it was far from London, George Wardle thought the scheme too much of a business risk; and "at last Morris reluctantly abandoned it." While reconciling themselves to Merton Abbey, Morris and De Morgan cycled together "to inspect an unsuitable place at Southwark—Our last expedition,' wrote Morris regretfully on April 28, 'till Merton Abbey gets too small for us!' " (Stirling, p. 127).

t 43 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

698 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 21 [1881]

CECILIA BROOKE

Dear Miss Brooke 1 I have had a bad cold for some days & hoped to be rid of it by this evening; but it has taken the turn of upsetting me generally, & making me quite unfit for company in the evenings: in fact it looks towards gout & gave me a twinge of the foe last night: this makes me positively afraid of being out a-nights, especially as I am due next week to take my girls to Paris next week to meet my wife who will be coming back.2 Excuse me for detailing revolting & disgraceful symptoms, I only do so because I want you to understand how extremely vexed I am to be obliged to say that I durstn't come tonight, all the more as I have seen so little of you & Brooke for so long. I am Dear Miss Brooke Yours very truly William Morris MS: McMinn Papers. 1 Probably a sister of Stopford Brooke (see Volume I, letter no. 422, n. 1). After the death of Brooke's wife in 1874, Cecilia Brooke went to live with her brother and remained in charge of his home for many years. 2 Jane Morris had spent the winter in Bordighera with the Howards. See letter no. 672, notes 1 and 9.

699 ·

EXCERPT FROM A LETTER TO JANE MORRIS

[April 17-21, 1881]1

. . . only I want to be over the day on which the Gobelins are open, in order to improve my mind. 2 TEXT: CW, 13, xxviii. 1

Morris left for Paris on April 30 and returned on May 6. The date of this letter is probably before April 22, since a note in his Diary, April 22, reads: "telegram from J. she can't meet us on Thursday." Jane Morris arrived in Paris on May 1; the Diary entry for that date reads: "Paris, Janey turned up early in morning." 2 Marillier writes that Morris visited the modern Gobelin works in Paris in order to see what a high-warp loom was like. See Marillier, p. 16; see also Mackail, II, 46.

[ 44 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 702

700 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 26, 1881

HENRY HOLIDAY

Dear Holiday 1 Mrs. Holiday 2 is very welcome to send any design of mine that she may have worked: I have had a note from Mr. Gullick3 on the subject, & have said yes to his request. If (yo) Mrs. Holiday wants anything in my possession (as I understood from Mr. Gullick she did) will you communicate with our Mr. Smith at Oxford St. & show him this letter for warrant. With kind remembrances to Mrs. Holiday, lam Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 366, n. 1. See Volume I, letter no. 385, n. 1. 3 T. J. Gullick, art director of an exhibition at the New Galleries, 103 Bond Street, designed "to illustrate the progress . . . made . . . in the departments of decorative art." It opened on June 12. See The Times, June 13, 1881, p.'8. 2

701 · T o WILLIAM FREND D E MORGAN

Thursday

April 28 [1881] You see virtue has triumphed: in other words Welsh agrees: as soon therefore as I come from Paris, which will be Saturday week I imagine, I shall be ready to try the trys — at Southwark — our last expedition — till Merton Abbey gets too small for us WM MS: Stansky Coll.

702 · T o FREDERIC HARRISON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

April 30 [1881] Dear Mr. Harrison I am, of course, much interested in sociology, but I can't pretend to knowing French enough to follow an intricate address. * I am very pleased to hear what you tell me of the old room, and will [ 45 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

make a point of going to see it. 2 1 am going away for a week this morning, but will try to get in on the 2nd Wednesday if I can: this since I have a great deal of extra work to do at present otherwise I will look in as you suggest. With many thanks I am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Cornell. 1 In 1880 Harrison had become president of the English Positivist Committee (see n. 2 below) and in this capacity invited Morris to attend the inaugural lecture by Pierre Lafitte (1823-1903), the leader of the French Positivists, on the opening of Newton Hall on May 4, 1881. 2 In May 1881 the "Committee of Seven," the Positivist group that adhered to Lafitte and of which Harrison was president, leased the old hall of the Scottish Corporation in Fetter Lane that had been purchased originally by Sir Isaac Newton, when he was president of the Royal Society, and used for its meetings from 1710 to 1782. The room in which the Positivists, on acquiring he building, held their own meetings had housed a Royal Society collection that later became the nucleus of one in the British Museum. In his invitation to Morris, dated April 29, Harrison called attention to the lecture hall and said: "I think we deserve well of the Ancient Buildings preservation Society (if you call 1782 ancient) for having snatched the room out of the modern city improvements," See BL, Add. MSS. 45345 for Harrison's letter to Morris; for the Committee of Seven and information about the hall, see Harrison's Autobiographical Memoirs (London: Macmillan, 1911). pp. 258ff; see also Marcha S. Vogler, Frederic Harrison: The Vocations of a Positivist (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984), pp. 159-61.

703 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[Paris]1 May 3, 1881

The Kentish fields glittered and shone brighter than [any memories?] of mine served to tell me of; but the sea was grey & hazy with never a wave in it; & then came the French poplar meadows & the little villages the waters about the Somme; & often I longed to be following up the long roads among them more than I can tell you. . . . Paris & the smellf ?] of beeswax woodsmoke & onions. 2 MS: Mackail notebook. 1 This excerpt from a letter, as well as several others like it, has survived only as transcribed by Mackail and included by him among the notes he prepared before beginning The Life of William Monis. (The excerpts in question were not used in the book as finally published.) In addition to the excerpt itself, Mackail in his notebook provides information about the letter. He indicates that it was sent from Paris where Morris had traveled accompanied by Jane, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson (see letter no. 934, n.l), and Annie and Jane Cobden (see

[ 46 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

704

Volume 1, letter no. 504, n. 1). Mackail adds that he is not certain whether Jenny and May accompanied them. 2 In his notebook, Mackail notes that Morris, in this letter, alludes—in addition to the smell of beeswax, woodsmoke, and onions—to the dress of women in Paris and the suburbs of the city.

704 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 19, 1881

WILLIAM ALLINGHAM

My dear Allingham1 I didn't know that they were proposing to put a bust in the Abbey, I quite agree that 'tis bosh. 2 1 have never been to the meetings, because I also felt no great enthusiasm for the statue, 3 since to be of any real ornament or noteworthiness it ought to have some sort of a housing to it, which is scarcely likely to be tempted or to succeed if it be attempted. With your other sentiments I agree cordially: I sometimes (not seldom) think that I am wasting whatever of my life is worth having by not living in the country: but I am tied by the leg & can't get away. I am always in on Sunday afternoons, & my garden is now a tolerable substitute for the real thing. Or would you & Mrs. Allingham dine here this day week (Thursday) (7½ o'clock)? or if not, name a day?4 We might take a turn when the weather settles; Would you care to go to Hampton Court by water some day when the tide serves: 'tis our own property, you know. Yours ever truly William Morris MS: Illinois. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 56, notes 1 and 2. 2 The proposed bust of Thomas Carlyle to be placed in Westminster Abbey. 3 An alternative proposal for a memorial to Carlyle was a statue on Chelsea Embankment. The Athenaeum, July 9, 1881, published (p. 47) a letter from Allingham in which he approved of the statue but not of a bust in Westminster Abbey. 4 Morris's Diary for 1881, Sunday, May 22: "Allingham's called."

[ 47 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

705 · To

EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London May 23, 1881

Dearest Mother 1 I was in hopes to have been able to get down to you this week, but find I cannot; so I must content myself with sending my fondest love to you & wishing you all health & happiness (with) on your birthday. I could come next week either on Monday Tuesday or Wednesday, I am not yet sure which as an engagement to meet the lawyers about the new factory hangs over me uncertain: I will write again on Thursday when it will be fixed. There is yet some boggle about the lease; these things I suppose always happen, but are very tiresome. 2 I shall bring something down with me which I hope you will like: I could not get it in time to send you. So once more, dearest Mother I send you my best love & many happy returns of your birthday, I am Your most loving Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 6, n. 1. 2 See letters no. 678, n. 3, and no. 697, notes 1 and 2.

706 · To NEWMAN MARKS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 1 [1881] Dear Mr. Marks I cannot go to Lechlade on such short notice; I am both wiring & writing Mr. Waller:1 St Gemimiano: 2 I have seen no photograph; I can't write the letter till I have: will do so then directly: perhaps I could write it at Buckingham St. tomorrow if I came at 5 or before.3 I have not seen Mr Lowell4 you may remember that Mr. Balfour promised to write to him about it, & I have been awaiting an invitation to come. 5 I fear we must press the matter. I have not received the proofs of the last part of the transactions.6 Yrs truly W Morris [ 48 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

707A

MS: Ray Coll. 1 Presumably F. W. Waller, a member of the S.P.A.B. In the Annual Report of 1881, Lechlade Church is listed among the buildings in which the Society took an interest. 2 The Town Hall, St. Gemignana, Italy. The S.P.A.B. Annual Report of 1881 noted that restoration of the Hall had been proposed and that the Society had sent a protest. 3 Morris's Diary for 1881, June 2: "to S.P.A.B." 4 James Russell Lowell, United States Minister to Great Britain at the time, was a member of the S.P.A.B. 5 Probably Eustace Balfour, one of the honorary secretaries of the S.P.A.B. (see Volume I, letter no. 461, n. 3). Morris may have asked Balfour to arrange an invitation to the American Embassy, with a view to enlisting American support for the St. Mark's protest. 6 Transactions of the S.P.A.B. for the year ending December 31, 1880, issued in 1881.

707 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London June 13, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

My dear Wardle I was much pleased with the look of the tusser carpetting: so much so that I think of trying a rug for myself at the same that I do yours: of course time only will show if it be really good for carpets. I am sending you a note as to how near you had better go in getting colours in the tusser to correspond with the wool (dyed) patterns, & in what directions to alter them, as it is no good trying to force the material. We must let the natural colour stand for white. Perhaps you can tell me about what the silk for the rug will cost & then I will see if I can afford it. I fancy there will be less waste if two are done at once. Yours truly William Morris MS: Duke.

707A · To

FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London June 22, 18811

My dear Ellis It was unlucky for our meeting that you pitched upon this week for your fishing: as of all weeks in the year I can't get away, this week; S.K.M. 2 & anti-scrape writing to prevent. I intend coming down with old Boyce & my daughter on Monday afternoon next 3 [ 49 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

I hope you will be staying on I don't doubt we can find room to shake us all down: 4 also we thought of going back to Oxford by water around Wednesday What do you think?5 Yours very truly William Morris MS: Ray Coll. 1 This letter was added in proof and, consequently, after the numbering for this volume was completed. The letter has been interpolated in proper chronological order and designated number 707A, to distinguish it from those with the lower case "a" (and "b"), used when two brief notes to the same recipient are grouped under one heading. Four other letters are also interpolations denoted by "A": 823A, 828A, 862A, and 1317A. 2 Morris's Diary for 1881 records visits to S. K. M. to work on June 21 and 23; and a visit on June 22 to the Spanish Court where an exhibition of Portuguese and Spanish art had opened on June 11 (see The Athenaeum, June 11, 1881, pp. 789-90). 3 Morris's Diary for 1881, June 27: "[T]o Kelmscott with Boyce [see Volume I, letter no. 23, n. I]. Stevenson [possiblyJohnJ. Stevenson, see Volume I, letter no. 414, n.2] &Jenny." 4 Morris's Diary for June 27, 1881, notes also that Ellis, his wife, daughter, and daughter's friend were there. For Ellis's wife, see letter 1401, n.l. 5 Ellis seems not to have joined the boating party. Morris's Diary for 1881, June 29: "[Djown the river to Oxford with Boyce Stevenson & Jenny."

708 ·

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London June OuIy) 30, 1881

RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

Dear Sir The address of the S. P. A. B is 9 Buckingham St Strand; I will tell the Secretary to send you the papers it has published which give the clearest ideas of its views, 1 & if you agree with these, I shall be happy to propose you as a member. I think if you apply to Messrs. Ellis & White 29 New Bond St, you will be able to get a copy of one or two of my lectures.2 Meantime it may interest you to know that I am going to make a vol: of some of them, which will come out this winter. 3 I am Dear Sir Yours truly William Morris MS: Lange Coll. 1 In addition to its prospectus, the S. P A. B. had published (1881) Lectures on Art, a volume of Transactions, and a circular by Morris on Italian restoration. See Buxton Forman, pp. 95, 100, 101.

[ 50 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 710 2 The only one of Morris's lectures listed by Buxton Forman as a separate publication by Ellis and White was The Decorative Arts (1878). 3 Hopes and Fears for Art. According to Buxton Forman (p. 99), it was out by February 1882.

709 · EXCERPT FROM A LETTER TO [GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES]

Queen Square [June 30, 1881]

As to things public my rage is becoming chronic.' MS: Mackail notebook. 1

Mackail quotes this excerpt and summarizes the rest of the letter, saying that it is about Kelmscott, where Morris "had been with the Ellises and others."

710 · T o GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Kelmscott

July [2] 1881 I suppose you have seen about the sentence of Herr Most 1 and read Coleridge's most dastardly speech to him:2 just think of the mixture of tyranny and hypocrisy with which the world is governed! These are the sort of things that make thinking people so sick at heart that they are driven from all interest in politics save revolutionary politics: which I must say seems like to be my case. Indeed I have long known, or felt, say, that society in spite of its modern smoothness was founded on injustice and kept together by cowardice and tyranny: but the hope in me has been that matters would mend gradually, till the last struggle, which must needs be mingled with violence and madness, would be so short as scarcely to count. But I must say matters like this and people's apathy about them shake one's faith in gradual progress. 3 As to the Anti-Scrape, I have little comfort there I must say: we have begun too late and our foes are too many; videlicet, almost all people, educated and uneducated. No, as to the buildings themselves, 'tis a lost cause; in fact the destruction is not far from being complete already. What people really say to themselves is this: I don't like the thing being done, but I can bear it maybe — or certainly, when I come to think of it — and to stir in it is such obvious suffering; so I won't stir. Certainly to take that trouble in any degree it is needful that a man should be touched with a real love of the earth, a worship of it, no less; and I think that as things go, that [ 51 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

is seldom felt except by very simple people, and by them, as would be likely, dimly enough. You know the most refined and cultured people, both those of the old religions and these of the new vague ones, have a sort of Manichean hatred of the world (I use the word in its proper sense, the home of man). Such people must be both the enemies of beauty and the slaves of necessity, and true it is that they lead the world at present, and I believe will do till all that is old is gone, and history has become a book from which the pictures have been torn. Now if you ask me why I kick against the pricks in this matter, all I can say is, first because I cannot help it, and secondly because I am encouraged by a sort of faith that something will come of it, some kind of culture of which we know nothing at present. TEXT: Mackail, II, 25-26. Published: Henderson, Letters, 149-50. 1 See letter no. 693, n. 5. 2 Sir John Duke Coleridge, first Baron Coleridge (1820-1894), was chief justice of the Queen's Bench. For his speech, in which he called Most's Freiheit article "scandalous" and "cowardly," see The Times, June 30, 1881, p. 12. On June 29 Most was sentenced to sixteen months of hard labor. 3 For an understanding of Morris's political development, this pessimistic rejection of "gradual progress" is important. His comments and his tone in general indicate that he had for some time been thinking about "revolutionary politics." Since it was not until January 1883 that he joined the Democratic Federation, he must have been in continuing discussion with radicals who analyzed society in Marxist terms from some time earlier than July 1881 until the end of 1882. Unfortunately, in the surviving letters between 1879 and 1883, the record of Morris's conversion from a radical Liberal to a Marxian socialist is incomplete. Whatever signs of change there are at this time, in his surviving correspondence, tend to occur in letters to Georgiana Burne-Jones.

711 · T o

GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[July 6, 1881]

Last night I took me a book and read Carlyle on Mrs. Carlyle, having read his James Carlyle and Jeffrey before.1 I think I never read anything that dispirited me so much; though read it through one must after having once begun it. What is one to say of such outrageous blues as this? As to what he says about this, that, and the other person now living, I can't see that he gives much offence, I mean to say personally; he is generally very unfair and narrow and whimsical about his likes and dislikes, but 'tis something in these days of hypocrisy that he makes distinctions at all — only one wishes his distinctions were something more than whims. But all that is nothing to the ferocity of his gloom: I confess I had no idea of it till I read the book: and yet I find it difficult to say that it ought not to have [ 52 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 712

been printed, and I am sure it ought not to have been garbled, as some folk think it should. Only should it not have been called, The history of a great author's liver? Not to mention symptoms too much, I in a small way understand something of that: to look upon your natural work, which you have chosen out of all the work of the world, with a sick disgust, when you are not at it: to be sore and raw with your friends, distrustful of them, antagonistic to them, when you are not in their company: to want society and to hate it when you've got it: — all these things are just as much a part of the disease as physical squeamishness: but you see, poor chap, he was so always bad that he scarcely had a chance of finding that out. But mind you, I don't believe he didn't enjoy writing his books more or less, even 'Frederick,' the dullest of them and the one he groans over most. After all, my moral from it all is the excellence of art, its truth, and its power of expression. Set 'Sartor Resartus' by all this, and what a difference! The story of the old father is touching in spite of its clannishness (which perhaps is not so bad a thing; holds the world together somewhat). He really must have been a good fellow not to have bullied his queer son. Only they wouldn't have been the worse for a touch of definite art up there: even among those beautiful mountains and moors. TEXT: Mackail, II, 28-29. Published: Henderson, Letters, 148-49. 1 Carlyle's Reminiscences, edited by J. A. Froude, were published in March 1881. The fourth section, completed in 1867, is devoted to Jane Welsh Carlyle, who died in 1866. The first section is a reminiscence of Carlyle's father, written in the month of his death, January 1832. The third part is a biographical sketch of Francis, Lord Jeffrey, who, with Henry Brougham and Sydney Smith, in 1802 had established The Edinburgh Review, to which Carlyle contributed. Lord Jeffrey died in 1850, and Carlyle's reminiscence was written in 1867.

712 · To

GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London July 6, 1881

Dear George Thanks for measurements duly received. I will start off with it at once.' Also thank you for your chaff: must a poor devil of a would be manufacturer never have more room than twelve foot sq: to do all his work in then? Well, perhaps you are right, & I am rash; but having done the thing 2 I will not repent it[?] lest I fill the world with my howls, like the sage of Chelsea, whose moans I have just been reading by no means to my comfort; yet I hope to my edification. Yrs affectionately William Morris [ 53 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

Ms: Howard Papers. 1 Possibly a reference to the large carpet that Morris was weaving for the Howards at this time. See letter no. 678, n. 11, and Mackail, II, 45. For other possibilities, see Mackail, II, 46,52. 2 Perhaps a reference to Merton Abbey.

713 · T o

[July 6,1881]2

FRANCESCO AZZURRI 1

The Committee of the Soc. P. A. B. desires me to thank you heartily for your interesting letter concerning the Bigallo at Florence; the Committee is much encouraged by noting that in Italy especially the declared principles of the Society seem to be recognized more & more every day among people of cultivation, and it hopes that (a) frank & open discussion on those principles {will) & their application to special works will be rather called for than deprecated, & will advance the cause of progress in the arts. 3 The Committee further desires me to communicate to you the following notes it has made on the conditions under which the repairs of the Bigallo are to be carried out. The 1st, seems to the Committee highly satisfactory as it appears to imply that the paintings or fragments of paintings will be preserved absolutely in their present condition. As to the 2nd & 3rd conditions: the Committee hails with satisfaction the idea that search is to be made for the traces of painted decoration that may surround the pictures: but the principles of the Society would be against the piecing of lost features (by) with new work: the Committee would think it desirable that where any break has taken place in the continuity of the ornamentation (the break) the missing part should not be replaced by imitative work, but that the ornament should be left in its present state, as historical evidence of its age, & the technical handling of the period when it was executed. The Committee heartily agrees with the Academy in condemning the proposed reconstruction in marble of the two arcades the nucleus of which can be traced in stone. The Committee in congratulating the Academy on having secured the appointment of learned and intelligent supervisors of the work, trusts it will not be taken amiss if it once more (impresses) urges the importance of the maxim that the less that can be done to an ancient building the better: the hope that this maxim will soon be widely accepted is the very cause & reason for the existence of the Society.4 [ 54 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

714

Thanking you once more for the kindness of your communication, and the sympathy it indicates for the cause we have at heart (We) I have the honour to be &c &c

Dear Mr. Marks 5 I hope this is polite enough: please be particular in giving M. Azzurio his titles; don't forget President of the Academy of St. Luke (as unluckily you have done in the report.) Yrs. truly W. Morris MS: Huntington. 1 Francesco Azzurn (1827-1901) was elected in 1880 to the Academy of St. Luke; in 1881, he became president of the Academy. 2 Morris's Diary for 1881, July 6: ". . . Wrote letter for S.P.A.B." At the top of this letter is the note: "Sent 9/7/81." 3 Morris rewrote this paragraph; the wording apparently gave him more trouble than usual. The canceled words, not reproduced in the text above, are [after Florence]: and for the sympathetic; [after encouraged]: by seeing/noting/that the growth in Italy in accordance with the/growing feelings among men the most learned of the Italian principle; [after especially]: among feelings in accordance with; [after seem]: decidedly on the increase. 4 Morris crossed out an entire paragraph here before concluding the letter. It reads: "In conclusion the Committee cannot refrain from/The Committee congratulates the Italian Nation & lovers of art generally on the fact that the natives of Italy attempt an appeal to the Government of the country as to the carrying out of any works that may affect the art and history contained in its ancient monuments." 5 Covering note to Newman Marks.

714 · To

THE EDITOR OF THE

Pall Mall Gazette

July 16, 1881

Sir The Committee of the S.P.A.B. having noticed that the Pall Mall Gazette has on several occasions done good service towards the cause of the preservation of the remains of the art of past times, has desired me to write to you, & beg the favour of space in your columns for the following remarks on the threatened destruction of Magdalen Bridge at Oxford, which it is much to be feared is imminent. It may well be thought that the mere words, 'the destruction of Magdalen Bridge' would go at once to the heart of any one who knows Oxford well; that any one who has lived there either as gownsman or towns[ 55 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

man, & who does not want to be set down as dull to any impression of art or history, would be eager to protest against such a strange piece of barbarism: but it (is not) may not be altogether superfluous to remind those who know little of Oxford, or who have not seen it that Magdalen Bridge has a value quite apart from its own considerable architectural excellence, a value which it is hard to exaggerate: for it forms an essential part of a group of buildings quite unrivalled of its kind in the United Kingdom: the splendour of the great Tower, the Hall & the Chapel, and the beauty of the low block of buildings which run along the street west from the tower, all this stately mass of correct and well developed mediaeval architecture is not injured but helped by the pleasing primness of the Botanical Gardens, and the naif classicallity (not perhaps as un-Gothic as it would be) of the beautiful Bridge: in short it must not be forgotten that these buildings of Magdalen are essentially part of the street, and look almost as if they had grown up out of the roadway: any injury done to the street will injure them fatally, and the result will strike even those who have not much noticed the separate parts which go to make up the lovely group. Moreover Magdalen College and its surroundings (make up) form the main entrance to Oxford, to that famous High Street, which is the heart of the most important town of England for (its) mingled artistic & historical interest; (nay which stands alone) is (it worth) this with all its romance & beauty, which no one can fail to be impressed by, worth keeping in a city which exists for the (very) furtherance of cultivation? The Comm: of the S. P. A. B (are) do not hesitate to say both that they themselves believe it well worth keeping even at the expense of some considerable inconvenience to the (inhabitants) (public) neighbourhood, and that they feel sure that most cultivated (p) men will be of the same opinion; but also in their opinion no (great) serious inconvenience to the public is caused by the present structure, the traffic across Magdalen Bridge being usually but small: nor can the tramway now being laid be pleaded as a cause for the rebuilding of the Bridge, since the Engineer to the Tramways Company has in a letter to the Committee expressly denied its necessity on that score, and has disclaimed it as any part of his scheme. The Committee, therefore, begs (Sir) through your columns to protest against the rashness of a scheme (sch) of destruction, which is not called for by the convenience of any large part of the public, and which has only to be mentioned to be condemned by all cultivated men unless obvious(d) necessity can be pleaded in its favour. &CWM Magdalen Bridge draft, sent 16/7/81 To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.1 [ 56 ]

1881 I L E T T E R N O .

716

MS: Huntington. 1

This letter was apparently not published in the Pall Mall Gazette,

715 · To

ROSALIND FRANCIS HOWARD

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 17 [1881]

Dear Mrs Howard 1 I will do the 3 pieces for you with pleasure, as I think that I can come very near the first pattern at any rate: but it will take a full month to do, for which I am sorry, but can't help it as the process is long. I think there is some reason in your liking No 1 best, though on the whole I think No 2 is the better article: that sounds trimming, but it would take too long to explain it. Thank you, I am afraid I shall not be out of London for more than 3 days at a time this autumn. Yours very truly William Morris P. S. I will take care of your pattern. Please send me a post card to say whether you will have the pieces done. MS: Howard Papers. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 177, n. 1.

716 · T o

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 18, 1881

My dear Aglaia The book duly came on Saturday: it is a very pleasant looking book, & exceedingly interesting reading. It is very generous & kind of you to take so much trouble about it; & also (not to be rude) I know that rare books are not cheap to buy: the latter consideration makes me a little uncomfortable; but I thank you very heartily for being so kind as to get the(m) book for me. I am going on business to Manchester today1 & my week will be broken up variously, but if you were in on this day week (Monday) I could look in unless all sorts of things happen meanwhile. 2 I am Yours affectionately William Morris t 57 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: Berger Coll. 1 In his Diary for 1881, on July 18, Morris notes that he went to Longstone; the entry for July 19 reads: "At longstone, to Manchester with Mr. Craven, so to Pendleton, and home in evening." 2 Diary entry for July 25, 1881: "Sick: not able to do anything."

717 · To NEWMAN MARKS QuIy 18, 1881] Dear Marks This is something like what I said: let me have a proof.' Yrs truly W. Morris MS: Huntington. 1 Morris was probably writing out the gist of remarks he had made at an S.P.A.B. meeting. This note to Marks comes at the end of a draft that begins: "I fully believe that the Committee will do its utmost in the matter of the Egyptian monuments of which so much has been said so well today; but I may perhaps be allowed to recall you to the considerations of buildings for whose welfare we are more directly responsible; and of places I feel myself impelled to speak of, a place, a second home; the city of Oxford." (Manuscript in the Huntington Library.) In his Diary for 1881, Morris notes on July 14: "To S.P.A.B. (Egypt)." July 18: "Writing my speech for Marks." See also Volume I, letter no. 656.

718 · T o THOMAS WARDLE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 27, 1881 My dear Wardle It appears to be gone affair with Wincle Church: 1 in case however it should be any good, I enclose the draft of a letter for which I will be responsible (as Hon: Sec:) & which if you send you had better copy on to official paper and send on at once: I would have waited till our meeting tomorrow but having had the approval of one or two others of the Committee, I thought I might send on at once: I would have written before but was on the sick list on Monday, & quite tied by the leg on Tuesday in consequence. Am sorry to hear that you are knocked up. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke. 1 In Wincle, Cheshire. Note in Wardle's hand at bottom of ms: "This church built in Charles I's time was the only one m this part of the country of its time & type. It was destroyed and a new pseudo-Gothic one built. The east end was considered so interesting by South Kensington Museum that they bought it. . . ."

[ 58 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 720

719 · T o

Queen Sq: Thursday [July 28, 1881?]1

ELFRIDA BIRD IONIDES

My dear Mrs. Luke2 I shall be very happy to come

many thanks — Yrs very truly William Morris

MS: Berger Coll. 1 Morris's entry in his Diary for 1881, Friday, July 29, reads: "to L. Ionides to see his house. . . . " 2 Luke Ionides married Elfrida Bird in 1869.

720 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[Queen Square July 28, 1881]

How people talk as if there were no wrongs of society against all the poor devils it has driven demented in one way or other! Yet I don't wonder at rich men trembling either: for it does seem as though a rising impatience against the injustice of society was in the air; and no wonder that the craziest heads, that feel this injustice most, breed schemes for setting it all right with a stroke of lightning. There was a curious and thoughtful letter from America in Tuesday night's Echo, the writer of which seemed to have been struck by this thought as to matters over there: quoth he, there is no respect for people in authority there: every one knows that they are there by virtue of a bargain struck by selfishness and selfishness, (I quote his matter only,) 1 and a sort of despair besets people about it. All political change seems to me useful now as making it possible to get the social one: I don't mean to say that I myself make any wide distinction between political and social; I am only using the words in the common way. TEXT: Mackail, II, 26. 1

The London Echo, July 26, 1881, printed a letter in which the writer, E. Szabad, ofWashington D.C., attributed the shooting of President Garfield to "American Nihilism—the absence of moral feeling, and . . . of . . . respect towards people placed in high positions," caused by a general belief that all political offices were bought and sold.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

721 · To JAMES BRYCE

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London July 29, 1881

My dear Bryce1 I have heard already from Mr. Fithian & have said that I shall be happy to come & do my best in such a good cause.2 Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bodleian. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 389, n. 1. 2 Morris presumably refers to the Commons Preservation Society, founded in 1865 to prevent legal enclosure of "places [commons] which have never in the history of [England] been inclosed . . . without the sanction of a new Act of Parliament." The 1870-1876 Report of the Proceedings of the Society listed its officers as President, William Francis CowperTemple; Vice-President, Charles Wentworth Dilke; Chairman, George John Shaw-Lefevre; Secretary, Edward W. Fithian. A chief goal of the Society was to preserve the commons surrounding London, the area now known as the Greenbelt. See The Commons Preservation Society Report of Proceedings 1870-1876 (London: C. Roworth and Sons, 1876), pp. 1-10. On August 4 Morris attended a meeting of the Society (Diary for August 4, 1881).

722 · To GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Kelmscott

[August 16, 1881]· On the whole the hazardous experiment of trying the same expedition twice over has succeeded.2 Our spirits sank somewhat I think as we neared Kelmscott last night; a thing done and over always does that for people, however well it has gone. For my part I didn't so much feel that as the coming in to Oxford. A kind of terror always falls upon me as I near it; indignation at wanton or rash changes mingles curiously in me with all that I remember I have lost since I was a lad and dwelling there; not the least of losses the recognition that I didn't know in those days what a gain it was to be there. Perhaps if one dreads repeating a pleasure at my time of life it is because it marks too clearly how the time has gone since the last time, and certainly I feel more than one year older since I came up the water in 1880. At any rate the younger part of us have enjoyed themselves thoroughly; and indeed so have I. You know my faith, and how I feel I have no sort of right to revenge myself for any of my private troubles on the kind earth: and here I feel her kindness very specially and am bound not to meet it with a long face. TEXT: Mackail, II, 16. Published: Henderson, Letters, 150.

[ 60 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 723 1 In his Diary for 1881 Morris wrote that the Ark (see note 2 below) got to Kelmscott about 9 p.m. on August 15. In this letter he mentions "we neared Kelmscott last night." 2 The expedition by boat up the Thames from Hammersmith to Kelmscott had been carried out for the first time the previous August. The party on the second trip included William De Morgan, Charles Faulkner, De Morgan's sister Mary, and two young girls, Bessie Macleod and Lisa Stillman. "According to my recollection," said De Morgan of these voyages, "we none of us stopped laughing all the way." The trip provided the occasion for De Morgan's witticism that Iffley-on-Thames was "the original birth-place of the hypothesis." Henderson supplies the above information (see Letters, p. 150, n. 1). See also J. M. Baissus, "The Expeditionof the Ark," in theJournal ofthe William Morris Society, 3 (Spring 1977), 2-11, and Lindsay, p. 245, for Violet Hunt's description of the party as seen from shore.

723 · To

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London August 23, 1881

Dear Aglaia Thank you very much for your kind letter: I came up for a week's town work yesterday leaving the others at Kelmscott. We had a very pleasant time on the water getting there, in spite of some rather broken weather; then we had a week of romps at Kelmscott broken only by my having a slight attack of gout ('only a little one') which however was of little import. I am going back to Kelmscott again next Monday, (but shall) & shall be there doubtless for a full week, but also doubtless shall have to give London a day or two after that if we don't come up all in the lump: so I shall be able to see you then. This afternoon is wet & so dark that I can't see to work at all: London looked discouraging and grimy altogether to come into yesterday though the day was fine on the whole. I suppose in about a fortnight I shall be beginning to get the house on the premises at Merton Abbey into trim, & shall be glad to show you the place when the weather is fine some day. I am Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Yates Coll.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM

724 · To

MORRIS

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London August 29, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

Dear Wardle Your little carpet is just done & will be sent off at once: on the whole I think it looks very well, though if we ever took to doing silk carpets, we should have to consider several matters, as to the due pitch & the rest: perhaps also a harder silk would be better — however the material certainly looks very splendid, and not at all like anything else: we have done it as carefully as possible, & I hope you will be pleased with it. ! I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke. 1 Morris's Diary for 1881, August 6, reads: "Melinda began silk carpet today." August 25, "Silk rug out."

725 · To

GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London August 29, 1881

Dear George I am sending you off today the design for the Llanercost embroidery: if you approve of it let us have it back again & I will have it got out full size, materials got ready, & the work started for the ladies to go on with. As to the design itself: I have been enjoying a bit of gout, which I fancy has got into the colour & made the greens dingy: but I can easily set that right in the real thing. Hoping you are enjoying* yourselves all round I rest Yours affectionately William Morris * not with gout. MS: Howard Papers.

726

· FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[Kelmscott

September 4, 1881] It has been a great pleasure to see man and maid so hard at work carrying at last. Hobbs 1 began at it on Wednesday morning, and by the next [ 62 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 727

morning the thatchers were putting on the bright straw cap to the new rick: yesterday they were carrying the wheat in the field along our causeway and stacking it in our yard: pretty as one sat in the tapestry-room to see the loads coming on between the stone walls — that was for the other rick though, just beyond the little three-cornered close in front of the house. I am afraid that the last winter has killed us a great many birds here; small ones especially: I don't see the blue tits I look for at this time of the year. I have seen but one moor-hen (yesterday) and was glad to see him, as I feared they were all dead: plenty of rooks however; they have just left off making the parliament-noise they began about six this morning: starlings also, but they haven't begun to gather in our trees yet. The other morning as I was coming up the river by our island I heard a great squealing of the swallows, and looking up saw a hawk hanging in the wind overhead, and the swallows gathered in a knot near him: presently two or three swallows left their knot and began skirting Mr. Hawk, and one swept right down on him and fetched him a crack (or seemed to). He considered for a minute or two, then set his wings slant-wise and went down the wind like lightning, and in an instant was hanging over Eaton Hastings: I remember seeing something like this in the flats about the Arun before. TEXT: Mackail, II, 17-18. Published: Henderson, Letters, 152. 1 R. W. Hobbs, son of Morris's landlord at Kelmscott Manor. May Morris mentions (CW, 18, xxxiii-iv) that "impressions of Kelmscott would be incomplete without the inclusion of the leading personahty which gives life to the place, whose kinsmen built and lived in the manor-house, and doubtless lived on the soil from early times. . . . I have sat at a crowded sale of'Kelmscott Shorthorns,' watching this gentleman surrounded by his handsome family, musing over the fine sight and thinking how much of common interest and of common understanding the two Kelmscott neighbours had, the owner of a famous herd of cattle and the poet who lies under the elm trees yonder. . . . In my father's day, though, Mr. Hobbs's fame as a breeder had not yet been established. . . ." In his Diary for 1881 Morris notes on Wednesday, August 31, that "Hobbs began to carry barley."

727 · T o

GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London September 9, 1881

Dear George Thank you, I will put the embroidery in hand at once: I am sorry that the poplin didn't do: if you should at any time want a damask* silk for hanging: I am doing a good one now for St James Palace, which might suit you: indeed I think it would.' I see Armstrong has his place,2 where of I am glad. [ 63 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Janey goes to Rottingdean today the girls are at Kelmscott & riotously well thank you. Yours affec: William Morris * that is the weaving makes the pattern not a change of colour Ms: Howard Papers. 1 See Mitchell, p. 39. 2 Thomas Armstrong (1832-1911), an artist who had studied in Paris where he became associated with the Barbizon School, was appointed director of the Art Division of the Department of Science and Art of the South Kensington Museum in 1881. B. Morris writes (p. 165), "Armstrong played a leading role in building the collections of the Museum, and many of the most important acquisitions of the Museum between 1881 and his retirement in 1898 were made on his insistence." He and Morris met in 1864, when they were introduced by the Burne-Joneses, Armstrong's next door neighbors (see Parry, p. 185, n. 35) and were to meet or correspond on a number of occasions from 1881 on, in connection with matters concerning the South Kensington (see B. Morris, pp. 165-72).

728 · To JANE MORRIS

Kelmscott

Thursday [September 15, 1881] Dearest Janey Just a line to tell you how well the babes are, and I myself all right again; but careful over the wine and meat: I went down with Crom in the morning after all; and there appeared on the platform at Lechlade 3 such beaming and joyous faces to meet us: sulky and cold as the day was we had a very happy afternoon in the tapestry room: 1 I gave them a lecture on archaeology; which I went on with yesterday in Kelmscott church; and today we are going to Langford to continue said lecture: the other professor, he of athletics (Crom) went away yesterday. . . . We expect De Morgan this evening to stay Sunday over. I have been doing a little work, but these fine days have rather seduced me from it: fish off: but I got a dish of gudgeons on Wednesday. We are going our expedition to Chedworth on Saturday: it will be jolly if 'tis fine. You must be enjoying yourself if, as I suppose, the weather is as fine as this down there. Don't let Phil spill you. 2 Goodbye my dear. I am Your loving W. M. TEXT: CW, 18, xxvi. 1

The room is hung with a series of mid-seventeenth-century Brussels or Antwerp tapestries depicting the life of Samson. They were in the house in 1871 when Morris began his

[ 64 ]

1881 I L E T T E R N O . 7 3 0 joint tenancy with Rossetti and had probably been there since the seventeenth century. See A. R. Dufty, A Guide to Kelmscott (London: The Society of Antiquaries, 1984), pp. 15, 18, and 31. 2 O n September 9, 1881, Jane went down to visit the Burne-Joneses in Rottingdean, where, in 1880, they had bought Prospect House.

729 · T o GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

Kelmscott

Lechlade September 15 [1881] Dear George The damask can be any colour you choose: but the first we do will be deep red: price: I think 20s/ per sq: yard: but this I fancy might be reduced (by) in the material: I suppose in about 3 months (it) there will be a piece done, when you can see it at once: the design is at Queen Sq, I am not sure that it could be spared as we are hard at it trying to get the stuff a-work. I should think you could certainly get a man from York to do your windows: there ought to be glaziers of that sort there. I am here till towards the end of next week. Yours affec: William Morris MS: Howard Papers.

730 · F R O M A L E T T E R T O G E O R G I A N A B U R N E - J O N E S

Kelmscott

[September 16, 1881] I don't quite agree with you in condemning grumbling against follies and ills that oppress the world at large, even among friends; for you see it is but now and then that one has a chance of speaking about the thing in public, and meantime one's heart is hot with it, and some expression of it is like to quicken the flame even in those that one loves and respects most, and it is good to feel the air laden with the coming storm even as we go about our daily work or while away time in light matters. To do nothing but grumble and not to act — that is throwing away one's life: but I don't think that words on our cause that we have at heart do nothing but wound the air, even when spoken among friends: 'tis at worst like the music to which men go to battle. Of course if the thing is done egotistically 'tis bad so far; but that again, how to do it well or ill, is a matter of art like other things. TEXT: Mackail, II, 26-27. Published: Henderson, Letters, 151.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 731 · T o THOMAS WARDLE

Kelmscott

Lechlade September 17 [1881] Dear Wardle T h a n k y o u very m u c h for your kind invitation, which h o w e v e r I a m obliged to decline, as I a m engaged to stay with Mr. Woodhall w h e n I go to Burslem: 1 perhaps I shall see y o u there (at Burslem) some time in the day. I a m sorry there should have been any contretemps about the silk rug: I was away w h e n it should have gone off, & on coming back to L o n d o n found that, m y house being in disorder, it had n o t gone: I believe it has n o w been sent to Leek. I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke. 1

On October 13, 1881, Morris delivered his lecture, "Art and the Beauty of Earth," before the Wedgwood Institute of Burslem. (See LeMire, pp. 237-38.) His host may have been William Woodall (1832-1901), Liberal M.P. for Stoke-on-Trent, who at this time carried on a china business and was a member of the Royal Commission for Technical Education.

732 · T o GEORGIANA B U R N E - J O N E S

[Kelmscott

September 20, 1881] We went a most formal expedition on Saturday, b y water to Lechlade: then took a trap there and drove to Cirencester, which turned o u t a pleasant country t o w n , and to us country folk rather splendid and full of shops. There is a grand church there, mostly late Gothic, of the very biggest type of parish church, romantic to the last extent, with its many aisles and chapels: wall-painting there and stained glass and brasses also: and tacked on to it an elaborate house, n o w the t o w n hall, b u t built doubtless for lodging the priests w h o served the many altars in the church. I could have spent a long day there; however, after m o o n i n g about the t o w n a bit, w e drove off again along the long stretches of the Foss-way (Roman) over a regular d o w n country, the foot-hills of the Cotswolds, pleasant enough, till w e came to the valley which the tiny Coin cuts through, where w e set ourselves to seeking the R o m a n villa: said valley very beautiful, the m e a d ows so sweet and wholesome. T w o fields were g r o w n all over with the a u t u m n crocus, which I have not seen wild elsewhere in England, t h o u g h there was plenty of it near E m s . T h e R o m a n villa was very interesting, for [ 66 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 734

a show place with a gimcrack cottage omee in front of it, and the place was lovely: we spent our time with the utmost recklessness, so that by then we had had tea at a nice little public by the bridge, and were ready to start down the Coin towards Fairford, it was 6.30, and getting towards twilight. However we saw the first two villages well enough and had some inkling of the others: the scale of everything of the smallest, but so sweet, and unusual even; it was like the background of an innocent fairy story. We didn't know our way till we had reached the last of the Coin villages, and kept asking and knocking at cottage doors and the like, and it was all very delightful and queer. Our trap put us down at St. John's Bridge, and we trudged thence into Kelmscott, on a night so dark that even Kelmscott lights made a kind of flare in the sky. TEXT: Mackail, II, 18-19. Published: Henderson, Letters, 151-52.

733 · T o AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Kelmscott

Thursday [September 22, 1881] Dear Aglaia Thank you very much about the Kermes; I can make use of it, & shall be glad to have it for this time. I have given orders about claiming & paying for it. I am not coming up to town till Monday; almost any afternoon that week I could call in on you: which shall it be?1 Yours affectionately William Morris Ms: Beiger Coll. 1 The entry in Morris's Diary for Monday, September 26, 1881, reads: "up to town by 10:30 train"; for Tuesday, September 27: ". . . called on Agl[aia]."

734 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London September 30, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

My dear Wardle To get over unpleasantnesses first, I read a copy of the letter sent to you apropos of the defective pieces, & I cannot say that it seemed to me discourteous; if you think otherwise I am sorry & perhaps need scarcely say that no discourteousy was meant on my part: but (arp) apart from the [ 67 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

wording of the letter I must I am sorry to say sustain its statement of facts, for to my eyes they are undeniable: Of course I can easily understand that your absence (unavoidable) has been trying to the course of your business with us; but what am I to do? If I offer goods for sale which seem to me below our average the result is certain: the gradual extinction of our business; so that quite apart from other matters, I contend that in keeping up the standard of our goods I am not injuring, but serving, your interests as well as my own. I do assure you that I believe we should all of us be less injured by cutting the matter short (at once) & ending the chintz-business at once, than by letting the dissatisfaction of our customers kill it slowly. However I hope for better things; and for the rest I will talk over matters when I see you; since I should both be sorry to miss a friendly visit to you at Leek, and am very willing to do anything I can to setting matters straight there: So if Mr. Woodall will let me go I will return with you from Burslem. I am glad you are pleased with the little silk rug; I (shall) feel much enclined to make another experiment in silk on my own account: we can talk this over also when we meet. I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke.

735 · THREE LETTERS TO AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

a.

Much Hadham Tuesday [October 1881?]

My dear Aglaia Thanks, I will come on Thursday at about 4 oclock I am spending today at my mothers; it is very sunny and pleasant, and I am not a little lazy. I come back tomorrow morning. Your affectionate William Morris MSS: Berger Coll.

[ 68 ]

1881 / LETTER NO. 735 b.

Manor House Kelmscott, Lechlade Tuesday afternoon [October 11, 1881?]

My dear Aglaia I shall be so very vexed if you have been to call on me today & found me away; but I only got your note as I was starting, and read it in the cab on my way here. I shall stay here till Saturday, as I have an important piece of work on hand which I want to push, and I am all alone and enjoying that, & it makes me fit for work. I love the place very much even now when the waters are out: I expect them to be very high tomorrow, but don't care a pin. If you please I will call on you next Monday at about 4 oclock: I hope you are the better for your outing: what a queer contrast though to my outing alone in this beautiful house. Goodbye then till I see you, as I shall be very happy to do. lam Your affectionate William Morris

c.

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London (Monday) October 17, 1881

Dear Aglaia I could not possibly get my work done in time to come that Saturday: I was very sorry: I have been out of town since till yesterday morning. I could come in on Wednesday if you please, & should like very much to do so: Excuse haste wh: is unavoidable I am Yours affectionately William Morris

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

736 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London October 24, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

My dear Wardle You cannot argue from what other businesses do in these matters, because ours is quite a special business: I can only say that it would be impossible for us to give up (&) our plan of selling goods by pattern without giving up two thirds of the business as all our country orders (& American) must of necessity come from these patterns; and you cannot expect people to take a colour which they have not ordered. As to the fent matter I do not want to see the fents at all; all I want is for our standard patterns to be fairly matched; if this is done the business will certainly increase, if it be not done it will as certainly languish and die. I am very sorry to hear that you are unwell; I must accuse my own impatience of it I fear: only I do so hate missing an appointment. Thank you very much for the interesting photographs of Wincle1 Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke. 1 See letter no. 718, n. 1.

737 · T o JANE COBDEN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 26, 1881

Dear Miss Cobden 1 I have to thank you very much for the book you have so kindly given us, which both I & my wife will read with the greatest interest.2 I need scarcely tell you of the deep respect that I have for your father's memory: surely the cause he advocated won its victory both much speedier & much completer owing to the human & poetic qualities that he brought to the agitation, & which I suspect otherwise was often lacking to it: any delays that may have happened in the publication of the book really seem to have been what people call 'providential': it is a strange piece of luck that it should come out, not only at a time when a set of idiots & grabbers are trying to undo the great work of which your father was the master workman, but even when they themselves seem to be dimly conscious that they are idiots, & that other people have discovered them to be grabbers 3 — I wish everything political were going on as well as this fair trade matter: but I confess I am down-hearted at the whole Liberal party turning [ 70 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 738

jingoes in the lump: I don't doubt that you like myself belong to the small minority who are not sucking in a Tory mixture of praise & abuse with complacence: but how strange that the radicals don't see that all this coercion is one for the Irish & two for them. Excuse my meandering & once more accepting [sic] thanks for your most kind gift. I am dear Miss Cobden Yours very truly William Morris 4 MS: West Sussex. 1 Jane Cobden (1851-1947), daughter of Richard Cobden (see Volume I, letter no. 504, n. 1). A political activist in her own right, and a leader in the woman suffrage movement, she edited The Hungry Forties from contemporary letters and was elected to the first London County Council in 1889, though she was unable to take her seat since women were not yet empowered to act on local councils. 2 In October 1881 John Morley's Life of Richard Cobden was published by Chapman and Hall. 3 Cobden's life work was the development of a theoreticaljustification of free trade. Morley had begun his biography of Cobden in 1878. Morris thought the delay in publication until 1881 "providential" because in that year of economic depression, protective tariffs (under the name of "fair trade") were again being urged. In the summer of 1881 a Fair Trade League had been formed; in September a Fair Trade Conference was held. At the autumn Trades Union Congress, many delegates also spoke up for "fair trade." 4 The text of this letter is taken from a handwritten copy, possibly made by Jane Cobden.

738 · T o

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 28, 1881

My dear Gabriel1 Thank you very much for sending me your book. 2 You know from of old that criticism is not my strong point, and so won't expect me to take that line now. and I don't think I need say more than that those pieces of this vol: which I have not seen before (you remember you read me the first at Kelmscott) seem to me well up to your mark and full of beauty and interest: it was perhaps somewhat of a surprise to me when I heard that you had written the historical ballads, but I think they quite justify your choice of subject: The King's Tragedy in particular is magnificent.3 It is a great pleasure to me to see once more a book which has real work in it, invention & execution going together, & creating something which did not exist before, amongst the flood of second-hand twaddle & affectation which is washing about the world at present. You see it really is myself that write, since I am so hard on the minor

[ 71 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

poets, and I shall have you down on me for that same, so I shall say no more but congratulate you on this splendid and (to me) most encouraging book. Ever yours William Morris MS: Princeton T. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 17, n. 1. 2 Ballads and Sonnets, published in the autumn of 1881 by Ellis and White. 3 "The King's Tragedy," based on the assassination ofJames I of Scotland.

739 · T o HENRY GEORGE WOODS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 29, 1881 Dear Mr. Woods1 Pray alter the enclosed as you think good. By the by I suppose it has occurred to you that the Board wont care a bit for the memorial unless it and the names that sign it are made public;2 we ought as soon as the memorial is under weigh to get the papers (& chiefly Times) daily & weekly, to print it as news, with any important names that have signed: and even if they wont do this to insert it as an advert: if we can afford it. Which brings me to another serious matter the fact that a little money is necessary: wherein I am good for £2:2.0. I have no list of names yet, & must get someone to help me over it: will you let me know how you propose to send out (your) the papers: I don't want to be mean, but I am desperately busy, & I therefore, with treachery worthy of a worse cause, suggest that you might impound one or two wretched undergrads to help in this matter. I shall see Mr. Kegan Paul3 tonight perhaps he may help me to some names. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bodleian. 1 The Rev. Henry George Woods (1842-1915) of Trinity College, Oxford, a member of theS.P.A.B. 2 The memorial was drawn up to protest the proposed widening of Magdalen Bridge to meet the requirements of a tramway. Among those present at a meeting in the hall of University College, October 27, were George Granville Bradley (1821-1903), Dean of Westminster (in the chair); Richard Tyrwhitt, Charles Kegan Paul, John Henry Middleton, and Morris. The Times, October 28, reported (p 4) that the proposed widening was regarded by the participants as destructive of the character and beauty of the bridge and that such beauty should be cherished before all other things by what Morris, when he spoke, called "the most

[ 72 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O . 7 4 0 beautiful city, with the ugliest surroundings in England." A resolution was passed, and a committee was appointed to influence the action of the local governing board. For first reference to Magdalen Bridge, see letter no. 714. 3 Charles Kegan Paul (1828-1902), the author and publisher. Like Morris, he had been educated at Exeter College (B.A., 1849).

740 · T o G E O R G E J A M E S H O W A R D

26, Q u e e n Square,

Bloomsbury, London November 3, 1881 My dear George I will see if Miss Burden can do anything in the way of giving any work to the lady you mention. 1 Of course it is not easy to find work for people out-a-doors, & also we are full enough already of promises of help, but I will see if anything can be done though I fear the work would not be of a very dignified kind. Thank you; I am as you may imagine very busy with our change2 & many other matters but I will try to come down one evening before Dec: to go back the next evening — a Monday would be the best day for me. Meantime the inevitable has come to pass, and your carpet (is) has been finished for a week or two: 3 1 have been keeping it back to try for a fine day to spread it on our lawn; so that I might see it all at once: at a present I have only been able to see it piece-meal: so seen it looks very well I think, & seems to be satisfactory as to manufacture. What are your orders about it? as I shall have to send someone down to Naworth to get it into its place: it weighs about a ton I fancy. We had a jolly time of it at Kelmscott, & were one and all very ill content to come back: I now blame myself severely for not having my way & settling at Blockley;41 knew I was right, but cowardice prevailed. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. Extract published: Mackail, II, 45-46; Henderson, Letters, 153. ' Elizabeth Burden (see Volume I, letter 107, n. 1), Jane Morris's sister, who apparently worked for Morris and Co. in a managerial capacity at this time. 2 The opening of the Merton Abbey works. 3 See letter no. 678, n. 11. 4 A village in the Cotswolds. See letter no. 697, n. 4.

[ 73 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

741 · To

HENRY GEORGE WOODS

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London November 3, 1881

Dear Mr. Woods What are we to do? I have thought your letter over, & quite understand your difficulty: but I for my part never thought there was any chance of saving the Bridge, but looked upon the affair as a good occasion for making a general stand against destruction at Oxford, because it is a public structure: I should be very sorry if this occasion had to be thrown away; nor do I like to be beaten without a fight, and if we could get some good names to our memorial as it stands, it would I think be of use in shaming people in Oxford into some sort of attention to the general matter. As to the Bridge itself; even if the Board were to get an architect, they would take care to have one who agreed with their view of the subject, and they would then have cleared themselves partly of the accusation of vandalism which they are at present sure to lie under: which in my opinion would be a bad thing: on the other hand from talk that I have had with some of my architectural friends, I have rather changed my views as to its being of no use trying to make the best of it: and think that a really ingenious architect might do a good deal to save some of the present character of the Bridge & its surroundings: now if possible we want to get this done, and also we want to make the greatest amount of stir about the matter: it occurs to me that it might further both these points if we were to press on the Board the desireability of getting a report on the best way of relieving the traffic from a council of architects, say 3, e.g. Penrose1 Street & Jackson:2 Classic, Gothic & Jacobean: I should like to know what you think about this (propos) hint: only I do not think we ought to admit the necessity for the rebuilding in any case; the admission would save nothing, & would stand in our way when we had to make protests about other things. To sum up my confused (because hurried) note, I think we had best fight in any case; the task is I know an ungracious one to you, but the service to art I believe to be great. Thank you very much for your kind invitation which I hope to be able to avail myself of: only without affectation I suffer so much from seeing all this devastation in Oxford, that I am got to be somewhat shy of it, in spite of all the beauties & pleasures it yet has to give one. I am Yours very truly William Morris P. S: There is a meeting of the anti-scrape this afternoon, & I shall lay this matter before it and I hope get some good advice from the united wisdom. [ 74 ]

1881 I L E T T E R N O .

742

MS: Bodleian. 1

Francis Cranmer Penrose (1817-1903), architect, archeologist, and astronomer. He designed the entrance gate at Magdalene College and a wing at St. John's College, Cambridge, and was architect for the British School m Athens, which was about to be built. 2 Sir Thomas Graham Jackson (1835-1924), who had started his studies in the office of George Gilbert Scott. Beginning in 1876 he did many designs for Oxford buildings. For Street, see Volume I, letter no. 13, n. 3.

742 · To

ROSALIND FRANCIS HOWARD

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London November 4, 1881

Dear Mrs. Howard Thank you for asking me personally about the patterns: I have been to Oxford St today and told Smith to send off all our patterns that would be of any use to you; I have told him to write 'recommended' & 'specially recommended,' on certain of them. As to the papers (sunflower & acorn) I will do what I can to soften the colour. May I ask what you are going to do about the drawing-room at Palace Green? Ned tells me that you are going to keep the Dies Domini 1 there, & want to hang the room accordingly: we dont like to do anything there till the ceiling is made safe: what do you thing [sic] of hanging a piece of stuff behind it; I could get (the) a colour better suited to it so I believe. Ned has been doing a great deal to the dining room pictures & very much improving them: so that the room will be light and pleasant after all, & the pictures very beautiful.2 All right about the carpet: would you object to our exhibiting it at S.K.M. if they will have it? if not would you kindly say so We are all well here: don't like London: not any one of us. Also I am in an agony of muddle about our move. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. 1 In Burne-Jones, Malcolm Bell writes that Burne-Jones's "Dies Domini" was exhibited at the Winter Exhibition of 1880 at the Grosvenor Gallery: "The most purely pictorial [of the Burne-Jones paintings exhibited] was the fine circular panel of Christ coming to judgment, known as the Dies Domini (44 inches in diameter), with its impressive pitying Savior and lovely angel faces looking out from a superbly designed cluster of rustling wings." See Malcolm Bell, Sir Edward Burne-Jones: A Record and Review (London: George Bell and Sons, 1898), p. 60. Rosalind Howard's ledger entry in 1881 notes the purchase of the painting: "E. Burne Jones circular water colour 'Dies Domini £459.' "

[ 75 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 2 In Philip Webb and His Work, pp. 88-89, Lethaby describes the decorative work done by Morris and Co. at 1 Palace Green (observed by Lethaby in 1895): "[T]he great dining-room is panelled for two-thirds of the height, the rest of the space being decorated by a series of panel paintings of Cupid and Psyche, by Burne-Jones and Walter Crane, from the designs of the former. These paintings, arranged for when the room was designed, were not completed until about 1881. . . . The decorative work on the wood-work of the ceiling and panelling, together with a long inscription, was designed by Morris nearly two years before." See also Volume I, letter no. 601.

743 · T o

[WILLIAM HOLMAN] H U N T

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Friday [November 4, 1881?]

My dear Hunt 1 I was away when your note came, & now it is too late for me to show it to Jones, as I am off early today I shall be at the Grange on Sunday, & ready for a talk as far as I am concerned: excuse this hurried note as I am up to the eyes in business Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bucknell. 'See Volume I, letter no. 17, n. 2.

744 · To

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London November 4, 1881

THOMAS WARDLE

My dear Wardle I (shall) can be in Oxford St on Wednesday morning: not before, as I have an engagement tomorrow; I will look up some pretty pieces of our work and send them down to you at once that day. I noticed that the illustrations in your handbook were drawn with more style than is usual in such books; 1 1 think they are very creditable, speaking of course without any knowledge of the natural plants. I have not yet thanked you for sending me the book which I find very interesting Yours very truly William Morris MS: Duke. 1 Handbook of the collection illustrative ofthe wild silks of India in the South Kensington Museum with a catalogue and illustrations (London: South Kensington Museum, 1881), by Thomas

[ 76 ]

1881 / L E T T E R N O .

746

Wardle. "Wild silk" refers to material spun from the cocoons of silkworm species related to the main producer, Bombyx mori.

745 · To

HENRY GEORGE WOODS

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London November 4, 1881

Dear Mr. Woods The Committee of the S. P. A. B. having heard our report on the matter of the Bridge thought on the one hand that it was obvious that you were doing all that was possible in Oxford, by trying to get such a memorial signed (about (the) an architect or architects being appointed) as you spoke of to me; on the other hand they thought that this would be scarcely telling enough to draw attention to outside Oxford; the conclusion they came to therefore was to leave you quite free to do what you could there, meantime themselves to set a memorial going which would appeal to people widely, not merely as Oxford men. I think this was the best course to take, & that one memorial need not harm the other: meantime I still consider myself a member of the Oxford Committee & when you have decided whether you will appeal to them to provide themselves with an arch: or architects I will be happy to draft the memorial accordingly; I confess I think the plural would be more dignified and also possibly some practical immediate gain might come out of it. I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bodleian.

746 · T o HENRY GEORGE WOODS

Suggestion for Your Memorial The undersigned having heard that it is proposed to rebuild & widen the S. W. side of Magdalen Bridge, and feeling sure that the rebuilding, if not carried out with the utmost care and ingenuity, will (do) go far to destroy the effect of the beautiful group of buildings of which the Bridge forms an essential part, venture respectfully to suggest to you that no scheme should receive your sanction until the best method of dealing with the matter has been reported upon by a council of three architects of acknowledged skill and learning. [ 77 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS Kelmscott House Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 10 [1881] Dear Mr. Woods Will this do for your memorial? What we understand to be the arrangement is this: that you shall get signatures of residents to the above or something like it, while the Society flits another (a copy of which I enclose) & tries to get it signed by men of weight throughout the country: we should also ask you to present our memorial to the Board for us: We shall try to get our memorial inserted in the Times; 1 but if Jupiter won't have it, I think we can depend on Mercury Athenaeum 2 to print it, and also to publish our names as we get them: 3 1 suppose you could at least ensure a notice of your memorial in the University intelligence? Of course we should hope to get a few names to sign ours, & perhaps you could do something for us in that way. AU this is uphill work and not very satisfactory, but we must do our best Yours very truly William Morris

Widening of Magdalen Bridge4 The undersigned having been informed that it is proposed to rebuild and widen Magdalen Bridge at Oxford, beg most respectfully to point out to you that if this proposal be carried out it will involve the destruction of a bridge which has for long been a natural and appropriate link between town and country at the entrance to the most beautiful and historical of English cities: the undersigned are sure that the vulgarization of this renowned spot, which such a loss would be only too likely to bring about, would be a deep injury to the cause of education and progress, and would be regretted by the whole civilized world: believing therefore that the exigences of traffic do not at present necessitate the rebuilding of the Bridge, (since it is already wide enough for three vehicles abreast) they venture to beg you to reconsider this scheme; but if at any future time it should be found necessary to widen the Bridge, the undersigned think it most desirable that no project should be sanctioned without taking some means for obtaining the collective opinion of the most learned and skilful architects as to the best way of carrying out the alteration with as little injury as possible to the noble group of buildings of which Magdalen Bridge forms an essential part. MS: Bodleian. [ 78 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 747 1 The Times, December 13, published (p. 8) a letter from Thomas J. Wise (then Secretary of the S.P.A.B.) containing a list of names of those "among many others who have signed the memorial to be presented to the Oxford Local Board." See letters no. 758 and 747, n. 3. 2 The equation "Jupiter—Times" is good evidence that Morris had read Anthony Trollope's Barchester series, in which the Daily Jupiter is, transparently, the London Daily Times. "Mercury—Athenaeum," however, seems to be Morris's own invention. 3 The Athenaeum did not quite oblige but did take notice. In the issue for November 19, an item in the column "Fine Arts Gossip" (p. 673) read: "The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings is circulating for signature a memorial against the proposed destruction of Magdalen Bridge." 4 This document is not in Morris's handwriting.

747 · To

FREDERIC GEORGE STEPHENS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 15 [1881]

My dear Stephens1 Our Sec: is sending to the Athen: today the memorial about the destruction of Magdalen Bridge at Oxford; I hope you will be able to print it in extenso: also if (as I hope) we get good signatures we are going to send them to the Athenaeum for publication: I hope you can manage to stick them in. Our old Sec:2 has been got rid of (leaving no sweet odour behind him) he had received instructions over & over again to send you information, and, it seems, never did it: the new man is a worthy & industrious fellow, though quite inexperienced:3 I shall see that he sends you in some news or other at least once a fortnight. We have changed our meeting to Friday you will see. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bodleian. 1 Stephens (see Volume I, letter no. 388, n. 1) was art critic for The Athenaeum from 1861 to 1901. 2 Newman Marks. 3 The new Secretary was Thomas James Wise (1859-1937), bibliophile, bibliographer, and forger. A collector of the work of English poets, he formed the Ashley library, one of the world's outstanding collections of seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century literature, which was sold to the British Museum after his death. In 1934 Carter and Pollard proved that he had printed and sold forgeries to collectors who sought his advice. Wise was Secretary of the S.P.A.B. for about a year.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 748 · T o ELLIS AND WHITE

Hammersmith

November 17 [1881] Dear Sirs I have nothing from Strangeways yet: please push him on, as I want to get the book out. 1 Yrs faithfully W. Morris MS: Ohio. 1 Hopes and Fears for Art, which was printed by Strangeways and Sons, Ellis and White's printers, and published in February 1882. See Buxton Forman, p. 99.

749 · To

GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

Hammersmith November 20, 1881

My dear George I am very sorry that accidents happened over the paper; I hope you have it by now: I will see what can be done in the matter of toning down those other papers at once. Yrs affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers.

750 · To

ROSALIND FRANCIS HOWARD

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 24, 1881

Dear Mrs. Howard As to the red dove and rose, for a curtain it will last as long as need be since the cloth is really very strong: I can't answer so decidedly as to the colour; but the colours in it when looked at by themselves you will find rather full than not; 'tis the mixture (you) that makes them look delicate: therefore I believe the{m) stuff to be quite safe to use if you fancy it: Of course I don't mean to say that any flat-woven stuff can stand sunlight as well as a piled material and the velvet also is darker, though not so well dyed as the other stuff. As to the other version of the dove and rose, if'tis a smaller sized pattern in green & yellow you can use it without hesitation, but if it be of the same size as the red, I should scarcely advise it, if the settees are to have heavy wear: you see we made this stuff for curtains & hangings. I have [ 80 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 751

tried a piece of the purple turquoise & yellow as a cushion on a chair of my own on which everybody sits: it has worn better than I expected, but still not like stuff made for it would do. As to the red silk (& co) for curtains, what I am doing (for St James) is a very fine colour, but also you must not forget that I can do pretty well any colour you want and of sober reds the resources are great — Item, I can do the most ravishing yellows, rather what people call amber: what would you say to dullish pink shot with amber; like some of those chrysanthemums we see just now? I am going to try that after Xmas. The (yellow) gold & red sunflower is on my board at Queen Sq: & I will do my best to hit the due colour. Thank you very much for the invitation; but as to myself for more than a day I can't leave my work this 3 months to come. I believe I am almost as busy as you are. Yrs affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers.

751 · T o

WILLIAM HOLMAN H U N T

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 24, 1881

My dear Hunt 1 Thanks for your note: You know what the Times is; of late it has rather favoured us and put on writers who were somewhat on our side; now it thinks it necessary to trim t'other board, and so Sir E. Beckett2 or some such Philistine is turned on:3 there is no remedy save to peg away at any person that the public has heard of. You see our Society is not beloved by the general public, who in this country at least do sincerely hate any body who acts upon principle; general muddle being gravely supported as an Englishmans birthright by 99 hundredths of people. I will see after De Vogue and much obliged for the name. I hope you are beginning to get things shaken down in your new(s) house or at least that you soon will do. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Case West. Res. 1 See letter no. 743. 2 Sir Edmund Beckett, fifth Baronet and first Baron Grimthorpe (1816-1905). A lawyer who was interested in ecclesiastical architecture, he designed several Yorkshire churches, wrote A Book on Building, Civil and Ecclesiastical (1876), and beginning in 1877 was active in

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MORRIS

the restoration of St. Alban's Cathedral Interested also in clock mechanisms, he designed and supervised the construction of Big Ben (1859), as well as the clock for St. Paul's Cathedral. 3 The controversy concerned the fate of the west window of Tewkesbury Abbey Church. Thomas Wise, writing to The Times for the S.P.A.B (November 4, 1881, p. 10), asserted that the "stone-work is in a good state of preservation and that the 'restoration,' or destruction, is totally unnecessary. . . ." Following Wise's letter was a report by J. H. Middleton describing "the great western arch with its inserted window" recounting its architectural history, and concluding that the window should be preserved. Beckett, in his rejoinder (The Times, November 19, 1881, p. 8), spoke of the anti-restorationists as "meddlers" and argued that the windows were of later addition and of no real importance in the history of the architecture of the Church.

752 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

26, Q u e e n Square,

Bloomsbury, London November 25, 1881 Dear Sir I shall be very happy to join the party on Tuesday, & hope that something like action may come of our attempts. It seems to me it would be disastrous if the Liberals do not do their utmost to show that they are not really slackening in their enthusiasm I dread another /74 business.1 With many thanks I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Morris's remark, "I dread another /74 business," was probably a reference to the defeat of the Liberal Party in the general election of 1874 and the ensuing Conservative government under Disraeli.

753 · T o R O S A L I N D F R A N C I S H O W A R D

26, Q u e e n S q u a r e ,

Bloomsbury, London N o v e m b e r 28, 1881

Dear Mrs. Howard As to the gold sunflower, I have trying [sic] toning it down, & I send on 3 bits to show what can be done: I think your best way would be to have the paper put upon the wall, & to varnish it down to the due tone after it is up; of course having first made a pattern which you suppose will do. [ 82 ]

1881 I LETTER NO. 754 I send on my patterns to see if either of them will suit: we can easily do a larger piece if you think they will, we can send down proper varnish and give directions for using it. I dont know if you heard that we had a near shave of losing all our blocks in the lump last week: Jeffreys' the paper-stainers' had a big fire in it; but luckily for us all our blocks were in an unburnt place except the St James Palace ones & one other which made fire-works for the penny a liners. 1 I always did hate fire works, especially since I saw Cottons' Wharf ablaze some 18 years ago, 2 and now I shall hate them worse. Yrs affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. 1 On November 21 a fire on the premises ofJeffrey and Co. destroyed two buildings and severely damaged the others as well as their contents. See The Times, November 22, 1881, p. 6. 2 A fire on June 22, 1861, in the warehouses of the firm of Scovell at Cotton's Wharf, was considered the worst since the Great Fire. It covered about three acres. (See The Times, June 24, 1861, p. 8.) At the time, Morris was camping out on Wimbledon Common as a member of the Artists' Corps of Volunteers (a volunteer militia company) and could see the fire. See Memorials I, 227-28.

754 · To

THE EDITOR OF THE

Daily News

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London November 28, 1881

Ashburnham House 1 Sir, Your correspondent of this morning, who states that "the chief part of what was remarkable in the interior (of this house) was destroyed by a former Dean and Chapter" 2 must surely have seen the interior from the exterior. Last summer I had the pleasure of seeing it in the way that most mortals see an interior, and I must assert as a fact, that the interior of the hall and staircase (with its quite remarkable "lantern"), together with the reception rooms, was still "remarkable" for something unusual in London, which I took to be architectural beauty, and which the architects and archaeologists, including the late Dean Stanley, who had been kind enough to ask me to accompany them, thought was still in pretty much the same condition as it had been left by its original builders. I am, Sir, yours obediently William Morris TEXT: Daily News, November 29, 1881. Published: Henderson, Letters, 153.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 1 Ashburnham House had been built in the late seventeenth century by John Webb (16111672), a pupil of Inigo Jones, but took its name from Lord Ashburnham, who occupied it in 1780. 2 The transfer of Ashburnham House from the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey to the Governors of Westminster School had been proposed. The latter, interested in the site only, intended to tear the house down, while Dean Stanley had been attempting at the time of his death to regain control of it and prevent its destruction. Between November 19 and December 10, 1881, The Times reported the issue and printed a good deal of correspondence about it. The plan was ultimately defeated, and in 1882 Ashburnham House was incorporated into Westminster School.

755 · T o E D W A R D WILLIAMS

BYRON NICHOLSON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 30, 1881 Dear Mr. Nicholson Thanks for y o u r letter: I think I m a y fairly promise to the undertaking one or t w o of the sort of things that I have lying about such as y o u k n o w of: b u t there is n o chance I fear of m y being able to become a regular contributor to any magazine. Yours very truly William Morris MS: McMinn Papers.

756 · T o FREDERIC G E O R G E S T E P H E N S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith [late November 1881?] M y dear Stephens Alter this as m u c h as you please: 1 1 hope it is n o t too long. I g o t m y bag last night after a long hunt for the housekeeper. Sorry w e couldn't go h o m e together Yours ever William Morris MS: Syracuse. 1 Possibly a reference to Morris's letter to The Athenaeum about High Wycombe Grammar School. See letter no. 759.

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1881 / LETTER N O . 758

757 ·

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith [December 6, 1881?]

RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

Dear Sir I will be at home tomorrow Wednesday morning and shall be very pleased to talk the window over with you. 1 If you come by train our station is Ravenscourt Park. I am Yours truly William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Although there is no entry in Morris's Diary for December 7, 1881, the entry for December 12 (a Monday) reads: "To meet Radcliffe to see the Vere Street window." This is probably a reference to the window depicting St. George, St. Catherine, and two angels that Morris and Co. made for St. Peter's Church, Vere Street, Stepney. See Sewter, II, 180.

758 · T o HENRY GEORGE WOODS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 7, 1881 Dear Mr. Woods I am sorry nothing can be done at Oxford, but I expected little else: I have bidden our sec: to send you on some forms of ours; it may help you to get fresh signatures to be able to say that the petition is very well signed, not numerously because we have not been going in for mere numbers but by very good & representative names; here are some: Bodley, Broadhurst (M. P. for Stoke, working man born & bred at Littlemore), Browning (Robt:), Stopford Brooke, Lord Mayor of London, 1 Lord Ebury, 2 Sir John Gilbert R A;3 A. Hunt, 4 Holman Hunt Burne-Jones, Sir J. Lubbock, 5 Shaw Lefevre,6 Lowell (American Minister), Duke of Westminster, Cunliffe Owens, 7 Ruskin, Penrose. 8 Now what are we to do to utilize our names? I am trying to get them published in the papers here, but find it difficult. We think of asking the Board to receive a deputation to present the memorial, but want to have your opinion on the subject first, and then to know how it had best be done: Will you be kind enough to write me on these points. In any case we will send you next week a selection of the best names, and ask you to get them printed in the Oxford papers together with a paragraph on the subject. [ 85 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Of course we could get a great many more names if we waited, but I think we don't so much want number as weight. I am Dear Mr. Woods With many thanks Yours very truly William Morris P. S. No use crying over spilt milk, but I believe if we had begun a year ago we might have saved the Bridge; as I expected most people out of Oxford cry out on it: I forgot; about 100 names on our memorial MS: Bodleian. 1 John Whittaker Ellis. 2 Robert Grosvenor, first Baron Ebury (1801-1893). 3 John Gilbert (1817-1897), a painter and book illustrator who was president of the Old Water-colour Society at this time. 4 Alfred William Hunt (1830-1896), landscape painter, and father of Violet Hunt (18661942), biographer, novelist, and friend of Ford Madox Ford. 5 John Lubbock (see Volume I, letter no. 641, n. 3). An active supporter of the S.P. A. B., and M. P. for London University, he was instrumental in getting the Act for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments passed in 1882. 6 George John Shaw-Lefevre, Baron Eversley (1831-1928), Liberal M.P. for Reading. He had played a major role in the formation of the Commons Preservation Society, of which he was chairman until his death. See letter no. 721, n. 2. 7 Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen (1828-1894), director of the South Kensington Museum. 8 Francis Crammer Penrose (see letter no. 741, n. 1).

759 · T o THE EDITOR OF The Athenaeum

[December 10, 1881]

Sir A correspondent having written to our committee informing us that the Charity Commissioners had agreed to a plan for pulling down & rebuilding (this) the buildings of (this school) High Wycombe Grammar School, we deputed one of our members to visit and report on them: the information we have received from him seems so important that I venture to (address ask you make it public) address you on the subject. The building that originally stood on the site was a leper hospital founded in or before the 12th cent: at the dissolution alterations were made in it to fit it for a (Gra) grammar school; what building was then done was modernized in the present century, but there still remains (built up) a late Norman hall of about 64 ft by 32 ft: of five bays, with piers and [ 86 ]

1881 / LETTER N O . 759

arches quite complete, the capitals well-carved and in good condition: this has been turned into the head-master's house, and has had a floor built at the level of the springing of the arches, and been other-wise cut up into living rooms: there is a chapel (at) built at right angles to this hall which has been shortened at the time of the dissolution, & otherwise modernized, but still retains some good decorated windows. (The fact that those) Thus we have left us a Norman hall in good condition except for its external walls, of little less importance as a work of art than the celebrated hall of Oakham Castle, and most (curious) valuable to archaeology, as showing the arrangement of an early mediaeval hospital, but which is apparently almost unknown to our architects and antiquaries, owing probably to its entanglement with a dwelling house. Now this beautiful and interesting work of art, (is doo) which in France would certainly have been scheduled as a national monument, and surely in England is nothing less than that, is to be pulled down simply for the value of the ground it stands on: this seems to me such a causeless loss of valuable property, that I think the charity Commissioners might be appealed to to reconsider the(ir) scheme they have sanctioned: would not the help of a little thought and a good architect enable the school to make the ancient hall a part of their buildings? Or if this be impossible, could not the town and the neighbouring landowners, aided if necessary by a general subscription, buy the building and its site from the school, clear away the modern lumber from the hall, and use it as a library or museum or other public building for the town. Surely if it were known that High Wycombe possessed one of the best of the very few domestic buildings of the Norman period yet left in England, many people would visit that town who are not at present likely to come near it. Hoping the importance of this (bu) subject may excuse the length of my letter I am Sir Your obedient Servant William Morris Hon: Sec: of &c. 9 Buckingham] St. To the Editor of the Athenaeum. (High Wycombe Grammar School) MS: Berg. Published: The Athenaeum, December 10, 1881; MM, I, 167; Henderson, Letters, 153-54.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 760 · To MAY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday Morning December 10, 1881 Dearest May Thank you kindly for writing to me: I have little news to tell you except about the weather: — which is going it. Pit-mirk yesterday in town, snow today that looks like going on; so you will see the downs under snow. I finished my lecture1 by working hard on Thursday; such a beautiful day that was: Lowe 2 did a good days work that day also: Yesterday he began by clearing out the green-house. Here comes me last night a little box of flowers from Cannes addressed to your Mother: so I opened it anemones & a bit of orange flower. Who sent it? I have handed over some of the American carpets to K[ate] Ffaulkner] to begin: we shall have to turn to all hands presently. As to my coming down; I find I can manage to come Wednesday evening to stay Thursday, or else I might come down on Saturday like a proper city man, and the belonging to the brass-wigged female we saw at the station. 3 How do you like brass-headed she-Jews, May dear? And how is Joshuov or Joshu-eif. My -eif has I think finally done me, though probably not so deeply as he intended: I am afraid he thinks Kate a very green hand indeed: In fact I should think he will refuse to know her, as not doing him credit. Well my dear best love to Mother & Jenny & goodbye: I am glad you are going to have your friend down there. Your loving father William Morris M S : B L , Add. MSS. 45341. 1 "Some Hints on Pattern Designing." On December 10, 1881, Morris delivered this lecture at the Working Men's College. 2 A gardener at Kelmscott House. 3 Although the inconsistency is not remarkable, particularly in a nineteenth-century context, Morris's tone here contrasts with his strong denunciation, seven weeks later, of Russian persecution ofJews See letter no. 771.

[ 88 ]

1881 I LETTER N O . 762 761 · T o HENRY GEORGE WOODS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 17, 1881 Dear Mr. Woods Thank you for your letter; I will lay the matter of the Deputation before my colleagues: my own private view of the matter is, that whether or no, but especially if they are likely to refuse to receive one, our best plan would be to write officially to the Board, and not communicate with them in a private or friendly way. The fact is that a refusal to receive our deputation would be quite as useful to us, or more useful than their receiving it; all we want is publicity for our memorial and its names. 1 Thank you very much for all the trouble you have taken in this matter: I keep on lamenting that we didn't begin a year ago: I meet people who positively refuse to believe that the thing is seriously intended. I hope you will manage to come to our meetings while you are in London: we are very full of work what with one thing and another. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bodleian. 1 See letters no. 739, 746, and 758.

762 · T o ALGERNON

BERTRAM FREEMAN-MITFORD

26, Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London December 19, 1881

Dear Mr. Mitford I will meet you tomorrow with pleasure: would eleven AM at the Palace suit you? if not I am at your service any time of the day that the light will serve us1 Would you kindly write me a post card to Kelmscott House Upper Mall Hammersmith if the time I have mentioned doesn't do: otherwise I will be there. Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Vassar. 1 This refers to the decorative work Morris and Co. had been commissioned to do at St. James's Palace. (See Mackail, II, 30; Henderson, Letters, p. 145, n. 3.) Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, first Baron Redesdale (1837-1916), was Secretary to the Board of Works (1874-1886). As such, he was responsible for seeing Morris about the undertaking. Morris's Diary for 1881, December 21, reads in part: "To St. James and met Mitford there and got

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L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

orders to give estimate for curtains from him." For a detailed account of the decorations completed, see Mitchell, pp. 37-39.

763 · T o GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

The Grange,

West Kensington, W. Sunday [late 1881] My dear Howard Very glad to see you tomorrow, if it will suit you (to) for me to leave Merton about 4 p.m. I shall go to Merton by Ludgate Hill train at 11.15 am. Will you meet meet [sic] me there a few minutes before train starts: if this is not early enough we must drive down I suppose, & you might take me: but train is convenient — bread & cheese and water or its substitute at Merton. Yrs affec: William Morris I shall be at home this afternoon. MS: Howard Papers.

764 · T o HENRY COLE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 3, 1882 Dear Sir Henry 1 Herewith I enclose the memorial, which I fear you will think much too long: however it is the best I can do to embody my instructions: pray chop it up at your pleasure, since I have in good truth no feelings on the literary side. Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Yale O. 1 Henry Cole (1808-1882), painter, book illustrator, industrial designer, and first director of the South Kensington Museum (1853-1873). Interested in the connection between art and industry, he founded the firm of Summerly's Art Manufactures (1847-1850) to design and to encourage others to design household objects, especially pottery, for larger manufacturers. He also published the Journal of Design and Manufacturing (1849-1852) to promote the cause of good design, edited the works of Thomas Love Peacock, and wrote his own memoirs, Reminiscences: Fifty Years ofPublic Work of Sir Henry Cole, KCB, accounted for in his deeds, speeches, and writings (London: George Bell and Sons, 1884).

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1882 / LETTER N O . 765

765 · T o

GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

Prospect House, Rottingdean1 Brighton January 10 [1882]

My dear George You see I am away for a few days which accounts for my not answering your letter at once. We had a letter from the parson's wife of Brampton 2 asking for patterns for that same: I bid them send a big worsted pattern which I thought would be best, as 'tis mostly blue, which I fancy the Church wants: only you must think that under that very bright window all woven stuff will look grey: if the blue looks too grey, I fear there is nothing for it but the brightest red: we have a woollen stuff very bright & telling (3 ply pomegranate) or would red damask silk be too costly? Glad you like the ceiling at Rounton. 3 I suppose your election is the N. Riding: I havn't seen a paper for 4 days so don't know how its going: so can duly wish you goodspeed: I make, with all apologies for my impudence the un-political remark, that I hope you have got a good candidate:4 'tis better to be beaten with a good one than be successful with a bad one: I guess there will be a fine procession of rats before this parliament is over: that will teach us I hope not to run the worst man possible on all occasions Excuse the spleen of a kind of radical cobler.5 With best wishes I am Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. Published: Mackail, II, 69-70; Henderson, Letters, 156. 1 Morris and his daughter Jenny were staying in the house at Rottingdean, which the Burne-Joneses had bought in 1880. 2 Mrs. Henry Whitehead. For Whitehead, see letter no. 824, n. 2. 3 Rounton Grange, Northallerton, Yorkshire, built for Sir Lowthian Bell. According to MM (I, 58), the dining room was paneled and decorated with Burne-Jones's embroideries of the Romaunt of the Rose and was "further enriched with a painted ceiling and Hammersmith carpet." 4 The by-election held in the North Riding of Yorkshire on January 24, 1882, because of the death of the Conservative incumbent, Viscount Heinsley, was the first election held since £12 householders had been enfranchised. Samuel Rowlandson, the Liberal candidate, represented the tenant farmers and had the support of George Howard. The seat was won, however, by the Conservative candidate, Guy Cuthbert Dawnay. See The Times, January 26, 1882. 5 Perhaps a reference to Thomas Hardy (1752-1832), the shoe manufacturer and radical leader who in 1792 founded the London Corresponding Society to promote parliamentary reform. Morris, however, may have had in mind a fictive figure. In Chapter 3 oiNewsfiotn Nowhere, Dick says to Robert, "You remind me of the radical cobblers in the silly old novels, who, according to the authors, were prepared to trample down all good manners in the pursuit of utilitarian knowledge."

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

766 · To

GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Rottingdean January 10, 1882

Here we are: having just come back from an expedition to Brighton: we spent an hour or more in the aquarium (where our presence caused astonishment, Ye Old English Fair not having begun till the afternoon, nor the other damnations which are strung on the much neglected fish). I think I saw more ugly people in Brighton in the course of an hour than I have seen otherwise for the last twenty years: as you justly remark, serves me right for going into Brighton: but you see we went there to do a little shopping. Yesterday was a lovely day, and we took a trap and drove to Lewes: you have to go a long way round, as the wheel-roads across the downs are doubtful it seems: it is very beautiful when you get on to the brow of the hill above Falmer: a long way off to the right you can see Lewes lying like a box of toys under a great amphitheatre of chalk hills: the ride is very pleasant: Lewes when you get there lies on a ridge in its valley, the street winding down to the river (Ouse) which runs into the sea at Newhaven: on the whole it is set down better than any town I have seen in England: unluckily it is not a very interesting town in itself: there is a horrible workhouse or prison on the outskirts, and close by a hideous row of builders' houses: there are three old Churches in it, dismally restored, but none of them ever over-remarkable: there is the remain of a castle, 14th century: but it is not grand at all. Nevertheless it isn't a bad country town, only not up to its position. The house 1 is very pleasant and agreeable and suits me to a T; and I am in very good order, and quite satisfied, bating a little unavoidable anxiety, though J. has been hitherto quite well and seemingly very happy. I am hard at work on my Birmingham lecture:21 don't feel as if I had much left to say, but must do all I can to say it decently, so as not to discredit the cause. TEXT: Mackail, II, 66-67. Published: Henderson, Letters, 155-56. 1 The Burne-Joneses' house at Rottingdean, where Morris and Jenny were staying. 2 "Some of the Minor Arts of Life," delivered on January 23, 1882, at the Midland Institute, Birmingham, in support of the S.P.A.B. It was later printed as The Lesser Arts of Life. See LeMire, pp. 238, 297.

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1882 / LETTER N O . 767

767 · T o

Rottingdean January 12 [1882]

THOMAS JAMES WISE

Dear Mr. Wise Mr. Wallis has called a meeting of the St Marks Committee at our rooms for 4½ on Tuesday next (17th) I suppose we shall be able to get in. I append the letter to the O.L.B. very late; I am contrite about it, but I have been much bothered or I would have sent it before Yours truly William Morris P. S. The memorial must be carefully written out on good paper & signed by the officers of the Society and others of the Committee—I have not signed by the way: what's to be done about that I shall be back on Saturday. Magdalen Bridge Sir The Committee of the S.P.A.B. have directed me to express their regret at the refusal of the O.L.B. to receive a deputation chosen from among the gentlemen who have signed the memorial before mentioned to you:1 this memorial I now send to you by the orders of the Committee, and beg you to lay it before the Board: you will see that it is numerously signed by influential & distinguished persons: The Committee further (beg) have directed me to convey to you their (firm opinion) belief that the destruction of Magdalen Bridge is not called for by public convenience, and that (they) what has (brought about) caused the demand for its destruction (has been brou caused by) is a mistaken opinion that a modern bridge would harmonize better than the old one with the ancient buildings of Oxford: the Committee are sure that this opinion will be generally condemned, and that the disastrous determination of the O.L. B. to ruin the appearance of the main entry into Oxford will be (looked) heard of with grief & consternation not in this country only but (throughout) by all cultivated people in Europe and America. MS: Huntington. 1 The Times, January 16, 1882, reported (p. 6) that the Oxford Local Board had approved the plans of its engineer for widening the bridge and that the Board had refused to receive a deputation of the S.P.A.B. to present a memorial.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 768 · T o [ T H O M A S J A M E S WISE?]

[January 14-16, 1882]

Yours received, I see y o u d o n ' t quite understand: the memorial 1 must be written not printed; this must be signed x by a decent number; 25 will do: pin to this the printed memorials sent out, with their signatures attached; and also for the convenience sake of the board write out a clear list of all the signatories — I mean to show t h e m w h o ' s w h o : of course y o u w o n t send the vouchers for the names of those w h o sign on the written sheet. Yrs W. M . x

in autograph of course

MS: Huntington. 1 About Magdalen Bridge, Oxford. See letter no. 746.

769 · T o A G L A I A IONIDES C O R O N I O

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 19 [1882] M y dear Aglaia T h a n k y o u for your note: I think I can call on y o u this day week T h u r s day. I w o u l d have written y o u before, but I a m m o r e busy than y o u can easily imagine: hence also this hasty scrawl. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Leuba Coll.

770 · T o G E O R G I A N A B U R N E - J O N E S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith [January 19, 1882?] I a m just going to finish m y day with a couple of hours' w o r k o n m y lecture, 1 but will first write you a line, since pen, ink, and paper are at hand, and seeing withal that t o - m o r r o w I shall not have any time at all to myself. M a y came to hand safely this m o r n i n g , thank y o u kindly for having her. As to Jenny, she has been to m y j o y very well and in bright spirits all

[ 94 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 771

the week, so I have no doubt our sojourn there did her good: it was her birthday on Tuesday: 21 my dear old Jenny was. I have perhaps rather more than enough of work to do, and for that reason or what not, am dwelling somewhat low down in the valley of humiliation — quite good enough for me doubtless. Yet it sometimes seems to me as if my lot was a strange one: you see, I work pretty hard, and on the whole very cheerfully, not altogether I hope for mere pudding, still less for praise; and while I work I have the cause always in mind, and yet I know that the cause for which I specially work is doomed to fail, at least in seeming; I mean that art must go under, where or how ever it may come up again. I don't know if I explain what I'm driving at, but it does sometimes seem to me a strange thing indeed that a man should be driven to work with energy and even with pleasure and enthusiasm at work which he knows will serve no end but amusing himself; am I doing nothing but make-believe then, something like Louis XVI's lock-making? There, I don't pretend to say that the conundrum is a very interesting one, as it certainly has not any practical importance as far as I am concerned, since I shall without doubt go on with my work, useful or useless, till I demit. Well, one thing I long for which will certainly come, the sunshine and the spring. Meantime we are hard at work gardening here: making dry paths, and a sublimely tidy box edging: how I do love tidiness! TEXT: Mackail, II, 68-69. Published: Henderson, Letters, 156-57. 1 Probably "Some of the Minor Arts of Life" (see letter no. 766, n. 2), though Henderson may be correct in saying that Morris refers here to "The History of Pattern Designing," delivered on February 23 at the Kensington Vestry Hall. See Henderson, Letters, p. 156, n. 5; see also LeMire, p. 293.

771 · T o JOHN SIMON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 26 [1882]

Dear Sir1 May I ask the favour of a platform ticket for the meeting to be held next Wednesday at the Mansion House. 2 I have the greatest dislike to pushing myself forward in any matter, but when I remind you that I was actively engaged in the work of the Eastern Question Association some years back, I think you will understand why I wish to lose no opportunity of showing that tyranny and brutality are always hateful to me, whosoever the butchers and whosoever the victims may be.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

I take the liberty of expressing a hope that the organizers of the movement will do their best to associate it with others of my colleagues of the E. Q. A. I feel sure that they will respond sympathetically to any invitation. It seems to me important to show the Russian Government, that those who were most anxious to keep this country out of a causeless quarrel with Russia, are as indignant as any at the crimes against civilization which are now being perpetrated. I am Dear Sir, Yours faithfully William Morris TEXT: Henderson, Letters, 157-58. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 552, n. 2. 2 The meeting held on February 1 was to protest the pogroms in Russia that followed the assassination of Alexander II. The Times, February 2, listed (p. 8) Burne-Jones among those attending. Through his friendship with Gladstone's daughter, Burne-Jones was a moving spirit in the effort to get a reluctant Liberal Government to credit reports of the persecution ofjews in Russia (see his letter to Mary Gladstone, Memorials, II, 122-23).

772 · T o MARK ANDRE RAFFALOVICH

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith London January 30 [1882?] Dear Sir1 I thank you very much for your generous and appreciative notice of my works, and also for your friendliness in sending it to me. 2 You will easily understand that it is a special pleasure to me to hear of my books being read & enjoyed by people outside the English-speaking populations, however much my first duties may be towards the latter. With best wishes I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris a Monsieur Andre Raffolovich MS: Dunlap Coll. 1 Mark Andre Raffalovich (1864-1934). Born to wealthy Russian Jewish parents who lived in Paris, he later moved to England. In 1881 at the age of seventeen, and while still in Pans, he began contributing articles on a range of English writers and painters, including Morris, Swinburne, Burne-Jones, and Meredith, to Le Gaulois and to the Journal de St. Pe-

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1882 / L E T T E R N O . 773 tersbourg (published in St. Petersburg). He moved to London in September 1882 and in England became a member of Oscar Wilde's circle, publishing several books of poems, a novel, and a play. In 1896 he also published in French a book on homosexuality, Uranisme et Unisexualite, which included a chapter on Oscar Wilde. 2 The notice, presumably a review, may have appeared in either the Journal de St. Petersburg or Le Gaulois as early as 1881 or later than September 1882, since Raffalovich continued to send articles to the foreign press after his move to London. I am grateful to Philip Healy for identifying and sending me a review of Hopes and Fears for Art by Raffalovich (written in French) that appeared in the Journal de St. Petersbourg, May 6, 1882. Morris in his letter, however, probably expresses thanks for another review, since the book was not published until February and since he speaks of Raffalovich's notice of "my works," presumably more than one book. Nevertheless, there is a slight possibility that the review of Hopes and Fears for Art did elicit this letter, since Raffalovich, in it, begins with a general introduction to Morris, associating him with Ruskin, referring to Morris as one of the most brilliant poets of contemporary Britain, and explaining that in his poetry he celebrates the past. If this is the review Raffalovich sent Morris, the supposition would then have to be that advanced copies of the book were available in January, and that Raffalovich sent a manuscript version or proofs of the article before its actual publication in the May issue of the Journal.

773 · T o GEORGE WALLIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 1, 1882 Dear Sir1 I propose calling to view the carpets I am asked to report on tomorrow (Thursday) at about 2.30 pm. if this is inconvenient will you kindly let me know. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris G. Wallis Esqre MS: Berger Coll. 1 George Wallis (1811-1891) was senior keeper of the art collection at the South Kensington Museum. In the 1880's Morris was an adviser to the Museum on the purchase of historic textiles.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 774 · T o R O S A L I N D FRANCIS H O W A R D

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 13, 1882 Dear M r s . H o w a r d Can you d o anything for us anent the enclosed: I must frankly & freely admit that it is a device for 'raising the wind', b u t is really important to us. 1 You m a y imagine h o w disgusted I was that Mr. D a w n a y got in. 2 1 suppose I m a y say so b y this time I suppose without m y condolences being taken for an insult: h o w e v e r I a m glad it was fought & so well too. I say t h o u g h I hope there is n o t to be a general election this session: o u g h t n ' t the liberal association to stir if the government is to keep in? H o p i n g to see you soon, I am Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. 1

This refers to a series of lectures sponsored by the S.P. A.B. at the Kensington Vestry Hall. The speakers were Morris, R. S. Poole, J. T. Micklethwaite, S. Colvin, W. B. Richmond, and E. J. Poynter. (See The Athenaeum, February 11, 1882, p. 198; see also Buxton Forman, pp. 100-101.) On March 4 The Athenaeum reported (p. 290) that Morris's lecture, "The History of Pattern Designing," delivered on February 23, was such a success that the S. P. A. B. had decided to publish it. 2 See letter no. 765, n. 4.

775 · T o E D W A R D WILLIAMS BYRON NICHOLSON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 13, 1882 Dear Mr. Nicholson T h a n k y o u for your note: I congratulate you heartily on your appointm e n t as Bodleian Librarian, & am very glad that the University has got so good a servant 1 I am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: McMinn Papers. 1 The previous Bodleian Librarian, H. O. Coxe (see Volume I, letter no 558, n. 1), had died the previous July, and on February 4 Nicholson was elected to succeed him. See The Times, February 6, p. 7.

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1882 I LETTER N O . 777 776 · To THOMAS JAMES WISE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday [February 18, 1882] Dear Mr. Wise I should think that 2.30 p. m. would be the best time, unless that be over late: but it is light now till 5 fully. I am sorry to say I shall not be able to join the party: as to place somewhere in the city would be best. On reflec­ tion I should think that 7 ο clock at some chop-house in the city would be best: we met at that time at Mr. Marks' 1 when we went before. It will amuse you to hear that Mr. Tebbs 2 has sent us a donation of £5. I wrote him a polite letter in return, for which I fear Mr. A Marks 3 would have blamed me. Sir F. Leighton bought a ticket yesterday, 4 so you see we are now a rec­ ognized part of the community Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Brown. 1

Newman Marks, previous Secretary of the S.P.A.B. Henry Virtue Tebbs (1834-1899), a member of the S.P.A.B. and of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. 3 Alfred Marks, Treasurer of the S.P.A.B. 4 Presumably for Morris's lecture, "The History of Pattern Designing." See letter no. 774, n . l . 2

777 · To EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 26, 1882 Dearest Mother It is a little matter to send you my book; but I am delighted that you should be pleased.1 I am so sorry I have not been able to get over there: If it would suit you for me to come to you on March 6th (this day week) by the usual train, I would come straight from Merton Abbey. With best love to all the party lam Your loving Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow. 1

Hopes and Fears for Art, published by Ellis and White in February 1882.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 778 · [ T o M A R C U S B O U R N E H U I S H ? ]

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 7, 1882 Dear Sir 1 I find I have t w o letters from y o u to answer, & apologize for having neglected to d o so for so long. As to the reprinting of m y lecture, 2 I think I had better let it alone for the present, since it was written for viva voce & w o u l d want a good deal of w o r k o n it to fit it for appearing in the Art Journal; & I have n o time to spend o n that w o r k at present. As to the other subject, I a m n o t sure that I quite understand your p r o posal: o f course I could make n o objection to your proposing any of m y p o e m s as a subject for the engravers to try their skill on. O n the other hand, I should object to any of m y poems being published in an illustrated form, unless I were allowed to choose the artist w h o was to make the d e signs, and also had full control over the execution of their reproduction in a publishable form. I hope y o u will n o t think m e churlish for mentioning this objection straight out, b u t I have (so) a very an great interest in the whole subject, and also have views of m y o w n o n the matter of w o o d - c u t t i n g which I fear would n o t be accepted b y the greater n u m b e r of wood-engravers. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris Ms: Columbia. 1 Probably Marcus Bourne Huish (1843-1921), editor of the Art Journal, which had been founded in 1880. 2 Possibly "The History of Pattern Designing," the lecture delivered by Morris on February 23 and published in Lectures on Art Delivered in Support of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (London, 1882). See also letter no. 774, n. 1.

779 · T o ROSALIND FRANCIS HOWARD

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 9, 1882 Dear M r s . H o w a r d T h a n k y o u very much, but I am engaged t o m o r r o w . I am hoping to see you at the lecture this afternoon. 1 Yours affectionately William Morris

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1882 / LETTER N O . 781

I will try to come in some morning if you please. MS: Howard Papers. 1

J. T. Micklethwaite's lecture on English Parish Churches. See letter no. 774, n. 1.

780 · T o HENRY RICHARD

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 11, 1882 Dear Mr Richard 1 I beg to thank you for your subscription to poor Mr. Pratts fund:2 and for your kind question as to my nationality. I was born at Walthamstow near London, and my mother & father were both Worcester people; but since they were both of Welsh parentage on both sides, I think I may lay claim to be considered one of the Cymry: I am I assure you very proud of my nation, and its lovely ancient literature as far as I know it by transla­ tions, since unfortunately I only know a very few words of the difficult but beautiful language of my forefathers. I am Dear Mr. Richard Yours very truly William Morris MS: NLW. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 416, n. 6. Possibly Hodgson Pratt (1824-1907), who was active in the industrial cooperative move­ ment and in 1880 helped to found the International Arbitration and Peace Association. 2

781 · T o GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

Merton Abbey,

Surrey March 16, 1882 My dear George I am in a fix — for look here; I took this place muchly for the sake of its water-power, & for the water of the Wandle; and now the Wandle is going to be dried up — no less — there is a bill before a committee on Monday as I hear suddenly to enable the London & S Western Water Company to tap the head springs of the river at Carshalton: the river is almost wholly fed from these springs, & tapping them thus would reduce it to a muddy ditch. As to myself I don't much care, as I always said we ought to have gone into the country, but on public Grounds I could burst when I think

[ ιοί ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

of it: the Wandle from here upwards is a most beautiful stream as perhaps you know. I shall try to see you on Saturday morning; but meantime can you do anything in the House to help to stop such a damned iniquity?1 Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. Published: Mackail, II, 70-71; Henderson, Letters, 159. 1 The bill came before the House Select Committee on March 27 and was rejected four days later without the calling of opponents. Morns, somewhat belatedly, joined forces with thirty-nine other mill owners who depended on the Wandle for water power and who were among those who organized against the measure. See The Times, March 28, p. 10; April 1, p. 12; and Mackail, II, 72. See also letter no. 783.

782 · To JAMES BRYCE

Late 26 Queen Sq. Merton Abbey, Surrey March 16, 1882

My dear Bryce I have recently taken premises for manufacturing at the above address, being much influenced in so doing by the water power here, & the abundance of good water which the Wandle supplies; I now find to my dismay that there is a bill to come before Committee next Monday to enable the London & S. Western Water Company to sink wells and tap the springs of the Wandle at Carshalton, in other words to dry it up at its source; since it is almost wholly fed from those springs: this is a serious matter to me personally since it means nothing less than making the premises useless to me, & the bill provides for no compensation to the occupiers: but I think you will believe me when I say that such a loss of a beautiful stream would grieve me more on public than on private grounds. I dont know if you know the Wandle, so I may say that from here to Carshalton, it is really very beautiful indeed, in spite of the many mills that its waters turn: I can scarcely believe that the company will get their bill; but I venture in case of the worst to write to you (in blank ignorance of these matters parliamentary) to ask you if you can do anything to put a spoke in the wheel of these wretches: the points being 1 that the Wandle is covered with Mills and 2. is yet very beautiful; 3 that being fed from springs that never give out, it is the most valuable water-course in England (of its length & volume) for manufacturing purposes: 4 for the same reason the (stopping) stealing of those springs would quite dry it up as its feed from surface drainage is insignificant.

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1882 / L E T T E R N O . 7 8 4

Asking your pardon for troubling you about the matter I am My dear Bryce Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Bodleian.

783 · T o JAMES BRYCE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 18, 1882 My dear Bryce Many thanks for your kind letter: I find that the bill in question is to be formally opposed by the mill-owners & occupiers: by some accident, I suppose because I was a new comer, I was not asked to join the petitioners, & I believe it is too late for me now: however I shall do what I can to help: on Monday morning I am to see the lawyers who have the case in hand, and will write to you & state any additional facts that I can get at after the interview: it seems the bill has been rejected before; I dont know when. I am My dear Bryce Yours very truly William Morris P.S. I forgot to say that I find the committee is not on Monday but Monday week. 1 MS: Bodleian. 1 The Select Committee of the House of Commons, which heard the bill on March 27. See letter no. 781.

784 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

Kelmscott H o u s e ,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 20, 1882 Dear Sir I cannot be sure of being at home after 9 AM on any day this week. By far your surest way of seeing me if you could manage it would be to call

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS here on a Sunday afternoon, when I am almost always at h o m e and shall be very glad to see you. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Columbia.

785 · T o FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

Kelmscott House,

March 22, 1882 M y dear Ellis, T h a n k you; for your note: I imagine I understand what they are going to do, although your explanation w o u l d have been helped b y a plan: I had heard something of this before, b u t hoped it w o u l d n o t take place in o u r time. H o w e v e r something they will leave behind t h e m so long as the old house stands; only strange it is that w e are tumbled just into the time w h e n these things go quickest: after us in a while I think things will mend; b e fore us change was slower. Meanwhile I ought to have thanked y o u for your perch before, especially as I k n o w what a trouble it is to bring such wet goods u p to town: 1 only, news for news, nay, water news for water news, I have suddenly discovered that it may n o t be long that they will have water to swim in; whereas a society, calling itself the L o n d o n and South Western Spring Water C o m p a n y , has a bill in Parliament to enable t h e m to sink a well at Carshalton which will drain the Carshalton Wandle, and give us a m u d d y ditch instead of m y water and water-power: jolly isn't it? there are 7 miles of Wandle and 40 miles on that 7 miles, and here w e are to be landed without compensation just to put some m o n e y into p r o m o t e r s ' pockets, unless w e can manage to get the bill t h r o w n o u t in C o m m i t t e e . You see that 'tis j o b b e r y (not mastery) that m o w s the m e a d o w : what compensation w e should have got, if this had been public m o n e y that was in question! H o w e v e r there is a strong opposition to the thieves, so perhaps m y perch m a y die a natural death (by h o o k to wit) after all. 2 I was u p the water to-day to see about this matter, and at C a r shalton for the first time; a pretty place still in spite of the building. 3 Yours ever truly William Morris TEXT: Mackail, II, 71-72 1 "The first part of [this letter] relates to alterations in the channel of the upper Thames recently made by the Conservancy, which had the effect of draining off the Kelmscott back-

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1882 / L E T T E R

N O . 787

water and making the boat-house there useless. Ellis had just brought up some perch from Kelmscott to stock the water at Merton Abbey." Mackail, II, 71. 2 The opposition to the bill was successful. See letter no. 781, n. 1. 3 The first part of this letter presumably ended here. Mackail's notebook indicates that the second part concerned the decorations of St. James's Palace.

786 · T o FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

O u r case is before C o m m i t t e e this week.

March 25, 1882 1

MS: Mackail notebook. 1

See letter no. 785.

787 · T o G E O R G E J A M E S H O W A R D

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 29, 1882 M y dear George Rejoice with m e that the Water C o m p a n y have had to climb d o w n . T h e y have w i t h d r a w n the Carshalton well & will bind themselves n o t t o sink another within the limits that our engineers think dangerous: besides which I hear that their bill is like to be t h r o w n out apart from o u r o p p o sition. T h a n k y o u very kindly for troubling yourself on the matter any how — D o any of your party care to come to the boatrace on Saturday? 1 they shall be very welcome, & shall n o t be compelled to drink anything save water; 2 which considering Carshalton, I think, shows what a moderate man I am. If any b o d y comes they should be here some little time before 1. Yours affectionately William Morris Ms: Howard Papers. 1 The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race was rowed on April 2, a Saturday, on the course from Putney to Mortlake. 2 Rosalind Howard was a leader of the Temperance Movement.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

788 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[March 29, 1882]

The water company, terrified by our bold front, has climbed down and has agreed not to meddle with the Wandle: so this time I am quit for the fright, and whatsoever part of £50 the lawyers' conscience will let them grab of me. Cheap at the price both for me and the public I think, since I have seen more of the river. On Wednesday Wardle and I went up the river and saw as much as we could get at: a wild day of storm and bitter wind it turned out, yet I think we enjoyed it. As we got to Wallington I thought I would go and call on Arthur Hughes, 1 and did so to my pleasure: we were very glad to see each other, though perhaps when we got to talking were somewhat gravelled: he lives in a beautiful place, and the Croydon branch of the Wandle sweeps round his bit of close. I went up the water again on Friday with G. Howard and R. Grosvenor and had a pleasant half rainy day, seeing a great deal of the water, much of it quite quiet and unspoiled; it is really very beautiful, crystal clear in spite of all the mills. When you come on the ponds at Carshalton, where it rises or seems to rise, the surprise is most delightful and strange: a village green, only the green is the pond, quite bright and clear, the road across the fall of it from one level to another, and springs bubbling up amidst it all over. The whole river swarms with trout. TEXT: Mackail, H, 72-73. 1

For Morris's earlier association with Arthur Hughes, see Volume I, letter no. 16, n. 1. Apparently they had not met for some years.

789 · T o WILLIAM H A L E WHITE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

March 29, 1882 Dear Sir1 I thank you for your letter; you will be glad to hear, if you have not already heard, that the promoters of the water company have withdrawn their scheme for the Carshalton well, & that the gentlemen who are conducting the opposition on the part of the Wandle owners & occupiers will bind them to terms which prevent their sinking any well in dangerous proximity to the Wandle springs. This is especially good news to me, since even if I were not pecuniarily interested in the flow of the water, I should, both as an artist & a man of letters, feel myself sorely injured by the destruction of the beauty of this famous little stream. Indeed I feel much stronger about the matter than you might think from my letter, [ 106 ]

1882 I LETTER N O . 791

since I thought it prudent to write in moderate terms about what I quite agree with you in thinking a 'monstrous' proposition. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: McGiIl. 1 William Hale White (1831-1913), the novelist. As the pseudonymous "Mark Rutherford," he had published The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford in 1881.

790 · T o THE EDITOR OF

The Nineteenth Century

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 30, 1882

Sir1 Please add my name to the list of those that are protesting against the carrying out of the Channel Tunnel. 2 I am Sir Yours faithfully William Morris To the Editor of the Nineteenth Century MS: Harvard. 1 Sir James Thomas Knowles (1831-1908), who founded The Nineteenth Century in 1877 and was its first editor. 2 By the Submarine Railway Company. In the April and May 1882 issues of The Nineteenth Century Knowles published a list of signatories to "A Protest" against the proposed Channel Tunnel. They supported a statement that a railroad under the Channel would involve England "in military dangers and liabilities, from which, as an island, it has hitherto been happily free." Among those signing were Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, T. H. Huxley, Herbert Spencer, and Frederic Harrison. Morris's name was included among those printed in the May issue. InJuIy the tunneling was stopped by a court order on the grounds that the Company had not complied with regulations necessary to protect life and secure ventilation. See Annual Register, 1882, Part II, p. 27.

791 · T o THE EDITOR OF The Times

[April 12, 1882]

Sir The Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings has just received a letter from the Cav. Paravicini,1 the distinguished Milanese antiquary,

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

in which he gives a list of the ancient buildings in and near Milan, which during the past year have been destroyed or completely falsified by an ignorant system of so-called "restoration." The fine old medieval towers of the Porta Ticinese have been pulled down, for the sake of rebuilding them on a fresh site. The high altar of S. Ambrogio has been moved from its original position, slightly oblique to the axis of the church — a position characteristic of the high altars of early Lombardic churches. It is now proposed to destroy Bramante's noble portico on the north side of S. Ambrogio, the only pretext being that it is not in keeping with the rest of the church. A scheme, the originator of which has received a gold medal, is now on foot for refacing the richly-coloured brick and terra-cotta exterior of S. Maria delle Grazie with complete new fronts of stone. The very interesting early churches of S. Giovanni in Conca d'Oro and S. Babila have been pulled down, and it is now proposed to remodel S. Calimero, S. Maria Incoronata, and S. Maurizio, with its glorious frescoes by Luini. La Pavia the early Lombardic Church of S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro is being rebuilt, and its western fagade replaced by a new one of different design. The fine terra-cotta mosaic pavement in the transepts of the Church of the Certosa, near Pavia, has been destroyed for the sake of putting a new one of marble. The rich and elaborate terra-cotta ornaments of the f^ade have been painted over with thick red pigment, which has destroyed the sharpness of the delicate reliefs, and a general white washing over the walls of the cloister and cells of the monastery has obliterated all the remains of the old fresco decoration. These are a few examples of the manner in which the modern Italians are treating their priceless relics of art in its various forms. The Cav. Paravicini dwells upon the sad fact that it is the Commission for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments and the Academies of Fine Art that have been committing the worst acts of vandalism — a fact that makes it difficult or impossible for any private Italian to get a hearing when he protests against such deeds. It is on this account that he appeals to the English people to assist him in the struggle to preserve what remains, and surely this appeal will not be without response in England 2 when men reflect how important is the issue, and how irreparable a loss is being suffered by the whole civilized world as one link after another in the history of art is cut away to feed the vanity of some modern designer or the greed of some contractor eager for a job. I am, yours faithfully, William Morris Hon. Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. [ 108 ]

1882 / L E T T E R N O .

792

TEXT: The Times, April 12, 1882, 10. 1 Tito Vespasiano Paravicini (1830-1899) was on the S.P.A.B. International Committee and an honorary member of the Society. He was the author of several books on Italian art and architecture. 2 The letter from Paravicini was reported in The Architect, April 15, 1882, p. 239, and in The Athenaeum. There does not seem to have been any public response, and the places mentioned by Paravicini are not mentioned in the S.P.A.B annual reports of the period.

792 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 27, 1882

WILLIAM BELL SCOTT

My dear Scott I have never written to thank you for sending me your book because I have been trying to get round to see you to do so in person, but I must now put it off till next week so I write now. 1 I have just the same impression on me now I have seen the poems in print as I had when I heard you read them; that they are original & full of thought, and that their general atmosphere is most delightfully poetical & real, that there is in short real beauty about them: I congratulate you heartily on the book; which for the rest is very pretty little volume to look at. What can I say about Gabriels death,2 but what all his friends or almost all, must feel? It makes a hole in the world, though I have seen so little of him lately & might very likely never have seen him again: he was very kind to me when I was a youngster. He had some of the very greatest qualities of genius, most of them indeed; what a great man he would have been but for the arrogant misanthropy that marred his work, and killed him before his time: the grain of humility which makes a great man one of the people, and no lord over them, he lacked, & with it lost the enjoyment of life which would have kept him alive, & sweetened all his work for him & us. But I say he has left a hole in the world which will not be filled up in a hurry. With best wishes Yours ever William Morris MS: Princeton T. Extract published: Scott, II, 212, 309; Henderson, Life, 218; MM, I, 78. 1 W. B. Scott had recently published A Poet's Harvest Home (London: E. Stock, 1882), a collection of one hundred short poems. 2 D. G. Rossetti died on April 9 at Birchmgton-on-Sea, near Margate. The University of British Columbia owns a copy of this letter, handwritten by someone other than Morris, on which Morris wrote at the top, "the part crossed out not to be published," and crossed out the entire third paragraph, beginning, "What can I say about Gabriels death. . . . " The letter was for inclusion in Scott's Autobiographical Notes, edited by W. J. Minto. See Volume III.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM 793 · T o A L G E R N O N C H A R L E S S W I N B U R N E

MORRIS Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h April 27 [1882]

My dear Swinburne 1 Book 2, Chap XI of Mallory you will find these words (as the Parsons say, or did in my time) "So at the enterement came King Lots wyf Morganse with her four sons Gawayne, Agravayne, Gaherys, and Gareth." This is Jenny's discovery, as I had given it up as a bad job after much rummaging. I am so glad to hear from Watts2 that your epic3 is actually finished: it ought to be one of your best works. I am sending you by parcels Delivery, the North's Plutarch I spoke of: it is a very pretty edition, I think the first.4 Item, the book binder I told you of really rejoices in the name (or says he does, which is the same for our purpose) of Roger de Coverly: 5 his address is 6 St Martins Court, he is not a man of any taste (like poor old Fosbrooke was) but is careful, & will do what you tell him, & is used to dealing with valuable books. Yours ever truly William Morris P. S. I have in my head that I have seen somewhere a statement that Morganse is a real Irish name: but I cannot give Chap & verse for it. MS: Brown. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 96, n. 1. 2 From 1879 until his death, Swinburne lived with Theodore Watts-Dunton at The Pines, Putney. Watts-Dunton acted as guardian of Swinburne's health and overseer of his affairs. 3 Tristram ofLyonesse, and Other Poems was published by Chatto and Windus in 1882. The title work in the volume is a romance in rhymed couplets telling the traditional tale of Tristram, Queen Iseult, and King Mark. The volume also includes "Athens, An Ode," in which the victory at Salamis is compared with the defeat of the Spanish Armada; a series of sonnets on the Elizabethan dramatists, and other poems. 4 Thomas North's (1535P-1601?) translation of Plutarch's Lives, from the French ofjames Amyot. North published the translation m 1579 and reissued it in 1595 with additions. There was a copy of the second edition, inscribed by Morns to Swinburne, m Sotheby's Swinburne sale, June 1916 (Lot 928). See also Lang, IV, 270, n. 1. 5 See Volume I, letter no. 265, n. 7.

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1882 / LETTER N O . 796

794 · T o

FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

[April 10-30,1882]

Dear Ellis I sign with a good will: by the by oughtn't you to keep a copy to send to the papers if need be.1 So poor Rossetti has given us the slip after all. 'tis a sad business. Yours ever William Morris MS: Ohio. 1 This letter may refer to an appeal to the Treasury for a grant to enable the National Gallery to purchase pictures at a forthcoming sale. A memorial addressed to the Treasury was circulated in June (see letter no. 797), but Ellis may have sent it to Morris earlier.

795 · To

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Merton Abbey, Surrey May 23, 1882

My dear Aglaia As to Aleco's room & your kind invitation of Friday, I find that Mr Wardle can't come that evening; I shall be happy to come, but can hardly be with you till about 8 p.m: so Wardle proposes to call there on Thursday morning: I shall see him on Thursday afternoon & shall be able to give you & Aleco some idea of the results of our joint wisdom. Will this suit your convenience? I am sorry to be obliged to be late; but I must go into the country that day on business. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll.

796 · To

EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

Merton Abbey, Surrey May 23, 1882

Dearest Mother I write just a line to wish you many happy returns of your birthday with all possible health & happiness. It is a beautiful day down here, & the showers of yesterday have done us great good: AU is fairly well with the business, especially considering how poor trade is generally. Girls are very well, Janey rather so so. [ 111 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM MORRIS Best love to Henrietta and w i t h very best love to yourself dearest M o t h e r I rest Your m o s t affectionate Son William M o r r i s MS: Walthamstow.

797 · T o J O H N H E N R Y CHAMBERLAIN

The Grange, West Kensington, W. June 11 [1882]

M y dear Chamberlain 1 Will y o u sign the enclosed memorial, & could y o u kindly get m e any other g o o d signatures: I am penitent for b o r i n g you, b u t w o u l d y o u in any case send back the m e m o r i a l so as to reach Burne-Jones at the above address b y Wednesday next. 2 Yours very truly William M o r r i s MS: Berger Coll. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 610, n. 1. The memorial had been prepared by Burne-Jones and his friends, urging that the National Gallery buy part of the large collection of pictures and books of the Duke of Hamilton and the Hamilton Beckford Library, which had been put up for sale. 2

798 · E X C E R P T FROM A L E T T E R

T O FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

June 13, 1882

. . . twice as m u c h to d o since w e began at M e r t o n . 1 MS: Mackail notebook. 1

In addition to the excerpt given here, Mackail's notes include a summary of another part of the letter: "Box & Cox arrangement [going?] on." Box and Cox was a farce by J. M. Morton (1811-1891) based on a French vaudeville routine. It is of course impossible to know why Morris alludes to Box and Cox, but in Morton's play Box, ajourneyman printer, and Cox, ajourneyman hatter, are kept in ignorance ofeach other's existence by their lodging housekeeper who has let the same room to both (Box is out all night, Cox all day). Morris may have been joking with Ellis about their sharing of Kelmscott Manor and the infrequency with which either they or their families ever met there.

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]

1882 / LETTER N O . 800 799 · T o THOMAS JAMES COBDEN-SANDERSON

Kelmscott

Lechlade χ June 18 [1882?] My dear Sanderson I am sorry but it is impossible for me to be in London on July 1st. I will however try to write a very short paper on the interesting subject for someone to read there. Shall I send it to you? I shall be in town on Monday for a week. Yours affec: W Morris χ Lech the name of a river Lade, probably 'the barns' place where hay is 'laded' cf. Iceland Hlaoir the barns, name of town in Norway Nordic Trondhiem MS: Bucknell.

800 · T o HENRY HOBSON RICHARDSON

The Manor House

Kelmscott Nr Lechlade July 11, 1882 Dear Mr. Richardson 1 I got here too late for the post, last night; but hope that my letter will reach you in time. I examined carefully Messrs. Durlacher & Marks' Carpet: 2 it is a very rare and fine work of art: it belongs to the highest class of this kind of wares, of which necessarily very few specimens are left, and is a noble ex­ ample of that class: I suppose it to be a work of about the middle of the 16th century; say 1540; but it might well be earlier: it is in extraordinarily good condition, there is an unimportant mend or two in it, & the black, of which there is but a little has been eaten down to the warp by the chem­ ical action of its dye, as always happens when a carpet is of this age: the rest of the surface is just as it came from the loom. The colour of the carpet is as perfect as these things generally are; its design striking and original as a piece of (design) drawing. The design is a most curious example of that mixture of Persian & Chinese that is found in the Persian art of the time of Shah Abbas the Great, when there was so much intercourse between the two countries by the overland caravan trade; and the carpet must be con­ sidered from the historical point of view as a most valuable specimen of this art; a very marked link between the design of the two peoples: as a curiosity I should say that is unique: I should add that its manufacture [ 113 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

leaves nothing to be desired: Altogether it must rank very high among the half dozen of these splendid pieces which have been in the market of late years, and seems to me simply invaluable. Might I venture to suggest that some record of it should be made, & if possible published for the benefit of students of art: some of the chromolithographers are so good nowadays that a reproduction of a good & care­ ful drawing of it would be of great (surfac) service to those who are inter­ ested in such matters. I am Dear Mr. Richardson Yours very truly William Morris H. H. Richardson Eqre MS: MFA. Published: JourMd/ of the William Morris Society, 3 (Winter 1978), 34. 1

Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886), the American architect (See Henry-Russell Hitchcock, The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times [Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1966]; Mariana Van Rensselaer, Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works [New York: Dover, 1969; originally published 1888]; and anscombe and Gere, ρ 89.) During a tour of Europe in 1882 he visited Morris at Merton Abbey. 2 This carpet is now believed to be a product of seventeenth-century Moghul India. It was presented to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts by Mrs. Frederick L. Ames in the name of her husband in 1893. For photo, see Journal of the William Morris Society, 3 (Winter 1978), 2.

801 · To MAY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 12, 1882

Dearest May Thank you kindly for writing in the midst of your larks: I think on the whole you had better get to Hadham on the Thursday: apart from other reasons, I don't think you should burden Mr. Magnusson too long. You must give them my love & say that I cannot possibly get away this week I am so busy, thank them very much all the same. We began haymaking at Merton on Thursday: a sorry haymaking 'tis like to be amidst all this wet. Our meeting was very good in everything but attendance which was poor. I am sorry my dear to write such a shabby little but I have got to catch a train at once. Best love to Jenny. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. Mss. 45341.

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1882 / LETTER N O . 803 802 · T o A L G E R N O N C H A R L E S SWINBURNE

Kelmscott House

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 22, 1882 M y dear Swinburne I came u p to London for a hurried business visit yesterday and found your b o o k awaiting me; 1 I would not do it the injustice of pretending to read it admidst m y hurry here, but shall have the advantage of doing so at Kelmscott in plenteous quiet after today, 2 so I will write to y o u again about it: meanwhile I can at least send you m y hearty congratulations o n having p u t forth such a splendid w o r k as even a mere glance shows it to be. You see I am getting an oldish fellow now, and bear on m y back a wallet of dissappointments & 'tacenda'; 3 so that the fight which I daily wage against dullness & lifelessness is sometimes a hard one, and the success or failure of those w h o were m y companions o n the other side of the tangle of middle life encourages or discourages me hugely. In the few lines I have read of your n e w book there seem to m e tokens of a happiness & fullnes of life in you which put fresh heart in me, & give me the greatest pleasure, so that in all honesty I o w e y o u deep thanks for your book, and with the best wishes rest ever Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Lohf Coll. 1 2 3

See letter no. 793, n. 3. When he did try to read it, Morris found he could not. See letter no. 807. Things not to be spoken; secrets.

803 · T o A L F R E D WILLIAM H U N T

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 23 [1882] M y dear Hunt, 1 Pray excuse m y troubling you: M r . Jack 2 the bearer of this wishes to s h o w y o u some landscape drawings and have your advice o n the subject of his w o r k . K n o w i n g your good will and good nature I venture to write this note to introduce him to you. I am M y dear H u n t Yours truly William Morris A. W. H u n t Eqre [ 115 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: SUNY, Buffalo. 1 See letter no. 758, n. 4. 2 George Washington Henry Jack (1855-1932), architect and designer. Born in the United States of British parents, he was brought to Scotland as a child and educated there. In 1875 he went to London, and in 1880 he entered the office of Philip Webb, through whom he met Morris and began designing also for Morris and Co. One of his earliest interests was woodcarving, and he eventually became a teacher of carving in the Royal College of Art m South Kensington. He was also a member of the Art Workers' Guild and an original member of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, where he was a regular exhibitor for many years. In 1890 Jack was appointed chief designer of Morris and Co. and introduced several new types of furniture, including quasi-eighteenth-century pieces carried out in mahogany with inlaid decorations. In 1900 he took over Philip Webb's architectural practice. See Anscombe and Gere, p. 73, zndjournal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 39 (1932), 278.

804 · To SiGRiduR EINARSDOTTIR

MAGNUSSON

Kelmscott July 27 [1882]

Dear Mrs. Magnusson 1 I am grieved indeed to hear that things are no better in Iceland: I shall be back in town next Tuesday morning & shall be happy to do anything to help. The first step will be to appoint a committee (&) with an hon: Sec: & treasurer to whom subscriptions can be sent; I should think you would have no difficulty in getting together a very influential Committee: as a matter of course I will be on the Committee & will if you can't get a better name, (as you should do) take the office of Treasurer:2 Also if you please 1 will write to any of the papers: in fact I will draft a letter at once but will not send it till I hear from you what has been done: you may put my name down for £10 pro: temp: meanwhile. Then if there is time I don't doubt that the Lord Mayor would take the chair at a meeting at the Mansion House if you have got a good Committee together. Then as much as possible should be done by getting the papers to insert little paragraphs (ready cut & dried) they cost nothing and do much more than advertisements. Mind, get as large a committee together as possible for the names sake; 2 or 3 will do the work if you have a good hon: Sec: Please let me know what names you have got & tell me anything you want me to do: I think you should write to everybody you know and ask for help at once. With kindest regards to Eirikr I am Dear Mrs. Magnusson Yours ever truly William Morris [ 116 ]

1882 / L E T T E R N O .

806

MS: Iceland. 1 The wife of Eirikr Magnusson (see Volume 1, letters no. 64. n. 1, and no. 149, n. 1). 2 A committee for the relief of impending famine conditions in Iceland was formed at a meeting at which the Lord Mayor, Sir John Whittaker Ellis, took the chair. Among those present were James Russell Lowell, James Bryce, and Beresford Hope. Communications were to be sent to Morris and to Mrs. Magnusson (see The Times, August 17, 1882, p. 5).

805 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

QuIy 28, 1882]

I have had a bad time of it lately and feel ten years older than I did in June. I saw to-day about a book written by an Italian peasant (near Verona) complaining of their misery. How shocking it seemed to me that all the riches of rich lands should be wasted till they are no better than the poorest for most men. Think what the constitution of civilized society must be when the Italian peasant is not better off, but worse off (taking one year with another), than his brother of Iceland! TEXT: Mackail, II, 78. Published: Henderson, Letters, 161.

806 · T o T H E E D I T O R O F T H E Daily

News

Kelmscott H o u s e , U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h August 5, 1882

Sir, In spite of the many important matters which are now occupying your columns I venture to address you on the subject of the distress of a kindred and interesting people, and to beg you to allow me to appeal through your columns to the charity of the public. For the past two or three months we have been receiving from private sources dismal accounts of the state of Iceland, and this bad news is now confirmed by official reports made by the Governor to the Ministry at Copenhagen. The following is a brief summary from the Copenhagen Belingski Tidendi of July 27: — The unexampled hard winter of 1880-1881 was followed by a cold summer, so that the hay crop of 1881 was less than half an average, and in consequence a much larger portion than usual of the sheep, and even many of the cows, had to be slaughtered in the autumn. The past winter of 1881-1882 was so stormy that the sheep and horses could not safely be turned out to graze, as is usual in the south; when so turned out they died by hundreds. The pack-ice filled the firths in the north and east from April till now (the beginning ofJuly, according to the latest news); it even, which is most un[ 117 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

usual, drifted into the southern firths, so that spring barely began by the end ofJune. Owing to the failure of hay and stock last year people are too poor to buy the corn and maize which has been imported for fodder; and moreover their communications with the trading stations have been cut off by the bad weather. In consequence, thousands of live stock have died, the lambing has failed, the milk both of ewes and cows, on which Icelanders live so much, is lacking; the usual autumn trade in sheep, tallow, and wool, on which the people depend for money wherewith to buy imported necessaries, will fail them. At the end of April a hurricane, which lasted ten days, overwhelmed with sand-drifts many farms in the country round Hecla. Lastly, the measles, which has not been in Iceland for 36 years, and which, when falling on a people not used to it, is a deadly and not a trivial disease, has attacked Reykjavik, where nearly half the people are down with it, and many have died, and it is now spreading over the country. Such, very briefly, are the facts stated by the Governor to the Copenhagen Ministry. The Dagblad of August 2 states that the Ministry are considering what is to be done, and that subscriptions are being raised both in Norway and Sweden. Those who have travelled in Iceland, especially in ordinarily baddish years, will well understand the terrible significance of the facts baldly stated above; any relief which can be given must be speedy to be effectual; it should be in Iceland not later than the early part of October. As to the claims these poor people have on us, those who have been among them will, I am sure, remember the universal kindness with which they were treated, and the special sympathy shown to us as Englishmen, and will look upon them to-day as friends in need and friends indeed; and some of those who have not seen them at home will not forget, I think, that they are the descendants of the historians of Scandinavia, but will feel grateful to them for having preserved a great mass of records of the religion, traditions, laws and manners of the ancient North, which the world would have lost but for them. For those who have neither been in Iceland nor read its ancient literature, there still remains the undoubted fact that they are a kindly, honest, and intelligent people, bearing their lot, at the best a hard one, with singular courage and cheerfulness, and keeping up through all difficulties in their remote desert (for such indeed is the land in spite of its beauty and romance) an elevation of mind, and a high degree of culture, which would be honourable to countries much more favoured by nature; and this people is in such sore need by no fault of its own, we may remember. Subscriptions in aid of the distress in Iceland will be received by Mrs. Magnusson, 81, Bateman-street, Cambridge; by Messrs. Mortlock and Co., University bankers, Cambridge; and by myself, at Kelmscott [ 118 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 807

House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith. With many apologies for trespassing on your valuable space, I am, Sir, Yours obediently William Morris TEXT: Daily News, August 8, 1882, 7.

807 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[August 9, 1882]

As to the poem, 1 1 have made two or three attempts to read it, but have failed, not being in the mood I suppose: nothing would lay hold of me at all. This is doubtless my own fault, since it certainly did seem very fine. But, to confess and be hanged, you know I never could really sympathize with Swinburne's work; it always seemed to me to be founded on literature, not on nature. In saying this I really cannot accuse myself of any jealousy on the subject, as I think also you will not. Now I believe that Swinburne's sympathy with literature is most genuine and complete; and it is a pleasure to hear him talk about it, which he does in the best vein possible; he is most steadily enthusiastic about it. Now time was when the poetry resulting merely from this intense study and love of literature might have been, if not the best, yet at any rate very worthy and enduring: but in these days when all the arts, even poetry, are like to be overwhelmed under the mass of material riches which civilization has made and is making more and more hastily every day; riches which the world has made indeed, but cannot use to any good purpose: in these days the issue between art, that is, the godlike part of man, and mere bestiality, is so momentous, and the surroundings of life are so stern and unplayful, that nothing can take serious hold of people, or should do so, but that which is rooted deepest in reality and is quite at first hand: there is no room for anything which is not forced out of a man of deep feeling, because of its innate strength and vision. In all this I may be quite wrong and the lack may be in myself: I only state my opinion, I don't defend it; still less do I my own poetry. TEXT: Mackail, II, 74-75. Published: Henderson, Letters, 158-59. 1 Tristram ofLyonesse by Swinburne. See letter no. 793.

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Portrait of Morris by W. B. Richmond, 1882.

808 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

August 23, 1882

We went on Saturday to call on the De Morgans at Witley, and found them lodging in a newish red brick house, the surroundings of which rather reminded one of Mrs. Bodichon's Scalands:1 afterwards we drove down with them and the Allinghams through woodland lanes up on to the great commons and Hind Head Hill on the Portsmouth Road: covered it was, much of it, with heather and ling, all in blossom at this season, and seeming to me not the best chosen of colours though so very bright; but the place is very beautiful, and amazingly free from anything Cockneybase, considering how near it is to London: the best part of it the beauty of the oaks, now in their new foliage hanging about the rare cornfields; [ 120 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 808

for the tilth is scanty in this sandy woodland country. Allingham's dwelling is in a very pleasant and beautiful spot, but the house highly uninteresting though not specially hideous, nor the get up inside of it very pleasant (though not very bad), as you might imagine: the garden too that discomforting sort of place that a new garden with no special natural gifts is apt to be: I should like to have made them better it. As to that country in general, in spite of all its beauty, it didn't quite touch me (except as pleasant hills and meadows and lanes). For one thing it is very thinly inhabited, and looks more than most countrysides as if it were kept for the pleasure of the rich, as indeed it is; but I don't know anything of it but this one visit. I must take a turn of walking through it one day: for this thing interests me in it, that if ever I am to live out of London (as I don't suppose I ever shall), and Merton goes on, somewhere thereabouts I should have to pitch my tent. I am much encouraged by your interest in our Merton Crafts, and shall do my best to make it pay so that we may keep it going, though, as I have told you, I can't hide from myself that there is a chance of failure (commercial I mean) in the matter: in which case I must draw in my horns, and try to shuffle out of the whole affair decently, and live thereafter small and certain if possible: little would be my grief at that same. This is looking at the worst side, which I think one ought to do; but I think we shall on the whole succeed: though a rich man (so-called) I never either can or will become: nay, I am trying in a feeble way to be more thrifty — whereof no more, lest I boast now and be disgraced at Christmas. I have been reading more of Carlyle's life, and find it deeply interesting in spite of Froude;2 usually I find biographies dull to extremity, I suppose because they are generally a mass of insincerities and platitudes: but in this book is a man speaking who can say what he thinks even in a letter (I wish I could). I like him much the better for having read this book, after that other mass of moodiness, 3 and I fare to feel as if he were on the right side in spite of all faults. I have to go now to Oxford Street and then to the Mansion House to the Icelandic Relief Committee, which I am afraid owing to the time of the year is like to be a dead failure.4 TEXT: Mackail, II, 75-77. Published: Henderson, Letters, 159-60. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 110, n. 1. 2 Thomas Carlyle: A History of the First Forty Years, 1795-1835 by J. A. Froude, 2 vols. It was reviewed in The Athenaeum, April 8, 1882 (pp. 435-36) and April 15, 1882 (pp. 467-68). 3 Carlyle's Reminiscences; see letter no. 711. 4 See letters no. 804, no. 806 and no. 813.

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809 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 24, 1882

WILLIAM BELL SCOTT

My dear Scott Many thanks for the cheque:11 can't say we find it easy to get money, people being so much out of town; so if you have any chance of bleeding people please do so, as I assure you the help is needed most sorely: we shall send it in kind, as not only have the poor folk got no money to buy food, but they have scarce any food to buy if they had it. It is a very bad business indeed, and unless they get helped, I fear a great lot of them will go under. Thanks again Yours very truly William Morris Ms: UBC, Penkill Papers. 1 For the Iceland Famine Relief Fund of which Morris was treasurer. See letters no. 804 and no. 806.

810 ·

FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[August 30, 1882?]

I have not been well, and there have been other troubles also of which I won't speak, and the sum of all has rather made me break down. 1 I hope I am not quite unhumble, or want to be the only person in the world untroubled; but I have been ever loth to think that there were no people going through life, not without pain indeed, but with simplicity and free from blinding entanglements. Such an one I want to be, and my faith is that it is possible for most men to be no worse. Yet indeed I am older, and the year is evil; the summerless season, and famine and war, and the folly of peoples come back again, as it were, and the more and more obvious death of art before it rises again, are heavy matters to a small creature like me, who cannot choose but think about them, and can mend them scarce a whit. However, to stand up for oneself and tip them Long Melford, as Miss Berners2 says (and also in his way old Carlyle), is the only cure; and indeed I try it at whiles. TEXT: Mackail, II, 77. Published: Henderson, Letters, 160-61. 1 Mackail writes (H, 73) that Jenny's severe and repeated illnesses upset the whole year for Morris. "It is not putting the case too strongly to say that for the time they thoroughly shattered his nerve. . . ." 2 In George Borrow's autobiographical novel, Lavengro, "Long Melford" is the expression that Belle Berners uses for Lavengro's long right arm.

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1882 / LETTER N O . 812 811 · FROM A LETTER T O [GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES?]

Summer 1882

[Godstow is] less changed than any beautiful place I k n o w , the very fields that stretch u p to W y t h a m much the same as they always were with their wealth of poplar and willow trees, the most beautiful m e a d o w s to be seen anywhere. . . . So it will be till civilized life is quite changed, every alteration in the material w o r l d will be for the w o r s e . ' TEXT: Mackail, II, 73-74. 1 Ellipses represent the place where Mackail continued his narrative. Mackail says (H, 73) of this time, referring to Jenny's illness: "This household anxiety coloured all the world to him: and even Kelmscott that year could not charm away his melancholy. The sense of change seemed brooding everywhere, and a dim shadow of unhappiness clung about the 'sweet-looking clean waterside.' "

812 · T o M A Y MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 31, 1882 Dearest M a y T h a n k y o u kindly for your letter: n o w I have to write to y o u I feel the undutifulness & unreasonableness of asking m y daughters for tales, for I have none to tell you: I had a queer day or t w o with the Faulkners in Wiltshire, pleasant enough on the whole: one really gets astonished at the vast stretches of d o w n s there; no end to them almost; one place w e came to with groves of y e w & scotch-fir on the fine turf was very specially beautiful: I wasnt d o w n there quite long enough to taste the country fully, b u t I felt a little dissappointed at the villages which are very inferior to ours: the materials n o t being good, and there being m a n y great lords there away, Pembrokes, Heytesburys, Somersets & the rest. Yesterday w e w e n t to M e r t o n together meeting Stanley 1 at the station; a beautiful day b u t windy; w o r k going pretty well there, lots of carpets out for us to look at; so w e enjoyed ourselves very m u c h only I developed a budding gout in the afternoon, which h o w e v e r today dont threaten to be very serious. Jenny & I (but especially Jenny) have been hard at w o r k over the Icelandic matter which is n o w going o n well; b u t I foresee quicksands in the w a y w h e n w e come to the distribution of what w e are likely to get. 2 I hear from Aunt Georgie that y o u have been very good, so I hope y o u have been enjoying yourself, as is like to be the case. We shall all be very glad to see y o u m y dear, & w e will g o d o w n to Kelmscott like angels (fat one I).

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The DeMs have promised to come, Mr. Richardson will turn up. 3

apropos of fat I wonder when Your loving father William Morris

MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. Published: CW, 14, xix. 1 Possibly Hugh Stanley, one of Morris's younger brothers, who lived the life of a country gentleman, building a house at Bursledon where he went in for breeding cattle. 2 See letters no. 804 and no. 806. 3 H. H. Richardson (see letter no. 800, n. 1) was due to return to England for a week before sailing for the United States. Although he was supposed to be on a diet for the sake of his health, he never stayed on it for long and was well known for his plumpness. See Hitchcock, H. H. Richardson (cited in letter no. 800, n. 1)

813 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 2, 1882

EIRIKR MAGNUSSON

My dear Magnusson I thought it better to delay answering your letter till I could see Ellis, who except Storer1 is the only other active member of the Committee in London so that there might be no hitch at the meeting:2 he agreed with me that it is most desireable that you should go: So I think you ought if possible to be present at the meeting (of) on Monday week so that you may produce some sort of scheme & be prepared to answer all questions. You musn't forget that Mr. Storer has already agreed to take charge of the goods out to Bordeyri so we must take care not in any way to wound his susceptibilities; and he seems withal a very good fellow. You must forgive me for offering you a bit of advice, since I am now an old hand at organizing committees & the like, and know how easy it is to chill the public if any hitch occurs: it is absolutely necessary that whatever your feelings may be about the merchants and the Danish Government, you should keep them to yourself;3 any smallest quarrel with either of these entities would ruin the present fund with the English Public, & would put a stopper on getting up anything similar in years to come. Try to wheedle the merchants into acting with you if possible. Of course I agree with all the practical remarks in your letter; but don't quite understand your plan for gathering the horses: we must also on that point be very careful to do nothing that even looks like masterfulness, as you will be the agent of a body which is both foreign & private. It would be a very good thing (indeed necessary) to get letters from important & if possible official persons in Iceland, such as Havsteen, Thor[ 124 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 814

berg, the Bishop:4 of course over here the parsons will be looked on as officials & of good authority. I may as Treasurer ask you to be careful to have your accounts drawn out very clearly. I enclose a copy of the letter from the Iceland Trading Company which I think you have heard of.5 MS: Iceland. 1 A Mr. A. Storer attended a meeting of the Mansion House Relief Committee held on August 29 (see letters no. 804, n. 2 and no. 806, and The Times, August 30, 1882, p. 4). The others present were F. H. Grove, Mrs. Magnusson, Miss Cobden, William Morris, and F. S. Ellis. 2 It was held on September 11 and attended by Storer, Morris, Ellis, and Mrs. Magnusson. A resolution was passed to empower a subcommittee to select a commissioner (probably Magnusson) to go to Iceland and organize distribution (see The Times, September 12, 1882, p. 6). A steamer was to start for Boroeyn on September 12 from Glasgow. 3 Since Iceland in 1882 had only limited self-government, the country still being under Danish rule, Magnusson, who was nationalistic, as Harris notes (p. 33), "was not altogether fond of the Danish government which had over the centuries held his country in a control sometimes harsh and seldom beneficial. . . ." As for the merchants, Harris writes (p. 33) that Magnusson had arranged with them for the distribution of relief supplies but that these men "were notorious for their ruthlessness and dishonesty." 4 The three were Julius Havsteen (1839-1915), Governor of the North and East Governorship; Burgur Thorberg (1829-1886), Deputy Governor General; and Pjetur Thjetursson (1808-1891), the Bishop of Iceland. Magnusson did, in fact, get letters and reports from all three, and from others as well. 5 The rest of this letter is missing.

814 · To

CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 4, 1882

Dear Miss Rossetti1 Thank you for your kind remembrances; I am sorry I was obliged to give a nay say to Mrs. Bolton;2 but I quite [stuffed?] with multifarious work, & cannot undertake another scrap of (of) it. With best wishes I am Dear Miss Rossetti Yours very truly William Morris Ms: UKansas. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 74, n. 2. 2 Sarah Knowles Bolton (1841-1916). An American author and wife of Charles Edward

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LETTERS

OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

Bolton (1841-1901), a wealthy industrialist, she traveled in Europe between 1881 and 1883, studying women's education and labor conditions. An avid seeker of encounters with the famous, especially literary people, she discovered during her stay m London that she resided close to Christina Rossetti, at Torrmgton Square, and cultivated her acquaintance. OnJuIy 7, 1882, Christina Rossetti had provided Sarah Bolton with a letter of introduction written to Morris, which described the bearer as "an American lady who certainly does not stand in need of my introduction but who seems inclined to approach you with this note in her hand." Christina Rossetti went on, "She wishes to speak (or write) to you on a matter of literary — that is to say, of poetic, business; and has been treating with me to my advantage on the same point" (BL, Add. MSS. 45345). Among Sarah Bolton's books were Men of Science, Famous Types of Womanhood, Voyagers and Explorers, Leaders Among Men, and Poor Boys, Poor Girls. For an autobiographical record, see Sarah K. Bolton, Pages for an Intimate Autobiography Edited by her Son [Charles Knowles Bolton] (Boston: Thomas Todd and Co., 1923).

815 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 4 [1882] Dear Madam 1 I thank y o u for your kind and sensible letter, and a m pleased to k n o w that I have been successful in interesting any one in the subject matter of m y letter 2 practically. I have little I think to add to what you have read of mine: I d o n o t like h o w e v e r to be praised at the expense of Ruskin, w h o you must r e m e m b e r is the first comer, the inventer; and 1 believe w e all of us o w e a hope that still clings to us, and a chance of expressing that hope, to his insight: of course to say one does n o t always agree with h i m is to say that he and I are of mankind. As to the machines, the reasonable thing to say of t h e m is that they are like fire, bad masters, good servants: and I fear that in Manchester and thereabouts they are heavy masters enough: I do believe that the day will come when people will be able to recognize this reasonable view of machinery: meantime you are quite right in insisting on the necessity of people trying first of all to live in decent cleanliness all the m o r e as this is beginning to dawn on people as a possibility. Perhaps the day m a y come w h e n the w o r k m e n of some manufacturing district will strike to compel their masters to consume their o w n smoke; that will mark a real advance in Civilization. Again meantime w e must d o o u r best to keep everything alive that contrasts with the squalor you speak of; those w h o are in any w a y engaged in creating beauty of any sort, must understand that their occupation is n o longer a frivolous one, b u t most serious: those w h o have any responsibility as regards relics of the times of art must r e m e m b e r that they are the guardians n o t merely of a public building, so m u c h Stones and Mortar and Timber, b u t that they hold in their p o w e r the very seeds of Civilization to come.

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1882 I LETTER N O . 817

Now I will ask you to think that what I have written in my book, is not written for the sake of rhetoric — but for the sake of fact; that I mean it all quite literally — and much more that I couldn't say, for that matter. I am, Dear Madam, Yours faithfully William Morris TEXT: MM, II, 584-85. 1 May Morris writes (II, 584) that this letter "is in answer to a lady who had probably been reading the lately published Hopes and Fears for Art" and wanted to know more about Morris's views. 2 "Letter" may be a slip of the pen for "book" since Morris is likely referring to Hopes and Fears for Art.

816 · To HENRY LONG

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 5, 1882 Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge with many thanks the receipt of £5-10-0 for the Iceland Relief Fund, and remain Yours faithfully William Morris 1 (Treasurer) Henry Long Esq. MS: Taylor. 1 This letter was written out for Morris by someone else.

817 · To WILLIAM

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 12 [1882]

TALLACK

Dear Sir1 I beg to thank you for your contribution to the Icelandic Relief Fund:2 Of course emigration will go on from Iceland, as it has for some years past; but I cannot agree with you in wishing to see the land unpeopled, since in ordinary years the people live there happily enough, & in many

[ 127 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM MORRIS respects live a m u c h better life than the mass of people d o in richer c o u n tries. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William M o r r i s W m . Tallack Esqe MS: Bryn Mawr. 1 William Tallack (1831-1908), who from 1863 to 1866 had been secretary to the Society for Abolition of Capital Punishment. In 1866 he became secretary of the newly formed Howard Association established to promote prison reform. (The Association took its name from John Howard [1726P-1790], a Stoke Newington advocate of penal change.) Tallack visited prisons in many countries and in 1888 published Penological and Preventive Principles. His autobiographical Howard Letters and Memories was published in 1905 2 On September 7 and 9 the Daily News published appeals by the Mansion House Relief Committee for donations. A list of those who had already contributed and a description of conditions in Iceland were also given.

818 · T o [OCTAVIA?] HILL

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 12 [1882]

D e a r Miss Hill 1 M a n y thanks for the cheque for £2 for the Iceland Famine Fund duly received this m o r n i n g . Yours very truly William M o r r i s MS:

PML.

1

Probably Octavia Hill (1838-1912), philanthropist and housing reformer, who was influenced by the Christian Socialists. In 1855 she also received artistic training from John Ruskin when as a member of the Ladies Guild—an organization devoted to finding decorative work for women that was in collapse at the time—she turned to him for personal help. At her instigation, Ruskin, in 1864 and later, bought several houses to rent to the poor with the understanding that she would renovate and manage them. Active in many groups, she supported the Kyrle Society and Commons Preservation Society, and was co-founder of the National Trust. In 1881 she had visited Morris and was given a tour of the Queen Square carpet works. See C. Edmund Maurice, ed., Life of Octavia Hill as Told in Her Letters (London: Macmillan, 1913), p. 446.

[ 128 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 820 819 · To [A?] MYERS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 23 [1882?] Dear Sir1 My friend Miss Faulkner2 is very studious of ancient & oriental art, & is a person of great taste; although she is a skilful designer, she is quite as incapable as myself of'prigging' a pattern; you would do her and me a service if you would kindly show her the drawings you were so good as to show me; you may be sure she would appreciate them thoroughly. I am Dear Sir Yrs faithfully William Morris Myers Esqre. MS: NYPL. 1 Probably A. Myers of the firm "A. Myers and Son." In February 1883 Morris acted as referee for the purchase of two carpets offered for sale to the South Kensington Museum by Myers and recommended the purchase of both. (For a description of the carpet, the larger, "one of the finest and most elegant" in the Persian manner, see B. Morris, pp. 167-68.) In July 1883 the Myers firm also offered the Museum a piece of Chinese damask velvet for sale, and once again Morris acted as referee, this time advising against purchase. 2 See Volume I, letter no. 98, n. 1.

820 · To THE

EDITOR OF THE

Daily News

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 27 [1882]

Sir, I have noticed an anonymous communication in your columns today which denies the existence of any very unusual scarcity in Iceland. Will you allow me, in answer, to remind your readers that our appeal for help was founded on information from responsible officials, which was published in the Copenhagen journals by the Ministry in that city. This information showed us that, owing to a bad year in 1881, and to an extraordinarily late and inclement spring in 1882, the live stock had been lamentably reduced already, and was likely to suffer still more by the lack of hay in the coming winter, since the grass had not begun to grow before the middle ofJune; added to which the measles, an unusual disease in Iceland, had attacked the population most severely. Those who know anything of Iceland understood that these facts meant nothing less than famine, unless the country could receive external help. An appeal was made to pri[ 129 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

vate charity in Denmark, which was generously responded to, and breadstuffs have already been sent out to Iceland by means of the fund so raised. All this information had chiefly to do with the south and south-west of the country, as owing to the bad weather there had been scarcely any communication between the north and the south; but no one who had been in Iceland, or who has even a fair hearsay knowledge of it, can doubt that the north and north-east must be in a worse plight than the south, since the ice was still blocking the northern inlets in the beginning of August — a state of things unprecedented in modern times. It would be a great relief to us if we could feel sure that the hay crop in the south is a tolerable one, though a priori, it seems unlikely that it should be so; but even if it were very good, the southern farmers would want it every ounce to make good the deficiency of last year. As to the good condition of the sheep in the north, which your correspondent alludes to, the fact is I fear not so encouraging as it looks at first sight; for it is sure to mean that the mountain sheep-walks are so bare of grass that the sheep are obliged to be fed on the home meadows, which should be mowed for hay for the winter keep. I may mention that when I was in Iceland in 1873, the year was a bad one, and we heard dismal stories of hay-need, especially in the homesteads just north of the great deserts, where the scantiness of grass was obvious enough. But in 1873 the ice in the beginning of August was 60 miles north of the northern headlands, whereas this year at the same time it was filling the firths from end to end. From what I saw of the country then I cannot believe it possible that this year there can be any hay crop at all in the greater part of the north. I suppose that few, if any, of your readers who have not been in Iceland can imagine what a very poor country it is. The best of it is what we should call mere waste in England. The mountain sheep-walks above mentioned would seem to us mere barrenness: rock, sand, sour rushy bog, with here and there a patch of dwarf willow creeping along the ground, and here and there handfuls of thin, wiry grass. Nothing but the light mountain sheep could get a living out of it. In such a country a very little weighting of the scale will turn a hard life into bitter poverty, and poverty into mere famine. Few pieces of news that I could hear would please me more than that it has been all a mistake about these hard times in Iceland; but if it be true that the spring was as bitter and late as we have been told on all hands that it was, I cannot see how it can be possible that famine can be avoided there this winter and next spring without the substantial aid which I fully believe the Icelanders will receive from the Mansion House Fund and from other sources. I should add that the relief which the committee is just sending out to the north of Iceland will be accompanied by a member of the committee, *

[ 130 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 822 from w h o m on his return in about a m o n t h w e expect to receive full particulars of the state of things there. I am, Sir, Yours obediently, William Morris TEXT: Daily News, September 28, 1882, 2. 1

Eirikr Magnusson.

821 · F R O M A L E T T E R T O FREDERICK STARTRIDGE E L L I S

Kelmscott

September 29, 1882 I a m so vexed that y o u should have had all this trouble 1 except for the circumstances which y o u k n o w of, I would have made a point of staying in London and seeing the matter through. I cannot find that beastly letter. When I saw y o u M o n d a y week I put what letters I thought w o u l d be wanted into an envelope which I intended to give you, but I was so m u d dled b y m y o w n troubles that I daresay I did not; n o r can I be sure that the letter w a s in it. Meantime I have written a letter to the bloody Times which I also inclose; if you think it w o r t h while please send it on: after which I really don't see what any of us can do till Magnusson comes back. 2 I repeat I am so vexed that you should have been let in for such worrits — I am reminded of Swinburne's view of providence w h e n he said that he never saw an old gentleman give a sixpence to a beggar, b u t he w a s straightway run over b y a 'bus. TEXT: Mackail, II, 78-79. Published: Henderson, Letters, 161. 1

Ellis was active in the work of the Mansion House Relief Committee. There had been statements in The Times, The Scotsman, and the Daily News denying that a famine existed in Iceland. 2 On September 27 Magnusson left London for Glasgow to begin his trip to'Iceland, carrying with him £3,000 worth of fodder and provisions. He sailed from Glasgow to Iceland on October 4.

822 · T o EIRIKR M A G N U S S O N

Kelmscott

October 2 [1882] M y dear Magnusson I have your letter which I shall note & keep till you come back: it is most annoying that use & w o n t prevent one saying the only thing w o r t h saying [ 131 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

to these rascals:1 'You are damned liars.' but patience is the only resource. I am writing this in hopes it will catch you in time to wish you heartily God speed, & to say that in my opinion it is important for you to bring back letters from [amtmen?], 2 clergy, good bonders & the like setting forth the real state of the case in their respective districts. As for these scoundrels, who are of the type of the cooly-traffickers & rum & canon missionaries3 who have disgraced us all over the world, it is of little use noticing them; it only advertises them. Hoping that even your rough voyage & hard work will do you good rather than harm as to health I am My dear Magnusson Yours very truly William Morris By the way don't publish this letter, for we are bound to keep our tempers. MS: Iceland. 1 Those who denied there was a famine in Iceland. 2 Possibly district magistrates, since the modern Icelandic word for district is ami. 3 Morris refers to reports by merchants who denied that there was any famine. For example, The Scotsman September 16, 1882, printed (p. 9) a letter from R. and D. Shmon, Scots merchants, who said that their ship Camoens, having been in northern Iceland for six weeks, reported that the problem was only a poor season. In spite of this, the Slimons said, Iceland would be able to export more well-fed sheep than it had done for the past one hundred years.

823 · T o SlGRlduR ElNARSDOTTIR MAGNUSSON

Kelmscott H o u s e , U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h N o v e m b e r 2, 1882

Dear Mrs. Magnusson Having read your enclosure carefully, & thought over the matter, I can't help coming to the conclusion, in spite of my indignation with Vigfusson,1 that it would be better not to publish it:2 you see the public cannot be got to go into the wrong or right of what seems to them to partake of the nature of a personal quarrel, they only stand by & grin sardonically. I think I should try to publish nothing till the Committee put forth their official account on Eirikr's return. 3 Also to say the truth I dont think there is the least chance of the Times publishing it; especially now with parliament sitting.

t 132 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 823A

Please take this as it is meant in friendly wise & excuse my differing from you. I am My dear Mrs. Magnusson Yours very truly William Morris MS: Iceland. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 565, n. 2. On October 13 The Times had printed (p. 4) a letter from Vigfusson in which he denied the existence of famine in Iceland, declaring that members of the Mansion House Relief Committee were "teaching my countrymen to be and play the pauper and to lose all sense of shame." Mrs. Magnusson apparently took Morris's advice and did not publish her retort. On December 27, however, The Times printed (p. 6) an affidavit signed by over seventy men of importance in Iceland, confirming the country's distress and admonishing Vigfusson for having written "without seeking any foundation whatever for his statements." 3 Magnusson's return was reported by The Times, November 25 (p. 9). At a meeting of the Mansion House Relief Committee on December 12 he confirmed that conditions in Iceland were as the Committee had maintained. He charged that he had been delayed eighteen days at Reykjavik because Consul Paterson had insisted that the whole cargo consigned for him be unloaded before the ship went north. Magnusson's report, The Distress in Iceland (London, 1882), was printed and circulated. 2

823A · T o WILLIAM COOPER

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 7, 1882

Dear Sir1 I am much honoured by your request that I should address your school of Art at the Distribution of prizes, but I am so much engaged, that I must with much regret deprive myself of the pleasure of visiting you Pray convey my thanks to the Committee, & make them understand how sincerely I sympathise with their efforts for the furtherance of the arts. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris William Cooper Esqre MS:

MCL.

1

Possibly the Secretary of the Derby School of Art. A William Cooper was listed as its secretary in 1883.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 824 · T o GEORGE JAMES HOWARD

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 8, 1882 My dear Howard I dont suppose you expect me to aid and abet the emancipated slaves at Brampton in their atrocities.1 Joking apart I think Mr Whitehead2 ought to be ashamed of himself, and I should like him to understand that if he has any(thin) fragment of his wretched tailor's Gothic stuck up in the church I can't have anything to do with the matter. Of course any architectural reredos would be objectionable: all that is wanted is a handsome piece of stuff hung on a rod across the end: if they like in addition to have a piece of bold embroidery IHC or what not in the space over the altar, well & good. I shall be happy to give them an estimate for anything of that kind: shall our people write formally to you or to Mr. Whitehead to say so? & recommend colour &c I am sending back the Revd. his tailors lucubrations: with difficulty refraining from words even good ones. Yrs affectionately William Morris MS: Howard Papers. 1 This may be a comment on the fact that in the first election in which £12 householders voted, a Conservative won in East Cumberland. 2 Henry Whitehead (1826-1896), vicar of Brampton from 1874 to 1884.

825 · T o CATHERINE

Kelmscott, Lechlade [November 9, 1882]

HOLIDAY

Dear Mrs. Holiday I am away from home just now: when I go back to business as I shall in a few days, I will see what can be done: meantime I should explain that we have only an agency over there;1 neither have we ever sent any embroideries on sale because the enormous custom's duties would raise the price more than the risk of selling them would be worth, and we feared damage besides to such fragile goods. Yrs very truly William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Morris probably refers to Cowtan and Tout, New York (see Volume I, letter no. 599, n.

[ 134 ]

1882 I LETTER N O . 826

826 · To JENNY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 13, 1882 (Monday)

MORRIS

Dearest Jenny Thank you kindly for your letter; I answer you instead of dear May's postcard, because you ask questions; so I hope she wont think it shabby. The place you saw before the station at Basingstoke was probably Old Basing; where once stood the famous house which was so long held by the royalists in the parliamentary war: the church is mostly brick, & is very beautiful & picturesque, & the whole place very romantic; one of those places that one always does look at: I don't think there is much in Basingstoke itself to be seen from the railway: only on the right hand side going down is a curious ruin, the Chapel of the Holy Ghost, a piece of late rich Gothic. I dont remember seeing much of Winchester Cathedral from the railway except the low broad tower: perhaps we may manage to get there before you quite come away from Bournemouth. I have only just got your letter, my dear, or I should have written yesterday & been able to write a longer one. I am so glad you find the place endurable at any rate: Mr. Dick1 did not call yesterday, Mr. Norman 2 was my only visitor — except his dogs. I duly got down to Ellis' on Friday & we were pleasant enough; but I found that he had no real idea of leaving Epsom: and I don't wonder, for all things considered he is very well off there; though the house is ugly it is sound & comfortable & the place is really pleasant, with plenty of proper fields about: however Ellis gave me the order for the carpet. I dropped in on Merton on my way back, and afterwards called on the Faulkners, finding Kate out but Charles3 in. I found on getting home that Mrs. Magnusson had called, on Friday but wouldn't sleep there. By the way please tell May that she brought her guitar, but thinks it wouldn't be safe to send it down: so if May likes to wai{t), I will bring it her the first time I come. After all Trubner's 4 have sent Wallace's Land Nationalisation, 5 & I have read a good bit of it. It is not nearly such a good book as George's 6 but there are some things to remember in it. Since it is here I will just run through it to see what he proposes & then send it on to you. Give my very best love to May & Mama; I shall be so glad to hear that she is better: she was so poorly Friday morning. Goodbye my own Jenny; I will write again tomorrow or next day & will hope to hear from some of you tomorrow. Your loving father William Morris.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 Richard Grosvenor. See Volume I, letter no. 640, n. 3. 2 Norman Grosvenor. See letter no. 676, n. 10. 3 See Volume I, letter no. 45, n. 6 4 Nicholas Triibner (1817-1884), the publisher. 5 Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), the naturalist. He was also a socialist and an advocate of land nationalization. 6 Henry George (1839-1897), the American economist who founded the single tax movement. He lectured on several occasions in England, and Morris, m the early phase of his own socialism, regarded him as one of the great radical thinkers of the nineteenth century.

827 · T o E L L I S A N D W H I T E

Hammersmith

N o v e m b e r 16 [1882?]

Dr Sirs1 Please send a copy of Borrows Gipsies in Spain (J. Murray) 2 to Miss Morris at Mrs. Toop's 12 Westover Villas Bournemouth & oblige Yrs truly W Morris MS: Princeton T. 1 David White (d. 1910) became F. S. Ellis's business partner about 1872 and remained so until Ellis retired in 1884. Before joining Ellis, White had been in business on his own account. 2 The Zincali: or an Account of the Gypsies in Spain, by George Borrow (1803-1881), first published m 1841; see also letter no. 828.

828 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 16 [1882]

MAY MORRIS

Dearest May Thank you very much for your letter: I am so glad to learn that all has gone well as yet, and that Mother is better. Snow & cold today in London, my dear: but I am afraid you are sharing it: I see that a French astronomer says that 'tis all along of the comets of which such an enormous number are at present on their legs: having given us this accurate account of comets of which of course he knows so much; his mind will now be freer & allow him perhaps to let us know what he thinks about twins. Wasn't it funny about Marquis Queensberry 1 at the Globe Theatre?2 it seems he is a mad kind of a blackguard & behaves ill to his wife who is very nice. 3

[ 136 ]

1882 / LETTER N O . 828

Mrs. Wardle4 was at Merton yesterday & she said that she (saw) was there, next to his Lordship, [who] was 'enduced' to go out much as Dick Turpin 'perwailed' on the coachman to stop, to wit he was carried out by 4 policemen, he kicking and screaming. I must say though, I think that old Tennyson an old fogey — silly old man! The door is finished painting & looks noble: but the knocker is not on yet. The room (studio & all is done as far as the workmen are concerned, but they have to clean it down a bit: it looks comfortable, but will be better when I have got a red curtain into it. I went into the De Morgans last night: I found them preparing to vote for Bousfield for the School Board5 who is a regular theological party, in short a tailed one as you Italians say: on the part of the old lady this was because he is a pronounced anti vivisectionist, however I think I put a spoke in his wheel. I am so sorry you are like to run short of literature: you should do like the people in introductions of collections of tales, tell each other stories — there there — I ask pardon. Meantime I am writing to Ellis to send you down Borrows Gipsies in Spain, which we have none of us read & wh: I should think you will find readable aloud. With best love to you & Mother & May, I rest Dearest May Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. 1 Sir John Sholto Douglas, eighth Marquis of Queensberry (1844-1900). He was a supporter of Charles Bradlaugh, patron of boxing, and father of Lord Alfred Douglas. In 1867 the special rules of boxing (the Queensberry rules) were drawn up under his supervision. In 1881 he published a meditation in blank verse titled The Spirit ofthe Matterhorn. In 1895, sued by Oscar Wilde for libel, he brought a counteraction that led to Wilde's criminal trial and conviction. 2 At a performance on November 14, 1882, of Tennyson's play The Promise of May at the Globe Theatre, Douglas rose in the stalls and denounced the play, protesting that in the chief character, Philip Edgar (a freethinker, secularist, and hedonist), Tennyson had travestied true freethinkers. The Marquis of Queensberry made the protest twice, at the beginning and at the end of the play. The next day he explained that as president of the British Secular Society he had felt obliged to protest against Tennyson's "abominable caricature." 3 Sibyl, younger daughter of Alfred Montgomery, married Douglas in 1866. She divorced him in 1887. 4 Madeleine Smith Wardle (1834?-1928), the wife of George Wardle and the daughter of a prosperous Glasgow architect, James Smith. She was accused of poisoning her lover, Pierre Emile L'Angelier (1827-1857), and her trial became a sensational news item. She was acquitted. Richard Altick notes (p. 185) that Violet Hunt (an unreliable source) recounted that after her trial, Smith was "living in a London boarding house very miserably" and working as a tapestry weaver for the Morris firm. But, Altick observes, there are several conflicting accounts of her whereabouts at this time. It is known, however, that she married George

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L E T T E R S OF W I L L I A M

MORRIS

Wardle on July 4, 1861. See Richard Altick, Victorian Studies in Scarlet (New York: Norton, 1970), pp. 173-90. 5 William Bousfield (1842-1910), noted for his interest in the education and social welfare of working men and women. See The Times, November 27, 1882, p. 7; and The Oxford Register 1900.

828A · T o WILLIAM ROBERTSON NICOLL

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 22, 1882

D e a r Sir 1 I shall be h a p p y to help y o u to the best of m y p o w e r , a l t h o u g h the course of m y life has been uneventful as that of m o s t artists & literary m e n . B u t for the next few days I a m very busy, so I will ask y o u to give m e a little time: if y o u d o n ' t hear from m e again in the course of a m o n t h I advise y o u to write to m e (to the above address) a r e m i n d e r of m y p r o m ise. 2 I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William M o r r i s MS: Yale O. 1

Probably Sir William Robertson Nicoll (1851-1923). Born in Scotland and educated at the University of Aberdeen, he was a clergyman and a man of letters. He served as a Free Church minister at Dufftown from 1874 to 1877, and at the time of Morris's letter, in a church in Kelso. In 1885, he left Scotland and settled in London, becoming editor of The Expositor, and then of The British Weekly and The Bookman. As an author, he wrote extensively on theology and literature. In 1909, he was knighted. 2 It is unclear why the Nicoll identified in note 1 would have written to Morris in 1882, but in that year he published an anthology, Songs of Rest, which contained poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti, William Barnes, and George Macdonald, among others. It is possible that at an early stage he had planned to include a poem by Morris, too, and in that connection had written to him requesting an autobiographical note (though there are no such notes in the book) It is also possible that he had hoped to write a biographical sketch of Morris as a separate work: in 1881 he had published Tennyson (under the pseudonym Walter E. Wace), and, later, brief studies of John Bunyan (1884) and Robert Louis Stevenson (1906), as well as literary history.

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829 · To JOHN

HENRY MIDDLETON

Bournemouth November 30 [1882?]

My dear Middleton 1 0 the industry of thee! but I can't take the matter up till I come back at the end of this week when I will. I shall be in town at home on Sunday & my wife with me, & we shall both be very glad to see you if you can come over: & perhaps some looking over your paper together might expedite matters. 1 shan't be able to get to the meeting tomorrow; but I note that we ought to have Christ Church down here in our eye: it has not suffered much as yet, but I saw a box in the Inn labelled 'for the the restorations of the Priory Church.' 2 It is a most noble & romantic building; the early perpendicular of the quire & retroquire being exceptionally splendid: the only very bad piece of gammon is in the enormous & rich early English porch, the vaulting of which has been quite ruined: Ferrey3 is the unmitigated ruffian who has been employed; I judge him to be specially dangerous there as I saw a draper in the town of that name, obviously the father of the bandit. You may be sure that Ruskin was right when he said to me that the only way of stoppering these villains was to bribe them: it would be worth paying Ferrey £500 a year to keep Ch: Ch: as it is — Hallao! this is libellous — being true. Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Leipzig. 1 See Volume 1, letter no. 194, n. 1. 2 The Annual Report of the S.P. A.B., 1884, contained (p. 13) an account of the Priory Church of Chnstchurch, Hants. It notes that in September 1883 the building was surveyed and a report sent to the vicar and churchwardens. The account went on to say that there "is every reason for hoping that nothing will be done to the building beyond the necessary repairs." 3 Probably Edward Benjamin Ferrey (d. 1910) who oversaw restorations at the Priory Church, Christchurch, Hants., in 1881-1882. His father, Benjamin Ferrey (1810-1880), had been in charge of restorations at the Priory Church in 1862 and earlier had been part author of Antiquities of the Pnory Church of Christchurch, Hants (1834). It is conceivable that it is the father and not the son to whom Morris refers here, but that would require redatmg the letter as no later than 1880, the year the elder Ferrey died, since Morris speaks of the architect in question as currently employed. Moreover, although the elder Ferrey was honorary diocesan architect from 1841 to 1880, there is no record of his involvement with the Priory Church near the end of his life.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 830 · To ALLAN PARK PATON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 5 [1882] Dear Sir1 I beg to thank your for your letter. I am afraid however that I cannot remember who designed the glass in question: at least all of it; but it must have been Mr. Burne-Jones who designed the Adoration of the Lamb. I don't mean to say that your drawing was his handiwork, but the original design was his. 2 I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris Ms: NLS. 1 See Volume I, letter no. 27, notes 1 and 2. 2 Presumably Paton had asked about the "Agnus Dei" window in the Old West Kirk, Greenock. Sewter (II, 85) tentatively attributes the drawing to Philip Webb.

831 · T o JENNY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 6, 1882

MORRIS

Dearest Jenny Thank you kindly for your letter: I wrote to you from Merton on Monday, but somehow my letter seems to have crossed yours: you will find some of your questions answered in it, as I told you in it about my lecture: As to Arabi, my dear, the Khedive immediately after the sentence of death commuted the sentence to perpetual banishment, which I suppose will mean banishment as long as Arabi finds it safe & convenient to stay away: so (The) thus ends a bit of farce tacked on to the original (comedy) tragedy. 1 Some how the papers were so very full of the opening of the law courts 2 that they hadn't much space for the Archbishop's death. 3 I can only say I hope they wont make him of York the new one;4 he is unctuous very, not to say soapy. I hope poor Mr. Fawcitt will get well5 he would be a real loss, as I believe he is an honest politician though a narrow one. Yesterday I spent the day at the SKM. my opinion was wanted as to the value of a set of textiles, which old Canon Bock has offered them: 6 there were some very interesting pieces among them: a noble piece of Si-

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cilian woven stuff of a pattern I havn't seen before; a fine piece of 13th cent Syrian silk with (real) Arab writing in it: some fragments of the very early cloths also, and a great quantity of good 17th cent: patterns: also a good collection of printed goods from the 14th century till the beginnings on the Wandle. I had also to decide (on) as to whether the Museum should buy 3 large pieces of tapestry (of about 1530) but I refused them as they were not really good, and had been gammoned badly: also (it was) they were too dear £1200 for the 3 & not worth more than £400 at the most:7 While I was 'commanding & forbidding' there I turned round and saw Mr. Brass Benson 8 close by, and we greeted each other. I have made 3 new patterns for embroidery 2 small table-cloths & one cushion. I very pleased you like the lace work; I am going to hunt up Gheltoff today. 9 I am delighted to hear that your eyes are better, don't try them too much though, deary, in writing to me, as I am coming to you on Saturday, Aunty Bessie10 has settled to come with me: we shall come by that usual train & be with you about 6 p.m. So my best love to you my own dear, & kindest regards to Miss Casey11 wherewith goodbye till I see you: only I shall probably send you another note. Your loving father William Morris PS. I dont know if the others have told you about the new beds in the garden here; they are well forward & really look very nice: need I say that Low 12 couldn't finish them without digging a fresh grave or so: dug 2 yesterday. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: Mackail, II, 88. 1 Ahmed Arabi was court-martialed on the charge of being a rebel. Ismail, the Khedive of Egypt, commuted the death sentence to banishment to Ceylon, which, according to Moslem tradition, was the place of exile for Adam when he was driven from Paradise. See The Times, December 4, 1882, p. 5; December 5, p. 5; and December 9, p. 5. 2 The new Law Courts, designed by G. E. Street. 3 Archibald Campbell Tait (1811-1882), Archbishop of Canterbury since 1869. 4 Morris's hope was sustained. Tait was succeeded by Edward White Benson, Bishop of Truro (see Volume I, letter no. 574, n. 1). William Thomson (1819-1890) was Archbishop ofYork. 5 Henry Fawcett (see Volume I, letter no. 256 and n. 4), the blind M.P. and Postmaster General in Gladstone's Cabinet, was taken ill with diphtheria on December 4. The Times reported (p. 7) that he was out of danger on December 19. 6 Canon Franz Bock (1823-1899) was a German expert on textiles. His many works included Geschichte der liturgischen Gewander des Mittelalters (The History of Liturgical Vestments of the Middle Ages) published in three volumes in Bonn between 1856 and 1871. See also letter no. 872. 7 Morris's report on these three pieces is dated December 5, 1882, and is titled "Report on

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3 large pieces of tapestry belonging to Conte de Farcy." It reads in its entirety: "These are figure pieces of the Gothic period somewhat coarse both in colour and drawing, they seem a good deal mended: the price asked appears to me to [sic] too high for the class of work, which though showy is not very good of its kind: I could not recommend the department to buy them." 8 William Arthur Smith Benson (1854-1924), an architect and designer in metal work He helped Burne-Jones make studies of armor and with the encouragement of Burne-Jones and Morris, opened his own shop for metal work in 1880. He was one of the originators of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (see letter no 1440, n. 2.) and of the Art Workers' Guild (founded in 1884). After Morris's death, he became a director of Morris and Co. See Naylor, p. 160, and Memorials, II, 145-46. 9 Guiseppe Marino Urbani de Gheltof, active between 1876 and 1892; he was an authority on the handicrafts of Venice and the author of Trattato Stonco Tecnico della Fabbricazione dei Merletti Veneziani (Venezia-Burano), 1878. Although the book was eventually translated (and titled A Technical History of the Manufacture of Venetian Lace), the English version did not appear until 1888; Morris seems therefore to be saymg that he intends to consult the original, in Italian. 10 Elizabeth Burden, Jane Morris's sister. 11 Presumably Jenny Morris's companion. 12 A gardener at Kelmscott House.

832 · To

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Friday [December 8, 1882]

* and I shall be out all day. My dear Aglaia Thank you kindly for your note: I cannot come this week, as I am going to Bournemouth tomorrow, & today must go to Merton*, as I have had a touch of gout which has kept me in the house all the week: I expect to get back to town next Wednesday or Thursday however, & should be very glad to call on you on the Saturday following if convenient to you. AU well otherwise than my very slight touch of gout which is speedily going Yours affectionately William Morris If tomorrow-week wont do then I can come the Tuesday following probably. MS: Berger Coll.

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1882 I LETTER N O . 833 833 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Merton Abbey,

Surrey December 19, 1882 Dearest Jenny I thought I would just send a little pen-scratch, as I shall not see you till Saturday: it is a lovely day here though it was dark & thick in town; but I cannot get about the works, for the gout has made another grab at me: it feels so queer to be here, and a kind of prisoner to the house; however I have ordered the cab to be here at 6 to take me back to Hammersmith, & I have plenty of small designing work to do meantime. As to our printing: we are really not quite strait yet: I am quite ashamed of it:1 however they are doing Brother Rabbit2 successfully, and the anemone 3 will go on now, & when we are once out of this difficulty, I really think we shall have seen the worst of it. Item we are going to get our wheel set strait during the Xmas holidays, so as not to stop work; the poor critter wants it very badly, for every now & then when there is not much water on it really seems as if he stopped to think, like a lazy boy turning a (Kni) grindstone. I have done 2 days work in the new-old studio at Hammersmith it is quite comfortable, & the new white-wash looks lovely. How all the liberal papers are buttering Lord Derby; 4 1 really think they rather overdo it, even the Echo does:5 but it published a letter from a Tory (ill-natured) who gave some extracts from liberal speeches in /78 or thereabouts anent my lord, and I must say it made me laugh for I well remembered how we used to abuse him: to say truth I think he rather deserved it then, & I am afraid may do again. Well my deary, here is an end of my paper, & Mr. Barret the WoodCutter 6 come to see about cutting the design I made down there — I shall call it Christ-Church, not Bournemouth. 7 1 hope that isn't too 'unreal': So goodbye darling I am Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add MSS. 45339. Extract published: Mackail, II, 88-89. 1 Fiona Clark writes (pp. 57-58) that after the move from Queen Square to Merton Abbey, the new vats took some time to master, and "the first chintzes produced relied on the simplest varieties of. . indigo-discharge printing." Parry notes (pp. 48-49) that Morris's experiments with indigo printing in general started as early as April 1881. 2 The Brother Rabbit design "is based on the earliest models to have inspired Morris: Sicilian and North Italian woven silks of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, themselves based on Byzantine and earlier Eastern sources" (Clark, pp. 57-58). May Morris records (MM, I, 44) that Brother Rabbit "was a very popular print and much loved in the family. We were reading Uncle Remus at Kelmscott then . . . and considered that Brer Rab was

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MORRIS

B r o t h e r Rabbit pattern, 1882.

duly honoured by this representation." Parry notes (pp. 48-49) that Brother Rabbit as well as the Bird and Anemone and Rose and Thistle were designed with printing by the indigo discharge method in mind, and that by December 1882 the firm's blocker, William Hillier, had successfully printed Brother Rabbit and was working on the Bird and Anemone. 3 Bird and Anemone. Clark notes (p. 58) that this design was issued almost simultaneously as a wallpaper and a chintz. 4 Lord Derby (see Volume I, letter no. 351, n. 10) became Colonial Secretary at the end of December. In a speech to the Manchester Liberal Club on December 13 he had declared that Britain had no business to stay in Egypt longer than was necessary to restore order, and that he was against any policy that would interfere with the good understanding between France and Britain. 5 The Echo, December, 18, 1882, published (p. 2) an editorial praising the appointment of Lord Derby, predicting he would "put veto on any sort of adventurous policy in South Africa" and would strengthen Gladstone's decision to get out of Egypt.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 835 6 Parry notes (p. 49) that "all the firm's blocks for wallpaper and printed textiles were cut by Alfred and later James Barrett of 489 Bethnal Green Road, London." 7 Since Morris indicates that he made the design while in Bournemouth, where he had visited Jenny, he may have thought at first of naming the design for the place in which he completed it. Or this may have been a privatejoke, between him and Jenny, concerning Bournemouth.

834 · T o T H O M A S C O G L A N H O R S F A L L

December 31, 1882

T h e point I should try to drive h o m e would be the old one, to wit, that there can be only one foundation for real art, the desire of the whole p e o ple to have it; that this desire cannot exist while they are divided into " c u l tivated" and "uncultivated, i.e., degraded" clases. This is w h a t I must say if I a m to speak in public o n matters of avt generally; but it will sound h o r ribly revolutionary, I fear, to many people: n o w I a m n o t afraid o r ashamed of speaking m y mind in any audience, b u t I want to k n o w if y o u think that such weighty matters w o u l d be over serious for the occasion in question. 1 If I m a y d o what I should really like, I might call m y paper " A r t , Wealth and Riches". 2 MS: Horsfall. 1

At this time, arrangements were being made for Morris to read a paper in Manchester in the spring. 2 The title of the lecture was in fact, "Art, Wealth, and Riches." Morris gave the talk on March 6, 1883, at the Manchester Royal Institution, Mosley Street, "before a joint conversazione of Manchester societies." George Milner (see letter no. 671, n. 1), at this time president of the Manchester Literary Club, was chairman. See LeMire, p. 239.

835 · T o J E N N Y MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 1, 1883 Dearest Jenny T h e letters have n o t yet come in, owing to Christmas cards, b u t I s u p pose I shall hear from you, one or other of you, sometime today: so I will just write & wish you a happy new year, m y dear, which please pass o n to the M a m a and M a y with all m y love: 1 also m y best wishes to Miss Casey. 2 I was in t o w n o n Saturday intending to b u y y o u a fairing, b u t the day was so miserably wet, I began to fear I should be able to d o nothing in that way: h o w e v e r I w a r m e d u p the afternoon b y calling o n M r s . C o r o n i o ; so I asked her where I could b u y a little bit of lace for m y daughters dear, &

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she took me to a funny old dame hard by her house who came from Honiton 3 and there I bought a little bit for you & for May, which seemed to me pretty: but you are both, my dears, to tell me if you really like it, & if you dont I will buy you something else. Well, Well, what weather we have had to be sure since I left you, rain & rain & rain. A quiet Sunday yesterday: Mr. Dillon4 called with a niece to see my carpets & things: so there was a grand turnover of the chest, where I came across one or two things I had quite forgotten. Benson5 also called and stayed to supper. By the way, I duly went to Merton on Thursday, & found the wheel by no means finished as they had promised: indeed it all looked like a boy who has pulled his watch to pieces & can't put it together again however, I expect to find all going today. Post just come in with letters from you and Mama: Thank you kindly for your letter my deary, I hope you will find the place pleasant for a while I am going to sleep at Merton tonight I fancy: because on Wednesday I have to go to an Icelandic meeting at 12 (noon) 6 I will take your watch with me, dear. There will be no contested election here: I could have wished a real radical could have been found to stand against Dilke, 7 but then the Tories would have run a man, and probably got him in: do you see the Pope is going to canonize Sir Thomas More: 8 The Socialists ought to look up, if that is to be their (late) reward. 9 Now I don't know if there is any other news, but if there is, I must keep it till my next. Goodbye dearest Jenny Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: Mackail, II, 89. 1 From this time until March, Morris's family stayed at Lyme Regis. 2 Presumably Jenny's companion, to whom Morris referred in letter no. 831. 3 Honiton, Devonshire, was famous for its lace industry established under Queen Elizabeth I by refugees from Flanders. 4 Frank Dillon (1823-1909), a landscape painter and member of the S.P.A.B. He was also a sympathizer with continental revolutionaries and was a friend of Mazzini. 5 Probably W.A.S. Benson, to whom Morris refers in letter no. 831 (n. 8). 6 The need for aid to Iceland was again being questioned by Vigfusson even though The Times of December 27, 1882, printed (p. 6) an affidavit signed by over seventy prominent Icelanders, confirming the distress and admonishing Vigfusson. In addition, Magnusson had returned to England in late November carrying letters from Icelandic authorities asserting that the famine did exist. His report, titled The Distress in Iceland, was published in late 1882. See Harris, pp. 39-40.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 836 7 Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke (1843-1911), M.P. for Chelsea, 1868-1886. As president of the Local Government Board, he was also a member of the Cabinet from 1882 to 1886. 8 Sir Thomas More was beatified by Pope Leo XlII in 1886. 9 This offhand comment marks the beginning of the record in the letters of Morris's career as a socialist. Since 1881 his disillusionment with the Liberal party had increasingly turned his attention to alternatives. In "How I Became a Socialist," published injustice, June 16, 1894, Morris recalled that by the summer of 1882 he was "ready to join any body that distinctly called itself socialist." During the autumn of 1882, Mackail writes (II, 89), he had read Marx's Kapital. On January 17, 1883, he joined the Democratic Federation. In "How I Became a Socialist," he wrote: "A brief period of political Radicalism, during which I saw my ideal clear enough, but had no hope of any realization of it, came to an end some months before I joined the Democratic Federation, and the meaning of my joining that body was, that I had conceived a hope of the realization of that ideal." The Democratic Federation originated in 1881 as an effort to organize radical clubs of workingmen and to commit these organizations to socialist principles. Its leader was Henry Mayers Hyndman (1842-1921), whom E. P. Thompson calls (p. 340) "the Father of English Socialism." (For Hyndman, see letter no. 904, n. 1). Although the only distinctively socialist demand of the Democratic Federation at first was that land be nationalized, under Hyndman's guidance it had come by 1883 to stand for state socialism.

836 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 3, 1883

EIRIKR MAGNUSSON

My dear Magnusson I was asked at the meeting today to write to you to ask you to appoint a day for the meeting of the Sub-Committee at the Mansion House at 3 pm. It is necessary that you should be present at the meeting:1 so please fix a day when you can come: I gave Mrs. Magnusson this same message but thought I had better write also. I needn't say I shall be very glad to see you at my house & that there is a bed for you when you do come. I am sorry to hear that you are still unwell. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Iceland. 1 Possibly because Magnusson, who had returned from Iceland in late November, was regarded as an authority on actual conditions there.

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837 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 6, 1883

MAY MORRIS

Dearest May It wont take me so very long to write you a line or two in answer to your dear letter. I am glad you find the place pleasant: all you tell me of makes a very different place from Bournemouth, doesn't it? As to the lace, my dear, I can (old) only say I hope you will like it; because if only patricians may wear it we must give up our manufactury of it, since there should be no patricians. I don't know that there is a vast of news to tell you: better weather here; though a wet (day) afternoon yesterday. I duly went to dine at the Flowers' on Thursday, and found to my consternation that it was the wrong evening: however I got my dinner, & when I got home I found that Mrs. F. really had asked me for the evening I went. I was at the De Morgans one day last week, & found Bill in high spirits, though he has not ventured on beginning his chimney yet. By the way we have in our heavy way developed materials for a joke for him at Merton: we have engaged a new blocker, his name is Hill, our old Blocker's name was Hillyar; something ought to be done with this, I think. Well to wind up we have seen the 'wheels go round' at Merton, & the printing seems like to go on swimmingly now: there is a new block come in for the printed dresses, and we can dye piece cotton goods for such like things famously so, give your orders ladies, as even the humble can indulge in these simple articles: there is also a new cloth (worsted for curtains) which I think looks well. Ask your mother, my dear, if she can change a cheque down there, as I shall not be coming down till this day week, & she will probably want money: I think you may reckon on seeing me this day week; unless any very important business turns up. Now goodbye dearest May with best love to you Mama & Jenny, & all kind remembrances to Miss Casey. Your loving father William Morris I'll write to Jenny on Monday MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. 1 Probably Wickham Flower (1835?-1904) and his wife. Flower was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and an early member of the S.P.A.B. His country house, Great Tangley Manor, Surrey, was restored by Philip Webb in 1885. As early as 1881—three years before Flower purchased Tangley Manor—Morris did decorative work for him at Old Swan House, Chelsea Embankment. In 1890 Morris and Co. were also to decorate Great Tangley Manor. See Morris's Diary for 1881 (BL, Add. MSS. 45407B), entries for March 17, April 26, May 25, June 3, June 16, and June 17.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 838 838 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 9, 1883 Dearest Jenny Just a little note to tell you what is going on before I come down to see you, my deary; When all's said not much has happened: you will see that Sir Dilke has been returned without opposition, which was to have been expected.1 I had his lithographed circular asking me to be on the Committee but felt myself bound to nay say it, as I wish a good many others would have done, but doubt they havn't; I see that the Chelsea radicals rather climbed down, not wishing I suppose to divide the Liberal party — I doubt if they shouldn't have said something however. 2 As to Merton things seem going tolerably straight there, and our new blocker3 will come next Monday: I have got to work hard to get our new carpets ready for the loom before Saturday: I suppose within the next two months we shall set many things tidy which are now much the reverse: however we have only one untidy corner now: to wit the place at the back of the wheel house. I have promised to give a lecture at Manchester on March 6th. 4 'tis to be a short one, but will give me a fortnights work, I know; so next week when I come back from you I must get hard at it. The new shop at Manchester by the way will be opened next week. Mr. Possingwhite & Mr. Smith will be there together for a few days. I went to see the Faulkners last Saturday evening they seemed pretty well, had been at Brighton for more than a week: it would have done your heart good to hear Kate hold forth on the horrors of Brighton brassheaded ones & the like. I have just been down the garden to give you news of that: Lowe has nearly got it tidy now & it looks pretty well for a cockney one: but I forsee that we shall have a peck of trouble over the last piece between the green house & the end I mean. Cold weather here today wind (all) and all but fine, though there was rain last night after a beautiful cold dry day. Goodby my dear Jenny till I see you on Saturday: I shall write to Mother & tell her what train I am coming by best love to all Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: CW, 19, xvi. 1 See letter no. 835, n. 7. The election was held on January 8. 2 The Radical leaders decided not to push their policies, fearing that if they did, another Liberal would enter the election, split the Liberal vote, and enable a Conservative to win. 3 Whose name was Hill; see letter no. 837.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 4 "Art, Wealth, and Riches," delivered on March 6, 1883, before ajoint meeting of Manchester societies at the Manchester Royal Institution. See LeMire, p. 239, and letter no. 834.

839 · To SiGRfduR

EINARSDOTTIR MAGNUSSON

449, Oxford Street, London, W. January 12, 1883

Dear Mrs. Magnusson By May's desire I enclose a cheque for £6.10.0 in payment for the guitar which you were so kind as to get her: thank you very much for doing so. 1 Excuse haste as I am at Merton & busy: I go down to Lyme tomorrow: 2 I shall see you on Thursday next Yours very truly William Morris MS: Iceland. 1 See letter no. 826. 2 In a letter to Mrs. Magnusson, dated February 2, 1883, thanking her for the guitar, May wrote in part: "I practice the dear Guitar a little, but am constantly afraid that I must be getting into unconscious bad habits, which frightens me! I find it very difficult to help touching other notes when striking one, with the right hand." In the same letter, May speaks ofJenny and of Morris's visit to Lyme: "[Jenny] is a little better than when we left London, but very very weak, and is so easily pulled back by this abominable changeable weather. . . . We are staying in a very nice little sea-side town, in the most lovely country imaginable, & our little house looks upon a delightful view of the downs and the bay. There are many pretty walks about, and I think Jenny enjoys the short ones we take when the weather permits. . . . Papa has been down to see us once — a flying visit of 2 or 3 days; but he hopes to come again soon and pay a longer visit. He is kept in town by tiresome business just now." (MS. letter, Iceland.)

840 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 12, 1883

MAY MORRIS

Dearest

(a mistake not an affectation) May* Thank you kindly for your letter: I am going to see you so soon that I wont waste precious subjects of conversation in a letter: I suppose there will be some contraption to take me to (the) Lyme at the station tomorrow: 2.30 Waterloo 6.53 Axminster Love to the others Your loving father William Morris MS: Yates Coll.

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1883 / L E T T E R N O . 8 4 2

841 · To JENNY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Wednesday Morning [January 17, 1883]

MORRIS

Dearest Jenny I suppose you will collectively expect me to write to say that I got home safe,1 so I write to you, my deary, since it is your birthday to wish you once more all happiness. I hope you like the cuffs, dear, I think you will suppose me rather barren of imagination in the way of presents, that I must still run upon lace. I had a comfortable journey up though I didn't get home till 8.30, as the train was a stopping one to (Canterbury) Salisbury: however it didnt matter, as I had all the more time to look at the beautiful country: by the way I believe I saw Forde Abbey2 quite close to the railway townward of Chard Junction it looked very beautiful whatever. Such a pile of letters, I found waiting me! Some of them like those of David Copperfield when he had become an author. Best love to you all, and to you chiefly my deary Jenny since it is your birthday. Don't bother to write to me till you feel quite comfortable in doing it, for I know well, what a dear you are and how you would like to please Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 Morris had been at Lyme Regis, where his family was staying. 2 A Cistercian foundation of the twelfth century, partly rebuilt in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and containing five Mortlake tapestries.

842 · F R O M A L E T T E R T O [ J E N N Y M O R R I S ? ]

[January 18-February 1883?]

Rowland, for whom we voted for our School Board, 1 was there, 2 and spoke hugely to my liking; advocated street-preaching of our doctrines as the real practical method: wisely to my mind, since those who suffer (more than we, or they, can tell) from society as it is, are so many, and those who have conceived any hope that it may be changed are so few. TEXT: Mackail, II, 96-97. 1 H. W. Rowland, general secretary of the Amalgamated Cabdnvers' Society and, beginning in 1878, representative of the Society of the annual meetings of the Trades Union Congress. In the elections in November 1882 for the London School Board, he was unsuccessful, ranking sixth in a contest in which the first five candidates were elected. 2 The meeting to which Morris refers was either the one on January 17, at which he joined

[ 151 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

the Democratic Federation, or one later in the winter of 1883. The reason the meeting in question could not be earlier than January 17 is that Morris, according to Scheu, seconded an amendment and presumably could not have done so if he had not already joined the Federation. See Mackail, II, 96-97.

843 · T o [?] M A N S O N

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 23 [1883]1

Dear Mr. Manson

2

I have b y g o o d luck an admission or t w o lying b y m e of w h i c h I send y o u one w i t h m u c h pleasure. 3 I can't say h o w it was that Rossetti t o o k n o interest in politics; b u t so it was; of course he was quite Italian in his general t u r n of t h o u g h t ; t h o u g h I think he t o o k less interest in Italian politics than in English, in spite of his k n o w i n g several of the leading patriots personally, Saffi4 for instance. T h e t r u t h is he cared for n o t h i n g but individual & personal matters, (and) chiefly of course in relation to art and literature, b u t he w o u l d take a b u n dant trouble to help any o n e person w h o was in distress of m i n d or b o d y ; b u t the evils of any (set of) mass of people he couldn't bring his m i n d to bear u p o n . I suppose in short it needs a person of hopeful m i n d to take (a) disinterested notice of politics & Rossetti was certainly n o t hopeful. T h a n k i n g y o u for y o u r kind regards w h i c h I return heartily I am Dear M r . M a n s o n Yours faithfully William M o r r i s MS: Walthamstow. Published: Mackail, II, 92. 1 Morris clearly wrote "1881," though Mackail dates the letter 1883. The discussion of Rossetti confirms Mackail, and Morris's own dating must have been a slip of the pen. 2 Mackail identifies him (II, 92) as "an old colleague on the executive of the National Liberal League." 3 Presumably to the exhibition of Rossetti's pictures and drawings being held at the Burlington Fine Arts Club. See Mackail, II, 92. 4 Aureho Saffi (1819-1890), an Italian nationalist. Burne-Jones, recalling his first meeting with D G. Rossetti in 1856, wrote: "I went to Lushington's rooms [in Doctors Commons] where was a company of men, some of whom have been friends ever since. I remember Saffi was there, and Rossetti's brother William, and by and bye Rossetti came." (See Memorials I, 129.) Saffi, who also became a teacher of Italian literature at the Taylorian Institute of Oxford in 1856, had among his students Swinburne and Frederic Harrison. Of his friendships, those with the Rossettis—William Michael in particular—were among the closest. See Harry W. Rudman, Italian Nationalism and English Letters (New York: Columbia Univ. Press. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1940), pp. 235-39.

[ 152 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 844 844 · T o MAY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 25, 1883 Dearest May Thank you for your letter which I was very glad to get. I am going to Paris this evening:1 there is a sapurize for you in the Weggian tongue. 2 Truth is I am going with Mr. Armstrong 3 on S.K.M business: I told them of a sale of patterns of stuffs to be held at Paris on Saturday: so he took me to Mundella and they teased me to go, and I thought I ought to: the best part seems to be a great collection of chintz patterns, Persian Indian French & English down to the year 1790, no less than fifteen thousand of them; if they can get them (I would have) they are just what they want. 4 I would have bought them myself but for the universal lack in which I share more or less. I shall be back on Sunday morning, & will write to tell you how I sped. V2 yearly account from Ellis in this morning £76 total, £72 in cash tell your mother. Well, your hot oysters seems really like David Copperfield doesn't it. I hope you are sharing in this beautiful bright day: I slept at Merton on Monday night, & the Tuesday following was as beautiful a day as I can remember. I am generally lucky in my days when I sleep there. Well, well, the wind did change 0 a s t night) yesterday, but asking your Mothers pardon, 'twas from E. to S. W. not 'tother way: it was a wild night of snow rain & wind last night: I dined at Grange, thought Aunt Georgie looked but poorly: I don't like the way Margery does her hair now do you? I am getting on with the Shah Nameh 5 I have half a mind to write it out into a real language instead of that wretched frog jargon, for your benefits my dears; it seems to me very fine though 'tis undoubtedly long. As to the Irish the writing is lovely. I have plenty of specimens of the best at home my dear. Now, I must stint, as I have to try to do a little bit of work this morning to a new carpet before leaving, best love to all. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. Published: CW, 18, xxiii. 1 Morris stayed in Paris until January 28. For his account of the trip, see letter no. 845. 2 In Our Mutual Friend, Silas Wegg's literary pretensions and mispronunciations result in new words 3 See letter no. 727, n. 2. 4 The acquisition of patterns like these by the South Kensington Museum in 1883 was of great significance in Morris's own development as a designer. Peter Floud has written that in this year Morris introduced a new structural emphasis on the diagonal in his wallpapers

[ 153 ]

LETTERS

OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

and chintzes that was derived from a fifteenth-century [sic] cut velvet acquired by the South Kensington in 1883. (See Floud, "Dating William Morris's Patterns," Architectural Review, 126 [1959]; see also letter no. 852, n. 1 and Parry, pp. 53-55.) But the Museum's purchase may not have been the collection to which Morris refers here; or if it was, it would seem to have been obtained indirectly. See letter no. 845. 5 Morris began but never finished an English version of the Shah Nameh, the epic by the Persian poet Abul Kasim Mansur Firdusi (c. 950-1020) that tells of the deeds of early Persian heroes and kings. (The fragment is now in the British Library.) Morris based his work on the French translation by Julius Mohl. Mackail conjectures (II, 92) that Morris had planned the Shah Nameh as part of a heroic cycle of Persia, to parallel his retelling of Greek and Norse epic tales, but that his commitment at the beginning of 1883 to the Democratic Federation caused him to give up the work and all other immediate literary plans.

845 · T o J E N N Y M O R R I S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 30, 1883 Dearest Jenny What a queer business it was m y running off to Paris, wasn't it: I t h o u g h t myself bound to g o , & if I was w r o n g I had some revenge taken on m e b y the weather: w e had to wait 3A of an hour o n the good pleasure of H . R . H . Prince of Wh: w h o crossed in another boat that night: 1 I had n o idea it was going t o be so rough a night, till a great dash of spray came right over the pier on to the boat as w e were lying there: the only other crossing I have had as bad was on the occasion of your mother and I c o m ing back from E m s : it was a sort of a moonlit night however, t h o u g h the rainy squalls kept coming on, so that w e could see the waves at any rate, & they w e r e very fine indeed; w e got very wet, as water came in at every roll of the boat: A r m s t r o n g had ordered a Coupe-lit carriage at Calais so w e slept o n the road to Paris after a fashion; but it was so cold that it was a sort of dog-sleep, and the inn r o o m & wood-fire & coffee & rolls were sweet to us w h e n w e g o t there at about Vi past 7. We p u t u p at a little inn in the Rue St. Roch that connects the Rue Rivoli with the Rue St H o n o r e : funny little r o o m s n o t bad but far from grand. A r m s t r o n g took m e to dine at a simple place he knew, where w e were w e l c o m e & paid but moderately having just as good a dinner as w e should have had at a grand place: b y the way seeing goujons on the bill, I insisted o n having them, & very good they were. T h e trees in the Tuillerries gardens, have suffered very m u c h even since w e were there: it is sad to see for I r e m e m b e r w h e n I first came to Paris and was high u p aloft with A u n t Henrietta at Maurices they were so thick they looked as if you could walk o n their tops. There seemed to be n o excitement political visible there: the m a n w h o took our commission, & w h o seemed a sensible man,

[ 154 ]

1883 I LETTER N O . 845

said he could see no danger of revolution eminent; thought the real danger was the Orleans princes and their creatures creeping into places & so cor­ rupting the public service; wherein I agree with him. We were very busy over our proper business both days, but managed to see the Cluny, being close by; also a new museum of casts of Gothic sculpture at the Trocadero, very interesting: as to the sale, we were beat, as I told your mother, a sort of French SKM 2 bought the things over our heads, but Armstrong thinks he can borrow the best book of the patternbooks, which was very good, had a lot of old Indian & Persian printed cloths in it. Well we set off to come back on Saturday, though with many misgiv­ ings, for it had been blowing all day at Paris: but when the train stopped in the valley near Boulogne on the way to Calais the wind whistled up against us so that we were cowed, and gave in & so sneaked (at) out at Calais town, & to the inn you remember when we came back from Flan­ ders: it was a beautiful moonlit [night] but so cold: there was a pleasant sort of travellers-arriving-look about us when we got there, & I am soft enough to admit that I was very glad of my nights rest: it was a beautiful morning on Sunday at Calais, & we walked about and amused ourselves till the boat started: just fancy, my dear, once more there was Λ fair in the place, the Carnival Fair Well we had only an ordinary rough passage, & I wasn't sick though most were — specially the frogs — and I got back about 7 p.m. in very good condition. I was at Merton yesterday, on one of the wettest days I ever saw; but today is very fine & bright, as I hope it is with you. My jury begins tomorrow, but I hope it will leave me free to come down to you, my dear, early next week, when I won't stay quite such a shabby time as last. Goodbye dearest Jenny with best love to you and all the others: by the way the garden here is getting to look nice; even PigEnd is at least neat. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: MM, I, 653. Extract published: Mackail, II, 95; Hen­ derson, Letters, 163-64. 1

The Prince of Wales, on a campaign to reduce his weight, had taken up tennis and in January 1883 was on his way to Cannes to play on the courts there. The courts had been created, as were those at Homburg, because his interest in tennis had become known. See Philip Magnus, King Edward VII (London: John Murray, 1964), pp. 176-77. 2 Probably the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, the industrial museum in Paris, which serves also as a teaching institution. The idea for the museum is attributed to Descartes.

[ 155 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM 846 · T o S I D N E Y C O L V I N

MORRIS Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 14, 1883

M y dear C o l v i n 1 M a n y t h a n k s for y o u r n o t e : of course I should be only too delighted to see the M . S.S: 2 I a m w r i t i n g to M r . T h o m p s o n 3 to ask h i m about t h e m . Yours very truly William M o r r i s MS: Princeton, Scheide. 1

Colvin was the Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum from 1883 until 1912. 2 The Ashburnham Collection of illuminated manuscripts and early printed books gath­ ered by Lord Bertram Ashburnham (1840-1913) from French and Italian sources. In 1883 he offered his collection to the British Museum, but subsequently, the Bibliotheque Nationale claimed that some of his books and manuscripts had been stolen from French museums. Eventually a compromise was reached. Part of the collection was returned to the French, and the remainder was purchased by the British Museum. See The Times, February 12, 1883, p. 8; March 19, p. 8. 3 Edward Maunde Thompson (1840-1929) was at this time Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum. He edited chronicles (and other material) including Chronicon Galfiidi Le Baker ie Swynebroke Ϊ303-1356 (1889). In 1888 he became Principal Li­ brarian of the British Museum, and in 1898 assumed also the title of Director of the Mu­ seum.

847 · T o A G L A I A I O N I D E S C O R O N I O

Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h February 16, 1883 M y dear Aglaia T h a n k y o u for pressing m e so m u c h , w h i c h I did n o t need if I could c o m e ; I will c o m e t o m o r r o w if I a m n o t leg-fast w i t h g o u t . Yrs

affectionately

William M o r r i s MS: Berger Coll.

848 · F R O M A L E T T E R TO THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

Kelmscott House, Hammersmith [February 17, 1883]

I think on reflection that I have n o t m u c h to add to w h a t I have w r i t t e n in m y little b o o k ( " H o p e s and Fears for A r t " ) . I have, as y o u will n o t e ,

[ 156 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 849

guarded myself against the imputation of wishing to get rid of all rough work. I would only get rid as much as possible of all nasty and stupid work, and what is left I would divide as equitably as might be among all classes. You see it was not necessary in lectures to tell people that I am in principle a Socialist, and would be so in practice if there should ever in my lifetime turn up an occasion for action: add to this fact that I have a religious hatred to all war and violence, and you have the reason for my speaking and writing on subjects of art. I mean that I have done it as seed for the goodwill and justice that may make it possible for the next great revolution, which will be a social one, to work itself out without violence being an essential part of it. TEXT: Mackail, II, 98. Excerpt: Horsfall.

849 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 21, 1883

MAY MORRIS

Dearest May Thank you for your letter, though the news a little depressed me. I holiday-made yesterday: to wit I went to the Brit: Mus: to see the Ashburnham M. S. S:1 They were very fine & I hope Mr Childers2 will find the money for them: I wished you were with me to see them, my dear. I must tell you more about them when I see you. I am going to give a dinner party tonight, consisting of Mr. Dick & the (2) Neds, this seems exuberant of me; but in fact it is to get another nights work into the week, as I had promised Mr. D a dinner, & also had been asked to dine at the Grange. Lowe sent off the hyacinths yesterday: item I have found the blue-pea seed. Also my visiting cards I didn't think I could have used so many. Goodbye dearest May with love to all from Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. 1 See letter no. 846, n. 2. 2 Hugh Childers (1827-1896), Chancellor of the Exchequer.

[ 157 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM M O R R I S

•

.·.; 'IS*.

•χ^

^

May Morris, c. 1883.

850 · T o THE EDITOR OF THE Daily

News

[February 23, 1883]

Sir Some 3 years ago the governors of Blundell's School 1 at T i v e r t o n , being pressed for w a n t of r o o m determined to sell the old school buildings & r e m o v e the school to another site: at that time our Society, in conjunc-

[ 158 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 851

tion with some of the townsmen & neighbours of Tiverton, tried very hard to induce the governors not to desert the ancient home of their famous school, or at all events if they were driven to do so to find some public use for the beautiful buildings which were at that time the most perfect example left us of a grammar school of the early 17th cent: since all the fittings so carefully planned by the founders were still in their original places. Our protest was fruitless, and the buildings were sold to a private person, but we were told that a condition was to be attached that they should not be demolished or dismantled: this did not reassure us much at the time, and I am sorry to say that we have just received a confirmation of our fears; for a correspondent has informed us that he has been offered by a builder the curious & beautiful screen that used to divide the Upper School from the Lower. I do not know whether there is room to hope that the loss of (this) the buildings of Blundell's School may be averted; but I venture to ask leave to publish (through) in your columns the fact that they seem to be doomed in the hope that the public spirit of the men of Devon may be awakened and find some means of preventing this loss to the public, this disgrace to their own country. 2 I am Sir Yours faithfully William Morris Hon:Sec:ofS.P.A.B. MS: Berg. Published: Daily News, February 26, 1883, 2; MM, I, 169. 1 The old schoolhouse was built in 1604 and its cupola in 1740. New buildings were erected between 1880 and 1882. See Pevsner, South Devon, p. 285. 2 In the event, the buildings were not demolished. Blundell's School is listed in Pevsner and is not mentioned at all in the annual S.P.A.B. reports for 1883 or later, suggesting that the alarm was short-lived. See Pevsner, South Devon, p. 285.

851 · To JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 28, 1883

Dearest Jenny As I am away such a long time I musn't leave you quite without news of me—although everything has been going in the quietest way. On Sunday no soul called, which is unusual: I wasn't very sorry for it gave me an opportunity of getting through my Manchester lecture, which had been rather hanging fire lately.1 [ 159 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

The garden to my cockney eyes is looking pretty well, though I daresay you would think Pig-End somewhat dreary; but the new little trees look pretty there and are coming out into bud: I am dissappointed with the daffies: many of them are blind, some will be quite out in a day or two. At Merton there are some out already: the almond tree is blossoming there beautifully, some of these fine days the place has looked pretty, the water sparkling among the twigs: all the more as we have had good plenty of water, which is rather a good thing, as we can do whatever we like with the wheel: item did I tell you that we have put down ballast, ie clay burnt red, for our paths there: it is rather 'bluggy' at present, but as grey gets into it I think it will look well: we are getting tidy now, but havn't quite cleared up about the big filtering bed, which still wants something doing to it, as the tail was red with madder the other day. We are not getting on quite as fast we should with the printing; is very tough work getting every thing in due order, the cloths seem to want so much doing to them before they can be printed & then so much doing to them after they are printed. By the way Tom Wardle of Leek is going to set up a shop in Bond St, I suppose chiefly for the pushing of his beloved Tusser silk: I don't think he will find it pay. We have had a grand cleaning of the blue Persian carpet at Merton. 2 My word wasn't it dirty: caked with dirt: I am sure your mother will be glad to hear of it: it looks very much better: the pattern being quite plain to see except just at the end for about a foot. I was frightened, though, at first: for after we first put it into the river it cockled up like a sheet of crumpled paper, the cotton warp shrinking with the wet: I thought my £80 had gone down the Wandle: but all came right when it was dry. In about a fortnight we shall have finished the Goose Girl tapestry:3 Uncle Ned has done me two lovely figures for tapestry, but I have got to design a background for them: 4 1 shall probably bring them down next time I come for my holiday task: tell dear May that I have devoted about 20 minutes to the lace—it is a drawback to have to be always washing ones hands for a fidgetty person like me. Neither have I done much to the Shah Nameh: 5 you see the lecture has swallowed up my literary time. I have been reading some Dombey; tis after all very amusing, but O, I dont think Mr. Dombey was worth taking so much trouble about as his daughter took. Well my darling Jenny goodbye for the present: tell dear May that 1 have not forgotten her cigarette holder, May's. I havn't got it yet. Best love to you & all my own dear. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: Mackail, II, 100-101; Henderson, Letters, 164-65.

[ 160 ]

1883 I L E T T E R N O .

851

Dining room, Kelmscott House.

1

"Art, Wealth, and Riches." See letter no. 838, n. 4. A Persian carpet dating from the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. It was exhibited at Burlington House in March and April 1885, and it is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. For a description of the design and an account of its purchase, see B. Morris, pp. 169-70. 3 Macknail notes (II, 100) that the Goose Girl tapestry, designed by Walter Crane (see Volume I, letter no. 638, n. 1), was the first figure subject executed at Merton Abbey on the 2

[ 161 ]

L E T T E R S OF W I L L I A M

Goose Girl

MORRIS

cartoon designed by Walter Crane; tapestry based on this design completed in 1883.

[ 162

]

1883 I L E T T E R N O .

851

Walter Crane, c. 1891.

high-warp loom. Crane's design had originally been made to illustrate Household Stories of the Brothers Grimm published by Macmillan in 1882. It was subsequently transferred to a cartoon for a tapestry; the finished work, however, disappointed Morris (see letter no. 867). From then on Burne-Jones was asked to design figures for tapestry. 4 A reference to the paired tapestries Flora and Pomona. The figures of Flora and Pomona were drawn by Burne-Jones in early 1883, and the tapestries—woven by William Knight, William Sleath, and John Martin—were completed by 1885. Morris, basing his pattern on the large leaf verdure tapestries of the sixteenth century, provided the background details. In addition, Morris included elaborate borders, inscriptions at the top, and verses (later included in "Poems by the Way," CW, 9, 193). See Parry, pp. 107-109. 5 See letter no. 844, n. 5.

[ 163 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Pomona tapestry by William Morris.

[ 164 ]

1883 / L E T T E R N O .

852 · To

853

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday [March 3, 1883]

MAY MORRIS

Dearest May I will write a very little note in answer to your kind letter and dear for I have little enough to say, for I am scarcely a sharer in worldly pleasures for 4 days past, for I am leg-fast with gout, which is not at all bad, only obstinate and laming: I'm half afraid I shan't get to Manchester on Tuesday after all; which will be a nuisance since I have made up my mind to it. However I have been at work pretty hard & have made a new pattern which in honour of the occasion I ought to call 'Colchicum': only as CoIchicum is nothing less than a crocus & I have stupidly omitted to put a crocus in, to avoid questions being asked I must fall back on a river and call it Evenlode.' The weather seems to have taken a regular fine turn, so that the poor devils of farmers will get their seeds in after all: how bright it must be down with you today where you are not sullied with smoke mirk as we are. I am up in the drawing room for a holiday as it were, and am little troubled with any sharp pain: Eliza2 is very kind & attentive. Goodbye my darling May with best to the others Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. Published: CW, 19, xvm. 1 This is the first of a series of designs bearing the names of English rivers, all of them tributaries of the Thames. They owe much to the design of a seventeenth-century velvet that had recently been acquired by the South Kensington Museum. But see Parry, pp. 54-55, 64. 2 Presumably a servant. See letter no. 863.

853 · T O SlGRfSuR ElNARSDOTTIR MAGNUSSON

Kelmscott H o u s e U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h

March 13 [1883] Dear Mrs. Magnusson I am very sorry that I shall not be able to get to the meeting tomorrow: 1 I have been laid up with gout for a fortnight, & have business which I must attend to at Merton. I am out to dinner in the evening but I hope you will use my house as if it were yours: I shall give orders to have a room & dinner ready for you. You know I have so many engagements that 2 or 3 days notice is never

[ 165 ]

Seventeenth-century Italian cut velvet and the patterns named after the tributaries of the Thames that derive from it (Evenlode, Medway, Kennet, Wandle, Windrush, Cray, and Wey), designed 1883-1884.

[ 166 ]

Evenlode

[ 167

]

Medway

Kennet [ 168 ]

Wandle

[ 169 ]

Windrush

[ 170 ]

Cray

[

171

]

Wey

[ 172

]

1883 / LETTER N O . 854

long enough for me: Eirikr in his letter didn't say what day you were going to summon the meeting for. Yours very truly William Morris Ms: Iceland. 1

Presumably a meeting of the Iceland Famine Relief Fund. If so, it is the last one to which Morns refers in the Letters. The final meeting of the committee was reported (p. 4) in The Times, April 16, 1883, as having taken place the previous week.

854 · T o

THE EDITOR OF

The Manchester Examiner

March 14, 1883

Sir, It was the purpose of my lecture to raise another question than one of mere art.1 I specially wished to point out that the question of popular art was a social question, involving the happiness or misery of the greater part of the community. The absence of popular art from modern times is more disquieting and grievous to bear for this reason than for any other, that it betokens that fatal division of men into the cultivated and the degraded classes which competitive commerce has bred and fosters; popular art has no chance of a healthy life, or, indeed, of a life at all, till we are on the way to fill up this terrible gulf between riches and poverty. Doubtless many things will go to filling it up, and if art must be one of those things, let it go. What business have we with art at all unless all can share it? I am not afraid but that art will rise from the dead, whatever else lies there. For, after all, what is the true end and aim of all politics and all commerce? Is it not to bring about a state of things in which all men may live at peace and free from over-burdensome anxiety, provided with work which is pleasant to them and produces results useful to their neighbours? It may well be a burden to the conscience of an honest man who lives a more manlike life to think of the innumerable lives which are spent in toil unrelieved by hope and uncheered by praise; men who might as well, for all the good they are doing to their neighbours by their work, be turning a crank with nothing at the end of it; but this is the fate of those who are working at the bidding of blind competitive commerce, which still persists in looking at itself as an end, and not as a means. It has been this burden on my conscience, I do in all sincerity believe, which has urged me on to speak of popular art in Manchester and elsewhere. I could never forget that in spite of all drawbacks my work is little else than pleasure to me; that under no conceivable circumstances would I give it up even if I could. Over and over again have I asked myself why [ 173 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

should not my lot be the common lot? My work is simple work enough; much of it, nor that the least pleasant, any man of decent intelligence could do, if he could but get to care about the work and its results. Indeed I have been ashamed when I have thought of the contrast between my happy working hours and the unpraised, unrewarded, monotonous drudgery which most men are condemned to. Nothing shall convince me that such labour as this is good or necessary to civilization. TEXT: The Manchester Examiner, March 14, 1883. Published: Mackail, II, 99-100; Henderson, Letters, 165-66. 1 On March 12 The Manchester Examiner had printed (p. 6) a letter (reprinted from the Manchester Weekly Times, March 10, 1883, p. 5) complaining that Morris's lecture "Art, Wealth, and Riches," delivered at the Manchester Royal Institution on March 6, had raised another question than one of "mere art." The writer of the letter went on to ridicule Morris's contention that competitive commerce would have to be abolished before art could flourish, and he argued that m fact competitive commerce was the very condition under which art did flourish. Morris's letter was a reply.

855 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

March 14 [1883] Dearest Jenny Thank you for your kind dear long letter: I hope you won't be angry with me for putting off coming till next Tuesday: you must lay it on the gout my dear: you see we are not getting on so fast with the printing at Merton as we ought: I was away for a fortnight with gout, & Wardle was away more than usual: the colour mixer Kenyon is a good fellow, but rather a muddler, & often in order to be sure that the thing is properly done either Wardle or I have to stand over him all the time; this is specially the case with the madder dyeing which we are on now, and if I get next Monday as well as next Friday at Merton, it will make a week's difference in pushing on the work, and I shall be able to stay with you till well over Easter with a good conscience, and I will take care to keep myself free from gout. As to the drives my dear, I thought you might do something like this as the weather gets warmer; take a trap a little way out then get out & walk about the lanes: I fancy the prettiest parts lie about & beyond where I went the last Sunday I was with you; ie to the east of Up Lyme, the lanes & banks and little fields are beautiful that way. I have just got back my lecture with the proofs as they are going to print it:1 so I shall be able to bring it down & read it to you: a letter from one of my friends there says that the philistines are much moved by it, that there have been two leading articles about it in the papers already, and a corre-

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spondence beginning:2 so you see one may yet arrive at the dignity of being hissed for a Socialist down there: all this is encouraging. The weather has changed here; wind round to W. and much warmer, but not so sunny; bating the frost which had cut up the flowers so, I had rather the hard dry weather had lasted. Well, did you see that we scored a victory at last, I mean about the Epping Forest railways: I suspect by Bryce moving the amendment, & Richie voting for it there is not much doubt about the opinion of the East End poor people on the subject; as they are the two members for the Tower Hamlets. 3 I am about a new lecture for a club in connection with the Democratic Federation;4 if it turns out as I hope I am thinking of printing it for distribution to our members & others: of course it must to a great extent repeat the Manchester one: only I intend making this one more plain-spoken; I am tired of being mealy mouthed. Well darling Jenny I must take myself off for a long day at Merton. With best love to all goodbye dear Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: CW, 19, xvi; Mackail, II, 101; Henderson, Letters, 166-67. 1 This probably refers to the publication of the March 6 speech in The Manchester Quarterly, 2 (April 1883), 153-75. 2 The response and reaction to Morris's speech seem to have been centered in The Manchester Examiner and The Manchester Weekly Times. See E. P. Thompson, pp. 308-309. 3 Annual Register, 1883, Part 1, reported (p. 64) that in the House of Commons on March 12, 1883, the High Beech and Epping Railway, "which threatened to invade a portion of Epping Forest recently acquired as an open space for the enjoyment of the public, was, on the motion of Mr. Bryce, member for the Tower Hamlets, saddled with a regulation . . . which rendered its construction, as proposed, impossible." James Bryce, at this time Liberal M.P. for Tower Hamlets, was chairman of the Commons Preservation Society (see letter no. 721, notes 1 and 2); and Charles Thomson Ritchie, the first Baron Ritchie of Dundee, was the Conservative M. P. for the borough. 4 Probably the lecture delivered at the Hampstead Liberal Club on April 1, 1883. See LeMire, p. 239.

856 · To

WILLIAM EDWARD ARMYTAGE AXON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 16, 1883

My dear Sir1 Thank you for your kind letter: I will correct the proofs tomorrow: 2 I should have done so yesterday but Mr. Horsfall wanted me to answer Mr. Dunckley in the Examiner so I spent a great part of the day in that I fear,

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rather hopeless enterprise of enlightening him on matters of art: if he does not take care he will live to hear the words 'fossillized Radical' as freely applied as fossillized Whig has already been. But so goes the world and the Radical of one generation becomes the Tory of the next unless a man really keeps his eyes open. I am My dear Sir Your very truly William Morris MS: Derbyshire. 1 William Edward Armytage Axon (1846-1913) was at this time a literary critic and re­ viewer for The Manchester Guardian and the editor of The Manchester Quarterly, which pub­ lished Morris's lecture, "Art, Wealth, and Riches." On March 13, 1883, The Manchester Guardian had printed a letter from Axon in support of Morris's denunciation, in his lecture, of shoddy workmanship resulting from the competitive price system. 2 Morris's lecture appeared in the April issue of The Manchester Quarterly.

857 · T o CATHERINE HOLIDAY

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 17 [1883] Dear Mrs. Holiday I shall be delighted to see the work: but it must be on some other day than the 25th as I shall be with my family in the country that day: I could see it if you would kindly send it to Oxford St. By the way will you excuse my asking you to give a message to Mr. Holiday; thereby saving me the writing of another letter in these hard times. Will you thank him & say that I am much flattered by being elected an hon: member of the Ί 5 ' 1 but that I fear I shall seldom or ever be able to attend, as I am getting too old to go out in the evening after my days work. I am Dear Mrs. Holiday Yours very truly William Morris P.S. I don't know that the builders at Bournemouth are worse than at other places except that there has been desperate hurry there to run up houses for Podsnap Bounderby Gradgrind & company—heaps of money to be made. MS: Berger Coll. 1

Founded in 1881, "the Fifteen" was the progenitor of the Art Workers' Guild. The So-

[ 176 ]

1883 / L E T T E R N O . 859 ciety met monthly to read and discuss papers on the decorative arts. The members were painters, sculptors, architects, and designers; and dominant in the Society were Lewis F. Day and Walter Crane. Other members were George Simonds, Henry Holiday, Hugh Stannus, T. M. Rooke, G. T. Robinson, James D. Linton, E. F. Brenthall, Sacheverell Coke, J. D. Sedding, H. Arthur Kennedy, H. M. Paget, Henry Page, T. Evert Harrison, and J. T. Nettleship. (The name "the Fifteen" was taken from a puzzle of the time and did not signify the number of members.) See Stansky, pp. 119-70. Stansky writes (p. 142), "The Fifteen . . . went through the ritual of making Morris an honorary member. These were not empty gestures, however, but indicate Morris's role as a progenitor."

858 · T o E L L I S A N D W H I T E

Hammersmith March 17 [1883]

Dear Sirs T h a n k you: please order t h e j u v i n a l 1 if perfect. Yrs W Morris MS: Princeton T. 1 There is one Juvenal listed m the Sotheby Catalogue for the sale of Morris's books (1898): Juvenalis, Satyrae, mterprete Jo. Britannico, cum J. B. Ascensii famiharibus explanatiombus. Printed in Venice, b y j . Iacuinus, 1522.

859 · T o A L F R E D J A M E S H I P K I N S

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 17, 1883

Dear M r . Hipkins 1 T h a n k y o u for y o u r note about the pianos, and also for the paper w h i c h I read w i t h as m u c h interest as a very untechnical person could d o 2 I shall be in on Sunday afternoon (18)th & should be very h a p p y to see y o u if y o u w e r e passing that w a y . I have spoken to M r . A. Ionides 3 about his piano 4 & he will have o n e of the same m a k e of (green) stained oak: I shall be glad to help as to the tint, w h i c h I think o u g h t to be m u c h the same as M r s Flowers. I am Dear M r . H i p k i n s Yours faithfully William M o r r i s MS: BL, Add. MSS. 41637. 1 2

See Volume I, letter no. 450, n. 1. Hipkins had, no doubt, sent Morris his paper, "The History of the Pianoforte," read at [

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the Society of Arts meeting of Wednesday, March 7, 1883, and printed in the Journal of the Society of Arts for March 9, 1883, pp. 397-408. 3 Aglaia Coronio's younger brother, called "Aleco." 4 The piano, made by John Broadwood, was designed by Bume-Jones and decorated by Kate Faulkner with gold and silver gesso.

860 · T o JOSEPH EDGAR BOEHM

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

March 19 [1883] Dear Mr. Boehm 1 I am sorry but fear I could not help your foreman's son; not so much on the grounds of our not having any place for him at present, but rather because I could never see my way in the present state of art to taking on apprentice or pupil: you see my manufactury consists of several crafts; some of these, ordinary figure weaving block printing & so on are carried on except for the designs & partly the processes in the ordinary modern fashion, & a youth apprenticed to one of these could earn his living at them; but these men take their own apprentices (usually their sons) & I have nought to do with it: our other crafts like tapestry & carpet weaving, are so out of the ordinary way of business that I could not undertake to teach them to a youth as a means of earning his livelihood: I mean to say because they may never spread beyond my own walls, & even there may never be a commercial success: as to my own special work, designing for these crafts, somehow 1 have never been able to accept any help in it: probably owing to sheer mental laziness; and am the very worst teacher in the world; so that I don't think I could do a pupil any good at all. Pray excuse this longwinded [letter.] I would not have troubled you with it, but I felt that so good a recommendation as yours claimed some explanation if I were obliged to nay-say it. I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: McMmn Papers. 1 Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) was the Vienna-born artist who became sculptor-inordinary to Queen Victoria.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 862A 861 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Friday Morning [March 23, 1883] Dearest Jenny I am coming tomorrow all right, & am to bring various small stores with me: also I have laid hands on the Gheltof & bring him along with love my dearest Jenny Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 See letter no. 831, n. 9.

862 · T O SlGRlSUR ElNARSDOTTIR MAGNUSSON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Tuesday [March 25, 1883]

Dear Mrs. Magnusson My gout's better & I shall probably get to Merton tomorrow: so please go & Debney 1 will show you over, or my brother 2 will, and in any case come here & dine in the evening, so that I may have the pleasure of a talk with you & the Iceland gentleman. Beds if convenient to you: only in that case let me know. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Iceland. 1 An employee of Morns and Co. 2 Edgar, who had become an employee of Morns and Co. at Merton Abbey.

862A · T o WINIFRED HOLIDAY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 31, 1883

My dear Winifred1 I am sorry I shall not be able to come to you on Sunday, (but) as I have already accepted an invitation: please thank your mother very much for me: I am so sorry to hear that she is ill. Yours faithfully William Morris [ 179 ]

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MORRIS

MS: Berger Coll. 1 See Volume I, letters no. 472b and no. 474.

863 · To JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 2, 1883

Dearest Jenny I will write you a line or two today though I really havn't much to say. I duly went down to Merton on Friday: it was a wet day but cleared beautifully in the evening: I found a certain crop of blunders one of which at least would not have happened if I had been there: item the Goose Girl is out at last: it looked pretty well as I saw it spread out on the floor, but I couldn't see it properly so: today I must see it hung up, and criticize it severely. The easterly gale of the day before Good Friday was very hard there, & knocked down two trees: a willow on the pond mud, and a lignum vitae in the row of trees along the river: the latter makes a big gap: but Edgar is getting me a large willow to fill it up, which he says he will answer for it will grow: this will be better after all. I duly preached my sermon at Hampstead yesterday;1 the audience if not large was at least as large as the room would hold: they were very polite, and buttered me, as Mr. Jorrocks would say,2 most plentifully: 1 didn't think that there were many working men there: the others seemed mostly very 'advanced' as the slang goes, & some very intelligent, it was rather a job getting there & back and I didn't get home till past midnight. (I have to preach) By the way among the other intelligent people who should I stumble across but C. J. Faulkner, who [had] been to call on his Orrin-Smiths. 3 I preach at Clerkenwell on April 15th and shall do my very best for them: I have already begun the lecture.4 I daresay you have beautiful weather down there; but the wind is E & we are not free from smoke-mirk here. Annie Allen5 is here, & in very good condition: she is in high feather; said what a lovely garden I had here! it seems the frost cut off the things very much at Kelmscott; & my second lot of crocus are coming up here: Annie Cook seems much pleased to get her. Mistress Eliza6 went off to be married at Turnham Green on Saturday: she had had her wedding gown all ready but accepted the offer of a silk dress with gratitude: she was however afraid of our bright colours, so I, wanting to please her, have promised to get her a good nice dirt coloured one. Poor Annie Cook is much distressed at losing her comrade: they have been together 9 years.

[ 180 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 864

Now goodbye my dearest Jenny with best love to you Mother & May I rest Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 167. 1 See letter no. 855, n. 4. 2 Johnjorrocks, the sporting grocer of R. S. Surtees's (1805-1864) sketches. 3 Faulkner's sister, Lucy (see Volume I, letter no. 421, n.l), had married Harvey Orrinsmith, a wood engraver who became director ofjames Barnes and Sons, bookbinders, about 1861. 4 Morris had agreed to give a lecture at the Clerkenwell Branch of the Democratic Federation. See LeMire, p. 239. 5 Apparently a newly hired servant. Morris's reference to her here suggests that Jenny was acquainted with her. It is possible, too, that she had joined the Morris household for the express purpose of becoming Jenny's companion and that Morris in this cheerful talk of her is muting the fact. See letter no. 880. 6 See letter no. 852.

864 ·

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 5 [1883]

RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

Dear Sir I shall be ready with something or other on the 15th at Clerkenwell, 1 and also I shall be happy to read the Hampstead one2 at the Surrey rooms on May 6th. You need not change the title for the Clerkenwell one, as 'tis much the same thing said in other words. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Briggs Coll. 1 See letter no. 863. 2 See letter no. 855, n. 4.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

865 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 10, 1883

VERNON LUSHINGTON

My dear Lushington 1 I am so sorry I can't come but I am engaged this evening. My not answering before is not rudeness, but as I was out all day yesterday I didn't get your note till after post-time. With kind regards to Mrs. Lushington, 2 I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Vernon Lushington (1832-1912) had been at Trinity College, Cambridge, when the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine was founded (1856) and contributed to it. It was he who introduced Burne-Jones to Rossetti in 1856 (see letter no. 843, n. 4). In 1883 he was a magistrate for the county courts of Surrey and Berkshire. A Positivist as well, he was the author of a number of Positivist works and a lecturer for the Positivist Society on literature and the lives of musicians. 2 Jane Mowett (d. 1884), who married Lushington in 1865.

866 · RECIPIENT U N K N O W N

Merton Abbey,

Surrey April 11, 1883 Newport U.S.A. Dear Sir I have been talking over the matter of Miss Wolfes1 window with Mr. Burne-Jones, and he quite agrees to the sort of subjects.2 On reading over the sagas again, I find that Erikr FranQi was never in America, and that of all the people who had to do with Vinland Thorfinn Karlsefne seemed to be closest connected with it: I should suggest the representing of him and his wife GudriSr instead of the old man and Freydis: which latter was a horrible wretch according to the Leif's Saga whereas GuSridr has something pleasing and womanly about her. It is true that in Thorfinn Karselfne's Saga Freydis is softened into a courageous amazon; but that story is visibly untrustworthy compared with that of Leifr Heppni and is very late in composition: I propose Odin Thor and Frey the 3 great Gods above the adventurers of Vinland; & in the small lights, a ship the middle, & on each side a scroll, with the passages from Havamal (Edda) about undying fame on it: proper enough on this occasion since the poor fisher men & sheep farmers of Greenland & Iceland have so curiously found a place

[ 182 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 867

among the worthies connected with the great Modern Commonwealth over leaf I make a diagram of the window May I ask you as a matter of business if we may consider the window ordered and go on with it: I am vexed that any delay should have taken place, but it has not been owing to any neglect of ours. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Newport. 1 Catherine Lonllard Wolfe (1828-1887), an American philanthropist whose home, "Vinland," in Newport, Rhode Island, was built in 1883, and was decorated with Morris and Co. wallpapers, fabrics, and stained glass, the latter from designs by Walter Crane and Edward Burne-Jones. A frieze for the dining room, in addition, was painted by Crane. The house is now Salve Regina College and of the decorations originally supplied, only Crane's frieze survives. This letter concerns the possible subjects for the windows that were to be made. 2 For the subjects actually chosen, close in fact to those named here, see letter no. 1091 and notes.

867 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 14, 1883 My Dearest Jenny Thank you very much for your kind dear letter; I am afraid you won't get a very long one in return as I am not off my jury yet; nor shall I be till Monday evening: I asked the judge to let me off yesterday afternoon; he said he was very sorry but he couldn't, because the jurymen would not attend, but, said he I'll do one thing for you, I'll fine all the absentees tomorrow morning: well I think they deserve it: the case I have been on was only moderately interesting; an insurance case; the plaintifs being paintgrinders & mixers who had had their premises burnt down: both sides I thought had been somewhat unbusiness-like, but we found for the plaintiff at last, and I think did substantial justice thereby: but lord to think of the waste of time & money over such matters, when 2 honest men for referees ought to settle the whole thing for £50 in half a day: for this case has now been tried 3 times. My dear, Geir Zoega 1 is the chief guide at Reikjavik; all visitors know him: he has now grown rich, and is very respectable, and is really a kind worthy man. I had a letter from poor old Jon 2 our guide the other day, it was long and interesting; he dearly wishes I would go out to Iceland this summer; but how can I? I need not say he fully corroborates all our views.

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I thought the Goose Girl was not bad, my dear, on the whole: but when all is said it was not a design quite fit for tapestry, 3 except for the landscape background, which looked very well indeed I will write and tell you all about the Clerkenwell sermon when this jury tyranny is overpast. By the way as to tapestries the SKM have bought the 3 big pieces:41 was there last Saturday with Webb, & they told me as much: they are very fine, & the study of them will do me much good. and now my dearest Jenny I must give my best love to you & all, and then go and see Baron Pollock5 and his crew. Your loving father William Morris Gave the note to Cook. Ms: BL, Add. Mss. 45339. 1 At the final meeting of the Iceland Famine Relief Fund committee (see letter no. 853, n. 1), Magnusson read a letter from Geir Zoega (see Volume I, letter no. 138, n. 2) in which he spoke of distress in Iceland and said that "it is only owing to the manly assistance of the generous English and our own kindred that starvation so far has been avoided." (See The Times, April 16, 1883, p. 4 ) Morris's reference to Zoega may indicate that in her letter to him Jenny had discussed the situation in Iceland and was aware of the letter Magnusson had received from Zoega. 2 See Volume I, letter no. 178, n. 2. See also CW, 8, 48ff. 3 See letter no. 851 and n. 3. 4 The South Kensington Annual Report, 1883-1884, listed the acquisition of "three large pieces of Flemish tapestry of the early part of the sixteenth century, representing respectively, the Triumph of Fame, of Chastity and of Death, after Petrarch." See The Year's Art, 1885 (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searles and Rivington, 1885), 6:21-22. 5 Sir William Frederick Pollock (1815-1888), Baronet, a Queen's remembrancer. Morris may have been called out to a second case, one in Baron Pollock's court. On April 16, 1883, The Times reported (p. 4) that a case being heard by Mr. Baron Pollock was of interest to those who sell and collect art. A firm of art dealers sued (successfully) to recover from a stockbroker the price of two paintings that he had allegedly bought, but which he denied having received. Because of high absenteeism among prospective jurors that day, the case was tried with only nine members, by consent.

868 · T O J O H N R U S K I N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

April 15, 1883 My dear Ruskin I really feel very guilty for not having answered your question before:1 & now I must add to my guilt by laying some of the blame on Ned, who only gave me your note this morning: however I have got ready a sort of pattern-card of some of the glass we use which I will send you at once; & meantime I answer your todays letter thus.

[ 184 ]

1883 / L E T T E R N O .

J o h n Ruskin, c. 1885.

[ 185

]

868

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

We paint on glass; 1st the lines of draperies features & the like with an opaque colour which when the glass is held up to the light is simply (ob) so much obscurity; with thinner washes & scumbles of the same colour, we shade (so much) objects as much as we deem necessary, but always using this shading to explain form, and not as shadow proper. 2nd. Finding that it was difficult to get a flesh-coloured glass with tone enough for the flesh of figures, we use thin washes of a reddish enamel colour to stain white glass for flesh-colour, & sometimes, though rarely for other pale orange tints: N. B. this part of our practice is the only point in which we differ from that of the mediaeval glass-painters. 3rd. We use a yellow stain on white glass, (or on blue to make greens) this which is chiefly done by means of silver, is quite transparent & forms part of the glass after firing; it may therefore be considered rather a diffusion of the colour in the glass than a painting on it. The body of the glass is of two kinds, first what is technically called pot-metal, in which the colouring matter is fused with the glass, & is essentially part of it; and 2ndly What is called flashed glass, in which a white body is covered with a coloured skin: this is done by the workman taking on the end of his hollow rod first a large lump of white metal, then a small dip of coloured metal; he then trundles the lot, making a disk like a small piece of crown glass: This kind of glass however is not much used except for the red coloured by copper called technically—'ruby glass', this owing to its make is often curiously & beautifully striped & waved: this glass is, I must tell you, perillous to fire the painted colour upon as the kiln generally changes it more or less, sometimes darkening it almost to blackness, sometimes carrying the colour away: to avoid this risk we are sometimes obliged to paint the necessary lines on a piece of thin white glass and lead up the two together: this, which is called plating I have sometimes done (to get some) with two pieces of coloured glass, to get some peculiar tint: one must be careful not to overdo the process however, or you will get a piece of glass at once cumbrous & liable to accident. I should mention that all the glass is very thick: and that in some of the pot-metals, notably the blues the difference between one part of a sheet [and] another is very great. This variety is very useful to us in getting a jewel-like quality which is the chief charm of painted glass — When we can get it. You will understand that we rely almost entirely for our colour on the actual colour of the glass; and the more the design will enable us to break up the pieces, and the more mosaic-like it is, the better we like it. Well, you shall have the leaded up glass in a day or two & if you want more please ask for them; & ask any questions that you please & I shall be delighted to answer them. I need not say that I should be very glad to see you at our place at Merton Abbey: though I fear it would be a grief to you [ 186 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 868

to see the banks of the pretty Wandle so beset with the horrors of the Jerry-builders: there is still some beauty left about the place however, & the stream itself is not much befouled: I am doing my best to keep the place decent, & can do so in the seven acres our works command; but as to the rest can do but little. I am Yours affectionately William Morris Note my address at the top of this letter which will always find me. MS: CUP. Published: MM, I, 656-67; Henderson, Letters, 168-69. 1 The background for the correspondence at this time between Morris and Ruskin has been given by Georgiana Burne-Jones, who recorded that on February 2, 1883, Ruskm had written to Burne-Jones asking him to design windows for the Chapel of Whitelands Training College for Women, Chelsea; and requesting that the glass not be dull. Burne-Jones had immediately asked Morris to experiment with ways of getting the greatest brilliance possible out of glass. But Morns had been uncooperative. Ruskin presumably had persisted, writing again to Burne-Jones. (See Memorials, II, 129; see also Helen Gill Viljoen, The Brantwood Diary of John Ruskin [New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1971], pp. 426-30.) Finally, Ruskin wrote a letter directly to Morris (to which the present one is presumably a reply): You bad boy, why haven't I any bit of glass yet? — — Send me anything, I don't care what — for I want to make some experiments which the colour doesn't matter in. and just please answer that one question — how far you paint on glass, and how far you diffuse in it — a given bit of colour. Ever your loving

JR After receiving Morris's letter, Ruskin wrote again, saying in part: Many and warm thanks for this letter, which is exactly and in completeness what I want. I did not want the glass leaded, for my own experiments are meant to arrive at some general laws of gradation in transparent colour by putting fragments of glass one over the other, till I shut out the light. I want especially to see how a pure yellow glass passes into darkness — because if I darken it in pigment with black, I virtually introduce the element of blue, and get a green: but if I darken it, as in my own opaque scheme of colour I do always with brown — still I introduce red. . . . He then responded to Morris's invitation: "I note all points of address — and hope to invade you on the Wandle, and in town." He finally returned to the matter of the glass, saying he did not know Morris was arriving at such jewel-like glass: I thought you were going to give subdued greens and greys with browns — and to depend on Ned's sentiment for the power. If you really are now going in for glow and glitter — I'll come to see everything that's turned out — if I've only life and time. Ever gratefully and affectionately yrs. John Ruskin This exchange about the glass may have prompted Morris to ask Ruskin, in a letter that has not survived, to join the Democratic Federation. On April 24, 1883, which must have been

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OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

only a few days after his acknowledgment of receipt of the glass, Ruskin wrote again to Morris: It is better that you should be in a cleft stick, than make one out of me—especially as my timbers are enough shivered already. In old British battles the ships that had no shots in the rigging didn't ask the disabled ones to help them. Ever your affect JR The manuscripts of all Ruskin letters quoted are in BL, Add. MSS. 45345.

869 · T o A G L A I A I O N I D E S C O R O N I O

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 23 [1883?] Dear Aglaia Please come next Saturday, & stay longer if you can: & I will entertain y o u in the d r a w i n g - r o o m which is cheerfuller than downstairs. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll.

870 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

[May 1-4, 1883?]

If you k n o w the address of Ruskins Burgess 1 w o u l d you kindly send to Wardle at Morris & C o . M e r t o n Abbey, Surrey. Off to Kelmscott today. Yours very truly William Morris MS: 1

Soc. Ant. Arthur Burgess (d. 1886?), an engraver who later illustrated Ruskin's books.

871 · T o J E N N Y M O R R I S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 7, 1883 M y dearest Jenny I had a comfortable j o u r n e y in very bright sunlight u p to t o w n : all b y myself in a 2nd class till 2 y o u n g mashers (no less) get in at Kingston — such fools they were! and h u m m e d & whistled music-hall tunes: h o w e v e r that didn't last long. [ 188 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 871

I duly gave my lecture on Sunday,1 at the (Nation) Irish National League rooms in Blackfriars Rd: all or most Irish there; and Parnellites to the backbone; but dear me! such quiet respectable people! I was able to please them by assuring them of my sympathy for their views, and also by telling them I had read & much admired translations of their ancient literature: one man whom I spoke with afterwards knew all about the old stories & could speak Irish well. One thing I could not praise them for, to wit that they kept dropping in all the time or nearly so, till the room, which was only half full when I began, was crowded at the end: but after all it was such a lovely evening that I could not really blame them for not being in a hurry to return to the horrors of Blackfriars Rd: I must tell you however that I behaved badly; for 2 young women close to me would keep whispering & giggling, which made me so nervous, that at last I laid down my MS, & said, "I will go on when you have left off whispering & giggling." At which, so polite were the audience, that they cheered, and the young women presently went out. I have been to Merton today, and after a morning shower it turned out so beautiful! I had a pleasant day on the whole things going on fairly: the marsh marigolds are all out & are splendid; one clump by the tail-side is a picture. Which reminds me, did you read the President's speech at the Royal Academy dinner?2 and if so didn't you think he a little overdid the floridity even of his florid office — Linnell to wit. Well, my dear, I hope you are duly impressed by the holiness & care for morality of the British House of Commons, ugh! The set of snobs! I suppose you saw Bradlaughs 3 speech; it was very good; as indeed it might well be his position being so strong in fact. I really think (to return to home matters) that the grass at Pig-End has made a start, and I hope to present you with a tolerable suburban garden when you come up: the apple-trees are nearly in full blossom: at Merton, by the way, they are lovely: I got my first bundle of sparrow-grass there today, but I thought it too small to send to you: so I left it with Kate Faulkner, (which) with whom I teaed this evening, knowing that she liked it. My deary Jenny, good bye; did you like the flowers I sent you from Axminster by the way? I will pluck a big bunch of wall-flowers tomorrow & send them you somehow. Love to you & all my dear. I am Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: MM, II, 585; Henderson, Letters, 171-72. Extract published: CW, 22, xxvii.

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The date of the lecture was May 3. The Times, May 7, 1883, reported (p. 6) that at the annual dinner of the Royal Academy, Frederick Leighton, the president, gave a speech touching on events of the past year. He spoke of Rossetti and of John Linnell (1792-1882), the portrait and landscape painter who had been a close friend of Blake. Leighton said: 2

The feature . . . which has most riveted the public gaze, has been the posthumous display of the works ofJohn Linnell and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Singularly interesting was the contrast between these two powerful men, akin, perhaps, in nothing save in that deep-lying, unyielding strength of conviction which is the main spring of all good work. The one, the elder . . . touched in turn every branch of the graphic art, [but] was . . . preeminently a landscape painter, moved chiefly by the pastoral and woodland scenes, and by the changeful skies of our own country. Him the tumults of white clouds delighted, the blue riot of rolling hills, the red ripe corn, sand slopes brown and burnished, and the green forest's gloom. [Cheers] On his canvas the drowsy reaper nods beneath the sheaf, the shepherd pipes and watches, the new-felled timber strews the ground, or strains the wagon's aching wheel. He was a poet; his pictures were idylls. [Cheers]. 3

Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891), the free-thought advocate, had been elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880 but was denied his seat and expelled from Parliament when he refused to swear on the Bible. In 1886, after five reelections and subsequent exclusions, he was finally allowed to take his seat. Morris is referring to Bradlaugh's defense of his position, May 3, 1883, on his third expulsion from Parliament.

872 · To JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Whitsun Monday [May 14, 1883]

My dearest Jenny Thank you for your letter, my dear; I hope it wont be long before you are all up here; a grass batchelor life is not very delightful amongst other things. I have ordered the house cleaning to begin on Wednesday whatever so as to get ready for you. Let's see, what news? not much, I was a great deal at Merton last week, though I didn't sleep there, anxiously superintending the first printing of the Strawberry thief, which I think we shall manage this time; 1 1 forgot to say in my last that I saw Bill several times: he has nearly got his mill to work, & is in high spirits; so one needn't pity him, for being so long about it; or even blame him for his devotion to machinery having brought him to this pass; I mean because he could have bought a mill of someone else's invention which could have been got ready in a fortnight. 2 The garden looks very nice here really; the apple-blossom is now getting rather past its best, but is still beautiful: I had a large company to enjoy it yesterday: old Dr. Bock who is the man who set on foot all the lore [ 190 ]

1883 / L E T T E R N O .

872

Strawberry Thief pattern, 1883.

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of old woven stuffs:3 he could not talk English; so I had to talk EnglishFrench against his German-French; doubtless a concert to make the Gods laugh: also there was another German, Andreas Shoen4 a Vienna Socialist, who seems a very nice fellow, & talks English well: also Middleton, 5 Benson6 & de Morgan, I gave & received presents of stuffs with Bock, for which I hope your mother wont scold. I almost expect to see Aunt Emma 7 this week; she has come up to town on what I must irreverently call holy larks. Well, my deary Jenny, when we meet again 'wot larx'! Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: MM, I, 658; Henderson, Letters, 170 1 Fiona Clark writes (p. 59) that this "design, with its intricate structure and many colours, triumphantly marks the perfection of the indigo-discharge technique at Merton Abbey." 2 See letter no. 697, n. 2. 3 See letter no. 831, n. 6. 4 Andreas Scheu (1844-1927), a Viennese socialist and political refugee in England who in Austria had also been an associate ofJohann Most (see letter no. 693, n. 5) and an activist in anarchist politics. A furniture designer, he settled in London in 1874 but later, in search of work, moved to Scotland, where he became secretary of the Edinburgh Branch of the Social Democratic Federation. In 1923 he published a book of reminiscences, Umsturzkeime (Seeds of Revolution), in which a chapter is devoted to Morris. May Morris describes him (MM, II, 178) as a "fiery and eloquent speaker of striking aspect in his brown close-fitting Jaeger clothing, his fine head like nothing less than one of Diirer's careful studies of a curly-bearded German warrior." For a fuller account of Scheu's career, see Lee, pp. 81-82. 5 John Henry Middleton. 6 W.A.S. Benson. 7 Morris's sister, Emma Oldham, see Volume I, letter no. 1, n. 1.

873 · To JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 19, 1883

My dearest Jenny Whitsun-week over and Derby-week coming: the first holiday I dont grudge; the second I do; but I think I shall be able to get to Merton 2 days or 3 in the week: I hope it will rain hard on Derby-day partly out of spite, partly because else we shall be choked with dust. 1 On Tuesday & on Thursday I walked all the way to Merton by Roehampton Lane; really a pleasant walk: I am quite sick of the underground, & think I shall often walk to or from Merton. it takes a long 2 hours; but you see it is not all pure waste like the sweltering train-business. 2 I came [ 192 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 873

Holland Park carpet, designed 1883.

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back in an open trap on Tuesday, and as I went through Roehampton Lane the driver told me about the nunnery there, 3 & how he had heard the nuns singing angellically out in the garden on Whitsun-Sunday night: so I stood up & looked over the fence, & lo, a lot of my holy dames, black & white just getting into boats to have a row on the lake there: for you must know that the grounds in there are quite splendid: it must be a very rich house. I went to the meeting of the Democratic Federation on Monday, and I found I was driven into joining its executive;4 so I am in for more work: however I dont like belonging to a body without knowing what they are doing: without feeling very sanguine about their doings they seem certainly to mean something; money is chiefly lacking as usual. Apropos of Socialism, I have just been reading Underground Russia, which is written by one of the Nihilists:51 must tell some one to send it to you: it is a most interesting book, though terrible reading too: it sounds perfectly genuine: I should think such a book ought to open peoples eyes a bit here & do good Item I have been reading some of Auerbachs6 little tales: have you read the Step-mother? 'tis very dear & pretty: so is another one called Erdamuther (I think). 7 Merton is really looking very pretty now, the hawthorn just coming out; but scarce any lilac there is one pretty blossom-tree which is new to me so with white blossoms something like the Portugal laurel blossoms: Edgar says it is the Dog-wood, but I can't find it in Gerard. We sat a hen, my dear, on ducks eggs: result at first 3 Ducklings; then one dissappeared & then another, and yesterday I saw the one poor orfling as bold as brass. Printing 8 going better in spite of Whitsun-tide. My best love to you my dearest child & to Mother & May. I am Your loving Father William Morris Ms: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: Mackail, H, 101. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 172-73; CW, 19, xv. 1 Derby Day was Wednesday, May 23. The way to Epsom was past Merton. 2 In his note to this letter, Henderson in Letters wrote (p. 172, n. 1): "To reach Merton from Kelmscott House Morris had to go by the underground railway from Hammersmith to Farringdon Street, cross the City, and then go down to Merton from Ludgate Hill, a journey that took about two hours." 3 The Convent of the Sacred Heart. 4 Morris became treasurer. See letter no. 885, n. 2. 5 The nihilist was Sergius Stepniak (1852-1895), an aristocrat who became a revolution-

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874

ary, was arrested in Russia in 1874, escaped, and in 1880 became a political refugee; he went first to Switzerland and then to London, where he wrote and lectured. His book, Underground Russia: Revolutionary Profiles and SketchesfiomLife, was published by Smith and Elder in 1883. 6 Berthold Auerbach (1812-1882). After reading Spinoza, he renounced his Jewish orthodoxy and devoted himself to the study of German folk literature, history, and literature. 7 Morris may have read "The Earthmother" in a selection ofAuerbach's stories in translation titled German Tales, published by Roberts Brothers, Boston, in 1869. The story was originally published in Auerbach's Schwarzwdlder Dorfgeschichten (1843). A number of aspects of the tale would have been attractive to Morris. "Erdmutha" is a young girl, and the story begins with a conflict over her between her dissolute father and her uncle (her dead mother's brother), thus suggesting somewhat the characteristic Morrisian triangle in which two men, closely related, struggle for the love of one woman. There is also an eventual marriage between Erdmutha and her cousin—the son of the uncle who had sought (unsuccessfully) to become her guardian. There is a happy scene in which the cousin-lovers, before the difficulties in the way of their marriage have been removed, walk side by side in a hay field—a scene that suggests also an idyllic moment in News from Nowhere. Finally, money is a source of evil in the story, and the getting of it is deliberately contrasted with the happy, purposeful work of the farmers. 8 Probably of the Strawberry Thief pattern.

874 · EXCERPTS FROM TWO LETTERS TO FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

a.

[week of May 19, 1883]

You have no revolution on hand on which to spend your money. By the way, the May-fly does not visit Wandle: they are eating the alder and the cocktail now. Wardle got a fish (not in our water) on Monday evening, a 21b., I heard. MS: Mackail, II, 101-102.

b.

May 23, 1883 1

Read Underground Russia if you want your blood to boil.

2

MS: Mackail notebook. 1 See letter no. 873, n. 5. 2 In addition to the excerpt given here, Mackail's notes include a paraphrase of another part of the letter: "Not likely to be much at K. this year on a/c of Jenny."

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 875 · T o EMMA S H E L T O N M O R R I S

Merton Abbey,

Surrey May 23, 1883 Dearest M o t h e r I write a line to wish you many happy returns of your birthday: I b e lieve the children have written to y o u also: w e all send y o u our very best love & good wishes Janey is n o t so well as w h e n she first came back from the country; the girls are well except that M a y is looking rather white. She is always better in the country: she has been doing some very pretty things lately & made a good design for a paper. H o t bright weather here but an east wind, the place looking nice. We find business rather dull this year, but so does everybody I believe. I was sorry not to be able to get away this week. Unless something serious prevents m e I will come d o w n on Wednesday afternoon by the usual train I send y o u a cheque for £20 dearest mother, as the first instalment of the painters bill I spoke of: I w o u l d have sent before, but I have had so m u c h to pay with Janey's illness & all that to say truth I have been s o m e what pressed. Again w i t h best love dearest mother I am Your most affectionate Son William Morris Best love to H e n n y & Isy if they are with you, as I hope they are that I m a y see t h e m MS: Walthamstow.

876 · T w o L E T T E R S T O G E O R G E J A M E S H O W A R D

a.

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith Thursday Morning [May 24, 1883?]

M y dear H o w a r d Very sorry, but I a m engaged tonight or would have come with pleasure. I will try to call in t o m o r r o w m o r n i n g to say h o w d o y o u d o . Yrs affectionately William Morris MSS: Howard Papers.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 878 b.

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 25 [1883?]

M y dear H o w a r d I will come on Saturday, thank you — 8 o'clock? Yrs affec: William Morris

877 · FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

[June? 1883]

I haven't had t w o consecutive hours to call m y o w n since I saw y o u three weeks ago . . . m y time has been a mere heap of chopped straw. MS: Mackail, II, 102.

878 · M A R Y SMITH M U N D E L L A

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 5, 1883 Dear M r s . Mundella 1 I have to lecture at Hampstead o n Friday (15th) evening, 2 so I a m obliged m u c h against m y will to decline your kind invitation. With m a n y thanks I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: USheffield. 1

See letter no. 691, n. 1. On June 15 Morris gave the second of two lectures on "Art and the People" at the Vestry Hall, Haverstock Hill, Hampstead. The first was on June 12 (see letter no. 881). The lectures were reported in The North-Western Gazette on June 16 and 30, respectively. See also letter no. 882. 2

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 879 · T o CATHERINE HOLIDAY

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 6 [1883?] Dear M r s . Holiday M r s . Macdonald 1 has asked m e for the Tuesday, & I t h o u g h t I o u g h t to say yes; so I a m sorry, b u t I cannot come to you that day: there has been n o arrangement made about the Friday, so I can c o m e w i t h pleasure on that day if it suits you; if not it must be some other day. With m a n y thanks I am Yours very truly William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Possibly Louisa (d. 1902), the wife of George Macdonald, the novelist and previous owner of Kelmscott House (see Volume I, letter no. 503, η 4) They were married in 1851.

880 · T o M A Y MORRIS

Merton Abbey,

Surrey June 8, 1883 Dearest M a y I enclose herewith a cheque for £5 for yourself & therewith the other cheques Radford £3.12. Seymour £4 0 11. Jenny is here w i t h Miss Allen 1 today & we have m u c h enjoyed ourselves; t h o u g h I a m a very little lame w i t h a very small touch of gout. I h o p e you are very m u c h amused d o w n there. 2 We are going on fairly well with our work, & have some g o o d n e w col­ ourings of s o m e of o u r w o v e n stuffs. We are keeping exhibitions such as the 'rational Dress' & so on till you c o m e back. So n o m o r e from y o u r affectionate father w h o has n o w got to sign cheques for the next half hour. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. 1 2

Presumably Jenny's companion. See letter no. 863, n. 5. May was at Much Hadam, visiting her aunts and grandmother.

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1883 / LETTER NO. 882 881 · T o

ROSALIND FRANCIS HOWARD

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 9, 1883

Dear Mrs. Howard I am so very sorry but I cannot come on Tuesday, as I have got to go to Hampstead to lecture that evening. Many thanks all the same. Yours affectly William Morris P. S. I forgot: I brought Janey back last Saturday; Jenny with her: May staying behind with her aunts: I think Jenny is really better & am beginning to feel hopeful about her. MS: Howard Papers.

882 · To

CHARLES EDMUND MAURICE

Kelmscott House, June 22, 1883

Dear Mr. Maurice, 1 I think you might be able to help a friend of mine with advice in the following case: A poor woman comes to her asking for a ticket for her son for the Consumptive Hospital; son obviously ill, but not with consumption: woman herself ill, sore throat and out-of-sorts: husband ill also: very bad smell in the house; the rent-collector or landlord, when asked to mend matters by the tenant, won't do anything; won't even give his address; inspector when written to by tenant don't answer: Can you tell me who is the proper inspector or board to apply to? and forgive my troubling you on such a simple question. I should have been glad to have continued our conversation last Friday night; as I so much desire to convert all disinterested people of good will to what I should call active and general Socialism, and to have their help: I think that you, like myself, have really been a Socialist for a long time, 2 and I know you have done your best, as you would be sure to do, to carry out your views. For my part I used to think that one might further real Socialistic progress by doing what one could on the lines of ordinary middle-class Radicalism: I have been driven of late into the conclusion that I was mistaken; that Radicalism is on the wrong line, so to say, and will never develope into anything more than Radicalism: in fact that it is made for and by the middle classes and will always be under the control of rich capitalists: they will have no objection to its political development, if they think they can stop it there; but as to real social changes, they will not al[ 199 ]

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low them if they can help it: you may see almost any day such phrases as "this is the proper way to stop the spread of Socialism" in the Liberal papers, the writer of the phrase never having taken the trouble to find out what Socialism meant, and also choosing to ignore the discontent, dumb indeed for the most part, which is widely spread even in England. Meantime I can see no use in people having political freedom unless they use it as an instrument for leading reasonable and manlike lives; no good even in education if, when they are educated, people have only slavish work to do, and have to live lives too much beset with sordid anxiety for them to be able to think and feel with the more fortunate people who produced art and poetry with great thought. This release from slavery it is clear cannot come to people so long as they are subjected to the bare subsistence wages which are a necessity of competitive commerce; and I cannot help thinking that the workmen will be soon finding out that for themselves: it is certain that Henry George's book 3 has been received in this country and in America as a new Gospel: I believe that Socialism is advancing, and will advance more and more as education spreads, and so believing, find my duty clear to do my best to further its advance, and in the same time, in what poor way I can, to soften the ruggedness, and refine the coarseness which centuries of oppression have hammered into it, so to say. A word about the Democratic Federation: as far as I know it is the only active Socialist organization in England: under the above mentioned circumstances therefore I found myself bound to join it, although I had heard beforehand (to speak plainly) that it was a sort of Tory drag to take the scent off the fox.4 From all I can hear I believe that to be a calumny: or, to speak English, one of those curious lies for which no one seems responsible, but which stick very tight to the object they are thrown at. However that may be, I cannot see how a Society which has declared openly for Socialism, including Land Nationalization, can serve the Tory cause, whatever the Tory intention may be: for the rest, from what I can see from their proceedings the Executive seem to me to mean work; and if their opinions hurt the Liberal party (where is it by the way?) it is the fault of the Liberal party for allowing itself to stiffen into Whiggery or practical Toryism, as it seems to me it is fast doing. I won't make any excuses for this long letter, as I know you are deeply interested in the matter, and I believe your uprightness of thought will see through my clumsy sentences into what I have in my mind. I am, dear Mr. Maurice, Yours faithfully William Morris [ 200 ]

1883 / L E T T E R

N O . 883

TEXT: Mackail, II, 102-104. Published: MM, II, 81-82; Henderson, Letters, 173-74. 1 Charles Edmund Maurice (1843-1927), son of the Christian Socialist leader, Frederick Denison Maurice. C. E Maurice was trained as a barrister and was, like his father, a Christian activist continuously engaged with political and social issues. He was, at one time, a friend and disciple of Mazzini. In 1872 he married Emily HiU (sister of Octavia Hill), and in the same year he gave up the law. He moved to Hampstead and became a prominent local figure. The author of The Life and Letters of Miss Octavia Hill, he also published poems. As a resident of Hampstead, he probably met Morris at Hampstead political meetings. 2 Relying on Morris's early lectures and the later essay, "How I Became a Socialist," E. P. Thompson conjecturally traces (pp. 306-307) Morris's transition from radical Liberal to socialist as a process that began in 1881. 3 Progress and Poverty, 1879. 4 The leader of the Democratic Federation, H. M. Hyndman (see letter no. 904, n. 1) had been accused of being a Tory agent. This may have been what Morris had heard.

883 · T o C H A R L E S E D M U N D M A U R I C E

Kelmscott House,

July 1, 1883 Dear Mr. Maurice, I a m sitting d o w n to write m y promised letter to you, but to begin w i t h find it somewhat difficult to d o m o r e than define m y o w n position a little m o r e than I did in m y last. You see I think w e differ to start with in this, that y o u think that the present system of Society has certain hitches in it; certain w r o n g s resulting from blunders persisted in, till they have b e c o m e very difficult to deal with, but which hitches and blunders are removable, and w h e n removed will leave us a society which can be kept straight b y careful attention to the general duties of good citizenship. I confess I g o m u c h further than that: true it is that I cannot help trying to r e m o v e o b vious anomalies or helping what I can to palliate the effects of the obstinate blunders which w e both see, b u t I d o so with little hope, because I believe that the whole basis of Society, with its contrasts of rich and poor, is incurably vicious: I might be content that the change which I think must come about before this can be righted should be a gradual one — or say I must be content; b u t I d o not see that those w h o are at the head of the p o litical advance have any intention of making a real change in the social basis: for t h e m it seems a part of the necessary and eternal order of things that the present supply and demand Capitalist system should last for ever; t h o u g h the system of citizen and chattel slave under which the ancient civilizations lived, which n o doubt once seemed also necessary and eternal, had to give place, after a long period of violence and anarchy, to the feudal system of seigneur and serf; which in its turn, t h o u g h once t h o u g h t necessary and eternal, has been swept away in favour of our present contract

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system between rich and poor. 1 Of course I don't do you the injustice to suppose that you defend the finality of any system, but I am quite clear that the ordinary Radical of today does do so, and there I join issue with him. Also of course, I do not believe in the world being saved by any system, — I only assert the necessity of attacking systems grown corrupt, and no longer leading anywhither: that to my mind is the case with the present system of capital and labour: as all my lectures assert, I have personally been gradually driven to the conclusion that art has been handcuffed by it, and will die out of civilization if the system lasts.2 That of itself does to me carry with it the condemnation of the whole system, and I admit has been the thing which has drawn my attention to the subject in general: but furthermore in looking into matters social and political I have but one rule, that in thinking of the condition of any body of men I should ask myself, 'How could you bear it yourself? what would you feel if you were poor against the system under which you live?' I have always been uneasy when I had to ask myself that question, and of late years I have had to ask it so often, that I have seldom had it out of my mind: and the answer to it has more and more made me ashamed of my own position, and more and more made me feel that if I had not been born rich or well-to-do I should have found my position unendurable, and should have been a mere rebel against what would have seemed to me a system of robbery and injustice. Nothing can argue me out of this feeling, which I say plainly is a matter of religion to me: the contrasts of rich and poor are unendurable and ought not to be endured by either rich or poor. Now it seems to me that, feeling this, I am bound to act for the destruction of the system which seems to me mere oppression and obstruction; such a system can only be destroyed, it seems to me, by the united discontent of numbers; isolated acts of a few persons of the middle and upper classes seeming to me (as I have said before) quite powerless against it: in other words the antagonism of classes, which the system has bred, is the natural and necessary instrument of its destruction. My aim therefore being to spread discontent among all classes, I feel myself bound to join any organization whose object seemed to me really to further this aim: not in doing so should I be much troubled by consideration of who the leaders of such an organization might be, always supposing that one believes them genuine in their support of certain principles. It has always seemed to me that the worship of leaders had been a sign of the lifelessness of ordinary Radicalism of late, and that opinion has received fresh confirmation in my mind by last year's events in Ireland and Egypt (especially the latter, where the Liberal 'leaders' 'led' the party into mere Jingoism). 3 But further I earnestly wish that the middle classes, to whom hitherto I [ 202 ]

1883 I LETTER N O . 883

have personally addressed myself, should look to all these matters, and become discontented also, as they certainly should be, since they themselves suffer from the same system which oppresses the poor; their lives made barren and dull by it; their hopes for a higher standard of life repressed: besides I am quite sure that the change which will overthrow our present system will come sooner or later: on the middle classes to a great extent it depends whether it will come peacefully or violently. If they can only learn the uselessness of mere overplus money, the poisonousness of luxury to all civilization, they will not be so likely to cry out 'confiscation and robbery and injustice' at a system which, while it proposes to give to every man what he really needs, will have no call to take from any man what he can really use: in short, what we of the middle classes have to do, if we can, is to show by our lives what is the proper type of a useful citizen, the type into which all classes should melt at last. I remember a little time ago meeting a clever man in a train who enlarged (without letting me get a word in edgewise) on the woes of the middle class, and how they suffered in comparison with the pampered working classes. I am sorry to say that I was not ready enough to say to him what I afterwards thought: 'my friend, if you would only allow yourself to become a member of this pampered working class, then would all your woes be at an end, by your own showing.' His line of argument is common enough, and is founded on the assumption that one class must be masters of the other: but to my mind no man is good enough to be any one's master without injuring himself at least; whatever he does for the servant. Well, I don't know if I have explained myself at all; I daresay I haven't, but I have told you of certain things which were on my mind; and you will at least see that I am your ally in trying to deal with the lives of our own class. I much agree with what you say about the shop-keeping class, and think with you that they have been very unjustly scolded at for a position which they cannot help, and which is I know very often hard enough for them: whatever political grievances they lack, I think they have a social grievance heavy enough: for instance, the more refined classes do usually assume in their dealings with them that they will as a matter of course cheat the buyer, though all the while the buyer is eager for what he calls a 'bargain,' i.e., that he should cheat the seller. Doesn't this bring home to us all the waste and disgrace which is the essence of our present system of Commercial War? Well, I have spun you a very long yarn, and have not attempted to answer your objections directly; because I saw from your letter that you could not be expected to join in such a Society as ours at present, though I cannot help thinking that you one day will take some such step. Meantime I have begun a little essay on the subject you were good [ 203 ]

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enough to suggest to me: when it is finished I will send it you, and if you 4 approve of it I would read it somewhere and be prepared to answer fur­ ther questions on the subject — which however I cannot help feeling will eventually lead us back to Socialism by another road. By the way a friend sent me Hampstead paper cuttings, containing 1st, an irate letter from some one who was 'touched up' by my lecture; and 2nd, a very handsome answer to him by yourself, for which I thank you heartily, especially as it made clear to me that you quite understood what I had been saying on that occasion.5 You must remember by the way again that I was sent by the Democratic Federation to lecture there; so I thought I was acting within my rights in distributing their circular, and speaking for them. I am, dear Mr. Maurice, Yours faithfully, William Morris TEXT: Mackail, II, 105-109. Published: MM, II, 82-85; Henderson, Letters, 175-78. 1 It is clear from this historical discussion that Morris had begun to read Karl Marx In an entry for April 23, 1883, in his unpublished Diary, Cormell Price notes a breakfast at the Burne-Joneses' and writes: "Top . . . was full of Karl Marx, whom he had begun to read in tr." (Mackail, II, 97, misdates and misquotes the Diary.) E P. Thompson, discussing Mor­ ris's conversion to socialism, adds (p. 310): "The understanding of the class struggle, sub­ merged in many of his lectures, was only made apparent on his reading of Capital, in his discussions with Scheu, and Bax, and Hyndman, and his first Socialist activities." As to when Morris first became familiar with Marx's writings, there is a slight confusion in the record. Mackail says (II, 89) that he was "ploughing through" Capital during the fall of 1882, whereas Cormell Price indicates that Morns had only begun to read Marx in the spring of 1883. 2 See, for example, "Art, Wealth, and Riches," CW, 23, 143-63, and "Art and the People: A Socialist's Protest Against Capitalist Brutality; Addressed to the Working Classes," MM, II, 382-406. For dating of the latter, see LeMire, p. 298. 3 For Irish Coercion Bill, see letter no 678, n. 5. For events in Egypt, see letter no. 833, n. 4. See also Philip Magnus, Gladstone (London: J. Murray, 1954), pp. 288-300. 4 The essay to which Morris refers may have become the lecture, in support of the Dem­ ocratic Federation program, which he delivered at a meeting in Birmingham on September 26, 1883 (see LeMire, p. 239). This talk was reported only in The Christian Socialist, Novem­ ber 1883, which suggests that C E . Maurice might have helped to arrange for it to be given. It is also possible that the lecture proposed by Morris was never written, or was started but not finished. See letter no 927. 5 Possibly the lecture delivered on June 12. See letter ΛΟ. 878, η. 2.

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1883 I LETTER N O . 884

Emma Lazarus, 1883. 884 · T o EMMA LAZARUS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 5, 1883 Dear Miss Lazarus 1 I shall be delighted to see b o t h y o u & your friends 2 at M e r t o n Abbey t o m o r r o w : 1 write to the address y o u have given at (De) C a t e r h a m as I d o u b t if a forwarded letter (wh) w o u l d reach y o u in time but I will send a post-card to care of Barings 3 also in case I a m w r o n g in posting this to C a ­ terham. I am Dear Miss Lazarus Yours faithfully William M o r r i s

Γ 205 1

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: Columbia. Published: Rusk, 67. 1 Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), the American poet and essayist whose sonnet to the Statue of Liberty, written in 1883, was placed on its pedestal in 1903. Having made a commitment to her Jewish cultural identity and to Zionism in 1879, she published Songs ofa Semite in 1882 and an article, "TheJewish Problem," in the February 1883 issue o(Century Magazine. In the spring of 1883 she visited Europe for the first time and met Morris as well as the Brownings. (She met Morris at the Grange on June 25 where Georgiana Burne-Jones had invited her for the purpose of being introduced to him.) In Emma Lazarus, Jacob says (p. 388) that Morris was the only person to whom she drew close in England. She later published an article based on her visit to Merton Abbey: "A Day in Surrey with William Morris," Century Magazine, 32 (July 1886), 388-97 (see letter no. 941). 2 One of them may have been her sister, Annie, who was accompanying Emma Lazarus on her visit to Europe. 3 Bank of Baring Brothers.

885 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 11 [1883]

WILLIAM SHARMAN

Dear Sir1 I have been directed by the Executive Committee of the Democratic Federation to send you 100 copies of the manifesto2 lately published & to beg you to be so good as to circulate them according to the best of your judgement. May I ask you to be so good as to inform me of their safe arrival. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris Treasurer of Dem. Fed. to Revd. W. Sharman 20 Headland Park Plymouth MS: Pennsylvania. 1 William Sharman (1841-1889), a Unitarian minister who became a socialist at this time. He was also an outspoken defender of Bradlaugh's refusal as a Member of Parliament to take a religious oath. 2 The manifesto had been published after the second annual conference of the Democratic Federation, held in June 1883. Titled Socialism Made Plain, Being the Social and Political Manifesto of the Democratic Federation, it called for better housing for urban and agricultural workers; free compulsory education for all children, together with free meals; an eight-hour day; state ownership of railways and banks; abolition of the national debt; and nationalization of land. It was signed by members of the new executive, including Morris as Treasurer.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 887

886 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 12, 1883

EMMA LAZARUS

Dear Miss Lazarus I thank you & your sister1 very much for your kind present to our library at Merton Abbey, which some of us at all events can appreciate as far as the literature goes, & which I hope some of the laggards will learn to appreciate hereafter.2 I am really glad that you were pleased with your visit to so small & imperfect an establishment as our works are: a place which hangs doubtful between the past and the present, & is, I more than fear, going to be of no influence on the future — However we must try our best, & at any rate be pleased that it pleases us. Hoping to see you on your return to England I am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Columbia. 1 See letter no. 884, n. 2. 2 There was a circulating library at Merton Abbey for the benefit of the employees. In her article "A Day in Surrey," Emma Lazarus mentions and praises it (p. 390), writing, "the books were as richly bound as though intended for the poet's private shelves in consonance with [Morris's] theory that the working man must be helped and uplifted . . . by developing and feeding his sense of beauty." Whatever book it was that Emma Lazarus gave as a gift for this library, it presumably was intended as suitable to be included among those she had seen.

887 · T o

AGLAIA IONIDES CORONIO

Merton Abbey, Surrey1 Monday, July 16, 1883

My dear Aglaia Thanks for your note: I could call in tomorrow Tuesday about 5 pm if it suits you: we have printed your 26 Yds of cotton but can easily print another lot of about the same colour: a dead match might be difficult. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 This is an instance of a letter written on letterhead paper showing the name of Morris's company. At the top left is printed "Morris & Company." Under this, aligned at the left, are the words "Painted Glass," on one line, " 'Arras' Tapestry," on the next line, "Handmade Carpets," on the line after that, "Furniture Prints," on the following line, and "Damasks, &c, &c." on the last line. At top right is the address as shown here.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 888 · T o J E N N Y MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday [July 21, 1883] Dearest J e n n y I safely caught m y train, got h o m e & found M a m a awake & expecting m e . Wheathamstead seemed a pretty village — but O the C h u r c h — w h i c h has once been a fine one too, 13th & 14th C e n t u r y mostly I sup­ pose. 1 I w o u l d write you a longer letter m y dearest child; but I got a thing in m y eye in the u n d e r g r o u n d railway today, w h i c h makes m e w e e p till I have had a nights rest, so that writing is tiresome to m e . I w e n t to see Miss Wolfe 2 this m o r n i n g & she ordered the embroidery: but I am sorry to say that she is sadly stupid; and I believe m o n s t r o u s l y rich. 50/s a week is m o r e than she could usefully spend. 3 h u r r a h there­ fore for the social revolution! I will write again w h e n I have n o longer railroad iron in m y eye. M e a n w h i l e I send you the C o m p a s s m y dear, & m y very best love therewith & kind regards to Miss Bailey, h o p e y o u got out today in spite of the showers. Your old Proosian Blue 4 W. M. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1

Morris refers to St. Helen's. Pevsner writes in describing it that it is a "big flint church with a chancel as long as the nave and a dominating crossing tower with a broached lead spire starting like a pyramidal roof (an odd outline due to the [nineteenth-century] restoration)." See Pevsner, Hertfordshire, p. 274. 2 Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, see letter no. 866 and η 1. 3 As for her wealth and expenditures, she inherited an invested fortune often million dol­ lars and at first spent annually $100,000 (and later as much as $250,000) on philanthropic projects, including Grace Church in New York City, which contains windows designed by Henry Holiday. 4 This may have been one of Jenny's pet names for Morris inspired by his habit of return­ ing home from Merton Abbey with his hands colored from being dipped in the blue dye vat.

889 · T o T H O M A S ARMSTRONG

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 24, 1883 M y dear A r m s t r o n g 1 I d o n ' t wish to be too hard on a prigster; but m y w o r d ! O u r friend has paid m e a very sincere compliment. T o be quite serious since you ask m e m y views; in such w o r k as y o u are adjudging I should consider whether the likeness of a scholar's w o r k to

[ 208 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 890

something before the public came from looking at the latter & getting it into his head, or from deliberately copying it into his drawing with the original before him as ourfriendhas obviously done: in the latter case I shouldn't think he deserved a prize; at all events unless the result was very particularly pleasing to the eye.2 I hope you bought the Key, which was certainly one of the most beautiful small pieces of metal work I ever saw; the execution quite astonishing. Yours truly William Morris P. S. The second design Mr. [Heely?] declares not to have been copied in any way but declines to sell it for £1. MS: Bass Coll. 1 See letter no 727, n. 2. 2 This letter refers to the annual competition held to judge work by students at the government schools of art, of which there were nearly two hundred in the country. Morris, E. J. Poynter, and Walter Crane were on the committee forjudging textiles, carpets, lace, silk, printed muslins, cottons, woven hangings, pottery, tiles, and mosaics and on the one for wallpapers, furniture, and metal work.

890 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 26, 1883

EMMA LAZARUS

Dear Miss Lazarus I write a hasty note to thank you for your letter & to say that I am not likely to be able to get to Kelmscott just yet: as one of my daughters is in the country near London, & the other with Mrs Morris is going to the North in about a week, or something more. I hope we may see you when you come back to London: we shall all be very sorry if we quite miss you. I am very glad that you enjoyed your Canterbury visit. I am With best wishes Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Columbia.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 891 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kclmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 26, 1883 Dearest Jenny I am so glad to hear that you are getting on well down in the wilds of Hertfordshire: of the two leaves you sent me the smallest is the Hornbeam: I came across a lot of it in the hedge a little after I left you (yes) the other day: I think the other is the Wych Elm also. As to that pink flowered plant 'tis called Rest Harrow quasi Arrest I suppose. I have but scant news to tell you. Yesterday we saw the Tinworth sculpture, 1 which you may have heard of: done by a wheelwrights son in Southwark quite a young man still: they are very pictury sculpture not beautiful or decorative but certainly with genius in them: puritan works you understand akin to 15th Century German; but certainly alive. Dem: Fed: work going on pretty well: the manifesto spoken [of] in todays Daily News is not ours; nor is it Social Democratic, which is what we are, but anarchist:2 we consider them dangerous; for you see they have no program but destruction, whereas we are re-constructive. People in general are quite ignorant of the whole matter. We had a great many people here on Sunday & quite a warm discussion on Socialism but friendly. The last 2 days have been fine on the whole I hope you have enjoyed them: I have just been down the garden to give you the last report of it. The Sunflowers are coming into bloom fast; the biggest is a tolerably sized flower now: the doves 3 are quite beautiful, but everything is running to to leaf somewhat. This is a shabby little letter my dear, but it is morning time & I am busy I shall get down to see you one day next week dear, {if) even if I am not able to sleep there: I see there is a nice early train in the morning Kind regards to Miss Bailey best love to you dearest Jenny from Your loving father W.M. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published. Mackail, II, 111-12, CW, 19, xvi-xvu; Henderson, Letters, 178. ' George Tinworth (1843-1913). Morris is referring to an exhibition of terra-cotta work by Tinworth, who had once been a master potter at Doulton's pottery works, Lambeth, where he attracted the attention of Ruskin and G E. Street. 2 Under a heading, "Manifesto of the Social Democrats," the Daily News, July 26, printed (p. 5) a report that the "Social Democratic Associations" of London had issued a manifesto declaring no confidence in Parliament as an instrument of change, asking working-men to support the International Association of Working-men, and calling upon them "to overthrow the present competitive state of society, and establish a new one upon Equality, Liberty, and Justice " 3 Probably columbines.

[ 210 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 894

892 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 31 [1883]

My dearest Jenny I will come on Thursday my dear, but I must go back by the last train (on) as I must be at Merton on Friday, Wardle being off by that time. There is a train gets to Wheathamstead at 8.45 AM. I will try to come by that; in which case I shall drop down on you at breakfast; but the trains are so cross from here that I may not be able to catch that first one: in which case I shall get to Wh: at 10.23 & I daresay you could meet me halfway. I won't spin you a long yarn under these circumstances dear Jenny but just send my love and am Your loving Father William Morris P. S. Let me know if you want anything my dear. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339.

893 · T o FREDERICK STARTRIDGE ELLIS

Tuesday [August 1883]

I will try to call tomorrow morning. Yrs. W. M. MS: Ohio.

894 ·

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 3, 1883

RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

Dear Madam Many thanks for your note & for the honour you propose to me: I shall be very glad to do anything I can to further your important scheme. I apologize to you sincerely for not answering your letter before & am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Berger Coll.

[ 211 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM MORRIS 895 · T o T H O M A S A R M S T R O N G

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 4, 1883

M y dear A r m s t r o n g O f course I k n o w the Persian collection 1 very well, & have always looked at it as being of the greatest possible value from an educational p o i n t of view. As to the prices given for the articles, they are so small as to bear n o relation to the prices asked by dealers in E n g l a n d & France for similar things: 2 I r e m e m b e r some years ago a w e l l - k n o w n dealer naively complaining to m e of the placing of the prices given b y the articles: for, said he, they m a k e our prices seem ridiculous. T h e price of this kind of g o o d s has risen m u c h since then: and I a m sure I a m speaking within the m a r k w h e n I say that such a collection could n o t be b o u g h t for ten times the m o n e y given for it. E v e n at that price it w o u l d be w o r t h b u y i n g for the nation, for as I said before it is of very great e x cellence. I could point o u t in detail if I w e r e on the spot things in the collection w h i c h w o u l d s u p p o r t m y view of this matter: for instance the magnificent lustred architectural p o t t e r y of the 13th & 14th century; 3 w h i c h is invaluable from an artistic point of view, & for w h i c h a m e r e trifle w a s given. I am M y dear A r m s t r o n g Yours faithfully William M o r r i s T. A r m s t r o n g , Esqre. Ms: PRO. 1 This refers to the collection made in behalf of the South Kensington Museum by Major Murdoch Smith (1835-1900). Acting in behalf of the Museum, he purchased, while in Teheran as an officer of the Royal Engineers, objects that he considered would be of value to the Museum as lessons in design and technique. He assembled and transmitted to the Museum a vast collection including metalwork, jewelry, manuscripts, paintings, porcelain, and textiles. The price was £1,778, and shortly thereafter another £400 was spent for a collection of wall tiles assembled by a French official in Teheran and offered to the Museum. The total collection, comprising some 3,517 objects, traveled by caravan out of Iran, sealed against customs inspection (which would have turned up the sacred nature of many pieces and hence the illegality of exporting them) by means of permission obtained by Smith It reached London m December 1875 and struck everyone as a great bargain, worth as much as £15,000. 2 In 1883 the prices paid by the Museum for the collection were called into question, and Museum officials, in defending the purchase, solicited support from experts. In addition to Morris's letter to Armstrong, at least one other was obtained: a letter from Augustus Franks (1826-1897), who had been director of the British Museum. Writing to Sir John Donnelly (1834-1902), head of the Science and Art department at the South Kensington Museum, Franks said in part: "Many of the specimens would sell in London or Paris for the same number of pounds as they have cost shillings." Manuscript in Public Record Office, Ed. 84/184. 3 In an article in The Art Journal, April 1876 (pp. 121-23), George Walhs (see letter no. 773,

[ 212

]

1883

/ LETTER

NO.

897

η. 1) praised the pottery in the collection, calling attention particularly to the lustred tiles (presumably included m Morris's reference to "architectural pottery"). He wrote that "they surpass everything of the same kind in Ceramic Art as yet known in Europe, and the deco­ rations and inscriptions, the latter being frequently in Arabic as well as Persian, form a com­ bination of relief and surface ornamentation of a most suggestive character."

896 · T O J A N E C O B D E N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 4 [1883] Dear Miss C o b d e n I will make enquiries a m o n g m y men, and at O x f o r d St about the cal­ ligraphy, & if I find s o m e o n e to do it I daresay I could give h i m some hints about the decoration which he could follow out: but m i g h t I ask if you have any ideas as to the price to be paid for the work, because that w o u l d guide m e as to h o w it ought be done. Also as to size, w h e t h e r on one sheet or not. I ask these questions because if you give the j o b into the hands of one of the regular m e n he will take all trouble off your hands & not charge m u c h I fancy, but will turn out something of extreme hideousness. I am Dear Miss C o b d e n Yours very truly William M o r r i s MS: West Sussex.

897 · T o J E N N Y M O R R I S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 8, 1883 M y dearest J e n n y These presents are to say that I intend coming d o w n to you on Saturday and staying till Sunday evening w h e n I must get back so as to be in t i m e for M e r t o n on M o n d a y . I shall try to get to you by breakfast time b u t d o n t wait for m e . I will bring d o w n w i t h m e a n e w and clean Q u i l p , 1 if you can wait till then: Also, m y dear, tell m e of anything you want. A u n t y Bessy will come d o w n to you next week. With best love m y dear Child I am Your loving father William M o r r i s

[ 213 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 Possibly but not probably a new copy of Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop. More likely, Quilp is a slip of the pen for quilt and, though not to carry the connection too far, a slip caused by the affection shared by Morris and Jenny for Dickens' novels.

898 · T o [ S A R A H A N N E U N W I N B Y L E S ]

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 9, 1883 Dear M a d a m 1 I thank y o u for your invitation, b u t feel myself b o u n d to decline the h o n o u r you offer me: I might with truth base m y refusal o n the difficulties I should find lying wait for m e in the form of other & multifarious business; b u t m y real objection is that though I sympathise m o r e o r less w i t h almost every educational attempt, m y o w n views are so revolutionary that it w o u l d not be fair or pleasant for either party for m e to express t h e m from a Presidents Chair. You see I d o n o t believe that any education will benefit people (except so far as it m a y rouse discontent in them) unless the final occupation of their lives is manlike and pleasurable; and I a m sure that this cannot be the case under the present system of labour & capital. I a m in short 'one of the people called' Socialists, and am bound as by religious conviction to preach that doctrine whenever I open m y m o u t h in public. Asking your pardon for giving y o u m y real reason for refusing your flattering offer instead of a conventional one I am Dear M a d a m Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Dunlap Coll. 1 Sarah Anne Unwin Byles (1845-1931), wife of William Pollard Byles (see letter no. 1233, n. 3), whom she married in 1865.

899 · E M M A L A Z A R U S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 13 [1883] Dear Miss Lazarus I shall be in the country on the 18th & 19th but I come back for the 20th only to breakfast however as I shall have to go to M e r t o n Abbey that day:

[ 214 ]

1883 I LETTER N O . 901

if you could come as far I should be very happy to see you there; & I think it would be the likeliest way to catch me. On the 21st I shall probably be there also. Trains from Ludgate Hill to Merton Abbey: 11;15 Am. 11.39. 1.14 — or come to Wimbledon Station & drive over. I see your note has the Wells post-mark I hope you have enjoyed yourself there & at Glastonbury. I am Dear Miss Lazarus Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Columbia.

900 · To ELLIS AND WHITE

August 14,

1883

Dear Mr. White Could you lay hands for me on the works of William Cobbett 1 — any or all of them. Yrs truly W. Morris MS: Ohio. 1 William Cobbett (1762-1835), the early radical who, E. P. Thompson believes (p. 269), had a decided effect upon the style of Morris's later socialist writing (see letter no. 908).

901 · To JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 14 [1883]

My dearest Jenny I shall certainly come to Mr. Webbs on Saturday, so please tell Miss Webb so. 1 Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning I go with Middleton to Whitney & thence drive to Burford through Minster Lovel; sleep there, drive to Chipping Campden or the Tower & back to Kelmscott, where is Ellis & his Phyllis,2 on Thursday, & so back to London on Friday. I can't say that London looked pretty when I got there: item the house smelt of cat: but what lovely weather this morning and yesterday! I was at Merton today & had visitors there in the afternoon, Benson, Middleton & Dr Bridges. 3

[ 215 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

I told them about the grub-parcel at Merton: also Annie Cook was to pluck & send you off some flowers. I hope you will get them in pretty good condition. This is but a short note, my own dear, but we meet again soon, & my after-breakfast letter writing time has been taken up by my writing to the Daily News about the tow-path ditch as there was a letter from a Mr. Clare (query ours?) in this mornings News & I thought I ought to back him. 4 So good bye till Saturday my dear: with best regards to Miss Bailey & love to Aunty. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 179. 1 Possibly Henry Webb, a brother of Philip Webb (see Volume I, letter no. 33, n. 2) who was a doctor, and his sister Caroline. But Philip Webb was one of eleven children. 2 F. S. Ellis's daughter. 3 Possibly Robert S. Bridges (1844-1930), the poet who edited the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and who himself became Poet Laureate in 1913. He had been trained as a physician and held various medical appointments until 1881 when he retired for reasons of health. The others mentioned by Morris were W.A S. Benson and John Henry Middleton. 4 The letter, signed by W. Clare, and posted from the West London Rowing Club, Putney, described the towpath ditch mentioned by Morris as carrying "the blackest and most noisome abominations, for about a half mile . . between the Soap Works and Putney." The writer declared that both the Board of Works and the Thames Conservancy had the legal power to force an end to the pollution but were "too supme" to do so. See the Daily News, August 14, 1883, p. 5.

902 · To

THE EDITOR OF THE

Oaily News

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 14, 1883

Sir, I beg leave to confirm the information given you by your correspondent Mr. Clare about the malodorous and insanitary condition of the ditch which runs along the towpath from the Soap Works by Hammersmithbridge. This nuisance deprives those of us who value their health of the opportunity of walking in one of the most beautiful spots in the suburbs, I think I might almost say the most beautiful, Hampstead excepted, east of Kew; and for the rest the letter in your issue of this morning from Dr. Carpenter 1 supplies a noteworthy commentary on the folly of leaving such nuisances untouched. I may add to the other historical reminiscences given by Mr. Clare that William Cobbett lived and wrote for some time

[ 216 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 903

on the farm (still an untouched piece of country) just south of this foul ditch. 2 One might well wish that the master of plain-speaking were alive to address a few words to our present stink-and-pest breeders. I am, Sir, Yours faithfully, William Morris TEXT: Daily News, August 15, 1883, 6. Published: Henderson, Letters, 179. 1 William B. Carpenter (1813-1885), a medical doctor and a naturalist; at this time, professor of medicine, University College, London. 2 This is a reference to Barn Elm, on the Thames between Putney and Hammersmith, where Cobbett lived and farmed for several years.

903 · To

GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

August 21, 1883

I am touched by your kind anxiety about my poetry; but you see, my dear, there is first of all my anxiety, which I am bound to confess has made a sad coward of me;1 and then, though I admit that I am a conceited man, yet I really don't think anything I have done (when I consider it as I should another man's work) of any value except to myself: except as showing my sympathy with history and the like. Poetry goes with the hand-arts I think, and like them has now become unreal: the arts have got to die, what is left of them, before they can be born again. You know my views on the matter; I apply them to myself as well as to others. This would not, I admit, prevent my writing poetry any more than it prevents my doing my pattern work, because the mere personal pleasure of it urges one to the work; but it prevents my looking at it as a sacred duty, and the grief aforesaid is too strong and disquieting to be overcome by a mere inclination to do what I know is unimportant work. Meantime the propaganda gives me work to do, which, unimportant as it seems, is part of a great whole which cannot be lost, and that ought to be enough for me. TEXT: Mackail, H, 109-110. Published: Henderson, Letters, 180. 1 About Jenny's health.

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Georgiana Burne-Jones with Phil and Margaret in the background. Painting by Edward Burne-Jones, begun in 1883.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 904

904 · T o

[GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES]

Kelmscott House [August 26, 1883]

I am like enough to have some trouble over my propagandist work, let alone that I am in for a many lectures: for small as our body is, we are not without dissensions in it. Some of the more ardent disciples look upon Hyndman 1 as too opportunist, and there is truth in that; he is sanguine of speedy change happening somehow, and is inclined to intrigue and the making of a party: towards which end compromise is needed, and the carrying people who don't really agree with us as far as they will go. As you know, I am not sanguine, and think the aim of Socialists should be the founding of a religion, towards which end compromise is no use, and we only want to have those with us who will be with us to the end. But then again, if the zealots don't take care they will blow the whole thing to the winds; all the more as the religious or theological difficulty is on us, or threatening to be so. In the midst of all this I find myself drifting into the disgraceful position of a moderator and patcher up, which is much against my inclination. Meantime it is obvious that the support to be looked for for constructive Socialism from the working classes at present is nought. Who can wonder, as things now are, when the lower classes are really lower? Of vague discontent and a spirit of revenge for the degradation in which they are kept there is plenty I think, but that seems all. What we want is real leaders themselves working men, and content to be so till classes are abolished. But you see when a man has gifts for that kind of thing he finds himself tending to rise out of his class before he has begun to think of class politics as a matter of principle, and too often he is just simply 'got at' by the governing classes, not formally, but by circumstances I mean. Education is the word doubtless; but then in comes the commercial system and defends itself against that in a terrible unconscious way with the struggle for bread, and lack of leisure, and squalid housing — and there we go, round and round the circle still. TEXT: Mackail, II, 110-11. Published: Henderson, Letters, 180-81. 1 Henry Mayers Hyndman (1842-1921), the founder and leader of the Democratic Federation. Born into a wealthy family, he had attended Trinity College, Cambridge, studied for the bar, and traveled widely, before entering politics. He was a liberal and a staff member of the Pall Mall Gazette when in the 1870s he met Marx. By 1881 he had become a socialist, and he founded the Democratic Federation; also in that year he published England for All, a book that relies heavily on Marx's writing. Despite Marx's displeasure with Hyndman (because he had not acknowledged Marx by name in the book), the Democratic Federation had been transformed by the time Morris joined it in 1883 from a radical group to one committed to a Marxian socialist analysis. In 1884 Hyndman and Morris collaborated on A Summary ofthe Principles of Socialism. In 1916, although regarding himself as unchanged in his political ten-

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H. M. Hyndman, c. 1910.

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1883 / L E T T E R

N O . 905

ets, Hyndman left the British Socialist Party and formed the National Socialist Party. His published works include two autobiographical accounts, The Record of an Adventurous Life (1911) and Further Reminiscences (1912). For his recollections of Morris, see particularly The Record of an Adventurous Life.

905 · T o J E N N Y MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 28, 1883 Dearest Jenny T h a n k y o u kindly for writing to me; I a m afraid I have b u t little to say in return: Sunday did turn out a quiet day & I did a bit of w o r k : b u t M r . Watts 1 called in the evening and I was glad to see him: I duly w e n t to M e r ton yesterday; walked there, which was pleasant, t h o u g h the glory of the weather has s o m e w h a t departed, as the wind 'backed' t o N W o n Sunday, & was SW yesterday & still is this morning: h o w e v e r it didn't rain yesterday and is specially beautiful & soft this m o r n i n g & n o mist; so one must h o p e for the best as to the harvest weather. I was rather tired yesterday, as besides m y walk I spent the afternoon dyeing tapestry wools, & finished by m y usual M o n d a y talk at H y n d m a n s . 2 however dyeing is good sport to m e still. I ordered the broches 3 to be w o u n d for m y tapestry w o r k at h o m e & shall begin again w h e n they come & y o u shall help m e m y dear if y o u please. I g o to Oxford St this afternoon, & shall call o n M r s . C o r o n i o afterwards before going to the D e m : Fed: A n d n o w what with having a bit of w o r k to do: (the emb[roidery] pattern for Miss Wolfe) & what with m y having nothing to say I will w i n d up with m y best love dear child. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 Probably Theodore Watts-Dunton (see Volume I, letter no 222a, n. 1). 2 There were regular Monday evening meetings, for political discussions, at Hyndman's home (see E. P. Thompson, lsted., p. 355). These were probably the same as the gatherings described by Hyndman as meetings of "our little Supper-Club" at which, one evening, Morris described the battle of Agmcourt. See Hyndman, p. 324. 3 Spindles.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 906 · T o [?] B A I L E Y

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 30 [1883] Dear Miss Bailey 1 I hear from M r s . Morris that dear Jenny has had an attack since y o u left t o w n : I o u g h t to have asked y o u to write & let m e k n o w also if anything of that sort happens: Will y o u kindly do so please & tell m e something about this last one: I a m sorry to have to give you double trouble over it, but I get anxious & I want also to communicate with Mr. Webb. 2 I hope y o u are still having fine weather, as w e are: I will send off Miss Wright's 3 cheque t o m o r r o w : do you want anything m o r e at present: if so please write. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Thomas. 1

Jenny's nurse or companion. Possibly the doctor Henry Webb, brother of Philip Webb. See letter no. 901, n. 1. 3 Possibly a special nurse or attendant called in by Miss Bailey to help with Jenny. 2

907 · F R O M A L E T T E R T O G E O R G I A N A B U R N E - J O N E S

September [3?] 1883

As to the D . F . , you need not be anxious about me. I went into the affair quite with m y eyes open, and suspecting worse things of it than are likely to happen: for you understand I by n o means suppose H y n d m a n o r any of the leaders not to be in earnest, though I may not always agree with them. I naturally find it harder w o r k to understand the subject of Socialism in detail n o w I a m alongside it, and often get beaten in argument w h e n I k n o w all the same I am really in the right: but of course this only means m o r e study. Every one w h o has thought over the matter must feel your dilemma about education; b u t think of many n o t uneducated people that you know, and y o u will I am sure see that education will n o t cure people of the grossest social selfishness and tyranny unless Socialistic principles form part of it. Meantime I a m sure it is right, whatever the apparent consequences m a y be, to stir u p the lower classes (damn the word) to d e m a n d a higher standard of life for themselves, n o t merely for themselves o r for the sake of the material comfort it will bring, b u t for the good of the whole w o r l d and the regeneration of the conscience of man; and this stirring u p is part of the necessary education which must in good truth g o before the reconstruction of society: b u t I repeat that without laying b e fore people this reconstruction, o u r education will b u t breed tyrants and

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cowards, big, little and least, down to the smallest who can screw out money from standing by to see another man working for him. The one thing I want you to be clear about is that I cannot help acting in the matter, and associating myself with any body which has the root of the matter; and you know, and it may ease your kind heart respecting me, that those who are in the thick of it, and trying to do something, are not likely to feel so much of the hope deferred which hangs about the cause as onlookers do. TEXT: Mackail, H, 112-13. Published: Henderson, Letters, 181-82.

908 · T o J E N N Y MORRIS

Hammersmith

September 4 [1883]

Dearest Jenny Since you are not coming home tomorrow I will just send you one more letter my dear, and thank you for yours. I am so glad 'tis a fine day for you today; though yesterday was not bad at Merton; very bright between the showers, which were not heavy: we are getting on with the fenting, shall soon have done a fent of a pattern I did when gouty in the spring; which I think you will admit does my gout credit. Item I have designed a membership card for the Dem: Fed: which I myself did not think much of, but which pleased our 'simple people'. Item I have made a little poem for them, a copy of which I would have sent you, my dear, but that it has gone to the printer straight. 1 I seem to have a panic on our not having chintz blocks enough, for I have two more on the stocks: one of them, (I am working at it this afternoon) is such a big one that if it succeeds I shall call it Wandle:2 the connection may not seem obvious to you as the wet Wandle is not big but small, but you see it will have to be very elaborate & splendid and so I want to honour our helpful stream. I really have begun the tapestry, but have only done the smallest bit, V2 an hours work I should say. I have got a lot of W. Cobbet's books; such queer things they are, but with plenty of stuff in them, somehow they rather remind me of old Borrow in style; I suppose it partly comes of there being a fashion in certain periods which vigorous writers fall into: though by the way if they had met they would have eaten each other up alive, so widely they differed. One little book called Cottage Economy 3 is very amusing, and there is a chapter in it on the making of straw plait:4 the article on the pig is touching. Which reminds me of Dunstable (and) since it also is a pig — in a poke [ 223 ]

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Democratic Federation membership card designed by William Morns, 1883.

to you: I hope you will find it tolerable success: but one can hardly expect that the church has not been restored5 Well my dear child goodbye again: I shall be at home on Saturday against you come. Your loving father William Morris I go to meet Mother this evening you see MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: CW, 19, xviii. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 183. 1 "The Day is Coming." Published as a pamphlet in 1884, it was the first of the Chants for Socialists brought together as a volume in 1885. "The Day is Coming" was included also in Poems by the Way, 1891. 2 The pattern was successful and was first printed in 1884. 3 Published in 1822. Cobbett instructed his readers in such housekeeping skills as brewing beer, making bread, and keeping goats, poultry, and bees. 4 May Morris writes (CW, 19, xviii) that the reason for this reference was that Jenny was staying near Luton, where straw plaits were made, as they were also in Dunstable. 5 Dunstable Priory Church. A relic consisting of a "mutilated Norman nave and early English west front," it was extensively restored in 1850. A blank wall, forming the east end, was decoratively painted by Bodley and Garner at the time. See Edmund Gunn, "Another 'Restoration': Dunstable Priory Church," Architectural Review, 8 (July-December 1900), 5355.

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1883 / LETTER N O . 911 909 · F R O M A L E T T E R T O T H O M A S C O G L A N H O R S F A L L [September 9, 1883]

I have long felt sure that commercialism must be attacked at the root before w e can be on the road for those improvements in life which y o u and I so much desire. A society which is founded on the system of compelling all well-to-do people to live on making the greatest possible profit out of the labour of others, must be w r o n g . For it means the perpetuating the division of society into civilized and uncivilized classes: I a m far from being an anarchist, but even anarchy is better than this, which is in fact anarchy and despotism mixed: if there is no hope of conquering this — let us eat and drink, for t o - m o r r o w w e die. O f course I do not discuss these matters with y o u or any person of g o o d will in any bitterness of spirit: but there are people with w h o m it is hard to keep one's temper; such as the philistine middle-class Radical; w h o think, or pretend to, that n o w at last all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. TEXT: Mackail, II, 113. Published: Henderson, Letters, 182.

910 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 13, 1883 Dear Sir I must apologize for not answering you before but m y goings & c o m ings have been rather uncertain of late, and I was not sure if I could come: if the 23 Sept: is still vacant I should prefer that day; otherwise I must put off till the 4th Nov: 1 I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1 Morris gave a lecture on November 4, 1883 (see letter no. 923, n. 2). The talk, however, is not listed by LeMire, and no information about it has come to light.

911 · T o A N D R E A S S C H E U

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 15, 18831 Dear Mr. Scheu I will ask about the b r o w n cloth; perhaps (the) it might be got from some Scotch warehouse: but I fear that such goods have become strange

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Andreas Scheu, c. 1885.

to England; we are got too clever by half to give people the real article when shoddy will do as well. As to the black dyeing the recipe would run something like this: pass your goods through a bath of log-wood (Fr. bois de Campeche) then through another bath of galls and sulphate of iron (trade name copperas) goods so dyed would not stand the sun so well as if'woaded' as the dyers used to call it, ie passed through the cloth-dyers indigo-vat: they would be apt to turn 'rusty'; but it would be thought good dyeing nowadays. As to the blankets: it is common to make the warps of cotton, and even to mix cotton with Australian wool for the weft: the best (Whitney) blan[ 226 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 911

kets made at Witney (a jolly little old town in Oxfordshire) 2 have good worsted warps and their weft is all of pure English wool, which is firmer, though not so soft as the Australian: generally the inferior blankets have scarlet or some gaudy colour woven into their ends; these best ones have dark indigo blue only; but of course this distinction is trivial. If you want to know anything more in detail about dyeing, or any other matter of my work I shall be very happy to tell you, or to show you what we do at Merton Abbey, where I am both a dyer and a cotton-printer: only you understand we only use the old methods that obtained before the apotheosis of shoddy, and the free exchange of adulterated wares which Gladstone praised so at Kirkwall 'tother day. 3 I send you rather a long-winded sketch of my very uneventful life: but since you have that I venture to offer you the rest of my books if you won't think them too cumbrous, as they are a library in themselves and weigh about half a ton — Thor and Odin forgive me! (for I musnt use the ugly word). Make any use you please of said sketch; I shall try to get round to the meeting on Monday I want to see the East Enders: how I wish they would write and abuse us (the Executive) for not being busier to teach them Socialism! If they would only do that, & give us a shilling a month! but we English are a lumpish lot. You see by the way that the Trades Unionists have thrown out the Land Nationalisation amendment: 4 1 knew they would, & I can't say that I'm sorry: how the Bourgeois press will butter them. I am Dear Mr. Scheu Yours faithfully William Morris

I was born at Walthamstow in Essex in March, 1834, a suburban village on the edge of Epping Forest, and once a pleasant place enough, but now terribly cocknified and choked up by the jerry-builder. My father was a business man in the City, and well-to-do; and we lived in the ordinary bourgeois style of comfort; and since we belonged to the evangelical section of the English Church I was brought up in what I should call rich establishmentarian puritanism; a religion which even as a boy I never took to. I went to school at Marlborough College, which was then a new and very rough school. As far as my school instruction went, I think I may fairly say I learned next to nothing there, for indeed next to nothing was [ 227 ]

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taught; but the place is in a very beautiful country, thickly scattered over with prehistoric monuments, and I set myself eagerly to studying these and everything else that had any history in it, and so perhaps learned a good deal, especially as there was a good library at the school to which I sometimes had access. I should mention that ever since I could remember I was a great devourer of books. I don't remember being taught to read, and by the time I was 7 years old I had read a very great many books good, bad and indifferent. My father died in 1847 a few months before I went to Marlborough; but as he had engaged in a fortunate mining speculation before his death, we were left very well off, rich in fact. I went to Oxford in 1853 as a member of Exeter College; I took very ill to the studies of the place; but fell to very vigorously on history and specially mediaeval history, all the more perhaps because at this time I fell under the influence of the High Church or Puseyite school; this latter phase however did not last me long, as it was corrected by the books of John Ruskin which were at the time a sort of revelation to me; I was also a good deal influenced by the works of Charles Kingsley, and got into my head therefrom some socio-political ideas which would have developed probably but for the attractions of art and poetry. While I was still an undergraduate, I discovered that I could write poetry, much to my own amazement; and about that time being very intimate with other young men of enthusiastic ideas, we got up a monthly paper which lasted (to my cost) for a year; it was called the Oxford and Cambridge Magazine, and was very young indeed. When I had gone through my Schools at Oxford, I who had been originally intended for the Church (!!!) made up my mind to take to art in some form, and so articled myself to G. E. Street (the architect of the new Law Courts afterwards) who was then practising in Oxford; I only stayed with him nine months however; when being in London and having been introduced by Burne-Jones, the painter, who was my great college friend, to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the leader of the Pre-Raphaelite School, I made up my mind to turn painter, and studied the art but in a very desultory way for some time. At this time the revival of Gothic architecture was making great progress in England and naturally touched the Preraphaelite movement also; I threw myself into these movements with all my heart: got a friend to build me a house very mediaeval in spirit in which I lived for 5 years, and set myself to decorating it; we found, I and my friend the architect especially, that all the minor arts were in a state of complete degradation especially in England, and accordingly in 1861 with the conceited courage of a young man I set myself to reforming all that: and started a sort of firm for producing decorative articles. D. G. Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Burne-Jones, and P. Webb the architect of my house were the chief mem[ 228 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 911

bers of it as far as designing went. Burne-Jones was beginning to have a reputation at that time; he did a great many designs for us for stained glass, and entered very heartily into the matter; and we made some progress before long, though we were naturally much ridiculed. I took the matter up as a business and began in the teeth of difficulties not easy to imagine to make some money in it: about ten years ago the firm broke up, leaving me the only partner, though I still receive help and designs from P. Webb and Burne-Jones. Meantime in 1858 I published a volume of poems, The Defence of Guenevere; exceedingly young also and very mediaeval; and then after a lapse of some years conceived the idea of my Earthly Paradise, and fell to work very hard at it. I had about this time extended my historical reading by falling in with translations from the old Norse literature, and found it a good corrective to the maundering side of mediaevalism. In 1866 (I think) I published the Life and Death ofjason, which, originally intended for one of the tales of the Earthly Paradise, had got too long for the purpose. To my surprise the book was very well received both by reviewers and the public, who were kinder still to my next work, The Earthly Paradise, the first series of which I published in 1868. In 1872 I published a fantastic little book chiefly lyrical called Love is Enough. Meantime about 1870 I had made the acquaintance of an Icelandic gentleman, Mr. E. Magnusson, of whom I learned to read the language of the North, and with whom I studied most of the works of that literature; the delightful freshness and independence of thought of them, the air of freedom which breathes through them, their worship of courage (the great virtue of the human race), their utter unconventionality took my heart by storm. I translated with Mr. Magnusson's help, and published, The Story of Grettir the Strong, a set of Sagas (about 6) under the title of Northern Love Stories, and finally the Icelandic version of the Niblung Tale, called the Volsunga Saga. In 1871 I went to Iceland with Mr. Magnusson, and, apart from my pleasure in seeing that romantic desert, I learned one lesson there, thoroughly I hope, that the most grinding poverty is a trifling evil compared with the inequality of classes. In 1873 I went to Iceland again. In 1876 I published a translation of the Aeneid of Virgil, which was fairly well received. In 1877 I began my last poem, an Epic of the Niblung Story founded chiefly on the Icelandic version. I published this in 1878 under the title of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs. Through all this time I have been working hard at my business, in which I have had a considerable success even from the commercial side; I believe that if I had yielded on a few points of principle I might have become a positively rich man; but even as it is I have nothing to complain of, although the last few years have been so slack in business. Almost all the designs we use for surface decoration, wallpapers, tex[ 229 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

tiles, and the like, I design myself. I have had to learn the theory and to some extent the practice of weaving, dyeing and textile printing: all of which I must admit has given me and still gives me a great deal of enjoyment. But in spite of all the success I have had, I have not failed to be conscious that the art I have been helping to produce would fall with the death of a few of us who really care about it, that a reform in art which is founded on individualism must perish with the individuals who have set it going. Both my historical studies and my practical conflict with the philistinism of modern society have forced on me the conviction that art cannot have a real life and growth under the present system of commercialism and profit-mongering. I have tried to develope this view, which is in fact Socialism seen through the eyes of an artist, in various lectures, the first of which I delivered in 1878. About the time when I was beginning to think so strongly on these points that I felt I must express myself publicly, came the crisis of the Eastern Question and the agitation which ended in the overthrow of the Disraeli government. I joined heartily in that agitation on the Liberal side, because it seemed to me that England risked drifting into a war which would have committed her to the party of reaction: I also thoroughly dreaded the outburst of Chauvinism which swept over the country, and feared that once we were amusing ourselves with an European war no one in this country would listen to anything of social questions; nor could I see in England at that time any party more advanced than the radicals who were also it must be remembered hallowed as it were by being in opposition to the party which openly proclaimed themselves reactionists; I was under small illusion as to the result of a victory of the Liberals, except so far as it would stem the torrent of Chauvinism, and check the feeling of national hatred and prejudice for which I shall always feel the most profound contempt. I therefore took an active part in the anti-Turk agitation, was a member of the committee of the Eastern Question Association, and worked hard at it; I made the acquaintance of some of the Trades Union leaders at the time; but found that they were quite under the influence of the Capitalist politicians, and that, the General Election once gained, they would take no forward step whatever. The action and want of action of the new Liberal Parliament, especially the Coercion Bill and the Stockjobbers' Egyptian War quite destroyed any hope I might have had of any good being done by alliance with the radical party, however advanced they might call themselves. I joined a committee (of which Mr. Herbert Burrows was Secretary) which tried to stir up some opposition to the course the Liberal government and party were taking in the early days of this parliament; but it [ 230 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 912

speedily fell to pieces, having in fact no sort of special principles to hold it together; I mention this to show that I was on the look out for joining any body which seemed like to push forward matters. It must be understood that I always intended to join any body who distinctly called themselves Socialists, so when last year I was invited to join the Democratic Federation by Mr. Hyndman, I accepted the invitation hoping that it would declare for Socialism, in spite of certain drawbacks that I expected to find in it; concerning which I find on the whole that there are fewer drawbacks than I expected. I should have written above that I married in 1859 and have two daughters by that marriage very sympathetic with me as to my aims in life. William Morris MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 26-29; Henderson, Letters, 183-88. Extract published: MM, I, 652 and II, 8. Holograph draft of autobiography: BL, Ashley MSS. A. 1230. 1 The Socialist Review and Henderson date the letter September 5, 1883, but the manuscript reads September 15. 2 Weaving in Witney, Oxfordshire, began in the twelfth century, and for the last five hundred years the village has been especially well known for its woolen broadcloth. See Alfred Plummer, ed., The Witney Blanket Industry: The Records of the Witney Blanket Weavers (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1934). 3 For Gladstone's speech, delivered on September 13, see The Times, September 14, 1883, p. 8. 4 At the sixteenth annual Trades Union Congress, which began September 10, a motion was passed stating that since a large number of acres of wasteland could be cultivated, no radical changes in Britain's land system were needed. See The Times, September 14, 1883, p. 14.

912 · T o THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

Sunday Morning

[September 16, 1883?] Dear Mr. Horsfall I shall be out this forenoon, but should be sorry to miss you; will you not stop to lunch since I shall be back to that & shall be glad of a talk afterwards Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Rylands.

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Burne-Jones's caricatures o f Morris (at left) and of himself (above), c. 1883.

Burne-Jones's caricatures o f himself triumphing over Morris and of Morris weaving, c. 1881.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 913 · T o MARIE S P A R T A L I STILLMAN

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 14 [1883] Dear M r s . Stillman 1 I have to apologize for n o t answering Mr. Stillmans letter before, b u t I was hoping t o be able t o get t o see h i m . As it is I shall be in on Thursday this week till about 4.30 p m . and should be happy to see h i m if he could come over here. I am Dear Mrs. Stillman Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 110, n. 3.

914 · T o M A Y MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 16, 1883 Dearest M a y T h a n k y o u kindly for your letter: As it happens I have arranged n o t to go to Kelmscott till Friday this week; so I shall see y o u m y dears: I shall be anti-scraping that afternoon however, 1 so I shant be h o m e till 7.30 about. You seem to be having rather a good time there whereof I a m glad: 1 have n o doubt Jenny will tell you all the Kelmscott news; & I will keep the M e r t o n do 2 till I see y o u With best love to you & Mother I am Your loving father William Morris MS-.BL, Add. MSS. 45341. 1 Possibly to attend a meeting concerned with restoration in progress at Llanenddwyn Church, Wales. See Annual Report of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, June 1884. 2 Ditto.

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915 · T o

CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 17, 1883

My dear Charly In the first place I greet you on your return, and hope you had a pretty good time of it. Nextly I have to write a word on 'business.' The Dem: Fed: has made up its mind to have a shy at Oxford, and a young gentleman Fowler of Keeble1 has written to our sec: to say that a certain Russell Club 2 would invite Hyndman and me to address them: they expect (I don't know why) to get your hall for the meeting:3 I know you will be of any use to us that you can be, so I let you know of this: the 1st lecture is to come off in about 3 weeks time; but I rather expect to spend a day at Oxford before then. We have been pretty hard at work with our propaganda, & have even scored a temporary success here & there: but I feel that the educational side of the matter is so much the most important, that I am even a bit afraid of such successes (whi) that come of appealing to people on the side of their immediate interests. Yrs affectly William Morris MS: Walthamstow. 1 The Oxford Register lists a George H. Fowler, a graduate of Keble College, 1884, in natural science. 2 The Russell Club at the time was a society of Liberal undergraduates sympathetic to radicalism. 3 The meeting, held in University College Hall, and chaired by Benjamin Jowett, the Master of Balliol, took place on November 14, 1883. Morris's lecture, "Art Under Plutocracy," scandalized Jowett, who said he never would have agreed to be chairman had he known what Morris was going to say. Ruskm also spoke, but Hyndman was barred from speaking. See letter no. 917.

916 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 18, 1883

BERNARD QUARITCH

Dear Mr. Quaritch 1 I have looked through the trans of Fischbach2 which without being incorrect I fancy, (for I don't know German,) is rather German-English, I have noted (one) a few places where it must be altered, and one or two technical matters: but you must remember that I don't know German, so dont say that I did it. Yours faithfully William Morris [ 235 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: Quaritch. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 81, n. 3. Friedrich Fischbach (1839-1908), author of a book on lace that Quaritch published in English translation in 1884. 2

917 · T o C H A R L E S J A M E S FAULKNER

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 23, 1883 M y dear Charly M a n y thanks for your letter and your help in the matter: of course I quite understand that without the realisation of Socialism in full, the Land Nationalisation scheme is mere moonshine: but y o u see the scheme looks less dangerous; although 'tis clear that the present owners will not give u p their landed property without a civil war, and that the civil w a r over, w e should be little nearer a solution of the social difficulties: H e n r y George's enthusiasm and good tempered semi poetical style have pushed this wellmeaning mistake on chiefly: 1 however it has stirred people to look into the matter and that is something. As to H y n d m a n lecturing in your hall 2 1 would ask you to lay before the Master 3 the fact that I am quite as much a socialist as he is; that I a m an officer of the same association, & am distinctly going to lecture as a delegate from it: also that if the subject is to b e stirred at all, it is surely w o r t h while to listen to a m a n w h o is allowed b y Socialists to be capable of giving a definite exposition of the whole doctrine, which as y o u k n o w I a m not capable of doing in a scientific & detailed way. I am rather anxious about this matter, as if H y n d m a n is shut u p I shall feel rather like a fool and as if I were there on false pretences. For the rest H y n d m a n is an educated m a n if Trin: Coll: C a m b : is capable of educating (which is doubtful) and t h o u g h he is perhaps n o t as polite as the Devil is usually said to be, is at least politer than I am: neither has he horns & hoofs, as I a m prepared to swear: neither (as a Sec: of the SPAB) will I allow h i m to b l o w u p any old building in Oxford. Would it b e any good m y writing to the Master stating these facts in conventional language; and also stating w h a t seems to m e to be true that people do seem just at this m o m e n t to w a n t to k n o w something about Socialism? though to tell y o u the truth I misdoubt m e that that m a y be b u t a passing wind of fashion. I will try to eat m y meat with y o u when I come, thank you kindly. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Walthamstow. Published· Mackail, II, 119 Extract published. Henderson, Letters, 18889; MM, II, 86.

[ 236 ]

1883 I LETTER N O . 919 1 Under the Marxist tutelage of Hyndman and others, Morris had recently tempered his own enthusiasm for the principles of Henry George. For his earlier view of George's ideas, see letter no. 826, n. 6. 2 Hyndman was barred from lecturing. See letters no. 915 and no. 920. 3 James Franck Bright (1832-1920), Master of University College from 1881 to 1906.

918 · T o INGRAM B Y W A T E R

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 25, 1883 M y dear Bywater 1 M a n y thanks for your kind letter and invitation: I dont suppose h o w ever that w e shall stay in Oxford for m o r e than 2 nights at the outside, & I think as it will be a matter of trotting about at our o w n sweet will w e had better take u p our quarters at the Kings Arms as usual: but I shall of course make a point of seeing y o u & bringing m y daughter r o u n d to lunch or some such entertainment: her state of health I am sorry to say w o n t allow her to dine o u t or sit u p late. As to your question about H y n d m a n ; I k n o w h i m pretty well b y this time b u t only k n e w h i m by report (unfavourable mostly) before I joined our Society: I believe h i m to be quite sincere in his socio-political views and aims, and don't trouble myself about any other r u m o u r s : his position as a matter of course makes h i m an aim for plenty of those, which are pretty certain to be mostly untrue. 2 O n e thing is certain, there is n o money to be made out of our m o v e m e n t for either great or small. Yours very truly William Morris MS. Dunlap Coll. ' See Volume I, letter no. 603, n. 1. Among the criticisms of Hyndman were that he was a Jingo and that he was a Tory in disguise. He was never without a top hat, even when addressing open-air meetings, and this fact alone encouraged unsympathetic speculations about him among radicals and socialists. See E. P Thompson, pp. 340-45. 2

919 · F R O M A L E T T E R

TO THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

October 25, 1883

In a few w o r d s what I have to say about the manifesto 1 is, that, t h o u g h I m a y n o t like the taste of some of the wording, I do agree with the s u b stance of it (or I should not have signed it). This does not h o w e v e r prevent me from agreeing with you that the rich do not act as they do in the matter

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from malice. Nevertheless their position (as a class) forces them to 'strive' (unconsciously most often I know) to keep the working men in ignorance of their rights and their power. Where I think I differ from you of the means whereby revolution may be attained is this: if I do not misrepresent your views, you think that individuals of good will belonging to all classes of men can, if they be numerous and strenuous enough, bring about the change: 1 on the contrary think that the basis of all change must be, as it has always been, the antagonism of classes: I mean that though here and there a few men of the upper and middle classes, moved by their conscience and insight, may and doubtless will throw in their lot with the working classes, the upper and middle classes as a body will by the very nature of their existence, and like a plant grows, resist the abolition of classes: neither do I think that any amelioration of the condition of the poor on the only lines which the rich can go upon will advance us on the road; save that it will put more power into the hands of the lower class and so strengthen both their discontent and their means of showing it: for I do not believe that starvelings can bring about a revolution. I do not say that there is not a terrible side to this: but how can it be otherwise? Commercialism, competition, has sown the wind recklessly, and must reap the whirlwind: it has created the proletariat for its own interest, and its creation will and must destroy it: there is no other force which can do so. For my part I have never under-rated the power of the middle classes, whom, in spite of their individual good nature and banality, I look upon as a most terrible and implacable force: so terrible that I think it not unlikely that their resistance to inevitable change may, if the beginnings of change are too long delayed, ruin all civilization for a time. Meantime I must tell you that among the discontented, discontent unlighted by hope is in many places taking the form of a passionate desire for mere anarchy, so that it becomes a pressing duty for those who, not believing in the stability of the present system, have any hopes for the future, to lay before the world those hopes founded on constructive revolution. TEXT: Mackail, II, 116-17. Published: Henderson, Letters, 189-90. 1 See letter no. 885, n. 2.

920 · To

CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 25, 1883

My dear Charley I think we must leave the matter in the hands of the Russell Club: 1 I have undertaken to give my lecture & will not back out of it, but will de[ 238 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 921

liver it where they think advisable: I will however take counsel of Hyndman when I see him next, which will be Monday; (My) till I have found out what he and my other colleagues think about the matter, I don't like to give an opinion as to the expediency of the matter. I expect in a day or two there will be a short article from Hyndman in the Pall Mall Gazette on our view of the squalor of London, 2 which is at present what I fear I must call a 'fashionable' topic: they the P.M.G. have asked him to write this, & it may perhaps influence people at Oxford one way or other. Of course a lecture delivered by Hyndman at Oxford would not be the dynamitard affair which I can imagine some people there think it would be. Please to thank the Master on my behalf when you see him, I don't doubt he has done his best for us. 3 Thanks to you for your letter of explanation: I shall in any case be coming to Oxford for a day before long. Yrs affectionately William Morris MS: Walthamstow. Extract published: Mackail, II, 119. 1 Presumably whether to hold the meeting without Hyndman or to move the meeting elsewhere. See also letter no. 917. 2 Hyndman's article, which appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette of October 29, 1883, under the title "Revolutionary Socialism," argued (pp. 1-2) that philanthropy and the remedies proposed by political parties would never improve the squalid living condition of the London poor, which in any case, was linked to their being overworked, underfed, and ill-clad. Hyndman asserted that the wretchedness resulted from exploitation of workers under the competitive pressures of capitalism and could not be eliminated under that system. 3 From this letter it appears thatjames Bright, Master of University College, had accepted the prospect of Hyndman's participating in the meeting and had tried unsuccessfully to get other officials of Oxford to agree.

921 · T o

Kelmscott House October 25, 1883

CHAHLES ROWLEY

My dear Sir,' I have only one subject to lecture on, the relation of Art to Labour: also I am an open and declared Socialist, or to be more specific, Collectivist, and whatever I say would be coloured by my opinions on these matters: if you think under these circumstances a lecture from me would come within the scope of your scheme, and be acceptable as an expression of opinions for which of course you would not be responsible, I should be very happy to be one of those who lecture to you. 2 I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully, William Morris

[ 239 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

•'•-,^ η

Charles Rowley, c. 1900.

TEXT: Mackail, II, 114. Published: Henderson, Letters, 189. 1

Charles Rowley (1839-1933), M.P., the Manchester leader and reformer who founded the Ancoats Brotherhood. In the Ancoats district of Manchester he provided concerts, lec­ tures, and exhibitions of Pre-Raphaelite paintings for the poor. See Mackail, H, 114. See also Rowley's Fifty Years of Work Without Wages. 2 Morris gave his lecture, "Useful Work versus Useless Toil," in Manchester on January 21, 1884. It was the first of several for Rowley and the Ancoats Brotherhood.

[ 240 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 922 922 · WILLIAM J A M E S L I N T O N

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 26, 1883

Dear Sir 1 Y o u are very w e l c o m e to make use of the songs y o u m e n t i o n . 2 I did n o t write Socialism m a d e plain, 3 t h o u g h I fully agree w i t h it. B e fore l o n g w e h o p e to have a m o r e extended p a m p h l e t o n Socialism p u b lished w h i c h I d o n ' t d o u b t w o u l d interest y o u . 4 M e a n t i m e will y o u n o t j o i n o u r organisation w h i c h as far as I k n o w is the only active Socialist b o d y in England. I need n o t say that w e shall be very glad of any help especially in lecturing. I should be h a p p y to p r o p o s e y o u at o u r next m e e t ing. I have w r i t t e n as to a male person, but w i t h apologies if I a m w r o n g , is it possibly Mrs. L i n t o n 5 1 am addressing? I am Yours faithfully William M o r r i s MS: Yale B. 1 William James Linton (1812-1897), an engraver and poet who had been active in the Chartist movement, was a friend of Mazzini, and was a founder of several periodicals, including The Leader (1849) and the English Republic (1851). He was also a teacher of Walter Crane and a partner of Harvey Orrinsmith, Lucy Faulkner's husband (see letter no. 863, n. 3). In 1866 he migrated to the United States where he briefly taught wood engraving at Cooper Union, became the artistic director of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, and was a founding member of the American Society of Painters in Water-Colors. He was also an author, and his books and pamphlets included Life of Paine (1839), The Paris Commune (1871), A History of Wood Engraving in America (1882), and Memories, an autobiography (1895), as well as several volumes of poems. During 1883-1884, he was visiting England See F. B. Smith, Radical Artisan: William James Linton 1812-1897 (Manchester, England: Manchester Univ. Press; and Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1973). 2 This is a reference to English Verse, edited by W. J. Linton and R. H. Stoddard (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1883), 5 vols. Volume 2, titled Lyrics of the XIX Century, contains (pp. 281, 282) Morris's "Song" (Fair is the Night) and "Before Our Lady Came"; Volume 3, Ballads and Romances, includes "The Haystack in the Floods." 3 Socialism Made Plain, published in 1883, was the first socialist pamphlet issued by the Democratic Federation. It was written by Hyndman and other members of the executive of the Democratic Federation, and it served as the Manifesto of the organization. 4 A Summary of the Principles of Socialism, a pamphlet written for the Democratic Federation by Morris and Hyndman, was published in 1884. 5 It is not clear why the letter that Morris received left him uncertain about who the writer was, but Mrs. Linton was a well-known figure in her own right. Eliza Lynn (1822-1898), who married Linton in 1858, was a novelist and newspaper correspondent She was best known, if notoriously, for a series of anonymous Saturday Review articles, published in 1868 and republished under her own name in 1883 as a book titled The Girl of the Period and Other Social Essays. In these articles, Mrs. Linton, who had failed to accompany her husband to America, seemed to renounce her earlier association with the women's movement, repu-

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MORRIS

diating university education for women, birth control, woman suffrage, and women's entry into the professions. Among her other published works were Lake Country (written with her husband in 1864) and the novels Joshua Davidson (1872) and Autobiography ofChristopher Kirkland (1885).

923 · T o J E N N Y M O R R I S

Merton Abbey, Surrey November 5, 1883

Dearest J e n n y I enclose h e r e w i t h 2 postal orders for £1 each w h i c h need n o m o r e signing: Charles or a n y b o d y can change t h e m at any post office. AU well here: the place quite busy: another order for a carpet. I a m recko n i n g on d o i n g a g o o d evening's w o r k as M o t h e r & M a y are g o i n g out o n the spree: Silver King 1 w i t h the D e . M[organ]s. M y lecture came off successfully yesterday; t h o u g h w e w e r e s o m e w h a t b o t h e r e d by o u r Mr. Harris. 2 I hear that the Davitt meeting was a very serious affair, & m a d e a great impression: 3 Davitt & Miss Taylor 4 are going d o w n w i t h o u r

Mr.

C h a m p i o n 5 to preach to the p o o r folks in Dorsetshire (on Lord Salisburys Estates) w h o are very badly housed.6 So m a y the cause prosper, as indeed it m u s t . N o w I k n o w m y dear that y o u w o n ' t expect a long letter from m e as I a m r u n i n g about here & there at present. So g o o d b y e dearest J e n n y Your loving father William M o r r i s MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 A play by Henry A. Jones (1851-1929) and Henry Herman (1832-1894), which was having a long run at the Princess Theatre. 2 Presumably Morris lectured before his own workmen at Merton Abbey, and "our Mr. Harris" was one of the employees there whose manner of speaking had caused him to be linked through a family joke with Sarah Gamp's Mrs. Harris in Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit. 3 Michael Davitt (1846-1906), Irish revolutionary, who had been convicted in 1870 of treason-felony and imprisoned for seven years; and who, with Charles Parnell, had founded the Irish Land League in 1879. In May 1883 he had completed a five-month sentence of imprisonment, having been found guilty of sedition. A meeting of the Land Reform Union was held on October 30, 1883 Davitt, in his first public appearance in England since his release from prison, spoke on "The Land for the People" and put forward, as a resolution, two propositions—one by J. S. Mill, the other by Alfred Russel Wallace: (1) The land of every country belongs to the people of that country. (2) The primary use of a nation's land is to provide homes for the greatest number of people. The resolution was carried unanimously. See The Times, October 31, 1883, p. 10

[ 242 ]

1883 I L E T T E R N O . 924 4 Helen Taylor (1831-1907), stepdaughter of J. S. Mill and activist in the women's rights movement. She had lived with Mill at Avignon and had assisted with the writing of The Subjection of Women (1869) and had then edited his Autobiography (1873) and Three Essays on Religion (1874). Returning to England on his death in 1873, she entered politics, winning election to the London School Board in 1876. From 1880 on, she actively opposed the Irish coercion policy of Gladstone's government, and in 1881 she helped found the Democratic Federation. (She had also, in 1880, joined the S. P. A. B.) In April 1883 she was one of the founders of the Land Reform Union, which was inspired by Henry George's Progress and Poverty. As part of her advocacy of woman suffrage, she attempted (unsuccessfully) in 1885 to obtain nomination as the candidate for North Camberwell. J. S. Mill had written of her that the very existence of the National Society for Women's Suffrage was "due to my daughter's initiative . . . she was the soul of the movement." See John M. Robson and Jack Stillinger, Autobiography of John Stuart Mill (Toronto and Buffalo: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1981), p. 284. 5 Henry Hyde Champion (1859-1928), honorary secretary of the Democratic Federation, and a former artillery officer assigned to Egypt. In 1882 he had resigned his commission in protest against the Egyptian War of that year and had become a socialist. 6 Lord Salisbury (see Volume I, letter no. 422, n. 5) owned about 3,000 acres in Dorsetshire. Presumably Morris laid stress on the fact of Salisbury's tenants being poorly housed because the Marquis had advocated subsidized housing for the workers in the East End. See The Times, October 31, 1883, p. 6.

924 · T o C H A R L E S J A M E S FAULKNER

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 7, 1883

M y dear Charley I a m g o i n g to meet J e n n y at O x f o r d t o m o r r o w evening: w e shall stay all Friday and depart Saturday m o r n i n g early: I shall h o p e to see y o u s o m e time: I have p r o m i s e d B y w a t e r to lunch w i t h h i m ; also as to dinner J e n n y d o n t dine out; b u t I m i g h t h o p e to see y o u o n Friday s o m e t i m e , in the evening at least. I shall be u p at the Kings A r m s by 8.30 t o m o r r o w T h u r s d a y

perhaps

y o u m i g h t be able to look in some time then. Ive w r i t t e n m y lecture 1 b u t am afraid it isn't m y best, have been t o o careful — I fear m e a l y - m o u t h e d . Yours affectionately William M o r r i s MS: Walthamstow. 1

"Art Under Plutocracy." See letters no. 915 and no. 920.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 925 · T o [ J A M E S F R A N C K B R I G H T ? ]

University College,

Oxford Wednesday evening [November 14, 1883?] Dear Sir1 I will call o n y o u at a little after 9 o'clock t o m o r r o w m o r n i n g if you w o u l d kindly let m e k n o w where I shall find you at that time. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Berger Coll. 1

The tone of this letter suggests that Morris is writing to someone with whom he is little acquainted if at all. The fact that the Master of University College, who had at first opposed Hyndman's appearance at the lecture, reversed himself and then tried to persuade others who had participated in the decision to do so too (see letter no. 920) makes him a likely candidate for a courtesy call.

926 · T o WILLIAM T H O M A S S T E A D

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 16, 1883 Dear Mr. Stead 1 I should have been very happy to have let y o u have m y M . S . only it is the same lecture as the O x f o r d one. 2 I have to thank y o u very m u c h for y o u r sympathetic report of the O x f o r d meeting 3 and generally for the fairness and generosity of your dealings with the D e m : Fed: as well as m y self. I have n o t forgotten m y promise; b u t m y time has one w a y or other been very m u c h taken up: I will try to flit a letter as soon as I can. 4 Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bodleian. 1

See Volume I, letter no. 356, n. 4. Stead had requested, presumably, the text of Morris's "Art Under the Rule of Commerce," delivered for the Democratic Federation at the Lecture Hall, Wimbledon, on N o vember 16, 1883. The lecture was the one originally titled "Art Under Plutocracy" (see letter no. 915). LeMire indicates (pp. 298-99) that "Art Under Plutocracy" was first published in full in To-Day, 1 (February/March 1884), 79-80, 159-76, and that abstracts were published in the Cambridge Review, December 5, 1883, p. 122 and The Cambridge Chronicle and University Journal, December 7, 1883. 3 In an article titled "Mr. William Morris on Art and Socialism" (Pall Mall Gazette, N o 2

[ 244 ]

1883 / L E T T E R N O .

927

vember 15, 1883, p. 4), Stead, noting that a large audience had crowded into the hall of University College to hear Morris speak on "Art Under Plutocracy," quoted copiously from what Morris had said and concluded by reporting the seeming approbation of the Warden of Keble College and of Ruskin. 4 It is not clear what letter Morris had earlier promised Stead to write, but the next day (November 17) Morris responded to a letter appearing in the Pall Mall Gazette on November 16 that criticized his Oxford lecture (see letter no. 929).

927 · To

CHARLES EDMUND MAURICE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 17, 1883

Dear Mr. Maurice I began the lecture in question but didn't finish it;1 and now (it being the lecture season) I am pledged not to deliver any lecture in London except for the Democratic Federaton: I have already engaged myself to lecture at the Somerville Club 2 for them on 'Useful work versus Useless Toil(s)' & I think that (when written) it will pretty much cover the ground of that which we were discussing; if you would like me to deliver this I should be very happy to do so, but will ask you to write to the Lecture Secretary3 Democratic Federation Palace Chambers 9 Bridge St, Westminster and propose the transaction (for) to him; as he does the thing in a set orderly manner which prevents one from forgetting or otherwise muddling the matter, and also as I am as above pledged to lecture under the auspices of the Federation. Of course you understand that I shall treat the subject from the point of view of a Socialist; but I don't think we shall much disagree. Yours faithfully William Morris MS: McMinn Papers. 1 See letter no. 883, n. 4 2 The Somerville Club was founded in 1878 as a place for women to discuss literary, social, and political topics. Like Somerville Hall, Oxford, it was named for Mary Somerville (1780-1872), the writer on mathematics and science. 3 Charles L. Fitzgerald (see letter no. 938, n. 2) was the Lecture Secretary at this time.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

928 ·

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 17, 1883

My dear Swinburne A monthly paper called Today which has been living rather feebly for some time has been got hold of by some of my Socialist allies and they are going to continue it, start it afresh properly speaking, as a distinctly Socialist paper,1 the only one in England: they think, and so do I, that it would give them a lift if you would undertake to write something for them, verse if possible, so I write to ask you to do so, assuring you at the same time that the paper will at least advocate the soundest principles all round, and that not the tip of the tail of a bourgeois will defoul it. At the same [time] I must confess that like all things Socialistic of which I know anything money is lacking, & that they won't be able to pay for articles. Is it possible to get you to join our body, the Democratic Federation? We are really making some way uphill work as it is. I should be proud to hand your name in if you would let me. 2 Yours ever William Morris P. S. You ought to write us a song, you know, thats what you ought to do: I mean to be set to music, for singing at meetings of the faithful. MS: BL, Ashley MSS. 1218. Published: Henderson, Letters, 191-92. 1 At this time E. Belfort Bax (see letter no. 979, n. 3) was editing To-Day. Hyndman purchased it early in 1884. See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, pp. 61-62. The first issue of the new To-Day appeared in January 1884, under the co-editorship of Bax and J. L. Joynes (see letter no. 943, n. 6). 2 Swinburne's reply, as published by May Morris (CW, 19, xix-xx) reads as follows: The Pines Putney Hill, S. W. November 21, 1883 My dear Morris I need not assure you, I should hope, of my sympathy with any who aspire to help in rectifying the state of things which allows the existence of such horrors and iniquities as surround us; and if I can manage at all to put into words what I have many a day and many a night thought over, but felt powerless to utter as it ought to be uttered, there is no one in all England with whom I should be so glad or so proud to work as I should be to work with you. But I do trust you will not — and if you ever do me the honour to read my "Christian Antiphones" in "Songs before Sunrise" I must say I don't think you will — regard me as a dilettante democrat, if I say that I would rather not join any Federation. What good I can do to the cause we have in common will I think be done as well or better from an independent point of action and of view, where no other man can be held responsible for any particular opinion of his. Of course I should be the first to agree that in public life or political action such a position as this is untenable and the claim to occupy such a position contemptible: but then I am very seriously convinced

[ 246 ]

1883 / L E T T E R N O .

929

that I can do better service — if any — as a single and private workman than as a member of any society or federation. IfI thought or could think otherwise I am sure you will not doubt how happy I should be tojoin you. Yours ever A. C. Swinburne

929 · T o

THE EDITOR OF THE

Pall Mall Gazette

Hammersmith November 17 [1883]

Sir, Will you kindly allow me a word or two of answer to your correspondent, "One of the Audience"? 1 1 cannot remember the actual words I used in announcing Mr. Hyndman's forthcoming lecture, but I am sorry if they conveyed the impression which they seem to have made on your correspondent. My belief is that an assertion of the economical basis of Socialism was at least implied all through my lecture if it was not formally stated. I admit, what must also have been obvious to my audience, that I did not put myself forward as a political economist; the point of my lecture where it touched me personally being that my life for upwards of twenty years has been one of combat against competitive commerce on behalf of popular art. It is this combat which has driven me into some knowledge of the methods of production both of the mediaeval and the workshop or 17th-18th century periods, and has finally forced on me the conviction that the fully-developed system of competitive commerce must be fatal to art, and that the remedy for this threat to civilization is not reaction, but the entire abolition of all class supremacy. The fact that an artist, a workman, and an employer of labour, who began his career with mere enthusiastic admiration of mediaeval art, should have been driven into active Socialism by his experience of practical dealings with men of all classes during his pursuit of popular art, I have thought might be a matter of some interest to thoughtful people, and that the expression of it might in consequence further the cause of the people which I have at heart. It is on those grounds that I have ventured to come before the public on several occasions. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, William Morris. TEXT: Pall Mall Gazette, November 19, 1883, p. 2. 1 In a letter (signed as Morris indicated) that appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette of November 16 the writer, commenting on Morris's lecture at Oxford on November 14, "Art Under Plutocracy," accused Morris of confessing ignorance of the principles of economics while

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L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

implying that the artistic development of a nation depends on its economic principles. Morris, the writer asserted, "advocates changes which must affect every person in these islands, and finishes by telling us that he does not know what he is talking about."

930 · To

THE EDITOR OF

The Standard

Hammersmith November 21, 1883

Sir, I think I may assume that your Correspondent " M . " in his letter in your impression of the 19th of November, had no wish to cast any personal imputation on my motives, but wished to call attention to the position of those who, like myself, are well-to-do employers of labour (as I am), and hold Socialist views. 1 I freely admit that this position is a false one, but it seems to me that its falseness is first felt by an honest man, not when he begins to express his opinions openly and to further actively the spread of Socialism, but when his conscience is first pricked by a sense of the injustice and stupidity of the present state of society. Your Correspondent implies that to be consistent we should at once cast aside our position of capitalists, and take rank with the proletariat; but he must excuse my saying that he knows very well we are not able to do so; that the most we can do is to palliate as far as we can the evils of the unjust system which we are forced to sustain; that we are but minute links in the immense chain of the terrible organisation of competitive commerce, and that only the complete unrivetting of that chain will really free us. Sir, it is this very sense of the helplessness of our individual efforts which arms us against our own class, which compels us to take an active part in an agitation which, if it be successful, will deprive us of our capitalist position. The sacrifice of that position, I believe, will not seem heavy to us; because, if we are right in our estimate of the good which a state of Social Order would bring the world, we should receive in return gifts which no money can buy: to see an end of poverty as well as of riches, of squalor as well as of luxury; to find leisure, pleasure, and refinement common among those who do the rough work of the world; to see genuine healthy art growing spontaneously from this happiness; to see our wellloved islands freed from all sordid disfigurement, the tokens of a degrading struggle for existence and riches — is anything which money can now buy worth the pleasure of being part of such a life as this, and of feeling that each one of us has a share in upholding it? Sir, it seems to me that at present rich men attempt to buy a life something like this, by trying to surround themselves, at a vast expense, with [ 248 ]

1883 / LETTER N O . 931

an appearance of order and content, and as a result get for all their money only a sham of it; such a sham as the Russian Czarina had presented to her on her progress through her newly-acquired lands.2 And yet it is true that before this good time comes we shall have trouble, and loss, and misery, enough to wade through; the injustice of past years will not be got rid of by the sprinkling of rosewater; the price must be paid for it. It is this consideration which makes me urge such men as "M." not to appeal to the basest motives of self-interest in dissuading us from the attempt to awaken the fruitful discontent of the world, with the anarchy brought upon it by competitive commerce; for I believe that the change will surely come, and that the best insurance against its coming with violence is to be found in the awakening of the consciences of the rich and well-to-do, and in their readiness to renounce their class pretensions in favour of that rule of Social Order which will most certainly dawn upon the world, however stormy the night may be before its coming. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, William Morris TEXT: The Standard, November 22, 1883. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 190-91. 1 This letter was probably a reply to an attack on Morris's lecture, "Art Under the Rule of Commerce," delivered for the Democratic Federation at the lecture hall, Wimbledon, on November 16, 1883. See LeMire, p. 239. 2 On a tour of her newly won Black Sea provinces, Catherine of Russia passed through artificial one-street villages that had been constructed to convey the illusion of prosperity and had been temporarily populated with cheering throngs.

931 · FROM A LETTER TO GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Merton Abbey [November 27, 1883]1

I have been living in a sort of storm of newspaper brickbats, to some of which I had to reply:2 of course I don't mind a bit, nor even think the attack unfair. My own men here are very sympathetic, which pleases me hugely; and I find we shall get on much better for my having spoken my mind about things: seven of them would insist on joining the Democratic Federation,3 though I preached to them the necessity of really understanding it all. TEXT: Mackail, II, 134-35. Published: Henderson, Letters, 191. 1 Mackail's notebook lists a letter for November 27, 1883, to Georgiana Burne-Jones that is most certainly this one. Mackail cites Morris's reference to his men at Merton.

[ 249 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 2 See previous letter. Another hostile response to the lecture, "Art Under the Rule of Commerce," appeared in The Times, November 19, 1883, p. 10. See discussion in Mackail, II, 132-34. 3 In January 1884 the Christian Socialist reported (p. 125) that a branch of the Democratic Federation "has been formed at Merton Abbey, principally composed of the workers in Morris & Company's establishment at that place, with Mr. J. Simmons as secretary."

932 · E X C E R P T FROM A L E T T E R TO CORMELL PRICE

December 5, 1883

G o o d spirit at C a m b r i d g e on M o n d a y . 1 MS: Mackail notebook. 1 Morris delivered his lecture "Art Under Plutocracy" before the Cambridge Union Society on December 4, 1883. (See LeMire, p. 240.) His reference in this excerpt to "Monday" was either a slip of the pen, since December 4 was a Wednesday, or an allusion to another meeting otherwise unrecorded.

933 · T o EIRIKR M A G N U S S O N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 9, 1883 M y dear Magnusson, I find to m y dismay that the meeting on M o n d a y is called for 12 oclock: I cannot possibly be there, as I am going to B o u r n e m o u t h today. 1 I h o p e to see you in the evening: meantime if there is anything I can d o of course I shall be glad to help. Please express m y regret to the meeting that I cannot be there. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Iceland. 1

Presumably to see Jenny.

934 · T o T H O M A S J A M E S C O B D E N - S A N D E R S O N 1

Hammersmith

December 11, 1883 I am going to Kelmscott t o m o r r o w perhaps for 3 days perhaps for a week: w h e n I c o m e back I will arrange with Ellis for a field-day over the books. Yours W. M .

[ 250 ]

1883 I L E T T E R N O . 936 MS: Bucknell. 1 Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson (1840-1922), the bookbinder and printer who established the Doves Press (1902-1916) with Emery Walker (see letter no. 1001, n. 5). He married Richard Cobden's daughter Anne in 1882. See also letters no. 989, n. 1, and no. 943.

935 · T o EMMA

SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 17, 1883

Dearest Mother You were good enough to say that you would like Jenny to come down for a few days: she would like to come towards the end of next week if it suited you, & in that case I would come down with her, & as I could then stay two nights instead of one I think I had better come then instead of this week: as I am very much engaged just before Xmas AU going on well here: business rather brisk for the time of the year. With best love lam Dearest Mother Your most affectionate Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow.

936 · T o SYDNEY ANSELL GIMSON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 26, 1883 Dear Sir1 Thank you very much for your kind invitation:2 Wednesday 23rd Jan: is the day fixed for my lecture, 3 and I believe I shall be coming from Manchester to Leicester on that day. Perhaps I shall hear from you before that time as to where I am to meet you, & I shall be able to tell you as to time I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris S. A Gimson Eqre. MS: Gimson Coll. 1 Sydney Ansell Gimson (1861-1939), an engineer. He was the brother of Ernest Gimson (see letter no. 1182, n. 1).

[ 251 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 2 May Morris wrote (II, 221) that whenever Morris lectured in Leicester for the Secular Society, Sydney Gimson was his host. 3 "Art and Socialism," delivered before the Leicester Secular Society at the Secular Hall, Leicester, on January 23, 1884. See LeMire, p. 240.

937 · T o C L A R A J A N E R I C H M O N D

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Saturday [December 29, 1883?]1 Dear Mrs. Richmond 2 At the last m o m e n t w e have received a present from M r . Diosy, 3 a square box, which I k n o w from experience contains a pie which n o n e of us can eat: I w o n d e r if in your house which contains y o u n g people & to which rash people may come, there might be found a resting place for its contents? in any case please dont be offended with m e for making the venture, b u t if y o u fear it; b e so kind as to ask Lowe 4 to bury it in my garden. So treated the Pie will at least have given a m o m e n t a r y pleasure to one h u m a n being, for it will have given M r . Lowe the pure j o y of digging a n other hole, which occupation I k n o w from experience is his chief delight in life. With best wishes Yours very truly William Morris MS: Walker Coll. (photocopy). 1

The dating of this letter is highly conjectural Clara Jane Richards (d. 1915), the second wife of William Blake Richmond, whom she had married in 1867. 3 A tradesman who, from previous references to him in the Letters, seems to have been a supplier of wines to the Morrises. 4 Lowe, a gardener, was employed by both the Morrises and the Richmonds. 2

938 · F R O M A L E T T E R TO [GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES?]

December [29?] 18831

I w e n t to M e r t o n for a little time on Thursday and found all well there. N o w I ' m off to see Fitzgerald (that's o u r editor) about 'Justice,' the p r o s pects of which I a m not sanguine over. 2 T h e fact is, w e really w a n t a good steady business m a n over the D.F. affairs: a man w h o could give u p most of his time and w h o w o u l d n ' t be excitable. For lack of it I fear w e shall fall to pieces. I a m m u c h worried b y the whole business just n o w : b u t in any case I shall try to save something out of the fire and keep a few together.

[ 252 ]

1884 / L E T T E R N O . 939 TEXT: Mackail, II, 120. 1 Mackail describes (II, 120) this letter as the "last letter of the year." In his notebook, he lists one to Georgiana Burne-Jones, written on December 29, which he says concerned the Democratic Federation. 2 Charles L. Fitzgerald was the first editor of Justice, the weekly paper of the Democratic Federation, which began to publish on January 19, 1884. Fitzgerald, who remained editor for only a few weeks (he was succeeded by Hyndman), had served as an officer in the army and, according to Bax, had later been a correspondent for English newspapers in the RussoTurkish war. Bax, who described Fitzgerald as a "good man," said that he seemed to have come to a mysterious end about 1888 in the Balkan peninsula where he had gone as a journalist. (Presumably, Bax wrote, he was murdered by Turks. See Bax, p. 75.) Lee, however, though also noting (p. 90) that Fitzgerald disappeared from view, said that he left England in the early 1890's for the Near East and that he died m the western part of the United States about 1930.

939 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 1, 1884 M y clearest Jenny I write just a line to wish you a happy new year, with m y very best love, m y dearest child: I w e n t d o w n to M e r t o n yesterday, and found all going well, and M r . Wardle and I had to talk about h o w to arrange the n e w tables in the printing r o o m . Mr. Scheu came on Sunday: he was rather silent; b u t sang a song to Mays accompaniment: 1 item: Uncle N e d had supper with us. I a m off today on a sort of roaming j o u r n e y in London: to see H y n d m a n first about our D F business: then O x f o r d St: then Mother; then Faulkners, then Webb, and lastly the D.F. meeting in evening; so in a way I shall have a day's w o r k to do; b u t really a very grubby & yellow day to d o it in. N o w m y dear this is a shabby little note; b u t y o u k n o w w e m e n (carlmen) are become poor letter-writers, & there really is next to n o n e w s anywhere. (You) So g o o d b y e m y dearest Jenny with best love: please give m y kind regards to Miss Bailey. I enclose a w o r d or t w o for your granny, which please give her. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 192-93. 1 Scheu, as a visitor at Kelmscott House, often entertained the family by singing Austrian folk songs, German revolutionary songs, or arias from Mozart. May Morris, who both sang and played the mandolin, and sometimes performed at these meetings, apparently deferred to Scheu's vocal talents on this occasion.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM

940 ·

MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 8, 1884

RECIPIENT UNKNOWN

Dear Sir1 I have to make you many apologies for not answering you before: the fact is I found it rather hard to pick out anything from my voluminous poems which would go into the space: I beg you will excuse me for my dilatoriness. I dare say you will have noticed that we are getting on here with the Democratic Movement: I really have hopes that the long apathy is shaken at last. Have you seen Hyndmans book, The Historical Basis of Socialism in England? (Kegan Paul). 2 It is well worth reading & very easy to read. I ought to tell you that the Democratic Federation has now a branch at Glasgow, Mr. J. Adams 3 c/o Mr. Duncan 124 Waddell St SE will give you information about it. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Claremont. 1 Possibly W. J. Linton. See letter no. 922, n. 1. 2 Published in November 1883. It is an acknowledged application of Marx's theories, in this case to English history, and an enlargement of his earlier England for All (see letter no. 904, n. 1). 3 In his reminiscences, Umsturzkeime, Andreas Scheu identifies J. Adams as a Glasgow socialist to whom Charles L. Fitzgerald wrote in August 1884 denouncing Scheu.

941 · T o E M M A L A Z A R U S

Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h January 12, 1884

Dear Miss Lazarus Thanks for your kind letter: I should be very pleased that you should write the account you propose: and perhaps if I saw the MS I might set straight any matter of fact that had gone awry: of course I would touch nothing else.' The 'Cause' is progressing here: we have now a flourishing branch of the Democratic Federation at Merton Abbey;2 so you see, I live in hopes of being able to cast my capitalist skin and become a harmless proletarian [ 254 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 942

With kind regards to your sister & yourself Believe me to be Dear Miss Lazarus Yours very truly William Morris MS: Columbia. 1 This refers to her article, "A Day m Surrey with William Morris," which appeared in Century Magazine, 32 (July 1886), 388-97. 2 See letter no. 931, and n. 3.

942 · T o JANE COBDEN

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 12, 1884 Dear Miss Cobden 1 Do you mean Clay Cross in Derbyshire, where by the way, my sister dwells, the parsons wife there?2 It is very tempting; but I am afraid it is impossible, I have so many engagements this month. Also would you like me to preach socialism there, which I should have to do?3 To speak plainly my private view of the suffrage matter is that it is no use until people are determined on Socialism; and (privately again) I would wish them to abstain from all voting, municipal, school board or parliamentary till we can have a national convention to settle things on a new basis. As to the House of Commons; 'tis no use; they don't mean to do anything, in the woman's suffrage question or any other; 'tis nothing but a sham fight between the parties, and the radicals are as bad as any others: nothing can be got out of them save by compulsion. The George meeting was a fine demonstration of discontent, though I thought George weak. 4 I had the pleasure of meeting your sister & Sanderson last night at a meeting called by us, an invitation meeting:5 which was very interesting — Ca ira though many may be the disappointments. After all we are good enough to fill the ditch for others to pass over. I will send you our last pamphlet, in which I have had a small share6 I am Dear Miss Cobden Yours very truly William Morris MS: West Sussex.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 1

See letter no. 737, n. 1. Emma, who was married to the Rev Joseph Oldham. 3 Apparently Jane Cobden had asked Morris to speak at a meeting held under the auspices of the National Woman's Suffrage Society on January 30. Her reply to Morris's present letter, dated January 17, read m part: "I think we must keep to Women's Suffrage at Clay Cross on the 30th & not muddle their minds with more interesting subjects . . . the programme is strictly limited to the subject" (BL, Add. Mss. 45345). The lack of any evidence of further exchange on the subject suggests that Morris did not speak before the group at this time. 4 Henry George addressed the Land Reform Union on January 9. For a report of the meeting, see The Times, January 10, 1884, p. 6. 5 Lee describes the occasion as a meeting of members and friends of the Democratic Federation, and Morris refers to it as a "private meeting." Lee writes (p. 56) that it was held in the Masonic Room of Anderton's Hotel, Fleet Street, London, Hyndman presiding. Present, he records, were Champion (Honorary Secretary), Fitzgerald (Assistant Secretary), and Morris (Treasurer). Also attending were Eleanor Marx, Avehng, Banner, Headlam, Scheu, Quelch, James Macdonald, and Hubert and Edith Bland. Lee does not mention Anne or Thomas James Cobden-Sanderson, but he does say that unnamed others were also present. 6 A Summary of the Principles of Socialism, Written for the Democratic Federation, by H. M. Hyndman and William Morris (London: The Modern Press, 1884). 2

943 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 16, 1884 My dearest own Jenny I write to hail you on your birthday, my dear, and to wish you many happy returns of the same, as the phrase runs, with a hundred thousand blessings on you my dear. I have just bought you a little old broach for a keepsake, which the jeweller, an old gentleman, (Jew I more than fear) just opposite our Oxford St Shop has promised to send on to you by registered letter. I hope you will get it safely and will think it pretty, as I did. Your mother came home last night, and was a good deal upset by the journey, and is still weak today, but I think she will pick up in a day or two. I suppose May told you about the George meeting. 1 As a demonstration of discontent it was fine. We had a sort of private meeting of our own last Friday,2 at which May assisted; some of our Merton folks were there; also Sanderson & Annie Cob. S[anderson]. The latter is a very unregenerate person with a furious fad towards vegetarianism in which I see no harm, if it didnt swallow up more important matters: we had a good quarrel last night telling each other our minds pretty plainly. Well, the meeting went off very well on the whole: the real subject in dispute was really whether or no we could drive the matter by means of supporting the parliamentary programme of the radicals:3 of course I say no: Mr. Scheu made an excel-

[ 256 ]

Cover o f A Summary William Morris.

1884 / L E T T E R N O .

943

of the Principals of Socialism

by H. M . Hyndman and

[ 257 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

lent speech on my side, but it stirred up some of the German element who take the other side, who tried to turn the question into personalities. However all went well in the end and no doubt we shall have some more meetings before long. 4 Our new paper 'Justice' comes out on Saturday: I fear the element in which you are is altogether too respectable for me to send you a copy down there; so that must keep. I am going to lecture at Hampstead 5 tonight and tomorrow at Blackheath: on Friday Mr. Joynes 6 is going to lecture to our Merton Abbey Branch. On Monday I go to Manchester, and lecture at Ancoats the working suburb, 7 & in the middle of the town to respectabilities on the Tuesday: 8 on the Wednesday I lecture at Leicester;9 so I have [been] pretty hard at it at present. Give my best love to Granny & Henrietta: kind regards to Miss Bailey. My best love to you my dear, as Daddy Jack says Ί lub' you all over, I lub you ha ha. 1 0 Your William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: Henderson, Letters, 193-94. Extract published: CW, 19, XX. 1

See letter no. 942, n. 4. See letter no. 942, n. 5. 3 By "parliamentary programme of the radicals" Morris may have meant some of the pro­ posals made first at the January 11, 1884, meeting These included a call for universal suf­ frage, proportional representation, and insistence upon the socialization of the means of pro­ duction. Conceivably Morris refers also to an amendment, to the call for socialization of the means of production, asserting that the working classes could no longer depend upon par­ liamentary representation to better their condition and that to attain their end all means were justifiable. See Lee, p. 57. 4 See letter no. 938, n. 2. 5 See letter no. 927. 6 James Leigh Joynes (1853-1893). An assistant master at Eton, he was forced in 1882 to resign because of his socialist activities, particularly an incident that occurred in 1882 while he was on a speaking tour in Ireland with Henry George, and because of his book, The Ad­ ventures of a Tourist in Ireland, which related the incident. For different versions of the events leading up to Joynes's resignation from Eton, see E. P. Thompson, p. 290; and Henry Salt, "James Leigh Joynes: Some Reminiscences," The Social Democrat, 1, 8 (August 1897). 7 See letter no. 921, n. 2. 8 "Art Under Plutocracy," delivered at a meeting sponsored by the Ancoats Recreation Committee at the Memorial Hall, Manchester, January 22, 1884. See LeMire, p. 240 9 "Art and Socialism," delivered before the Leicester Secular Society on January 23, 1884. See letter no. 936. 10 A character in the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Morris was fond of these tales, which inspired his Brother Rabbit chmtz design of 1882. See also letter no. 833, n. 2. 2

[ 258 ]

1884 I LETTER N O . 945 944 · T o [CHARLES PRESTWICH SCOTT?]

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 16 [1884] Dear Sir 1 Would y o u kindly arrange with Mr. Rowley as to what time o n T u e s day next I could see Dr. Bock's cloths: 2 it w o u l d give m e great pleasure t o see t h e m and be of any use I can be to you in the matter. I must, please, look o n m y visit to y o u as part of m y holiday, &, as it will involve m e in no additional expense, must with thanks decline any fee o n the occasion. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Balliol. 1 This letter may have been written to Charles Prestwich Scott (1846-1932), the editor and journalist who in 1871 began his long association with The Manchester Guardian, first as editor and later also as chief proprietor. The identification is very conjectural. The reason for suggesting that the letter might have been to Scott is that it concerns the textiles collected by Dr. Bock and suggests that the recipient was associated, in the matter of these textiles, with Rowley. In Fifiy Years of Work Without Wages (1911), Rowley refers to the textile collection of the late Dr. Bock in the Manchester Art Museum and writes (p. 73). "This was secured for the city by Mr. C. P. Scott and myself in the early eighties." 2 See letter no. 831, n. 6.

945 · T o WILLIAM FREND D E M O R G A N

Kelmscott House

January 19, 1884 M y dear Bill O f course from what y o u said to m e I have been expecting your sad news any day. 1 What is there to say about it save that it is a sad tale? H o w ever, life is good as long as w e can really live, and even s o r r o w if so taken has something good in it as a part of life, as I myself have found at times — yet have not the less bemoaned myself all the same. So in spite of yourself I wish y o u a long life, m y dear fellow, to play your due part in. Give m y love and sympathy to your mother 2 and Mary 3 — I shall h o p e to see you soon again. Yours affectionately William Morris TEXT: Stirling, 128. 1

De Morgan's sister, Anne Isabella Thompson (she had married her brother's friend, Dr. Reginald Thompson, in 1874), hadjust died of tuberculosis.

[ 259 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 2 3

See Volume I, letter no. 477, n. 2. William De Morgan's sister, Mary Augusta (see Volume I, letter no. 582, n. 2).

946 · T o FREDERIC HARRISON

Kelmscott House

Hammersmith January 22 [1884] Dear Mr. Harrison Andrieu 1 w r o t e to m e asking m e to send the hat r o u n d for h i m again: I t h o u g h t the demand was preposterous and w r o t e at once to h i m refusing: I confess I have had the same terror of him, and the same vain hope as y o u had. I a m afraid he is quite hopeless n o w ; in any case t h o u g h I m a y be made to stand & deliver myself I shall altogether decline to turn h i g h w a y man o n his account. As to George: I k n o w you differ with us Socialists; but please d o n ' t m i x us u p with George: 2 all y o u say about h i m I say too: as to his extinct s u perstition I think probably just as you do: only I think h i m a g o o d destructive agent, (if if) even if the radicals don't drive h i m over to us b y their rather wild abuse of him. People w h o have socialistic tendencies are d r a w n to h i m as a m a n w h o promises t h e m a simple & definite remedy, they find his scheme w o n ' t hold water, and so are obliged to go deeper into it. H o w e v e r y o u u n d e r stand that w e dont pretend to agree with him any where. Yours very truly William M o r r i s 3 MS: Cornell. 1 Jules Andrieu (1839-1895) was a refugee of the Paris Commune who supported himself by writing on French political and literary matters. Possibly he had fallen on hard times; since Harrison had organized relief for French exiles, perhaps Andrieu had first made himself and his need known to Harrison. Morris's apparent assumption in this letter that his unsympathetic tone would be approved is possibly explained by a note in Harrison's Autobiographic Memoirs (II, 37) indicating that he had come to feel that the French refugees were ungrateful for the assistance received. I am indebted to Martha S. Vogler for calling my attention to these details concerning Andrieu and Harrison's involvement with the French expatnots. 2 By this time, Morris apparently found his own socialist doctrines, influenced as they were by Marx, incompatible with those of Henry George. For Morris's last favorable reference to George, see letter no. 826, n. 6. 3 Since Morris went to Manchester on January 22, this letter was presumably written either before he left London or en route.

[ 260 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 948 947 · T o [ S Y D N E Y A N S E L L G I M S O N ]

Bollin Tower,

Alderley Edge, Near Manchester January 22 [1884] Dear Sir I shall be leaving Manchester t o m o r r o w b y the 3. 45 train which gets to Leicester by N (6.12) I believe, n o : 'tis 5.59. by the book. I am Dear Sir Yours truly William Morris MS: Gimson Coll.

948 · T o JENNY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith January 26, 1884 M y dearest Jenny Yes I have been very busy; but I w o n t be so busy as n o t to drop y o u a few w o r d s . T h e y didn't get m e very good that is monstrous audiences at M a n chester; they had in fact mismanaged matters; b u t the one in the w o r k i n g part of the t o w n was an interesting one. 1 1 can't say that Manchester seems g o o d ground for us: the w o r k m e n are much patronized in various ways political & philanthropic, & seem on the whole to identify themselves with the middle-classes. T h e Leicester lecture was better 2 as to m e m b e r s , and w e had apparently some very decided friends there w h o applauded all Socialistic sentences. T h e second n u m b r ofJustice is out, 3 much better than the first b u t I fear & I fear that it will be a hard j o b keeping it afloat. We had a good meeting of our Merton Abbey Branch (don't it sound funny dear?) last night: H y n d m a n addressed them, & got on very well: the m e n are getting on well, & I hope w e shall spread the light from there: there was a funny old ex chartist present; an old m a n of 70: he said it made h i m feel 20 years younger. 4 All going well at M e r t o n by the by in the m o r e ordinary w a y of business: b u t w e are n o w printing for spring stock, & dare not venture t o o m u c h on beginning n e w patterns lest w e should find ourselves short w h e n business gets brisk at Oxford St. Item I walked about Leicester on Thursday m o r n i n g : it made m e think of Kelmscott w h e n I saw the Foss-Way which runs straight to Cirencester you know.

[ 261 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Mother is getting better now quickly & will soon be all right: she demands as a reward for getting well that I should hang the drawing room with the blue Windrush 5 as a summer change. I must consent I suppose & salve my conscience on the grounds of its being an advertisement for the goods. Best love to Granny & Henrietta: I will write to Granny in a day or two tell her. Kind regards to Miss Bailey and all love to you my dear. Your loving father William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Extract published: Henderson, Letters, 194. 1 Morris had delivered two lectures in Manchester. See letters no. 921, n. 2, and no. 943, n. 8. 2 See letter no. 943, n. 9. 3 The second issue was dated January 26. 4 Possibly James F. Murphy. Lee mentions (p. 57) that at the January 11, 1884, meeting of the Democratic Federation James Murphy, whom Lee describes as "the old Chartist," moved a resolution calling for universal suffrage. 5 About the Windrush pattern, Clark writes (p. 59) that it was the "first of a series of four designs which take their titles from the tributaries of the River Thames. . . . This [pattern] introduces another historical convention used by Morns, what he called 'the inhabited leaf: the floral pattern within a symbolic flower or leaf, derived from near Eastern art and the mediaeval textiles influenced by it." But Parry catalogues (p. 155) "Evenlode" as the first of the patterns and indicates (p. 54) that there were seven patterns named for tributaries of the Thames.

949 · T o THOMAS JAMES

COBDEN-SANDERSON

[January 29-February 3, 1884]

My dear Sanderson Got Lemon's 1 address at last. Oxford went off well:x2 I shall have to go to Cambridge on Tuesday next with Hyndman; 3 so dont come to Westminster that day4 Yours ever W. M. x

I wish you had been there and at Sydney Balls of St. John afterwards5

MS: Bucknell. 1 Captain Tom Lemon, whose hotel "The Telegraph" had been a meeting place for radical groups, was at this time a member of the executive of the Democratic Federation. See Lee, pp. 50, 110. 2 On January 27 Morris spoke at a meeting sponsored by the Russell Club, Clarendon Assembly Rooms, Oxford, at which Hyndman delivered the major address. See LeMire, pp. 240-41.

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1884 I LETTER N O . 951 3 On February 5 Morris, Hyndman, and H. S. Lewis took part in a debate at the Cambridge Union Society on the proposition, "Socialism is the remedy for the present anarchy." See LeMire, p. 241. See also Cambridge Review, February 6, 1884, p. 161. 4 Palace Chambers, where the Democratic Federation held its meetings. 5 Sidney Ball (1857-1918), who had become a fellow of St. John's College in 1882. He eventually became senior tutor and lecturer in classics and philosophy at St. John's College, and a Fabian.

950 · T o ELLIS A N D WHITE

February 12, 1884

Kindly send m e a copy of H . M . H y n d m a n ' s "Historical Basis of Socialism" (Kegan Paul). W. Morris MS: UCLA.

951 · FROM A LETTER T O THOMAS COGLAN HORSFALL

February 14, 1884

M y dear Horsfall, I may say meantime that I d o not quite agree with you as to putting forward any distinct proposition for immediate action, t h o u g h some of our b o d y m i g h t differ from me: m y o w n view is that w e should waste strength b y trying to rebuild the present society while its basis remains untouched, and that propaganda of Socialism o n the theme " O n e for all, all for o n e " or " T o each according to his needs, from each according to his p o w e r " , is the only thing w e ought to aim at. B u t this, I admit, is a matter of tactics rather than principles. O f course I am only speaking of us as professed socialists and revolutionists (as all real socialists must be). Meantime I have nothing to say against those w h o , not being revolutionists, are trying to p u t before p e o ple some of the things that they ought to claim. I heartily approve of the course y o u propose to take from your point of view. You say, in fact: H e r e are things which must be done, as y o u all agree — well then, d o t h e m — and the first real attempt to do them will pull the w h o l e building about their years (sic). MS: Horsfall

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

952 · T w o LETTERS T O ELLIS A N D WHITE

a.

February 24, 1884 Will y o u please send m e History of Agriculture & Prices b y Professor T h o -

rold Rogers 1 W. M o r r i s MSS: UCLA. 1 James Edwin Thorold Rogers (1823-1890), a liberal and radical economist who at one time had been a close associate of Cobden. The full title of his book is Agriculture and Prices in England from the Year Afler the Oxford Parliament, 1259, to the Commencement of the Continental War, 1793. It was published in seven volumes by the Clarendon Press between 1866 and 1902, and Morris may have been unaware that the work was still in progress. Volumes three and four had been published in 1882. Of Rogers, Meier writes (I, 110) that he played a considerable role in the development of Morris's "medieval ideology." He also describes him as "a courageous Liberal whom Morris found at his side at the time of the affair of the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria and in the struggle against the Sudanese War." Meier says further that "[i]t is probable that the high esteem in which [Rogers] was held by Karl Marx, who approvingly quotes his theses in Capital, increased Morris's interest in his works." Rogers may have helped, as well, to shape Morris's "A Dream ofJohn Ball" (published serially in Commonweal, 1886-1887), since he provided thorough documentation of the Peasants' Revolt. In general, Morris was apparently indebted to Rogers for information about medieval life. In a paper read at the seventh annual meeting of the S.P.A.B. on July 1, 1884, he spoke of Rogers (MM, I, 134) as one of the "painstaking collectors of facts" who, through their research had confirmed the belief that the medieval guild craftsman "led the sort of life in work and play that we should have expected from the art he produced . . . for art, as Mr. Thorold Rogers justly says, was widespread."

b.

February 24, 1884 Will y o u please send m e a copy of the following b o o k : French & German

Socialism in Modern Times by Professor Ely 1 T r u b n e r & C o : W. Morris 1 Richard Theodore Ely (1854-1943) was an American economist who at the time was professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University. The book that Morris requests was published in 1883.

953 · T o J A N E MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 25 [1884]

Dearest J a n e y I will j u s t write a line or t w o , b u t it can't be long, as I am j u s t g o i n g off to West B r o m w i c h , i.e. B i r m i n g h a m . 1 N o , I d i d n ' t say m u c h a b o u t the

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1884 / LETTER N O . 953

Jane Morris in her garden at Kelmscott House, 1884.

last trip did I. The Bradford lecture went off very well;2 a full hall and all that: but they are mostly a sad set of Philistines there, and it will be long before we do anything with them: you see the workmen are pretty comfortable there because all the spinning and weaving is done by women and children; the latter going to the mill at 10 years old for 5 hours a day as half-timers: I don't think all my vigorous words (of a nature that you may imagine) shook the conviction of my entertainers that this was the way to make an Earthly Paradise. Well, I met Hyndman and our emissaries at Blackburn afterwards and we had a very good meeting in the big hall there, about 1500 people present; and a branch was formed: all likely to do well there. 3 I don't think I shall get gout, I haven't time for it; but I have a cold and what's more it's got into my throat to make me hoarse for to-night. Best love, my dear, from W. M. TEXT: CW, 19, xx-xxi. Published: Henderson, Letters, 194.

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L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM M O R R I S 1 On February 25 Morris spoke on "Art Under Competitive Commerce" at a meeting sponsored by the West Bromwich Institute. See LeMire, p. 241. 2 On February 17 Morris had delivered his lecture, "Useful Work versus Useless Toil," at a meeting sponsored by the Bradford Sunday Recreation Committee. See LeMire, p. 241. 3 E. P. Thompson writes (p. 314): "Only on one occasion, in early 1884, did the Federation make serious contact with the broad masses of the industrial workers. The occasion was the great Lancashire cotton strike in February and March. James Macdonald and Jack Williams were sent up to Blackburn as agitators. They issued bills calling a meeting to be addressed by 'delegates from London,' and filled the largest hall with 1,500 of the strikers." Morris, Hyndman, Williams, and Macdonald spoke, and as a result of the meeting nearly a hundred workers joined the new branch. From this time on the "Federation maintained its foothold in Lancashire." For a report of the meeting, which was held on February 18 (and whose subject was announced as "How the Workers are Legally Robbed"), see The Blackbum Times, February 23, 1884, p. 3. The article summarized the speeches by Hyndman, Morris, Williams, and Macdonald.

954 · T o A R T H U R S P E N C E R

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith February 29, 1884

Dear Sir 1 I enclose a copy of a manifesto issued b y the D e m o c r a t i c Federation 2 & should be very h a p p y to put d o w n y o u r n a m e as a m e m b e r : I could p r o pose y o u n e x t Tuesday & y o u w o u l d be elected on the following Tuesday in all probability: y o u will see by the rules printed o n the manifesto w h a t is necessary to m e m b e r s h i p . I h o p e w e shall in time m a k e some impression o n the m o n e y - g r u b b e r s : doubtless there is a feeling of change in the air, b u t w e w a n t the earnest cooperation of everyone w h o thinks w i t h us: W i t h best wishes 1 remain Dear Sir Yours faithfully William M o r r i s P. S This n o t e is autographic. MS:

MCL.

1

Arthur Spencer was one of the founding members of the Bradford Branch of the Democratic Federation. See Brockway, p. 30. 2 See letter no. 885, n. 2.

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1884 I LETTER N O . 956

955 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 5 [1884]

ARTHUR SPENCER

Dear Sir Being away from my own house yesterday, I missed getting your letter in time for the executive meeting last night: so that I have put up your name but not Mr. Minty's, 1 which I will put up next Tuesday: of course he will be elected. Thank you for the postal order with which I will duly credit you. If you can form a branch at Bradford I would by all means do so, 2 even if you have to begin with 5 or 6; I am writing to our office to bid them send you literature for distribution: I will send you 6 of a pamphlet which has been published at rather a high price, but which will soon come out in a cheap edition. 3 Also I venture to press on you the desireability of pushing our weekly organ 'Justice'. W. H. Clough 8 Wells St is the agent at Bradford: we will send you some back numbers for gratuitous distribution. Thanking you in the name of the Cause for your obvious spirit, and (for myse) in my own name for your kind expressions & wishes I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MCL. George Minty, a Bradford socialist, was "nearest to the William Morris type, 'with the heart of a child and the feeling of a poet.' " Brockway, p. 30. 2 See letter no. 977, n. 1. 3 Morris probably refers to A Summary of the Principles of Socialism. Buxton Forman notes (p. 108) that in 1884 there was a second issue, which was wire-stitched and printed on a paper slightly thinner than the first, and that the last leaves were filled with advertisements.

MS:

1

956 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 5 [1884?]

EMMA LAZARUS

Dear Miss Lazarus I must apologize for not answering your kind letter before: as to the paper which you have sent me1 I really feel ashamed to have my semi-vices so metamorphosed into virtues; but I feel very deeply your kindness both as an individual and as a representative of another country & another race. I am only sorry that I do not deserve so much sympathy, except in so far as I have set before myself the aim of doing my best to minimize the amount of painful labour in the world.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

I may mention in addition to your facts about the Abbey that some 30 years ago a piece of the buildings was still standing: not in our grounds but in Mr. Littler's, 2 the print-works on the other side of the railway, our older men remember it well, a woful pity it was let to tumble down. Also it is worth noting perhaps that the place is the cradle of textile printing in England: Lysons writing in 17263 says that 2,000 men were employed within the precincts of the Abbey (of course including a much greater space than our works) the bourgeois wretch with characteristic philistinism contrasts the useful labours with the (bo) laziness of the old monks by the way: yet I suppose some pretty things were turned out there: the block-printing industry still lives, or rather languishes, on the Wandle, but is pretty much confined to silk prints (mostly for the Indian market) at present, and the occupation for the blockers is very precarious. I shall have the satisfaction of giving (m) some steady work to some of them I hope, as we are busier a good deal in that branch than when you saw us. Excuse my vanity in correcting you on a point of personal appearance: I have always been dark-haired as befits a specimen of one branch of the Cymry Thank you very much for your kind invitation to America: for many reasons I should like very much to go, and the very private business mixed with the work of our propaganda which at present keeps me here may on another occasion send me there. Meantime the two things together keep me very hard at it, I assure you; and as to the agitation I hate it very particularly, but get more and more of it. I was at Merton yesterday, a beautiful spring day and the garden covered with primroses & violets; the daffodils in huge quantities almost out, and a beautiful almond tree in blossom relieved against our black sheds looking lovely. With kindest regards to yourself & your sister: I am Dear Miss Lazarus Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Columbia. 1

Possibly Emma Lazarus had sent Morris a draft of the article that she was to publish in Century Magazine in July 1886. See letter no. 941. 2 Littler's print-works. They were bought by Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917) in 1885. See Henderson, Life, p. 238. 3 Daniel Lysons (1762-1834), a typographer. He published The Environs of London, 17921796, and with his brother, Samuel Lysons, began an account of the counties of Great Britain, Magna Brittania, 1806-1822. Morris clearly wrote 1726. He possibly meant 1796.

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1884 / LETTER N O . 957 957 · T o JOHN LINCOLN M A H O N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 13 [1884] Dear Sir 1 T h a n k you for your letter: Professor Butcher 2 was good enough to ask m e to his house, but I replied that I was engaged to M r . Glasse; 3 M r . Campbell 4 must have (written) told y o u of the engagement he t h o u g h t probable before he had heard from me: (mr) Professor Butcher n o w asks m e to lunch with h i m on the Thursday, which I shall accept unless y o u think it w o u l d make it impossible to see y o u or be inconvenient to y o u indeed. I should n o t think of leaving without seeing you; that is a matter of course: I will write as y o u suggest, to Mr. Campbell I suppose. I shall have to return to London b y the night mail o n Thursday, so shall n o t be able to accept the invitation from the Symposium. Please tell m e of anything else which would be useful to do, & which I could compass o n the Thursday: I propose b y the w a y coming to E d i n b u r g h b y the night mail on Tuesday so I should have Wednesday as well for meeting any friends on: only it w o u l d I think be better to meet the students afier the lecture 5 rather than before. With best regards I am Yours fraternally William Morris P. S. I see b y the way that there is a train leaving London at 5.15 a m which w o u l d get m e to E d i n b u r g h in time, at 3.30: if this would do I should g o by it, because w e have an important meeting at the D.F. o n Tuesday from which I must not be absent if I can help it: please write. WM MS: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 42. 1 John Lincoln Mahon (1865-1933), a young engineer. With Andreas Scheu, he helped to found the Scottish Land and Labour League in Edinburgh; at nineteen he became the first secretary of the Socialist League. See Page Arnot, p. 51, and E. P. Thompson, passim. 2 Samuel Henry Butcher (1850-1910), the translator, with Andrew Lang, of the Odyssey (1879). A fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and then a tutor in University College, Oxford, he was appointed professor of Greek in Edinburg University in 1882. Butcher also became involved in politics, helping to organize the Unionist party in Edinburgh in 1880 and becoming Unionist M.P. for Cambridge m 1906. 3 The Rev. John Glasse (1848-1918) Minister of the Old Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, and an advocate of Christian Socialism, he became an early member of the Democratic Federation. He and Morris became well acquainted, but their correspondence, as preserved, did not begin until February 1886. See Morris's first letter to Glasse (no. 1211). 4 Possibly W. H. Campbell, B. D. who founded the Edinburgh University Socialist Society in the spring of 1884. See Commonweal (February 1885), p. 8.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 5 Morris refers to his delivery of "Useful Work versus Useless Toil" before the Edinburgh University Socialist Society at the Oddfellows Hall, Edinburgh, on March 19, 1884 See LeMire, p. 241; see also Justice, March 29, 1884, p. 7.

958 · T o ELLIS A N D WHITE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 15, 1884 Please send a copy of H . M . H y n d m a n ' s Historical Basis of Socialism. 1883 1 W. Morris MS: UCLA. 1

This is the second order of this book in the surviving letters (see letter no. 950). Morris may have been giving Hyndman's work to friends whom he wanted to convert to Marxist socialism or whom he merely felt were in need of a clear exposition of its principles. In any event, it seems probable that the book at this time was important to him personally as an exposition of socialism.

959 · T o J A N E M O R R I S

March 18, 1884

Dearest Janey O n Sunday I performed a religious function: I was loth to g o , b u t did not dislike it w h e n I did go: brief, I trudged all the w a y from T o t t e n h a m C o u r t Rd. u p to Highgate Cemetery (with a red-ribbon in m y b u t t o n hole) at the tail of various banners and a very bad band to d o h o n o u r to the m e m o r y of Karl M a r x and the C o m m u n e : 1 the thing didn't look as absurd as it sounds, as w e were a tidy number, I should think m o r e than a thousand in the procession, and onlookers to the amount, w h e n w e got to the end, of some 2 or 3 thousand more I should say. O f course they w o u l d n ' t let us into the cemetery, and honoured us w i t h a heavy guard of policemen; so w e adjourned to an uncomfortable piece of waste ground near by and the song 2 was sung and speeches made: only diversified b y a rather feeble attempt b y the hobblehoys to interrupt which o u r people checked with the loss of one hat (Mr. Williams') 3 after which w e marched off the ground triumphant with policemen on each side of us like a royal procession. M r . Sanderson joined us at the cemetery, and w e went h o m e together along with H y n d m a n all hollow to the last degree, and finished the evening, Dick 4 and Mr. GeIl and brother 5 being there, with discussion and supper, fairly harmoniously. Well, t o m o r r o w m o r n i n g early I g o to E d i n b u r g h to lecture 6 and shall be back o n Friday.

[ 270 ]

1884 I LETTER N O . 960

All well with business: the new blocker is come and seems a good fellow: we are striking off a fent of 'Wandle' 7 now: item: we are going to begin our velvet-weaving soon, 8 it will be very grand. . . . I am momentarily expecting Miss Mowcher 9 as my wig is woefully long; so no more my dear from Your loving W. M. With best love. TEXT: CW, 19, xxi-xxii. Published: Henderson, Letters, 195. 1 Marx died on March 14, 1883, and the short life of the Paris Commune had begun on March 18, 1871. To commemorate both events, London socialist and radical groups marched to Highgate Cemetery, with the intention of delivering speeches at Marx's gravesite. The linking of Marx and the Commune meant much to Morris. Like Marx, he saw the Commune as the fist attempt at proletarian revolution and socialist reorganization of society. A Short Account of the Paris Commune, a pamphlet published in 1886, was jointly written by Morris, E. Belfort Bax, and Victor Dave, a radical refugee from Germany who had been associated withjohann Most in 1879. 2 Presumably the "International." 3 John Edward Williams (1859-1917), a socialist who had "escaped from a workhouse at the age often, and was in the thick of every fight he could find from that time onwards" (E. P. Thompson, p. 284, n. 3). Earlier in his career, Williams had joined the Rose Street Club and the Irish Land League. He then helped Hyndman establish the Democratic Federation and became a member of its first executive. See also John E. Williams and the Early History of the Social Democratic Federation (London: The Modern Press, 1886), and Lee, pp. 8687. 4 Possibly Richard Grosvenor. 5 Philip Lyttleton GeIl (1852-1926) was the original chairman of Toynbee Hall, the Universities' settlement in the East-End, and was an active associate of Arnold Toynbee. Later, he became Secretary of the Oxford University Press. Henry Willingham GeIl (1854-1943?) was the younger brother of Philip Lyttleton. In 1883 he wrote a health pamphlet titled Aids to the Injured and Sick. 6 The talk he gave was "Useful Work versus Useless Toil." See letter no. 957. 7 See letter no. 908, n. 2. 8 Possibly this refers to the preparations to weave the pattern called Granada. In 1884 a special loom was built at Merton Abbey for this textile. It is described by Parry (p. 62) as a "woven silk velvet"—the most expensive fabric Morris and Co. produced at this time. 9 The hairdresser, in David Copperfield, who cuts Steerforth's hair.

960 · T o JULIUS

ALFRED CHATWIN

Merton Abbey, Surrey March 24, 1884

Dear Mr. Chatwin 1 I told Mr. Burne-Jones what you did about the two sketches, & on the whole I thought he seemed to agree with you rather than me, liking the one with the longer figures & in which the Apostles were completed. 2

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

He agrees to send you a sketch of the design, before he goes on with it, when it is far enough advanced to make the said sketch of some value as an indication of the finished work. 3 Yours truly William Morris MS: Birmingham. 1 This is the first of a series of letters between Morris and Julius Alfred Chatwin (18291907), an architect, about the windows designed by Burne-Jones for St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham. There are also letters between Chatwin and Miss Villers Wilkes, the donor. Most of the letters were written in November and December 1886. 2 "The Ascension of Christ," the Chancel East window, installed by Morris and Co. in 1885, Burne-Jones's account book for February 1885 reads: For St. Philip's Church, Birmingham (my native town) a colossal design of the Ascension . . . involving much physical fatigue in addition to mental weariness How inevitably indelicate are all money transactions! Connected now for ever in my memory with this noble theme is a base offer of a flagrantly inadequate sum by way of payment. Was it hoped that in the absorptions & rapture of composition I might be exploited unwarily? or because my sympathies were enlisted by the associations of youth was it hoped that I should be satisfied, clothed & fed with the glow of early memories? Is it permitted me to say, that to be swindled in my old age in no way compensates me for the slights of my unappreciated infancy Take this design then at your own valuation — the price you fix is the price at which you set your own honour and conscience—& is the measure of that. £200. Quoted in Sewter, II, 19; see also Sewter, I, Color Plate XV and Plate 585. 3 Burne-Jones's account book continues: "To first design of same 'on approval' (ye gods!) £20."

961 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith March 31 [1884]

ARTHUR SPENCER

Dear Sir Many thanks for your letter; in spite of all the necessary slowness of our movement, & the obvious difficulty of getting 'slaves' to see any possibility of a better state of things than they are used to, we are much cheered by hearing of the efforts of such friends (of) as yourself and Mr. Minty 1 to whom and to you I send my kind regards. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris Ms: MCL. 1

See letter no. 955, n. 1.

[ 272 ]

1884 I LETTER N O . 963

962 · T o JENNY

April 15,1884

MORRIS

from the habitations of the Tockahoopoos. Dearest Jenny I attacked the postman on my way & got a letter from your mother which I enclose as it gives news of her & sends her love to you. Mr. Hobb's milkman (who was a boy by the way) came across me as I mounted the fence from Paradise Farm & thought I should be late so he gave me a ride thence to the station, though as it turned out I should have been in good time. London is very dirty & nasty, the streets all pasty & slippery. Item Bradlaugh is slippery: I have just been to St James Hall with Champion to get the matter properly settled; but either Mr. Leslie the hall owner mistrusts B. or is playing into his hands and there is more telegraphing & so forth to go on still; however I suppose it will all end well. l I enclose a slip for our friends as to catching trains & stopping at O x ford, which latter scarcely heard-of village you will please ask Sanderson not to call Oxcodger, as he will be enclined to do. With best love dear child Your William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45339. 1 Apparently, as Treasurer of the Democratic Federation, Morris was making arrangements for a debate between Charles Bradlaugh and H. M. Hyndman on the question, "Will Socialism benefit the English people?" The debate took place on April 17, 1884; for an account of it, see Frederick Gould, Hyndman: Prophet of Socialism (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1928), pp. 90-93.

963 · To

EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 16, 1884

Dearest Mother Thank you with best love for both your letters: I should have come down to see you before this, but have been very particularly busy lately: I shall have more time to spare during the next month, & I will come to see you, I hope the week after next. All well, except perhaps that May looks a little pale. Jenny is away at Kelmscott till Saturday: she is still sometimes troubled with those attacks but otherwise seems very well, & quite happy. Janey came back home on Thursday last, after a long absence: she is very much better, quite able to [ 273 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

get about & work and enjoy herself. As for me I am quite well as I always am, but very busy as I said. I am just going off to Merton now; this is the first day after the Easter Holidays so I have got a great deal to do and must ask you to excuse this short note. With best love to Henny & yourself I am Dearest Mother Your most affectionate Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow.

964 · T o WILLIAM ALLINGHAM

Kclmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 18 [1884] My dear Allingham Thanks much for the poem, 1 which is very good: one does owe a grudge to the idiot who first connected the violet with the rascal sham Caesar of a Napoleon, the primrose with shifty sham Statesman BEN, 2 so that no honest man can ever (for the present) wear either in his button­ hole: however they will outlive the rascals. As to Justice (not of the peace) I will send you one or two odd numbers which will give you all infor­ mation. 3 Yes I am a rebel and even more of a rebel than some of my coadjutors know perhaps. 4 Certainly in some way or other this present society or age of shoddy is doomed to fall: nor can I see anything ahead of it as an organization save Socialism: meantime as to the present parties I say — damn tweedledum and blast tweedledee. — Yours ever truly William Morris MS: Illinois. Published: Henderson, Letters, 169-70; Allingham, Letters, 232. 1 " T o a Primrose." Allingham had written to Morris on April 16, 1884, saying that he wanted Justice but could not find it on the newstand and enclosing his poem (see BL, Add. MSS. 45345). 2 A reference to the Primrose League and to "Primrose Day." The League was formed in 1883 to promote Conservative principles. A memorial to Disraeli, who died on April 19, 1881, it was named after what was said to be his favorite flower. "Primrose Day" is observed on the anniversary of his death. 3 See letter no. 938, η 2. 4 As part of the entry in his Diary for July 26, 1884, Allingham, who was visiting Ten­ nyson at Haslemere, wrote: "T. was shocked to hear of William Morris's Democratic So-

[ 274 ]

1884 I L E T T E R N O . 9 6 5 cialism, and asked to see a copy ofjustice." In parentheses, Allingham then added: "Morris's Justice, I partly agree with and partly detest. It is incendiary and atheistic, and would upset everything. How about America, which started a hundred years ago as a democracy with almost ideal advantages? I want reforms and thorough-going ones, but not by the hands of atheists and anarchists" (Allingham, Diary, p. 326)

965 · T o E M M A L A Z A R U S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 21, 1884 Dear Miss Lazarus T h a n k s for your note: the quotations from m y b o o k are just what I should have liked to see quoted, and express m y present views as clearly as ever. 1 I have n o objection to stating (wha) the kind of profit-sharing that goes on in m y business, it w o u l d n o t be w o r t h while to give details of it. T h e profit-sharing only extends at present to the managers and heads of departments, (& for) n o t to use a grand w o r d , foremen if you please, alt h o u g h properly speaking w e have n o foremen. 2 T h e greater part of our m e n are paid by piecework, according to the custom of their trade; this makes it neither so necessary that they should share profits, n o r so easy to arrange a scheme. A n d n o w I must state that w h e n I began to turn m y attention to this matter of profit-sharing, t h o u g h I had little faith in its proving a solution of the labour-&-capital question, I thought it might advance that solution somewhat in the absence of any distinct attempt t o wards universal cooperation ie Socialism, & I hoped to be able to p u t m y whole establishment on a profit: (business) basis: I n o w see clearer why I had n o faith in the profit-sharing and at the same time see that things are tending t o w a r d Socialism, so that there is n o temptation to m e to try to advance a m o v e m e n t which in its incompleteness w o u l d rather injure than help the cause of labour: at the same time I see n o h a r m in the profit sharing business within certain limits; if, I mean to say, it only means raising the wages at the expense of the individual capitalist: I have always d o n e this b y giving wages above the ordinary market price, & always shall d o so. I o u g h t to say w h y I think mere profit sharing w o u l d be n o solution of the labour difficulty: in the first place it would do nothing t o w a r d s the e x tinction of competition which lies at the root of the evils of today: because each (competitive) cooperative society would compete for its corporate advantage with other societies, w o u l d in fact so far be nothing b u t a j o i n t stock-company — in the second place it w o u l d do nothing towards the extinction of exploitage, because the most it could do in that direction

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would be to create a body of small capitalists who would exploit the labour of those underneath them quite as implacably as the bigger Capitalists do: just as peasant proprietors do in the matter of rent for land. in the 3rd place the immediate results of the systems of profit sharing would be an increase of overwork amongst the industrious, who would of course always tend upwards towards that small capitalist class abovesaid: this would practically mean putting the screw on all wage-earners, and intensifying the contrast between the well to do & the mere unskilled; the hewers of wood & drawers of water; for all these industrious successful people would take good care to have people to live on lower down. General result, increase of work done, which all reasonable people should try to curtail: increase of luxury, increase of poverty. Thus, you see, so accursed is the capitalist system under which we live, that even what should be the virtues of good management and thrift under its slavery do but add to the misery of our thralldom, and indeed become mere vices, and have at last the faces of cruelty & shabbiness. The Bourgeois System is doomed; that is the long & short of it, and this permissive cooperative system with its apparent fairness of sharing of profits is but an attempt at insurance for it by the creation of a fresh set of petty bourgeois. So much for Sociology. A word or two about the art I have tried to forward. That is a simple matter enough: I have tried to produce goods which should be genuine as far as their mere substances are concerned, and should have on that account the primary beauty in them which belongs to naturally treated natural substances: have tried for instance to make woollen substances as woollen as possible, cotton as cottonny as possible and so on: (all this quite apart from) have used only the dyes which are natural & simple, because they produce beauty almost without the intervention of art: all this quite apart from the design in the stuffs or what-not: on that head it has been, chiefly because of the social difficulties, almost impossible to do more than to insure the designer mostly myself some pleasure in his art by getting him to understand the qualities of materials and the happy chances of processes: except with a (few) small part of the more artistic side of the work I could not do anything or at least but little to give this pleasure to the workmen; because I should have had to change their method of work so utterly, that (I) it should have disqualified them from earning their living elsewhere: you see I have got to understand thoroughly the manner of work under which the art of the Middle Ages was done, (only to discover that it is impossible to do it so now) and that that is the only manner of work which can turn out popular art, only to discover that it is impossible to work in that manner in this profit[ 276 ]

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grinding Society. So on all sides, I am driven towards revolution as the only hope, and am growing clearer and clearer (as to) on the speedy advent of it in a very obvious form, though of course I can't give a date for it. As to dates, by the way, you will see that I began this letter a month ago; I must ask you to excuse me for my dilatoriness on the grounds of my having a good deal to say in it & a good deal to do otherwise. You are at liberty to make any use of the information & views contained in the same that you think fit. I am Dear Miss Lazarus Yours very truly William Morris MS: Columbia. Extract published: "A Day in Surrey with William Morris," Century Magazine, 32 (July 1886), 388-97. 1 In her article for Century Magazine, Lazarus quoted from Morris's poetry and from his first public lecture, "The Decorative Arts," delivered before the Trades Guild of Learning on December 4, 1877 (and published the following year as a pamphlet [see Volume I, letter no. 464]): I do not want art for a few, any more than education for a few or freedom for a few. No, rather than that art should live this poor, thin life among a few exceptional men, despising those beneath them for an ignorance for which they themselves are responsible, for a brutality which they will not struggle with; rather than this, I would that the world should indeed sweep away all art for a while. . . . Rather than the wheat should rot in the miser's granary, I would that the earth had it, that it might yet have a chance to quicken in the dark. 2 Despite what Morris says in this letter, Lazarus in her article asserted that his "artisans" shared his profits, thus seemingly suggesting that all employees of Merton Abbey did. Possibly to compensate for this distortion, she appended a note to her article in which she quoted Morris's explanation and description as he gave it to her in this letter.

966 · To JOHN LINCOLN MAHON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith April 24 [1884]

Dear MacMahon 1 I shall be happy to subscribe £5 0 0 towards the publishing adventure 2 on the distinct understanding that I am not responsible for any debts incurred by the adventure, that it is a loan, I mean, to be repaid at their convenience, (of) or not at all if things go adversely. I am sorry that I cannot do more at present, (though I may be able as [ 277 ]

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time goes on) but you will readily understand that I am spending a good deal on keeping the agitation on foot here, & I must manage my resources; as, very naturally, Socialists don't seem to be rich generally. Wishing you all success I am Dear MacMahon Yours fraternally William Morris MS: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 43-44. 1 Page Arnot writes (p. 43) that in "Edinburgh, on . . . 19th March, 1884 . . . , Morris got hold of his new correspondent's name as 'MacMahon,' but by mid-May had learned to spell it 'McMahon'. That summer, however, the 'Mc' was dropped by its owner." 2 In June 1884 Mahon started The Social Reform Publishing Company to supply radical and socialist literature, but by the end of August it had failed. See letter no. 993, and E. P. Thompson, pp. 350-51.

967 · T H O M A S J A M E S C O B D E N - S A N D E R S O N

Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h Sunday [May 4? 1884]

My dear Sanderson As there is no meeting of the D. F. on (Friday) Tuesday, & as I am going to South Place institute to hear Hyndman hold forth that evening 1 I will ask you to be so kind as to let me have my dinner by 6 ο clock that evening if it is not inconvenient, as it is further to South Place than to Westminster & I suppose I ought to be there in good time. Our people are in high spirits about Thursday's meeting; especially since we have seen the speeches in print. Yours very truly William Morris MS: Bucknell. 1

H. W. Lee notes (p. 64) that six talks at the South Place Institute, in which Hyndman and Bradlaugh joined others in discussing socialism, followed the Hyndman-Bradlaugh debate that had taken place in St. James's Hall on April 17 (see letter no. 962, n. 1).

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1884 / LETTER N O . 969 968 · T o WALTER C R A N E

Merton Abbey,

Surrey May 7, 1884 M y dear Crane, Would it be troubling y o u t o o m u c h to come to 469 O x f o r d St t o m o r r o w (Thursday) I shall be there from about n o o n till 4.30, & w e could then hand over the cartoons for a regular estimate.' Yours very truly William Morris MS: SUNY, Buffalo. 1

Possibly for the Goose Girl tapestry; see letter no. 851, n. 3.

969 · T o WILLIAM H O L M A N H U N T

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 8 [1884] M y dear H u n t Skilbeck Bros: in Thames St: is our London drysalter; he has always treated us very well, I have written to o u r people to send y o u his address in detail: I k n o w nothing about the manufacture of Prussian Blue as a pigment & n o t m u c h of it as a dye, as the only blue w e use is indigo: to speak briefly the process of dyeing is to dip the goods first in a solution o f iron, & then in one of cyamide of potassium: I suppose the pigment is a lake formed of these t w o matters: there is a yellow cyamide & a red one: the red one in dyeing makes an old fashioned colour b y a s o m e w h a t tedious process called Napoleon Blue: it is an ugly violent colour tending to purple b u t is faster than that made by the yellow cyamide. Goods dyed with Prussian Blue have the quality of regaining the colour lost b y light, by shutting t h e m in the dark: alcalis destroy the dye b u t acids recover it again. H o p i n g Skilbeck can help y o u I am Yours very truly William Morris P. S. I shall be at M e r t o n t o m o r r o w & will talk to o u r dyer w h o u n d e r stands pruss: bl: dyeing well. MS: Huntington.

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970 · To

HENRY CORNELIUS DONOVAN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 9 [1884?]

Dear Sir1 I am obliged to you for your note inviting me to offer myself to the Greenwich Zoo as a possible candidate but my principles as a revolutionary Socialist prevent me accepting your nattering offer. I am, dear Sir, Yours faithfully William Morris Mr H. C. Donavan [sic] TEXT: Doyle Coll. (copy). 1 Henry Cornelius Donovan, a phrenologist who later published The Brain Book and How to Read It (1904). There are three references to Morris in this book, none of them derogatory, and the sympathetic references to socialism suggest that Donovan—assuming that he had subjected Morris to phrenological abuse because of his political views—underwent a change of heart. Donovan also says that Morris was one of "the eminent literary personages" who lectured at the O'Dell's Institution in London. There is, however, no record in LeMire of any lecture given by Morris to a phrenological society.

971 · T o ROBERT T H O M S O N

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

May 9, 1884 Dear Sir1 It is a very difficult task to give the kind of advice you ask for, as one knows really none of the circumstances: I could not venture to advise anyone to give up the employment (they) he had got used to in order to try (their) his chance at another, because it is so difficult to get employment in any trade unless you have grown into it so to say. Would it be possible for you to go on with your teaching and meantime to experiment as to what you could do otherwise? I am compelled much against my wish to have to say that your verses do not seem to me to show that kind of quality which (makes it) forces peoples attention, I mean (from) on the metrical side. All this is but cold comfort for you, I know; but if you are enclined to think it hard that I can help you no more than by writing such commonplaces, I must ask you to remember how helpless any one man is in the present confusion and welter: I have every inclination to be useful to you if I can be: but naturally all places under my immediate control are filled up, and my recommendation in any case will (go) as a matter of course go [ 280 ]

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no further than to call anyones attention to the fact (too common) that here is someone who wants work. At the same time if you think it worth while to give me any details of what you purpose doing, I shall be very glad to help you as far as I can, which I fear will be very little indeed. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Harvard. Published: Henderson, Letters, 195-96. 1 Morris spelled Thomson's name variously, with and without the p. Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915), the American disciple and imitator of Morris, described Thomson as "a strayed American of Southern birth and Scotch antecedents who had become stranded m London" and had become a teacher in a boys' school. "Having become infected with the microbes of socialism of the milder type with a color of Christianity and a theological basis of his own, he drifted within the charmed circle of Morns' personality — at lectures and discussions or open air meetings — and being desirous of getting on to some honest manual occupation he wrote to Morris for aid, comfort or advice. He got advice." A William Morris Book (East Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycrofters, 1907), p. 62.

972 · T o JOHN

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 13, 1884

LINCOLN MAHON

Dear McMahon 1 I enclose the cheque for £5 herewith and wish you all success:2 your letter did not come up last Tuesday: I should be glad to hear what you are thinking about with reference to the Land Agitation, as it needs some careful steering in dealing with the people who have set it a-going: of course we don't want to offend them on the one hand; but on the other if people get into their heads that that is all that needs agitating about, it will hinder us greatly. 3 Yours fraternally William Morris Ms: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 44. 1 See letter no. 966, n. 1. 2 See letter no. 966, n. 2. 3 In Scotland, where there was a long history of eviction of crofters by their landlords from the highland glens and the islands, land agitation was seen by some socialists as a means of rousing people and winning their adherence to the Democratic Federation. Mahon and Scheu were among those who thought it useful in Edinburgh to go this route: they encouraged the formation of the Scottish Land and Labour League, which would emphasize the

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movement for land reform but would also assert its sympathy with socialism and affiliate with the Democratic Federation. Hyndman opposed the formation of any group that would be other than an explicit branch of the Democratic Federation. Despite his opposition, the Scottish Land and Labour League was founded and was accepted as an affiliate of the newly named Social Democratic Federation (S.D.F.) in August 1884. See Page Arnot, pp. 44-46, and E. P. Thompson, pp 350-57.

973 · To JOHN

LINCOLN MAHON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith May 20 [1884]

Dear McMahon You will probably have heard from Hyndman about your project with the Land people: I heard your letter read when there were some half dozen of us present, and we all agreed that with a man as sound as you are there was no danger, & much chance of advantage in your scheme: we are sure to get some of those busy over the land movement, and those that we don't get will I imagine tail off into mere social reformers afraid of their own shadows at every step. I am going to my publishers this afternoon, & will bid them send you some of my Hopes & Fears for Art on sale or return. I fancy you will sell some in Edinburgh: though written before I had studied socialism from the scientific point of view, they (were) always meant Socialism.1 Item, I will send you as a gift (my las) to yourself my last vol: of poetry in Case you care to read it.2 Lamer Sugden is publishing one of my lectures3 as perhaps you know: perhaps it might sell with you, though 'tis not as good as the one I gave at Edinburgh. 4 I return the kind regards and again wishing you all success am Yours fraternally William Morris MS: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 46. 1 This is the first time in the Letters that Morris uses the term "scientific socialism." 2 Sigurd the Volsung, published in 1876. 3 William Lamer Sugden (1850-1901), an architect at Leek who was on the committee of the S.P.A.B. In 1896 he founded the William Morris Labour Church at Leek. See The Builder, 81 (July 12, 1901), 16; and J. W. Mackail, The Parting of the Ways (Hammersmith: Hammersmith Publishing Society, 1903). The lecture referred to is probably "Art and Socialism." On the title page reproduced in Buxton Forman, p. I l l , is written, "Imprinted for E.E.M. and W.L.S. Anno 1884." 4 "Useful Work versus Useless Toil, "delivered in Edinburgh on March 19,1884. See letter no. 957, n. 5.

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974 · T o

GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Sunday Junel, 1884

Dearest Georgie Dont be alarmed: certain things occurred to me which being written you may pitch into the fire if you please. The question of sharing of profits in order to shake off the responsibility of exploitation is complicated by this fact, that the workman is exploited by others besides his own employer: for as things now go everything is made for a profit, ie everything has to pay toll to people who do not work, and whose idleness enforces overwork on those who are compelled to work: everyone of us therefore, workman or non-workman, is forced (the) to support the present competitive system by merely living in the present society, and buying his ordinary daily necessaries: so that an employer by giving up his individual profit on the goods he gets made would not be able to put his workmen in their proper position: they would be exploited by others though not by him: this to explain partly why I said that cooperation to be real must be the rule and not the exception. Now to be done with it I will put my own position, which I would not do to the public because it is by no means typical, and would therefore be useless as a matter of principle. Some of those who work for me share in the profits formally: I suppose, I make the last year or two about £1800, Wardle about £1200, the Smiths about £600 each; Debney & West £400 all these share directly in the profits: Kenyon the colour-mixer, & Good-acre the foreman dyer have also a kind of bonus on the amount of goods turned out: the rest either work as day-workers, or are paid by the piece, mostly the latter: in both cases they get more than the market-price of their labour; two or three people about the place are of no use to the business and are kept on on the live-and-let-live principle, not a bad one I think as things go, in spite of the Charity Organization Society.1 The business has of course a certain Capital to work on, about £15000, which is very little for the turn-over of goods: this is nominally mine, but of course I can't touch it as long as the business is going, and if the business were wound up it is doubtful if it would realize more than enough to pay the debts, since goods always sell for less than their value at forced sales. Now as you know I work at the business myself and it could not go on without me, or somebody like me: therefore my £1800 are pay for work done, and I should justly claim a maintenance for that work; shall we say £4 per week, (about Kenyon's screw) or £200 per annum; that leaves £1600 for distribution among the 100 people I employ besides the profit sharers; £16 a year each therefore: now that would I admit (would) be a very nice thing for them; but it would not alter the position of any one of [ 283 ]

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them, but would leave them still members of the working class with all the disadvantages of that position: further, if I were to die, or be otherwise disabled the business could not get anyone to do my work for £200 a year, and would in short at once take back the extra £16 a year from the workmen. It seems to me therefore that the utmost I could do would be little enough, nor should I feel much satisfaction in thinking that a very small knot of working-people were somewhat better off amidst the great ocean of economic slavery. I have left out 2 matters which complicate the position: 1st I have a small literary income, about £120, and 2nd there are those other partners called my family: now you know we ought to be able to live upon £4 a week, & give the literary income to the revolutionary agitation: but here comes the rub, and I feel the pinch of society for which society I am only responsible in a very limited degree. And yet ifJaney & Jenny were quite well and capable I think they ought not to grumble at living on the said £4, nor do I think they would. Well, so far as to my position which you will see is very different from the ordinary manufacturer's so-called; since he not only gets high pay for Organizing labour' but also claims plunder as a sleeping partner on various absurdly transparent pretexts. On the other hand I admit that it would be much easier for me to drop some of my iniquitous overpayment, than for him, because I have personal relations with my men, while his are only machines; many or most of my men are specialists like myself, whereas his are the ordinary material to be hired in every market; so that if he were to give up his gains to them, they would notice the fact of their discrepancy from their work, would set to work to save, & would become or try to become small capitalists & then large ones: in effect this is what mostly happens in those few factories where division of profits has been tried: now much as I want to see workmen escape from their slavish position, I don't at all want to see a few individuals more creep up out of their class into the middle class; this will only make the poor poorer still: and this effect I repeat of multiplying the capitalist class (every member of which you must remember is engaged in fierce private commercial war with his fellows) is the utmost that could result from even a large number of the employers giving up their profits to their workmen — even supposing such a wild dream could be realized. The utmost, I say, because the greater number of the men kept down by years of slavery would not know how to spend their newly gained wealth, but would let it slip through their fingers to swell the gains of the exploiting tradesmen who are on the look out for such soft-heads. If you doubt this remember that even now there are at times artizans who receive very high wages, but that [ 284 ]

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their exceptional good luck has no influence over the general army of wage earners, and that they themselves have in consequence only two choices: the first to rise out of their class as above, the second to squander their high earnings and remain in the long run at the ordinary low standard of life of their less lucky brethren: the really desireable thing that being still workmen they should rise in culture and refinement they can only attain to by their whole class rising. This as things go, especially since England has lost her monopoly of trade & manufacture is impossible: the competition for subsistence among workmen forbids the serious rise of the standard of life for any long period taking labour all round; it is true that the trades unions by combination did manage to raise that standard for skilled labour; but their combination as on the one hand it was not international and so allowed other nations to undersell us and so reduce wages or threaten reduction of wages even for them (which will certainly come), so on the other hand it did not take in the unskilled labourers, who are scarcely in any better position than they were 50 years ago — and in any case in a condition which makes one almost ashamed to live — in spite of the enormous increase of wealth of the country in general. Here then is a choice for a manufacturer ashamed of living on surplus value: shall he do his best to further a revolution at the basis of society (dont be afraid of a word my friend) which would turn all people into workers, as it would give a chance to all workers to become refined and dignified in their life; or shall he ease his conscience by dropping a certain portion of his profits to bestow in charity on his handful of workers, for indeed it is but charity after all, since they don't claim it from him but from his class: (and here I must remind you that there is no possibility of working men getting at the class of employers by way of arbitration, even to the limited extent to which the employers can get at the workmen through the Trades Unions; since the employers unless definitely attacked are of their very nature as above said always at war with each other:) Well I say which shall he do? The second choice, if he takes it, may save a few individuals a certain amount of suffering and anxiety, therefore if he can do both things let him do so, and make his conscience surer; but if as must generally be the case he must choose between the furthering of a great principle, and the staunching of the pangs of conscience; I should think him right to choose the first course: because although it is possible that here & there a capitalist may be found who could & would be content to carry on his business at (say) foreman's wages, it is impossible that the capitalist class could do so: the very point of its existence is manufacturing for a profit and not for livelihood: the instinct for profit has made the class through a series of centuries what it is today, nor can anything destroy [ 285 ]

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that instinct but the instinct for combination for cooperation for the common good, the germ of which existed thousands of years ago, and is now under a new form struggling with the spirit of competition which has for so long overlaid it. So you may be sure that the capitalist class as a class will struggle as the representative of the old or conservative idea against the working class as the representative of the new or reconstructive idea: will, nay does & I repeat cannot help doing so: what form that struggle may take before the new prevails over the old I don't pretend to say: but I suppose in this country where commercialism is most developed, it will wear out the soonest, and it will be commercial ruin which will at once take away the strength of the capitalists and force the workmen into closer and more general combination: as you know some of us seem to see signs of this on the way, at which I admit that the flesh of this *hanger on of the capitalist class trembles though his spirit is willing. And now I want to explain once more this: that if these were ordinary times of peace I might be contented amidst my discontent to settle down into ascetic hermit of a hanger on; such a man as I should respect even now; but I don't see the peace or feel it; on the contrary fate or what not has forced me to feel war, and lays hands on me as a recruit; therefore do I find it not only lawful to my conscience but even compulsory (to) on it to do what in times of peace would not perhaps be lawful, & certainly would not be compulsory: if I am wrong, I am wrong and there is an end of it; I cant expect pardon or consideration of anyone — and shan't ask it. Meantime, to carry on the metaphor, to desert the regiment because the sergeants are sometimes drunk, xx or the Captain often swears, would not commend itself to my reason. Well I don't mean to joke light-mindedly — 'tis a serious matter enough: I cannot deny that if ever the D. F. were to break down, it would be a heavy thing to me, petty skirmish though it would be in the great war. Whatever hope or life there is in me is staked on the success of the cause: I believe you object to the word; but I know no other to express what I mean. Of course I dont mean to say that I necessarily expect to see much of it before I die, and yet something I hope to see. Meantime take this scrawl which is hasty enough as a token that I dont intend leaving my friends in the lurch: I shall offend you desperately someday I fear; meantime to think me quarrelsome is a misjudgement, for I commonly hold my tongue when my conscience (I dont like that eccle* I am not a capitalist, my friend, I am but a hanger on of that class like all professional men. xx I dont mean to say that the D. F. is — metaphor only [ 286 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 976

siastical word) bids speak: so when at last I do speak it sounds quarrelsome you know. By the by I feel that I have spun much too long a yarn about my d—-d private position which really doesn't matter a bit. I am Your faithful WM P. S. I am dropping in on Tuesday you may remember instead of Wednesday this week. MS: Walthamstow. Published: Henderson, Letters, 196-200. Extract published: Mackail, II, 136-39. 1 The Charity Organization Society, founded in 1869 with the Archbishop of Canterbury as president, had as its stated objectives the organizing of charitable efforts and the improvement of the condition of the poor.

975 · To [WILLIAM SHARMAN]

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 18, 1884 Dear Sir1 I shall be very willing to lecture at Preston for you, & thank you for the invitation: I will ask you to arrange with our lecture secretary when the time is getting near to your lecture season.2 I am Dear Sir Yours truly William Morris MS: Briggs Coll. 1 See letter no. 885, n. 1. 2 This letter is a reply to a request from the Preston Eclectic Society for a lecture. On October 22, 1884, Morris did lecture for this group at the Unitarian Chapel, Preston. He gave his talk, "A Socialist's View of Art and Labour"; the Rev. W. Sharman was in the chair. See LeMire, p. 243.

976 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith June 20 [1884]

ROBERT THOMSON

Dear Sir1 I ask your pardon for not answering your former letter before: I have been very busy which must excuse me. I can easily understand your wish [ 287 ]

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to follow some other business than teaching boys what they dont want to learn: but since you ask my opinion about your chances as to getting employment as a draftsman I am bound to tell you that unless you have very special talents your chances of employment are very slender; more especially as business is flat at present, & I should think is likely to grow flatter. You see that this is one of the things which we Socialists complain of in the present state of things, that a man having once grown into an occupation he cannot change it, however unfit he may be for it: he is forced to stay where he is just as much as if he were chained up like a slave or a dog. I must decline to argue theological points: I dont understand them: if there be a God, he, or it, is a very different thing from what religionists imagine. Finally I beg you to do your best to get your livelihood by what you understand; and to grasp the fact that individualist efforts to break the chains of society must fail. I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Harvard. Published: Henderson, Letters, 201; Hubbard, 42. 1

See letter no. 971, n. 1.

977 · T o A R T H U R SPENCER

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

June 25 [1884] Dear Mr. Spencer I thank you very much for your interesting letter: & am truly glad that you & Mr. Minty and other friends are going to set your backs to the wall. 1 I also thank you very much for your good opinion of me; but I cannot accept it as private and personal to myself; because I am convinced that my colleagues are as much devoted to the Cause as myself or more so. I have been Treasurer of the Federation for more than a year, and I must tell that none of its officers are paid at all, although they all give up more time to the work than they can afford. I have been before this engaged in other political associations, and I will say straight out that none of them could compare with the D.F. for a moment as to purity in money matters. When we send any working men on a mission, we pay their out of pocket expenses because they could not go without it, and in some cases, though not all, these expenses must of necessity include the money which they [ 288 ]

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actually lose by leaving their work: I may add that I have been surprised at the very moderate expense they have put the Federation to on these occasions. As to the fear of'the destruction of Individuality' may I in the first place refer you to an article of mine injustice No. 15, 'The Dull Level of Life'?2 which I will supplement, if you have it not ready to hand by the following remarks: So far from Socialism being likely to crush out Individuality it will on the contrary give a chance to the development of individuality which is at present really crushed out by the pitiless necessities of profit mongering. At present a youth of moderate talents (for genius has a special chance of its own though it may have to use that chance at present under heavy disadvantages) (born) who is born in the working classes is given no time for it to be found out what he is fit for, he goes into the mill or the workshop, and thenceford is doomed to a monotonous life, working day in day out at the same dull job, unless he has a talent for rising into the manufacturing class & becoming a sweater instead of being sweated. Even then what individuality has a man even in that position? he is in the power of the great markets of the world, (and) just as a straw is that floats on the waves. Pray consider the lot of factory workers, who are in point of fact slaves to the machines they tend: certainly the machine has more individuality than they have: they can exercise their individuality during the very few hours that they away from their work — perhaps. But Socialism aims at extending those hours of leisure (whi) to the utmost; which hours as I have often said need by no means be hours of idleness. Again what more miserably monotonous life can there be than that of a commercial clerk, mostly with no hope of rising to cheer it? Socialism will get rid of the labour of most of these clerks, and shorten the hours of the rest to an endurable time. For Socialism has it for one of its most important ends that no man shall be condemned to work day long at a dull exhuasting pleasureless task which slavery at present is a necessity of all manufacture and business as regards the more part of workers: (Furthermore) Socialism proposes to get the benefits of each mans diverse talents developed for the use and advantage of the common good by means of pleasure, leaving it free to men to do what their reason impels them to do. Can this be said of capitalism? Capitalism cannot do this. Furthermore Socialism would expect all men more or less to take part when called on in Imperial, Municipal or parish business; would there not be a good scope here for the exercise of each man's individuality, when he is working directly for the public good under the eyes of his fellows. Again I appeal to our friends of the factories, & ask them, as to matters of what may be called morality, if it may not often happen in these days of adulteration and trade dodges that honest workmen are compelled to [ 289 ]

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share in the disgrace of turning out wares which they know well are impostures; nay the very masters are held as in a cleft stick by the course of trade, and are in a way compelled to cheat. All this would be done away with by Socialism for no man under it would be compelled by poverty to buy rubbish; nor would there be any profit to be made out of making it: so that all wares would be genuine on the face of them. In short turn the matter over which way you will, you will find that of all the baseless objections that can be made against Socialism this one of the suppression of individuality is the most baseless. It is a little curious by the way that the same people make two charges against Socialism which contradict each other: the one is this of suppressing individuality by means of overorganization; the other is of fostering disorder and anarchy: which will they stick to? they are both equally unjust and unreasonable. Socialism aims I repeat at making the most of each mans talent by making him feel that he is exercising it both for his own good and for that of the community. What other organization of labour can a reasonable man aim at? I cannot conclude this letter, (for the desultory quality of which I ask your pardon) without telling you that we are making steady progress on all sides; too much trouble cannot be taken in getting (men) people to join who are really convinced of the justice and necessity of our principles. I know that you and our other friends in Bradford will spare no pains in this, and hope to hear of the speedy growth of your branch. I am Dear Mr. Spencer Yours fraternally William Morris Ms: MCL. 1 Morris may simply be referring here to a decision in Bradford to establish a branch of the Democratic Federation. {Justice, June 7, 1884, reported [p. 7]: "A preliminary meeting of the earnest workers and sympathizers in the cause of the people was held here last Sunday evening, when the manifesto of the Democratic Federation was discussed in detail and the general aim and scope of Socialism considered. As a result, it was finally decided to form a local branch of the Democratic Federation Another meeting will be called in about a fortnight's time for the purpose of definitely completing the organization. . . .") 2 In his article, published injustice, April 26, 1884, p. 4, Morris took his point of departure from Herbert Spencer's article, "The Coming Slavery" (see letter no. 1004, n. 5). Morris said in effect that the individuality, which the middle class feared would be lost under socialism, was a mockery of any true meaning of the term for working people, for whom jobs were merely underpaid drudgery; and that such people should be excused for willingness to barter their "individuality" for improved conditions of life.

[ 290 ]

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George Bernard Shaw, 1896.

[ 291 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 978 · To GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 8, 1884 1

Dear Mr. Shaw I want you to be so very kind to (us) me as to give me a promise to come to Hammersmith either on Sunday 20th or on Sunday 27th as Miss 2 Taylor whom I have asked is uncertain and she is a big gun whom I want to fire off for the sake of the branch — this [is] rude but please bear it for the sake of the Cause and send answer to Kelmscott House — Yours ever W Morris P. S. I can always give you a bed. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 50541. Published: LeBourgeois, "WM to GBS," 205. 1 Shaw was twenty-eight and already a socialist when he and Morris first met in 1884. Re­ calling that they had met at a Democratic Federation gathering, some time after his five nov­ els "which nobody would publish" had been used "to make padding for . . . To-Day," Shaw said that though he had not expected anyone to read "this fifty times rejected stuff of mine," Morris had read a chapter af An Unsocial Socialist and had been sufficiently entertained and impressed by it to want to meet the author. (See "Morris as I Knew Him," MM, II, lx-xl; and LeBourgeois, "WM to GBS," ρ 205.) A friendship began that lasted until Morris's death. In this letter, the first to Shaw that survives, Morris is inviting Shaw to lecture before the Hammersmith Branch of the Democratic Federation, which was formed on June 14, 1884 See E. P. Thompson, p. 393-94. 2 See letter no. 923, n. 4.

979 · T o ANDREAS SCHEU

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 9 [1884] My dear Scheu Many thanks for your letter: I was glad to hear that you were knocking about the Freethinkers: What a game for poor Mrs. Besant to see you jump up at Edinburgh after having had the last of you in London: She must have thought it a sort of nightmare. 1 Item, I was much amused by the necessity for safe-guarding Austria against my small poem. As to affairs here, the important thing yesterday was that the Belgian Socialists want us to hold next years International Conference at Ant­ werp: 2 we had a long discussion about this Hyndman favoured it, and I did not resist, remembering your views as to prematureness of the Lon­ don Conference, considering our lack of organization: Bax of course was against it, 3 and Banner 4 who was there was it seems much cast down at [ 292 ]

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Annie Besant, early 1880's.

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Ernest Belfort Bax, c. 1915.

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the turn things are taking; Quelch 5 & Williams6 also were against it: finally we agreed to write to the (Possibihsts) French Collectivists7 (our inviters to Roubaix) and ask them what they thought of it. I cannot see that this would do any harm; & if the Antwerp plan is feasible I think both that we should run less risk of failure there; & that failure would be of less importance to us than in London: especially as of course we shouldn't have to organize the whole thing. What do you think? We are making arrangements for distributing handbills & selling Justice at the Franchise meeting next Monday week:8 the handbill will appear in this week's Justice as an article; I thought it good. I had Bax here last night and had a long talk with him and begged him to be more 'politic': but in good truth I was afraid to say all I thought to him lest he should blab. To be 'politic' and not able to say exactly as one thinks is a beastly curse, and makes one hate the infernal Bourgeois more for driving one into such stupidity in carrying on the war against him: but I cannot yet forego the hope of our forming a Socialist party which shall begin to act in our own time, instead of a mere theoretical association (of) in a private room with no hope but that of gradually permeating cultivated people with our aspirations. Banner is to come to me on Saturday, I want to encourage him, & also keep him from running a-muck. We had a good meeting at the Branch here on Sunday: two new members on Monday. I don't forget your greetings to them. Here is a long letter with little in it save the matter of the International Conference: forgive the garrulity of age. I am Dear Scheu Yours fraternally William Morris MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 29-30; Henderson, Letters, 201-202. 1 Annie Besant (1847-1933), separated from her clergyman husband Frank Besant, was a secularist and freethinker who was soon to become a socialist, joining the Fabians in 1885, and still later, a theosophist. At this time she was a vice-president of the National Secular Society and a co-editor, with Charles Bradlaugh, of the National Reformer. The secularists had been at odds with socialism since January 1883, when Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant first denounced "scientific socialism" for countenancing violence as a means to a desired end. Morris's comments in this letter refer to her activities m June and July 1884. In June, she had lectured before the Cromwell Club at Plaistow on "Social Reform or Socialism." InJuIy, she spoke on "Social Reform, Not Socialism, the Need of the Times" in Edinburgh. Scheu had followed her from London, "continuing his heckling and conscience-prodding," and "demanding in vain that she name one Austrian or German" who had, as she alleged, advocated inculcating socialism by dynamite. See Nethercot, pp. 212-28. 2 Belgian socialists, who were in favor of alliance with nonsocialists to achieve immediate political ends and were therefore known as Possibihsts, had proposed that an international

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Harry Quelch, c. 1919.

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1884 I L E T T E R N O .

979

congress be held at Antwerp in 1885. Hyndman favored this proposal, and in August 1885 an associate of his named Adolph Smith Headingly (1850-1925), in England the principal champion of the Possibilist cause, represented the Social Democratic Federation at the Ant­ werp conference, at which the Belgian Labor Party was formed. (See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, p. 59.) At the 1884 congress at Roubaix—organized by French socialists led by Jules Guesde (1845-1922) and Paul Larfargue (1842-1911, Marx's son-in-law), who opposed alliance with nonsocialists—the S. D. F., which had sent Bax and Quelch (see notes below) as fraternal del­ egates, had proposed that an international conference be held in London in 1885. The con­ gress accepted, but the conference was never held. See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, p. 59. 3 Ernest Belfort Bax (1854-1926) had been a foreign correspondent. Joining the Social Democratic Federation in 1884, he stayed with Morris through the split at the end of the year (see letter no. 1022) and helped Morris found the Socialist League (see letter no. 1031, n.3). For a while he was co-editor with Morns of Commonweal, the organ of the Socialist League, and in 1885 Bax also published Religion of Socialism. In 1886-1888, he and Morris collabo­ rated on a series of articles for Commonweal called "Socialism from the Root U p , " which they subsequently (1893) republished as a book titled Socialism: Its Growth and Outcome. Bax later resigned from the League (but "without any breach in my personal friendship with Morris," he wrote in his Reminiscences, p. 81) and rejoined the S.D.F., editing Justice for a brief period in 1892. He was also a spokesman for the "Marx-Engels family group inside the Federation," that is, the revolutionary socialists who rejected collaboration with nonsocial­ ists, and he urged resistance to the holding of the international conference at Antwerp, where the Possibilists would be the organizers. (See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, ρ 59.) Bax's Reminiscences and Reflections of a Mid and Late Victorian (1918) makes passing but approving reference to Morris. 4 Robert Banner was a bookbinder who was introduced to the socialist movement by Scheu. At the time of the split between the Social Democratic Federation and the Socialist League (December 1884), he left the S.D.F. with Morris. Later he became one of the found­ ing members of the Fabian Society. See E. P. Thompson, pp. 307, 346, 412-14; and Lee, p. 80. 5 Harry Quelch (1858?-1913), originally an agricultural laborer. On coming to London he became a tanner and warehouse worker, joined the S.D.F., and became an editor of Justice See E. B. Bax, Reminiscences, pp. 111-12. 6 See letter no. 959, n. 3. 7 By "Collectivists" Morris apparently meant the Guesdists or "family of Marx" led by Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue, Marx's son-in-law. They, regarding themselves as revolu­ tionary Marxists, were in opposition to the Possibilists who believed in reform and collab­ oration with nonsocialists. Both factions were seeking international support, but it was the Marxists (the party of Guesde and Lafargue) who, wanting to make their annual conference at Roubaix a preparatory meeting for a new international, invited the Democratic Federation to send delegates. See Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, p. 111. 8 A reference to the demonstration in Hyde Park on July 21 in favor of the Franchise Bill of 1884. It was organized to take place when the Bill reached the House of Lords. See The Times, June 11, 1884, p. 10; see also letter no 987.

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 980 · To GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 14 [1884] please send a card Dear Mr Shaw 1 I put you down for next Sunday 20th 'Sham Individualism'. 2 Hope to see you at supper at 7 ο clock p.m. at my house. Yours very truly WM MS: BL, Add. MSS. 50541. 1

See letter no. 978. Shaw did lecture on July 20. Justice, July 19, 1884, announced (p. 7) the lecture as "So­ cialism versus Individualism" and reported it (p. 6) on July 26, 1884, saying that Shaw deliv­ ered an address "on Socialism and the Individual, the alleged antagonism between which he denied." 2

981 · To ANDREAS SCHEU

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 16 [1884] My dear Scheu Just a line to ask you to look after Mahon in the matter of his paying up for Justice: please (let) make him pay whatever: if he is hard up I can find a pound or two for him: but if he don't pay he won't get Justice sent him, which would be a pity. Champion 1 takes the distribution next or rather this week, and will not send any Justice again if the receivers of it don't pay within the month. Adams 2 also hasn't paid. I would write to Mahon myself; only I thought a few words of mouth from you might do the busi­ ness better. I forgot if I told you yesterday that Burns 3 & Williams4 held a socialist meeting in Hyde Park after the London government bill meeting: 5 they got together five thousand people who cheered them lustily; are going again next Sunday & will take names I believe — I asked Miss Taylor for money very civil by letter: she nay-said me, adding many hard words on the crimes of'Justice.' I don't think she is cut from the wood of the Socialist Tree. 6 Nothing much took place last night; chiefly arrangements for the sale of literature at the meeting in Hyde Park next Monday: encouraged by the success of last Sunday also we shall have a meeting of our own afterwards. Steyer was there and asked me about that matter of the money raised by the Marylebone Branch, of which I have never had one penny. Perhaps

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'tis my bourgeois blood, but this un-straightness on money matters discourages me very much. However discouragement won't do. By the way 'tis I think very important that the Edinborough Branch should send up a delegate to the Conference.7 Can't you come in that capacity. If you think I had better write to Mahon on the matter of the bill I will. The Hammersmith Branch sends greetings. I am My dear Scheu Yours fraternally William Morris MS: HSH. Extract published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 30-31; Henderson, Letters, 202203. 1 See letter no. 923, n. 5. 2 Possibly John Adams. See letter no. 940, n. 3. 3 John Burns (1858-1943) was active in the Democratic Federation and was one of those imprisoned after the Trafalgar Square riots on November 13, 1887, "Bloody Sunday." (See letter no. 1424.) He was a leader in the Dock Strike of 1889, an early delegate to the Trades Union Congress, an M.P. from 1892 to 1928, and the first person of working-class origin to reach cabinet rank, holding office in both the Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith governments. By the time he stood for Parliament, he had dropped out of the trade-union and socialist movements. See W. Kent, John Burns. Labour's Lost Leader (London: Williams and Norgate, 1950); see also E. P. Thompson pp. 380-82, 476-77, 613-14, 616-17, and 620-21. 4 See letter no. 959, n. 3. 5 The Times, July 14, 1884, reported (p. 10) that "a large demonstration was held in Hyde Park in favour of the reform of London government, and the occasion was seized to give forcible expression to the feeling among the masses regarding the action of the House of Lords on the Franchise Bill." 6 May Morris wrote (MM, H, 113) that as ". Treasurer of the Federation . . . [Morris] spent regularly more money than he could afford on the expenses of [Justice]. As Treasurer also he had the usual difficult task of calling in moneys. He had approached . . . Helen Taylor, one of the founders of the body, for financial help, and remarks here on his non-success." 7 The fourth Annual Conference of the Democratic Federation held at Palace Chambers, Westminster, on August 4, 1884, at which the organization changed its name to the Social Democratic Federation. See Lee, p. 64. See also letter no. 982, n. 6.

982 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 18 [1884]

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu I have your letter which interests me much but troubles me somewhat: as to the omission of your name on the list of the writers ofJustice, in the draft I saw the omission was corrected in ink for the printer that that re[ 299 ]

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pentance had come, or somebody had complained: if it had not been so, you may depend I should not have let it pass. I have just got a long and angry letter from Mahon: he has some right to be angry with Fitzgerald's muddling; but as to Hyndmans letter to him I suppose that F had told H. that the £4 was owing: I shall write to Mahon by this post1 and dispel any idea that he may have that I distrust him: but please smooth him down somewhat; because I repeat the only serious grievance he has is against F's blundering: F will now have nothing to do with the distribution of the paper, which Champion takes in hand from this week, and at all events it will be better done, if not perfectly. I must say I don't quite like the new name for the Scotch body; 2 it will be looked on here as a secession I am afraid: and whatever may be the discouragements I dont like to think that we have done nothing in London, & must throw the whole thing to the dogs, and begin again; while at the same time (as you know) I quite admit the necessity for real organization, and don't quite see where it is to come from at present. As to the students I fear that the damned religion is at the bottom of their hanging back. As to myself and my position in the movement, I wish to write as frankly and seriously as I can: if I have any influence amongst our party (if party it be) it is because I am supposed to be straight, and not to be ambitious, both which suppositions are, I hope, true; and I feel sure that any appearance of pushing myself forward would injure my influence, such as it is, very much therefore I will not secede for any mere matter of tactics however important (that) I may think (them) it, unles I am positively driven to it: but if I find myself opposed on a matter of principle, such for instance as a French war, 3 to the people here I will secede if I am driven to it by the opposition embracing the false principle(s); and in that case of course will join any men if they be only two or three, or only yourself to push the real cause. Meantime I know enough of myself to be sure that I am not fit for the rudder; at least not yet: but I promise to take my due share in all matters, and steadily to oppose all jingo business; but, if I can (cooly) with coolness, or I shall be bowled over, since I have not got hold yet of the strings that tie us to the working class members: nor have I read as I should have. Also my habits are quiet & studious and if I am too much worried with 'politics' ie intrigue, I shall be no use to the Cause as a writer. All this you will say shows a weak man: that is true, but I must be taken as I am, not as I am not. If in the long run I am pushed into a position of more importance, I will not refuse it from mere laziness or softness; but I think my real business is to prevent (the) indispensible leaders from being. This is a long jaw about myself which please excuse Also I hope you wont think me indifferent to your personal matters, 4 [ 300 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 982

or un-sympathetic on them: but please let me appeal to you to damp all that down in the interest of the Cause: in other matters of less importance indeed I have had to do as much, and found it a dismal proceeding how­ ever necessary I thought it; so I dont speak quite as an outsider in such matters. I am heartily glad that you are taking up the organization up there, and also that you find Mahon stanch: as to coming up here to the conference, you know how glad I should be to see you, but you yourself know whether you would be able to restrain yourself: in case you do come, please take your lodging here: 5 in case you dont, get up a meeting, even it be small, for me to address at Edinburgh as soon as may be to be of any use; and I will come; and then we can talk of all these matters better than we can write of them. I have some doubts as to how the Conference will go, mind you. 6 Lane 7 and his lot seem now ready to come in under discipline if we can only get it: I think Lane is all right. Williams is about among us again and working hard at it once more. All right as to the cash. Also what you say about the money-matters is quite true. I can put up Mahon also if you come, or if you unluckily don't I can put him up by himself please make him come to me in that case. Yours ever fraternally William Morris MS: IISH. Extract published: MM, II, 109-110; Socialist Review, March 1928, 31-32; Hender­ son, Letters, 203-204. 1

See letter no. 983. The Scottish Land and Labour League. See letter no. 972, n. 3 3 Possibly a reference to the action taken by French troops within China to force the Chinese to evacuate certain of their own garrisons along the border with Indo China. The purpose was to force compliance with an agreement that China had been obliged to make with France in May 1884 to withdraw her garrisons and open her frontiers to trade. Morris may, however, have been commenting caustically on the conflict between the Possibilists and the Guesdists within the French socialist movement (see letter no. 979, η 7). 4 Possibly a reference to the dissension between Scheu and Hyndman in May 1884 caused by Hyndman's accusation as Scheu reports it in Umsturzkeime (p. 70) that he, Scheu, wanted to replace Hyndman as President of the Democratic Federation. Scheu asserts in his reminis­ cence that he "put an abrupt end to this foolish reproach" by stating at the general meeting before the annual conference of the D. F. that he renounced in advance any interest in the post. 5 Morris refers to the fourth Annual Conference of the Democratic Federation held at the beginning of August. Scheu and Joseph Lane (see n. 7 below) spent the night before the con­ ference at Morris's house. See E. P. Thompson, p. 344. 6 The conference in fact made several important decisions: the name of the group was changed to Social Democratic Federation. As the price of affiliation of the Labour Emanci­ pation League with the Federation, five of the six points of the program of the L.E.L. were to be adopted (equal direct adult suffrage, direct legislation by the people, a national citizen 2

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MORRIS

army to replace the standing army, free secular education, and right to counsel without fee), whereas a sixth calling for liberty of speech, press, and meeting was adopted in simplified form. In addition, parliamentary elections were not to be opposed. And finally, Hyndman was displaced as president: it was decided that the Executive Council would elect a different chairman at each session. (Hyndman opposed this plan "and nominated Morris for his place, but Morris declined: Ί do not know' he said [according to Scheu], 'whether I have the nec­ essary qualities for such a post: but if, as I believe, I do not possess them, then you would be burdened with a president who could not do his job right; and you would not be able to rid yourself of me for fear of offending me.' [trans].") See Scheu, Umsturzkeime, p. 71; and E. P. Thompson, pp. 344-45. 7 Joseph Lane (1851-1920). A carter by trade, Lane was a member of the English section of the First International and in the 1870's was involved in the Land Tenure Reform Asso­ ciation led by John Stuart Mill, as well as in many working-class organizations. In the 1870's he had been a republican and had campaigned for Dilke; and in 1881 he formed the Socialist Working Men's Association. In 1882 he joined with Frank Kitz, Ambrose Barker, and Tom Lemon to form the Labour Emancipation League and became an active leader of it. It was at Lane's insistence that most of the L. E. L. program was adopted, as a condition of affiliation, by the newly named Social Democratic Federation. See Nicolas Walter, Introduction to Jo­ seph Lane's An Anti-Statist Communist Manifesto (Sanday, Orkney: Cienfuegos Press, 1978), pp. 5-21.

983 · T o JOHN LINCOLN MAHON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 18 [1884] Dear Mahon I am very vexed that any misunderstanding should have arisen about your account: 1 but it is obvious that Hyndman took his figures from Fitz­ gerald,2 (but) & that the latter had made a mistake, which certainly was annoying enough on all (hands) grounds, but ought not to upset you too much. As to myself I never had any doubts beyond supposing it possible that you just starting a new business might be hard pressed. In future Mr. Champion will manage all the distribution, and I think it will go better: in fact I am sure it will. Pray understand that I quite know that you are work­ ing hard in the cause and have done a great deal. I am very glad that you see much of Scheu: he has both heart and head, I wish we had a dozen like him: I am sure that he will be the making of the cause in Edinburgh, sorry as I am to lose him from London. I am not the only pecuniary support ofjustice; our comrade Carpenter 3 has spent more money than I have on it: however I suppose I shall have to keep it going now. As Scheu will tell you no one can feel more deeply than I do the ne­ cessity for getting rid of all national rubbish; I mean as far as any rivalry goes.

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1884 / LETTER N O . 983

If you come up to London for the conference I can without any trouble give you a bed, so I hope you will come here then. In spite of any drawbacks we are certainly moving in London; but one is sometimes apalled at the amount of education that is needed; and it is likely to be a long job: we shall want every man of any energy to work at it: So please excuse my preaching at you to this extent, since I am so much your elder, & older even than Scheu (although he has seen so much more active service) that we put up with many vexations & dissappointments of a personal kind, or the cause will push us out of the way to make room for patient people: meantime I believe you may trust me for always keeping the true principles to the fore whatever my capacity may be. The philosophical Institution of Edinburgh 4 have asked me to lecture for them: 5 but I would much rather lecture to such an audience as you & Scheu could get me there: at the same time I will not refuse definitely till I hear from you: please write at once as to this. I enclose the copies of the bill you ask for, and am, with best wishes Yours fraternally William Morris P. S. I send a memo: receipte: but you will deal as to Justice with Champion [I] suppose. WM. P.P. S. you had better distribute the old copies left. W. M. Your card received thanks MS: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 47-48. 1 Presumably concerning sales ofJustice. 2 See letter no. 938, n. 2. 3 Edward Carpenter (1844-1929), an ordained Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, gave up his fellowship and orders in 1874. He traveled to the United States, where he and Walt Whitman became friends. In 1883 he began living at a farm at Millthorpe where he had established a "communal fellowship," that is, a homosexual community; he also became a socialist. At his farm Carpenter worked at various crafts including sandal-making (he was the first to introduce the sandal into England), and in March 1886 he was one of the founders of the Society of Sheffield Socialists. Among his works are Towards Democracy (1883), England's Ideal (1885), Civilization, Its Cause and Cure (1889), and Homogentc Love, and Its Place in a Free Society (1894). See Tsuzuki, Carpenter. In the "Terminal Note" to Maurice, E. M. Forster writes: "Maurice dates from 1913. It was the direct result of a visit to Edward Carpenter at Milthorpe. Carpenter had a prestige which cannot be understood today. He was a rebel appropriate to his age. He was sentimental and a little sacramental, for he had begun life as a clergyman. He was a socialist who ignored industrialism and a simple-lifer with an independent income and a Whitmanic poet whose nobility exceeded his strength, and finally, he was a believer in the love of Comrades, whom he sometimes called Uramans." Maurice (New York: W. W. Norton, 1971), p. 249. 4 See letters no. 990 and no. 992. The Philosophical Institution was founded in 1845 and existed until 1951. Its purpose, successfully achieved, was to bring to Edinburgh distinguished men and women to lecture on literature, art, and science. It had its own library and

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MORRIS

reading room and organized classes in French, German, drawing, fencing, and other subjects. (See W. Addis Miller, The "Philosophical": A Short History ofthe Edinburgh Philosophical Institution and Its Famous Members and Lecturers 1846-1948 [Edinburgh: C. J. Cousland and Sons, 1949].) I am indebted to Antony P. Shearman, City Librarian of the Central Library, Edinburgh, for this information and for referring me to Miller's history of the Institution. 5 Morris never did lecture for the Institution. See letter no. 990 and notes. See also letter no. 992 for a vigorous expression of his reasons for refusing to lecture for the Institution.

984 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 23 [1884]1

ROBERT THOMSON

Dear Mr. Thompson Many thanks for your kind enquiries, & for your information about the end of the affair.2 I was not damaged in any way either in clothes or body. I saw Mr. Williams & our other friends last night, & was pleased to hear that we practically carried off the victory: it was vexatious that we lost the opportunity of addressing such a multitude as were gathered about us when the ugly rush came: on the whole I fancy the actual interruption of the said rush was merely the horse-play of the rough element which I hear from other sources was rather to the fore at that time. I don't find our friends were either dispirited or ill-tempered at the affair; but I think we ought to guard against such accidents in the future by having some organized body guard round the sneaker when we speak in doubtful places. Again with thanks I am Dear Mr. Thomson Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Harvard. Published: Hubbard, 60; Henderson, Letters, 210. 1 Hubbard dates this letter 1885 but is corrected by Henderson who is clearly right since the text refers to a demonstration on July 21, 1884, called by the London Trades Council when the House of Lords rejected the Third Reform Act. See letter no. 987, n. 1, and E. P. Thompson, p. 328. 2 At the demonstration, abolition of the House of Lords was called for. John Bright, who was present, "demanded a severe limitation of the Lords' right to veto." John Burns also spoke. There was conflict between Socialists and working-class Liberals when Burns called Bright "a silver-tongued hypocrite." See letter no. 987. See also E. P. Thompson, pp. 32830.

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1884 I LETTER N O . 985

985 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 24 [1884]

ROBERT THOMSON

Dear Mr. Thomson I write to you in a hurry, as 'tis my best chance of answering your letter to do so at once. You must understand 1st that though I have a great respect for Ruskin and his works (besides personal friendship) he is not a socialist, that is not a!practicalone. he does not expect to see any general scheme even begun: he mingles with certain sound ideas which he seems to have acquired instinctively, a great deal of mere whims, deduced probably from that early training of which he gives an amusing account:1 anyhow his idea of national workshops 2 is one which could only be realized in a state (that is a society) already socialised: nor could it ever take effect in the way that he thinks it could. You musn't attach too much importance to what I said about the present Government doing something towards humanizing its own establishments; that together with 'the organization of labour' of our handbill or manifesto3 are merely transitional remedies for the present poverty. Neither could these two quite incomplete measures be taken unless the state ie the people (for the 'Government' must abdicate its present position of a class government first) unless the state, or people rather, has made up its mind to take over for the good of the community all the means of production: ie credit, railways, mines, factories, shipping, land, machinery, which at present are in the hands of private monopolists: this determination once come to by the people its execution will be easy, and the details of it will clear up one after the other; and the thing may be done gradually: but any partial scheme elaborated as a scheme which implies the existence (by) with it side by side of the ordinary commercial competition is doomed to fail just as the cooperative scheme is failing: it will be sucked into the tremendous stream of commercial production and vanish into it, after having played its part as a redherring to spoil the scent of revolution. I believe (and have always done so) on the other hand that the most important thing to press upon the notice of the people at present is the legal reduction of the working day: every working man can see the immediate advantage to him of this: the Trades Unions may be got to take it up; and I doubt if the Government dare resist a strong cry for it: it is of all our 'Stepping Stones'4 at once the most possible to carry within a reasonable time, and the most important: much more important than at first sight appears; all the more because it would at once become an international affair. I am glad to say that my colleagues quite agree with me in this view, as do the foreign socialists. As to the 'programme' I suppose you mean the political programme: 5 1 [ 305 ]

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should think that this would in all probability be much shortened & simplified. But you must remember that though you may make a formula or maxim which carries Socialism with it, & which may be useful to impress our aims on people's minds, the subject is a difficult & intricate one, and to understand really requires a great deal of reading: I dont mean to say that everybody who joins our ranks must understand it in this way; but some must, & everybody must know something of its elements. Petitions to Parliament, I must tell you, have long been considered by all parties as very poor instruments of agitation; although they are used in default of better sometimes: you see the fact is that Parliament is a dying thing. We will by all means have a mass meeting in Hyde Park, of employed and unemployed, when we can: but it would be a great mistake to be in a hurry with such a demonstration; a fact which the Liberals may find out even about Monday's 6 if they dont take care: that is if they dont work hard at it now. (We m) A great demonstration by us must be nothing but the sign of our having a great and closely-knit organization. Otherwise even its apparent success would bring about languor & reaction. To make really convinced converts if only one by one: to show even the most ignorant of the 'poor' that we are on their side, and that we are striving to make them gain a better condition of life for themselves — themselves now living, you understand, not the generations a thousand years to come: to infuse hope into the oppressed in fact— that is our business; and I don't think it is possible for us to fail in it, in spite our own mistakes & weaknesses. You see what we Socialists aim at is to remove from people the weight of overwork and anxiety which now crushes them: we know that a condition of poverty has not always meant overwork and anxiety, but under modern civilisation it does, and with modern civilisation we have to deal: we cannot turn our people back into Catholic English peasants and guildcraftsmen, or into heathen Norse bonders, much as may be said for such conditions of life: we have no choice but to accept the task which the centuries have laid on us of using the corruption of 300 years of profit-mongering for the overthrow of that very corruption: commerce has bred the Proletariat and used it quite blindly, and is still blind to the next move (in the next move) in the game; which will be that the Proletariat will say: We will be used no longer, you have organized us for our own use. Again it is our business to make people hope that they can be organized into saying this as if they meant it: in the course of their gathering that hope, it may well be that rough things may befall; but I say plainly that I shrink from no consequences of that gathering hope; for when it begins to realize itself (as it will) there will be an end of overwork and anxiety — and then people [ 306 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 985

will find out what kind of education and morals they need and will have them: not unlikely that they may be somewhat different from our preconceptions of them. Meantime to try to settle amidst our present corruption what that education, those morals shall be, except in the most general way seems to me a putting of the cart before the horse. Summa — Whatever Socialism may lead to, our aim, to be always steadily kept in view, is, to obtain for the whole people, duly organized, the possession & controul of all the means of production & (controul) exchange, destroying at the same time all national rivalries. The means whereby this is to be brought about is first, educating people into desiring it, next organizing them into claiming it effectually. Whatever happens in the course of this education and organization must be accepted coolly & as a necessary incident, and not discussed as a matter of essential principle, even if those incidents should mean ruin & war. I mean that we must not say 'We must drop (our aim object) our purpose rather than carry it across this river of violence'. To say that means casting the whole thing into the hands of chance: and we cant do that; we cant say, If this is the evolution of history, let it evolve itself, we won't help. The evolution will force us to help; will breed in us passionate desire for action, which will quench the dread of consequences. You see you have drawn a long, and I fear rambling letter from me: you had better join us in any case, since you can learn while working with us; & feeling as strongly as you seem to do will help to keep us straight. I am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Harvard. Published: Hubbard, 43-48; Henderson, Letters, 204-207. 1 A reference to the account of his childhood in the part of Fors Clavigera published in 1878. 2 Discussed in Unto this Last (1860-1862). See especially the Preface. 3 See letter no. 954. 4 Early in 1883 Hyndman had drafted proposals that he regarded as "stepping stones" to socialism. The one to which Morris refers was a demand for legislative enactment of an eight-hour day. Other proposals were public housing, free compulsory education, increased taxation of the wealthy, public works for the unemployed, rapid extinction of the National Debt, establishment of National Banks, municipal ownership of utilities, and nationalization of both the railways and the land. See Lee, p. 51; see also the back cover page of Chants for Socialists, no. 1. 5 Set out in the pamphlet, Socialism Made Plain. 6 See letter no. 984, n. 1.

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986 · T o ANDREAS

MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 25 [1884]

SCHEU

My dear Scheu Now, it seems to me you are angry with me, who am your friend: I am sorry for this; but you see it must come from writing instead of speaking, or you would have understood that I did not mean that you were consciously actuated by personal motives even amongst other motives, but that unconsciously personal matters made you exaggerate,1 as who can help: however if you are angry, please to let it out, my friend, according to Blake's profound maxim: I was angry with my friend I told my wrath; my wrath did end I was angry with my foe I told it not; my wrath did grow. Meantime I repeat that you may depend on me to let nothing pass which I think wrong as long as we hold together; & if by any chance there should be a split, that I will join the body which seems to me the true Socialist one:2 is not this straight forward, & what more can I (do) say or do? I am so troubled by your seeming to think me scarce up to the mark that I send this off in a hurry with the acknowledgement of the £3 received with many thanks to you for getting it in. I will write again tomorrow telling you all the news, merely saying now that no one was hurt at the rough and tumble in Hyde Park on Monday. 3 Yours ever fraternally William Morris MS: IISH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 32; Henderson, Letters, 207-208. Extract published: MM, II, 112-14. 1 Possibly Morris had attempted to act as a conciliator in the conflict between Hyndman and Scheu (see letter no. 982, n. 4) and had gone so far in this role as to chide Scheu for his own words or behavior. 2 A split in the S.D.F. did take place, but not until late December 1884. See letter no. 1022 3 See letter no. 984 and notes.

987 · T o A N D R E A S S C H E U

Kelmscott H o u s e ,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith July 26 [1884] My dear Scheu As to Monday 1 this is what happened: we settled that Parkes2 should find us a dozen of out of work East-Enders to sell Justice at the mustering [ 308 ]

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places they to get the trade discount: I saw Parkes' cart in the Strand with a red flag and a Justice poster; and I believe they did what they could, which I don't think was much; as the demonstrators were excited about their own tin-pot affair: well, the volunteers of whom there were a good few were to distribute the Use of the Franchise Bill & sell the manifesto:3 we found it easy work getting rid of the gratis literature, but hard to sell anything: we met some dozen of us at the offices about 2 p.m. & then went up to the Park where we had agreed to hold a meeting if we could after the Platform meetings were over: we had no platform among the others & took no part in the procession: this as a matter of course: well everything seemed quiet enough; we sold a good few manifestoes in the park, and might I think have done well with Justice there if our salesmen had got there in any numbers, which it seems they didnt. Lane was to lend us the L.E.L. 4 banners for our meeting and duly came with them; but his people didn't roll up to any extent & Burns & Williams who were to speak didn't come till after the meeting had begun: altogether we hadnt of people we knew above a dozen to stand round the speakers when we began. We took our stand on the top of the mound of the resevoir, a steepish place crowned with high iron railings. Well Champion began speaking to a smallish knot of people; but they soon began to gather, & by then he had done & Hyndman got up there was a fairish crowd: H went ahead and was pretty well received, though there was a good deal of hooting when he attacked Fawcett by name, 5 which was a mistake in him by the way: So he got down & Burns took his place, but by then there was a crowd; much too big to be manageable I could clearly see; say 4 or 5 thousand people. However Burns began very well & was a good deal cheered till in an unlucky moment he began to abuse that sanctimonious old thief J. Bright whom of course our Franchise friends had been worshipping all day: So then they fell to hooting & howling, but Burns stuck to it, not being handy to glide on to the next subject: We were at the corner of the mound, & by this time the malcontents began to take us in flank & shove on against the speakers: then whether our people were pushed down partly or wholly or whether they charged down hill I dont rightly know, but down hill they went in the lump banners & all:6 goodbye to the latter by the way. I stuck to the hill, because I saw that some fellows seemed to be going for Burns, & there was a rush that way & I was afraid he might be hurt; so I bored through the crowd somehow & got up to him & saw a few friends about us Cooper of Merton Abbey, 7 Champion Sanderson Burns' brothers 8 & others. However off the hill we were shoved in spite of our shoulders. But at the bottom of the hill we managed to make a ring again and Burns began again & spoke for 3 or 4 minutes: but we were too near the hill, there was another ugly rush which broke up our ring, and [ 309 ]

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we were shoved away again: I heard say that they were for putting Burns in the serpentine, but it didn't come to that for the police had been sent for and they took charge of B. and off we went in state the bold Franchisers hustling all the way: I was insulted by one of our friends a German of the Marylebone branch I think telling me in his anxiety for my safety that I was an old man and lugging at me to get me away; so seeing that Burns was all safe, I e'en turned off with Sanderson, none the worse in body or raiment, but very much vexed at what seemed to promise a good meeting being so spoiled: I made some remarks to some of the knots of Mr. Bright's lambs, but they kept hands off, & only hooted, being not so many as they had been, it seems after all though that our defeat was only partial; as Williams & one or two others kept their ground and spoke till nightfall, departing with cheers. I wouldn't have troubled you with all this jaw about it, only from what I hear the matter has been exaggerated in some of the papers. On Tuesday in talking over the matter we agreed that we ought to have organized supporters for our speakers in places where big meetings were like to be; & some of us seemed to thing 9 that this was arranged for; but I dont think it was: Hyndman & Champion speak in (the Park) Hyde Park tomorrow; but I dont suppose there will be a row there, as both last Sunday meetings have been good. So much for that — Shaw gave us a very good lecture here last Sunday, 10 and we got 3 new members; and I think shall get a good many more soon. I had a note from Adams 11 which I answered. I am My dear Scheu Yours fraternally William Morris P. S. I hope in any case you will send a delegate: I don't see why you shouldnt come yourself after all.12 MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 32-34; Henderson, Letters, 208-210. Extract published: MM, II, 110-12. 1 A reference to the Franchise Demonstration in Hyde Park, on July 21, 1884. It was called by the London Trades Council when the House of Lords had rejected the Third Reform Act that introduced the County Franchise. (See E. P. Thompson, p. 328.) Thompson, who describes the occasion "as a great demonstration of Radical working-men," sees it as providing, "a final picture of Morris's part m the early propaganda" of the Democratic Federation. 2 Morris may have meant Parker, a member of the Labour Emancipation League. But the manuscript clearly reads "Parkes." 3 For the Manifesto, see letter no. 885, n. 2. 4 See letter no. 982, notes 6 and 7. 5 Henry Fawcett (1833-1884) was postmaster general in Gladstone's second admimstra-

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1884 I L E T T E R N O . 9 8 8 tion. Fawcett was generally unpopular with those who would have attended the Franchise Demonstration both because of his book Manual of Political Economy (1863), a strong polemic in favor of laissez-faire economics, and for his role in negotiations with letter carriers in which he rejected all demands for increase in wages and improvement of working condi­ tions. (Justice regularly attacked both his book and his attitude toward the demands of letter carriers. See, for example, Justice, March 29, 1884, p. 5; May 10, 1884, ρ 1; June 28, 1884, p. 4; and July 5, 1884, p. 5.) 6 As part of the entry in his Journals for July 23, 1884, Cobden-Sanderson, who had ac­ companied Morns and Hyndman to the demonstration, wrote (I, 189): "The attempt, by those spreading socialist literature, to hold an open-air meeting was a fiasco, being brought to an ignominious close by an ugly rush of the crowd, consequent upon John Burns — one of the speakers — denouncing John Bright as an impostor." E. P. Thompson's account: "The tide of Radical feeling was rising high' the call for the abolition of the House of Lords (and also for municipal government for London) was raised as an immediate issue: while seventy-three-year-old John Bright was demanding the severe limitation of the Lords' right of veto." Morris, Hyndman, and Champion "were joined by Joseph Lane and a few others of the Labour Emancipation League . . . and by John Burns, Jack Williams, and others of the Federation." (See p. 328.) The Times, July 22, 1884, repeatedly emphasized (pp. 8, 9, 10, and 11) the decorum of the crowd and that there were no rough incidents. 7

See letter no. 931. "John Burns had three brothers. Two became engineers and the third a professional boxer. See Kent, John Burns: Labour's Lost Leader. 9 Curiously Morris, on more than one occasion, has in his letters written "thing" when "think" was intended. 10 See letter no. 980, η 2 11 Probably J Adams. See letter no. 940, n. 3. 12 This is a reference to the Annual Conference of the Democratic Federation held at the beginning of August. See letter no. 982, notes 5 and 6.

988 · T o G E O R G E B E R N A R D S H A W

Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h August 2 [1884]

I acknowledge the receipt of Mr, Beattys1 cheque to himself [sic]: but stupidly forgot to give in his name to Justice, will do so this week. Will you lecture again here within the next 2 or 3 weeks. Could you give me a date? Yrs WM MS: BL, Add. MSS 50541. 1 Pakenham Thomas Beatty (1855-1930), a friend of G. B. Shaw, was born in Brazil and educated at Harrow and Bonn. He was "a dilettante with a penchant for Swinburnean poetry . . . living on an inheritance which he rapidly squandered." See Laurence, I, 19-20.

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OF W I L L I A M

989 · T o THOMAS JAMES C O B D E N - S A N D E R S O N

MORRIS Kelmscott

(Lechlade) August 8 [1884?] M y dear Sanderson I shall n o t be back to London before Thursday next. C o u l d n ' t y o u c o m e to m e sometime during the 7 days following that date, as I shall be so busy? I think it w o u l d be a very good thing for you to get a bookbinding business together 1 I should be very glad to give y o u one of m y editions to d o if w e could get it done at a possible price. 2 Excuse haste. Yours affectionately William Morris MS: Bucknell. 1

As early as June 1883 Cobden-Sanderson was thinking about bookbinding as a professional craft. In hisjournals, June 24, 1883, he wrote (I, 24) that on June 23 he had dined at the W. Richmonds, where the Morrises were present, and that he had told Jane Morris "how anxious" he was "to work with his hands." " 'Then why don't you learn bookbinding,' she said, 'That would add an Art to our little community, and we would work together. I should like,' she continued, 'to do some little embroideries for books, and I would do so for you.' Shall bookbinding, then, be my trade? I mentioned it to Annie on our way home." (See also entries for January 16 and January 18, 1884 [I, 173-75].) On June 26, 1884, he wrote (I, 18384): ". . . I am now the proprietor of a workshop! On Saturday I signed an agreement by virtue of which I became on Tuesday last the tenant of the second floor of 30 Maiden Lane." 2 In hisjournals for September 19, Cobden-Sanderson noted (I, 200): "I began to 'finish' Le Capital for Morris the day before yesterday." Entries for September 20 and 23 describe the work m progress in some detail; it was finished on October 9 (see I, 202)

990 · T o H E N R Y BOWIE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 13 [1884] Dear Sir 1 I a m sorry but I cannot possibly give two lectures so must ask you to put m e d o w n for the 7th only. Also I must choose m y o w n subject, 2 which will be A r t & Labour, and I ought beforehand to state that the gist of m y lecture will be to show that true art is not possible of attainment under the present conditions of capital and labour; in fact Socialism will be the real subject of m y lecture; only looked o n from the point of view of its bearing on the fine arts. 3 I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris

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1884 / LETTER N O . 991

P. S. Will you kindly thank Mr. McKie4 very much for me; but tell him that I shall have a good deal to do with my Socialist collaborateurs in Edinburgh 5 & that I am afraid I should inconvenience him by staying at his house under those circumstances. I mean to say that I should be about here there & everywhere during my stay. MS: Edinburgh City Libraries. 1 Henry Bowie (1812-1885), secretary and treasurer to the Philosophical Institution. He was regarded as especially able at getting distinguished scientific and literary men to agree to give lectures. See The Scotsman, February 2, 1885. 2 On June 27, 1884, Bowie had first written to Morris saying that the directors of the Institution had instructed him to invite Morris to deliver two lectures between November 1884 and February 1885 and that they had also suggested that the subject be "Household Aesthetics" adding, Bowie continued, that "correct instruction in this respect [was] much needed." He also told Morris, however, that if he preferred "any other topic of an artistic nature . . . my Directors will be glad were you to name it." A further exchange of letters between Morris and Bowie (now lost) took place because on August 13 Bowie wrote a letter, to which the present one is an immediate reply, saying: "I have received your note of yesterday's date in which you say that you can 'come on Friday 7th November'. But my letters throughout always state that it is two lectures for which you are engaged and my letter of yesterday gives you the dates of the two viz: Tuesday 4th and Friday 7th November, which I have put down accordingly." Manuscript letter, Central Library, Edinburgh. 3 Morris never did lecture for the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, and the explanation can be deduced from a letter he received from Bowie on August 16: "My directors regret you have misconceived their request to give two lectures on 'Household Aesthetics' or 'Art in the House' and that you wish to give one on 'Art and Labour'. You defined the matter by stating that Socialism, in connection with Art, will be the real subject." After expressing reservations about the "debatable ground of Socialism" the letter continued: "Now [the Directors] will be very glad to have a lecture from you on the 7th November on the Subject I have named and hope you will be able to do so — leaving out socialism." 4 Thomas McKie (1830-1908). Educated at Edinburgh University and a member of the Faculty of Advocates, he was active in both public affairs and university politics. He was also unsuccessfully to stand for Parliament for Dumfries in 1886 and 1892, and in 1893 he published a Volume of poems. 5 He is referring to Scheu, J. L. Mahon, J. Bruce Glasier, the Rev. John Glasse, and possibly Charles Fitzgerald.

991 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 13 [1884]

ANDREAS SCHEU

Private and confidential My dear Scheu I daresay Bax or someone else will give you an account of yester eve's meeting: but I promised to write so here goes. Hyndman excused himself from coming by formal note to Sec: so I was [ 313 ]

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moved into the chair: so I spoke to them (poorly enough as far as manner went) pointing out to them that if they so much as discussed the question of the chairmanship they were striking a blow at the roots of the Federation; that we (the Council) were the creature of the Conference, and that in attacking its authority we were attacking our own: and I finished by saying that I could not as chairman put any resolution for setting aside the decision of the Conference.1 Aveling2 supported me very well, saying that we had no power even to discuss the question as a matter of order. Burns also supported vigorously Burrows 3 assented: Banner4 was ready to jump down anyones throat. Well Frost5 proposed a motion that a special Conference should be summoned in 3 months; the rules seemed doubtful as to whether such a Conference could be called for the purpose, but I let the matter be discussed, Williams (I think) seconded Frost's motion: Quelch 6 and another attacked it, & moved 'the previous question.' Finally the sense(!) of the meeting being obviously against Frost, Aveling appealed to him to withdraw it which he did good-temperedly enough: in fact there was nobody on his side except Williams & Murray, 7 who came in late, & I suppose Mrs. H. 8 who took no(t) part or little in the proceedings: Champion also took no part or little. We passed the new programme, 9 which had been seen to by Champion, Lane, Bax (in Hyndman's absence) and self: I am sorry to say I could not hinder two ineptitudes creeping in to it: Disestablishment moved by Aveling; & the Irish matter10 by Frost (Aveling supported this also): at any rate it is better than the old one, and is not parliamentary. About the report of the Conference: Mahon's letter to Champion, (the last) was read, excuses were made for not inserting in it Justice before, and it was promised to be inserted: much dissatisfaction was expressed at the report: and I suggested that it should be moved that at the next Conference a verbatim report should be provided for and published; which was done in due form. So much for all that: I am afraid we are but at the beginning of our troubles: I tried to do as well as I could; but am not up to much as a chairman; however will learn. All the intelligence of the Committee is with us: the meeting was a full one, scarce anyone absent Our branch is doing well here I think; I go back to Kelmscott for two days: I have been seedy: slipped on the grass & strained my ancle and obliged to lay up for two days; then a touch of gout, not over yet: hobbled down stairs into the Federation at the rate of a mile in two hours. Yours fraternally William Morris MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 34-35; Henderson, Letters, 210-11. 1 See letter no. 982, n. 6.

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1884 I LETTER N O . 992 2 Edward Aveling (1851-1898) had been trained in science and held a fellowship at University College, London. He was a freethinker before becoming a central figure in the "Marx-Engels family." Author of many books on secularism and Darwinism, he was vicepresident of the National Secular Society, from which he resigned after the Hyndman-Bradlaugh debate (see letter no. 962, n. 1). In the summer of 1884 he and Eleanor Marx announced their "free marriage," made necessary by his having a legal wife (Isabel Campbell Frank [1849-1892]) from whom he was separated. At the time of the split in the S.D.F., he and Eleanor Marx were among those who followed Morris in founding the Socialist League (see letter no. 1031, n. 3); and in 1885 he was co-editor with Morris of Commonweal (see letter no. 1031, n. 3). In 1886 he made a lecture tour of the United States. Although described by G. B. Shaw as "an agreeable rascal," others saw him as dishonest and self-serving, and blamed him for the suicide of Eleanor Marx-Aveling (as she was known) in 1898. See Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, pp. 316-19; see also Kapp, H, 697-99, 705-709, and 715-21. 3

See letter no. 689, n. 4. See letter no. 979, n. 4. 5 R. Percy B. Frost, who was elected to the Executive of the S.D.F. at the annual conference of 1884, was a Christian Socialist. When the Socialist League broke away from the S.D.F., he stayed with Hyndman. (See Lee, p. 65.) Eventually according to Hyndman (p. 283), he became a "professor of English at a foreign university." 6 See letter no. 979, n. 5. 7 This is probably a reference to James Francis Murray (d. 1889; like his brother Charles, an old Chartist); he was elected to the Executive of the S.D.F. See Lee, p. 65; and E. P. Thompson, lsted., p. 323. 8 Hyndman's wife, Matilda Ware Hyndman (d. 1913), was a member of the Executive. When it was decided that the chairmanship would be by rotation (see letter no. 982, n. 6), it was agreed also that she would withdraw from the Executive. See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, p. 63. 9 See letter no. 982, n. 6. 10 The S. D. F., at this time, expressed strong sympathy for both Disestablishment and for Irish Home Rule (see E. P. Thompson, pp. 339-40), but Morris, as this letter indicates, opposed the official sentiment on these two issues. At a meeting of the Hammersmith Branch, September 3, 1884, the members, either at his instigation or because they were already in sympathy with him, unanimously resolved that any statement by the S. D. F. on these two questions was "superfluous." 4

992 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 20 [1884]

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu Nothing much to tell of: Hyndman was there last night: asked me to write something for Justice: said I would:1 he seemed rather sulky at me all the same. I was in the chair again H coming late. I dont feel comfortable in the chair at all: can't say what I like in it so well as if I were a mere member. I feel myself very weak as to the science of Socialism on many points; I wish I knew German, as I see I must certainly learn it; confound you chaps! What do you mean by being foreigners? Why did you allow our (no their for I am not a Saxon) forefathers to corrupt their low German

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tongue with that blooming French-Latin?2 Item, I want statistics terribly: you see I am but a poet & artist, good for nothing but sentiment. The Hammersmith Branch makes good progress: the Costermongers who have been used to hold a curbstone market in King St from time immemorial are being threatened with ejection by the Board of Works, and are agitating against that nefarious body 3 we, the S.D.F. have been helping them and gaining credit & recruits thereby. I lectured last Sunday4 good audience: someone gave me the opportunity of speaking of peace & war so I wound up with a short oration on the wickedness of using the word 'foreigner' and the impossibility of workers in different countries having any cause of quarrel. This was cheered to the echo, as such sentiments always are. By the by, as to the German, do you know any Socialist who knows English who would read with me, say in about a month from now to begin with; it might be convenient to someone. I feel to say the truth somewhat down in the mouth about things, probably because my liver is not right: but it all comes in the day's work, and I well knew that such things would happen — then why grumble. Thank you very much for your kind letter, I wish I had more backbone, or not to mince the matter more courage. By the way my engagement with the Philosophical Society is off. The idiots had the cheek to dictate my subject to me 'Art in the Household,' or some such twaddle, to be free from Socialism: didn't see the connection between art and Socialism — Yah! However I'll come this winter all the same if you will arrange a meeting for me. Good luck from Yours fraternally William Morris Ms: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 35; Henderson, Letters, 211-12. Extract published: MM, II, 76. 1 There is an article by Morris concerning the costermongers injustice, September 24, 1884. 2 Morris is bantering here. But at other times, he was quite serious about this subject. In his lecture, "Early England," delivered in December 1886 at the Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League, he said that after the Norman Conquest "literature . . . became Frenchified . . . to its great misfortune I think. The great works of the English poets ever since Chaucer's time have had to be written in what is little more than a dialect of French and I cannot help looking on that as a mishap." See LeMire, p. 177. 3 InJuIy 1883 the Board had issued a notice stating that the costermongers would not be allowed to continue to occupy King Street, Hammersmith. Subsequently, summonses were issued in large numbers and small fines levied. In September 1884 a Mr. Besley, accompanied by the clerk of the Fulham Board of Works, applied successfully before the Kensing-

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993

ton Division of Magistrates for sixteen summonses, stating that previous small fines had had no effect. See The Times, September 2, 1884, p. 4. 4 Morris's lecture was "Art and Labour." See LeMire, p. 242.

993 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith August 28 [1884]

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu AU going fairly well here, I think; a row & secessions we may have, but I think that the days of personal dictation are over:1 most of the members of the executive seem quite determined to think for themselves; Quelch for instance: all this is good. What do you think of Mrs. Aveling in the chair, as she was last Tuesday?2 As to me and my backbone, or lack of it, you must put up with me, and I will do the best I can. Thank you very much for the book, which I will really read attentively. I am very sorry (of course) to hear about Mahon's failure:3 I confess I expected nothing else, all things considered: I was going to write a letter of condolence to him, but since he is away in Leeds I suppose the temporary address he sent me is no use. I will write again soon: I am behind hand with my ordinary work just now, & am rather confused in my wits with a multiplicity of business: please to remember that I am getting to be an old man. A member of our branch wants an introduction to the Edinburgh branch, as he is going to Scotland for his holiday: as he seems a useful man I will with your leave give him an introduction to you. I am getting very full of lecture engagements now; 4 1 don't like to say no to them at present. Yours ever fraternally William Morris MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 36; Henderson, Letters, 212-13. 1 A reference to the decision made at the Annual Conference of the S. D. F. to replace Hyndman, as president, by a rotating member of the executive committee. See letter no. 982, n. 6. 2 Along with Edward Aveling and Joseph Lane, Eleanor Marx-Aveling was elected to the executive committee at this conference (see E. P. Thompson, p. 345). Morris seems never to have liked her. 3 J . L. Mahon's bookshop had failed, and he left Edinburgh for Leeds, looking for work. See Arnot, p. 49. 4 LeMire lists (pp. 242-43) eight lectures in September 1884, including two in Sheffield and two in Manchester.

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994 · T o RECIPIENT

August 29 [1884?]

UNKNOWN

Dear Sir (I pub) Messrs. Bell & Daldy published my Defence of Guenevere for me I believe in 1858: as to my other works I have no doubt Messrs. Ellis & White would give you the information you want: I quite forget the dates of them myself. Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Kansas.

995 · T o MAY MORRIS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 8 [1884] Dearest May Thank you kindly for your note. I believe I shall go down to Kelmscott on Thursday to stay Friday; on Saturday I go to Sheffield to lecture on Sunday:1 if you come up on Wednesday I shall see you in the evening certainly; but I may be going to Merton in the day time. I am much hurried, my deary so goodbye. Your loving father WM. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45341. 1 In the afternoon of September 14 Morris delivered his lecture, "Iceland, Its Ancient Literature and Mythology," before the Sheffield Secular Society; in the evening, he lectured on "Art and Labour" at another meeting sponsored by the Society. See LeMire, p. 243.

996 · To ANDREAS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 8 [1884]

SCHEU

C/&P 1 My dear Scheu E. Carpenter's address is Milnthorpe near Chesterfield: but I am not sure that he is in England, I know he went to America & I don't know that he has come back, though I believe he was expected by now: 2 by all means get what you can out of him: I might myself do something but I am afraid not much: I could at any rate help you as to getting a room. But are you

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sure of the policy of taking Banner from here? You see he is on the executive and is to be depended on: however you must balance for & against, and settle that. As to Aveling, that is our present trouble: Bradlaugh 3 has made an accusation against him of borrowing & not paying again, and "other irregularities" with regard to the accounts N.S.S. & (moved) gave notice of motion that he be put out of his vice-Presidentship of the N. S. S.4 Aveling resigns on this, and of course H wants to press the matter in our Executive, says he thinks A. ought to resign unless he can clear his character. Last Tuesday the matter was brought up formally by Burns in a speech apparently friendly to Aveling. The latter said very little in defence; it seems he will make a statement tomorrow here is you must see a very awkward business; but of course I want to keep Aveling if we can; the worst of it is that A is much disliked by many of our best men, Lane for instance you will remember, & also that I fear Bradlaugh in his character of Solicitor's clerk will have been careful not to bring a quite groundless charge against A. As to discouragements down there I can only say it all comes in the days work; a long job it must be: I am sure you will do your best. I am asked by Shaw Maxwell5 to lecture for the Glasgow Sunday Society:6 shall I say aye or no, & when would be the best time: of course I should come your way also. Am in great haste this morning. Yours Ever fraternally William Morris HSH. Possibly "confidential & private," because of the references to Aveling. 2 For Carpenter, see letter no. 983, n. 3. 3 See letter no. 871, n. 3. 4 According to Tsuzuki (Eleanor Marx, pp. 115-16), there was a longstanding conflict between Charles Bradlaugh and Edward Aveling within the National Secular Society. In September, Bradlaugh had accused Aveling of irregularities

MS:

1

with regard to the accounts of the N. S. S. and demanded that Aveling should be deprived of his vice-presidency in the Society. Aveling had no alternative but to resign. Moreover when Bradlaugh issued a circular against him, he did not answer it and even undertook to pay him £200, though in installments. Aveling's embarrassment gave Hyndman an opportunity to get rid of his chief adversary in the Federation. He insisted that Aveling should also resign from the S. D. F. executive unless he could clear his character. At the executive meeting held on 2 September the matter was formally raised by John Burns [see letter no. 981, n. 3.] . . . but Aveling said very little in reply. . . . At the following meeting held one week later, Aveling specifically denied malversation of the N.S. S. funds and told his colleagues that Bradlaugh refused to give him any details of the accusation. Finally, [Aveling was] persuaded to issue a public statement. "I am at the present time," he wrote injustice [September 27, 1884], "indebted in many sums to

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MORRIS

many persons. But I wish to say that to the best of my knowledge and belief all monies received by me as funds in trust for others have been fully accounted for. My monetary difficulties have to do with my poverty and my business habits alone." See also E. P. Thompson, p. 345. 5 James Shaw Maxwell (c. 1855 - c. 1897), a lithographic designer, was on the executive board of the Scottish Land Restoration League in 1884 and later became first secretary of the Independent Labour Party. See E. P. Thompson, pp. 351-52, 586, and 609. 6 Morris spoke on "Art and Labour" before the Glasgow Sunday Society on December 14, 1884. For the text of the lecture, see LeMire, pp. 94-118.

997 · To JOHN LINCOLN

September 13 [1884]

MAHON

Dear Mahon Thank you for your letters: you may be sure that I impute no blame in the matter of the Edinburgh bookshop. 1 Can you by the way tell Champion of some one to sell Justice both there & at (Edinburgh) Glasgow. I will certainly do what I can in trying to find you a place. I am going to Sheffield on the stump in the course of an hour, 2 or I would write at greater length. Hoping to see you soon. I am Yours fraternally William Morris MS: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 49. 1 See letter no. 993, n. 3. 2 See letter no. 995, n. 1.

998 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 13 [1884]

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu Re Glasgow lecture I have said yes for 1st Feb Sunday but only conditionally so if it is too late please let me know and I will write to them. 1 Re Aveling; no one thinks of calling him in question on the borrowing matter: as to the malversation of funds he denies it explicitly, & last Tuesday told us that Bradlaugh refused to give him any details of the accusation: he promised to press B. on that point, and we all agreed that if the latter could not give definite details he (Aveling) would come off with flying colours:2 So I hope all will be right. Aveling is undoubtedly a man of great capacity, & can use it too. [ 320 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 999

Re the programme; I do prefer your statement of the object, but think as it stands though over wordy it does no harm: 3 Lane was rather tiresome over this at the subcommittee (Lane Bax (Frost) Champion & self) As to the others I have not the programme here; so can only say that I agree with you on the Irish matter:4 this was foisted in against my wish at the general committee-meeting: while as to the two others it seems to me your alterations are only verbal. Your branch should send a formal criticism of what they do not agree to. 3 branches have already objected to Irish article5 on much the same grounds as you; but as to the rest I would not be too particular as to verbal matters, as the programme has been got out rather in the teeth of really somewhat hostile criticism. I am off in a great hurry to Sheffield6 within this half hour, which must account for my muddled letter; I shall see Carpenter there it seems. Of course I quite agree with all you say about Bradlaugh & Aveling — Yours ever fraternally William Morris MS: IISH. 1 Morris did not lecture in Scotland in February; after December 13 and 14, when he spoke at Edinburgh and Glasgow ("How We Live and How We Might Live" and "Art and Labour"), he did not return to Scotland until April 24, 1885. See LeMire, pp. 244-45, 247. 2 See letter no. 996. 3 The objectives of the S.D.F. were declared to be: "The Socialization of the Means of Production, Distribution, and Exchange to be controlled by a Democratic State in the interests of the entire community, and the complete Emancipation of Labour from the domination of Capitalism and Landlordism, with the establishment of Social and Economic Equality between the Sexes." See E. P. Thompson, p. 344-45. 4 See Justice, August 9, 1884, p. 4. 5 Presumably Morris refers to the article in the program passed by the Executive Council of the S.D.F. at its meeting of August 12 in support of Home Rule. See letter no. 991. 6 See letter no. 995, n. 1.

999 · To

EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 16, 1884

Dearest Mother Many thanks for your letter; I am so glad to hear that you are hearty & well: I should so like to come & see you all, but I fear it will not be this week or next, as they are still at Kelmscott, and I am bound to give them my time such as I can spare, which is not much: perhaps I may be able to come over before Emma goes back. I past by Clay Cross on Monday coming back from Sheffield; it all

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MORRIS

looked rather coally. Sheffield is a beastly place, but there is lovely country near it. Saturday I go to Manchester to open a picture exhibition, and lecture the next day.' I am very busy what with one thing and another. Our business is pretty good considering the bad state of trade throughout the country, which is very bad indeed. Indeed dear mother, I am always very pleased to hear from you, and am only sorry that I am a bad correspondent myself. With best love to yourself & Henny & Emma I am Your most affec: Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow. 1 On September 20 Morris gave his lecture, "At a Picture Show, 1884" at the opening of the Ancoats Recreation Committee art exhibition. On the following day he delivered "Art and Labour," also sponsored by the Committee. See LeMire, p. 243.

1000 · T o A N D R E A S S C H E U

Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h September 28 [1884]

My dear Scheu I am very sorry to hear that you have not been well: active Socialists are not allowed that sort of amusement. Re Glasgow: I am engaged all October and the 16th Nov: (Newcastle) that last;1 the Glasgow Society offered me also Nov. 23rd so I will write to them this post & say yes to that, & you must do what you can with that date:2 as to the £2.2 that is a matter of course: I will send you the money the end of this week. Bax is in a very rash state at present — wants to hurry on a quarrel; which I disagree with: H has a good deal climbed down, and there is no appearance at present of the risk of our falling under personal rule: therefore I think it would be a great mistake to try to breakup the Fed: for at present there is no definite cause of quarrel which those outside the quarrelling parties could understand as anything more than a squabble; and the result of that would be that the S. D. F. with its present elements minus a few of the best, who would be left out in the cold, would be the representative of Socialism in England. I am sure we cannot act on a mere suspicion. As to the Aveling affair, I was for leaving it alone, & said so openly: So [ 322 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1001

(oddly enough) was Jonathan Taylor;3 but people outside would certainly think that we were right on the whole to force Aveling into a public disavowal. 4 Champion & Frost last Tuesday sketched out a good plan of campain for London this winter. Forst & Joynes spent a day at Kelmscott with me last week: I think well of Frost: don't believe he is at all likely to be noseled into jingoism — Yes I thought Carpenter's money-lending good. I am Yours fraternally William Morris MS:

HSH.

1

"Art and Labour" was delivered on November 16 at a meeting sponsored by the Newcastle Branch of the S.D.F. 2 There is no evidence that Morns lectured m Glasgow on November 23 (see LeMire, p. 244). The lecture he gave there on December 14 may have been the one discussed here and originally scheduled for February 1. 3 Jonathan Taylor (1835-1910) of Sheffield, one of the three registered owners of Justice (the others were Morris and Hyndman). Taylor, presumably a nominee of Edward Carpenter, who had put up the money, was also a member of the S.D. F. executive. (See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, pp. 52, 107.) He was a great advocate of free education and became a member of the Sheffield School Board. See Lee, p. 89. 4 See letter no. 996.

1001 · T o

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith September 28 [1884]

CHARLES FITZGERALD

Dear Fitzgerald1 Greenock yes I will go:2 Somerville Club not in October I am too full: and on the whole I will not go anywhere on a Tuesday in London at any rate: people can hear me at our own places. 10s/0 from Miss Mussell prop: Did you get my book and vouchers? Debney 3 said you ought to have had it on Tuesday morning. You must make a row about it if you did not get it: if you did please drop me a line: also send it back as soon as possible as I am lost without it. Will you get somebody for the Hammersmith Branch for next Sunday4 and write to Walker5 3 Hammersmith Terrace to tell him as I shall not be at the Fed: next Tuesday. Yours faithfully William Morris P.S. I enclose letter from Rex; can you send him what he wants. MS: Yates Coll.

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L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM MORRIS 1

See letter no. 938, n. 2. A lecture was scheduled for delivery before the Greenock Branch of the Land Restoration League on December 11 (see letter no. 1007). There is no evidence that it was given. See LeMire, p. 244. 3 An employee of Morris and Co. 4 The S.D.F. Hammersmith Branch minutes (see Ham. Min. Book) for October 1, 1884, read: "Exec, unable to send lecturer for next Sunday" (October 5). 5 Emery Walker (1851-1923) was secretary of the Hammersmith Branch of the S.D. F. A close associate of Morris from this time on, he shared both Morris's commitment to socialism and his interest in book design. Walker was a process engraver and typographical expert and had been an employee of the pioneering Typographic Etching Co. In 1886 he was to start his own firm, and in 1890 to found the Doves Press with Codben-Sanderson. In 1888 he joined Morris, Walter Crane, and others m founding the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. According to May Morris (CW, 15, xv) it was a lecture by Walker on letter-press printing, delivered November 15, 1888, that prompted Morris to think of establishing the Kelmscott Press and thus give expression to the longstanding enthusiasm for printing that he shared with Walker. For Walker's later printed version of his lecture, and for Oscar Wilde's review of it as delivered, see Appendix B, pp. 859-62. 2

1002 · T o EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott Lechlade October 1, 1884

Dearest M o t h e r I shall be at M e r t o n o n Friday next: there is a train at 11.15. also 11.39. also 1.15. from Ludgate Hill Station I shall be there at about 12.30 b u t shall not be g o i n g by Ludgate Hill: I think y o u had better go b y the 11.15 or 11.39 as I shall be there s o o n after(wards) y o u c o m e at all events. I only got y o u r letter this m o r n i n g as it was sent on. (Yo) W i t h best love Your m o s t affectionate Son William M o r r i s MS: Walthamstow.

1003 · T o CHARLES ROWLEY

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 4 [1884]

M y dear R o w l e y I a m sorry that I have d r a w n such a s t o r m o n y o u r head, and a m afraid that I shall n o t m a k e matters better b y answering the wise-acres of the Guardian; 1 h o w e v e r I will try if I can do s o m e t h i n g today or t o m o r r o w ; & if I can I will send it y o u & if y o u approve it y o u can post it to them: 2

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1004

only I don't know that it is much use attacking such hide-bound Bourgeois. As to you, my friend, your position will be anomalous until you are a stirring member of a Branch in Manchester or the neighbourhood. In sober earnest couldnt you find me a knot of men to talk to down there who would listen to reasonable speech on the subject: I could make a shift to stay a couple of days & probably send somebody else to take up the discourse afterwards. Wishing you a good thick skin meantime (mine is not very thin by now) I am Yours faithfully William Morris P. S. I did not see till this minute that they had put you out of the Council: 3 I scarcely know whether to say I hope, or I hope not because of my heresy. Any how 'tis a damned shame: shake the dust off your feet and join us. MS: Yale O. Published: Henderson, Letters, 361. 1 On September 20 Morris had given a lecture, "At a Picture Show, 1884," at the opening of the Ancoats Recreation Committee's fifth annual art exhibition in the Public Hall, New Islington. The next day he delivered his talk, "Art and Labour," at a meeting sponsored by the Committee. Charles Rowley had been chairman on both occasions. (See LeMire, p. 243; see also the Manchester Guardian, September 22, 1884, p. 8, for reports of both talks.) There was much correspondence critical of both Morris and Rowley in the Guardian following the two lectures. As for "wiseacres," Rowley, in a letter to the Guardian published on September 26, so characterized two letters that appeared on September 25, 1884, p. 7, one signed "Piers Plowman" and the other "Roley-Poley." In the first, the writer sarcastically apologized for "the dulness of our Manchester minds." In the second, the writer spoke of "mentally echoing the expression which must have been on the lips of most of the working men as they left the room on the conclusion of the address — 'It's splendid, it's magnificent; but hang it if I know what it's all about.' " 2 See letter no. 1004. 3 Rowley in September 1884 was removed from the Manchester City Council (on which he had served since 1875) on the technical grounds that he was not actually a resident of Manchester. For a discussion of the Conservatives' political motivation for depriving him of his seat, see letter to the Manchester Guardian, September 29, 1884, p. 7, from Charles Hughes. See also letter to the Manchester Guardian, October 4, 1884, p. 9, from Henry Howarth.

1004 · T o

THE EDITOR OF THE

Manchester Guardian

Hammersmith October 4, 1884

I notice some correspondence in your columns bearing heavily on my friend Mr. C. Rowley, jun., and myself; on him for introducing, on me [ 325 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

for being a heretic. Excuse me for using that latter word in these enlightened days, for in truth more than one of your correspondents' letters smelt somewhat of a wish to extinguish inconvenient controversy by any convenient means. I cannot say, sir, however, that the audiences I addressed at Ancoats, one of which was almost wholly composed of working men, and the other much made up of them, seemed to share that desire;1 on the contrary they seemed much interested in what undoubtedly was new to most of them, nay, strange to say, they seemed to think that the fact that it was new was a special reason for listening to it; and, I think, that if I had had an occasion for telling them who John Ball was, and that he preached the enfranchisement of labour as he understood it, and that to him it meant the abolition of serfdom first, and good life to the labourer next, they would have thought that the word "mad" as applied to him was a title of honour. Well, sir, John Ball was murdered by the fleecers of the people many hundred years ago, but indeed in a sense he lives still, though I am but a part, and not the whole of him as your worthy correspondent the profaner of the name of Piers Plowman professed to think. Nor will he quite die as long as he has work to do; and I am not yet convinced that even in Manchester he has no work to do. It is quite true, and I of course understood it, that the audience I addressed at Ancoats was not made up of such poor people as are plentiful enough in London; such for instance as the frightful crowd which I saw thronging the streets on the occasion of the franchise demonstration, 2 composed of men and women without hope or thought, far worse than ordinary savages; true also that the Manchester workers are better paid than the agricultural labourers, whose industry is still far the largest in this country, and whose pittance is so scanty that it is a misery to see a man among them over 50 years old, so worn and broken is he; that is true, and I will also pass lightly over the obvious fact that there are many in Manchester and the environs far worse off than those in my audience. But even supposing the mass of them were earning the quite magnificent income of £100 a year by hard and stupefying toil in a district which, to speak plainly, is but a heap of filth unfit for a dog to live in; even supposing this, will your correspondents explain why this standard of life should be thought splendid — for a workman — whereas if a labour employer, or fleecer, were to find himself possessed of no more to live on, his friends would lament over him and hide his razors away? As I told my audience, I am not content with this standard of comfort and enjoyment for the workers; the highest, mind you, which a worker can expect to attain to, unless he climbs up out of his class, and I wish to make the aristocracy of labour discontented with it also; and besides that, I want to make them understand that they are part and parcel of the com[ 326 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1004

monalty of labour, and that they should not only pity the savages of London and the slaves of Wiltshire, but also be warned by their condition, since a shift of trade or some other accident which is at present not in the least under their control may reduce them to a condition not better than that of those poor people; as has already happened to the miners of South Staffordshire,3 who are now desperately striving to wring a penny or two per diem over their starvation wages from their employers, themselves unable to grant it, as they say (perhaps truly), if they are to go on making a profit. Sir, I see no reason why they should make a profit. To me it seems enough that the members of a community should all live decently and happily, and I think we should not feel heavily the loss of a few monopolists of the means of producing wealth, who spend their time when they are happy in trying to "best" one another, and their unhappy days in boring themselves with various kinds of amusement; such a loss I think we might learn to bear in the long run. One of your correspondents says that the meaning of my lecture was hard to grasp. 4 That, I confess, is a blow to me; it comes, I suppose, of my confounded Cymric love of fine speaking. I hope some day to set that right in Manchester, to get a few working men together and explain to them what profit means in the plainest words possible. In spite of your correspondent's cheerful confidence in their stupidity, I don't share it, and think I might convince some of them; all the more as I had about a dozen of them round me after my Saturday's address, and we had a brisk conversation, and I did not find them either stupid or contented; but the rich men of Manchester I will not try to convince any more. Meantime, I wonder if any of them remember an old story, that was taught me when I was a boy, about a beggar and a rich man. I was naive enough then, and it used to make me feel very uncomfortable, I remember, though I don't think it had the same effect on my father, who was a city man and very "religious." One word more, sir. As far as I have read your correspondents' letters they seem to take it for granted that my opinions are eccentric and solitary — died with John Ball in fact; but I can hardly believe them to be so ignorant of current events as not to know that all over Europe Socialism is alive and growing; that the police-spy Government of Austria has to invent new bogus crimes continually to justify its terrified acts of coercion against the Socialists; that in Germany they are a political party commanding many seats in the Reichstag; that Russian society is honeycombed by Socialism; that most of the workmen of the cities in France are at least tinged with it. All this may be learned from the ordinary press of to-day; but your correspondents may not have been able to realise the fact that even in England, the home of commercialism, the direct doctrines of [ 327 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Socialism are spreading; that large audiences have been gathered in the parks and other places in London by the Socialist speakers this year; and that the name of the Social Democratic Federation is generally received with cheers in the Radical clubs. AU this by itself might be thought a small matter; but when it is taken in conjunction with the disruption of the old political parties, and the tendency (so bitterly lamented by Mr. Herbert Spencer) towards legislative interference with the freedom of fleecing,5 it may well be looked on as a sign of the times not to be neglected by prudent men, amongst whom, I must confess, I do not reckon your anti-Socialist correspondents, who seem to think that the bogey which they dread will disappear if they only shut their eyes to his existence. I am, &c. William Morris TEXT: Manchester Guardian, October 7, 1884, 5 1

See letter no. 1003 See letter no. 979, n. 8. 3 In June the miners of South Staffordshire went on strike because the owners of the mines gave notice that wages would be lowered. Although about five hundred colliers returned to work at the old wage, in July, the strike lingered until October, and there was great suffering among those not working. See The Times, July 1, 1884, p. 10; Justice, August 23, 1884, p. 1; and Justice, October 4, 1884, p. 2. 4 See letter no. 1003, n. 1. 5 Published in the fall of 1884 and consisting of four articles that had appeared in the Contemporary Review between February and July, it urged again the laissez-faire capitalism that Spencer had begun to support m 1842 and had later advocated as Social Darwinism. In the second chapter, titled "The Coming Slavery," Spencer criticized "the thoroughgoing Democratic Federation of Mr. Hyndman and his adherents who advocate" pubhc ownership of the means of production; and he cited, specifically, the call for this in Socialism Made Plain. Again in the chapter titled "The Sins of the Legislature," he criticized the council of the Democratic Federation for advocating measures that would interfere "with the law of supply and demand." Spencer's entire book was an attack on socialism as a cure for the ills of individuals in society; it was also a gloomy prediction that state socialism was indeed coming and that it will be a form of slavery since "all socialism involves slavery." See Herbert Spencer, The Man Versus the State (London: Williams and Norgate, 1884), p. 49. 2

1005 · T o THE EDITOR OF The Echo

Kelmscottt House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 4 [1884]

Sir, My attention has been drawn to an editorial in your columns criticising an address which I gave before the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings; will you kindly allow me a short space to set right a misconception or two in it. First, by no fault of your own, you are in error in [ 328 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1005

stating that I contributed the address to Merry England; I learned the name of that periodical for the first time by reading your article, and neither I nor the above-named Society have given permission to the editor to reprint it;1 he has, very reprehensibly as I think, done so without leave asked, and his reprint is a maimed and spoiled version, though he has taken the liberty of appending my signature to it as if I had authorised its publication. I must also complain that you have misquoted a passage from the address so as to deprive it of meaning when read without the context, though I cannot help thinking that you would have agreed with the sense of the passage if you had read it carefully. What is, I think, of more importance is the assumption in the article that I care only for Art and not for the other sides of the Social Questions I have been writing about, and also that I do not go all lengths with my colleagues of the Social Democratic Federation. Against these assumptions I must protest. Much as I love Art and ornament, I value it chiefly as a token of the happiness of the people, and I would rather it were all swept away from the world than that the mass of the people should suffer oppression; at the same time, Sir, I will beg you earnestly to consider if my contention is not true, that genuine Art is always an expression of pleasure in Labour. As to my connection with the Social Democratic Federation, I have had my full share in every step it has taken since I joined it, and I fully sympathise with its aims; to me the class privileged to fleece the people by the accident of the possession of riches is no holier than that which is privileged by the accident of birth to perform the same functions; neither can I shut my eyes to the fact that whatever position any portion of the working-classes now holds it has gained by the exercise of force at the expense of the moneyed class, land holding or capitalist, and that it is only by continued and energetic antagonism to that class, by what you have named social revolt, that the working-class can either keep its gains or add to them, and that this antagonism will be continued till all classes are abolished, and a new form of Society is built up. I am, Sir, Yours obediently, William Morris TEXT: The Echo, October 7, 1884, 2. 1 Merry England printed, with a portrait of Morris, "The Medieval and the Modern Craftsman" in its October 1884 issue, pp. 361-77 It is possible that Merry England took the text (which Morris says is "maimed and spoiled") from the S.P.A.B. Seventh Annual Report: the talk was delivered at the Annual Meeting, July 1, 1884, and reprinted in the Report.

[ 329 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 1006 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

26, Queen Square,

London, W. C. Monday [October 6, 1884?] Dear M a d a m M a n y thanks; I will call at your house t o m o r r o w (Tuesday) between 2 and 3 o'clock. I am Yours faithfully William Morris Ms: Soc. Ant.

1007 · T o A N D R E A S S C H E U

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 8 [1884] M y dear Scheu I forgot to send cheque last week, being much hurried; here it is. N o t h i n g special took place at yesterdays meeting except an absurd shindy betweeen the Labour Emancipation League and the T o t t e n h a m Branch of the S.D.F. T h e Aveling matter is b l o w n over apparently for the present. A certain Carruthers 1 joined us; (to) a steady going m a n I think and not at all likely to belong [to] the paddle your-own-canoe-sort. H e has been a closet S o cialist till at present: he has written a book called, Commercial & C o m munal Economy; 2 in which there are many good things: is prepared to show how distribution of goods can be managed: is writing in next Today o n the subject. 3 Also yesterday I was told off along with Aveling to prepare a n e w m a n ifesto: m y flesh creeps at the difficulties. 4 T h e 23 N o v : is arranged for for Glasgow: 5 on Dec: 11th I address the LRL. at Greenock. 6 Carpenter seems a very trusty person: he tells m e he is going to E d i n burgh: I shall get into regular communication with h i m . I don't k n o w whether you will be pleased shocked or amused to hear that Oscar Wilde has gone in for Jager with enthusiasm. 7 I am Yours fraternally William Morris

[ 330 ]

1884 / L E T T E R N O .

1008

MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, March 1928, 36; Henderson, Letters, 213-15. Extract published: MM, 11, 181. 1 John Carruthers (1836-1914), a construction engineer who had at various times worked in Egypt, India, New Zealand, Venezuela, and Argentina. He was also an economist who wrote on economics from a socialist viewpoint. On August 22, 1884, he joined the Hammersmith Branch of the S.D.F. (see Ham. Min. Book, entry for October 22, 1884) and thereafter followed Morris loyally through the changes in his socialist career. Among Carruthers' published works were Communal and Commercial Economy (1883), The Political Economy of Socialism (1885), Socialism and Radicalism (1894), and posthumously Economic Studies (1915). 2 Published in 1883. 3 "The Industrial Mechanism of a Socialist Society," To-Day, N.S. 2 (1884), 468-89. 4 After some discussion and amendment of the new Manifesto prepared by Morris (proofs of it were circulated among the executive), the final version was adopted (see letter no. 1022), and it was agreed to publish it in the January issue of To-Day: See Justice, December 6, 1884, p. 6. For the text of the Manifesto, see To-Day, January 1885, pp. 1-10. 5 See letter no. 1000, n. 2. 6 See letter no. 1001, n. 2. 7 In Bernard Shaw: Collected Letters, Dan H. Laurence defines (I, 138) Jaegensm as the teaching of "Dr. Gustave Jaeger (1832-1917), a health culturist who advocated the substitution of woolen clothing and bedding for cotton, linen, or any fibrous fabric." Laurence notes that "Shaw endorsed Jaeger's system throughout his life."

1008 · To

THE EDITOR OF Justice

[October 11, 1884]1

Dear Mr. Editor, 2 In case a letter which I have written to the Echo protesting against the assumption that I am not in full sympathy with our comrades of the Social-Democratic Federation should not appear,3 I wish to make that protest in your columns, though I know it will not seem necessary to most of our comrades. Also I wish to inform them that the Editor of "Merry England" coolly printed my address (in mutilated form) without asking my leave, which I certainly should not have given. 4 1 mention this, as I am determined not to contribute articles to any capitalist paper whatsoever. I am, Yours fraternally William Morris TEXT: Justice, October 11, 1884, 6. 1 The letter, as printed injustice, does not indicate the date on which Morris wrote it. October 11 is the date of publication. In this and all letters to newspapers and periodicals, brackets signify that the date given is the one of publication, not composition. When both dates are known, the one given in the upper right is the date of composition and the other is provided in the textual note as part of the information concerning publication. 2 H. M. Hyndman. See letter no 938, n. 2.

[ 331 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 3 It did. See letter no. 1005. On October 10 The Echo wrote (p. 2): "Mr. William Morris contributes a letter to Justice, 'in case a letter I have written to the Echo should not appear.' Justice is dated Oct. 11th and Mr. Morris's letter appeared in The Echo on Oct. 7th. The author of'The Earthly Paradise' must have been in an unconscionable hurry to cast suspicion upon our fairness." 4 See letter no. 1005, n. 1.

1009 · To JOHN

LINCOLN MAHON

October 17 [1884]

Dear Comrade Mahon I have been making enquiries about a place but cannot find one at present and there is nothing open in my own business, which I am very sorry for: I will go on trying to find something. Meantime I enclose a cheque for £3, which please accept as a necessity and not as a personal matter between us. You must tell me what kind of engineering you can do: it is true that I have no influence with the shops here; indeed I am afraid since the foundation of the branch here my name would do you less than good. I quite understand (as you may easily imagine) what your worries must be under the circumstances. Hoping all will go well with you. I am Yours fraternally William Morris Ms: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 49-50.

1010 · T o THOMAS ROBERT SPENCE WATSON

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 17 [1884] My dear Sir1 Thank you very much for your kind letter, as well as for the note you wrote me before: I shall be very happy to stay with you at Newcastle: 2 of course I must get down on the Saturday: on the Monday I am going to Edinburgh, as I have to lecture there that night:3 I will write & let you know what train I am coming by I am Dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris [ 332 ]

1884 / L E T T E R N O .

1011

MS: Ray Coll. 1 Thomas Robert Spence Watson (1837-1911), the Secretary of the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society and a member of the S. D. F. 2 On November 16, 1884, Morris lectured at a meeting sponsored by the Newcastle Branch of the S.D.F. on "Art and Labour." Spence Watson was chairman. See LeMire, p. 244. 3 On November 17 Morris spoke on "Misery and the Way Out" at a meeting arranged by the Edinburgh Branch of the S.L.L.L See LeMire, pp. 244, 301.

1011 · T o THOMAS JAMES

COBDEN-SANDERSON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith October 25 [1884]

My dear Sanderson Please excuse me for not writing before to thank you for the beautiful binding, which I thought a great success:11 have been so busy that I have not had a moment's leisure to do anything & am writing this in the hurriedest manner, & I don't know when you will get it, as I dont know your address at Epsom 2 — I am off to Kelmscott for a Sunday this morning, & shall hope to see you at your shop some time next week. With best wishes for your productions of all kinds & again saying that Marx is quite beautiful & successful. I rest Yours very truly William Morris Apropos of books you are mistaken in not being a worshipper of Dickens WM MS: Schimmel Coll. 1 On October 9 Cobden-Sanderson had finished binding in blue morocco Morris's copy of the French translation of Das Kapital. See Cobden-Sanderson, I, 202. 2 The Cobden-Sandersons had rented the White Cottage on Epsom Common from about October 14 to December 20, 1884. Their son, Richard, was born there on November 12, 1884. See Cobden-Sanderson, I, 183, 195, 204, 205.

[ 333 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

Morris's copy o f the French translation o f erson, 1883-1884.

MORRIS

Das Kapital,

[ 334 ]

bound by Cobden-Sand-

1884 / LETTER N O . 1013 1012 · T o T H A C K E R A Y T U R N E R

November [1-24? 1884]

Dear M r . Turner: 1 M r . Peddie is — an M P 2 — can I say w o r s e of him? I send h i m off a letter yesterday & n o w I have to write this I think in w o r s e form confound him! C o p y it out & send it as evidence of an H o n Sec of the S P A B 3 WM MS: Berg. 1 Hugh Thackeray Turner (1853-1937), an architect-partner m the firm of Balfour and Turner who succeeded Thomas J. Wise as honorary secretary of the S.P.A.B. in 1883 and remained in the post for many years. 2 John Dick Peddie (1824-1891), Liberal M.P. for Kilmarnock, was also an architect. 3 On November 9, 1884, a select committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the restoration of Westminster Hall and J. L. Pearson's plan. In March they concluded their hearings and reached a compromise. The S.P A.B. statement on the subject is included in Morris's letter and reads as follows: 1 That (the) Westminster Hall as at present exposed to view is an admirable work of art, and that it ought to remain visible to the public: and that any alteration of it will injure it as a work of art; therefore nothing more ought to be done to it than is necessary for the stability of the fabric. 2 That there is much archeological interest in the parts of the wall of the time of Rufus & Richard the 2nd recently uncovered; and that if after due consultation with experts it seems probable that the effect of London smoke on the surface of the stone will be seriously destructive, a penthouse cloister, closed in, properly warmed & ventilated might be built for (their) the protection of the wall: but the cloister should be quite simple & be obviously a mere protection. The remains of the ancient walls & foundations ought also to be preserved & protected, as being of archeological interest. 3 The opinions above stated are those involved (by) in the principles of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and imply the impossibility of restoration in any case; but in this case the proposed restorations are almost wholly conjectural, and therefore especially indefensible. They would cause also the expenditure of a large sum of public money, whereas the mere repair and preservation of the Hall as it is would cost but little in comparison, & is obviously necessary; there is no risk attending it, and it will always be possible afterwards to injure Westminster Hall by some such scheme as Mr. Pearson's, even if the more modest scheme is carried out See also letter no. 1115.

1013 · T o FREDERIC H A R R I S O N

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 14 [1884]

Dear M r . H a r r i s o n T h a n k s for y o u r note and enclosure. T h e Social D e m o c r a t i c Federation (are) is in c o m m u n i c a t i o n w i t h the C o m m i t t e e , 1 & will I suppose appoint delegates to represent it: 2 of course

[ 335 ]

L E T T E R S OF W I L L I A M

MORRIS

it is not in my hands as to whether I am appointed as one of them, and I can only say that they might send some one better fitted than I am for a debate. But in any case I would only attend as a delegate of that body. While I can hardly suppose that some or most of the members of the Committee havn't pretty strong opinions against our point of view, I feel sure that they want to get a fair field for us to put it before people: in fact as the Socialists are the only group who have any definite views on the subject at all (except perhaps the most cynical of the reactionists) it is clear that no discussion could go on without their being represented. Again with thanks I am Yours faithfully William Morris MS: Cornell. 1 The Industrial Remuneration Conference was held in Edinburgh injanuary 1885 to discuss the problem of maldistribution of wealth Harrison was the chief organizer, but it was sponsored financially by Robert Miller of Edinburgh (see letter no. 1022, n. 4). Glasier writes (p. 2In) that among those who attended and spoke were Alfred Russel Wallace, A. J. Balfour, George Bernard Shaw, John Burns, Leone Levi, Robert Giffen, Sir Thomas Brassey, Professor Alfred Marshall, and G. B. Clark. Others present were Dilke, Patrick Geddes, and John Morley. See The Report of the Proceedings and Papers (1885; rpt. New York. Augustus M. Kelley, 1968). See also Pelling, p. 23, n. 1 2 Jack Williams, John Burns, andj. Macdonald were delegates of the S.D F. See the Report, p. xviu.

1014 · R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

Kelmscott H o u s e ,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h [ N o v e m b e r 14? 1884]

Social Democratic Federation Please admit bearer to Art Evening on Nov: 21st.1 William Morris Treasurer S.D.F (In default of regular tickets 1/.) MS: Present location unknown. 1 The Art Evening was sponsored by the S.D.F. and held at Neumeyer Hall, Hart Street, Bloomsbury. Among those on the program were Morris, Eleanor Marx, and Edward Aveling. Morris read from "The Passing of Brynhild," and Edward Avehng and Eleanor Marx

[ 336 ]

1884 / L E T T E R

NO.

1016

acted in a play, which Engels reported having heard "was more or less . . . their own history." See Henderson, Letters, p. 214; LeMire, p. 244; and Engels-Lafargue, I, 245.

1015 · To [MAY MORRIS?]

[November 16, 1884]

It seems I am like to have a big meeting tonight;1 I am afraid that they may be rather astonished though 'tis one of my mildest: I felt somewhat like a traitor last night and as if, if they had only known the bombshell I was preparing for them! however I suppose all will go pretty well: my host is very kind and communicative. . . . TEXT: CW,

19,

xv.

1

At the Newcastle Branch of the S D.F., to whom Morris gave his lecture, "Art and Labour." Robert Spence Watson (see letter no. 1010) was his host.

1016 · T o EDITH FLETCHER RAWNSLEY

November 19, 1884

Madam, 1 You are welcome to go to Merton Abbey any time you please: perhaps you will best find your way there by going to Wimbledon station: I am afraid I cannot get to Oxford St. this week. I have been away from home or would have answered before. W.Morris Mrs. Rawnsley c/o Dr. Eatwell 69 Inverness Terrace Kensington Gardens W. MS: Present location unknown. 1 Edith Fletcher Rawnsley (d. 1916) was possibly a friend of Charles Rowley of Manchester. She and her husband, Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (1851-1920) of Keswick, worked hard "to secure forever places of beauty and historic interest." She was also notable for her work in behalf of the School of Arts and Crafts, Keswick. See Rowley, p. 170.

[ 337 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

1017 · To JOHN

LINCOLN MAHON

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith November 20 [1884]

Dear Mahon I send you £1 in case you are in momentary need & will bring you some more tomorrow. I will give you (of course) the recommendation you want for the Museum.' I think Scheu was well pleased with the meeting on Monday at Newcastle I had a very large audience; some 3000. Last night was curious: I seemed to feel that George's nostrum 2 was nearly played out; & that a real socialist would have had a good reception. 3 Davitt 4 skated round the subject, & never said anything to favour George's speciality — he was good. Yours fraternally William Morris MS: Page Arnot Coll. Published: Page Arnot, 50. 1

Presumably, Mahon had applied for a reader's ticket at the British Museum: the register of admissions to the Reading Room indicates, however, that he was first issued a ticket on May 16, 1888, and thus if this letter does in fact have to do with a reader's ticket, Mahon apparently did not in 1884 complete his application. It is possible that what he was seeking in 1884 was employment in the Museum rather than the privileges of a reader. 2 A reference to George's theory of taxation, namely, that there should be a single tax and that it should be on land only. 3 Morris refers to a meeting at St. James Hall at which Henry George spoke. 4 Michael Davitt was at this time associated with Henry George in advocating land nationalization. See also letter no. 923, n. 3.

1018 · T o [GEORGE SOMERS?] CLARKE

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith

November 25 [1884?]1 Dear Mr. Clarke 2 My evidence will be of the shortest & simplest kind, and will merely be a protest on the part of the Society against any alteration at all; except perhaps a petit house to guard the stones in the lower part of the wall. 3 You see we are quite certain that Mitford4 will have his way & we think it is not worthwhile going for any compromise. Of course I will not let myself be tugged into any archeological discussion, which (archeology) in any case has not really any thing to do with our principles, & which one could only use as an argumentum ad hominem, a course now obviously useless. Under these circumstances I don't know that it would be necessary for me to look at the place again much as I should like to have the advantage [ 338 ]

1884 / L E T T E R N O . 1019

of your knowledge on the points but if you think it necessary I will call on you tomorrow (Wednesday at about 3 pm. With thanks Yours very truly William Morris MS: Coupe Coll. 1 Morris's reference at the end of this letter to "tomorrow (Wednesday)" suggests 1884 as the year, since November 25 fell on a Tuesday in that year and internal evidence (see n. 3 below) confirms the conjecture. 2 Possibly George Somers Clarke, Jr. (1841-1926). He was the architect for St. Martin's, Brighton (1871-1875) and from 1876 to 1892, a partner ofj. T. Micklethwaite (see letter no. 1281, n. 2); from 1896 to 1906 he was to be surveyor of St. Paul's Cathedral. Clarke was also active in the S.P. A.B. 3 A reference to the plan to restore Westminster Hall. See letter no. 1012, n. 3, especially second paragraph in Morris's letter included in the S.P. A.B. statement. 4 Possibly John Thomas Freeman-Mitford, first Earl of Redesdale (1805-1886) and secretary of the Board of Works.

1019 · T o W I L L I A M A L L I N G H A M

Kelmscott House,

U p p e r Mall, H a m m e r s m i t h N o v e m b e r 26, 1884

My dear Allingham I have started to answer yours two or three times and have failed to get on with the answer:1 the fact is 'tis hardly civil to a man of your attainments; and, I suppose, leisure to deal with such a serious matter in the limits of a letter, but please take what you can get till you make up your mind to look into the matter seriously with books and the rest of it to aid.2 Imprimis I don't touch on matters theological, which I never could understand, except to say that a God who stood in the way of man making himself comfortable on the earth would be no God for me, nor doubtless for you: I am fain when I am asked my views on these points to reply like Dickens' Deputy — "Find out!" 3 — which is more than I can do. You have got together a funny menagerie in George, Wallace,4 Bradlaugh and Harrison: of course the two last curse Socialism; and George and Wallace think, or seem to, that a man wants nothing but a bit of land and his teeth and nails in order to set to work to produce. Bradlaugh's politics are in short 'let Bradlaugh flourish!' About Harrison and his Positivism I daresay you know more than I do; but though he has some wholesome views against the exploitage of barbarous countries is no more advanced than Lord Salisbury5 is, or say than Lord J. Manners, 6 a much better fellow. However I ought not to cut up rough at being coupled-up by you with such queer dogs, as heaven knows I'm queer enough. [ 339 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

Your own program is pretty extensive, and of course goes far beyond the ordinary democrat's; but you see these sorts of reforms could never be brought about without a deeper change having (ripened) grown up and ripened; a change which would mean producing for livelihood and not for profit, and which would be so far from being utilitarian that it would give all people of special capacity opportunity to work hard at their special gifts without sordid trouble or anxiety: your views about the Stock Exchange and recovery of debts show that you somewhat sympathise with this I think: but I also think I could show you that the St. Ex: is only the ugliest manifestation of that gambling which is in fact modern commerce. For all wares now sold are not mere goods, (in) which pass from one hand to another with remuneration for his trouble to the producer, & usefulness to the consumer; but they are market wares in which the use is cumbered by a superadded exchange-value or profit, which sometimes indeed is the only value they have and utterly extinguishes their use-value7 — It is this profit which curses all modern Society and prevents any noble enterprises, while it compels us (even the peaceable Gladstone) to market-wars which bring forth 'murders great and grim'. Now further we Socialists contend that this state of Society is getting rotten-ripe and is changing into something else, which something else can be nothing save a new development of that tendency to cooperation which has always gone on in some form or another side by side with competition: as to how this change will come about it seems to us it will be by the workers becoming conscious of the fact that they are the only organic part of (the) Society, & the other classes are parasitical really. When they have learned this they will abolish all other classes and become themselves the State, and will organize themselves for getting the greatest possible good out of nature for the benefit of the State, that is for all and each.8 This movement must of necessity be international (a Socialist does not recognise a possible enemy in a foreigner as such), but in all probability England will go first will give the signal, though she is at present so backward: Germany with her 700 000 Socialists is pretty nearly ready: France sick of her republiic of stockjobbers and pirates is nearly as far on though on different lines: Austria is ready any moment to shake off her government ofjew bankers and police spies: America is as you truly say finding out that mere radicalism is bringing her into a cul de sac. Everywhere the tale is the same: the profit mongers are finding the game too vast and intricate to keep up. The old party politics are being openly jeered at, and this autumn's farce is adding its ounce of dangerous weight to the tottering load which the liberaljackass bears: I have heard the G. O.M. mentioned in crowded meetings of working men without a cheer being raised for him over and over again within the last month: even Chamberlain9 is looked upon with doubt as a [ 340 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1019

dark horse. You may be sure that the thing is moving, though of course I make no prophecies as to the beginning of the end. Like enough it will come with attempts at palliatives: tubs to the whale cast out first by one party then the other: every one of which we shall take without misgivings, for the better the condition of the working class grows, the more capable they will be of effecting a revolution — Starve­ lings can only riot. I don't know that any one of these palliatives is much better than another: good housing is the most difficult as it is I think the most crying need: you will find that a bourgeois government cannot deal with. Legal limitation of the labour day is good as a cry, but again how can a bourgeois government even think of that? I think we must be con­ tent with pressing all the claims in the lump, and console ourselves for the slowness with which things move by listening to the wails of Herbert Spencer on the advance of Socialism.10 Well, I have spun a yarn about twice as long as I intended and told you next to nothing in it — please to take it as a sign of friendship even if it bores you: the fire is near your hand these cold days. 11 Yours ever truly William Morris Ms: Illinois. Published: Allingham, Letters 233-36; Henderson, Letters, 215-17. 1

"Allingham wrote to Morris asking him to explain some of his views on reform in more detail, and received the following letter in reply." Allingham, Letters, p. 233. 2 See letter no. 964, n. 4. 3 The regular utterance of Winks, the "Deputy" in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. 4 See letter no. 826, n. 5. 5 At the instigation of Salisbury, the extension of the franchise in 1884 had been supple­ mented by a redistribution bill. For Salisbury, see Volume I, letter no. 422. 6 Lord John Manners was, like Salisbury, opposed to extension of the franchise without redistribution. For Manners, see Volume I, letter no. 409, η 3. 7 Morris is clearly describing here Marx's theory of surplus value, as developed in Das Kapital. This is interesting in view of his allegedly saying—when under attack in Glasgow two weeks later—that he knew and cared nothing about Marx's theory of value (see letter no. 1026, n. 4). N 8 Henderson also notes {Letters, p. 216) that Morris "is here following Marx closely: 'the expropriation of the expropriators', 'the dictatorship of the proletariat,' and the struggle be­ tween classes becoming 'the struggle against nature'. . . ." 9 After the passage of the Franchise Bill of 1884, negotiations for redistribution took place, the most crucial occurring in November. Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914), a member in Gladstone's cabinet, as a principal in these talks, was much in the news. Moreover, the re­ sults—concluded on November 27 (the day after Morris's letter)—were regarded as Cham­ berlain's triumph, and he was viewed "as the undisputed leader of advanced opinion, and therefore . . of the coming generation." See J. L. Garvin, The Life of Joseph Chamberlain (London: Macmillan, 1935), I, 484-86. 10 See letter no. 1004, n. 5. " On December 5, 1884, Allingham visited Tennyson at Haslemere. An entry in his Diary for that day reads (p. 339):

[ 341 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

T. said, "He has gone crazy." I said I agreed with many of Morris's notions. Labour does not get its fair share. T.—"There's brain labour as well as hand labour." W. A.—"And there are many who get money without any labour. The question, how to hinder money from accumulating into lumps, is a puzzling one." T.—"You must let a man leave money to his children. I was once in a coffee-shop in the Westminster Road at 4 o'clock in the morning. A man was raging 'Why has Soand-So a hundred pounds, and I haven't a shilling?' I said to him, 'If your father had left you £100 you wouldn't give it away to somebody else.' He hadn't a word to answer. I knew he hadn't." Henderson, Letters, quotes (p. 217) this exchange with Tennyson from Allingham's Diary.

1020 · F R O M A L E T T E R , R E C I P I E N T U N K N O W N

[December 1884?]1

I really think that Falstaffs view of sighing and grief b l o w i n g m e n u p like a bladder was a sound medical opinion. TEXT: Mackail, II, 9. 1 This is a very conjectural date. Mackail interpolates this fragment of a letter in one dated August 10, 1880, to Georgiana Burne-Jones as a comment on Morris's saying "I think I know now why I fatten so." The only clue Mackail gives as to the date of this letter is his saying that it was written when Morris "was in much trouble and worry over public work."

1021 · T o C H A R L E S R O W L E Y

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 2 [1884?]1 M y dear R o w l e y I a m glad y o u shocked y o u r respectable audience, I a m sure it w o u l d d o t h e m good especially as coming from a person of your good will. I have asked o u r sub-editor about that speech of the mill-owner, 2 & he says that it was told h i m b y a mill-hand w h o was standing b y w h e n the w o r d s were said: the occasion being that a m a n w h o had been ill had stayed away a day or t w o (after his convalescence I suppose) and o n being b l o w n u p for it b y the boss pleaded that he wanted rest, & was answered as y o u k n o w . O f course I cant mention names as the informant w a s a w o r k i n g - m a n . After all the worst of it is that it was only the r o u g h expression of a very sad truth. I shall be h a p p y to read your paper if you w o u l d send it to m e . After

[ 342 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1022 [all] 'tis n o use asking if the w o r k w e are doing is w o r t h doing: I believe it is; b u t any h o w w e can't help doing it. Yours very truly William Morris Ms: Yale O. Published: Henderson, Letters, 192. 1

Henderson dates this letter [1883?] (see Letters, p. 192), but the content seems to indicate that the year should be 1884. 2 A note by Rowley written on this letter reads: "Morris had repeated a mill owners answer to a request from his workfolk for a holiday & a rest, 'Rest be damned. Rest in your grave.' A perfectly possible & probable answer from some mill owners, who think it tho they don't say it: Things are mending tho."

1022 · T o A N D R E A S S C H E U

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 6, 1884 M y dear Scheu M a n y thanks for your letter and warning 1 — d a m n all rich men, Smiths B r o w n s & the lot of t h e m — also all 'gentlemen' H o w I can see & hear the interview between H . & M! 2 T h e first can't help it y o u k n o w : I really begin to think he will be prime minister before he dies. T h e attack on W J . comes offnext Tuesday; I will try to flit a line to y o u o n the same. 'Anarchist' by the way is a kind of sacramental w o r d with H . I shall soon share that distinction with W J . I expect. 3 As to Saturday, I make a formal engagement with you and shall so d e clare it to Miller 4 for Saturday afternoon. Aveling is doing well: I hear o n all sides that his Socialist lessons are a great success: 5 on Wednesday he led the opposition at a very successful 'hot' which w e gave to that h u m b u g G. Howell w h o was representing Sir T. Brassey w h o had condescended to promise to address the w o r k i n g m a n o n the deuce k n o w s what and also (which was unimportant) n o t t o keep his promise. 6 T h e manifesto got past on Tuesday, but was declared dissappointing: I don't think it what a manifesto should be myself, and a m sure I could d o a better one, if not now, yet soon: however it don't prevent a m o r e distinctly explanatory one being done. You m a y imagine h o w frank friend M a h o n was on the subject: however I o w e h i m n o grudge: yet he should make some allowances for the weaknesses of h u m a n nature. N o w I must to polishing m y Glasgow preachment 7 so adieu with good luck Yours fraternally William Morris

[ 343 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, April 1928, 21; Henderson, Letters, 218. 1

The use of so strong a word as "warning" suggests that this is a reference—the first in the letters— to the growing dissension in the S. D. F. Before the year was out, the group had split; Hyndman and his followers remaining in the S.D.F, and Morris and others leaving to found the Socialist League. See n. 3 below. See also letters no. 1028 and no. 1031, n. 3. 2 Hyndman and Mahon. This probably refers to Hyndman's objections to the establish­ ment of the Scottish Land and Labour League (S.L.L.L.) as an affiliate only of the S.D. F. rather than a member branch. Mahon had worked for the formation of the S. L L. L. and the plan of affiliation. 3 W. J. Clarke, a member of the executive council of the S.D.F. Hyndman had charged him with having an anarchist viewpoint and wanted him expelled. Morris defended Clarke and this precipitated the split, though the issue was but one of many that had been multiply­ ing since the summer. Another was Hyndman's dislike of Edward Aveling and Eleanor Marx: when Aveling had resigned as vice-president of the National Secular Society, Hynd­ man had insisted that he should also resign from the executive of the S. D. F. unless he could clear his name. Further fueling the crisis was Hyndman's antipathy to Scheu, whom Hynd­ man considered, as he did Clark, an anarchist, in view especially of Scheu's work to establish the semi-independent S.L.L.L. in Edinburgh (see letter no. 972 and n. 3) and because Scheu had in fact been active in anarchist politics in Vienna. Finally, the conduct of Justice was a major cause of conflict Started with Carpenter's money, and financed as well by Morris, it was edited by Hyndman. There was dissension over editorial policy between Hyndman and the S.D.F. executive. As a compromise, Morris recommended that the executive have some right of veto over the material printed. Hyndman refused, writing to Morris on November 27 that "the change is especially wanted by the very persons—Dr. Aveling and Mrs. Ave­ ling—who, owing to Bax's weakness, ruined To-Day by their prejudices and advertising puffery of themselves" (BL, Add. MSS. 45345). Further compromises were proposed, and Morris was prepared to put off the question of Justice until the next annual conference, but "at this critical stage in the quarrel—in the second week of December," Morris "paid a visit to Scotland which brought him back in a towering rage, and for the next two weeks the British Socialist movement was at war with itself." See E. P. Thompson, pp. 345-50; and Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, pp. 114-18. See also letter no. 1026, n. 4. 4 Glasier, who spells the name "Millar," identifies him (p. 21) as the man who sponsored the Industrial Remuneration Conference held m Edinburgh in January 1885, giving £1,000 to cover the expenses. Miller, Glasier writes (p. 2In), was sympathetic to socialism and "working-class interests." See letter no. 1013, η 1. 5 In September Aveling had proposed giving a series of lectures on "Scientific Socialism," but he did not start them until he had "barely cleared himself" from charges of misappro­ priating National Secular Society funds and other monies. In mid-October, the executive of the S.D.F finally "approved the action of the Westminster branch in establishing 'gratuitous Social Science classes.' " See Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, p. 117 6 Thomas Brassey (1836-1918), Liberal M.P. for Hastings, and Secretary to the Admi­ ralty, was interested in the wages question. The Daily News, December 4, 1884, reported (p. 3) that he had been unable to deliver a lecture on "Work and Wages," scheduled for Decem­ ber 3 at the Bethnal Green Memorial Hall, and that George Howell had represented him. Howell made a speech defending Brassey's record on labor issues. The speech was loudly jeered and interrupted by the working-men in the audience. Aveling tried to speak during the lecture and led the discussion afterwards. 7 See letter no. 996, n. 6.

[ 344 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1024 1023 · T o A G L A I A IONIDES C O R O N I O

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Sunday [December 6 or 13, 1884?] M y dear Aglaia T h a n k you kindly: I would call in t o m o r r o w about 5 p . m . if you w o u l d be in: I saw Janey off yesterday: 1 otherwise I would have answered your note before. Your affectionately William Morris MS- Berger Coll. ' Jane and May Morris left for Italy in early December.

1024 · T o J O H N NICHOL

Kelmscott House

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 11 [1884] Dear Sir 1 You were so kind as to ask m e to stay with you when I came to Glasg o w : I understand from M r G L Clark, the sec: of the Sunday Society 2 that y o u still expect to see me; I therefore write to tell you of m y m o v e m e n t s : I address some friends at Edinburgh o n Saturday night, 3 & so cannot be at Glasgow till Sunday m o r n i n g by the train that arrives at 10 40 I believe. I a m n o t quite sure that I shall n o t have to meet some of our Glasgow comrades after the Sunday Lecture, but I think that will most probably come off on the M o n d a y . 4 I am M y dear Sir Yours faithfully William Morris Professor Nichol P. S. M y address at Edinburgh will be C / o R Miller Esqre 6 Chester St Edinburgh MS:

NLS.

1

John Nichol (1833-1894) was professor of English language and literature at Glasgow University. He was educated there as well as at Balliol College, Oxford, and it was in his rooms at the latter that the Old Mortality Society was founded in November 1856. Henderson, who noted (p. 26) that Swinburne, a member, was influenced by John Nichol, wrote of

[ 345 ]

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

the Society: "the object was 'stimulating and promoting the interchange of thought among the members on the more general questions of literature, philosophy, science as well as the diffusion of a correct knowledge of critical appreciation of our Standard English authors.' " The name was intended quite literally and morbidly, as Henderson noted, to emphasize human mortality. (In addition, the Society "was later to publish a monthlyjournal, Undergraduate Papers, in which Swinburne's projected long poem Queen Yseult, written in close imitation of William Morris, began to appear from 1857 to 1858.") Henderson added that Nichol helped Swinburne in his study of logic at the university and was responsible for the destruction of Swinburne's religious faith, "confirming him in atheism and republicanism." See Philip Henderson, Swinburne: The Portrait ofa Poet (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974), pp. 26-27. The only book-length treatment of Nichol is the unrevealing Memoir of John Nichol, Professor of English Literature in the University of Glasgow by Professor William Angus Knight (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1896). 2 Morris was in correspondence with G. L. Clark because on the evening of December 14 he was to deliver his lecture "Art and Labour," before the Glasgow Sunday Society. 3 "How We Live and How We Might Live" was scheduled for delivery at a meeting of the Edinburgh Branch of the Scottish Land and Labour League on December 13. (See LeMire, p. 244.) It was at his Edinburgh lecture that Morris first met John Bruce Glasier (see letter no. 1219, n.l) who, according to the latter (Glasier, p. 21) had gone especially to Edinburgh to hear Morris rather than wait until the next day when Morris would be in Glasgow. 4 Possibly a reference to Morris's having agreed to talk to the Glasgow Branch of the S.D.F (see letter no. 1026).

1025 · T o J A M E S MAVOR

6 Chester St.

Edinburgh December 13 [1884] Dear Sir1 It is b o t h a duty & a pleasure for m e to meet you on Saturday: I think it w o u l d be m u c h the best that I should meet you at the meeting at Watson St: only if none of you can come to St A n d r e w ' s Hall w o u l d you kindly send me a letter giving m e the exact address, either of St A n d r e w ' s Hall, or to Professor Nichol 14 M o n t g o m e r i e Crescent Kelvinside: I will c o m e on to Watson St as soon as I can. With best wishes I am Dear Sir Yours very truly William Morris MS: UToronto. 1 James Mavor (1854-1927), a political economist, an editor of the Scottish Art Review, and a member of the Glasgow Branch of the S.D.F. When news of the split that had taken place in London on December 27 reached Glasgow, Mavor was expelled from the S.D.F. He became secretary of the Socialist League but resigned from it in a few months when a manifesto, which accused missionaries of intriguing to have Britain declare war on the Sudan, was issued and included his name among the signatories, without his knowledge or permis-

[ 346 ]

1884 I L E T T E R N O .

1026

sion (see letter no. 1081). Mavor left England in 1892 to become professor of political economy at the University of Toronto. See Mavor, passim.

1026 · To JENNY

14 Montgomerie Crescent, Kelvinside, Glasgow December 14, 1884

MORRIS

My dearest Jenny I found it was no use writing to you on Saturday (yesterday) as you would none the more have got the letter before Monday; so herewith a line, which they tell me you will get that morning. Wet weather in Glasgow, and my impressions of that huge den by no means pleasant; though some of the country one runs through from Edinburgh is beautiful: I went a long walk with Scheu yesterday afternoon which brought us (after dark) to Newhaven; we took omnibus there (,&) to Edinburgh, and the said vehicle was half full of (was) fish-wives and their babies: they were not beautiful ones like Christie Johnson, 1 but were clean and neat, and were dressed in the proper style with jackets of bright chintz; and were a relief from the usual dulness of Scotch street life. Scheu's little meeting place was cram full last night 2 with a very good audience, and we fished two additional members, not much you will say, but things go slowly in Edinburgh. I am to meet a new branch 3 which has been just started here after the lecture; they want to see me, partly I believe about some unpleasantness on hanging back from joining the Edinburgh branch:4 I hope I shall be able to set matters right between them; as Scheu is getting on at Edinburgh. The house building is terrible both here and at Edinburgh, & in short almost wherever one comes across a house in Scotland: so coarse and raw so to say: it seems so wretched that they should spoil the lovely country with them. Well, my dear, you will see me on Wednesday morning (please the pigs!) & we will talk of many things (like the carpenter). Mean time best love my own dear from Your loving father William Morris MS:BL, Add. MSS. 45339. Published: CW, 19, xxiii; Henderson, Letters, 218-19. 1 The heroine of Charles Reade's Christie Johnstone (1853). The brave and beautiful daughter of a Scottish fisherman, she rescues a drowning artist whom she then marries. 2 See letter no. 1024, n. 3. 3 Hyndman had lectured in Glasgow on December 1, and his visit had led to the formation of the Glasgow Branch of the S.D.F., with William Nairne (d. 1905?), a staunch supporter of Hyndman, as secretary. (See Tsuzuki, Hyndman, p. 64.) Nairne was a stonemason and— under the pseudonym of Sandy Macfarlane—a writer. 4 This branch was the Scottish Land and Labour League, affiliated with the S.D. F. and led by Scheu (no Edinburgh Branch of the S.D.F. had ever been formed). The S.L.L.L. had sent

[ 347 1

L E T T E R S OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

a delegation to the Glasgow Branch of the S.D.F., hoping to bring about a close association. Hyndman, who had from the first regarded the semi-independent position of the S. L. L.L as anarchistic in tendency, had on December 9 sent a letter to Moses MacGibbon, a founder of the S. D. F. branch in Glasgow, denouncing Scheu Morris, determined to support Scheu in this struggle with Hyndman, attended a meeting of the Glasgow S. D. F. after his lecture to the Sunday Society, intending to arbitrate between Edinburgh and Glasgow. At this meeting, however, a letter from Hyndman attacking Scheu was read, and Morris was heckled by Nairne about his ignorance of Marxian economics. Asked by Nairne if he accepted Marx's theory of value, Morris answered, according to Glasier : "To speak quite frankly, I do not know what Marx's theory of value is, and I'm damned if I want to know " He concluded by saying he was a socialist nonetheless and explained why. But his effort to arbitrate between Edinburgh and Glasgow was effectively ended, and his reputation as a Marxist socialist was to suffer. He returned to London, determined to bring into the open his dispute with Hyndman, whom he charged with sowing the seeds of discord in Glasgow. See Glasier, pp. 31-33; E, P. Thompson, pp. 408-12; Tsuzuki, Hyndman, pp. 64-65; and letter no. 1039.

1027 · To

Merton Abbey, Surrey December 17, 1884

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu You will probably hear from others how things went last night; but I send a line according to promise. I found Aveling and all quite ready for battle: they all promised to stick together, and we arranged our parts as well as we could.1 Every body felt when we came in that something was going to happen. H was very much the boss from the first. After the reading of your letter I gave my report as straightforwardly as I could and I hope did not mince matters: Fitzgerald of course lied about the letters by the way:2 well H said he would stand by all he had said in the letter to Glasgow, 3 & when I asked for urgency to move the vote of confidence in you he refused on the ground that he would answer my challenge in writing (to the Executive) Then came Clarke's matter: he read a longish paper with much unction & prodigious enjoyment; accusing nobody but Hyndman; hope & rage really made his style far from bad. Burns, the seconder of expulsion, then spoke with his usual claptrap style: then came ((I think Hy) I think) myself: I spoke very badly but I hope quite plainly: H followed long plausible slimy: finishing by saying he had never attacked any body's private character: I jumped up and gave Glasse's story: his Highness'jaw dropped at that and it obviously made an impression, though he tried to bluster it off & said Glasse must come up to town to prove it, & said that he (H) had heard the story from someone else — (name not given) then came Aveling spoke well as usual: then Champion I think (whom Bax begged in an interruption not to be so sensitive) then Quelch (the Stupid!) then Mahon who gave some nice facts about letters & dates: [ 348 ]

1884 / LETTER N O . 1028 then Williams gave us a rant: H trying to stop h i m (as he well might) then Banner, w h o spoke very badly; then came the division 7 for the expulsion 9 against. M u r r a y w h o was in the chair w o u l d certainly have voted against us if had n o t been. So ends o u r first victory: I have some d o u b t about carrying the motions on Tuesday next: 4 I have just been talking to C o o p e r b u t I have some fear of the effect of H's oratory o n him, t h o u g h he seems to agree with me: if I doubt him at the last I think I will get h i m to stay away. 5 I daresay y o u w o u l d have thought us rather mealymouthed, b u t H k n e w well enough what w e meant — certainly what I meant, he spoke of m e ' m o r e in sorrow than in anger'. We (the cabal) meet at Avelings o n Thursday ( t o m o r r o w ) . 6 N o w I want your. . . . [rest of letter missing]. MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, April 1928, 21-22. Henderson, Letters, 219-20. 1

The immediate issue, at the meeting on December 16 was Hyndman's demand that W. J. Clarke be expelled from the S.D.F. (see letter no. 1022, n. 3). Champion, Quelch, Jack Williams, James Murray, Herbert Burrows, and John Burns supported Hyndman. In opposition, with Morris, were Aveling, Eleanor Marx, Bax, Joseph Lane, Sam Mainwaring (an engineer and member also of the Labour Emancipation League), Robert Banner, and Mahon, who had come to London for the confrontation. See E. P. Thompson, p. 357. 2 In August C. L. Fitzgerald, who was assistant secretary of the S.D F., allegedly wrote to J. Adams, a Glasgow socialist, "throwing suspicions on Scheu's motives and bona fides." Fitzgerald was said also to have written to the Glasgow branch of the S.D.F., declaring "Scheu is not a Socialist, but an anarchist." See E. P. Thompson, 1st ed., p. 407 3 Presumably the letter to Moses McGibbon, dated December 9, denouncing Scheu. See letter no. 1026, n. 4. 4 A renewed executive meeting was called for December 23. See letter no. 1029, n. 2. 5 J. Cooper. In the end, Cooperjoined with Morris. See letter no. 1031, n. 3. 6 At this meeting, Morris and his "cabal" decided to ask Scheu to come to London and appear at the meeting called for December 23 See letter no. 1030.

1028 · T o J A N E M O R R I S

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 18, 1884 Dearest Janey Excuse m e for n o t writing before: I forgot to carry off your address: & since I came back (on Tuesday night) I have had a lot to do; for w h e n I got up n o r t h there I found that H y n d m a n had been behaving so atrociously, that I was determined to stand it n o longer. I got o u r friends together an hour before last Tuesday's meeting, and we agreed to stand b y each other; & at the meeting I opposed h i m in very plain and set terms; so that he could n o t fail to understand that I would have n o m o r e to do with him: the fact is he is a precious rascal: he has been backbiting Scheu u p there, &

[ 349 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

telling mere absurd lies about my dealings with Aveling to Glasse:21 suppose he thought Glasse wouldn't tell me: there was a motion on Tuesday to expel W. J. Clarke, a stupid but honest opponent of H. who(m) had shewn his hand too soon, & whom he was determined to crush in any way foul or fair: I defended poor Clarke, & we outvoted Hyndman by 9- to -7. The question only is now whether we shall go out of the S.D.F or Hyndman: we are now only fighting for the possession of the name and the adherence of the honest people who don't know the ins & outs of the quarrel. On Tuesday next we move confidence in Scheu, and the paper Justice to be handed over to the executive under a joint editorship excluding Hyndman: if these are carried I dont see how the beggar can stay in the Federation.3 AU this is foul work: yet it is a pleasure to be able to say what one thinks at last: and if once we get rid of H I am sure plenty of people will join who (h) now hang back. I hope you are doing pretty well, my dear; except for a slight fit on Monday morning & on Tuesday (as I suppose Miss Bailey told you) Jenny is all right & seems much better in herself. I am off to the anti scrape presently Shall try to see Sanderson on the way & Charley Faulkner afterwards Is my May coming back tomorrow? I want much to see the critter. All about Glasgow & Edinburgh I will tell you when we meet shortly Ruskin was right about Glasgow when he called it the Devils Drawing Room. With best love and also to May I am Yours W. M. MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45338. Published: Henderson, Letters, 220-21. Extract published: CW, 19, xxiv. 1 This letter to Jane seems to have been written before the meeting at Aveling's house as does the letter to Scheu (see letter no. 1029). The second letter to Scheu (no. 1030), written also on December 18, seems to have been written during the meeting, as Morris's reference to Banner's not being present strongly suggests 2 What Morris meant, possibly, was that Hyndman had been telling other people that Aveling was untrustworthy in money matters. One instance of the kind of thing Hyndman was saying, which Morris apparently regarded as gossip at this point, occurred when Hyndman visited Scotland earlier in December. He told Glasse (see letter no. 957, n. 3) that Morris's cashier had refused to accompany Hyndman on the grounds that he would have been compelled throughout the trip to draw checks made out to Aveling. See Bax, p. 109; and Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, p. 118. 3 It was apparently only until the "cabal" met that Morns hoped to stay in the S.D. F. and to expel Hyndman.

[ 350 ]

1884 / L E T T E R N O .

1029 · To

1029

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 18 [1884]

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu Banner says he has written to you to come up to meet the Hyndman infamy: I dont myself think there is any need for it,1 though I should be delighted to see you as you very well know: perhaps even as a matter of policy you had better not be present at the meeting but I leave that to you, as I don't think it greatly matters now war is declared: I believe you may trust me to speak out next Tuesday. 2 I send you the Hammersmith card.3 Friend Walker4 is delighted at the shaking off of Hyndman, and I hear on all sides that this is likely to be the case widely. on the other hand I find Clarke is not liked: but I shall stand up for him & try to shove him into his right place, an organizer on the smaller scale, & keep him there. I found a letter of Mavor's 5 at home with his address James Mavor 134 St. Vincent St Glasgow. I am going to put the spur into Aveling's side this evening by telling him one or two things he doesn't know, or I think not. 6 From what Mahon says I don't think I did wrong to speak temperately on Tuesday last; it seems to have had a good effect in some quarters; (and it was) it was like a man compelled by his conscience to attack an old associate, dont you see: however I musn't write as if I were defending myself, for I feel sure you would have approved if you had been there. I feel ever so much better from having relieved myself of the burden which was on my mind: what a pleasure not to have to shake hands with H again: in haste Your affectionate friend William Morris (P.S. I am writing now to Carpenter also Taylor). 7 MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, April 1928, 22-23; Henderson, Letters, 221. 1

Morris changed his mind by evening, when the "cabal" met at the Avehngs' house. See letter no. 1030. 2 Although Morris clearly, in this letter (written presumably m the morning or afternoon of December 18) indicates that he and his associates hoped to stay in S.D.F. and expel Hyndman, it is quite possible that by the evening of December 18, when the "cabal" met at Aveling's house, a decision to quit the S.D.F , leave the organization to Hyndman, and form a new body as well as launch a new periodical, was made. Writing to Joynes on December 25 (see letter no 1032), Morris strongly suggests that this plan was adopted before December

[ 351 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

23. In saying that he and his faction have decided to form a new body and start a new paper, he implies that they so concluded before the debate of the twenty-third, which would not "even have been held . . . but that we felt bound to vindicate our line of conduct and to clear Scheu" of Hyndman's charges. Eleanor Marx, writing to her sister, Laura Lafargue (18451911), says that the decision to leave the S.D.F. was taken "after due consultation with Engels." (See Tsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, p. 120.) 3 It is possible that Morris refers to the new card designed for the Socialist League that came into being on December 30, 1884. It is more likely, however, that Morris has sent Scheu a card signifying membership in the Hammersmith Branch of the S.D.F. because, presumably, Scheu would need this identification in order to vote with the Hammersmith Branch at the annual conference. 4 See letter no. 1001, η 5. 5 See letter no. 1025, n. 1. 6 See letter no. 1028, n. 2. 7 See letter no. 1000, η. 3.

1030

· T o ANDREAS SCHEU

December 18,

1884

Dear Scheu We are now sitting in Council and have resolved that you must attend the Council at Palace Chambers on Tuesday next. You must leave Edinburgh on Monday night, to arrive here on Tues­ day morning. You then proceed to Morris' house, and stay there untill evening when you meet us here (Avelings house) before the Council meets. You are not to tell anyone in Edinburgh (hat you are coming. And you are not to let anyone here know that you are coming; except whatever an­ swer you send to this. Hyndman and Fitzgerald will (meet) answer your charges in writing 1 — so be prepared for every possible contingency. Banner cannot be present tonight but he fully agrees with us. William Morris (shall be delighted to see you and quite agree)2 E. Belfort Bax W. J. Clarke. Eleanor Marx Aveling. Edward Aveling. Sam Mainwaring J Lane John L Mahon 55 Great Russell St, London W. C.

[ 352 ]

1884 I L E T T E R N O .

1031

MS: IISH. Published: Socialist Review, April 1928, 23; Henderson, Letters, 222. 1 Scheu had accused both men of writing derogatory letters about him to the Glasgow Branch of the S.D.F. See letter no. 1026, n. 4; and letter no. 1029, n. 2. 2 This letter is not in Morris's handwriting, but it carries his signature.

1031 · T o

GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Kelmscott House December 24, 1884

My merry Christmas is like to be enlivened by a scene or two at all events. Last night came off to the full as damned as I expected, which seldom happens: and the worst of it is that the debate is adjourned till Saturday, 1 as we couldn't sit any later than midnight yesterday. It was a piece of degradation, only illumined by Scheu's really noble and skilful defence of his character against Hyndman: all the rest was a mere exposition of backbiting, mixed with some melancholy and to me touching examples of faith. However, Saturday I will be out of it. 2 Our lot agreed beforehand, being I must say moved by me, that it is not worth fighting for the name of the S.D.F. and the sad remains of'Justice' at the expense of a month or two of wrangling: so as Hyndman considers the S.D.F. his property, let him take it and make what he can of it, and try if he can really make up a bogie of it to frighten the Government, which I really think is about all his scheme; and we will begin again quite clean-handed to try the more humdrum method of quiet propaganda, and start a new paper of our own. The worst of the new body, as far as I am concerned, is that for the present at least I have to be editor of the paper, which I by no means bargained for, but it seems nobody else will do. 3 I went to Chesterfield and saw Carpenter on Monday and found him very sympathetic and sensible at the same time. I listened with longing heart to his account of his patch of ground, seven acres: he says that he and his fellow can almost live on it: they grow their own wheat, and send flowers and fruit to Chesterfield and Sheffield markets: all that sounds very agreeable to me. 4 It seems to me that the real way to enjoy life is to accept all its necessary ordinary details and turn them into pleasures by taking interest in them: whereas modern civilization huddles them out of the way, has them done in a venal and slovenly manner till they become real drudgery which people can't help trying to avoid. Whiles I think, as in a vision, of a decent community as a refuge from our mean squabbles and corrupt society; but I am too old now, even if it were not dastardly to desert. TEXT: Mackail II, 127-28. Published: Henderson, Letters, 222-23.

[ 353 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS 1 Scheu was present at the renewed executive meeting on December 23, and "a vote of confidence in him and of no confidence in Hyndman was hotly discussed" but "without decision." SeeTsuzuki, Hyndman, p. 66. 2 See letter no. 1035. 3 The new body was to be the Socialist League (S.L.), and the paper, Commonweal. Among those who left with Morris to form the S. L. were Edward Aveling, Eleanor MarxAvehng, Belfort Bax, Robert Banner, J. Cooper, W.J. Clarke, Joseph Lane, J. L. Mahon, and Samuel Mainwaring. As for Commonweal, the first issue appeared in February 1885; Aveling was sub-editor. 4 See letter no. 983, n. 3.

1032 · T o JAMES LEIGH JOYNES

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith Christmas Day, 1884 My dear Joynes 1 I think myself bound to write to you and give you my views about what is now passing in the S.D.F. I know very well how averse you are to anything like dissension, but also, (and that I think naturally goes with such an aversion) that you are thoroughly fair minded and will do credit to my single-heartedness in the matter. You left matters in the S.D.F. in a very discouraging condition, perhaps more so than you who had not been living amongst us could quite see:2 the arraignment of W. J. Clarke the beginning of which you were witness of (I think) was only an indication of very serious differences amongst us, which, as of course you know, have been working ever since the August Conference: Hyndman's conduct after that as to the chairmanship matter made it clear to me that he wanted to have the S.D.F. under his own controul, for whatever reasons; that of course seemed to me a thing to be resisted; but I confess that I shrunk from moving in the matter, partly perhaps from a selfish dislike of quarrels, (or any worse name you may choose to give it) but partly also I think from a strong desire to keep the party together if possible: I persuaded myself (there is no other phrase) that the breach might be mended and that we might go on with our work in spite of personal dislike between some of us (not me): Well, the Aveling matter came next and that made of course distinct enmity between Hyndman and the Aveling's: 3 it did not come to extremity as you know, but I was determined, though I said nothing about it to resist to the utmost A's expulsion even to the lengths of resigning my position if necessary. All this time also Hyndman was speaking against Scheu to me, so that I began to see that on that side also the dissension was vigorously alive. H also (joined) together with Champion & Frost,4 had got a story (of which I can tell you more in detail if you wish) of the forging of a letter from a French Socialist by Mrs. A. which seemed to me quite unfounded and ridicu[ 354 ]

1884 I LETTER N O . 1032

lous. 5 1 now think I ought to have insisted on this charge being made publicly; but of course if it had been, the whole quarrel would have burst out, and once more I dreaded it, still trying to persuade myself that the wounds might skin over. Now there were all this time again sorenesses against the conduct of the paper 'Justice,' which were irritating the quarrel; and the question was stirred as to the controul of the Executive (abou) over it: I thought as I still think that the claim of controul was obviously reasonable, but H. was determined to resist it: I thought perhaps the dispute on that point might be put off till the next annual Conference, if H would make some concession at once; but the concession (of which you spoke to me that Sunday evening) really came to next to nothing, 6 and once more I saw clearly that he intended to keep controul over it: all the more as he had been rather pressing me to give up my money support of it. Now all this brings us to the quarrel over Clarke which came on at a time when we were quite honeycombed with distrust and jealousies: I thought that though Clarke made a poor show of it that first Tuesday7 he had been unfairly treated, and determined to vote for him at the next meeting: when I left for Edinburgh & Glasgow after that, I thought that we were coming to the final quarrel; but though I knew that when it came off I should be obliged to act as far as I did act against Hyndman, I did not know what part I should take in it. But when I got to Glasgow I found that H had deliberately attacked Scheu by letter to the new branch there, 8 with wh: S had been in (conference) negotiations for getting them to affiliate with or through the Edinburgh branch. Scheu will himself tell you his story about this matter: I need only say that the charges though exactly calculated to (take) destroy all confidence in Scheu in the minds of those people who did not know his side of the question, were trumpery as well as substantially untrue; and that the spectacle of the discord so deliberately sown among these new recruits fairly swept away all doubt in my mind as to what was necessary to be done: I saw that the dispute must come off, and that it must be fought out on the true grounds namely resistance to H's absolutism. I came up to London on the Tuesday evening9 and, after a hurried conference with malcontents, went to the meeting. Clarke this time defended himself on the true grounds of opposition to Hyndman and his expulsion was nay-said by 8 votes to 7: and I in my report of the Glasgow business & also in speaking in favour of Clarke said plainly what I thought of Hyndman's conduct: the letter from the Edinburgh branch attacking the conduct of Justice was read, (which letter I must say would in any case have brought on the whole quarrel) and we were thenceforward two and not one. All this is, doubtless, lamentable & discouraging, but at the worst it is not as bad as the state of distrust we have been living in: and I am sure that \ 355 1

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

the split was unavoidable: Hyndman can accept only one position in such a body as the S.D.F. that of master: some may think that position on his part desirable; I don't, and I cannot stand it. You must not suppose that this is a matter of mere personal likes and dislikes: the causes lie much deeper than that. H. has been acting throughout (to my mind) as a politician determined to push his own advantage (if you please along with that of the party) always on the look out for anything which could advertise the party he is supposed to lead: his aim has been to make the movement seem big; to frighten the powers that be with a turnip bogie which perhaps he almost believes in himself: hence all that insane talk of immediate forcible revolution, when we know that the workers in England are not even touched by the movement; hence the founding of branches which melt away into mere names, the neglect of organization for fruitless agitation; and, worst of all, hence discreditable intrigue and sowing of suspicion among those who are working for the party. Amidst such elements as this 1 cannot & will not work, and they are the only elements amongst which H. will work: I and those that agree with me therefore could only stay in the body as Hyndman's agents or as members engaged in perpetual conflict with him: and remember that in spite of the abolition of the perpetual or annual chairmanship: he has in his hands at present the means of manipulating the body: he has the paper of which he is Editor, through Fitzgerald his henchman almost, he has the secretaryship and the means of controuling the branches: Champion indeed thinks he can turn him his way; but to speak plainly I think it is just the other way. In short he made the Federation, and it must be either his property or be in revolt against him: we say let him keep his property with all its 'increment' 'earned' & 'unearned'; but we won't be a part of it. On Saturday when the adjourned debate on the vote of confidence in Scheu, & want of confidence in H comes off we walk out whatever happens, and have made up our minds to form a new body & have another paper (if we can):10 we would not even have held the debate of last Tuesday and Saturday next but that we felt bound to vindicate our line of conduct, and to clear Scheu of the most unjust aspersions which had been cast on him. I may say in passing that Scheu came up from Edinburgh to be present on Tuesday and defended himself triumphantly in a very noble speech. Now I sum up and end this long, & to you as well as to me, distressing letter. We do not trust Hyndman; we think he would lead us into a policy of adventure as I have heard Scheu call it: we think that at present there is but one thing to do, propagandism of our principles by direct means: we see that there is an unhealable breach between Hyndman & his party and us, (partly be) because his politician-nature will assuredly develope into open difference of aims. What is the use of pretending to work together then?

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1884 I LETTER N O . 1032

No one can see clearer than I do the drawbacks of an open split and I claim to have done my best to prevent it, but after all a sham union is still worse: (there I think) on the other hand though I think you will believe me when I say I am utterly free from ambition as the word is generally understood, I cannot merely stand out of the movement; I feel myself forced in the teeth of all kinds of discomfort, & even shame perhaps, to do my best in it. Therefore I heartily concur in our purpose of starting a new party-or­ ganization and don't hesitate to ask you to join us and write in our paper: 11 however small a body we may form, we are at least on a new basis of mu­ tual trust among ourselves, and I believe we are firmly resolved to check any personal ambition at once, and if at any time we have anything one against the other to bring it at once before the Council without letting it grow into intrigue and enmity. I was angry with my friend I told my wrath my wrath did end: I was angry with my foe; I told it not: my wrath did grow (Blake) The members of the Executive who are with us are 2 Avelings, Banner, Bax, Clarke, Lane, Mainwaring, Cooper, Morris. Carpenter also agrees with us, & is not discouraged at the split. 12 1 hope to hear from you soon: I will answer any questions and shall not be offended at the plainest speak­ ing from you. I am My dear Joynes Yours very truly William Morris MS: BL, Add. MSS. 45345. Published- MM, II, 587-92. 1

See letter no. 943, n. 6. Joynes had withdrawn from the executive because of ill health and Mahon had been elected in his place. See E. P. Thompson, 1st ed., p. 414, n. 1. 3 See letter no. 1022, notes 3 and 5. 4 See letters no. 923, n. 5, and no. 991, η 5. 5 In November 1884 the executive had begun to prepare, against Hyndman's opposition, for an International Socialist Conference to be held in London in the spring of 1885 (it was never held). The plan had generated bitter quarrels, and probably in connection with it, Hyndman had "received two mysterious letters from the same person in Paris but in differ­ ent hands." He was convinced that these letters had been forged by Eleanor Marx and her sister Laura Lafargue (who was the wife of Paul Lafargue, a leader of the French revolution­ ary Marxists) in order to entice him over to Pans. See Tzsuzuki, Eleanor Marx, p. 119. 6 In the dispute over Justice, Hyndman had suggested that the executive might go on rec­ ord as disagreeing with a particular issue. He was also ready to step down as editor in favor of any man "we all trust," or to see the paper stopped altogether. But he would not agree to the right of editorial veto by the executive, a proposal that he believed had been inspired by 2

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MORRIS

Aveling and Eleanor Marx. See Hyndman's letters to Morris, November 27 and December 8, 1884, BL, Add. MSS. 45345. 7 At the meeting of the executive on December 9. See letter no. 1022. 8 See letter no. 1026, n. 4. 9 December 16. See letter no. 1027, n. 1. 10 See letters no. 1034, n. 2, and no. 1035. 11 Joynes did contribute an article, "Hopeless Toil," but it was not until the June 1885 issue of Commonweal (p. 43). 12 Carpenter accepted the split but was not happy about it. See letter no. 1040.

1033 · T o

EMMA SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 26, 1884

Dearest Mother I hope you won't think it unkind of me not to have written before as I knew Jenny was writing: I have had a very unusual amount of work of a very tiresome kind the last week, and really have not had a minute to write, and yesterday I was (to) quite fagged and obliged to rest. However I am really quite well. I was up in Scotland a few days ago at Edinburgh & Glasgow: I was very well received there: but Glasgow is a terrible place and the weather was very rough. Also I am sorry to say that there is great distress there as the ship-building is at present quite stopped. I was 4 days away in all, & slept 3 nights in Edinburgh, going a long walk one day down to Granton & Newhaven; there were 3 or 4 fish-wives in the omnibus coming up from there, dressed in their proper costume with jackets of bright coloured chintz which looked really nice. Certainly Edinburgh is a very grand place; I mean as to surroundings. I had to go on business to Chesterfield on Monday, but had no time to think of calling at Clay Cross. 1 A queer dingy place it looked did Chesterfield. When the days begin to turn & get a little longer I will make a point of coming down to see you for an evening. We have had a very quiet Xmas day; most of our friends being out of town; only one visitor came in in the afternoon. Goodbye dearest mother with best love to all: I hope you keep well this cold weather: however if we get through the winter with no worse weather we shall do well: we have a dull sort of day today. Goodbye again Dearest Mother Your most affectionate Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow. 1 See letter no. 942, n. 3.

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1884 I LETTER N O . 1034

1034 · To

GEORGIANA BURNE-JONES

Merton Abbey December 28, 1884

Saturday evening did see the end.1 We began at 6 and ended at 10.30. I don't think it would interest you to go through the affair in detail, and to say the truth I am so sick of it that I don't think I could write it all down. There was a good deal of speaking, mostly on their side, for Hyndman had brought up supporters, who spouted away without the least understanding what the quarrel was about. It finished by H. making a long and clever and lawyer-like speech: all of which, as in the House of Commons, might just as well have been left out, as either side had made up their minds how to vote from the first. Accordingly we voted, the result was as expected, ten to eight, majority of two on our side. Whereon I got up and after a word or two of defence of my honour, honesty, and all that, which had been somewhat torn ragged in the debate, I read our resignation from the paper prepared thereto, and we solemnly walked out. This seemed to produce what penny-a-liners call 'a revulsion of feeling', and most of the other side came round me and assured me that they had the best opinion of me and didn't mean all those hard things: poor little Williams cried heartily and took a most affectionate farewell of us. Of course we did right to resign; the alternative would have been a general meeting, and after a month's squabble for the amusement of the rest of the world that cared to notice us, would have landed us first in deadlock and ultimately where we are now, two separate bodies. This morning I hired very humble quarters for the Socialist League, and authorized the purchase of the due amount of Windsor chairs and a kitchen table: so there I am really once more like a young bear with all my troubles before me. We meet to inaugurate the League to-morrow evening.2 There now, I really don't think I have strength to say anything more about the matter just now. I find my room here and a view of the winter garden, with the men spreading some pieces of chintz on the bleaching ground, somewhat of a consolation. But I promise myself to work as hard as I can in the new body, which I think will be but a small one for some time to come. TEXT: Mackail, II, 129-30. Published: Henderson, Letters, 223-24. 1

See letter no. 1035. See also letter no. 1039. In his letter to Scheu of December 28, 1884 (see letter no. 1035), Morris says that he and the others who resigned from the S.D.F. intend to meet on "Tuesday evening" (i.e., December 30) "to inaugurate the Socialist League." It is possible therefore that either he or Mackail misdated this letter and that it was written, in fact, on December 29. 2

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1035 · To

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 28, 1884

ANDREAS SCHEU

My dear Scheu We didn't get done till quite 10.30: too late therefore to wire. The result was 10 to 8 majority of 2 for us: Hyndman not voting but Quelch the chairman allowed to vote. Burrows 1 was there voting against us. I got up after the vote and after a very few words read a written paper of resignation signed by all the 10 much to the astonishment of the Hyndmans. H. had packed the room with his adherents who were very noisy: people who were not on the executive spoke all on Hyndman's side: Suter2 amongst others made a tirade of balderdash in the true debating society style. Champion spoke well enough, but quite off the point; interrupted by Bax 'Very smart, but not argument.' Burrows made a disgraceful speech — what we have done for the Cause — before you came in, & c ; and incited to personal violence against Mahon. Burrows is a bad beast, the worst of the H party. Banner spoke badly and not much to the point; the Taylor letter3 no good. Mainwaring 4 began well, but rather broke down: Lane spoke clearly sensibly & damagingly. Aveling spoke short & well: then up gets my great man, after Quelch had got up to call me many bad names (water off a duck's back) up gets H and delivers a crafty & effective speech mostly lies in form all lies in substance — Burns was as usual after the voting friendly enough in appearance: the resignation was unexpected, & seemed to win us favour: poor little Williams cried heartily afterwards & took an affectionate farewell of me: I really think he is an innocent: what a rascal a man must be to delude such innocents! H's party had loudly called on a general meeting, & H himself said point blank that he would not go out how many so ever votes were given against him: so you see even Bax had to allow that we were quite right to go. Well, all that is 'ancient history now.' As to modern history: Aveling summoned me to go up to Engels on Saturday important business: I was uncomfortable rather wondering what it was. 5 Aveling told me it was about the 'Commonweal', that Engels thought we should have no chance of carrying on a weekly, & had better try a monthly at first at any rate. Aveling seemed rather inclined to stick to the weekly. I saw Engels who said that we were weak in political knowledge & journalistic skill, and that we should find it very difficult to carry on a weekly paper really well, without stuffing it with rubbish and so on. I must confess that though I don't intend to give way to Engels his advice is valuable; and on this point I am enclined to agree: all the more as I dont see where the money is to

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1884 / LETTER N O . 1035

come from for a weekly, unless we sell a great many more than Justice: and I am sure we could make a monthly 2 d or 3 d paper not magazine very good, and it would be worth doing on the understanding that it was to lead to a weekly one. You see we are in a poorish condition just after a split; I see clearly that we shall not at first get many adherents among the branches and we shall have to work very hard at other things besides the paper; and I do dread having to drop the weekly, whereas I am sure we could carry on the monthly. I am afraid you will be dissappointed at this, and I want to have your opinion: at any rate please dont think it is laziness on my part, for I assure you I will in any case do my very best to push things on. Any thing you write about the paper or things in general I had better read at our meeting — Again I repeat we are safe with a monthly even if our progress as an organization be slow; with a weekly it would be always doubtful: let's try the monthly first. I havn't heard from Carpen­ ter again: I hope 'tis all right with him still:6 he said he was coming up at the end of the year so I expect to see him in a day or two. Mahon has found temporary premises 7 for us & we intend meeting there on Tuesday eve­ ning to inaugurate the Socialist League. I will never tell you in my letters that I am in bad spirits even when I am. But in truth I am now in good fair working spirits; not very sanguine but quite determined and not at all de­ jected. I hope you were not quite knocked up by your journey Good luck — Yours affectionately William Morris A line as soon as you can conveniently MS: HSH. Published: Socialist Review, April 1928, 23-24; Henderson, Letters, 224-26. 1

See letter no. 689, n. 4. Possibly Francis William Soutter (1844-1932), editor of the Radical. See his autobiogra­ phy, Recollections of a Labour Pioneer (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1923). 3 See letter no. 1000, η 3. 4 Sam Mainwaring (1841-1907). Born in Wales, he was an engineer and member of the Amalgamated Engineers' Union. He also helped to found the Labour Emancipation League. Later he became an "anarcho-syndicalist,' a term that he invented, according to his biogra­ pher, Ken John. 5 This is the first reference to Engels in Morris's letters, and the whole matter of their re­ lationship has to be put in the form of a question that is both important and difficult to an­ swer One intriguing part of the question is what role Engels played in the split Eleanor Marx says he was consulted (see letter no. 1029, n. 2.), but it is not clear whether anyone in the S.D. F. other than she and Aveling actually saw him during the early part of December 1884. Morris and Engels, however, did meet in the months preceding the split. On Novem­ ber 8 Engels wrote to Karl Kautsky. "At five o'clock Aveling and Tussy are coming, and at seven o'clock Morris wants to have a long conference with m e " (Meier, I, 231). This meet­ ing, if it took place, must have been at least cordial, for there seems to have been a second 2

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LETTERS OF WILLIAM

MORRIS

one soon, on November 23 Engels wrote to Laura Lafargue. "Morris . . was here the other night and quite delighted to find the Old Norse Edda on my table — he is an Icelandic enthusiast" (Engels-Lafargue, p. 245). Finally Meier, drawing—from Eleanor Marx's statement that Engels was "consulted"—an inference about where the decision to leave the S.D.F. was made, writes: "The decision to leave the S.D.F was taken a few days before the council meeting on the 27th of December during a meeting of the opposition at Engels' house" (Meier, I, 231). If true, this would also suggest that Morris, like Eleanor Marx and Aveling, accepted Engels as a guide at this point. And, on the very day of the split, writing to Edouard Bernstein, Engels said that Aveling, Morris, and Bax were "the only honest men among the intellectuals [in the S.D.F ] — but men as unpractical (two poets and one philosopher) as you could possibly find. . . They want to act in the London branches; they hope to win the majority and then let Hyndman carry on with his nonexistent provincial branches. Their organ will be a little monthly journal. Finally, they will work on a modest scale, in proportion to their forces, and no longer act as though the English proletariat were bound to act as soon as a few intellectuals became converted to Socialism and sounded their call" (The Labour Monthly, 15 [October 1933], 649). This essentially approving tone, however, dropped out of Engels' comments about Morris sometime during the next two years, and his letter to Laura Lafargue, September 13, 1886, in effect dismisses Morris as a socialist who cannot be taken seriously Engels wrote: "Had several visits from Bax and one from Morris lately. . . Morris is a settled sentimental Socialist; he would be easily managed if one saw him regularly, a couple of times a week, but who has the time to do it, and if you drop him for a month, he is sure to lose himself again. And is he worth all the trouble even if one had the time?" (Engels-Lafargue, p. 370. Meier believes that the meeting to which Engels referred in this letter was the last between the two. See Meier, I, 236.) Nevertheless, Engels seems to have retained some good will for Morris as a person, if not as a socialist, for in 1887 when the English translation of The Position of the Working Class in England was published in the United States, he sent Morris an inscribed copy. There is also, finally, the recollection of Edouard Bernstein, which, however accurate as an analysis, is interesting enough to include here. "William Morris . . was, up to the time of the schism, an occasional visitor to Engels' house, and Engels always spoke of him with respect, but they never became intimate. The principal reason was this, that Morris was the central star of a circle of his own" (Meier, I, 230). These words cast Morris in a remarkably strong light vis-a-vis Engels. One might doubt, however, that Morris ever consciously saw himself as a rival of Engels — at least as a socialist theorist It is more likely that Morris was aware of Engels' dismissal of him as a serious political thinker and figure, had no desire or intention to match his own prowess in these areas with that of Engels, and finally withdrew from what for him was an uncomfortable relationship He wanted neither to compete with Engels nor to defer to him; nor probably was he able to be—even if he had wanted to—the kind of socialist who would have won Engels' approval. Specifically, Engels' assumption that socialists should use Parliament and unions must have made Morris increasingly resistant to his ideas. More important, I believe a difference in mind and temperament that went beyond these issues, significant as they probably were in discussions, finally divided the two men. (On this last point, see also E. P. Thompson, "Postscript: 1976".) 6 Morris's hope that "'tis allnght with Carpenter" is meant to express his concern about whether Carpenter approved of the walkout from the S.D.F. by himself and others. See letter no. 1040. 7 Morns refers to 27, Farrmgdon Street, the headquarters of the Socialist League.

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1884 I LETTER N O . 1036 1036 · To JOHN CARRUTHERS

Kelmscott House,

Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 28, 1884 Dear Mr. Carruthers, 1 I venture to address a few words to you as an important member of our branch, and as a thoughtful and fair minded person (I am sure) about the unhappy split which has (practically) taken place in our ranks, and which possibly you may have heard something about. I find myself after working in the S.D.F. now for two years, or nearly so, in opposition to Mr Hyndman, and, which to me is more grievous, also opposed to men like Mr Champion of whose singleness of purpose I neither had nor have the slightest doubt. I do not propose to go into the history of the quarrel in this letter; on Wednesday week I shall ask our branch to decide between the two parties,2 for such unluckily we have become, and I hope you can come to help us with your advice on that occasion:31 only want to point out to you the nature of the dispute, and if you pleased I could call on you any evening this week except Tuesday and carry on the explanation in an hour's talk. It seems to me that the unfortunate spirit of political ambition has led Mr Hyndman to attempt to carry on beyond the due period of leadingstrings the absolute authority which at first might have been desirable in the Federation whose founder he certainly was: when I first knew of the Fed: it really almost consisted of Mr. H. and a few agents of his working under his directions: but then independent men came into it who worked very heartily in the cause, and who could not submit to be under this despotism: Mr. H. I think ought to have shown his devotion to the cause at this point by accepting what was surely an improved state of things willingly and gracefully, and becoming simply an influential member of the Council: but unfortunately he has on the contrary been so overbearing that he has driven useful men into opposition to him, and then has attacked them as his enemies: it would seem as if he could take no place in the organization save that of master. This, with the intrigues, which were the necessary consequences of it have within the last fortnight brought things to a crisis; and I myself in spite of months of struggles to keep out of it have been obliged to take a side: after stormy meetings last Tuesday and the Tuesday before, on Saturday we the malcontents carried a vote of want of confidence against Mr Hyndman by a narrow majority: but knowing that the conflict might be kept on for a long time, and thinking that after all it would only land us in a deadlock we (having shown our reasons for our discontent by the 3 nights debate) resigned our places on the Council in a body, 10 of us, because we felt that a wrangle of months perhaps would be a sorry spectacle to offer to the bourgeois world. But [ 363 ]

LETTERS OF WILLIAM MORRIS

having given way so far because we felt that we could not work any longer in the element of suspicion and enmity that has of late existed in the Federation, we cannot give way so far as to remain idle in the contest with the plutocrats, but have determined to start a new body, which I hope will not be at enmity with the S.D. F.4 but which will have somewhat different tactics; perhaps in a sense somewhat different aims. For I must ask you to consider the quarrel I am speaking of as not chiefly a personal one, in spite of its unhappy personal incidents. That political ambition aforesaid has I think driven the S.D.F. into somewhat showy tactics: we have neglected the educational for the agitational: have founded branches and not looked after them; have preached to unlucky lack-alls who could not understand anything except that they were nearly starving, and whom we cannot set to any useful work in the cause in the present state of things; we have hinted threats of forcible revolution which are merely ludicrous at present, since as yet there is no movement among the workers, bitterly as many intelligent people feel the idiocy of the plutocratic system: in a word we have been theatrical, and have advertised ourselves into a notoriety which has no proportion to our numbers or organization.5 I say we advisedly for I admit that I have helped in all this, through inexperience, I think: since I know I am not ambitious, and hope I am not a fool. In a new body beginning clean from personal ambition determined to check any beginnings of it and trusting in each others singleness of purpose, I think we might do better: we who now are trying to begin again believe that our immediate aim should be chiefly educational: to teach ourselves and others what the due social claims of labour are, and how they can be advanced and sustained, with the view to dealing with the crisis if it should come in our day, or of handing on the tradition of our hope to others if we should die before it comes: In short to make Socialists however slowly for the permeation of the society in which we live. I can imagine how repulsive any party or faction fights must be to you: I can only say that they are to me also, and that nothing short of compulsion would have driven me into this one: being in it I can't help asking you for your help and countenance; especially as I don't think it is at all necessary for us to take up a position of hostility to the elder body. Awaiting an answer from you that would give me an opportunity of seeing you before our branch meeting (Wednesday week) and asking your pardon for troubling you with this long letter. I am Dear Mr. Carruthers Yours faithfully William Morris [ 364 ]

1884 / L E T T E R N O . 1037 TEXT: MM, II, 592-95. 1

See letter no. 1007, n. 1. The Hammersmith Branch of the S.D.F. became a branch of the Socialist League. See letter no. 1048, n. 2. 3 Carruthers is not listed as present in the minutes of the January 7 meeting. 4 Although Hyndman's recollection was that the "Socialist League and the Commonweal fought on against [the S.D.F.] up to 1892," the Socialist League collaborated with the S.D.F. on occasion before that. See Hyndman, p. 331; but also see letters no. 1133, n. 1; and no. 1227. 5 Morris seems here to parallel Engels' view of the record of the S.D F. See letter no. 1035, n. 5. 2

1037 · T o EMMA

SHELTON MORRIS

Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith December 31, 1884

Dearest Mother I just write a line to wish you a happy new year and to give you my love, as also to the other ones. I have no extra news I think: there was a fire in Chiswick last night; but I suppose not such a big one as there was about a month ago when a big timber yard burnt up in the dead of night lighting up everything far and near:1 only luckily the wind being from the N nothing else caught fire except a barge or two on the river. Chiswick is still a pretty place so I hope none of the old houses are burned. All well at Merton & business pretty good considering how dull trade is in general. I have a cold too; in fact I think we all have — otherwise we are all well. Best love again dearest Mother and all blessings through the year.2 Your loving Son William Morris MS: Walthamstow. 1 The Times, November 14, 1884, reported (p. 5) a fire at Messrs. ShepardandCo., timber merchants of Chiswick, that lighted up "the whole course of the river from Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes." 2 It might be worth noting that Morris avoided discussing his socialist activities and difficulties when writing his mother: there is no reference in word or tone in this letter to the inauguration of the Socialist League the previous day (December 30), culminating two weeks of momentous and strenuous political conflict for Morris.

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