Passages of a Working Life during Half a Century
Chapter IX
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CHAPTER IX.
THE amended Reform Bill was passing through Committee in the
House of Commons in February, 1832. There seemed to be little doubt that a Ministerial
majority would be too strong in the Lower House to allow any re-actionary measure in the
House of Lords to be successful. The new Government officials were settling themselves to
the discharge of their administrative duties as if a long and quiet possession of place had
been won. On the 13th of February, I received a note from Lord
Auckland, the President of the Board of Trade, expressing his desire for a
few minutes’ conversation with me in the course of the afternoon. The interview was a
very brief one, but its importance to me was not to be measured by its duration. The
Cabinet Minister offered me a new office, which it was proposed to create at the Board of
Trade, for digesting and arranging Parliamentary and other official documents for the
information of members of the Government, and possibly for publication. This duty would
have involved a regular attendance at Whitehall; the salary proposed was not a tempting
one; but the offer seemed to open the way for a more ambitious career than that of a
publisher. I requested time for deliberation. Having consulted a distinguished friend, he
advised me to decline the ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 179 |
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proposal, however flattering.
Lord Auckland was surprised but not displeased at my rejection of
his kind overture. He asked me to recommend some gentleman fitted for the post. There was
one with whom I had recently formed an acquaintance, Mr.
George Richardson Porter. He had written a paper on Life Assurance for the
“Companion to the
Almanac,” and he was the author of a volume on the Silk Manufacture, published
in Lardner’s “Cyclopædia.” Mr. Porter
received the appointment. The experiment was perfectly successful, and much of its success
may be attributed to the ability and industry of him whom, so fortunately for the public
good, I had recommended. Mr. Porter became the head of the statistical
department of the Board of Trade, and in 1841 he was promoted to be one of the
joint-secretaries of that board. Till the time of his lamented death in 1852, we were
mutually attached friends, and he was one of the most valuable contributors to several of
my publications.
Had I accepted the appointment of the Board of Trade in that February, it is
probable that the whole course of my future life would have been changed. It was upon the
cards that either I should have been sitting in an office at Whitehall from ten till four,
cramming Ministers and Members of Parliament with statistical facts, or become identified
with the most successful experiment in popular literature that England had seen. On March
31st, 1832, appeared the first number of “The Penny
Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.”
In a debate in the House of Commons on the 22nd of May, 1834, on a motion
for the Repeal of the ![]()
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Stamp Duty on Newspapers, Mr. M. D. Hill, then member for Hull, in reply to Mr. Bulwer who moved the Repeal, thus described the origin of
that work: “The Honourable Gentleman was pleased to characterize ‘The Penny Magazine,’ as affording a
trumpery education to the people, because he says it deals in accounts of birds and
insects, and such matters. I certainly was a little astonished to find my Honourable
Friend scout an insight into the wonders of creation, as a trumpery affair. I should be
sorry if his designation of that little work were correct, because the blame of its
existence rests with myself, it being a project of my own; neither am I innocent of the
course it has pursued; which from first to last has had, and still has, my hearty
concurrence.” The circumstances connected with this “project”
were these. The town in that time of political excitement abounded with unstamped weekly
publications, which in some degree came under the character of contraband newspapers, and
were nearly all dangerous in principle and coarse in language. Mr.
Hill and I were neighbours on Hampstead Heath, and as we walked to town on a
morning of the second week in March, our talk was of these cheap and offensive
publications. “Let us,” he exclaimed, “see what something cheap
and good can accomplish! Let us have a Penny Magazine!” “And what
shall be its title?” said I. “The Penny Magazine.” We went at once to the Lord Chancellor. He cordially entered into the project. A
committee of the Society was called, and such a publication was decided upon after some
hesitation. There was a feeling amongst a few that a penny weekly sheet would be below the
dignity of the ![]()
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Society. One gentleman of the old Whig school, who had
not originally belonged to the Committee, said again and again, “It is very
awkward.” Lord Brougham, however, was not accustomed to
let awkward things stand much in his way. “The Penny
Magazine” was decided upon. I undertook the risk of the publication, and
was appointed to be its editor. The task was not a very easy one in the onset, for it was
impossible to say, before the issue of a few numbers, whether the periodical sale would be
twenty thousand or a hundred thousand, and whether a large demand would be a permanent one.
It was therefore necessary to have a due regard to economy; and thus the attraction of
expensive woodcuts could scarcely be ventured upon in the early days of the experiment. It
was imperative also to proceed very cautiously in treading near the ill-defined line that
separated the essayist from the newspaper writer. I have a letter before me from the
Solicitor of Stamps, in which he says he has perused the specimen numbers (1 and 2) of the
Magazine intended to be published by the Society, and that he sees nothing in these numbers
that will render the publication liable to stamp duty. So I went confidently to my work.
Perhaps no circumstance gave me greater encouragement than a letter from Francis Place, who knew more about the working classes,
and had probably more influence with them, than any man in London. He describes his
pleasure at seeing the prospectus. He begs me to let him have a quantity, which he would
cause “to be usefully dispersed in the houses of call for journeymen, in
workshops, and factories.” Mr. Place united to his
business of master-tailor, at Charing Cross, an intense devotion ![]()
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to
all the leading questions of politics that had been agitating the world since the time of
the French Revolution. His collection of contemporary pamphlets was as extensive and
complete as any man could have formed. I believe it was dispersed at his death, but it
ought to have gone to the British Museum.
The excellent Dr. Arnold, some months
after the “Penny Magazine” had
appeared, described it as “all ramble-scramble.” It was meant to be
so—to touch rapidly and lightly upon many subjects. In the introductory article of the
first number, I wrote: “Whatever tends to enlarge the range of observation, to add
to the store of facts, to awaken the reason, and to lead the imagination into agreeable
and innocent trains of thought, may assist in the establishment of a sincere and ardent
desire for information; and in this point of view our little miscellany may prepare the
way for the reception of more elaborate and precise knowledge, and be as the small
optic-glass called the finder, which is placed by the side of a
large telescope, to enable the observer to discover the star which is afterwards to be
carefully examined by the more perfect instrument.” I certainly never
received any more striking testimony to the usefulness of the
“ramble-scramble” in supplying a want to those who were striving to gain
knowledge, but who were too poor to buy books, than the following passage in the
“Autobiography of an
Artisan,” published in 1847. Christopher
Thomson, the author of this interesting book, had settled as a house-painter
at Edwinstowe, a village in Nottinghamshire:—“Squatting down here penniless,
without a table or three-legged stool to furnish ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 183 |
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a cottage with,
it may easily be imagined that I had tough work of it. My great want was books; I was
too poor to purchase expensive ones, and the ‘cheap literature’ was not
then, as now, to be found in every out-o’-the-way nooking. However, Knight had unfurled his paper banners of free trade in
letters. The ‘Penny Magazine’ was published—I
borrowed the first volume, and determined to make an effort to possess myself with the
second; accordingly, with January, 1833, I determined to discontinue the use of sugar
in my tea, hoping that my family would not then feel the sacrifice necessary to buy the
book. Since that period, I have expended large sums in books, some of them very costly
ones, but I never had one so truly valuable as was the second volume of the
‘Penny Magazine;’ and I looked as anxiously
for the issue of the monthly part as I did for the means of getting a
living.” This then was the service which the “Penny
Magazine” was rendering, at the beginning of 1832, to the general cause of
letters. I must associate with it “Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal,” a publication which was established a
few weeks before mine. They were making readers. They were raising up a new class, and a
much larger class than previously existed, to be the purchasers of books. They were
planting the commerce of books upon broader foundations than those upon which it had been
previously built. They were relegating the hole-and-corner literature of the days of
exclusiveness to the rewards which the few could furnish; preparing the way for writers and
booksellers to reap the abundant harvest when the “second rain” of
knowledge should be descending “uninterrupted, unabated, unbounded; fertilizing
some grounds and ![]()
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overflowing others; changing the whole form of
social life.”*
The success of the “Penny
Magazine” was an astonishment to most persons; I honestly confess it was a
surprise to myself. It was not till the autumn that an attempt was made by the means of
woodcuts to familiarise the people with great works of art. Then were presented to them
engravings of a costly character, of such subjects as the Laocoon, the Apollo Belvedere, the Cartoons, and the
great Cathedrals, British and Foreign. At the end of 1832, the “Penny Magazine” had reached a sale of 200,000 in weekly numbers and
monthly parts. In the preface to the first volume, under the date of December the 18th,
I thus wrote:—“It was considered by Edmund
Burke, about forty years ago, that there were 80,000 readers in this country. In the present year it has been shown, by the sale
of the ‘Penny Magazine,’ that there are 200,000
purchasers of one periodical work. It may be fairly
calculated that the number of readers of that single work amounts to a million. If this
incontestable evidence of the spread of the ability to read be most satisfactory, it is
still more satisfactory to consider the species of reading which has had such an
extensive and increasing popularity. In this work there has never been a single
sentence that could inflame a vicious appetite; and not a paragraph that could minister
to prejudices and superstitions which a few years since were common. There have been no
excitements for the lovers of the marvellous—no tattle or abuse for the gratification
of a diseased taste for personality, and, above all, no party politics.”
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| Ch. IX.] |
THE SECOND EPOCH. |
185 |
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Although the “Penny
Magazine” has a peculiar interest as a subject of literary history, it would
be tedious if I were to attempt any minute notice of its contributors; but I may mention a
few whose names occur to me as I turn over its early pages. There were members of the
Committee who had a very just conception of what writing for the people meant. An article
by Mr. Long, in the seventh number, on the value of a
penny, is as clear and impressive as any statement from the pen of Cobbett. Mr. De
Morgan wrote mathematical papers, in which the rationale of Fractions was
exhibited, and the fallacy of such notions as squaring the circle was pointed out.
Mr. Craik could be depended upon for enlightened
as well as familiar expositions of the value of standard works, under the head of
“The Library.” Mr. Charles Macfarlane,
of whom I shall have subsequently to speak, wrote most amusing accounts of his travelling
experiences. There were authors not regularly engaged as contributors, who furnished
valuable papers of marked ability. I had been in the habit of familiar intercourse with
Allan Cunningham, even before the time when he
wrote a paper in the “Quarterly
Magazine.” For the “Penny Magazine”
he furnished a series of articles on “The Old English
Ballads.” I must not omit to mention the interesting relations of his
South African experience, contributed by Thomas
Pringle, one of the most amiable of men, with whom I had cultivated
something higher than mere intimacy, when our friendly relations were cut short by his
death in 1834. His biography of Sir Walter
Scott, was called forth by the great novelist’s lamented death on the 21st
of September, 1832. It occupied an entire ![]()
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number of the “Penny Magazine,” and contains some valuable facts regarding
Mr. Pringle’s personal intimacy with Scott in 1819.
It may not be without an interest of no transient nature that I proceed to
notice the beginnings of my intercourse with a man who left his mark upon his time, but
who, when I first knew him, was not only under the check of “poverty’s
unconquerable bar,” but was suffering under a great physical privation which
appeared likely to disqualify him for any prosperous career in life. On the 18th of July,
1833, a short stout man, of about thirty years of age, presented himself to me at my place
of business in Ludgate Street, to which premises, nearer the great hive of “the Trade” I had found it indispensable to remove. He tendered
me a note from Mr. Coates, at the same time uttering
some strange sounds, which could scarcely be called articulate. The few lines of
introduction said that the bearer, Mr. Kitto,
laboured under the misfortune of nearly absolute deafness, and that I must therefore
communicate with him in writing. Mr. Coates enclosed me a letter from
Mr. Woollcombe, the chairman of our local
committee at Plymouth. That letter is now before me, dated the 10th of July. This
gentleman—who appears to have been peculiarly fitted, by his compassion for misfortune and
his sympathy with talent, to rescue a pauper boy from the misery and degradation of a
parish workhouse—pleaded the claims of the unknown John Kitto for
literary employment in a way so interesting that I cannot hesitate to transcribe his words:
“He is a native of this town, and became known to us by his misfortunes, as a
lad of extraordinary capacity, though reduced by the vices of ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 187 |
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his
father to the condition of an inhabitant of our workhouse, and by an accident to an
almost entire loss of the sense of hearing. He has subsequently been employed as a
printer at Malta, by a religious society. But he is now just returned from a residence
of some years at Bagdad; having embarked from England for Petersburg, and descended
from thence through Russia to Moscow and other towns, entering Persia by the Desert; of
that country he has acquired considerable information, which he is ready to communicate
through your publications. He returned to England in June last. * *
* His appearance is not prepossessing; his deafness is somewhat
embarrassing; his talents are considerable, memory retentive, observation quick, and
undivided as other men’s are. His life is a series of extraordinary incidents,
such as one is unwilling to acknowledge as being natural. I laugh and tell him the
world is to be now indebted to two Devonshire men for the information it is to receive
of distant countries. The one a blind man (Lieut.
Holman), who is to publish what he has seen in
his progress round the world. And (John Kitto) a deaf man, of what
he has heard in Persia!”
I may have had something like an anticipation of this poor man’s
future eminence, judging from the unusual care with which I appear to have preserved some
memoranda of our intercourse. I find a paper dated July the 21st, headed
“Conversation with Mr.
Kitto,” of which the following is the substance of half a dozen pages
of my notes. I asked him what European languages he knew. He said Italian, French
perfectly, not German. He had proposed a new project, into which I thought the Society
would ![]()
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not at present enter; but, I should be glad to endeavour to
arrange for his employment in the “Penny
Magazine” and “Penny
Cyclopædia.” I asked if he could undertake to give a personal narrative of
his travels in Persia. That would show what he could do, and he might be afterwards engaged
on geographical articles for the “Cyclopæia,” requiring more precise and
systematic information. I then arranged with him to furnish a few articles of the nature I
had mentioned, to be paid for at the rate of a guinea and a half a page. And so
John Kitto, the future Biblical critic and commentator, went away
perfectly happy, to produce the first number of “The Deaf
Traveller,” which appeared in “The Penny
Magazine” of the 10th of August. A month of experiment had passed, and I
then engaged Kitto at a regular salary, to work in my own room in
Fleet Street. I could thus assist him whenever he had any question to propose, and to me he
was no interruption, for our golden silence was rarely broken. He writes to a friend on the
18th of August, after he had been regularly employed for a week:—“I have little
doubt that, through Mr. Knight’s
indulgence, I shall be able to keep this situation; the rather, as whatever spare time
‘The Penny Magazine’ does not require, is spent in perfecting my knowledge
of French and Italian, and in acquiring the German. I do thank God for this relief from
a state of great anxiety, in which I had begun to entertain the most melancholy view of
the things before me, and saw possible consequences that I could not bear steadily to
contemplate.” Sitting, as he describes, “in Mr.
Knight’s room, with plenty of books about me, and more
below,” authors, printers, ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 189 |
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country agents, and other men of
business come and go to impart something to my private ear. They addressed me in whispers,
when they saw a somewhat dwarfish man of sallow complexion, bright eyes, and lofty
forehead, sitting close to my table at a separate desk, writing incessantly. To some he
might have looked as a very suspicious person, who was placed there to note down their
conversation. They soon became accustomed to this companionship, and learnt that he would
be the most faithful depository of their spoken secrets, whether they were to roar as loud
as Bully Bottom when he desired to play the lion, or
spake “in a monstrous little voice,” as when the same actor of all-work
would have played “Thisby dear.”
It appears from the correspondence of Dr.
Arnold, that in the early stages of “The Penny Magazine” he felt a strong desire to see something of the
religious spirit imparted to the works of the Useful Knowledge Society. His views upon the
subject were so just and reasonable, that it is to me a matter of the deepest regret that I
was never brought into direct communication with him in my editorial capacity. He says:
“It does seem to me as forced and unnatural in us now to dismiss the
principles of the Gospel and its great motives from our conversation,—as is done
habitually, for example, in Miss
Edgeworth’s books,—as it is to fill our pages with Hebraisms, and
to write and speak in the words and style of the Bible. The slightest touches of
Christian principle and Christian hope in the Society’s biographical and
historical articles would be a sort of living salt to the whole; and would exhibit that
union which I never will consent to think unattain-![]()
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able, between
goodness and wisdom; between everything that is manly, sensible, and free, and
everything that is pure and self-denying, and humble, and heavenly.”*
Dr. Arnold’s strong desire was that of being able to
co-operate with a body which he “believed might, with God’s blessing, do
more good of all kinds, political, intellectual, and spiritual, than any other society
in existence.”† He was anxious, he wrote, “to furnish them regularly
with articles of the kind that I desire.” For myself I can distinctly state
that no expression of such a desire ever reached me; nor do I know that any communication
to such an effect was ever formally put before the sub-committee for “The Penny Magazine.” Dr. Arnold’s
nephew, Mr. John Ward, a solicitor in Bedford Row, to
whom he writes in 1832, about “your Useful Knowledge Society Committee,”
was a member of that committee, and he contributed some very useful but rather dry
“Statistical Notes” to “The Penny
Magazine.” These certainly were not calculated to carry out Dr.
Arnold’s views. But he himself has borne the most cordial testimony to
one circumstance in the conduct of “The Penny
Magazine,” which shows that there was no settled purpose to exclude from that
work “the slightest touches of Christian principle.” I have said with
reference to the religious articles of the “Plain Englishman,” that Dr. Arnold wrote
“in terms of somewhat extravagant commendation of a short article on Mirabeau which I had written.”‡ The letter
was to Mr. Tooke, the treasurer of the ![]()
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| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 191 |
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Society, and for the sake of clearing up this important question of
principle, I must quote the passage to which I referred. “I cannot tell you how
much I was delighted by the conclusion of an article on Mirabeau,
in ‘The Penny Magazine’ of May 12. That article
is exactly a specimen of what I wished to see, but done far better than I could do it.
I never wanted articles on religious subjects half so much as articles on common
subjects written with a decidedly Christian tone. History and Biography are far better
vehicles of good, I think, than any direct comments on Scripture, or essays on
Evidences.”* The conclusion of the article to which Dr.
Arnold refers, is as follows:—“The career of
Mirabeau offers a few consolatory remarks to those who are
gifted with no extraordinary faculties, either for good or for evil.
Mirabeau swayed the destinies of millions, but he was never
happy; Mirabeau had almost reached the pinnacle of human power,
and yet he fell a victim to the same evil passions which degrade and ruin the lowest of
mankind. He could never be really great, because he was never freed from the bondage of
his own evil desires. The man who steadily pursues a consistent course of duty, which
has for its object to do good to himself and to all around him, will be followed to the
grave by a few humble and sincere mourners, and no record will remain except in the
hearts of those who loved him, to tell of his earthly career. But that man may gladly
leave to such as Mirabeau the music, the torches, and the cannon,
by which a nation proclaimed its loss; for assuredly he has felt that ![]()
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inward consolation, and that sustaining hope throughout his life,
which only the good can feel; he has fully enjoyed, in all its purity, the holy
influence of ‘the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding.’”
I think that I may confidently say, that without attempting to impart to
the “Penny Magazine” a distinctly
religious character, I did not interpret in a too literal signification the original
rule of the Society with reference to religion—that is, to abstain from publishing on
that subject, “convinced that the numerous institutions already existing for the
diffusion of religious knowledge in every shape will best advance that momentous
end.”* That I might have been encouraged to do more in the incidental manner
advocated by Dr. Arnold I cannot doubt, had his
approval of what he had read been communicated to me. When I first saw the opinion of this
good and great man in his “Life,” by the Rev. Arthur Stanley,
published after his decease, I felt it was an injustice to myself on the part of the
treasurer of the Society that this letter had been withheld from me.
After the “Penny
Magazine” had been published during three years, I had the gratification of
being able to offer a permanent situation to a gentleman for whom Dr. Arnold had a high esteem, to assist me in the conduct
of that and other periodical works. Dr. Arnold in 1831 set up a weekly
newspaper, “The Englishman’s
Register,” which died a natural death in a few weeks. “Finding,
however,” says Mr. Stanley,
“that some of his articles had been
* First Annual Report of the Society, 1828.
|
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| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 193 |
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copied into the ‘Sheffield Courant,’ by its editor, Mr. Platt, he
opened a communication with him in July, 1831, which he maintained ever afterwards, and
commenced writing a series of
letters in that paper, which, to the number of thirteen, were afterwards
published separately, and constitute the best exposition of his views on the main
causes of social distress in England.” The friendship which the head master
of Rugby manifested for John Clarke Platt was fully
warranted by his admirable qualities. We worked together in the most perfect harmony for
more than ten years, until he quitted London, again to undertake the editorship of a
Sheffield Journal. His sound knowledge, especially on political and social subjects, his
clear style and his calm judgment, excellently fitted him to be a contributor to the
“Companion to the Almanac”
and the “Penny Cyclopædia.”
There was another young man, whose imaginative turn of mind did not unfit him for dealing
with matters of fact, historical or antiquarian, when he had passed through a course of
training by diligent reading. John Saunders, having
encountered much of the rough work, and sounded some of the perilous depths of journalism,
has won a reputation as a novelist, at which no one can more truly rejoice than myself.
I cannot conclude this notice of the early history of the “Penny Magazine” without adverting to one who
first gave me the benefit of his assistance, in the office generally known as that of a
sub-editor, soon after I became connected with the Useful Knowledge Society. Alexander Ramsay has been for five-and-thirty years my
friend and fellow-labourer. He has worked with me in every undertaking in which I ![]()
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have been engaged, from the second volume of the “British
Almanac and Companion” for 1830, to the last for 1864. He has brought to this long
course of duty not only the ministerial services which belong to a reader of manuscripts
and a corrector of the press, but taste, and knowledge, and readiness of resource, well
adapted for original composition, in the accustomed progress and occasional exigencies of
periodical works. I think it is creditable to both of us that in a long struggle by
societies and individuals for the establishment of cheap and wholesome literature, we have
been labouring side by side—that “In this glorious and well-foughten field, We kept together in our chivalry!” |
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Having lingered, perhaps too long, around details that may be more
interesting to myself than to others, I return to the point of time which I quitted at the
close of the last chapter.
In September, 1832, when the whole country was alive with the “note
of preparation” for elections to the Reformed Parliament, Mr. Hill was at Hull, ambitious of representing the fine old town which
nearly two centuries before had Andrew Marvell for
its member. He wrote to me to come down for a brief holiday, and to endeavour to form at
Hull a Local Committee of our Society. The chief port of the Humber was not then so
accessible as by the present railway journey of five hours. Leaving London by the night
mail, I looked out as the morning dawned upon the beautiful western front of Peterborough,
and had a somewhat dreary ride of nine hours in addition, until I reached the shore from
which I was to cross to Hull in a ferry-boat. ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 195 |
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I was in Hull, as I
find recorded in a letter home, at ten minutes to four, and at a quarter past found myself
seated in a room with two hundred people, of whom I knew not a face but
Hill’s. I was somewhat amazed at his extraordinary power as
a speaker over a mixed audience, and although I was not myself “quite unused to
public speaking,” I was a little frightened when I had an opportunity of testifying
to his zeal in the cause of education. That merit, I think, was as effectual a guarantee
for his success as his political opinions—somewhat more advanced than those of the
Whigs-proper, but avoiding many of the excesses of the extreme Radicals. I judged that my
friend’s return as one of the members for Hull was perfectly certain, and the event
proved that I was right. I stayed here three days, enjoying a most hospitable reception, in
the society of merchants not less intellectual and refined than those of Liverpool. In the
dwellings and household arrangements of the humbler classes of that busy port, there was an
appearance of comfort and of regard for health which Liverpool did not exhibit.
My friend was about to proceed to Westmorland on a visit to Lord Brougham. I was desirous of a week’s ramble in the
Lake District, although it might be a solitary one; for my life in the South, when I was
rarely free to make holiday tours, had never allowed me to become familiar with mountain
scenery. We went on together through Beverley and York to Penrith. While at breakfast on
the morning: after our arrival, there came a letter from the Chancellor to Mr. Hill, insisting that I should not go on to Keswick, as
I had proposed, but become his guest. I spent a week with him of no common ![]()
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pleasure, of which I may note down a few remembrances without
trespassing upon that sanctity of the family life which has too often been violated in
“Pencillings” and other ministrations to a depraved curiosity.
There is perhaps no more beautiful exhibition of what has been called the
delight of spontaneous existence than the daily life of a great statesman escaped from
cabinets and courts, from rivalries and importunities, from scenes of perpetual turmoil and
excitement, to sit down at peace in his own fields, like Chatham at Hayes, or Burke at
Beaconsfield, or Fox at St. Ann’s Hill. I had
been at Brougham Hall five days, when I wrote to my wife to convey some idea of that week
of enjoyment—of relaxation mingled with serious employment—of anecdotical gossip and grave
discussion. My sober reminiscences of that time are perfectly in unison with the warm
expressions of the moment:—“Our course of life is this—We rise at seven. Hill and
I walk, if it is fine, for an hour. Then come the letters and papers. At a quarter to
ten we breakfast. At the head of the table sits the Chancellor’s mother—the most interesting old lady I ever saw in
my life. Heavens, what he must owe to the care of that mother! Mr. William Brougham is of the party. At eleven we go up to the
library—the Chancellor and we two—and there we discuss some point of national
importance, with all sorts of documents before us, for three or four hours. We then
start off for a drive amongst the Lakes—still we three—where the Chancellor delights to
point out the beauties of the scenery, or tell us some local anecdote—ever and anon
coming back to our morning’s labours upon Education, Poor Laws, Taxes, Tithes,
&c. &c. At ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 197 |
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half-past six or seven we dine—have a cheerful
and animated talk for two or three hours—then the drawing-room and tea—and bed at
eleven. I am quite sure this week will have a lasting effect upon my temper and modes
of thought. It is impossible to be in company with Lord Brougham
for a short time, and not feel wiser;—but to meet him in his daily life—to witness his
regulated industry, to enjoy his constant good humour, to partake his high hopes for
the improvement of his fellow creatures, and to have one’s own powers constantly
called out by his wonderful talents, without being in the slightest degree under
constraint—all this constitutes a rare enjoyment, and furnishes a powerful incentive to
deserve the friendship of such a man.”
We had not only drives amongst the Lakes but long walks. How vividly some
of the incidents of these rambles come before me! We descend from the Hall to the ruins of
Brougham Castle, and I think of the Shepherd Lord, and
of the Song that was sung at the feast when he was restored to the honours of his
ancestors:—
“Love had he found in huts where poor men lie.” |
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He by whose side I was walking was intent upon raising “poor men” out of
the degradations of poverty by wise employment of the funds that belonged to the helpless,
and not to the idle. The Chancellor took an especial interest in the inquiries that were
then proceeding under a Royal Commission as to the administration and operation of the
Poor-Laws. Evening after evening would his Dispatch-box bring down some Report of the
Assistant Commissioners. He occasionally gave me the task ![]()
| 198 | PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: | [Ch. IX. |
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of looking
over these voluminous papers, and marking passages for his more careful perusal. This was
some of the regular morning employment. But on one bright forenoon we sallied forth for a
whole holiday. Our course was by the side of the little river under the high grounds of
Lowther Castle. We came to the turnpike-gate. It suggested an anecdote which tells how much
stronger is the sympathy of genius than the antagonism of party. After that Session of
1822, in which Mr. Canning and Mr. Brougham had a painful difference of a personal nature in
the House of Commons, they suddenly met here, riding alone in opposite directions. This
gate was closed. They sat for a moment steadily looking at each other, then each burst into
a laugh, and shook hands in parting. I doubt not that both were the happier for this
meeting. That fine morning brought on a wet noon. We found refuge in a dalesman’s
cottage; and, drying our coats over his peat fire, had a cheerful talk of an hour or
two—but generally coming back to the one subject of Education in its various forms. The
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was of course a leading topic. The “Penny Cyclopædia” had been announced; and we had to
settle principles and form plans for its conduct. We had to dwell also on the subject then
constantly presenting itself to the Chancellor’s official mind—that of Education in
relation to Pauperism. The conversations which arose upon the great question of the
amendment of the Poor Laws were to me as stores of knowledge, when I had practically to
deal with subjects of Local Administration.
I must not linger around the remembrances of this interesting visit. We
parted from our friendly host on a ![]()
| Ch. IX.] | THE SECOND EPOCH. | 199 |
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Monday morning, and travelled by
chaise to Keswick. Here we stayed several days, making excursions to Buttermere; climbing
Skiddaw; boating on Derwentwater; and not reaching Liverpool till Thursday night. As I read
a letter which I then wrote home, I feel that I have often foolishly proposed to execute
literary tasks, when travelling with the one true object—that of repose and change of
scene. It is quite enough to give the mind renewed powers, in filling it with new
associations of beauty and grandeur whether of Nature or of Art. “I am
writing,” I said, “upon some large paper I bought at Keswick to
complete an article which I am trying to accomplish for the ‘Journal of Education,’ but it is impossible. The
glorious magnificence of the mountains got such possession of my mind that I could
think, and even dream, of nothing else. I do not wonder that men of lively imaginations
are content to give up all worldly prospects for a bare maintenance amidst such scenes.
I could almost be such an enthusiast myself, with six children, at forty.”
Thomas Arnold (1795-1842)
Of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; he was headmaster of Rugby School (1827-42) and father
of the poet Matthew Arnold.
Eleanor Brougham [née Syme] (1750-1839)
The daughter of James Syme, niece of the historian William Robertson, and mother of Lord
Brougham.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
William Brougham, second Baron Brougham and Vaux (1795-1886)
The brother of Henry Brougham; educated at Edinburgh High School and Jesus College,
Cambridge; he was MP for Southwark (1831-35), master in chancery (1835-52), and a
contributor to the
Times.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Irish politician and opposition leader in Parliament, author of
On the
Sublime and Beautiful (1757) and
Reflections on the Revolution
in France (1790).
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
Thomas Coates (1802 c.-1883)
A London solicitor, he was secretary to the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
(1826-46) and secretary to the University of London (1828-35).
George Lillie Craik (1798-1866)
Scottish literary historian and professor of English literature and history at Queen's
College, Belfast (1849); he published
Spenser and his Poetry, 3 vols
(1845).
Allan Cunningham [Hidallan] (1784-1842)
Scottish poet and man of letters who contributed to both
Blackwood's and the
London Magazine; he was author of
Lives of the most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and
Architects (1829-33).
George Eden, earl of Auckland (1784-1849)
The second son of William Eden, first Baron Auckland (d. 1814); educated at Eton, Christ
Church, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn, he courted Annabella Milbanke and was MP for New
Woodstock. He was governor-general of India (1836-42).
Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849)
Irish novelist; author of
Castle Rackrent (1800)
Belinda (1801),
The Absentee (1812) and
Ormond (1817).
Charles James Fox (1749-1806)
Whig statesman and the leader of the Whig opposition in Parliament after his falling-out
with Edmund Burke.
Matthew Davenport Hill (1792-1872)
English barrister, the brother of Sir Rowland Hill; he was MP for Hull (1833-35),
recorder of Birmingham (1839) and a reformer of criminal laws.
James Holman (1786-1857)
After a naval career that left him an invalid and suffering from blindness, he became a
noted traveller, publishing
The Narrative of a Journey through France,
etc. (1822).
John Kitto (1778-1827)
The son of a Plymouth stonemason; after being rendered deaf in a accident he became a
missionary and printer in the Middle East; upon returning to England in 1829 he was an
associate of Charles Knight who wrote on biblical subjects.
Charles Knight (1791-1873)
London publisher, originally of Windsor where he produced
The
Etonian; Dallas's
Recollections of Lord Byron was one of
his first ventures. He wrote
Passages of a Working Life during half a
Century, 3 vols (1864-65).
Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859)
Lecturer on science and contributor to the
Edinburgh Review; he
published the
Cabinet Cyclopaedia (1829-1846).
George Long (1800-1879)
After education at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was professor of classical languages at
the University of Virginia (1824-28) and University College, London (1828-31,
1842-46).
Charles Macfarlane (1799-1858)
A traveler, historian, and miscellaneous writer who knew Shelley in Italy; he active in
the Royal Asiatic Society and worked for the publisher Charles Knight and the Society for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. His
Reminiscences was published
in 1917.
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
English poet and satirist educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Latin
secretary under Cromwell and MP for Hull renowned for his incorruptibility.
Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871)
Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Unitarian and the first professor of
mathematics at the London University (1828).
Francis Place (1771-1854)
A prosperous London tailor and political radical associated with Burdett and Hobhouse; he
wrote for the
Westminster Review.
John Clarke Platt (1851 fl.)
Sheffield bookseller and editor of the
Sheffield Courant; he
published
History of the Corn Laws (1842).
George Richardson Porter (1792-1852)
Educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, he wrote on education before becoming in
1831 superintendent of the new statistical department at the Board of Trade.
Thomas Pringle (1789-1834)
Scottish poet, journalist, and abolitionist, who after a brief stint as one of the
founding editors of
Blackwood's Magazine emigrated to southern
Africa.
Alexander Ramsay (1794-1869)
Born in humble circumstances, he worked in a print shop and as a journalist before being
employed by Charles Knight as an editor. He published
Shakspere in
Germany (1866).
John Saunders (1811-1895)
Self-educated journalist, novelist, and man of letters; an associate of Charles Knight
and William Howitt, he edited the
National Magazine (1856).
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881)
The son of Edward Stanley, Bishop of Norwich; he was educated at Rugby under Thomas
Arnold and at Balliol College, Oxford; he was regius professor of ecclesiastical history at
Oxford (1856) and Dean of Westminster (1863).
Christopher Thomson (1799-1847 fl.)
Nottinghamshire house-painter and advocate for popular education; his autobiography was
published in 1847.
William Tooke (1777-1863)
Son of the Russian historian of the same name; a London solicitor, he was a founder of
University College, London, active in the Royal Society for Literature, and MP for Truro
(1832-37). He contributed to the
New Monthly Magazine and
Gentleman's Magazine. Charles Knight described him as
“kind-hearted man of moderate abilities—somewhat fussy.”
John Ward (1805-1890)
The nephew of Thomas Arnold, with whom he edited the
Englishman's
Register (1831); he was afterwards a diplomat and the father of the historian Sir
Adolphus Ward.
Henry Woollcombe (1777-1847)
Plymouth solicitor, antiquary, and philanthropist; he was mayor in 1813 and president of
the Plymouth Athenaeum (1827-46).
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. (1832-1956). A weekly paper managed by William and Robert Chambers; Leitch Ritchie was an editor in
the 1840s and 50s.
The Englishman. (1803-1834). A London weekly newspaper; the proprietor was William I. Clement (1821-34).
The Penny Magazine. 16 vols (1832-1846). Edited by Charles Knight for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
