NOVELTY AND ROMANCEMENT
I HAD grave doubts at first whether to call this passage of my life `A Wail', or `A Paean', so much does it contain that is great
and glorious, so much that is sombre and stern. Seeking for something which should be a sort of medium between the two, I
decided, at last, on the above heading--wrongly, of course; I am always wrong: but let me be calm. It is a characteristic of the
true orator never to yield to a burst of passion at the outset; the mildest of commonplaces are all he dare indulge in at first, and
thence he mounts gradually; -- `vires acquirit eundo.Suffice it, then, to say, in the first place, that I am Leopold Edgar
Stubbs. I state this fact distinctly in commencing, to prevent all chance of the reader's confounding me either with the eminent
shoemaker of that name, of Pottle-street, Camberwell, or with my less reputable, but more widely known, namesake, Stubbs,
the light comedian, of the Provinces; both which connections I repel with horror and disdain: no offence, however, being
intended to either of the individuals named -- men whom I have never seen, whom I hope I never shall.
So much for commonplaces.
Tell me now, oh! man, wise in interpretation of dreams and omens, how it chanced that, on a Friday afternoon, turning suddenly
out of Great Wattles-street, I should come into sudden and disagreeable collision with an humble individual of unprepossessing
exterior, but with an eye that glowed with all the fire of genius? I had dreamed at night that the great idea of my life was to be
fulfilled. What was the great idea of my life? I will tell you. With shame or sorrow I will tell you.
My thirst and passion from boyhood (predominating over the love of taws and running neck and neck with my appetite for
toffee) has been for poetry -- for poetry in its widest and wildest sense -- for poetry untrammeled by the laws of sense, rhyme,
or rhythm, soaring through the universe, and echoing the music of the spheres! From my youth, nay, from my very cradle, I
have yearned for poetry, for beauty, for novelty, for romancement. When I say `yearned', I employ a word mildly expressive of
what may be considered as an outline of my feelings in my calmer moments: it is about as capable of picturing the headlong
impetuosity of my life-long enthusiasm as those unanatomical paintings which adorn the outside of the Adelphi, representing
Flexmore in one of the many conceivable attitudes into which the human frame has never yet been reduced, are of conveying to
the speculative pit-goer a true idea of the feats performed by that extraordinary compound of humanity and Indian-rubber.
I have wandered from the point: that is a peculiarity, if I may be permitted to say so, incidental to life; and, as I remarked on an
occasion which time will not suffer me more fully to specify, `What, after all, is life?nor did I find any one of the individuals
present (we were a party of nine, including the waiter, and it was while the soup was being removed that the above-recorded
observation was made) capable of furnishing me with a rational answer to the question.
The verses which I wrote at an early period of life were eminently distinguished by a perfect freedom from conventionalism, and
were thus unsuited to the present exactions of literature: in a future age they will be read and admired, `when Milton,'' as my
venerable uncle has frequently exclaimed, `when Milton and such like are forgot!Had it not been for this sympathetic relative, I
firmly believe that the poetry of my nature would never have come out; I can still recall the feelings which thrilled me when he
offered me sixpence for a rhyme to `despotism'. I never succeeded, it is true, in finding the rhyme, but it was on the very next
Wednesday that I penned my well known `Sonnet on a Dead Kitten', and in the course of a fortnight had commenced three
epics, the titles of which I have unfortunately now forgotten.
Seven volumes of poetry have I given to an ungrateful world during my life; they have all shared the fate of true genius -obscurity and contempt. Not that any fault could be found with their contents; whatever their deficiencies may have been, no
reviewer has yet dared to criticize them. This is a great fact.
The only composition of mine which has yet made any noise in the world, was a sonnet I addressed to one of the Corporation
of Muggleton-cum-Swillside, on the occasion of his being selected Mayor of that town. It was largely circulated through private
hands, and much talked of at the time; and though the subject of it, with characteristic vulgarity of mind, failed to appreciate the
delicate compliments it involved, and indeed spoke of it rather disrespectfully than otherwise, I am inclined to think that it
possesses all the elements of greatness. The concluding couplet was added at the suggestion of a friend, who assured me it was
necessary to complete the sense, and in this point I deferred to his maturer judgment:
`When Desolation snatched her tearful prey
From the lorn empire of despairing day;
When all the light, by gemless fancy thrown,
Served but to animate the putrid stone;
When monarchs, lessening on the wildered sight,
Crumblingly vanished into utter night;
When murder stalked with thirstier strides abroad,
And redly flashed the never-sated sword;
In such an hour thy greatness had been seen- That is, if such an hour had ever been- In such an hour thy praises shall be sung,
If not by mine, by many a worthier tongue;
And thou be gazed upon by wondering men,
When such an hour arrives, but not till then!Alfred Tennyson is Poet Laureate, and it is not for me to dispute his claim to that eminent position; still I cannot help thinking,
that if the Government had only come forward candidly at the time, and thrown the thing open to general competition,
proposing some subject to test the powers of the candidate (say `Frampton's Pill of Health, an Acrostic'), a very different result
might have been arrived at.
But let us return to our muttons (as our noble allies do most unromantically express themselves), and to the mechanic of Great
Wattles-street. He was coming out of a small shop--rudely built it was, dilapidated exceedingly, and in its general appearance
seedy--what did I see in all this to inspire a belief that a great epoch in my existence arrived? Reader, I saw the signboard!
Yes. Upon that rusty signboard, creaking awkwardly on its one hinge against the mouldering wall, was an inscription which
thrilled me from head to foot with unwonted excitement. `Simon Lubkin. Dealer in Romancement.Those were the very words.
It was Friday, the fourth of June, half-past four p.m.
Three times I read that inscription through, and then took out my pocket book, and copied it on the spot; the mechanic
regarding me during the whole proceeding with a stare of serious and (as I thought at the time) respectful astonishment.
I stopped that mechanic, and entered into conversation with him; years of agony since then have gradually branded that scene
upon my writhing heart, and I can repeat all that passed, word for word.
Did the mechanic (this was my first question) possess a kindred soul, or did he not?
Mechanic didn't know as he did.
Was he aware (this with thrilling emphasis) of the meaning of that glorious inscription upon his signboard?
Bless you, mechanic knew all about that `ere.
Would mechanic (overlooking the suddenness of the invitation) object to adjourn to the neighbouring public-house, and there
discuss the point more at leisure?
Mechanic would not object to a drain. On the contrary.
(Adjournment accordingly: brandy-and-water for two: conversation resumed.)
Did the article sell well, especially with the `mobile vulgus'?
Mechanic cast a look of good-natured pity on the questioner; the article sold well, he said, and the vulgars bought it most.
Why not add `Novelty' to the inscription? (This was a critical moment: I trembled as I asked the question.)
Not so bad an idea, mechanic thought: time was, it might have answered; but time flies, you see.
Was mechanic alone in his glory, or was there any one else who dealt as largely in the article?
Mechanic would pound it, there was none.
What was the article employed for? (I brought this question out with a gasp, excitement almost choking my utterance.)
It would piece almost anything together, mechanic believed, and make it solider nor stone.
This was a sentence difficult of interpretation. I thought it over a little, and then said, doubtfully, `you mean, I presume, that it
serves to connect the broken ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Go to the beginning of the document
Go to previous page
Go to next page
Go to the end of document
