A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4) by Samuel Smiles (essential books to read .txt) 📕

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 61

Feverish, Oppressed By An Extreme Difficulty Of Breathing, Which Often

Entirely Deprived Him Of Speech; And His Sight Had Failed. Towards The

End Of His Life He Would Sometimes Take Up A Pen, And After A Vain

Attempt To Write, Would Throw It Down, Saying, "No, My Work Is Done!"

Even Thinking Caused Him Pain. As His Last Hour Drew Near, His Mind

Began To Wander. "These Books Have Driven Me Mad," He Once Said, "I Must

Read My Prayers." He Passed Gradually Away, His Pulse Ceasing To Beat

Five Hours Before His Death. And Then He Slept Out Of Life, On December

31, 1826, In His 68th Year--A Few Months Before The Death Of Canning.

 

 

 

Mr. Gifford Desired That He Should Be Buried In The Ground Attached To

Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, Where He Had Interred Annie

Davies, His Faithful Old Housekeeper, But His Friends Made Application

For His Interment In Westminster Abbey, Which Was Acceded To, And He Was

Buried There Accordingly On January 8, 1827, Immediately Under The

Monuments Of Camden And Garrick. He Was Much Richer At The Time Of His

Death Than He Was At All Aware Of, For He Was Perfectly Indifferent

About Money. Indeed, He Several Times Returned Money To Mr. Murray,

Saying That "He Had Been Too Liberal." He Left L25,000 Of Personal

Property, A Considerable Part Of Which He Left To The Relatives Of Mr.

Cookesley, The Surgeon Of Ashburton, Who Had Been To Him So Faithful And

Self-Denying A Friend In His Early Life. To Mr. Murray He Left L100 As A

Memorial, And Also 500 Guineas, To Enable Him To Reimburse A Military

Gentleman, To Whom, Jointly With Mr. Cookesley, He Appears To Have Been

Bound For That Sum At A Former Period.

 

 

 

Gifford Has Earned, But It Is Now Generally Recognised That He Has

Unjustly Earned, The Character Of A Severe, If Not A Bitter Critic.

Possessing An Unusually Keen Discernment Of Genuine Excellence, And A

Scathing Power Of Denunciation Of What Was False Or Bad In Literature,

He Formed His Judgments In Accordance With A Very High Standard Of

Merit. Sir Walter Scott Said Of His "Baviad And Maeviad, That "He

Squashed At One Blow A Set Of Coxcombs Who Might Have Humbugged The

World Long Enough." His Critical Temper, However, Was In Truth

Exceptionally Equable; Regarding It As His Duty To Encourage All That

Was Good And Elevating, And Relentlessly To Denounce All That Was Bad Or

Tended To Lower The Tone Of Literature, He Conscientiously Acted Up To

The Standard By Which He Judged Others, And Never Allowed Personal

Feeling To Intrude Upon His Official Judgments.

 

 

 

It Need Scarcely Be Said That He Proved Himself An Excellent Editor, And

That He Entertained A High Idea Of The Duties Of That Office. William

Jerdan, Who Was Introduced To Gifford By Canning, Said: "I Speak Of Him

As He Always Was To Me--Full Of Gentleness, A Sagacious Adviser And

Instructor, Upon So Comprehensive A Scale, That I Never Met His Superior

Among The Men Of The Age Most Renowned For Vast Information, And His

Captivating Power In Communicating It." His Sagacity And Quickness Of

Apprehension Were Remarkable, As Was Also The Extraordinary Rapidity

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 62

With Which He Was Able To Eviscerate A Work, And Summarize Its Contents

In A Few Pages.

 

 

 

The Number Of Articles Which He Himself Wrote Was Comparatively Small,

For He Confined Himself For The Most Part To Revising And Improving The

Criticisms Of Others, And Though In Thus Dealing With Articles Submitted

To Him He Frequently Erased What The Writers Considered Some Of Their

Best Criticisms, He Never Lost Their Friendship And Support. He Disliked

Incurring Any Obligation Which Might In Any Degree Shackle The

Expression Of His Free Opinions. In Conjunction With Mr. Murray, He Laid

Down A Rule, Which As We Have Already Seen Was Advocated By Scott, And

To Which No Exception Has Ever Been Made, That Every Writer In The

_Quarterly_ Should Receive Payment For His Contribution. On One

Occasion, When A Gentleman In Office Would Not Receive The Money, The

Article Was Returned. "I Am Not More Certain Of Many Conjectures," Says

Jerdan, "Than I Am Of This, That He Never Propagated A Dishonest Opinion

Nor Did A Dishonest Act."

 

 

 

Gifford Took No Notice Of The Ferocious Attacks Made Upon Him By Hunt

And Hazlitt. Holding, As He Did, That Inviolable Secrecy Was One Of The

Prime Functions Of An Editor--Though The Practice Has Since Become Very

Different--He Never Attempted To Vindicate Himself, Or To Reveal The

Secret As To The Writers Of The Reviews. In Accordance With His Plan Of

Secrecy, He Desired Dr. Ireland, His Executor, To Destroy All

Confidential Letters, Especially Those Relating To The _Review_, So That

The Names Of The Authors, As Well As The Prices Paid For Each Article,

Might Never Be Known.

 

 

 

In Society, Of Which He Saw But Little, Except At Mr. Murray's, He Was

Very Entertaining. He Told A Story Remarkably Well; And Had An

Inexhaustible Supply; The Archness Of His Eyes And Countenance Making

Them All Equally Good.

 

 

 

He Had Never Been Married; But Although He Had No Children, He Had An

Exceeding Love For Them. When Well, He Delighted In Giving Juvenile

Parties, And Rejoiced At Seeing The Children Frisking About In The

Happiness Of Youth--A Contrast Which Threw The Misery Of His Own Early

Life Into Strange Relief. His Domestic Favourites Were His Dog And His

Cat, Both Of Which He Dearly Loved. He Was Also Most Kind And Generous

To His Domestic Servants; And All Who Knew Him Well, Sorrowfully

Lamented His Death.

 

 

 

Many Years After Gifford's Death, A Venomous Article Upon Him Appeared

In A London Periodical. The Chief Point Of This Anonymous Attack Was

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 63

Contained In Certain Extracts From The Writings Of Sir W. Scott,

Southey, And Other Eminent Contemporaries Of Mr. Gifford. Mr. R.W. Hay,

One Of The Oldest Contributors To The _Quarterly_, Was At That Time

Still Living, And, In Allusion To The Article In Question, He Wrote To

Mr. Murray's Son:

 

 

 

_Mr. R.W. Hay To Mr. Murray_.

 

 

 

_July 7, 1856_.

 

 

 

It Is Wholly Worthless, Excepting As It Contains Strictures Of Sir W.

Scott, Southey, And John Wilson On The Critical Character Of The Late

Wm. Gifford. I By No Means Subscribe To All That Is Said By These

Distinguished Individuals On The Subject, And I Cannot Help Suspecting

That The High Station In Literature Which They Occupied Rendered Them

More Than Commonly Sensitive To The Corrections And Erasures Which Were

Proposed By The Editor. Sir Walter (Great Man As He Was) Was Perfectly

Capable Of Writing So Carelessly As To Require Correction, And Both

Southey And John Wilson Might Occasionally Have Brought Forth Opinions,

On Political And Other Matters, Which Were Not In Keeping With The

General Tone Of The _Quarterly Review_. That Poor Gifford Was Deformed

In Figure, Feeble In Health, Unhappily For Him There Can Be No Denying,

But That He Had Any Pleasure In Tormenting, As Asserted By Some, That He

Indulged In Needless Criticism Without Any Regard To The Feelings Of

Those Who Were Under His Lash, I Am Quite Satisfied Cannot Justly Be

Maintained. In My Small Dealings With The _Review_, I Only Found The

Editor Most Kind And Considerate. His Amendments And Alterations I

Generally At Once Concurred In, And I Especially Remember In One Of The

Early Articles, That He Diminished The Number Of Latin Quotations Very

Much To Its Advantage; That His Heart Was Quite In The Right Place I

Have Had Perfect Means Of Knowing From More Than One Circumstance,

_E.G._, His Anxiety For The Welfare Of His Friend Hoppner The Painter's

Children Was Displayed In The Variety Of Modes Which He Adopted To

Assist Them, And When John Gait Was Sorely Maltreated In The _Review_ In

Consequence Of His Having Attributed To Me, Incorrectly, An Article

Which Occasioned His Wrath And Indignation, And Afterwards Was Exposed

To Many Embarrassments In Life, Gifford Most Kindly Took Up His Cause,

And Did All He Could To Further The Promotion Of His Family. That Our

Poor Friend Should Have Been Exposed Throughout The Most Part Of His

Life To The Strong Dislike Of The Greatest Part Of The Community Is Not

Unnatural. As The _Redacteur_ Of The _Anti-Jacobin_, Etc., He, In The

Latter Part Of The Last Century, Drew Upon Himself The Hostile Attacks

Of All The Modern Philosophers Of The Age, And Of All Those Who Hailed

With Applause The Dawn Of Liberty In The French Revolution; As Editor Of

The _Quarterly Review_, He Acquired In Addition To The Former Hosts Of

Enemies, The Undisguised Hatred Of All The Whigs And Liberals, Who Were

For Making Peace With Bonaparte, And For Destroying The Settled Order Of

Things In This Country. In The Present Generation, When The Feeling Of

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 64

National Hatred Against France Has Entirely Subsided, And Party Feelings

Have So Much Gone By That No Man Can Say To Which Party Any Public Man

Belongs, It Is Impossible For Anyone To Comprehend The State Of Public

Feeling Which Prevailed During The Great War Of The Revolution, And For

Some Years After Its Termination. Gifford Was Deeply Imbued With All The

Sentiments On Public Matters Which Prevailed In His Time, And, As Some

People Have A Hatred Of A Cat, And Others Of A Toad, So Our Friend Felt

Uneasy When A Frenchman Was Named; And Buckled On His Armour Of

Criticism Whenever A Liberal Or Even A Whig Was Brought Under His

Notice; And Although In The Present Day There Appears To Be A Greater

Indulgence To Crime Amongst Judges And Juries, And Perhaps A More

Lenient System Of Criticism Is Adopted By Reviewers, I Am Not Sure That

Any Public Advantage Is Gained By Having Ticket Of Leave Men, Who Ought

To Be In New South Wales, Let Loose Upon The English World By The

Unchecked Appearance Of A Vast Deal Of Spurious Literature, Which Ought

To Have Withered Under The Severe Blasts Of Criticism.

 

 

 

Believe