The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-07 00:00:00

ROY AL LITERARY FUND.

The annual dinner of this institution was held
last evening at Freemasons'-hall ; Mr. DISRAILI in the
ehair. The right hon. gentleman was much choered. The
company Iras large, consisting of 317 gentlemen and 165
ladies, the latter, however, occupying the galleries and
ends of the hall. There were present—Earl Stanhope (the
president of the society), Earl Beauchamp), M. Van de
Weyer, Lord John Manners, M.P., Lord H. G. Lennox,
Lord Royston, M P., Lord Sidmouth, Lord Ravens-
worth„ Lord. Colchester, Lord Fitzwalter, Lord Houghton,
Lord Hylton, Bishop of Rochester, Sir John Pakiogton,
Sir Stafford Northoote, Mr. S. Cave, M.P., Colonel Wawa
Patten, M.P., Sir W. Hutt, M.P., Sir M. H. Beach, M.P.,
Mr. Mowbray, M.P., Sir Joseph Napier, Lord Justice
Wyed, Chief Jnstioe &mill, Sir Roderick Murchison, Sir
W. S. Maxwell, hi.P., the Solicitor-General, General
Codringtoo, Admiral Coclrington, Admiral Sir E. Belcher,
Mr. Barnett, M.P., Mr. Marsh, M.l'., Mr. Cochrane,
M.P., Colonel Sykes, M.P., Sir F. Grant, Mr. Gurney,
M.P., Dean Stanley, Sir Bartle Frere, Sir H. Anderson,
Sir H. D. Wolff, Archdeacon Hale, Alderman Sir W.
Rose, Alderman Sir B. Phillips, the Mayor of Portsmouth,
Mr. Davies, Mr. Theodore Martin, Dr. Forbes Winslow,
Mr. Temple, Q.C., Rev. Dr. Binney, Mr. Gruneisen, Mr.
Macmillan, Mr. Spottiswoode, Mr. Blackwood, Mr.
Bohn, Mr. Spalding, Mr. Rivington, Mr. Chapman, Mr.
Bentley, &c.

The &mama's, in giving " the Queen," said—l propose
to you &toast which is always drunk in every society of
Englishmen with feelings of respeetful cordiality, but in
this society, the assembly of the Literary Fund, it is
received with feelings of peculiar enthusiasm, because it
is the toast of one who now for many year* has been our
munificent patron. In proposing her Majesty's health this
year I cannot forget that since I last had the honour of
dining with the Literary Fund her Majesty has inscribed
her name in the memorable list of royal authors. (Cheers.)
Her Majesty has experienced the fortune which has not
always been the fate of royal, or even of authors of
another description, for she has found thousands and hun-
dreds of thousands of readers for her volumes. (Cheers.)
And it is not surprising, since thate who have read those
I pages must find that in them they recognise the touch
of nature that makes all hearts akin. (Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN, in giving "The Prince and Princess of
Wales. and the rest of the Royal Family," said—The
royal family is peculiarly connected with this institution.
His Royal highness the Prince of Wales has deigned to
fill the chair which I now occupy, and in that he only
followed the example of his illustrious father—a prince
who did more for the refinement of the tastes of this
country than any prince that has ever flourished since the
days of the Medici. (Cheers.) In fact, there are peculiar
causes which on this occasion must force us to drink this
toast with feelings of no common emotion. We must all
have beard with feelings of alarm and indignation the
attempt that has recently been made in a distant
settlement of the Queen upon the life of one
of her children. That attempt was, I think, unjustly
associated with the name of Ireland—(cheers)—and if any-
thing could have proved more triumphantly than another
the injustice of the charge against that nation, it was the
reception which was being accorded at that very moment
by a loyal and generous people to another child, whose
presence on that soil with the charming partner of his life
and state proved what I for one never doubted—the
entire loyalty of that gifted people. (Loud cheers.)
Berl BEAUCHAMP proposed "The Church ;" to which
The Bishop of BOCHEMTER responded.
The CHAIRMAN then rose to propose the toast of the
evening. Ho said—One of the most illustrious of my
predecessors in the seat which I now occupy regretted
i
that when he had to approach the moat nteresting
feature of the evening of our anniversary, he had to touch
upon a subject which for more than three quarters of a cen-
tury had been treated by the most illustrious and eminent
men in this country, and therefore he drew the very sound
inference that there was no novelty of treatment of which
it was capable, and no new suggestion which could possibly
arise. I myself must admit the soundness of that observa-
tion, but in my own experience I haves painful reeollectioa
that the difficulty has increased sad the disadvantage is
aggravated, because I cannot forget that this is not the
first time that I have had the high honour of sitting in this
chair, and that there is upon record my inadequate at-
tempt to vindicate the constitution of this society, and to
advocate the support of its fortunes. (Cheers.) But, alas !
on the present occasion there is an additional reason why I
feel my utter inadequacy to the office which I am now at-
tempting to fulfil. I cause to this assembly like one who
comes from the heat of combat to repair to the
pure flow of some pellucid stream to slake the thirst
of battle. (Cheers and laughter.) It is an effort
for me to attune my mind to the gracious and refined
offices which I have now to fulfil. If, indeed, I had fol-
lowed my own inpulses,l should have declined the honour
which I once felt I should be so proud to enjoy. But I
must trust on this occasion to your indulgence for my
desultory observations ; and I feel I can wily be sustained
at this moment by that which will ever endure, namely,
my sympathy for the good old cause. (Cheers.) That
observation of icy predecessor to which I have referred
reminds me at this moment that the Literary Fund is an
ancient iantitution. But though en ancient institution,
it is not an obsolete one, which may easily be proved by
contrasting the present assembly with the first dinner
which was held in this metropolis to commemorate the
foundation of the institution. Perhaps during the 70 or 80
years that have elapsed since that time someof thegreatest
events that have ever occurred in the experience of men
have happened. It is possible that within an equal space no
more memorable incidents could be comprised, and the
great changes which have taken place in the fortunes of
humanity have also affected during the interval the po-
sition of the author. At the time the Literary Fund was
founded, the man of letters had escaped from the pa-
tronage of nobles, and had taken refuge in the more sub-
stantial protection of the bookseller. (Laughter.) But
the great production of our time, that great creation that
is rapidly developing, a reading public, did not then exist.
The kinetic, of that great itiddenthad had a considerable
effect upon the position of an author. It opened up the
gym* area of literary rynapethy which at the time of the
foundation of the imititution no doubt did not exist.
Instead of the Grub-street of Queen Anne's time, literary
men have now founded a compact and welterganised and
honourable pretension, and we know well there are many
men of letters who, exercising their professional power,
have realised Memos that may match with those which
the learnedlrofesn=s that have loop been admitted to
an hosemeaNe post only produced. But it would be a
great mistake to suppose that because this greet ellen
and to a certain extent happy shags, in the
=MU has *marred that there is no
f:4" emy
, or a reduced necessity for the enemies of its
°ems, and for the active exercise of its *opacity. On
Ike eostrari, is the kit plase, we mast recollect that the

very increase of men of literary sympathy has increased
the number of aspirants for the fame and moan of lite-
rature. But there is always somirthieg for us to recol-
lect b. yond that. The author has, all we
must ever remember, • peculiar organisation.
He is • being formed with a predieposition which with him
is irresistible, the bent of which be cannot M any way
avoid, whether it direct' him to the abstruse rematches of
erudition, or induces him to meant into the fervid and
turbulent atmosphere of imagiaatioa. We know that the
life and career of such men cannot be regulated by the
ordinary rake of prudence which wisely and properly are
expected to regalia* the conduct of ordinary men.
(Cheers.) I say then that it was • suggestion
beautiful in feeling and profound in thought that
contemplated that when such characters required assist-
acme, when they wanted aid and consolation end succour
should not have to appeal to those common feelings
of common charily which influence us all in our relations
with our common fellow-men, but that they should tad
an institution which, like a generous and sympathizing
friend, should minister to all their wants, and at the same
time appremale their pursuits and their idiosyncracies.
(Cheers.) That was the object of the Literary Fund, so
that instead of the patron, they found an in-
stitution which, instead of expecting gratitude
from the individual who was succoured, felt they
were honoured and rewarded by his accepting the sym-
pathising offering he received. (Cheers.) I have some-
times asked myself what I. the reason that there
general sympathy with the literary character—a character
sle;amuliar in its organisation, and in its results often one
is net ealculated to command the sympathies of tie
world? Yew is it that eon among* these wise are little
lettered there is • reepeet for anthers I L believe
It is lessees there is an fortiect in man
that society is greatly indebted to literature. (Cheers.)
And it you ask yourselves for a moment what
society would be without books, I think you may compre-
hend the feeling and arrive at some conception of its
origin. Without books the discoveries of science, the
inventions of art, the grand pedigree of noble precedents
of the intellectual development of man would hsve no
record ; none of those maxims and household words that
illustrate and adorn and animate the true life would exist--
none of those imaginary characters, as they are celled, but
which are teeny much more vital and substantial than half
our acquaintance, who mix with ell our daily life, represent
and illustrate our feelings, often give us counsel, and;
occasionally cause us merriment, would move among
us, there would be no Hamlets, no Don Quixote+. no
Therefore, I can easily conceive that mankind, ,
even those who are unlettered, instinctively feel they owe
to the cultivated record the impulses of inventions,
and the discoveries of truth. You will see this very
markedly when you observe how much the test of the
condition and mind of • country is the state of its lite-
rature. If you look to the great empires of antiquity—
Assyria, Babylon, cud even Egypt, in the consciousness of
men they are really nothing more than mere phantom. We
are aware of their names, we know they possessed
power which no longer exists, that they perhaps indulged
in mysteries which may never be penetrated ; but they
have no effect upon our active life ; they do not mould our
character, they do not illustrate our feeling, they have not
left us human examples for our instruction. And why
not? Because they have left us no books ; because they
have left us no literature. ICheers.) We have heard of
their conquerors, of their priests, of their statesmen,'
but never of their authors. (Cheers.) But this want of
effect upon living generations is not the oonseemenci of
the lapse of time. There are countries which were coeval
with them—countries which flourished 3,000 years ego ;
they were formed of tribes and clans, who were content
when they had established a polity which had secured
their material comfort, and they gave up their
minds to the cultivation of intellect, and produced
literature of startling originality. These countries,
though they were not the countries of great
conquerors,e e ic choanlact, im
existingain egnen generations. onotu !!' There ee ti
is rout
a day that the incidents of their country do not illustrate
our life, there is not • day that their household words do
not animate and &dem the hearths around which we live,
and at this very moment there is no part of the world ,
which is not influenced by the conduct and the thought
of nations who, though slight in population, exercise, and
will exercise perhaps for ever, this irresistible influence.
And why? Because they left out literatures and had au-
thors. (Loud cheers.) Now, if it be true that the state i
of literature is the best test of the condition of a country,
I think I may say without the language of exaggeration
that England may look with pride and satisfaction to the
vernacular literature with which we are all conversant,
and which at this moment commands the admiration and
respect of the world. Of our literature, I say it has
this characteristic which distinguishes it from all
the other literatures of modern Europe, and that
is its exuberant reproductiveuess. Other countries at
peculiar epochs have produced admirable specimens of the
thought and expression of men in all its forms of history,
philosophy, poetry, and schism?, but they have rarely re-
peated thew. But this may say of our vernacular
tongue, that there is a reproductiveness about it which is
• most valuable lecture, and without a parallel in
the history, ancient or modern, of any other
nation. It is now forty or fifty years ago, as
some present no doubt will remember, when England
produoed • constellation of poets such as really no other ,
nation could rival. These poets were not alone in their ,
glory, for at that time, too, there was a development of
critical power—a power supposed to be most contrary to
the creative power—that was most remarkable. Indeed, in ,
every department of literature there was excellence. They
have all passed away, bat that period has not been succeeded
by one of long and sterile reaction, but the contrary. It
would be invidious at this moment to mention instances,'
but I think I am speaking only truth when I say we are ,
living in an age when the voiced true poets is beard; when
everything is working with a vigour and versatility which
has never been exceeded ; when historical investigation
has been conducted with an ornate sagacity which very
few periods of literary excellence rival • when the coa- •
I elusions of science have been communicated to the multi-
tude
in • classic tongue, which certainly a century ago
VMS wanting. We can therefore boast for our verna-
cular literature not merely that it has produced
' classical authors or a peculiar epoch, but that there is a
vigour and versatility in the power and expression of the
literature of this country that sustains and commands the I
influence of the English tongue. (Cheers.) I confess I •
myself am not surprised at this result, of which every
Englishman ought to be proud : but I think it may be ac-
counted for. I attribute it in a great degree to the wide
circle to which an English writer appeals. It is no longer
an appeal to the inhabitants of the island
in which he lives. If be is capable of it he ;
can affect the feelings and influence the conduct of the;
inhabitants of every transatlantic state; his productions
soothe the labour and solace the life of the toilers in the
Antipodes. It is in this great and expanding tribunal to
which the English author can appeal that I find the finest
elements of his inspiration. But if this view which I have
sketched, and sketched with great imperfectness, has some
foundation in it i if it be, as I believe, true, I think
' there is an additional reason why we should earnestly
and seriously consider the coaditioa of those pale-freed
votaries of the muse by whose devotion to the cultivation
of these arts these great results are in some instances
obtained, and in so many instances aspired to. We must
recollect that although there may be instances of dazzling
material success combined with intellectual excellence, it
is in the nature of things, and it is the necesory eon. I
sequence of this very enlarged sphere of literary
sympathies which adds so much excitement and stimulus
to literary effort. It is in the nature of things that
there must be many and frequent instances when sym-
pathy and aid are required to meet the broken feelings
I and repair the battered foetuses of ear literary brothers.
I (Cheers.) The most popular author suddenly Made that
I the literary passion of his age is capricious, and be falls
from the high empyrean in which be thought it was his
destiny to soar for ever. The scholar who devotes
his life to the noble pursuit of some investigation
which cannot bring any material support, though in
its results it may influence the character of nations ;
and above all the man who, full of success, falls • victim
Ito • shattered nervous system, andt when he was
within the vision of glory with a palpitating triumph of
intellectual power sinks into despondency and despair
these are the men, and these are the instances repeated
from the very excited condition of literary life, to which
this society may bring that remedial aid which fulfils one
of the most beautiful offices of benevolence. This
is the case I have to plead to-night. I wish I
could have pleaded it in • condition of mind more
adapted to a subject which is worthy of the
beet feelings of our heart. But I have this adventure—l
appeal to those who at least sympathise with the subj
if they may not with the speaker. (Cheers.) I speak ect,
to
those who are a brotherhood, who either by their pro-
fession or by their tastes, are all literary men • and, if I
cannot bring forward to you Moo arguments widish ought
to influence your intelligence, I can name to you a subject
which will lam sure touch ur hearts. It is the
" Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fuad." (Lead chreerti.l
Earl ETA/HOPI having
Mr. 01010/1 GODWIN subscriptions I. the
amount of about 1,5001.

Kr. DIRRLIII, in response to the tout of his health, pra
posed by Sari fitenhoir, Quaked the onapany for their
kindness, and added, ' I eon say that, whatever any be may
tortoises la life, my pathiee wW always be faithful to
the liter's" food. ( )

The reinahnas toe-ste sem " %they sad Intl~Literatu by Elk Bedford Nerlbeote
Le p 1
to by r. irombles "The Judges and Lepl
_*-Pr9med by Lord Ilooghboa, sad aekaow-
111dVd by twa Jae** Bose_ ; " Clarissa aad Efiededeal
lesokro," proposed by Lord Baensweelit, sad efekaa
ztle by theDasa Wltt=w;a4geliThe eteliint gra
titd7l•l,l4ltarvip•Nd to a brief epee% by th; ehait:
lON

THE CHVECH MISTING AT ST. JAllT`frel HALL
Though this meeting probably realised the ex-
pectations of its promoters, it is futile, observes the
Trines, as a means of influencing the verdict of the nation ;
and the fact that it was essentially a clerical meeting—
the few laymen being just of such a tyre as bishops
might desire to associate with themselves in
an ecclesiastical synod—was a grave strategical error in its
organisation. With regard to the seinen nts employed, it
is strange to find the Archbishop of Yak and the Bishops
of London and Oxford agreeing in the proposition that •
state is bound to propagate that which it recognises as
religious truth out of public funds, teen in a part of
the empire where the vast majority of the people are of
a different creed. Of all the arguments euspli yed to de-
feed the Irish church the allegation that it is a missionary
church is surely the most suicidal, for so long as a church
is a missionary church it cannot be the chuich of the nation.
As to the ides that the abolition of the Irish church is but
to precede the downfall of the English church, there is
just enough truth in it to make it delusive. Ti'. oneness
of disestablisbment in Inland would (melanin. • great
deal of unreasoning aversion to organic changes;
hut on the other hand the more the ere of
the Irish church is considered the tone tffectually
will the L vital distinction between it and the
English Church be brought abet t. It wt aid t e Duly de
plorable if the hierarchy of the Church f England should
induoe her to repudiate her best title and to forfeit the
confidence of the people by leaning on the broken reed of
indefeasible rights.
No one has ever doubted, says the D,i's Nees. that a
majority in the House of Lords, a considerable minority
in the House of Commons, and the episcopal bench,
English and Irish, with absolute unanimity, are opposed to
the dieesteiblish men t and d Meadow men t of the Irish Church.
Hence there is nothing surprising in the cumbers and rank
of those who were present at yesterday's meeting. The
only thing common to the speeches was the very shy re-
cognition given to the Irish establishment, the speakers
preferring to dweU in safe generalities upon the abstract
question of the union of church and state. The Bishop of
Oxford's speech was directed chiefly against the policy of
Mr. Disraeli in wishing to establish two or three different
kinds of religious teaching, and the Bishop of London, by
declining to give the term " disestablishmeut to the
plan which Mr. Gladstone proposes, leaves it a matter of
surprise why he should be there. The Daily News is
quite content with these effects of the demonstration. It
will strengthen the hands of the liberal leader, cud be is
great discouragement to the country.
Though regarding it as somewhat a tardy demonstration,
the Standard rejoices in its character, and trusts that it is
only the precursor of many similar ones. It is a twitter of
peculiar satisfaction that the line of conduct laid down by
the promoters tallies exactly with the attitude assumed by
the government.
The Telegraph sees one good in the meeting ; it has let
the country see that all the episcopal array cannot show
cause why the Irish establishment should any longer con-
tinue to make the good government of Ireland im-
possible.

The Post says the meeting was not an argument, but a
demonstration of weakness. The effect will be to show
that a whole league of archbishops and bishops, arrayed in
support of an ancient and scandalous injustice, cannot suc-
cessfully plead its cause or long delay its doom.