The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-03 00:00:00

Royal Literary Fund.

The anniversary festival of the Royal Literary
Fund took place last night at Willis's-rooms. About
100 gentlemen sat down to dinner. Lord Houghton
presided ; and among the company were the Bishop
of St. David's, Viscount Milton, M.P., Lord Crewe,
the Dean of Canterbury, Mr. Beresford-Hope,
M.P., Mr. Pollard-Urquhart, M.P., Sir J. Simeon,
M.P., Professor Fawcett, M.P., General Eyre, Sir
R. Murchison, Sir T. Tancred, Sir F. Doyle, Sir
W. Jones, Professor Kingsley, Professor Tyndall,
Rev. C. Merivale, Judge Manockjee Cursetjee
(Bombay), Rev. R. Whiston, Messrs. A. Trollope,
Spedding, G. Cruikshank, Forsyth, Bell, Swin-
burne, S. Baker, &c.
On the removal of the cloth, the noble Cmun-
MAN, in proposing the toast of The Queen," re-
ferred to the munificent patronage which her Ma-
jesty bestowed on this fund, and to the interest
which was taken in it by her late lamented Consort.
The toast was cordially received, as was also that
of " The Prince of Wales and the rest of the Royal
Family," in proposing which the chairman alluded
to the gracious presidency of his Royal Highness at
this anniversary two years ago, and expressed a hope
that other members of the Royal family might con-
fer upon them a similar honour in years to come.
In proposing "The Church," Sir W. JONES men-
tioned the loss sustained by poetry and philosophy
in the death of the Rev. J. Keble and Dr. Whewell,
and the able contributions rendered to history by
living members of the Church, such as the Bishop of
St. David's, the Rev. C. Merivale, and Dean Stan-
ley, and instanced our fine old Valhalla, Westmin-
ster Abbey, as a type of the close connection between
literature and the Church.
The Bishop of St. DAVID'S, in acknowledging the
toast, remarked that the Church of England,having
a book for its authentic charter and title deeds, and
being through its juste milieu position pressed on all
sides by hostile forces, could not but be closely con-
nected with literature. He thanked God that the
Church was unable to wield the weapons of physi-
cal force in maintaining the defensive, and he hoped
that whatever its outward fortunes might be, its
connection with literature, which was alike honour-
able to both, would ever continue.

The next toast was " The Army and Navy," to
which Gen. Eyre and Capt. Forbes responded.
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the toast of the
evening, " Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fund,"
remarked that last year the society came in conflict
with a very important section of the literary inte-
rests of England, who thought that some other or-
ganisation would be more beneficial. The result,
however, had been that they were as strong as ever,
and that they had fully maintained their position.
This was an eleemosynary society, and it professed
to be nothing else. They did nothing to lead men
to choose literature as a profession, for that, like
every other occupation, must be regulated by the
law of supply anddemand, but it assisted those who,
having chosen that role, without any grave fault of
their own, fell into difficulties. Books had been
written upon the misfortunes of men of letters, but
after all they werethe misfortunes of all men, arising
from improvidence, an over estimate of their own
ability and disappointed aspirations. As his friend
Theodore Hook once remarked, it might well be
called a republic of letters, for they had not a sove-
reign among them. (Laughter.) The profession
of letters seemed to him to be one belonging to that
state of society in which literature was nascent, was
hardly accepted by the masses of the community,
and in which the literary man was looked upon as
something peculiar and extraordinary. Now he
looked forward to a time when literature would not
be a profession at all, but when the gift of writing
would be dispensed as widely in society as the
gift of conversation. Such a state of things of
course implied a very advanced state of society, and
one perhaps that had never yet been attained by
any State ; but when we considered how widely the
literary profession already extended, and how diffi-
cult it was becoming to determine who was a man
of letters and who was not, it certainly seemed that
we were in some degree approaching the ideal at
which he thought they should aim. Nothing, indeed,
could be more wonderful than the expansion of Eng-
lish literature at the present time. Articles ap-
peared almostdaily in obscure periodicals that would
have astonished people living 50 years ago. The
literary element in England was in a state of great
activity, and it was this very extension which called
for the operations of the Literary Fund. For what
was the position of a man of letters in this country
who was overtaken by misfortune ? Such a man,
as a man of thought and reflection, was necessarily
given to solitude, and came but little in contact
with society, while with the reticence which was an
essential ingredient of the English character, he
was disinclined to communicate his difficulties to
his fellow-men. In no other way, then, could
assistance be so delicately rendered him as by this
fund, for he would know that his case would be
considered with sympathy, and that with the ex-
ception of half a dozen whom he might meet next
day in society on terms of perfect equality, no one
would know his secret. (Hear, hew.) Moreover
this society was useful as bringing literary men to-
gether. They were, unfortunately, by no means
gregarious animals, though there were minds in
England, which, if brought into electrical commu-
nication, might produce Heaven knew what, and,
therefore, anything which brought literary men into
contact with each other was a thing useful in itself,
and the more so as literature was rapidly expanding.
An extension of the franchise was now the topic of
much discussion, and he might compare with it the
extension of literature. He feared that the latter,
too, would be accompanied by a redistribution of
seats—(laughter)—but he should be very sorry to
see the old seats of literature, to which they were
so fondly attached, transferred altogether to tumul-
tuous magazine communities. He should not like
to see their old friends entirelyA superseded by the
Cornhill or the Fortnightl n. excellent lady, of
rather confused notions,Atdt said that she had read
all about the cave of "and
he
emt in Mr. Addison's
Spectator—(langhter)—
classical names would still remain household ted that the old
words,
not be and that these ancient boroughs
dis-
franchised. It might be that England had attained
its political zenith, for the rest of the world was
making such rapid strides that this country, while
remaining as great and as prosperous as ever, might
not retain its present pre-eminence. It was not for
us to say that this, for the good of the world, should
not be the case ; but we might at least look forward
to the extension of the English language, and we
might legitimately pride ourselves on the position
our literature had attained, as well in historical cri-
ticism as in poetry and every other department.
its future destiny must be left toProvidence, for—
" Upon the mind to man He gave
It pleaseth God to rido,
And make each passion-crested wave
•
The noble chairmanP"tf his
mighty tide."
concluded, amid much applause,
by proposing the toast, which was drunk with great
enthusiasm, and
subscriptions to the fund to the
amount of about £9OO
Mr. VENABLES,
Qxwere afterwards announced.
rhea
torical and Imaginative, proposed " The His-
.
coupling with it the names Literature of England,"
and Mr. A. Swinburne. of Professor Kingsley

Professor KINGSLEY, i m,„
panrt ort—tri:"2-ng' said
he
should pass by the first
a Professor of History, he of of
regard to the imaginative
nothing
toast,
fa°:bn being
of it. (Laughter.) With
pointed o
literature of the present day, he
predominance of female writers, mention. out the
ally Jean Ingelow, AdelaiXe Proctoringa"ci-
authors of " John Halifax " and " Itomolan,d, the
thought if this toast were continued, ladies woulde
have to be called upon to acknowedge it, for the
Amazons had invaded Parnassus. (Laughter.) The
ladies were beating the other sex out of the field,
and the advice he would give to any young man
who wished to avoid not only the charity of this
fund, but Whitecross-street Prison and the work-
house, would be to marry, if he had the chance of
such good luck, a literary lady, and betake himself
to the humble and chivalrous service of reviewing
his wife's books. (Much laughter.)
Mr. SWINB URNE having also acknowledged the
toast, Sir R. MURCHISON proposed " Classical and
Scientific Education," to which the Rev. R. Wills-
TON and Professor TYNDALL responded.
The Dean of C A TERBURY next proposed " The