Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-06-13
sOuE ENGLISH NOyELISTs.
tnadc ana Collins md their Manner OF
Work.
Joseph Hatton's London Letter

lJOSepn nattOnS LONDON Letter.
Come with me, and will show you INA
both's Vineyard until lately the home of
Charles Reade, possibly the strongest and
most dramatic of all modern novelists. We
take hanson and drive along Piccadilly,
past Hyde Park corner, to nights-bridge. A
cosey looking house, one Of row, the front
covered with creepers, If you turn to "a
Terrible Temptation, you will find full
description of the internal economy of it. |
do not propose to offer you competitive
picture, though | have frequently had the
pleasure of talking with the late Charles
Reade here and seeing him at work There
was no more conscientious writer. He once
said to me 81 read 200 books to write one,
and more than once he has also said II
am a dramctist by natural gift, and novelist
by foice OF circumstance, or words to that
effect. When an official and officious effort
was made to deprive Mr.. Reade of his house,
he called it "Naboths Vineyard, and secured
not only his own property, but the ertire
tenure, by the newspaper seimons which he
preached from that text. Apart from his
novels and plays, which need no praise from
me (some of them are already accepted En
glish classics), he devoted his pen to the pub
lie service in many directions. His publish
er, Mr. Chatto, induced him, shortly befnre
his death, to print volume of selections
from his newspaper letters under the char
acteristic title of "Readiana." II you read
the English newspapers in the year 1873, you
would observe that what is marked ''private
bill legislation" had been exciting much at
tention. The reason for this was the dis
cOyery of the effort ola certain underground
railway company to erect ventilators, hid
eous structures, on the Thames embankment
and at Westminster. 1t was only when the
abominabe inventions had begun to disfiaure
the metropolis that the discovery was made
of the authorization by private Parliament
hill A bitter fight ensued III the press and in
Parliament against the ventilators, which has
only ended after all in compromise The
private bill might have endowed the company
with the right to stick their chimneys up in
Westminster Abbey, or, as a clever buresque
writer pointed out at the time, to make a
carriage road through st. Paul's. 1t was
against this very demon, the private bill,
that Mr.. Reade tilted and overcamo in the
defence of his home, 10 Albert Gate, Knights
bridge. party of speculative builders tried
to capture the property. When they failed,
| II certain peer went for it in a private bill,
which provided for the extinction of seven of
the houses, for the purpose of a new public
| road into the park. Mr.. Rcade in his letter
| to the press demolished tine oigarch's' plot,
and warned Parliament and the Iublic
| against private bills. This was some years
"SO' "ii' O' ~ h'9 '''L pVH'to'c III Runway
company TO struggle through Parliament
| private bill giving them the right to destroy
| the beauty and usefulness of the Thames en-
| blnkment, and to pour out its underground
smoke into the atmosphere near Westminster
Anpey anu the houses OF IarIahnet. IL Is
interesting just no" u quote VIZ. heaue on
,hlS SUBJECT men private oilis come on
ne says, 'lhere Is NOBODY IN the House hut
the personal friends OF the projectors. A Job
IA, "a, 1 /
OF ms KIND sides from biii INTO an act III less
'iuIc .nan IL "oulu tahe 10 hatch serpent
una 'ue house becomes the catspaw OF "a
tyranny quite foreign TO us own heart ana
principles. Tins IS where tue shoe really
pihches: only few members have time or
Inclination 10 attend 10 these cursed little
private bills, especially when they are up to
me neck III the Hellespont-hnd VINO can
blame them and SO very little varnish
carries them through. John Milton says
truly than even wisdom has Its blind side.
Inc times are hlgh minuei, ana the hlgh
minded are not suspicious ; and so at WIS
dom gate Suspicion sleeps, and thinks no
Ill where no Ill seems. This volume OF
| "keadana is full OF excellent material for
an estimation OF the character OF Charles
heade. HIS catholcity OF feeling, his hatred
OF cant, his nigh sense oil justice, his love for
| the suffering and the poor, are shown from
hrst to last IN his writings as we'll as in his
lie. What would have struck you next ii
you mad known HIM well was the difference
between MI Neade at home and N.Y. Reade
| III print Call upon him. He would receive
you with the gentleness OF saint quot that l
pretend ever to have known saint, but you
VIII appreciate the slmile), talk to you with
singular modesty, listen to you with the
greatest respect, ask you to diuuer, or to
take cup of tea as one who receives a favor
by your acceptance, and you would have
gone away thinking of him ias the mildest,
sweetest, most long suffering gentleman You
ever met, But give him n grievance, tamper
with his rights, tread on his moral corns,
find him a ''slin.er" of thoughts that breathe,
Of words that burn indeed, Not, my friends,
that | ever experienced his wrath. On the
contrary, he was always kind and sympath-
etc toward me. He took me by the hand
aud said the first kind things to mo when
came to London 20 years ago.
"Naboth's Vineyard" knows him no more
but 10 Albert Gate will always have an inter-
est for his admirers as the house in which
nearly all his best work WAS written, and
where he spent the happicst days OF his life.
He left there to live aud die at 3 Bloomfield
villas, on the Exbridgc road, in compare
lively new house, in a neighborhood as differ
ent To lhe rus IN urDe OF hniShtsbriige, |
"the only break III the hidtous monotony Of
mediocrily, as 1t is possible to imagine. You
got to 1t through cheap streets and busy
thnrouBhitres, over tramwuys and under
railway bridges. 1t Is pleasant enough when
you reach your dest1uation and Tie house
has southern frontage Said the host when
last saw him thers' always select your
abode SO that your Windows look ont upon
Tue south Ial5a wei punt (once he must
have been powerful OF ltmbb Erade had II
slnguiariy benevolent expression OF face,
Dil5Gt gray eyes beard and m1stache
nearly whlte he S;oopsd slightly and had n
lafBet flank mead reg "oihngton was
published IN loo2' rms was his first book.
and got 80 i0r It, he 'nld TO me 10 years
on account, Win prospective advantages Tor |