New-York tribune., 1888-03-25
NOTES FROM LONDON.
MRS. PROCTER AND HER FRIENDS-DAR-
WIN-PUBLISHERS AGAIN.

rrRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or Tik rr,DoSN'
have in Mrs Procter's handwriting nst'
which she described as very imperfect. OF famous
men and women whom she has known. II Hills
two closely covered sheets OF note paper in double
eopmns The handwriting Is wondcrful-clear,
Hrm. delicate every letter perfectly formed IL
should send IL you, which have not the least
notion of doing, 1t would demoralize your COM
posing Office. Mergenthaler machines and all.
She was eighty-six when she wrote IT. She had
m orderly mind, perhaps rather precise. and she
has classified her celebrities into artists dancers,
musicians. actors and actresses, literary men and
has included no living person | select few,
though as q rule nothing is less interesting than
catalogues Of names Among the artists are Sir
Thomas Lawrence. Turner Landseer Rossetti,
Cruikshanl1 and the unhappy Hayden, and De
Wint Fanny Elsler and Taglioni are the two
dancers The musicians include Mende!ssohn,
Chopin, Lszt-not an English name among them
Il is startling enough to the actresses headed
by Mrs. Siddons, wLo was born in l735. In her
august company are John and Charles Kemble
Edmund Kean, Macready and Rachel. Not less
startling is IL to find among Mrs Procter's liter
ary acquaintances and friends Coleridge, Southey
Wordsworth. Landor. She names neither Byron
nor Shelley. though ! am sure / have heard her
speak of Byron as If she had known him, and
there is @ story Of her telling which fixes 1t, II
correct A party was going to Eton for the 4th
June. "I have not been TO Eton.' said Mrs
Proctor for some years. The last time went
I drove down with DR.. Parr and Byronl" De
Parr is on her list SO ere Sidney Smith Cooper
she is careful to label him American" Motley,
who is unticlseted: Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, Charles
Lamb, De Quincy, Longfellow, Emerson. Dickens,
Lord Jeffrey, Count DOrsay, whose literary
claims are not Of the highest; Hood, and Thach-
cray.
have known Mrs. Proctor for a good many
years and met her In good many different cir
cumstances She was lady whom it was inn
possible not to admire, and she had qualities that
you could not but like. About her gathered
certain number Of devotees and certain other
number of persons with whom devotion was
matter Of duty or perhaps of obedience She had
regal notions of what due to her, and there
was occasionally something imperious in her way
Of expressing her wishes Mr.. Browning was one
Of the most regular attendants at her Sunday
afternoon levee yet Mr. Browning / somehow
fanced, had been more her husbands friend than
hers, and kept up this exact intercourse out OF
respect to Barry Cornwalls memory and defer
ence to Mrs. Procter's expectations. Mr.. Lowell
was one Of her most favored friends, and Mr..
Henry James another, and both showed her the
most unremitting loyalty and friendship Photo
graphs and letters Of and from each used to stand
framed on the little table In her freside corner.
Mr. Kinglake was another Of her court, and
could mention many more Nobody came empty
handed: nobody went empty away. Not only
was her memory faithful to the last, but II was
OF that extraordinary kind which enabled her to
avoid, for the most part telling the same story
twice to the same people.
have named some of her friends. There is
= xf..n al 1Af
them to be named, though whether ought to
mention him is another question However.
will / mean Mr.. George Smith, whose friend
ship was Of the most practical helpful kind and
Of loyalty proof against every trial. il trials
there were To him she gave I think some
time before her death, the letters Thackeray had
written her, but fear it is understood that they
are never to see the light They are or some OF
them are, Of an interest much greater than those
to Mrs. Brookfeld. which have lately been pub
lished.
When Mr. Froude published, not wisely Car
lyle's rough comments on the Basil Montagu
household Mrs. Proctor. who was Basil Monta-
gus stepdau ghter. took characteristic revenge
on the ungrateful Scot. She printed some OF
the letters he had written Montagu and Mrs
Montagu-letters acknowledging their kindness
and services TO him in terms not often employed
by O person VINO lefiS himself Ou al c4uh!Hy "'Sn
his correspondents She never forgave either Car
lyle or Mr. Froude Hers, indeed was not for
giving nature: her idea Of human nature was per-
haps a little cynical Carlyle had ill-requited
the kindness shown him. and she forthwith ap-
pointed herself to do justice upon him and upon
his biographer. "Our Lady of Bitterness one
friend called her. However, she uttered her bit
ter sayings with felicity Of speech which enti-
tied some Of them to pardon. Her skill in the
use of the knife was surgical l believe dwell
too much on these traits. but you would have no
Just idea of this extraordinary woman II I left
them all out of the picture She had masculine
qualities, too; energy, decision abruptncss, clear
ideas of what she wanted and how to get 1t i
meant to say much more, but am summoned
elsewhere, and leave the best side Of Mrs. Proc
ter's nature to your friendly imagination
The publication of the Life Of Darwin has
given o fresh start to the sale Of the Origin OF
Species" and Of the Descent of Man, The sixth
edition Of the former has now been brought out
by Murray, and the number Of copies printed has
reached $4,000. That is extraordinary for
book which Darwin himself describes as very
difficult one; and difficult it is even to the scen-
tifc mind The immense celebrity of the author
and the ever-resounding echo Of the discussion
raised by the book may account for much Of the
sale. lt WOuiu DC iuJcrcotuS U hHO" Ho" uiohy
Of the buyers have in fact read the book from
end to end l never really read it, nor read IL
as Carlyle says with one eye shut and the other
not open.
This last edition is IN two well-printed volumes,
defaced by an advertisement on the back OF the
title; IL that be not a too Irish expression. Mr..
Murray declares himself not responsible for this.
He is publisher in name only. The book is de-
livered to him, was the Life printed and
bound; he has absolutely nothing to do with the
manufacture. 1t is the Darwin family who are
responsible: especially, l presume Mr.. Francis
Darwin, who prepared the biography of his
father. He might plead that he but copied from
other publications bearing the imprint of John
Murray and really issued by him this bad prac-
tice His father, he tells us, had no respect for
a book as q hook: used to commit horrible OUT