Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-16

TO dwell in the preceptorfes" Furthermore
another clause enjoined that No knight
| is to talk TO a brother of worldly frolics.
All jests and idle words are 20 be avoided"
| The infraction Of which rules led to GER
tain penances in such case made and pro-
| vided, as one might say, to drop into
1 more modern Temple Nerbiage.
All, Anthony, Anthony. did your con-
science chide You for the ignoring OF those
| rules governing that spot many CEN
tlries ago. and was that the reason YOU
persisted in quitting the classic shades Of
the Temple for more commercial and COM
| nonpiace looms in buckingham street. in
| spite OF all my beseechings TO remain. FOR.
not being allowed to have chambers In
the Temple myself. I wished to possess one
friend there upoa whom 1 might occasion
| ally call.
more lengthy. / may add that l ultimately
| visited Anthony Hope at his chambers in
| the Temple, going boldly up one flight OF
stairs with absolutely no excuse for my
intrusion, but being resolved that IL. In
my reception. there was ally sign OF that
British intole: ance OF which i read In the
American papers. but which. up TO date
l have never met. L would deftly switch on
nom literary matters and tackle him on "A
legal basis, saying 1 wanted to bring an
action against some one and desired adj
Wee. / discovered later that this method
OF retreat would have been a de.usion. for
anthony Hope was a barrister, and as
such was only to be approached most re-
| specifically through n solicitor. You couldn't
go up give him dollar, end come away
with quarters worth OF advice.
1 knocked at the first landing. and the
door apparently opened OF its own accord.
typical of the with which the en-
trance to a quarrel is accomplished. A
youth seated on high stool turned half
round as 1 went In. He had a quill pen
| In his hand. with the feathery end of which
| he tickled his lils. looking, amid his sew
erely legal surroundings. If he were
enacting a character from Dickens md
doing IL remarkably well.
is MIR. Anthony Hope in?" asked.
"Mr. Anthony Hope? Oh, you mean Mr..
Hawkins. Yes. sir"
/ know my statement will not be credited
| in America, but the youth did not drop his
| his" in pronouncing srch of the above
words currently held to be pit
| falls for his countrymen. He slid off the
stool, raped at a door, and presently
desired me to enter.
Before doing So L would like to make a
| few remarks abou. the doors IN Temple
| chambers.
They are double. There is green baize
| or black leather door on the outside. then
an inner ordinary door Of oak. Like many
other things in this slowly built-up old
country. these doors have a Significance; a
language of their own. When the outer
door stands open, IL means that the person
within is disengaged; when ii is closed. the
oak is sported 1 found out these interest
ing particulars by running my head against
| the inside door on various occasions, for
| having been brought up in oEe-door
country, the double event seemed TO be
constant surprise to me.
Mr. Hawkins will see you, sir, said the
youth.
| There ran through my mind the line
which Chevalier sings, How'd you fancy
| y. Hawkins for your other name" 1t
seemed then that Anthony Hope had anoth-
err name whether he fancied il not. For
| the purposes of this article, l have been
| looking through the writings of Dickens
| and Others, hoping 10 meet an adequate de-
scription of Anthony Hopes room in the
| Temple, but L cannot find anything that
| exactly fits in. The room which Tom
Pinch had to set to rights was naturally
all in disorder, the books lying in heaps on
the floor. while in the chambers L speak Of
| they were all nicely arranged along the
| walls. ia sombei leathern bindings. look
| ing very solemn. legal and uninteresting.
Boswelrs account of Or. Johnson's room
and its occupant will not do at All.
1T must be confessed that his apart
ments, furniture and morning dress were
sufficiently uncouth,' writes the gossiping
Jimmy. His brown suit of clothes looked
very rusty; he had on little old shriveled
| uhpowdered wig. which was too small for
his head; he had pair OF unbuckled shoes
| by way of slippers. L cannot find that
| any one visited Charles Lambs quarters
| and described them, but Charles himself
wrote to Coleridge:
81 have two rooms on the third floor and
| five rooms above, with an inner staircase
! to myself and all new painted, for G3o a
year. The rooms are delicious, and look
| backward into Hare court, where there is
| a pump always going; just now ii is dry"
| The furniture in Anthony Hopes room
| soberly accorded with the somewhat gloomy
| vainscoting Of the apartment, above which
we're the dusky rows of books The broad
| table and heavy chairs fell well within the
limits prescribed by the founder of the
Temple, who said tsee article ~: IF ever
| that furniture is given to a brother in char
| ity. it is to be discolored 10 prevent an
| appearance Of superiority or arrogance"
Ard L am pleased that truth enables me
| to add that there was nothing of superior
| ity or arrogance about the man himself,
any more than there was about his furni-
| ture He received me with a look of gentle
surprise apon his face. which took at the
| time to be in the nature of mild inquiry
regarding the cause of my visit but which
| | afterward found to be his habitual eN-
preston, an expression that has added an
interrogatng wrinkle to a brow whose youth
disentitles it to the same. l attribute this
questioning glance to oxford An oxford
man is never quite certain about anything.
We rough-hewn uncollegiate persons are
positive that black is black and white is
/ bite, but Baliiol graduate is not sure:
| he keeps an open mind and awaits definite
evidence that seems never quite to reach
him.
The world has long been waiting for an
expression of opinion from me regarding
| the writing of Anthony Hope. This Is the
first opport unity 1 have had OF unhur-
dening myself On that subject, and have
| no hesitation in saying that 1T Is vile be-
You'd expression. To prevent error. / should
state that I am talking of his penmanship
and not of his books. He uses sheets of
| blue fcolscap; begins at the top with
long line. writing each following line a
little shorter than the one above it. aud
thus tie bcttoih line is about half the
length of the one at the top. Perhaps in
this lies the secret of his popularity, so /
set forth his methods that any reader may
try the experiment. / can read with rea-
sonable facility the hieroglyphcs on Cleo
patras needle, which has been set uD IN
! the eplbankment, opposite Arthon Hopes
Few rooms. but when L come to the more
modern handwriting of Anthony Hope him
self, am staggered. 1 speak feelingly, for
fate once played me a scurvy trick in this
regard. There was given to me the first
six chapters of .Phroso," beautifully type
written, and, verifying the adage that a
certain class of persons will rush in where
an angel would have some hesitation in
going forward plunged into the six chap
tiers. Every knows how absorbing
"Phroso" is. / consider it the best story
for serial purposes that ever was written.
When / finished the six chapters, / was
consumed with curiosity to know what
happened next. l rushed breathlessly 20
Buckingham street and up the two flights
of stairs by which Anthony Hope now dis
courages mon accustomed to elevators.
burst in upon him. and demanded the rest
of the novel at the muzzle of revolver.
| L. Ill H.. L..