The times., 1898-06-26
Anenymous ReeoIIec.ions.

hnens nous ESGDIISctlOhs.
COLLECTIONS and Recollections' is a
book of considerable size and interest,
which appears over the signature. "One
Who Has Kept a Diary A quotation
which follows leads one 10 think that the
author is an invalid of cheerful DISPOSE
ton and brilliant intellect and the dedi
cation is TO the most genial of compan-
ions. James Payn, at whose suggestion
these papers were written" Other than
these somewhat vague clews there is no
means of determining the authorship of
the book.
The author. however, has evidently
known a great number OF interesting peo-
pie and done a good deal of reading; and
anecdote, character drawing, comment,
reminiscence and fancy are pleasantly
mingled through some $50 pages. On the
first page the author remarks that his
earliest distinct recollection was the
burning of Covent Garden Theater qS56),
which would make him a man in middle
| life. That the author is a man is, from
the style and character of the book, pret-
! ty certain.
! The first chapter deals with Links
| With the Past" and ii may interest the
reader to know that many of our present
| dialect forms are not corruptions. but
simply Observation-Disclosures from form
er period in which they We're good form.
/ Thus, there is mention of 'an old Lady
/ Robert Seymour who lived IN Portland
! Place and died in 1865. in her ninety-frst
year" She had been at court in the days
/ of Queen Charlotte. and retained the pro-
nunciation of that time She said lay
! lock- for lilac, 'yaller'' for yellow,
'goold'' for gold, and called her maid her
! CONAN "Obleeged" was the correct
pronunciation of Obliged in that day,
| and well-bred people talked OF 'cowcum-
| bers. Lord John Russell OF whom some
! humorous anecdotes are told, belonged TO
/ this same epoch. and seems 10 have had.
in addition To his quaint, old-fashioned
style and most remarkable bluntness of
! manner, fund of humorous stories equal
TO that of Abraham Lincoln. Some OF
these stories concern the Duke of We'll
! lngton and one of these has to do with
the coronation of Queen Victoria. When
| the queen came 10 the throne her first
public act was TO go 10 ST. James Pal
ace TO be proclaimed. Her wish was to
be accompanied in the state coach only
by the Duchess of Kent and one Of the
ladies Of the household, but Lord Abe
marie master of the horse. thought he
had a right 10 be there also. The Duke
of Wellington was called on for his
opinion in the matter. He gave It brief
ly and not over-politely. He said to the
pompous magnate. THE queen can make
you go inside the coach or outside the
coach or run behind like ID tinker's
dog"
One Of the most interesting chapters In
the book is that devoted 10 Anthony Ash
ley, seventh Earl of Shaftesbury This
remarkable man had life which was at
once interesting, heroic, pathetic and
full of achievement His childhood was
an unhappy one, his parents being ex-
tremely strict disciplinarians, and he at
tended the public school of the period
| Iyrrt,fa oh,
for sensitive lad. At Harrow when he
was fourteen years old, the drunken in
| decencies which he witnessed at a pau
per's funeral first gave him an inclination
toward a life of philanthropy. The first
| humane object TO which he devoted him
self after entering Parliament was the
reform of the lunacy law. He then be-
came identified with the agitation against
the slave trade, and used to tell with grim
humor story of an open letter to Amer
, lea on the subject, and its result. At
the time of writing the letter he was Lord
Shaftesbury, and a Southern newspaper
inquired with sarcasm intended to bite:
: "yThere was this Lord Shaftesbury when
! the noble-hearted Lord Ashley was doing
his single-handed work in behalf of the
English slaves in the factories of Ian
I cashire and Yorkshire?" The Southern
! editor had not taken pains to find out
. that Lord Ashley and Lord Shaftesbury
i | were one and the same person. The
! practical shape which his philanthropy
took is shown by another anecdote. He
! had been talking with the superintendent
! of a ragged school. and had heard some
pathetic tales of cold and hunger. The
I superintendent wound up with the pious
S statement that God would supply all their
t need. Yes said Lord Shaftesbury, He
! will: but they must have some food di-
rectly." And he gave orders for enough
soup to feed 400 people, and continued
this treatment all winter. From other
5 stories. it appears that Shaftesbury was
the kind of man who torments the pro
! fessional politician by a perfectly insane
: | and infexible devotion to duty.
n Other notable men of the Victorian ag
n who come in for comment and remini
scence are Lord Houghton, Lord Bea
consfeld. Lord Palmerston, Cardina
e Manning Gladstone. Sir Robert Peel, La
e bouchere. and Brookfield. the clergyman
But the book is not all personal anec
] dote. Incidents of life in the early year
of the century are given, which prove I
| the surprise, if not the satisfaction, o
the ordinary reader. that England wa
, not exactly what we now called civil
: ized even as late as a hundred years age
The hanging of the Salem witches in tn
X seventeenth century has been quoted
again and again as a proof of Puritai
. barbarity but as late as 1IS9 a woman
= was burned alive for coming. in England
;, and in 1770 there were one hundred an
= sixty offenses punishable by death. A
: the beginning of this century the mum
a Der had increased, and to steal five shil
;, lings worth of goods from shop wa
punishable by death. There are man
q things in these pages which go to prov
r that the outrages in prisons and work
!, houses described in the novels of Dick
r ems were not exaggerated, but, on tn
e contrary quite mild suggestions of tn
:. things which actually took place in Eng
e land. The sd-called cultivated classe
d seem not TO have been much better tha
h the common people. In the beginning {
i this century the Prince of Wales play
l. fully pushed one of the ladies-inw waitin
into a pond, and played other pranks {
lie which a modern court would scarcely Sc
is the humor.
< The chapter on "Repartee'' is simpl
S a mosaic of bright sayings. a few {
y | which will be familiar to the averag
Id reader, but only few. Specimens {
D. these anecdotes are as follows:
s, At dinner at Balliol the masters guests we
,n discussing the career OF two Balliol men, one