The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-05
UNSP0ILED.
Success Did Not
Change VIM. Black.
POET AND NOVELIST.
He Began His Career as a
Journalist.

cent number OF the Academy his inn
pressions of the late William Black,
whose acquaintance he made when
both We're on the staff of the London
Morning Star. His inclination at thaa
time" Mr. Mccarthy writes, Seems
to be toward the writing of poetry, as
his inclination had previously been to-
ward the art of the painter He
wrote verses which had undoubtedly
the true poetic touch and feeling in
them; but his work on the Morning
Star consisted chiefly of light, de-
scriptive prose. From the very first
he showed a genuine skill and power
in describing any scene that came be-
fsre his eyes-a street crowd, a land
scape, a picturesque ceremonial of any
kind, anything that had in it either
color and movement or color and alb
solute stiffness. We had an evening
edition of our paper, called the Evening
Star, and in that every day we had
special column or two entitled Read
ings by starlight and to those Read
ings by starlight Black contributed
many a sketch. His contributions We're
essays on all manner of subjects
light odd fantasies, pictorial studies of
landscape and crowd, short stories,
vivid little essays: everything that
gave a chance to his love for the poetic
and picturesque"
''Soon, however, Mr.. Black gave up
journalism, having made his path as
a writer of novels, and to that path he
kept, never evincing any desire to stray
from it.
He did not allow anything to with
draw him from his own especial work
in life, and happily for him, even his
love of the sea and the moors and travel
only helped him to accomplish his own
peculiar purposes and supplied him
with ever new material for the exer
else of his craft. He had no ambition
whatever to shine in society. His
books, as every one knows were great
ly admired by Queen Victoria; and
there We're many inducements to him
TO seek for a welcome in the very high
est circles of English life But Black
had no social ambition of that kind
to trouble his mind, and would not have
crossed the street for the sake of hav
ing his name chronicled in the pages
of a society newspaper. Yet he was
not in any sense whatever a self-cen-
tered or lonely man. Nobody could
have enjoyed pleasant company more
than William Black did; he had as keen
an appreciation of good fellowship as
he had of mountain and of lake. He
was a most charming host; and in his
home-Paston House, Brighton-used
to welcome gatherings of friends
whose only qualification was to be
bright and humorous and genial, and,
above all things, not to be common
place.
BLACK was not a great talller, al
though he could always say good things
and he loved to keep the talk. going.
Indeed he impressed strangers by his
habitual quietness and reserve; he did
not care in the least to be lionized, and
people who came obviously with the in
tention of transacting a literary con-
versation with him were apt to set him
down as naturally shy and silent. He
was, however, a capital tall1er, and he
had a great variety of subjects. He
had been about the world a good deal,
and he never went anywhere without
bringing something back which other
travellers might have left wholly I'M
noticed Whatever he felt, he felt deep
ly. [ remember his reading out one
night at my house, many years ago,
the whole of Swinburne's poem Hes
peria, with feeling and what might
call dramatic form of expression, if it
were not evidently not altogether I'M
studied, which brought every shade of
the poets meaning to the heart and
the intelligence of all his listeners, some
of whom, before he began to read, were
prejudiced against SWinburne, and
could not believe there was anything in
him that was not strained overWrought
and unnatural.
zone thing 1 believe William Black
could not do; he could not make a
speech. AT least, so he often told me and
others, and 1 am sure he meant what
he said; but somehow l. think that if he
had ever been forced by irresistible
necessity to attempt an grafton, he
would have got out of the difficulty
with some happy sentences destined to
find a place in the memories of his lis
teners. He was, so far as / could see,
perfectly unspoilt by his success, and
those who can carry their recollections
back to the days when "A Daughter of
Heth' and the Princess of Thule made
their appearance, will know what a sue |
cess that was which lighted up lit
erary career hitherto comparatively OBJ |
scure. Black thoroughly understood
his own work and its value. AS Thack
cray says in the preface to 'Pendennis,'
He could no more ignore his success
than he could any other event of his
life But Black never oVer-rated the
value of his own work; he never fell
into the mistake, so common among
other authors, Of idealizing what he
had done, and feeding himself with the
delusion that he had attained perfec
ton. He was, a thoroughly modest
worker; he did his very best, and he did
it in his own, way; but he was keen
observer of everything, even of his own
work, and he was too conscientious an
artist to indulge in self-conceit.
Some of his literary friends used to
say that he had a very easy time Of
it, for during great part of his sue |
cessful years, it was his custom to !
hrf fxsro' End no
not by any means on every day in the
week, But then Black. was working
hard at his books before he put a pen
to paper. He thought out his scenes
and his characters, and their meetings
and their talk Che had seldom much
of story to trouble himself with |
he thought them out in the streets in
hanson cabs. on the deck of his yacht, !
in long walks by the sea, and when
he sat down to his desk he had only, |
as he told me himself more than once, |
to copy out What was already written
down in his mind.
Blacks friends have gone, some Of
them, very different ways since those
far-off days when he wrote for the
Morning STAR Some have stuck to
journalism and done nothing else and
grown prosperous, and some have be-
come successful painters, and some
have gone into politics and have al
most lost touch of the delightful liter
airy life, and one at least has become |
a supreme authority on finance, al |
though in no wise personally associ |
ated with companies or speculations
of any kind; but one thing in common
/ think l can positively affirm Of all
Blacks early friends, and that is, they
all remained his friends up to the very
last"
HIS VIEWS.