The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-09-28
ANTHONY TROLLOPE.
Recollections OF the Novelist by Ono
Of His Intimate Friends.

of His Intimate Friends.
| Anthony Trollope prescribed for him
self Il certain method. which he more
than once described to me and pointed
| out to me for my own guidance when
was t1edgcling in authorship. He
| worked. when living in London, in Il
| comfortable study in house in Moutagu
square, The room was warmed by AN
asbestos gas stove, which he could set
going Whenever he pleased. In this
room ne worked for at least two hours
every morning before the day for his
hous and the LONDON world had
really begun. lie knew by long expert
ence exactly how many words he had
written by Il gwen time, and there were
very 1e" alterations or erasureS i'll his
NJ. The printers must have loved him.
When his appointed tale was completed
ne put the whole thing out Of his mind
and went a-hunting or a-Whisting Che
loved Whist), or both, till the time for
work came round again the next day,
when the performance Of writing words
! III time. as near as possible. was re-
peatcd. For his hunting he was per-
hapS Il more daring than an elegant rid
er, and hr was not Il light weight.
Trolopr loved animals, and animals
loved him. Yet he once was a victim
to his fiction suddenly turning into some
thing like 4 fart-a turning which has
not unfreQuently happened in the case Of
tictionstS, though generally without i'll
| consequences to themselves. It will be
House ut Arlington" that the fortunes
OF John Eamts, Il very favorite char
actCr OF Trollopt'S, turn uDOn his rcScu-
ing Lord DE Guest from the attack Of Il
bull, which, according to his I.op. (as old
documents have it,. is as quiet an animal
generally as any sucking dove, but not
the less has to be shot atterward. 1t
must have been some time after he
wrote. this story that Trollopc himself.
when h" was living in ,hc country, was
unexpectedly run at and tossed by Il ia
vcritc cow: His country house was
hard by to Eppinx and when was stay
lnE with him there we gravrly took part
he having mounted ne on 4 horse like
to Bcar-in the EppinS Hunt. This was
in d, way good enough fun in itself, but
much better fun in the material it gave
to Trollolt for KEEN and humorous OBJ
servation. and. consequently, most d.
verting. conversation. in the spontane~
ways seemed to find it's way more nat
urally into his talk than into his books
There was plenty Of it in his best books.
but it was there with Il difference from
the hun,or Of his talk. -.
Mrs ProVdie, in The Last Chronicles
OF Rarsetshlre. is a somewhat forced
name, which reminds mo of an anecdote
which has been printed before, but Which
comes back to me with all the freshness
and robustness which Trolopc's utter
ances gave it before it found it's way into
print. He said to me: II was writing
letter at the club. and I heard Il group
of clergy discussing The Last Chroni-
cles. They were very complimentary on
the whole, and valued it the more be-
cause | knew; so little of cathedral city
life by actual experience But they all
agreed that there had been more than
enough OF Mrs. ProuGic. l could not re-
SYST TIE 1mpmlse.. got up, went t, them
help hearing what You said about Mrs
Proudie. think YOU are quite right.
] am Anthony Trollopc. an! now III go
home and kill Mrs. Pro,1dic. And this
he proceeded at once to do.
Ircllope resented bitterly--;nd here, I
think. most justly.the unfortunate fact
that there are certain ofIenscs against the
laws Of truth and honor and social NOR
atty for which there is practically no L.
gal remedy. To take an instance, a we'll
bred girl can hardly bring an action for
breach Of promise Of marriage: and there
are all kinds of other instances. There
fore. as the duello was practically dead
in England when Trollope began writing
novels. his heroes. when they felt called
upon to avcnSc Sucn wrongs as these
betook themselves merrily to- tisticuffs or
horscwhiDs; and it would be difficult to
say which seemed to enjoy these cncoun-
ters the. more-thc heroes or their au-
thorS 's
Let me end with a story which Illus
trateS his happy fashion of treating Jun
lors as If they We're on equal terms with
him-a fashion which assurcdly could
never have prompted anyone to venture
on liberty: When l was doing It good
deal Of reviewing work my editor sent
me: by mistake as it turned out, Il novel
of Ircllope's for review. | went straight
to Trollope for his advice H. thought
Il moment. then fixed a kindly glare upon
me through his spcctacles, and said: INV
boy, don't think YOU ought to review q
novel Of mine, any more than I ought to
review novel OF yours. II | were YOU
l should send it back and explain that
you know me too intimately to undertake
the task. '-Waltcr Hcrries Pollock in
the Iondoncr.
IinCOln'S SimDlicity