The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
in THE LITERARY FIELD
A WRITER TO WHOM THE NAME, A
MAN OF LETTERS, BELONGS.
Literary Rewards Involve More than
Money! Definition of Culture
StocktOn's Kindness.

To the May number Of the Atlantic
Monthly Mr.. James Ford Rhodes writes Of
the late Samuel RaWson Gardiner from the
point of view whence a professional writer
looks towards his fellOw-wOrker in the his
toricaI field. says the Boston Transcript.
Himself a historian and a student of his
~tory-the tive are not always synonymous
Mr.. Rhodes is able TO view the work Of DR..
Gardiner both as an expert and as an en-
thusiastic admirer. At the outset OF his ar
ticle he emphasizes the fact that DR.. Gar
diners writing are authoritative because
he spared neither labor nor trouble in his
search for the truth. His greatest work is
his history OF England from 1903 to 1856,
now comprised in fourteen volumes and
supplemented by three more volumes COW
er1ng the commonwealth and the protectO-
rate. He also wrote several minor works
OF history, he was a contributor TO the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Dictionary
of National Biography and for ten years he
was editor-in-chief Of the English HistOr-
teal Review. 1T know not which is the
more remarkable, the learning. accuracy
and diligence Of the man. or withal his
modesty.' says Mr.. Rhodes. with his
great store of knowledge. the very truth
fuIness of his soul impeIs him to be for
ward in admitting his own mistakes. Low
ell said i'm 1873 that Darwin was almost the
only perfectly disinterested lover of ruth
he had ever encountered. Had Lowell
known the historian as we know him. he
would have placed Gardiner upon the same
elevation" Not until 1888, when he was ff-
~ years OF age. did his work bring him
any substantial reward. Because he was a
religious follower Of E~Iuror1 Trvs,- l.
was his father-in-law. his own University
of Oxford would give him no position
whereby he might earn a living. His his
torical writings, issued from time TO time.
barely brought enough to pay the expenses
OF their publication. and IL was not until
the revised edition of his great history was
published in 1883 that the value of his la
bors was generally recognized.
During all these years he must earn his
living. as we'll as work upon his history.
ii might have recalled the remark maze.
i think, By either Goldsmith or Lamb.
saws Mr.. Rhodes, that the books which
Will live are not those by which we our
selves can live. Therefore Gardiner got
his bread by teaching. He became a pro-
fessOr in Kings College. London. and he
lectured on history for the London Society
Tor the extension of university teaching.
having large audiences all over London,
and being well appreciated in the East End.
he wrote school books on history. Finally
success came twenty-eight years after his
NNAAAN q dllcI the
publication of his first volume. He had had
a hard struggle for a living with money
coming I'm by driblets. Bread won I'm such
q way Is come by hard. yet he remained
true 10 his ideal. His potbOilers were good
and honest books; his brief history on the
Thirty Years War has received the praise
of scholars"
All this success naturally brought fur
Their success and honor. In 1882 a civil
list pension OF ESQ a year was granted him.
TWO years later All-sOuls College. Oxford
elected him to a research faI1nuvShfn. uhap
this expired he was made a fellow at
Merton. His academic hOnOrs came late.
In 1884, at the age of ifty-fve. he took his
degree of NJ. A. Edinburgh gave him an
LID, and Goettingen a Ph.D., and at six
tv-six he received thec0veted degree of
d. g. L. from his own university. This wear
before he had been offered by Lord Rose
hery the Regius prOfessorship Of history at
Oxford. but he declined 1t because his work
required him to be near the British Mu-
seum. Mr.. Rhodes mentions the nOtewOr-
thy fact that I'm 1874. long before he was
recognized in his own country. the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society elected him
a corresponding member.
In his late life almost all Of DR.. Gardi-
ners work was done at the British Mu-
scum. HE labored on his history" says
Mr.. Rhodes. from II o'clock to half-past l.
with an fntermission of half an hour for
luncheon. He did not dictate to a ste
n~ographer, but wrote everything out. To-
tally unaccustomed to collaboration. he
never employed a secretary or assistant of
any kind. In his evenings he did no seri-
Gus labor: he spent them with his family,
attended TO his correspondence. or read a
novel. Thus he wrought five hours daily.
What a brain. and what a splendid training
ne had given himself to accomplish such
results In so short a working day.
Gardiner is the product solely of the uni
versity and the library. You may visualize
him at Oxford. in the British Museum. or
at work In the archives on the continent.
contact he knew nothing. In short. he was
not a man Of the world, and the histories
must be written. so these critics aver. by
those who have an actual knowledge by
experience of their fellOw-men. IL is profit
able TO examine these dicta by the light of
concrete examples. Froude saw much of
society, and was a man Of the world. He
wrote six volumes on the reign of Eliza
beth, from which we get the distinct i'm
preston that the dominant characteristics
Of Elizabeth were meanness. vacillation,
selhshness and cruelty, Gardiner, in an in
troductory chapter of fOrty-five pages, re-
stores TO US the great queen Of Shakespeare.
who brought upon her land "A thousand
well. he writes. and ruled them wisely. She
cleared the way for liberty. though she
understood IL not Elsewhere he speaks
of her high spirit and enlightened judg-
ment.' The writer who has spent his life
In the library among dusty archives esti-
mates the great ruler more correctly than
the man OF the world. . . = We know
the history OF England from 1903 to 1866 bet
ter than we do that Of any other period Of
the world: and for this we are indebted
mainly 10 Samuel RawsOn Gardiner"
Modern Literary Rewards.