The Saint Paul globe., 1904-01-24

A country which has supported for a
generation a costly commission to Sc
cure for the state printed copies of
thousands of historic manuscripts is
not likely to let go the original copy of
Paradise Lost" and we may be sure
that long before the sale announced
for next spring the Milton manuscript
will rest in the national treasure house,
side by side with the scared and yell
low copy of Magma Charta
That shriveled parchment the char
ter of English freedom, was saved, it is
said, by the veriest chance from the
scissors of a merciless tailor Struck
by the great seals attached to piece
of paper the tailor was cutting up, Sir
Robert Cotton stopped the man and
gave him four pence for the document
he would have destroyed. 1t is now
in the British museum, lined and
mounted and in glass case, the seal
shapeless mass of wax and the char
acters quite illegible.
Four pence will not buy Paradise
Lost" and the passing of this interest
Ing document into the possession of
the state will be a much more formal
and unromantic transaction. Is it too
much to suppose that the secretary of
the History Manuscript commission will
quietly send a check one morning to
Messrs. Sotheby and hand the manu-
script to Sir Edward Thompson at
night?
The commission, If we are to believe
an earl, has done much more daring
things. The fourth Earl of Ashburn-
ham had no great love for it. You are
here, sir, under false pretenses," he
shouted to Sir George Dusent when
the knight. at the earls invitation, ar
rived at Ashburnham. Il have discov-
cred that you are a member. sir. of
that most disreputable society called
the historic Manuscripts commission;
they are society of ruffians, sir
Surely" exclaimed Sir George, "a
great many eminent persons belong to
the commission-Lord Salisbury, for in
since, is not ruffian.''
Yes, sir, he is a ruffian when acting
for that society" the angry earl burst
out; and you, sir, are a ruffian, too
you tamper with title deeds, sir"
The old lady who received letters
from Carlyle would have agreed with
the fourth earl. When Froudes Car
lyle appeared she opened her chest
filled with letters from the great men
Il
They were written to me-" she burst
out. as she flung them into the fire,
not to the public and when the chill
dren ran in to say that the chimney
was on fire all that she said was "Nev-
er mind and the papers went on burn
ing.
There was a burning of manuscripts
much less deliberate and much more
serious i'll which the old ladys corre-
fafaf
forget, once we have read it. that page
In Carlyles journal in which the great
man tells us how, on March s, 1885.
John Stuart Mill raped at the door at
tea-time?
He entered pale" Carlyle wrote
down the next day, unable to speak:
gasped out to my wife to go down and
speak with Mrs. Taylor and came for
ward Qed by my hand and astonished
looks), the very picture of despera-
tion.
After various inarticulate and artic-
ulate utterances to merely the same ef-
feet, he informs me that my first vol
ume Cleft out by him in too careless a
manner, after or while reading it) was.
except four or five bits of leaves, ire
vocably annihilated" 1T is gone!" Car
lyle wrote again; ''the whole world and
myself backed by it could not bring
that back, nay, the old spirit, too, is
fled. | find it took five months of stead
fast, occasionally excessive and always
sickly and painful toll" Mill, he added,
very injudiciously stayed with us till
late" and left in a relapsed and pitiable
state"
Though it is not generally known,
another manuscript as famous as Car
lyle's was at one time in peril of n
similar fate. Lady Simeon since Ten
nyson's death has generously presented
to his son the original manuscript of
In Memoriam," of which she had pos