New-York tribune., 1911-10-21
MEREDITH AND MORRIS
Some Nineteenth Century Rem
iniscences.
TIE RECORD or AN ADVENTURE $
LIFE RS Henry Mayors llNudmau
With portrait Svo, pp. i,@. TN" Mac
milan COMPANY.

CclCcS VIII NdIulN dSFt' WIN lllil lit
calling his life an adventurous one. HIS
experiences as a militant socialist do not
exactly come under thar head; his scr
vice as a war correspondent with tho
was rather tame so far as
personal danger went; and his travels u
the British colonies and i'm the United
States did not result in any specially
stirring incidents. It is in his recoliec-
tions and descriptions OF the celebrities
he has known that he IS most entertain
ing. 1t Is pleasant to he told that no
portrait of Garibaldi that nc has ever
seen gives quite the expression of the
benevolent lion that the great Italian g
face IN rcpCse had I'm the COS, and
equally pleasant Is the tribute 10 the
generals unaffected gcnuineness and
fraukuess. the simplicity and unselfsh-
ness OF his character and his reckless
daring as a soldier ApropOS of that
period, the author quotes the talk, sur
prising in tho expression Of feeling for
Italy, of an old Austrian colonel who
was on his way home after twenty
years in that land OF lovelincss. He
understood he declared. and even SYM
pathlzed with tho desire Of the Italians
10 be rid Of their alien rulers. He loved
the country and the people and his
leavetaking from them was the saddest
event in his life. He believed that all
his officers had the Same feelings-and
they corroborated his statement.
George Meredith was for fifty years the
authors friend and the chapter devoted
TO him is the best In the book. We sec
hlm as the possessor Of a wonderful gift
Of clear. forcible language. but deliber-
ately cultivating artihclality in CONVEX
sation as in his books. Mr.. Hyndman
describes a group sitting talking on the
beach. and as Meredith discoursed with
even more than ordinary vivacity and
charm" Burnand broke in with. Damn
YOU. George, why won't you write AS
YOU talk" He had says his friend, "a
perfectly marvellous flow OF what may
call literary high spirits throughout his
life. and his unaffected natural talk, such
as this at Seaford was altogether de-
lightful." Sometimes he INDUCED In
stilted conversation even with his own
family. This show talk and show writ
ing Of Merediths.' says Hyndman, WIS
quite rs brilliant as the unconsidered
outpourings Of the natural man, and he
said perhaps even clcvcrer things: but
bis wit was much more sardouic and
somehow YOU could hear tho clank Of the
machinery all the time Those who re-
sent the affectations and iucoherenccs of
style so often found I'm Merodith's books
will feel their wrath decpcncd by the
realization that these things were unnec-
sai.y and intentional The man, VIC arc
told. loved to puzzle his readers and
that detect, brilliant as he was. made
him fall short Of greatness. \ man of
his tcmperament could not be otherwise
than cranky and often hard to live
with:
At one time DO would persist in turning
vegetarian 10 was WCIluigh the death OF
him. But he had persuaded himself mat
that was the right sort OF food 90 give the
highest development to- BODY anu lnih9' ",id
persist in il he would. What was 10 be
done? Meredith was man VINO TOOK a
tremendous lot out of himself, not only lu-
tellectualIy but physically Itc was always
gvmuastic exercises. or taking long walks
al a great pace. not allowing am oIitre "i
fat To accumulate ON his body or his idcc.
1t was the same with his Wrltng lto
never pretended to take matters easy. 30
moor Mrs Meredith had hard time durlnG
this bread and roots period. She saw her
husband gradually going down MI. ana nc
COMING every day more Gauni ana huh-iF-
eyed and stectouic, yet u she or any one
cls,, ycuturDl 90 suggest that TINS mraEro
diet was uusuitsd to a man II his habit Of
life and work, ana that-tnls very Stntl4 4-
his increasing aCerDlty Nds caused ny sheer
lack OF sUStcnanco and his energy cnnse-
ouentlv saving into his exposed nerves
we'll il Wa q case Of stand from under
very quickly. Mrs. Meredith tried every
device To arrest the nerve weak
ness she saw coming upon Meredith. she
boiled his v.Ccta bics in strong broth. intro
tucel shredded meat as far as she dared
into his bread by COnnivance with the baker,
and tried various other cstimahlc frauds
upon him. All to no purpose.
She begged me as on" OF ms Oldest
friends TO try what I could DO. ! did try.
and, metaphoricaly speaking, fed for my
life. Really ! thought my old friend would
die. SO determined did ne seem TO commit
suicide i'm this unpleasant way. At last
things got 90 bad and hc Wds 50 weak that
he recognized the truth himself and was
forced 10 admit thai q man Who does
double duty a. an athlete Of mind AS wei
as an athlete of body wants another animal
10 do his preliminary digestion Tor him, n
he f. To keep himself Up 10 the mark at all
So Mprpditl took 20 meat eating again and
all went well, but / have always thought
that this mistaken rush 10 a vegetable dlct
La. g.. a. aN|HFN H HH FHHsH
later
in chapter on William Morris there
is an auecdotc aptly illustrating the
mans mastery of artistic subjects
Walking with Mr.. Hyndman through Il
great oxford library. he was accosted ay
the librarian, who besou2ht him To
identify and catalogue "a large parcel 3f
missals which the institu-
tlon had just bought. Morris had other
fish 10 fry during this oxford visit AMI
was in haste. but lac finally consented 10
look at the newly acquired treasures.
I'VE went into an inner room says MT
Hyndman, where a great pile Of ola
missals lay upon The table.
Morris seated himself by them. and
taking them zap one by one. looked very
quickly but very closely and carefully ut
each I'm turn. pushing IL aside after IN
spection with Monastery so-aud-so. date
such-and- such Abbey this, IN such "a
year until ne had finished the whole
number. his decision being written down
as he gave il. There seemed nog To hc
the slightest doubt in the Librarians
mind that Morris's judgment was cor.
rect and final ana though Morris hcs,-
tated here and there. and devoted more
time to some of tho uissals than G.,