New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-10
London, October 4.

whose letters 10 MS dear janet are
among the treasures of Mrs. ROSES
autobiography; a book full Of treas
ures. There is much else to be said,
and would be even more if / could
draw freely on memories of a friend
ship like his. It's not merely that the
friendship was, in a way, intimate, but
that Kinglake was a man to whom
publicity seemed never welcome. In
this age of advertising he would have
been content, and more than content,
10 go his way unheralded, unpraised,
llnnoticed. He shrank from all direct
personal contact with the unknown
world mean the world of people TO
him unknown in private life. Nor even
i'm private life was he a man to give
his confidence to many people nor
ever without reserve. ..-
If YOU met him you would think
him a recluse, yet he had led life
Of adventure, in which there was a
full share of hardship and peril. If
YOU thought Of him as an author
around whose Invasion of the Cri-
mea" storm of controversy had ragged,
You would be little likely to guess how
indifferent he was TO praise or blame.
About what concerned the truth, the
facts at issue, the judgments ex-
messed in his book. he was never
careless. But what concerned him per-
sonallv passed by him as the idle
wind. When you came TO know the
real Kinglake, you knew that beneath
this quiet exterior and this refinement
Of manner there was gallant soul;
there were mistaken convictions;
there were passions; there were life
long purposes that never relaxed;
there was a frmness of character and
a TRANQUIL courage which made him
formidable antagonist. When you
read certain famous passages in his
book you wondered how they could
have come from a man all gentleness
and courtesy To his best friends he
unfolded himself slowly. OF really in
innate and confidential friends he had,
think, no great number. He was
ready to give so much to a friend
whom he trusted that he could scarce
AFFORD to trust too many. 4.
l went to him first with letter from
Tom Hughes; one of many such kind
nesses; a letter of four lines. My err
rand was to ask him to do something
for The Tribune He said at once:
no, 1 cannot. I am sorry to refuse
so fattering a request, but TO attempt
anything for a daily newspaper in New
York is beyond me, and can only ask
you TO believe how sorry l am to re-
fuse"
I had then. and / have still good
deal of enthusiasm about journalism,
and about The Tribune as great eX-
ample Of what journalism can do. Def
mite as Kinglake's refusal was, pressed
him to reconsider it. He answered:
ct would not help matters to think
It over It is altogether allen to my
habits Of mind and Of life"
Then. as if to soften his negative, he
went on:
But since you come to me with a
letter from Hughes, and since you are
an American to whom England is new,
let me do something, if'I can, for you
personally"
He thought a moment and said:
you have not been here long enough
10 be a member Of the Athenaum Club,
and candidate for membership has TO
wait many years before he can come
up for election. But the Committee
has power TO invite stranger as guest
Of the club for a month, and if you like
viii lay your name before them"
Presently came the card of invitation
from the Committee, which they gener-
ously twice renewed. and with it a note
from Kinglake saying might find II
pleasanter TO go to the club in the first
instance with him and would dine with
him there that evening, and he would
ask another friend also. The Athe-
naurn is a club which everybody knows
as a kind of headquarters of literature
with very distinguished membership
not I'm literature only. The friend
whom Kinglake asked was none other
than Hayward; perhaps his nearest
friend. and a social celebrity of the
first order Long afterward / sent you
a study Of Hayward written within
day or two Of his death in 1884. why
] never attempted anything like a COM
plete study of Kinglake also cannot
say; unless perhaps that l cared so
much for him and doubted whether he
would not prefer silence. In describ-
ing my first meeting with Hayward at
this dinner / did not even mention
Kinglake's name. Since l did not, ]
will quote the passage, II you don't
mind
II owed my first meeting with Hay
ward to dear friend of his, himself
one OF the most delightful takers then
to be met. lie had the kindness to ask
me to dine with him at his club, Hay
ward was the only other guest. 1t was
an evening never 10 forget. Hay
ward, perhaps not sorry TO have n
listener TO whom all his stories were
sure to be new, poured out from the
fulness OF his memory anecdote after
anecdote in inexhaustible profusion. l