The Irish standard., 1914-01-03
MEMORIES.
A Great English Cardinal and An Irish
Poetess.

Poetess.
Memories of Cardinal Manning are
but infrequently to be met with in the
memoirs of the moment. Though a
member of the Athenaeum Club, when
Browning and Arnold, and Aubrey de
We're belonged to it, he did not con-
sort much with Men of Letters-who
are also the men who write letters and
diaries that afterwards pass into print.
The Cardinal ("who is not like you
and me, he has his reading to do be-
fore he gets into bed," as his faithful
servant and friend used to say to the
evening visitor) had indeed as con-
slant company his Bible and Breviary;
but he did not give much time, in later
life, to miscellaneous literature. All
the same, a Catholic name, a Catholic
theme, a Catholic tendency even, had
his instant oversight and sympathy,
and it is no surprise therefore to find
Katharine lyman, in her TWENTY-FIVE
Years. "Reminiscences" (Smith e.
der & co.,, the happy possessor of
letter Of his concerning her first vol.
ume Of verse, Louise de la VALERIE.
The young Irish poetess had already
met the Cardinal in the house of the
friends with whom she stayed on her
visit to London, and the publication of
her volume increased the kindness
of feeling then instantly established
between them.
From the old Archbishop's House
this note was dispatched in the May
of 1885: Dear Miss lyman, your vol
ume of poems reached me last night,
and l at once read many Of them with
great interest and pleasure. The
least excellence in them is their very
pure diction. I am no critic, but l
am very quick to feel words without
or color or fitness. l have
seldom read so much and met with so
few words that l did not think we'll
chosen. The real excellence seems to
be the beauty of conception, natural
and moral. But the last and highest is
the sacredness of the subjects and the
piety of their treatment. 1t is not,
therefore, so much as Poems, but as
sacred strains, of which the Passion of
our Lord is the centre, that l value
them. hope, if you come to London,
that l may see you. hope that all
blessings may be with you. Believe
me, always yours faithfully in Jesus
Christ, Henry E., Card. Archbishop"
The "hopes" that concluded the let
ter were fulfilled and "all blessings"
included that of his correspondents
continuance in her production of
poems that were not only to win for
her the professional homage of men
who did claim to be critics, but also
to carry on that heavenly apostolate to
which the Cardinal bore witness. And
the hope that he might see his cor
respondent again was realized when
in the September of 1890 she went
in the company of her London host
to Archbishops House. 1.-THE visit
was made in the early forenoon, and
as we walked along, the newsboys
were shouting the latest Jack the Rip
per murder. The Cardinal received
US in the little inner room off his big
room, where he sat by the fire wear.
ing his warm quilted cassock. l dare
say the business of the Dock Strike
had wearied him, for he looked very
tired old saint that day. When we
told him of the murder he closed his
eyes and the strangest look came in.
to his face, careful for a whole world
Of sin and pain He gave me the little
book Towards Evening" as he said
goodbye to me for the last time."-
London Tablet.