Part 3 (1/2)
For though during these three years I had been jolly enough, I had not been altogether happy The hunting, the whisky punch, the rattling Irish life,--of which I could write a volume of stories were this the place to tell the from my mind the still cherished determination to become a writer of novels
When I reached Ireland I had never put pen to paper; nor had I done so when I beca then twenty-nine, I had only written the first volu off of the day of as a great sorrow to me I certainly had not been idle in my new berth I had learned my work, so that every one concerned knew that it was safe in ether the reverse of that in which I was always tre while I remained in London But that did not suffice,--did not nearly suffice I still felt that therein the work I do not think Iof a readable novel What I did doubt was our necessary to prosecute two professions at the saiven to every one, and it was only lately that I had found the vigour necessary for one There must be early hours, and I had not as yet learned to love early hours I was still, indeed, a young h to trust myself to find the power to alter the habits of ,--a subject of which I shall have to saythis memoir to a close I had dealt already with publishers on my mother's behalf, and knew that many a tyro who could fill a manuscript lacked the power to put his matter before the public;--and I knew, too, that when the matter was printed, how little had then been done towards the winning of the battle! I had already learned that ood book--
”is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air”
But still the purpose was strong withinfashi+on I was located at a little town called Drue, in the county Leitrim, where the postmaster had come to some sorrow about hiswitha walk in that ateway, along a weedy, grass-grown avenue, till we came to the modern ruins of a country house It was one of the most melancholy spots I ever visited I will not describe it here, because I have done so in the first chapter ofto each other causes for thethe ruined walls and decayed beams I fabricated the plot of _The Macdermots of Ballycloran_ As to the plot itself, I do not know that I ever ood,--or, at any rate, one so susceptible of pathos I a yet studied the art Nevertheless, _The Macder by any one ishes to understand what Irish life was before the potato disease, the famine, and the Encumbered Estates Bill
When my friend left me, I set to work and wrote the first chapter or two Up to this ti of which I have spoken; but now the castle I built was a with y for a few pages I commenced the book in September, 1843, and had only written a volue was like the e of other people, and of no special interest to any one except my wife and me It took place at Rotherhaer of a bank We were not very rich, having about 400 a year on which to live Many people would say that ere two fools to encounter such poverty together
I can only reply that since that day I have never been without money inwhat I owed Nevertheless, more than twelve years had to pass over our heads before I received any payment for any literary hich afforded an appreciable increase to our incoe, I left the west of Ireland and the hunting surveyor, and joined another in the south It was a better district, and I was enabled to live at Clonher, which is little e I had not felt myself to be comfortable in my old residence as a married man On my arrival there as a bachelor I had been received lish wife I fancied that there was a feeling that I had behaved badly to Ireland generally When a young man has been received hospitably in an Irish circle, I will not say that it is expected of hi lady in that society;--but it certainly is expected of hiiven offence, and I was e in Ireland since the days in which I lived at Banagher, and a change so much for the better, that I have sometimes wondered at the obduracy hich people have spoken of the peres are now nearly double what they were then The Post Office at any rate is paying almost double for its rural labour,--9s a hen it used to pay 5s, and 12s a hen it used to pay 7s Banks have sprung up in allish punctuality And the religious enh it is not yet dead, is dying out Soon after I reached Banagher in 1841, I dined one evening with a Roentleman who had been very hospitable to me that I must choose my party I could not sit both at Protestant and Catholic tables Such a caution would now be impossible in any part of Ireland Home-rule no doubt is a nuisance,--and especially a nuisance because the professors of the doctrine do not at all believe it theland or Ireland ould be so utterly dumfounded and prostrated were Home-rule to have its way as the twenty Irish members who profess to support it in the House of Commons But it is not to be expected that nuisances such as these should be abolished at a blow Hoed than the rebellion at the close of the last century; it is better than the treachery of the Union; less troublesoerous than Sary; and very much less bloody than Fenianism The descent from O'Connell to Mr butt has been the natural declension of a political disease, which we had no right to hope would be cured by any one remedy
When I had been married a year my first novel was finished In July, 1845, I took it with land, and intrusted the MS tothe publishers in London No one had read it but my wife; nor, as far as I am aware, has any other friend ofbefore it was printed She, I think, has so read ale in matters of taste I am sure I have never asked a friend to read a line; nor have I ever read a word ofaloud,--even to her With one exception,--which shall be mentioned as I come to it,--I have never consulted a friend as to a plot, or spoken to any one of the work I have been doing My firstwith her that it would be as well that she should not look at it before she gave it to a publisher I knew that she did not give me credit for the sort of cleverness necessary for such work I could see in the faces and hear in the voices of those of my friends ere around me at the house in cumberland--my mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, and, I think, my brother--that they had not expected me to come out as one of the family authors There were three or four in the field before me, and it seemed to be almost absurd that another should wish to add hi ecclesiastical descriptions--quite unsuccessfully My mother had become one of the popular authors of the day My brother had commenced, and had been fairly well paid for his work My sister, Mrs Tilley, had also written a novel, which was at the time in manuscript--which was published afterwards without her name, and was called _Chollerton_ I could perceive that this atteravation of the disease
My mother however did the best she could for me, and soon reported that Mr Newby of Mortimer Street was to publish the book It was to be printed at his expense, and he was to giveauthor expectsI can with truth declare that I expected nothing And I got nothing Nor did I expect fament I was sure that the book would fail, and it did failit in those days If there was any notice taken of it by any critic of the day, I did not see it I never asked any questions about it, or wrote a single letter on the subject to the publisher I have Mr Newby's agreement with me, in duplicate, and one or two preliminary notes; but beyond that I did not have a word froIt is probable that he did not sell fifty copies of the work;--but of what he did sell he gave me no account
I do not remember that I felt in any way disappointed or hurt I am quite sure that no word of complaint passed my lips I think I may say that after the publication I never said a word about the book, even to my wife The fact that I had written and published it, and that I riting another, did not in the least interfere with my life or with my determination to make the best I could of the Post Office In Ireland, I think that no one knew that I had written a novel But I went on writing _The Macdermots_ was published in 1847, and _The Kellys and the O'Kellys_ followed in 1848 I changed e my fortune This second Irish story was sent into the world by Mr Colburn, who had long been h Street, and I believe created the business which is now carried on by Messrs Hurst & Blackett He had previously been in partnershi+p with Mr Bentley in New Burlington Street I reement as before as to half profits, and with precisely the same results The book was not only not read, but was never heard of,--at any rate in Ireland And yet it is a good Irish story, much inferior to _The Macderain I heldAny success would, I think, have carried ether prepared for failure
Though I thoroughly enjoyed the writing of these books, I did not i them, that any one would condescend to read them
But in reference to _The O'Kellys_ there arose a circumstance which set my mind to work on a subject which has exercised it much ever since I made my first acquaintance with criticism A dear friend of mine to whom the book had been sent--as have allat so the Gods of the _Times_ newspaper, and that this special God had almost promised that _The O'Kellys_ should be noticed in that ans” The infor whether the notice, should it ever appear, would not have been more valuable, at any rate more honest, if it had been produced by other means;--if for instance the writer of the notice had been instigated by the merits or demerits of the book instead of by the friendshi+p of a friend And I made up my mind then that, should I continue this trade of authorshi+p, I would have no dealings with any critic on my own behalf I would neither ask for nor deplore criticism, nor would I ever thank a critic for praise, or quarrel with him, even in my own heart, for censure To this rule I have adhered with absolute strictness, and this rule I would reco the critics is never worth the ignos acquired by ignominious means But in this matter it is so easy to fall into the dirt _Facilis descensus Averni_ There see to a friend that a feords in this or that journal would be of service But any praise so obtained must be an injustice to the public, for whose instruction, and not for the sustentation of the author, such notices are intended And fro at the critic's feet, to the sending of presents, and at last to abetween critics and criticised, is only too easy Other evils follow, for the denouncing of which this is hardly the place;--though I trust I may find such place before my work is finished I took no notice of_The Times_ At last the review came,--a real review in _The Tiive, if not the words, the exact purport ”Of _The Kellys and the O'Kellys_ we may say what the master said to his foots of ood substantial food;' and we may say also what John replied: 'Substantial, sir;--yes, they are substantial, but a little coarse'” That was the review, and even that did not sell the book!
Fro that 375 copies of the book had been printed, that 140 had been sold,--to those, I presuh it was coarse,--and that he had incurred a loss of 63, 10s 1d The truth of the account I never for a iven toit--
Great Marlborough Street, November 11, 1848
MY DEAR SIR--I am sorry to say that absence from town and other circu into the results of the sale of _The Kellys and the O'Kellys_, hich the greatest efforts have been used, but in vain The sale has been, I regret to say, so small that the loss upon the publication is very considerable; and it appears clear to reat number of novels that are published, the sale of each, with some few exceptions, must be small, yet it is evident that readers do not like novels on Irish subjects as well as on others Thus you will perceive it is ie
As, however, I understand you have nearly finished the novel _La Vendee_, perhaps you will favour ht of it when convenient--I reh not strictly logical, was a rational letter, telling a plain truth plainly I did not like the assurance that ”the greatest efforts had been used,” thinking that any efforts which ht to have coood part Mr Colburn's assurance that he could not encourage me in the career I had coainstI could lose only pen and paper; and if the one chance in twenty did turn up in ht I win!
CHAPTER V
MY FIRST SUCCESS
1849-1855
I had at once gone to work on a third novel, and had nearly completed it, when I was informed of the absolute failure of the forreement for its publication was not ine that Mr Colburn otten the disastrous result of _The O'Kellys_, as he thereby agrees to give me 20 down for my ”new historical novel, to be called _La Vendee_”
He agreed also to pay me 30 more when he had sold 350 copies, and 50 ot my 20, and then heard noany account Perhaps the historical title had appeared h it was not long afterwards that I received a warning froainst historical novels,--as I will tell at length when the proper time comes
I have no doubt that the result of the sale of this story was no better than that of the two that had gone before I asked no questions, however, and to this day have received no inforone before;--chiefly because I knew accurately the life of the people in Ireland, and knew, in truth, nothing of life in the La Vendee country, and also because the facts of the present ti than those of past years But I read the book the other day, and a of the people is, I think, true; the characters are distinct; and the tale is not dull As far as I can remember, this morsel of criticism is the only one that was ever written on the book
I had, however, received 20 Alas! alas! years were to roll by before I should earn byAnd, indeed, I ell aware that I had not earned that; but that the money had been ”talked out of” the worthy publisher by the earnestness of ain for me I have known very much of publishers and have been surprised by much in their mode of business,--by the apparent lavishness and by the apparent hardness to authors in the sa so much as by the ease hich they can occasionally be persuaded to throay small sums of money If you will only enerally twist a few pounds in your own or your client's favour ”You ht as well promise her 20 This day six h he knows that the money will never come back to him, thinks it worth his while to rid himself of your i _La Vendee_ I made a literary attempt in another direction In 1847 and 1848 there had come upon Ireland the desolation and destruction, first of the famine, and then of the pestilence which succeeded the fa constantly in those parts of Ireland in which thewere, perhaps, at their worst
The western parts of Cork, Kerry, and Clare were pre-eminently unfortunate The efforts--I may say the successful efforts--made by the Government to stay the hands of death will still be in the reated to repeal the Corn Laws; and how, subsequently, Lord John Russell tookthe country with Indian corn
The expediency of these latter measures was questioned by many The people theentry, ere mainly responsible for the rates, were disposed to think that the ement of affairs was taken too much out of their own hands Mythat the Governht, I was inclined to defend them as far as my small poent S G O (Lord Sydney Godolphin Osborne) was at that ti the Irish sche language,--as those who remember his style will know I fancied then--as I still think--that I understood the country much better than he did; and I was anxious to show that the steps taken forthe terrible evil of the times were the best which the Minister of the day could have adopted In 1848 I was in London, and, full of my purpose, I presented myself to Mr John Forster--who has since been an intimate and valued friend--but as at that time the editor of the _Examiner_ I think that that portion of the literary world which understands the fabrication of newspapers will admit that neither before his time, nor since, has there been a more capable editor of a weekly newspaper As a literary man, he was not without his faults