Anthony Trollope His Work, Associates and Literary Originals

Anthony Trollope; His Work, Associates and Literary Originals

THE beginning of my very juvenile acquaintance with Anthony Trollope has been incidentally, but naturally, mentioned in the body of the present work. Some of my nearest relatives had been with him at Winchester, and had maintained their friendship with him till, during the sixties, there began my own mature knowledge of him and the personal connection, literary or social, that lasted till his death. In or about 1873, I was commissioned by its editor to write for a magazinenow no doubt defunctsomething full of actuality about Trollopes novels, how he came to write them and who sat to him for his characters. Be sure, were my editors instructions, you put down nothing but what you get from Trollope, and he wishes to appear about himself. Not only, to the best of my ability, did I do this; but, in the little writing-room at his Montagu Square house, he himself went through every word of the proof with me. So pleased did he seem to be with my performance that he supplemented his remarks on it with many personal and literary details about himself and those with whom, at the successive stages of his career, he had to do. The material thus given covered indeed his whole life from his infancy in Keppel Street down to the settlement in Montagu Square, I think in 1873. May I, I asked, make some notes to ensure my remembering correctly? Certainly, was the answer. They will be no good for what you have now sent to the printer, but some day, perhaps, you{viii} will have more to say about me, and then your memoranda will tell you as much as I know myself. In 1882, partly through Trollopes good offices, I succeeded the then Mr. John Morley in The Fortnightly Review editorship. During the short time then remaining to my friend, he more than once referred to the notes he had given me nearly ten years earlier, adding, Be sure you take care of them. In this way I have been nearly spared all necessity of consulting for the present work Trollopes own autobiography. Freshness therefore will, I think, be found a characteristic of this volume. At the same time, I have been greatly helped at many points by the oldest of Trollopes, till recently, surviving intimates, the late Lord James of Hereford, and Trollopes artistic colleague, to whom especially my obligations are infinite, Sir J. E. Millais, as well as by Mr. Henry Trollope, the novelists son. The account of Trollopes earlier Post Office days owes a great deal to the good offices of the few now living who had to do with him at St. Martins-le-Grand: Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., Mr. Lewin Hill, C.B., Colonel J. J. Cardin, C.B., and Mr. J. C. Badcock, C.B. To these names I must add that of Sir Charles Trevelyan, who could recall Trollopes entrance in the public service, and who, before his death in 1886, talked to me more than once about The Three Clerks and the reputed portrait in it of himself. Similarly, Sir William Gregory of Coole Park, Galway, the Harrow contemporary of Trollope and of Sidney Herbert, before his death in 1892 supplied me with much material illustrating Trollopes earlier days in Irish and London society. I have also been greatly helped as regards Trollopes postal services at home and abroad by Mr. Albert Hyamson of the General Post Office, as well as in respect of Trollopes closing days by Dr. Squire Sprigge,{ix} and in his Sussex retirement by the Rev. A. J. Roberts, Vicar of Harting. The sketch of Trollope in the hunting-field is, I believe, true to the life. And this because its particulars, in the most obliging manner secured for me by the son of Trollopes oldest sporting friend, Mr. Sydney Buxton, came from those of his family who had ridden by Trollopes side with the Essex hounds, or from Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood. Trollopes Garrick Club contemporary, my old friend Sir Charles Rivers Wilson, has, I believe, ensured accuracy for the account of his long connection with an institution dearer to him than any other of the kind. T. H. S. ESCOTT. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 60100
Author: Escott, T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet)
Release Date: Aug 14, 2019
Format: eBook
Language: English