Biographical Study of A. W. Kinglake [41]
"Had it been sent up at Oxford, the author would have had a better chance of spending a few months at a lunatic asylum than of obtaining the Prize." A current Cambridge story at the time explained the selection. There were three examiners, the Vice-Chancellor, a man of arbitrary temper, with whom his juniors hesitated to disagree; a classical professor unversed in English Literature; a mathematical professor indifferent to all literature. The letter G was to signify approval, the letter B to brand it with rejection. Tennyson's manuscript came from the Vice-Chancellor scored all over with G's. The classical professor failed to see its merit, but bowed to the Vice-Chancellor, and added his G. The mathematical professor could not admire, but since both his colleagues ordained it, good it must be, and his G made the award unanimous. The three met soon after, and the Vice-Chancellor, in his blatant way, attacked the other two for admiring a trashy poem. "Why," they remonstrated, "you covered it with G's yourself." "G's," said he, "they were Q's for queries; I could not understand a line of it."
(4) "Enoch Arden," p. 34.
(5) "Eothen," p. 169. Reprint by Bell and Sons, 1898.
(6) "Eothen," p. 17.
(7) His deferential regard for army rank was like that of Johnson for bishops. Great was his indignation when the "grotesque Salvation Army," as he called it, adopted military nomenclature. "I would let those ragamuffins call themselves saints, angels, prophets, cherubim, Olympian gods and goddesses if they like; but their pretension in taking the rank of officers in the army is to me beyond measure repulsive."
(8) "Eothen," p. 190 in first edition. It was struck out in the fourth edition.
(9) "Eothen," p. 18. Reprint by Bell and Sons, 1898.
(10) He is very fond of this word; it occurs eleven times.
(11) "Quarterly Review," December, 1844.
(12) "Eothen," p. 46.
(13) Poitier's "Vaudeville."
(14) One characteristic anecdote he omits. Two French officers were attached to our headquarters; and the staff were partly embarrassed and partly amused by Lord Raglan's inveterate habit, due to old Peninsular associations, of calling the enemy "the French" in the presence of our foreign guests.
(15) Some of us can recall the lines in which Sir G. Trevelyan commemorated "The Owl's" nocturnal flights:
"When at sunset, chill and dark, Sunset thins the swarming park, Bearing home his social gleaning - Jests and riddles fraught with meaning, Scandals, anecdotes, reports, - Seeks The Owl a maze of courts Which, with aspect towards the west, Fringe the street of Sainted James, Where a warm, secluded nest As his sole domain he claims; From his wing a feather draws, Shapes for use a dainty nib, Pens his parody or squib; Combs his down and trims his claws, And repairs where windows bright Flood the sleepless Square with light."
(16) Greville, vii. 223, quotes from a letter written after Inkerman to the Prince Consort by Colonel Steele, saying "that he had no idea how great a mind Raglan really had, but that he now saw it, for in the midst of distresses and difficulties of every kind in which the army was involved, he was perfectly serene and undisturbed."
(17) "Go quietly" might have been his motto: even on horseback he seemed never to be in a hurry. Airey used to come in from their rides round the outposts shuddering with cold, and complaining that the Chief would never move his horse out of a walk. "I daresay," said Carlyle, "Lord Raglan will rise quite quietly at the last trump, and remain entirely composed during the whole day, and show the most perfect civility to both parties."
(18) The first death! out of how many he nowhere reckons: he shrinks from estimates of carnage, and we thank him for it. But an accomplished naturalist tells me that the vulture, a bird unknown in the Crimea before hostilities began, swarmed there after the Alma fight, and remained till the war was over, disappearing meanwhile from the whole North African littoral.
(4) "Enoch Arden," p. 34.
(5) "Eothen," p. 169. Reprint by Bell and Sons, 1898.
(6) "Eothen," p. 17.
(7) His deferential regard for army rank was like that of Johnson for bishops. Great was his indignation when the "grotesque Salvation Army," as he called it, adopted military nomenclature. "I would let those ragamuffins call themselves saints, angels, prophets, cherubim, Olympian gods and goddesses if they like; but their pretension in taking the rank of officers in the army is to me beyond measure repulsive."
(8) "Eothen," p. 190 in first edition. It was struck out in the fourth edition.
(9) "Eothen," p. 18. Reprint by Bell and Sons, 1898.
(10) He is very fond of this word; it occurs eleven times.
(11) "Quarterly Review," December, 1844.
(12) "Eothen," p. 46.
(13) Poitier's "Vaudeville."
(14) One characteristic anecdote he omits. Two French officers were attached to our headquarters; and the staff were partly embarrassed and partly amused by Lord Raglan's inveterate habit, due to old Peninsular associations, of calling the enemy "the French" in the presence of our foreign guests.
(15) Some of us can recall the lines in which Sir G. Trevelyan commemorated "The Owl's" nocturnal flights:
"When at sunset, chill and dark, Sunset thins the swarming park, Bearing home his social gleaning - Jests and riddles fraught with meaning, Scandals, anecdotes, reports, - Seeks The Owl a maze of courts Which, with aspect towards the west, Fringe the street of Sainted James, Where a warm, secluded nest As his sole domain he claims; From his wing a feather draws, Shapes for use a dainty nib, Pens his parody or squib; Combs his down and trims his claws, And repairs where windows bright Flood the sleepless Square with light."
(16) Greville, vii. 223, quotes from a letter written after Inkerman to the Prince Consort by Colonel Steele, saying "that he had no idea how great a mind Raglan really had, but that he now saw it, for in the midst of distresses and difficulties of every kind in which the army was involved, he was perfectly serene and undisturbed."
(17) "Go quietly" might have been his motto: even on horseback he seemed never to be in a hurry. Airey used to come in from their rides round the outposts shuddering with cold, and complaining that the Chief would never move his horse out of a walk. "I daresay," said Carlyle, "Lord Raglan will rise quite quietly at the last trump, and remain entirely composed during the whole day, and show the most perfect civility to both parties."
(18) The first death! out of how many he nowhere reckons: he shrinks from estimates of carnage, and we thank him for it. But an accomplished naturalist tells me that the vulture, a bird unknown in the Crimea before hostilities began, swarmed there after the Alma fight, and remained till the war was over, disappearing meanwhile from the whole North African littoral.