Chapter V: At the Unveiling of the Gray Memorial

The following address was delivered on the occasion of the unveiling of the bust of the poet Gray in the hall of Pembroke College, Cambridge, May 26, 1885:

I have been asked to say a few words, but they must be very
few, as the train is waiting for me that takes me back to
keep an engagement. Mr. Gosse has told you he has been
present at many memorial unveilings, and the newspapers
inform me that I also have been present at the unveiling
of perhaps too many. But never have I been present on any
occasion with more pleasure than on this. You have now, in
the words which Lord Houghton quoted, and which I would
extend in a wider sense than he did, a beautiful memorial
to Gray in permanent form. We also, thanks to Mr. Gosse,
possess a photograph of this memorial in permanent form.
But we have in our hearts and memories, I think, a memorial
to the man quite as true and quite as permanent--that is,
permanent for us. Very few words are fitting on an occasion
which commemorates the one of the English poets who has
written less and pleased more perhaps than any other. There
is a certain appropriateness in my speaking here to-day. I
come here to speak simply as the representative of several
countrymen and countrywomen of mine who have renewed
that affirmation, which I like always to renew, of the
unity of our English race by giving something more solid
than words in commemoration of the poet they loved. And,
I think there is another claim which I perhaps have for
speaking here to-day, and that is that the most picturesque
anecdote relative to the life of Gray--perhaps the most
picturesque related of the life of any poet, certainly of
any English poet--belongs to the Western hemisphere; I mean
the anecdote which connects the name of Wolfe with that of
Gray. Nothing could have been more picturesque than the
surroundings of that saying of Wolfe’s--of that English
hero--and nothing could have been more momentous than the
action and the consequence that followed from it, and which
made the United States, which I have lately represented,
possible. That, I think, gives me a certain right also to
speak here.

I know that sometimes criticisms are made upon Gray. I
think I have often heard him called by some of our juniors
“commonplace.” Upon my word, I think it a compliment. I
think it shows a certain generality of application in
what Gray has done, for if there is one thing more than
another--I say this to the young men whom I see seated
around both sides of the hall--which insures the lead in
life, it is the commonplace. I have to measure my poets,
my authors, by their lasting power, and I find Gray has a
great deal of it. He not only pleases my youth and my age,
but he pleases other people’s youth and age; and I cannot
help thinking this is a proof that he touches on human
nature at a great many periods and at a great many levels,
and, perhaps, that is as high a compliment as can be paid
to the poet. There is, I admit, a certain commonplaceness
of sentiment in his most famous poem, but I think there
is also a certain commonplaceness of sentiment in some
verses that have been famous for more than 3000 years.
I think that when Homer saw somebody smiling through
her tears he said, on the whole, a commonplace thing,
but it touched our feelings for a great many centuries;
and I think that in the “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”
Gray has expressed a simple sentiment, and as long as
there are young men and middle-aged men, Gray’s poem will
continue to be read and loved as in the days when it was
written. There is a Spanish proverb which rebukes those
people who ask something better than bread. Let those who
ask for something better get something better than what
Gray produced. For my own part I ask nothing better. He
was, perhaps, the greatest artist in words that English
literature has possessed. In conclusion, let me say one
word for myself. This will probably be the last occasion on
which I shall have the opportunity of addressing Englishmen
in public; and I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for
the kindness which has surrounded me both in my official
and private life, and to say that while I came here as a
far-off cousin, I feel you are sending me away as something
like a brother.

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