Chapter X: Y. Z., N. & Q

THE WRITER OF A GLANCE BEHIND THE GRILLES [Mrs. WILLIAM PITT BYRNE].

Flemish Interiors. Lond. [1856].

THINKS-I-TO-MYSELF, _WHO?_ _phraseonym_ [Rev. EDWARD NARES, D.D.].

Thinks-I-to-Myself. A serio-ludicro-tragico-comico tale. Written by ----. 1811, 2 vols., 9th edition, 1813, and _Allman_, 1858.

The author complained of others writing under this pseudonym, if
it can be so called.--See _British Critic_, 1813.

THORNBURY (George Walter).

The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A. Founded on Letters and Papers published by his friends and fellow Academicians. Lond., _Hurst, &c._, 1862.

MR. THORNBURY’S “LIFE OF TURNER.”

(To the Editor of the _Athenæum_.)

Hutton, Brentwood, Dec. 2, 1861.

“Turner hated plagiarism,” says Mr. Thornbury in his recently
published life of our great landscape painter (vol. ii. p. 256);
and he endeavours to show, in no very graceful terms, in his
preface, that plagiarism in literature is as repugnant to his
feelings as a man of letters, as plagiarism in art was to the
artist. “Mr. Timbs,” remarks the biographer, “with little of
that courtesy which should distinguish literary men, plying his
scissors with his usual industry, has lately cut out a dozen or
two of trite or erroneous Turner stories, and published them in
a catchpenny form, for which--as partly fulfilling Job’s wish--I
thank him.”

I may very fairly exclaim with Gratiano, “I thank thee, Jew, for
teaching me that word”; for Mr. Thornbury has plied his scissors
on a short memoir of Turner of mine with a prodigality that seems
almost incredible. Mr. Timbs, the prolific compiler, publishes
his Turner stories as a compilation. Mr. Thornbury prints all the
best of my Turner stories, scattered over many pages, as his own.
In the last edition of Turner’s “Rivers of France,” published in
1853, by Mr. Bohn, there is a memoir of the artist by Mr. Alaric
Watts, in which is included six pages of extracts from my memoir,
with honourable mention of me as the author. I need only refer to
Mr. Watts’s extracts, because it is from these that Mr. Thornbury
has helped himself. Out of the six pages (p. xlii. to xlviii.)
containing them, he has appropriated three; the contents appear
in vol. i. pp. 67 and 198-199, and in vol. ii. pp. 130-131, 141,
161, 217-218 and 318. The first extract Mr. Thornbury takes the
trouble to rewrite:--

_Reeve_, 1851. _Thornbury_, 1861.

“He would walk through portions “He walked twenty to twenty-five
of England, twenty to miles a day, with his baggage
twenty-five miles a day, with his tied up in a handkerchief, and
little modicum of baggage at the swinging on the end of a stick.
end of a stick, sketching rapidly He sketched quickly all the good
on his way all striking pieces of pieces of composition he met. He
composition, and marking effects made quick pencil notes in his
with a power that daguerrotyped pocket-book, and photographed
them in his mind. There were into his mind legions of transitory
few moving phenomena in clouds effects by aid of a stupendous,
shadows which he did not fix retentive, and minute memory.”
indelibly in his memory.”

Mr. Thornbury, thinking probably that my style was now
sufficiently elegant for his purpose, lays down the pen for the
scissors. His next extract, commencing “An intimate friend,
while travelling in the Jura,” vol. i. p. 198-199, is printed
_verbatim_. The next cutting is manipulated with the skill of an
accomplished penny-a-liner. It occupies an entire page of Mr.
Thornbury’s work, vol. ii. pp. 130-131, commencing “One element
in Turner’s success was his indifference to praise,” and ending
“He felt keenly the ignorant criticisms and ridicule with which
his own pictures were sometimes treated.” The ingenuity exercised
to give originality to this paragraph consists in half a dozen
lines in one part of it being printed between turned commas,
and attributed to Mr. Peter Cunningham! The fourth extract,
p. 141, commencing “He never would tell his birthday,” is
printed _verbatim_. Of the next interpolated paragraph, p. 161,
commencing “He wrote few letters,” I have less to complain of.
Mr. Thornbury does not print this, similar to the rest, as his
own, but, like a vast number of other collectanea in his book,
between turned commas, without acknowledgment or reference. The
next extract occupies an entire page, p. 217-218, and is printed,
also, _verbatim_; it commences, “Turner was always on the alert
for any remarkable effects,” and ends, “in which the great
artist’s attention had been caught by the hissing and puffing and
glowing fire of the locomotive.” The seventh and last clause in
my indictment against Mr. Thornbury is a short one; and as it is
altered I must ask permission to give it entire:--

_Reeve_, 1851. _Thornbury_, 1861.

“There is yet another portrait “There is yet another portrait
to record: Mr. Charles Turner, to record. Mr. Charles Turner,
A.R.A., the mezzotint engraver A.R.A., the mezzotint engraver
of his Liber Studiorum, and his of his Liber Studiorum, and his
oldest and most constant friend, oldest and most constant friend,
was so desirous of securing a like- was so desirous of securing a like-
ness of him, that he offered to pay ness of him at all hazards, that he
Sir Thomas Lawrence, or any other availed himself from time to time
artist that Turner should name, of every opportunity of collecting
if he would only consent to sit, memoranda for the purpose. He
but he was not to be prevailed at length obtained a most
upon. Mr. C. Turner was, however, characteristic portrait in oil,
determined to have a likeness small, half-size, in the act of
of him at all hazards, and sketching. The singularity of his
availed himself from time to time dress and figure _have_ been
of every opportunity of collecting scrupulously attended to, and it
memoranda for the purpose. He has been pronounced an admirable
at length obtained a most charact- and faithful likeness. I believe
eristic portrait in oil, small, that Mr. C. Turner engraved this
half-size, in the act of sketching. portrait.”
The singularity of his dress and
figure _have_ been scrupulously
attended to, and it has been
pronounced an admirable and faithful
likeness. It will be gratifying to
Turner’s friends to know that Mr.
C. Turner intends to engrave the
portrait.”

If anything were needed to show the worthlessness of Mr.
Thornbury’s “Life of Turner,” it is the unnecessary appropriation
of this passage. One would think that a chapter devoted
especially to “The Turner Portraits,” about which so much
curiosity prevails, would be at least marked by some research.
But Mr. Thornbury cuts out my paragraph in all its detail, as
related to me by Charles Turner himself, bad grammar--a common
failing with Mr. Thornbury (here printed in Italic)--included;
and having run his pen through the rash assertion of the
engraver, that he had offered to give a commission to Sir Thomas
Lawrence, winds up simply with the remark, “I believe that Mr.
C. Turner engraved this portrait.” Mr. Thornbury, perceiving in
my statement of ten years ago that Mr. C. Turner intended to
engrave it, assumes that he did engrave it. By happy accident, in
no way, however, due to Mr. Thornbury’s research, he has hit the
mark; for on the death of Charles Turner, about three years ago,
the secret came to light, at the sale of his effects, as every
_dilettanti_ knows, of his having engraved this portrait as long
back, apparently, as twenty years before. What criticism, then,
can be too strong to denounce Mr. Thornbury’s random assertion,
“I _believe_ Mr. Charles Turner engraved this portrait”? A
print from this plate, which it is suspected the sly engraver
destroyed, may be seen at Mr. Graves’, the eminent publisher of
Pall Mall.

My memoir of Turner, it may be added, was drawn up from vivâ voce
information imparted to me by some of the great artist’s most
intimate friends within three days of his decease,--Mr. Charles
Turner, one of his executors, and Mr. Leslie, both of whom have
since followed him to the grave; Mr. Windus, and others.

Speaking of dear old John Britton, the well-known author of many
beautiful works of vast and original research on the Cathedrals
of England--a man whose memory is cherished by every true-hearted
antiquary with homage and respect--Mr. Thornbury says (vol. ii.
p. 151)--“There is a story told of Turner’s love of concealment,
which connects him with Britton, the publisher of so many
architectural works; a plausible and, I fear, a very mean man;
one of those bland, selfish squeezers of other men’s brains
that still occasionally disgrace literature.” To whom should
this scandalous observation be addressed? I trust that some new
biographer of Turner will arise to board this piratical craft,
and rescue the valuable freight which the painter’s bosom friends
have committed to its keeping. It must be painful, indeed, to
these gentlemen, to Mr. Trimmer, and to Mr. Ruskin especially,
to find their precious reminiscences mixed up with such an
unlettered commentary. How light the manner, how flippant the
treatment, how utterly unworthy of a great subject!

LOVELL REEVE.

It may be as well to observe that Mr. Thornbury in no way
spares other writers in _his_ criticisms: will any one, twenty
years hence, quote Mr. Thornbury’s own words in regard to
himself:--“Tawdry rubbish--now all but forgotten, and soon to
sink deep in the mud-pool of oblivion.”

Mr. Thornbury’s preface is good--indeed, we believe he never
writes anything badly, but it reminds us of Dr. Johnson, who
wrote capital prefaces to works which, if he ever read, he
never wrote. It is written in his richest style, redolent with
word-painting: he uses adjectives in the happiest manner.
Unfortunately this use of adjectives is apt to lead a writer
from dry facts; and the above “Life” appears to have got him
into a little trouble, for the details of which we must refer
to the _Athenæum_, 1861, vol. ii, where Mr. Masson complains of
Mr. Thornbury’s disrespect (p. 808), “Inventions about Turner,”
from Mr. Henry M‘Connel (848)--“Turner and Girtin,” a refutation
from Mr. W. H. Carpenter, Keeper of the Prints and Drawings at
the British Museum; 1862, vol. i., p. 19--from Mr. John Pye,
and (296, 331)--from Mr. Henry Elliot (G. Lewis, 334), all
complaining.

A captious letter from Mr. Thornbury in the number for 22nd
February, 1862, leaves him in a worse light than if he had
been silent. We therefore omit it. He ends by saying that “no
falsehood and no intentional plagiarism shall ever stain a single
page I write,” which probably referred to the future, for “The
Life of Turner” disproves these words.

Mr. Thornbury, amongst other works, has written “The Monarchs
of the Main, 1855.” In the preface to this he claims at least
“originality,” which seems to consist, according to his own
account, in his having taken it, more or less, from three other
works, without, as Professor De Morgan somewhere remarks, any
evidence being left as to whether it is more or less. The same
observations will apply to “British Artists, from Hogarth to
Turner; being a series of Biographical Sketches, by W. T.,
&c., 1861,” which seems to be compiled almost entirely from
(apparently) original sources.

THURSTON (Henry J.) _pseudonym_ [FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE].

The Passionate Pilgrim; or, Eros and Anteros. Lond., 1858.

TIM (Uncle). See Cladpole (Tim).

TIMON (John) _pseud._ [D. G. MITCHELL].

Preface to “The Lorgnette.” See An Opera Goer.

TINTO (Dick) _pseud._ [S. C. GOODRICH, jun., son of Peter Parley].

TITCOMB (Timothy) Esquire, _ps._ [Dr. J. G. HOLLAND].

Titcomb’s Letters to Young People, Single and Married. 12th edit., 1859.

Letters to the Joneses. 11th edit., New York, 1864.

TITMARSH (Michael Angelo) _pseud._ [WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY].

The Paris Sketch Book, 1840. The Second Funeral of Napoleon, 1841. Mrs. Perkins’ Ball [1847]. Our Street, 1848. Doctor Birch, &c., 1849. Rebecca and Rowena, 1850. The Kickleburys on the Rhine, 1851 and 1866. The Rose and the King; or, the History of Prince Giglio and Prince Bulbo, 1st and 3rd edits., 1855.

TOBY (Simeon) _pseud._ [GEORGE TRASK].

Thoughts and Stories on Tobacco, for American Lads, or Uncle Toby’s Anti-Tobacco Advice to his Nephew, Billy Bruce. 5th edit., Boston, 1852.

TODHUNTER (Isaac).

Compiled an Algebra [first edition 1858, 2nd edit. 1860]
admittedly a good one, but it appears from the following
pamphlet, which accuses him of _plagiarism_, that it is not all
his own book:--

An Exposure of a Recent Attempt at Bookmaking in the University of Cambridge. By T. Lund. Lond., _Spottiswoode_, 1858.

An Answer to Mr. Lund’s Attack on Mr. Todhunter. Cambridge, _Palmer_, 1858.

The copyright of Wood’s work having expired, it is public
property, so far as law is concerned. Mr. Lund in his pamphlet
proves that Mr. Todhunter has taken, without acknowledgment,
what he had a legal right to take, to the extent of under
one-thirtieth of his whole book.

Mr. Todhunter admits the charge, but defends his course on the
ground that Wood is so well known that any use made of him would
at once be recognised, that the omission was out of consideration
for Mr. Lund.

But, as the writer in the _Athenæum_, from whence we take
this note (1858, ii. 81, 110), observes, a person already in
possession of Wood, and wishes to have another author, would
be grossly deceived if he bought the same under another name:
he adds that there is a very lax view of such things taken at
Cambridge, and instances a case, but, we regret to say, gives no
names.

TOMKINS (Isaac) Gent., _ps._ [Lord BROUGHAM?]

Thoughts on the Aristocracy of England, with a postscript and a letter to J. Richards, Esq., from P. Jenkins. 1st and 5th editions. Lond., Hooper, 1834; 23 pp.

See Edin. Rev., April 1835, p. 65.

A Letter to Isaac Tomkins, Gent., author of the Thoughts on the Aristocracy. With a postscript and a letter to J. Richards, Esq., M.P., from Mr. P. Jenkins. 5th edition, Lond., 1835; 11 pp.

The pamphlet upon “The Aristocracy of England” is announced as
the first of a series.... The publisher is one of the regular
agents for that _system_ of societies, of which the eldest
assumed the title of “The Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge,” and the latest has not feared to proclaim itself
“The Society for the Diffusion of _Political_ Knowledge.” The
founder and president of all these ultra-philanthropic societies
is Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux; and common report has ascribed
to his lordship’s versatile pen the pages which his lordship’s
agent, Mr. Hooper, has just published as the production of “Isaac
Tomkins, Gentleman.”

We have, from internal evidence, no sort of doubt that the public
report is in this instance correct.--Quarterly Review, liii. 540.

A Letter to Isaac Tomkins (against Lord Brougham). By Peter Wilkins [_pseud._]. Lond., 1839.

TOUCH’EM (Timothy) _phren._ [THOMAS BECK].

The Age of Frivolity. A poem. 2nd edit., Lond., 1807.

TOUCHSTONE, _phren._ [M. BOOTH].

Roadside Sketches in the South of France, with 24 illustrations by ----. Lond., 1859.

TREBOR (Eidrah) _anastroph_ [ROBERT HARDIE].

Hoyle made Familiar. Edin., 1830.

TRUCK (Bill) _pseud._ [ ].

Man-o’-War’s Man. Lond., _Blackwood_, 1843.

In Blackwood’s Magazine, 1822, signed S.

TRUSTA (H.) _phren._ [Mrs. ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS].

The Tell-Tale; or Sketches of Domestic Life in the United States. By H. T. and Grace Greenwood [_ps._], 1852.

A Peep at “Number Five.” _Boston, U.S._, 1852.

The Tell-Tale; or Home Secrets told by Old Travellers. Boston, 1853.

And several others.

TWO BROTHERS, _demonym_ [ALFRED and CHARLES TENNYSON].

Poems. Lond., _Simpkin_, 1832.

N. & Q. 3 S. ix. iii.

TWO BROTHERS, _demonym_ [JULIUS CHARLES HARE and AUGUSTUS WILLIAM HARE].

Guesses at Truth. Lond., 1847; _Macmillan_, 1866.

TWO BROTHERS, _demonym_ [A. MONEY and GEORGE HENRY MONEY].

Sevastopol: our Tent in the Crimea. Lond., 1856.

U.

URBAN (Sylvanus) _pseudonym_ under which, for upwards of one hundred years, the Gentleman’s Magazine has been edited. It contains an enormous mass of biography (and _fiction_) in its very useful obituary notices. The Rev. Edward Walford is its present editor.

“In the summer of 1825 I had apartments in the Rue Verte,
Brussells. My _locataire_ was a Monsieur _Urbain_; and his not
very youthful daughter took much pride in telling me of their
lineal descent from an Englishman of that name--a distinguished
writer, she said, in prose and in verse. Seeing me somewhat at a
loss to identify this ancestor of her’s, she further informed me
that his prænomen was _Sylvain_. I of course recognised our old
acquaintance of St. John’s Gate, and delighted Mademoiselle with
the assurance that her great-grandfather’s names, as well as his
talents, had been transmitted through his descendants to that
day.”--E. L. S. in _N. & Q._

V.

VALDARFER (Cristofer) _ps._ [JOSEPH HASLEWOOD].

Bibliomaniac Ballad. [Lond., 1815?]

VAN DEUSEN (Increase) and MARIA, his Wife, _ps._ [ ].

Spiritual Delusions, being a Key to the Mysteries of Mormonism, exposing the particulars of that astounding Heresy, the spiritual wife system. New York, 1854.