Chapter I: Preface

About twelve years ago my husband told me that he had begun to write an Autobiography intended for publication, but not during his lifetime. He worked upon it at intervals, as his literary engagements permitted, but I found after his sudden death that he had only been able to carry it as far as his twenty-fourth year. Such a fragment seemed too brief for separate publication, and I earnestly desired to supplement it by a Memoir, and thus to give to those who knew and loved his books a more complete understanding of his character and career. But though I longed for this satisfaction and solace, the task seemed beyond my power, especially as it involved the difficulty of writing in a foreign language. Considering, however, that the Autobiography was carried, as it happened, up to the date of our marriage, and that I could therefore relate all the subsequent life from intimate knowledge, as no one else could, I was encouraged by many of Mr. Hamerton's admirers to make the attempt, and with the great and untiring help of his best friend, Mr. Seeley, I have been enabled to complete the Memoir--such as it is.

I offer my sincere thanks to Mr. Sidney Colvin and to his co-executor for having allowed the insertion of Mr. R. L. Stevenson's letters; to Mr. Barrett Browning for those of his father; to Sir George and Lady Reid, Mr. Watts, Mr. Peter Graham, and Mr. Burlingame for their own.

I also beg Mr. A. H. Palmer to accept the expression of my gratitude for his kind permission to use as a frontispiece to this book the fine photograph taken by him.

E. HAMERTON.

_September_, 1896.

CONTENTS.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

CHAPTER I.

My reasons for writing an Autobiography.--That a man knows the history of his own life better than a biographer can know it.--Frankness and reserve.--The contemplation of death.

CHAPTER II.

1834.

My birthplace.--My father and mother.--Circumstances of their marriage.--Their short married life.--Birth of their child.--Death of my mother.--Her character and habits.--My father as a widower.--Dulness of his life.--Its degradation.

CHAPTER III

1835-1841.

My childhood is passed at Barnley with my aunts.--My grandfather and grandmother.--Estrangement between Gilbert Hamerton and his brother of Hellifield Peel.--Death of Gilbert Hamerton.--His taste for the French language.--His travels in Portugal, and the conduct of a steward during his absence.--His three sons.--Aristocratic tendencies of his daughters.--Beginning of my education.--Visits to my father.

CHAPTER IV.

1842.

A tour in Wales in 1842.--Extracts from my Journal of this tour.--My inborn love for beautiful materials.--Stay at Rhyl.--Anglesea and Caernarvon.--Reasons for specially remembering this tour.

CHAPTER V.

1843-1844.

A painful chapter to write.--My father calls me home.--What kind of a house it was.--Paternal education and discipline.--My life at that time one of dulness varied by dread.

CHAPTER VI.

1844.

My extreme loneliness.--Thoughts of flight.--My father's last illness and death.--Circumstances of my last interview with him.--His funeral.

CHAPTER VII.

1845.

Dislike to Shaw in consequence of the dreadful life I lead there with my father.--My guardian.--Her plan for my education.--Doncaster School.--Mr. Cape and his usher.--The usher's intolerance of Dissenters.--My feeling for architecture and music.--The drawing-master.--My guardian insists on my learning French.--Our French master, Sig. Testa.--A painful incident.--I begin to learn the violin.--Dancing.--My aversion to cricket.--Early readings.--Love of Scott.--My first library.--Classical studies.

CHAPTER VIII.

1845.

Early attempts in English verse.--Advantages of life at Doncaster.--A school incident.--Fagging.--Story of a dog.--Robbery.--My school-fellow Henry Alexander.--His remarkable influence.--Other school-fellows. --Story of a boat.--A swimming adventure.--Our walks and battles.

CHAPTER IX.

1846.

Early interest in theology.--Reports of sermons.--Quiet influence of Mr. Cape.--Failure of Mr. Cape's health.--His death.

CHAPTER X.

1847-1849.

My education becomes less satisfactory.--My guardian's state of health.--I pursue my studies at Burnley.--Dr. Butler.--He encourages me to write English.--Extract from a prize poem.--Public discussions in Burnley School.--A debate on Queen Elizabeth.

CHAPTER XI.

1850.

My elder uncle.--We go to live at Hollins.--Description of the place. --My strong attachment to it.--My first experiment in art-criticism. --The stream at Hollins.--My first catamaran.--Similarity of my life at Hollins to my life in France thirty-six years later.

CHAPTER XII.

1850.

Interest in the Middle Ages.--Indifference to the Greeks and Romans. --Love for Sir Walter Scott's writings.--Interest in heraldry and illuminations.--Passion for hawking.--Old books in the school library at Burnley.--Mr. Edward Alexander of Halifax.--Attempts in literary composition.--Contributions to the "Historic Times."--"Rome in 1849."--"Observations on Heraldry."

CHAPTER XIII.

1850.

Political and religious opinions of my relations.--The Rev. James Bardsley.--Protestant controversy with Rome.--German neology.--The inspiration of the Scriptures.--Inquiry into foundation for the doctrine.--I cease to be a Protestant.--An alternative presents itself.--A provisional condition of prolonged inquiry.--Our medical adviser.--His remarkable character.--His opinions.

CHAPTER XIV.

1851.

First visit to London in 1851.--My first impression of the place.-- Nostalgia of the country.--Westminster.--The Royal Academy.--Resolution never to go to London again.--Reason why this resolution was afterwards broken.

CHAPTER XV.

1851-1852.

The lore of reading a hindrance to classical studies.--Dr. Butler becomes anxious about my success at Oxford.--An insuperable obstacle.--My indifference to degrees.--Irksome hypocrisy.--I am nearly sent to a tutor at Brighton.--I go to a tutor in Yorkshire.--His disagreeable disposition.--Incident about riding.--Disastrous effect of my tutor's intellectual influence upon me.--My private reading.--My tutor's ignorance of modern authors.--His ignorance of the fine arts.--His religious intolerance.--I declare my inability to sign the Thirty-nine Articles.

CHAPTER XVI.

1852.

Choice of a profession.--Love of literature and art.--Decision to make trial of both.--An equestrian tour.--Windermere.--Derwentwater.--I take lessons from Mr. J. P. Pettitt.--Ulleswater.--My horse turf.--Greenock, a discovery.--My unsettled cousin.--Glasgow.--Loch Lomond.--Inverary.--Loch Awe.--Inishail.--Inmstrynich.--Oban.--A sailing excursion.--Mull and Ulva.--Solitary reading.

CHAPTER XVII.

1853.

A journal.--Self-training.--Attempts in periodical literature.--The time given to versification well spent.--Practical studies in art.-- Beginning of Mr. Ruskin's influence.--Difficulty in finding a master in landscape-painting.--Establishment of the militia.--I accept a commission.--Our first training.--Our colonel and our adjutant.--The Grand Llama.--Paying off the men.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1853.

A project for studying in Paris.--Reading.--A healthy life.-- Quinsy.--My most intimate friend.

CHAPTER XIX.

1853.

London again.--Accurate habits in employment of time.--Studies with Mr. Pettitt.--Some account of my new master.--His method of technical teaching.--Simplicity of his philosophy of art.--Incidents of his life.--Rapid progress under Pettitt's direction.

CHAPTER XX.

1653-1854.

Acquaintance with R. W. Mackay.--His learning and accomplishments.--His principal pursuit.--His qualities as a writer.--Value of the artistic element in literature.--C. R. Leslie, R. A.--Robinson, the line-engraver.--The Constable family.--Mistaken admiration for minute detail.--Projected journey to Egypt.--Mr. Ruskin.--Bonomi.--Samuel Sharpe.--Tennyson.

CHAPTER XXI.

1854.

A Visit to Rogers.--His Home.--Geniality in poets.--Talfourd.--Sir Walter Scott.--Leslie's picture, "The Rape of the Lock."--George Leslie.--Robert Leslie.--His nautical instincts.--Watkiss Lloyd.--Landseer.--Harding.--Richard Doyle.

CHAPTER XXII.

1854.

Miss Marian Evans.--John Chapman, the publisher.--My friend William Shaw.--His brother Richard.--Mead, the tragedian.--Mrs. Rowan and her daughter.--A vexatious incident.--I suffer from nostalgia for the country.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1854.

Some of my relations emigrate to New Zealand.--Difficulties of a poor gentleman.--My uncle's reasons for emigration.--His departure.--Family separations.--Our love for Hollins.

CHAPTER XXIV.

1854.

Resignation of commission in the militia.--Work from nature.--Spenser, the poet.--Hurstwood.--Loch Awe revisited.--A customer.--I determine to learn French well.--A tour in Wales.--Swimming.--Coolness on account of my religious beliefs.--My guardian.--Evil effects of religions bigotry.--Refuge in work.--My drawing-master.--Our excursion in Craven.

CHAPTER XXV.

1855.

Publication of "The Isles of Loch Awe and other Poems."--Their sale.--Advice to poetic aspirants.--Mistake in illustrating my book of verse.--Its subsequent history.--Want of art in the book.--Too much reality.--Abandonment of verse. A critic in "Fraser."--Visit to Paris in 1855.--Captain Turnbull.--Ball at the Hôtel de Ville.--Louis Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel.

CHAPTER XXVI.

1855.

Thackeray's family in Paris.--Madame Mohl.--Her husband's encouraging theory about learning languages.--Mr. Scholey.--His friend, William Wyld.--An Indian in Europe.--An Italian adventuress.--Important meeting with an American.--Its consequences.--I go to a French hotel.--People at the _table d'hote_.--M. Victor Ouvrard.--His claim on the Emperor.--M. Gindriez.--His family.--His eldest daughter.

CHAPTER XXVII.

1856.

Specialities in painting.--Wyld's practice.--Projected voyage on the Loire.--Birth of the Prince Imperial.--Scepticism about his inheritance of the crown.--The Imperial family.--I return home.--Value of the French language to me.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1856.

My first encampment in Lancashire.--Value of encamping as a part of educational discipline.--Happy days in camp.--The natural and the artificial in landscape.--Sir James Kay Shuttleworth's Exhibition project.--I decline to take an active part in it.--His energetic and laborious disposition.--Charlotte Brontë.--General Scarlett.

CHAPTER XXIX.

I visit the homes of my forefathers at Hamerton, Wigglesworth, and Hellifield Peel.--Attainder and execution of Sir Stephen Hamerton. --Return of Hellifield Peel to the family.--Sir Richard.--The Hamertons distinguished only for marrying heiresses.--Another visit to the Peel, when I see my father's cousin.--Nearness of Hellifield Peel and Hollins.

CHAPTER XXX.

1857.

Expedition to the Highlands in 1857.--Kindness of the Marquis of Breadalbane and others.--Camp life, its strong and peculiar attraction.--My servant.--Young Helliwell.--Scant supplies in the camp.--Nature of the camp.--Necessity for wooden floors in a bad climate.--Double-hulled boats.--Practice of landscape- painting.--Changes of effect.--Influences that governed my way of study in those days.--Attractive character of the Scottish Highlands.--Their scenery not well adapted for beginners.--My intense love of it.

CHAPTER XXXI.

1857-1858.

Small immediate results of the expedition to the Highlands.--Unsuitable system of work.--Loss of time.--I rent the house and island of Innistrynich.--My dread of marriage and the reasons for it.--Notwithstanding this I make an offer and am refused.--Two young ladies of my acquaintance.--Idea of a foreign marriage.--Its inconveniences.--Decision to ask for the hand of Mdlle. Gindriez.--I go to Paris and am accepted.--Elective affinities.

CHAPTER XXXII.

1858.

Reception at home after engagement.--Preparations at Innistrynich.--I arrive alone in Paris.--My marriage.--The religious ceremony.--An uncomfortable wedding.--The sea from Dieppe.--London.--The Academy Exhibition of 1858.--Impressions of a Frenchwoman.--The Turner collection.--The town.--Loch Awe.--The element wanting to happiness.

MEMOIR.

CHAPTER I

1858.

My first sight of Loch Awe.--Arrival at Innistrynich.--Our domestic life.--Difficulties about provisions.--A kitchen-garden.

CHAPTER II.

1858.

Money matters.--Difficulties about servants.--Expensiveness of our mode of life.

CHAPTER III.

1858.

Painting from nature.--Project of an exhibition.--Photography.--Plan of "A Painter's Camp."--Topographic art.--Charm of our life in the Highlands.

CHAPTER IV.

1858.

English and French manners.--My husband's relatives.--First journey to France after our marriage.--Friends in London.--Miss Susan Hamerton.

CHAPTER V.

1859.

Visits from friends and relatives.--A Frenchman in the Highlands.-- Project of buying the island of Innistrynich.

CHAPTER VI.

1859-1860.

Financial complications.--Summer visitors.--Boats and boating.--Visit to Paris.--W. Wyld.--Project of a farm in France.--Partnership with M. Gindriez.

CHAPTER VII.

1861-1863.

Effects of the Highland climate.--Farewell to Loch Awe.--Journey to the south of France.--Death of Miss Mary Hamerton.--Settlement at Sens.--Death of M. Gindriez.--Publication of "A Painter's Camp." --Removal to Pré-Charmoy.

CHAPTER VIII.

1863-1868.

Canoeing on the Unknown River.--Visit of relatives.--Tour in Switzerland.--Experiments in etching.--The "Saturday Review."--Journeys to London.--Plan of "Etching and Etchers."--New friends in London.--Etching exhibited at the Royal Academy.--Serious illness in London.--George Eliot.--Professor Seeley.

CHAPTER IX.

1868.

Studies of animals.--A strange visitor.--Illness at Amiens.--Resignation of post on the "Saturday Review."--Nervous seizure in railway train.--Mrs. Craik.--Publication of "Etching and Etchers." --Tennyson.--Growing reputation in America.

CHAPTER X.

1869-1870.

"Wenderholme."--The Mont Beuvray.--Botanical studies.--La Tuilerie.--Commencement of "The Portfolio."--The Franco-Prussian War.

CHAPTER XI.

1870-1872.

Landscape-painting.--Letters of Mr. Peter Graham, R.A.--Incidents of the war-time.--"The Intellectual Life."--"The Etcher's Handbook."

CHAPTER XII.

1873-1875.

Popularity of "The Intellectual Life."--Love of animals.--English visitors.--Technical notes.--Sir S. Seymour Haden.--Attempts to resume railway travelling.

CHAPTER XIII.

1876-1877.

"Round my House."--Journey to England after seven years' absence.--Visit to Mr. Samuel Palmer.--Articles for the "Encyclopedia Britannica." --Death of my sister.--Mr. Appleton.

CHAPTER XIV.

1878-1880.

"Marmorne."--Paris International Exhibition.--"Modern Frenchmen." --Candidature for the Watson Gordon Chair of Fine Arts.--The Bishop of Autun.--The "Life of Turner."

CHAPTER XV.

1880-1882.

Third edition of "Etching and Etchers."--Kew.--The "Graphic Arts."--"Human Intercourse."

CHAPTER XVI.

1882-1884.

"Paris."--Miss Susan Hamerton's death.--Burnley revisited.--Hellifield Peel.--"Landscape" planned.--Voyage to Marseilles.

CHAPTER XVII.

1884-1888.

"Landscape."--The Autobiography begun.--"Imagination in Landscape Painting."--"The Saône."--"Portfolio Papers."

CHAPTER XVIII.

1888-1890.

"Man in Art" begun.--Family events.--Mr. G. F. Watts.--Mr. Bodley.--"French and English."

CHAPTER XIX.

1890-1891.

Decision to live near Paris.--Practice in painting and etching.--Search for a house.--Clématis.

CHAPTER XX.

1891-1894.

Removal to Paris.--Interest in the Bois de Boulogne.--M. Vierge.--"Man in Art."--Contributions to "Scribner's Magazine."--New form of "The Portfolio."--Honorary degree.--Last Journey to London.--Society of Illustrators.--Illness and death.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON

1834--1858