Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters Volume I Part 8

"Now I should spare you all this but that if I propose at once to M'Glashan, and he objects, the scheme ends, whereas I leave it to you to make the best bargain you can, coming even as low as 100 if necessary,--not lower, because I have reason to know that the thing is wished for by him and expected to do well. b.u.t.t has confessed fully as much already in his letters. If he is willing to give 100 I should be very glad to leave the remaining 50 dependent upon the sale,--a very frequent bargain--i.e., if the work succeed the 50 is paid, otherwise not.

"I shall also _not_ give the concluding Nos. in the Magazine, thereby reserving all interest in the conclusion for the new publication. This only, however, if it appears proper so to do to the proprietors of the Magazine, who, having paid me liberally, shall be dealt liberally with by me.

"For all the details of the publication regarding correcting for press, &c., I have peculiar facilities of transmission through the Irish office which will save heavy postage to both parties. This is of consequence, as I must correct the press myself. This I should insist upon. I can be ready for the first No. for January, but as ill.u.s.trations will take time, February would be soon enough to begin--and it is a better publis.h.i.+ng month. This I leave to M'Glashan.

"I shall not send anything further to the Magazine until I receive a reply, and have only to add that I hope you may succeed in making some bargain for me, for I want money most considerably. If you can hasten the arrangement, _tant mieux_, for I must remain idle till I hear from you.

"Lord Douro, who has been breakfasting here the last two mornings, has promised me a frank, but I am afraid to delay in sending you this in the hope of seeing him.

"I have only to [? warn] you, as a last instruction, that M'G. is a devil of a screw, and will fight to the last for low terms. Therefore be prepared to threaten him with Bentley, Saunders, and Ottley, &c. For I know he wishes the thing, and will not easily relinquish it.

"The local Irish papers have called out for a republication, and that may also be urged with him. These are my last words--and G.o.d bless you and yours!"

_To Mr Alexander Spencer._

"33 Boulevard de l'Observation, _Dec_ 1838.

"I have just despatched my acceptance of M'Glashan's offer--which I am well content with--and shall lose no time in setting about _my_ part in the affair. I hope to be ready for March next. I do not know if any more formal doc.u.ment of agreement be requisite between us than his proposal and my consent as expressed by letter. But as publishers are rather slippery gentlemen, [I] think it would be safer to have a regularly-drawn contract on each side for signature. This I know to be the usual mode, for I have seen such issuing from Bentley and the other great publis.h.i.+ng people.

"I am very desirous that the ill.u.s.trations should be by Cruikshank, not Phiz. Pray try to accomplish this for me. Much if not all the success to be hoped for depends on these [ill.u.s.trations]....

"M'Glashan speaks of an introductory chapter. I think that anything of this sort had better be deferred for the last No., as in the 'Pickwick'; but on this point I shall be guided by him.

"M'G. desires that each No. should be, as it were, complete in itself.

Now until I know the quant.i.ty of matter requisite for one I cannot effect this. Therefore let him as soon as possible have a hundred struck off for me, and this will be a guide for the others. Of course M'G.

considers as his exclusive province all the details of getting up the work, but I hope he intends putting me in a good coat, as I promise myself, if fortunate, another appearance on the boards.

"I wish above all that he could put me in relations with the ill.u.s.trator for the scenes to be selected as subjects: this is most material. John [or Johnston] speaks most kindly upon the propriety of not touching the proceeds of this affair. I shall do my endeavours thereunto, but for the present I am rather lower in funds than usual. My furnis.h.i.+ng has cost more than double what I antic.i.p.ated, and I must call upon you in January some time to send me 40 or 50. b.u.t.t owes me something--I believe about 20--for the Mag. The exact sum I know not, but he can tell you; and the affair had better be wound up, as he has left the concern and gone to the English Bar, where, by the bye, the highest expectations are formed of him.

"We have been giving weekly soirees to the great guns here--all the different _corps diplomatique_ and lords and marquises without end.

I have a very handsome house, and the [? entertaining] has been done admirably well. Johnston was here one night. The thing is cheaply done here,--a well-lit room, plenty of servants (to be had for the night), ices, lemonade glace, and stirrup-cup of spiced wine at 12 o'clock,--and that completes the expenditure. And you can have fifty people--and we never had less--for about five pounds sterling. They all so understand the art of mere chatting that music and dancing would be thought a regular bore; and except one whist-table for the dowager ladies of honour, nothing else is needed. Without witnessing it one cannot think how well these affairs always go off, and the din and clamour of fifty people, talking in about half the tongues of Europe, is about as exciting a scene in a brilliant salon as can be conceived. Lord Ely and Lord James Hay and Lord Douro are here every Monday; and amongst our notorieties we have Napoleon, Ba.s.sano of Russian memory, the Russian Amba.s.sador, the Man of the Treaty of Tilsit, and Jerome Buonaparte. Sir H[amilton] Seymour and our Emba.s.sy never fail us, and we are really at the top of the ladder. I confess I am proud of this for one reason: hitherto the doctor has been regularly kept down amongst English society in Brussels, and it took a good deal of management to break the old chain of habit and fight out a place for him.

"If our Lorrequer scheme goes on favourably I hope to visit Ireland in the summer for a day or two.

"As time presses for our publis.h.i.+ng, pray write as soon as you can and tell me all you can learn about M'Glashan's views. Since I have begun this, the news--alas! but too true--has reached me of the failure of La Banque de Belgique. All my ready money happens to be in their notes; about 40 is thus, if not entirely lost, at least so far jeopardised as to be trembled for."

_To Mr James M'Glashan._

"33 Boulevard de l'Observation, _Jan_. 4, 1839.

"How many plates do you propose giving to each No.? If possible, say three.

"Let me also hear what dress we are to appear in. There is a great deal in the externals of a book as well as of a gentleman."

_To Mr James M'Glashan_.

"_Jan_. 11,1839.

"H. K. Brown has not yet written to me, and I regret it the more, because if I knew the scenes he selected, I might have benefited by his ideas and rendered them more graphic as an author corrects his play by seeing a dress rehearsal.

"Has Phiz any notion of Irish physiognomy? for this is most important.

If not, and as 'Lorrequer' abounds in specimens, pray entreat him to study the Tail* when they meet in February: he can have nothing better, if not too coa.r.s.e for his purpose. Don't fear for the conclusion. I think I can manage it safely; and if the company would like to sup where they have dined, I shall keep a broil for their amus.e.m.e.nt. My intention is, if all prospers, to bring 'Harry' to Canada in the next series, and as I have been there, something can be made of it. This is, however, for after consideration.

* This was an epithet applied to the "Repealers," who followed O'Connell's leaders.h.i.+p.--E. D.

"I have been so hard worked here that I have been obliged to sit up at night to transcribe, and 'Harry Lorrequer' has kept me from dinners and evening-parties innumerable.

"How will the press treat us? Conciliate by every means the editors.

Upon my conscience, I think I should have a _soiree_ of devils, if I was among you, to stand well with the men of ink. Write to me soon.

Your suggestions are most useful, and keep up my pluck and stimulate my activity.

"The ill.u.s.trations in No. 1 are very good, but why is Lorrequer at the supper at Father Malachy's made so like Nicholas Nickleby? That is unfortunate, and every one sees it at a glance. All plagiarisms in the book, I beg to say, are my prerogatives."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

"Brussels, _Jan_. 1839.

"....In addition to the English leaving this and leaving me without occupation, I should lose my little property of chattels that I have gathered about me....

"The next few days may see me on the road: if so, I know not which water I shall ask my pa.s.sport for."

_To Mr Alexander Spencer_.

"Brussels, _Feb_. 12, 1838.

"Matters look somewhat better here the last few days, but still the ma.s.sing of troops continues, and already about 100,000 men and a large artillery force are a.s.sembled upon the Holland-Belgium frontier. The treaty, though signed by the King of Holland, has not been acceded to by the Belgians, and while the present excitement continues it is not probable that anything decisive will be done by the Chambers. In fact, so strong is the antipathy to the Dutch and so great the influence of the priests, that a war would be universally popular among the ma.s.s of the people; and the anti-war party in the Chamber are consequently fearful of expressing their opinions, well knowing that, let matters go how they will, they at least are very likely to be pillaged by the mob.

"The last move of the Government here is certainly, to say the least, a suspicious one. General Skrzynecki, the Pole who commanded at Ostrolenka, has been appointed a general in the Belgian service. The circ.u.mstances are worth mention. This Pole, it appears, when the defeat of his countrymen took place, fled with a very considerable force and took refuge in a portion of Poland under the Austrian rule, into which the Russians, who are no respecters of etiquette, would have followed had not Austria and Prussia at once interfered and guaranteed to Russia that _they_ would be responsible for him and his officers never entering a foreign service, nor in any wise 'troubling the peace of Europe.'

Skrzynecki consequently obtained his freedom and retired to Prague (in the Austrian territory), where he has since lived on his parole. Now comes the worst of the story. Leopold and his agents have induced him to break faith, and come here at this moment to take command, for which he has talents, and his reputed bigotry as a Catholic renders him very suitable,--and the result is that the Ministers of Austria and Prussia have both demanded their pa.s.sports and left Brussels. This tells very ill for Leopold, who at the best shows himself the mere tool of the Catholic party who have taken this man up. The Chamber has been prorogued till the 4th March, but I know from private sources that it is the king's intention to convoke them in the coming week, and, if possible, carry the acceptance of the Twenty-four Articles. If he fail, I then suppose we may have a renewed negotiation, but as there is no prospect of them getting more favourable terms, they must either accede at last or try the chances of a war, which cannot fail, once begun, to become a European one....

"Tom Steele is now here offering his services and 10,000 wild Irish to the Belgian Government in case of war. However, I think we may have no need for either....

"A French army of 48,000 men are now on our frontier, and a very large force of Prussians, with 10,000 troops from the German confederates, occupy the others. These, with an English fleet ready to set sail for the Scheldt, are the means in store for us--if the treaty be rejected."

_To Mr James M'Glashan_.

"Brussels, _Feb_. 16,1838.