Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 30

The Journal here has:--

_March 10th_.--The Duc d'Aumale dined at The Club dinner.

_18th_.--Met Disraeli at Lady Derby's first party. A day or two before this, at Windsor, Lord Granville was chaffing Lady John Manners and said--referring to the Prime Minister's birth--'You must acknowledge that your chief's nose is very queer.' 'At all events,' was Lady John's ready rejoinder, 'it is not out of joint.'

_28th_.--Took the Duc de Rochefoucault (the French Amba.s.sador) to the boat race at Mortlake.

_April 2nd_.--To Christchurch. On the 4th, in torrents of rain, we fixed, with c.o.c.kerell, the exact site of Foxholes House.

_May 8th_.--Ball to the Prince of Wales at the French Emba.s.sy. d.u.c.h.ess of Edinburgh there.

Lord Hertford, the Tory Lord Chamberlain, omitted me from the Court ball this year, for the first time since 1847. This was before the publication of the 'Greville Memoirs,' and not on account of it.

To Aix in the end of May. Longman was with me. Home on June 4th.

_From M. Guizot_

Val Richer, ce 22 juillet.

My Dear Sir,--Je reponds a votre aimable lettre du 14 juillet, et je commence par supprimer mon ecriture. J'en avais autrefois un qu'on trouvait tres jolie, mais, depuis quelques mois, ma main est devenue si tremblante que j'ai renonce a ecrire moi-meme. Je ne veux cependant pas tarder davantage a vous dire avec quel plaisir j'ai lu l'article de Mr. Burton sur mon Histoire de France que je viens de trouver dans le numero 285 de 'l'Edinburgh Review.' C'est excellent; il est impossible de serrer de plus pres les diverses parties de mon ouvrage en les a.n.a.lysant d'une maniere plus claire et plus frappante. Les liens de l'histoire de France avec l'etat, la Couronne, l'eglise et les moeurs publiques y sont resumes dans toute leur verite. Je ne pourrais dans ce moment-ci, avec ma main tremblante, en remercier moi-meme Mr. Burton comme je le voudrais faire.

Je me promets d'y revenir plus tard. En attendant, je vous prie de le remercier pour moi, en lui disant tout ce que je pense de son parfait resume. Vous me pardonnerez d'etre si bref; je suis encore a.s.sez souffrant et fatigue. Je reprends pourtant dans ce moment meme la publication periodique des livraisons de mon histoire; elles seront envoyees chaque semaine a Mr. Burton comme a vous, et je serai bienheureux si vous me dites qu'elles vous interessent autant que les precedents volumes. Pardon, my dear Sir, de ne pas vous en dire davantage. Je suis au Val Richer jusqu'a la fin de l'annee. Ecrivez-moi quelquefois, je vous prie, et croyez-moi affectueus.e.m.e.nt tout a vous,

GUIZOT.

P.S.--C'est ma fille Henriette qui me sert de secretaire pour ma correspondance comme pour mon histoire. Je n'en retrouverais nulle part un pareil.

This letter, written by Mme. Guizot de Witt, was the last Reeve received from his old friend, who died at Val Richer on September 12th, in his 87th year. A month later he received the following:--

_From Mme. Guizot de Witt_

Val Richer, ce 20 octobre.

Mon cher Monsieur,--Je savais bien ce que vous senteriez pour nous et aussi pour vous-meme. Mon pere avait pour vous beaucoup d'amitie. En rangeant ses papiers, au milieu de toutes vos lettres, je trouve une foule de minutes de ses reponses; quelques-unes sont bien belles. Je ne vous parle pas du vide affreux de ma vie et de mon ame. Je sais que Dieu me donnera la force de le supporter en travaillant encore pour ceux qui m'ont quittee. Et le jour du revoir viendra. Mon pere est parti tout entier, lui-meme jusqu'au bout, dans la possession de son esprit et de son ame, plein de confiance en Dieu, nous recommandant de servir le pays qu'il avait supremement aime et dont les malheurs ont d'abord ebranle sa sante. Ma Pauline aussi ne s'etait jamais relevee de la guerre. Us sont ensemble et en paix. Adieu, mon cher Monsieur. Vous viendrez certainement a Paris cet hiver, et nous vous verrons. Je compte aller dans six semaines retrouver tout mon monde qui y est deja. Remerciez pour moi Mrs. Reeve et Hope, et croyez a tous mes meilleurs sentiments.

GUIZOT DE WITT.

_Journal_

_July_.--The building Foxholes was now going on. To Scotland, July 31st, having again taken Loch Gair. Also hired a 16-ton yacht--the 'Foam.' Got there on August 1st. John Binet came to Loch Gair, straight from Geneva.

Mrs. Reeve wrote of him:--'It is his first visit to North Britain, and his enthusiasm--at 62--is quite delightful to witness. He travelled here from Paris without stopping, and though a good deal tired and half-starved, was ready for a walk that afternoon and for climbing hills the next morning.'

I was engaged all the autumn at Loch Gair in revising the press of 'The Greville Memoirs' and in preparing a new edition of the 'Democracy in America.'

We left Loch Gair on October 8th: and after visits to Abington, Ormiston and Minto, returned to London on the 26th.

The publication of the first part of 'The Greville Memoirs' took place on October 17th. It excited far greater interest than I had expected, and the first edition sold very rapidly. Five editions were published in less than six months; the two first of 2,500 each, and the three last of 1,000; so that about 8,000 copies were sold.

The Press, in the main, was highly favourable. On the 28th the Queen--though I believe she had not yet read the book, but only newspaper extracts--sent me a message by Helps to express her disapproval of it, on these grounds 1. It was disparaging to her family. 2. It tended to weaken the monarchy. 3. It proceeded from official persons. I begged Helps to reply, with my humble duty, that the book showed that, if the monarchy had really been endangered, it was by the depravity of George IV. and the absurdities of William IV.; but that under Her Majesty's reign it had become stronger than ever.

It may, however, be believed that the Queen, who was, not unnaturally, much offended, never quite forgave the publication; and it is at least probable that the annoyance she had felt was the princ.i.p.al reason for Reeve's never receiving the K.G.B., to which his long service at the Council Office would seem to have, in a measure, ent.i.tled him.

I saw the Grand d.u.c.h.ess of Mecklenburg the same day, October 28th, but I don't think the Cambridges were very angry. The old d.u.c.h.ess was having the book read to her, and frequently added amusing recollections to it.

This publication was one of the most important incidents in Reeve's literary life; one which was warmly discussed at the time and has been much commented on since. It is probably as the editor of this remarkable book that Reeve will be best known to future generations, and it is therefore well to relate the story in a clear and detailed manner. From the first, Reeve was fully alive to the responsibility he was undertaking; and the following memorandum was apparently drawn up at the time of Greville's death.

_Memorandum on 'The Greville Memoirs,' and on the death of Charles Greville_, 1865

On January 7th, 1865, I received from Mr. Greville, I being at Torry Hill, a note requesting me to call on him for a matter, as he expressed it, not very important, but partly of a personal and partly of a literary character. I answered directly that being out of town I could not call immediately, but would not fail to do so as soon as I returned to London.

I returned to London on the afternoon of Monday, the 9th, and called in Bruton Street about 11 A.M. on Tuesday the 10th. I thought Mr. Greville looked thin, but not ill, and he was free from gout. He said, however, that he was seriously unwell in other ways. The truth was (although he did not then tell me so) that he had an effusion of water on the heart. I know not how long it had been coming on; but in the preceding week he had been staying at the Grenfells' at Taplow, where Lady Colvile had the scarlatina.

From Taplow he proceeded to Savernake; but Lady Ailesbury had so violent a fear of the infection that she sent a servant to stop Greville's fly on the way from the station to the house, on the ground that she could not receive him. He was therefore compelled to go to sleep at the inn at Marlborough, where, besides being excessively annoyed, he caught a bad cold. The next day he returned to Taplow, saying to Grenfell, 'I come back here because no one will receive me!' and he soon afterwards came back to Bruton Street.

This was the history of the malady of which he died; but whether it was brought on by the cold he caught, or by any other cause, I do not know.

When I saw him on the 10th he was in no pain, and apparently not seriously ill. He began by talking about Privy Council affairs; he then gave me an account of the Windham papers, which Mrs. Henry Baring is preparing for publication; but I saw that these were not the subjects on which he wished to see me, and there was evidently a nervousness in his manner as he approached it. At last, sitting down in his easy-chair, he said--'And now I want to speak to you about my own affairs. Reeve, I am getting devilish old, and I think in all probability I have not long to live. I have therefore been considering what I ought to do with the journals I have kept on all important occasions for so many years of my life. They amount, I think, to ninety volumes [Footnote: These are now in the British Museum.], and extend over nearly fifty years. I left off writing them two years ago, finding that since I withdrew from the office I knew less of the course of events. Let us look at them.' He then opened the lower part of a bookcase in which I saw these volumes in a row. He then added, 'Now, will you take charge of them? I have been thinking a great deal of what I can do with them. They contain a good deal of curious matter, as you know, which may be of interest hereafter. I can do nothing better than leave them in your hands. You will be the judge whether any part of them, and what, can be published.'

To this I replied, that I was very much touched by so great a mark of his confidence and friends.h.i.+p; that as for the journals, he was quite right in supposing that I should set as much store by them as he did himself, and that in whatever I did with them hereafter, I should conform to what I might suppose to be his wishes; that it appeared to me that a broad distinction exists between the earlier half, including the reigns of George IV. and William IV., and the latter half, subsequent to the Queen's accession, and that if the former part might to a certain extent be published soon, the other part could not. That the person I should naturally consult in such a trust would be Lord Clarendon; but that at present it was not necessary to take any steps, as I hoped he would still be with us some years; that I would read the journals through, with his permission, and tell him what I thought.

To all this he a.s.sented. He said, 'They are all full of Clarendon, who has always been so intimate with me. I will bring you down a dozen of the volumes the first day I go out in my carriage; and if my life should be spared a few years, we will talk them over.'

He then spoke of his letters, particularly of his own letters to the late Duke of Bedford, which had been recently sent back to him. He said he would read them over; that some of them might serve to fill up and complete pa.s.sages in the journals. To this I remarked, 'Do you mean, then, these letters are to go with the journals?' He replied, 'That requires consideration.' He did not therefore give me any power over the letters.

I was going that day (January 10th) to Ampthill, to see Lord Wensleydale; and on the 14th to the Grove. This led me to say, 'Am I at liberty to mention to Lord Clarendon what has pa.s.sed on this subject?' He answered 'No. I had rather it should be entirely confidential.' I therefore of course said nothing to anyone.

On Monday, the 16th, I returned to town from the Grove, and went in the evening, about five, to Bruton Street. Lady Sydney and Lady Enfield were with him. He looked somewhat weaker, and complained of total loss of appet.i.te. As soon as the ladies were gone, he resumed the subject of the journals, and immediately said, 'Now you are come back to town, you can take some of them.' He rang for his servant to hold a light to the bookcase, and by his directions I took vols. v., vi., vii., and viii., and carried them home with me. He said he had lent the first four vols. to his brother Henry, but that I should have them soon. He then again said, 'When you have read these, you will see what you think can be published; but as you advance they become more interesting.' I read these volumes nearly through the same evening, beginning from the death of Lord Liverpool.

On Tuesday, January 17th, I returned to Bruton Street about six. He was alone. Another volume of the journals was on the table by him, which he gave me, saying, 'You will find this more interesting'--but this was as I was going away. I told him that I had read the former volumes greedily, and that he had treated George IV. with great severity. He replied, 'What I have said of him is not flattering; but that is what he was.' I then asked him about the pa.s.sages in cipher. He said he had invented this cipher himself for the purpose of his journal; that he could read it, but n.o.body else. That he would read to me the pa.s.sages in cipher if I would bring them to him; but he added, 'For that matter, the truth is the greater part of them had better be omitted, as they relate to things which are better forgotten.' He then mentioned that he had told Henry Greville that 'I was to have the journals.' And I afterwards found that he had intimated his intention to Mr. Baring and I think to Lord Granville.

He said that Meryon (his doctor) thought him better to-day-that the day before had been a very bad one; but he had still no appet.i.te, though he was going to try to eat a piece of woodc.o.c.k for his dinner. It was then near seven o'clock, and I left him, taking the volume with me, but with no presentiment that we were parting for ever. He said, as I wished him good night, 'Come again to-morrow if you are near me.' I promised to come, and to come often, and left the room.

He can scarcely have seen anyone afterwards; for the evening was advancing, and between nine and ten he went to bed. His servant proposed to sleep near him. He said, 'No; I don't want that, unless I am very ill.' He fell asleep, and seems never to have waked, for when he was found in the morning he lay with his finger resting on his pillow in his accustomed att.i.tude, like a child asleep.

On January 27th I received a letter from Henry Greville, stating that Charles had informed him of his intention, but that there was nothing about the journals or letters in the will or codicil. I answered this letter the same day, by giving him an abridged copy or version of the preceding statement.

I ought to have stated that, in the conversation of January 10th, Mr.

Greville said that he thought it better not to fix any stated time within which the journals might or might not be published. Part might be published, but it was a mere question of discretion and propriety what and when.

I observed to him that in selecting me as his literary executor, the only question was whether some member of his own family might not more properly be selected. To this he replied that he had considered that, and preferred that I should have them. I have since found that, prior to the death of Sir George Lewis, he had been selected by Greville for this trust. He then hesitated for some time whom he should appoint, and then chose me.

Having made up his mind that the time was ripe for the publication of the earlier volumes of the journals, Reeve--as has been said--gave them to the world on October 17th, fully prepared to take all the responsibility of his act. And indeed he was quickly called on to do so; for some of Greville's relations, uneasy--it would appear--at the hostile att.i.tude of the Court, called on him to make a public declaration that they had nothing to do with it, whilst others were disposed to question Reeve's legal right. Of this, however, he had plenty of evidence; amongst others, that of Mr. T. Longman, who wrote:--

_Farnborough Hill, November 7th._--... In the interview I had with Mr.

Harvie Farquhar, I stated that Mr. Greville consulted me some time before his death as to whom he should leave his journals to, and that Mr. Greville concurred in my suggestion that he should leave them to you. As Mr.

Greville acted on this some time after our conference, it became obvious to Mr. H. Farquhar that, as between gentlemen, the main question that had been raised, as to your right of possession, fell to the ground.

After this the matter was settled in a perfectly amicable manner in a meeting between Reeve and Mr. Harvie Farquhar, representing the timorous kinsfolk, and together they wrote the following letter, which was published, under Reeve's signature, in the 'Times,' 'Pall Mall Gazette,'

and some other papers, on November 7th.

Finding that statements are current that Mr. Charles Greville's and Mr.