The history of the Fund and its inception was told by Williams in a rambling and somewhat too controversial narrative. He covered a vast deal of ground. Beginning with a general survey of learning and literature and the position of writers in various civilisations, he passed on to the arguments for the formation of his Fund and an enquiry into charity, finally reaching the Fund itself. Ill-health had come upon him, and his pen had lost much of its trenchancy, but now and again, particularly in his attack on the defects of education, he displays some vigour. And this comparison is ingenious: I would not be mistaken on the subject of style. When I sit down to Locke, it is to plain food; when to Montesquieu, it is to an elegant banquet; when to Rousseau or to Burke, it is to a bottle of wine or of ardent spirits. Locke and Montesquieu express thoughts; Rousseau and Burke express passions.' Williams' share of the volume got him into trouble, for, at the first committee meeting after its publication, Sir James Bland Burges (17521824), a politician and amateur playwright, rose to censure it as containing principles subversive of religion, government and morality.' A proposal to appoint a subcommittee to examine the book was lost, and the incident closed. Williams himself said nothing, having learnt in his not too placid career that, whereas the spirit and language of accusation are familiar and easily rendered amusing to the public, those of defence, especially where the accused is obliged to enumerate his own good actions, have difficulties which are not always surmountable.' The second half of this work was poetical. For the early anniversary dinners of the Fund, at the Shakespeare Tavern and elsewhere, Odes and Addresses were specially composed, and, when the meal was over, were read by the poets themselves. Whatever of oratory there may also have been has disappeared, but the effusions remain, some twenty-seven of them being collected at the end of 'Claims of Literature,' prefaced by Mr William Boscawen (1752–1811), a commissioner in bankruptcy, who was one of the most diligent of the bards, and a member of the Committee. According to the notice of Boscawen in the Dictionary of National Biography,' he considered the Fund almost as one of his children.' His introduction ends thus: 'With regard to the Poems themselves, it is hoped the candid reader will not require in compositions, all of which relate to one subject, that variety which a multiplicity of topics and occasions might be expected to produce. The writer of this Introduction is well aware how many defects may be justly imputed, and how few merits can be ascribed, to his own contributions. But he trusts that other parts of the Collection, which on the respective recitations were warmly applauded, will be found worthy of being preserved; and that his own attempts, if they obtain no credit to his talents, will, at least, secure indulgence to his motives.' Praise is exhilarating, and though sufficient liveliness to keep somnolence at bay may have been wanting in these productions, the continued insistence on the greatness and goodness of the company perhaps had that effect. Mr Pye thus extolled the gathering in 1793: 'But lo! a Band appears in happier hour, In 1795, at the London Tavern, the elder Captain Morris began his recitation with the line, From this loved board, unsullied with excess,' and went on to describe a vision in which the most illustrious of the needy men of genius, including 'the love-sick Otway' and 'famished Spenser, sang to him of the Millennium: 'The reign of British cruelty is o'er, And starving authors curse the land no more.' Few of the poets failed to mention Otway, whose 'energic lyre,' as Mr W. T. Fitzgerald had it, at the Freemasons' Hall in 1797, 'yields but to Shakespeare's never-equalled fire. A year later, returning to the theme of unrecognised merit, the same gentleman generalised in these terms: 6 To trace the mournful catalogue would show reasonableness could result were the world to take them to its bosom. There is some confusion as to Williams' next experiment in club-founding. He is said, however, to have assembled one consisting of six members, who met at the Prince of Wales Coffee House in Conduit Street. The date given is 1780, but the exact year is immaterial; the important thing is that, no longer discouraged by the pessimism of the creator of Poor Richard,' Williams was able to revive, and from time to time discuss, his Literary Fund project. And here his autobiographical fragment becomes peculiarly interesting. The restoration of peace and the appointment of Pitt as Prime Minister seemed to promise a golden age; and Williams returned with confidence to the attack, which now took the form of interviewing men of eminence. Among them was Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations,' who had come to town as one of the harbingers of the reign of knowledge,' and who was under the false impression, to be corrected by Williams, that men of letters were unproductive members of society. The meeting between the two philosophers is thus described: ་ 'Like Bayes in "The Rehearsal," I drew out my proposal. He attended with that modest diffidence which seemed to be his character, and the appearance of which was heightened by a constitutional infirmity. When I had finished he seemed also to have finished. After some silence I begged his permission to ask him how I could introduce my propositions if his opinion were true concerning men of letters. "He said, "My opinion is of no consequence." "Allowing that for the moment to your modesty, you state it as a maxim of political economy." "I believe I may." "To invent improved modes of operation in all employments acknowledged to be productive, is it not to increase or multiply the produce?" ""Ay, that is the farmer." 666 "No; is not the claim of the man who thinks in all such cases as unquestionable as that of the man who executes by labour? The claim of the person who uses a spade is as unquestionable as that of the spade itself." 'He smiled. "You may smile, but a contrary opinion seems to me unfavourable even to labour, which it degrades into merely animal exertion moving in blind routine, and insusceptible of improvement." 'He seemed distressed from his infirmity, and from the impatience of orators in the company who soon buried the subject in words. Before we parted he said, "If you and I could have leisure to explain words, we might not disagree. Why don't you state your plan to the Prime Minister? It seems to be a political proposition of great importance." Williams took the economist's advice; and the account of what happened between him and the three great statesmen of the day must be told in his own words. It differs very piquantly from the staid summary given in the memoirs. Mr Pitt 'displayed none of that haughtiness which had been imputed to him,' but was too busy with affairs of State to spare time for the scheme; 'he said it was an undertaking that might have important consequences, but that as Minister he thought himself precluded from it.' Leaving Mr Pitt, the enthusiast sought Mr Fox, whom he found after what had probably been a convivial night. 'Mr Fox,' he continues, 'I knew nothing of, but from his professions in Parliament, which had given me an advantageous idea of his genius and character. I therefore presumed, in my usual manner, that of a man who had nothing to hope or fear for himself, to take the liberty of calling upon him. He was getting up-at one o'clock-and though he was hurried in the offices of a slovenly toilet, some of which were performed before me, he conversed with perfect good humour, confessing that he had been alarmed [by the announcement of his visitor's name], supposing from the purity of his early life that it must have been my object to assign him some conspicuous office in my new religion. It was with difficulty I could induce him to say or hear anything serious on the subject of authors. He perused the paper I gave him and said, "Burke is the proper person to be consulted; his head is as full of metaphysics as your own," From Fox, therefore, after making an appointment, Williams went to the student of the Sublime and the Beautiful; and the interview forms an interesting footnote to the great man's biography. 'At the appointed hour, he [Burke] entered his drawingroom, into which I had been shown, like a maniac, uttering Diels. Vol. I, pp. 185-194. Berlin: Weidmann, 1912. ART. 8.-THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AN INTERNMENT CAMP ART. 11.-THE INTERPRETATION OF SURVIVALS Folk-Lore in the Old Testament: Studies in Com- parative Religion, Legend and Law. By Sir J. G. ART. 12.-THE LATE GERMAN COLONIES IN AFRICA The German African Empire (1916); South-West Africa during the German Occupation (1916): Ger- ART. 13.-THE MYSTICISM OF PLOTINUS 1. The Philosophy of Plotinus: The Gifford Lectures 1. Roads to Freedom. By Bertrand Russell. Allen & And other works. |