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pen,pencil and poison-第1章

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PEN; PENCIL AND POISON … A STUDY IN GREEN







It has constantly been made a subject of reproach against artists

and men of letters that they are lacking in wholeness and

completeness of nature。  As a rule this must necessarily be so。

That very concentration of vision and intensity of purpose which is

the characteristic of the artistic temperament is in itself a mode

of limitation。  To those who are preoccupied with the beauty of

form nothing else seems of much importance。  Yet there are many

exceptions to this rule。  Rubens served as ambassador; and Goethe

as state councillor; and Milton as Latin secretary to Cromwell。

Sophocles held civic office in his own city; the humourists;

essayists; and novelists of modern America seem to desire nothing

better than to become the diplomatic representatives of their

country; and Charles Lamb's friend; Thomas Griffiths Wainewright;

the subject of this brief memoir; though of an extremely artistic

temperament; followed many masters other than art; being not merely

a poet and a painter; an art…critic; an antiquarian; and a writer

of prose; an amateur of beautiful things; and a dilettante of

things delightful; but also a forger of no mean or ordinary

capabilities; and as a subtle and secret poisoner almost without

rival in this or any age。



This remarkable man; so powerful with 'pen; pencil and poison;' as

a great poet of our own day has finely said of him; was born at

Chiswick; in 1794。  His father was the son of a distinguished

solicitor of Gray's Inn and Hatton Garden。  His mother was the

daughter of the celebrated Dr。 Griffiths; the editor and founder of

the MONTHLY REVIEW; the partner in another literary speculation of

Thomas Davis; that famous bookseller of whom Johnson said that he

was not a bookseller; but 'a gentleman who dealt in books;' the

friend of Goldsmith and Wedgwood; and one of the most well…known

men of his day。  Mrs。 Wainewright died; in giving him birth; at the

early age of twenty…one; and an obituary notice in the GENTLEMAN'S

MAGAZINE tells us of her 'amiable disposition and numerous

accomplishments;' and adds somewhat quaintly that 'she is supposed

to have understood the writings of Mr。 Locke as well as perhaps any

person of either sex now living。'  His father did not long survive

his young wife; and the little child seems to have been brought up

by his grandfather; and; on the death of the latter in 1803; by his

uncle George Edward Griffiths; whom he subsequently poisoned。  His

boyhood was passed at Linden House; Turnham Green; one of those

many fine Georgian mansions that have unfortunately disappeared

before the inroads of the suburban builder; and to its lovely

gardens and well…timbered park he owed that simple and impassioned

love of nature which never left him all through his life; and which

made him so peculiarly susceptible to the spiritual influences of

Wordsworth's poetry。  He went to school at Charles Burney's academy

at Hammersmith。  Mr。 Burney was the son of the historian of music;

and the near kinsman of the artistic lad who was destined to turn

out his most remarkable pupil。  He seems to have been a man of a

good deal of culture; and in after years Mr。 Wainewright often

spoke of him with much affection as a philosopher; an

archaeologist; and an admirable teacher who; while he valued the

intellectual side of education; did not forget the importance of

early moral training。  It was under Mr。 Burney that he first

developed his talent as an artist; and Mr。 Hazlitt tells us that a

drawing…book which he used at school is still extant; and displays

great talent and natural feeling。  Indeed; painting was the first

art that fascinated him。  It was not till much later that he sought

to find expression by pen or poison。



Before this; however; he seems to have been carried away by boyish

dreams of the romance and chivalry of a soldier's life; and to have

become a young guardsman。  But the reckless dissipated life of his

companions failed to satisfy the refined artistic temperament of

one who was made for other things。  In a short time he wearied of

the service。  'Art;' he tells us; in words that still move many by

their ardent sincerity and strange fervour; 'Art touched her

renegade; by her pure and high influence the noisome mists were

purged; my feelings; parched; hot; and tarnished; were renovated

with cool; fresh bloom; simple; beautiful to the simple…hearted。'

But Art was not the only cause of the change。  'The writings of

Wordsworth;' he goes on to say; 'did much towards calming the

confusing whirl necessarily incident to sudden mutations。  I wept

over them tears of happiness and gratitude。'  He accordingly left

the army; with its rough barrack…life and coarse mess…room tittle…

tattle; and returned to Linden House; full of this new…born

enthusiasm for culture。  A severe illness; in which; to use his own

words; he was 'broken like a vessel of clay;' prostrated him for a

time。  His delicately strung organisation; however indifferent it

might have been to inflicting pain on others; was itself most

keenly sensitive to pain。  He shrank from suffering as a thing that

mars and maims human life; and seems to have wandered through that

terrible valley of melancholia from which so many great; perhaps

greater; spirits have never emerged。  But he was young … only

twenty…five years of age … and he soon passed out of the 'dead

black waters;' as he called them; into the larger air of humanistic

culture。  As he was recovering from the illness that had led him

almost to the gates of death; he conceived the idea of taking up

literature as an art。  'I said with John Woodvil;' he cries; 'it

were a life of gods to dwell in such an element;' to see and hear

and write brave things:…





'These high and gusty relishes of life

Have no allayings of mortality。'





It is impossible not to feel that in this passage we have the

utterance of a man who had a true passion for letters。  'To see and

hear and write brave things;' this was his aim。



Scott; the editor of the LONDON MAGAZINE; struck by the young man's

genius; or under the influence of the strange fascination that he

exercised on every one who knew him; invited him to write a series

of articles on artistic subjects; and under a series of fanciful

pseudonym he began to contribute to the literature of his day。

JANUS WEATHERCOCK; EGOMET BONMOT; and VAN VINKVOOMS; were some of

the grotesque masks under which he choose to hide his seriousness

or to reveal his levity。  A mask tells us more than a face。  These

disguises intensified his personality。  In an incredibly short time

he seems to have made his mark。  Charles Lamb speaks of 'kind;

light…hearted Wainewright;' whose prose is 'capital。'  We hear of

him entertaining Macready; John Forster; Maginn; Talfourd; Sir

Wentworth Dilke; the poet John Clare; and others; at A PETIT…DINER。

Like Disraeli; he determined to startle the town as a dandy; a
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