A memoir of the Right Hon. William Edward Hartpole Lecky, M.P., O.M., LL. D., D.C.L., LITT. D., member of the French Institute and of the British Academy

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Preface

This memoir has been written in accordance with the wish expressed by many of Mr. Lecky's friends that there should be some record of his life. ' It is the privilege of a great writer/ wrote one of them after his death, 'to leave an immortal personality behind him; but though his books will live, there was much about his rare and singularly fine type of character that one feels that those who did not come under his personal influence will never fully realise.' To recall that personal element as far as possible — without infringing more than he would have wished on the domain of. private life — has been my endeavour. Lecky himself never encouraged the idea that there should be a biography of him. On the contrary, he wished to live through his books alone. He did not keep a journal. He did not think it worth while that his daily doings should be recorded. A little 'pocket-diary/ with some notes, of the year 1855, and a series of minute almanacks, with two interruptions, from the year 1862 upwards, in which he wrote down every Monday the place where he was, are all that exists in that line. Such details about his boyhood as have been given in this memoir were gathered chiefly by me from his own lips. Unfortunately there are no letters of his of that time. From the year 1859 — when he was twenty -one — he kept commonplace books which contain his views

VI WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY

on a variety of subjects, and at a later period he made entries in a notebook about the progress of his literarywork. His early letters to friends throw a good deal of light on the formation of his character and opinions, and I am especially indebted to Mr. Arthur Booth for letters and extracts from letters and for information about his college life. Mr. Booth was an intimate friend of his, and corresponded with him from the time he left the University. Another college friend, the late Judge Addison, also kindly gave me a few letters and recollections of those days. A certain number of letters besides have been placed at my disposal, and for these my thanks are due to the Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, the Lady Margaret Cecil, the Dowager Lady Acton, Madame de Beaufort, Mrs. Bayard, the Hon. Emily Lawless, Lady Blennerhassett, Mrs. Tyndall, Mrs. J. R. Green, Mrs. O'Connor Morris, Mrs. C. Litton Falkiner, Miss Taylor, Miss Honor Brooke, Miss Hartpole Bowen, Miss A. Wilmot Chetwode, Miss Froude, Lord Killanin, the Hon. Albert Canning, the Dean of St. Patrick's, Sir Henry Wrixon, Sir Thomas Snagge, Mr. J. F. Rhodes, Mr. H. C. Lea, Professor Knight, Mr. W. E. Tallents, Mr. E. Salmon, Mr. T. Norton Longman, Mr. G. Gavan Duffy, Mr. A. O'Neill Daunt, the executors of Mr. G. W. Rusden, and the late Sir James Go wan.

It is not without great hesitation that I give to the world letters which were never intended for publication, and which were written with all the freedom of private intercourse; but I venture to do so in the belief that some of these spontaneous expressions of opinion represent more vividly than any description could do

PREFACE Vll

the characteristics of a personality which those who knew him best had most occasion to admire.

Rather than ask friends to write appreciations of him I have confined myself to inserting some letters written to him on various occasions, and a few to myself, in which the writers expressed their views concerning him and his work. I gratefully acknowledge the permission to do so given me by the Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin, Countess Stanhope, Mrs. Bayard, the Hon. Andrew White, Lord Tennyson, Lord Rathmore, the Hon. Rollo Russell, the Right Hon. Sir Alfred Lyall, Sir Henry Wrixon, the Dean of St. Patrick's, Dr. Mahaffy, Dr. Dowden, Mr. Arthur Milman, Mr. Gladstone's trustees, Mr. H. C. Lea, Mr. C. Cairnes, Mr. A. Bence Jones, and Mr. T. Norton Longman. I also much appreciate the courtesy shown me by the proprietors of the Times, the Spectator, and the Dublin Daily Express, in allowing me to make use of papers and letters of Mr. Lecky which were published by them. Mr. Booth has had the great kindness to read over my MS. and to make many useful suggestions.

In order to condense the story of a full life of sixty-five years into one volume, much had necessarily to be omitted, and the letters sent me by several correspondents could not on that account be included ; but I am none the less grateful to the senders. The social side of his life had to be kept within proportionate limits, and it is with regret that I have been unable to bring within its scope the names of many whose kindness and friendship he valued.

Elisabeth Lecky.

Contents

PAGE

Preface v

List op Portraits xv

Chapter I

1838-1861 Lecky's parentage. Family history. His mother's death. His father marries again. Graigavoran. Visit to Scotland. School life: Lewes; Monkstown; Armagh; Cheltenham College. His father's death. Quedgeley. Marriage of his stepmother. Bushy Park. Enters Trinity College Dublin. Friendships. Divinity course. Oratory. Historical Society. Gold medal. Early poems. Travels. Publication of the 'Religious Tendencies of the Age.' He graduates and leaves the University. Switzerland. Oberammergau. Italy. Publication of 'Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland'. . . . 1-30

Chapter II

1861-1867 First visit to Spain. He decides not to take Orders. Begins the 'History of Rationalism.' Naples. Monkstown. Italy. Bagneres. Chapters on the Declining Sense of the Miraculous. Pyrenees. Second visit to Spain. Reads in foreign libraries. Views about a profession. Lecture at Portarlington. Publication of the 'Rationalism.' Reviews. London Society. Visit to tenants. Venice. Spez-

X WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY

zia. Meets Mr. Lever. Bagneres. Montreux. Dr. page Newman. Begins the ' History of European Morals.' Literary methods 31-57

Chapter III 1867-1870

Settles in London. Lord Russell. Elected to Athenaeum Club. Mr. Gladstone. Reform Bill of 1867. Bagneres. Lord Carnwath's death. Lecture at the Royal Institution. Irish Church disestablishment. Publication of the 'History of European Morals.' Reviews. Irish Church Bill. Grand Jury in Queen's County. Third visit to Spain. Lord Morris. Rome. (Ecumenical Council. San Remo. Irish Land Bill 58-80

Chapter IV 1870-1873

Queen Sophia of the Netherlands. The House in the Wood. Franco-German war. Revision of the ' Leaders of Public Opinion.' Engagement. Views on the peace conditions. Darwin's 'Descent of Man.' London life. Marriage. Travels. Publication of the revised edition of the 'Leaders.' Florence. Rome. Proposes to write the 'History of England in the Eighteenth Century.' Return to England. Knowsley. London society. Mr. Carlyle. Irish university education. Review of Mr. Froude's 'English in Ireland.' Family bereavements . . 81-113

Chapter V 1873-1878

Dutch country life. Ireland. Views on a seat in Parliament. A Home Rule debate. Working habits.

CONTENTS XI

British Museum. Record Office. The Literary page Society. The Club. Mr. Herbert Spencer. Professor Huxley. Scheme of the 'History.' Visit to Ireland. Irish friends. Reads MSS. in Dublin Castle. Revises the ' History of European Morals.' Atlantic Coast scenery. Speeches. Return to London. Bulgarian massacres. Mr. Gladstone's Blackheath speech. Paris. St. James's Hall Conference. Completion of the first two volumes of the ' History.' Death of Queen Sophia. Death of Mr. Motley. St. Moritz. Publication of the first two volumes. Aim of the ' History.' Appreciative letters . . . 114-144

Chapter VI 1878-1882

Portrait by Watts. Visit to Oxford. Italian lakes. Switzerland. Visit to Professor Tyndall. Senior's 'Conversations.' Spencer Walpole's 'History.' Irish university education. The Hague. Ireland. Dublin University degree. Mr. Gladstone on the Evangelical Movement. Reply in the 'Nineteenth Century.' Reads MSS. in Dublin Castle and Four Courts. Death of Mr. Bowen. Henry Brooke. Letters to Mr. O'Neill Daunt. M. Renan. Visit to Tennyson. Carlyle. Dissolution. More letters to Mr. O'Neill Daunt. Carlyle's death. 'Reminiscences.' Carlyle Memorial. Irish Land Act, 1881. Mr. O'Neill Daunt's 'Catechism of the History of Ireland.' Mr. Richard Brooke's hymns 145-184

Chapter VII 1882-1886

Publication of volumes hi. and iv. of the 'History.' American appreciation. Lord Acton. Tour in Spain. Phoenix Park murders. Mr. O'Neill Daunt. Dublin. Madame Ristori. State Papers. Condition of Ire-

Xll WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY

land. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. Trials of Phoenix page Park murderers. Tipperary. Jura Mountains. Mr. J. R. Green. Transvaal delegates. M. Mori. Switzerland. Amiel. M. de Gonzenbach. Soudan expedition. Gordon. Lord Wolseley. LL.D degree, St. Andrews. 'On an Old Song.' Sir Henry Taylor's Autobiography. Paris Archives. 'The Dawn of Creation and of Worship' 185-211

Chapter VIII 1886-1888

Anticipations of Home Rule Bill. Letters to the Times. Split in the Liberal Party. Speech in Kensington Town Hall. On a Nationalist Parliament. Sir W. Harcourt and Grattan's Parliament. Demand for the 'Leaders.' Defeat of Home Rule Bill. Completion of volumes v. and vi. of the 'History.' Travels. Lake of Geneva. Publication of the new volumes. Letters and Reviews. Holiday in Italy. Irish Vice-Royalty. Jubilee. Tour in the Harz. Paris Archives. Canon Miles. Liberal Unionist meeting at Nottingham. Pelham Papers 212-236

Chapter IX 1888-1890

Unionist Textbook. Mr. Matthew Arnold. Speeches at the Literary Fund Dinner and at the Academy. Portrait by Mr. Wells for Grillion's Club. D.C.L. degree, Oxford. Donegal. Wexford. Monasterboice. Democracy. Parnell Commission. Anti- Home Rule Meeting, Birmingham. Mr. Bryce's 'History.' Harz Mountains. Completion of the 'History of England in the Eighteenth Century.' Bust by Boehm. His death. Formative influences.

CONTENTS Xlll

Miss Lawless' 'Essex in Ireland.' Cardinal Man- page ning. On Catholicism. Death of Newman. Summer holidays. Grande Chartreuse. Publication of the last two volumes of the • History.' Reviews and letters 237-260

Chapter X 1890-1892

Revision of the 'History of the Eighteenth Century.' Writes various essays: Ireland in the Light of History; Why Home Rule is Undesirable; Madame de Stael; Carlyle's Message to his Age; Sir Robert Peel's Private Correspondence. American Copyright Bill. Effects of Parnell divorce case. Litt.D. degree, Cambridge. T.C.D. dinner. Travels. Poems. National Portrait Gallery. Begins ' Democracy and Liberty.' Regius Professorship of History at Oxford. Royal Literary Fund. Letters on Home Rule. 'The Political Outlook.' Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. Dublin University Tercentenary. General Election. Holiday in the Alps. 'The Political Value of History.' Lord Tennyson's death. Completion of the revised edition of the ' History' . . 261-282

Chapter XI 1892-1894

'Thoughts on History.' Home Rule Bill, 1893. Articles on Home Rule. Carrigart. Letter on the situation. Albert Hall meeting. Irish delegates at Hatfield. Death of Lord Derby. Defeat of Home Rule Bill. President of the Cheltonian Society. Vosbergen. Mr. Rhodes' ' History.' ' Israel among the Nations.' 'The Eye of the Grey Monk.' Death of Sir Andrew Clark. Lecture at the Imperial Institute. Pessimism. French Institute. Memoir of Lord Derby.

XIV WILLIAM EDWAKD HARTPOLE LECKY

Due d'Aumale. Resignation of Mr. Gladstone. page Lord Rosebery succeeds. Madonna di Campiglio. Mr. Froude's death. Tribute to Lord Russell. Canada and Copyright 283-302

Chapter XII 1894-1896

LL.D. degree at Glasgow. General election. Mr. Rhode's' 'History.' Mr. Bayard. Offer of Dublin University Seat. Centenary of the French Institute. Contested Election. The Religious Cry. Answer to Correspondents. Clonakilty contra mundum. Result of the Election. Congratulations. Maiden Speech. Land Bill. Publication of 'Democracy and Liberty.' Appreciative Letters. Critics. Essay on Gibbon. Essay on Swift. Judge O'Connor Morris. Debates on the Land Bill 303-327

Chapter XIII 1896-1898

Mr. Andrew White's 'Warfare of Science with Theology.' Travels in Austria and Hungary. T.C.D. Historical and Philosophical Societies. ' Cambridge Modern History.' The 'Map of Life.' Introduction to 'Life of Lord Stratford.' The Irish University Question. Report of Commission on Financial Relations. Over-taxation of Ireland. Combined Protest of Unionists and Nationalists. Sir Horace Plunkett. English Agricultural Rating Act. Ireland's Grievance. Lord Dufferin's Views. Sunday Closing Act. Diamond Jubilee. Privy Councillorship. Society in Trinity College. Private Papers of Wilberforce. Ecclefechan. Burke Centenary. Speech on Burke 328-358

CONTENTS XV

CHAPTER XIV page

1898-1900

Irish University Question. Irish Local Government Bill. Centenary of the Rebellion. Introduction to Carlyle's 'French Revolution.' 'Mr. Gregory's Letterbox.' England and Germany. England and the United States. Holland. Cannes. Dublin. Alexandra College. Introduction to the revised edition of 'Democracy and Liberty.' Portrait of Mr. Gladstone. Distress in the West of Ireland. Old Age Pensions Committee. Report. Article on Old Age Pensions in the Forum. Irish Literary Theatre. Scotland. Holland. Completion of the 'Map of Life.' South African War. Moral Aspects of the War. Florence. Financial Relations. Defence of T.C.D. Dean Milman. Queen Victoria's Visit to Ireland. Irish Debates. Holiday in Ireland. Unionist Dissatisfaction. General Election. Spiddal. University Election 359-389