Chapter 16

THE SALE OF THE _SCANDAL_

Though the partnership was over, FitzGerald by no means gave up his friendship for Posh. From time to time he saw him, and from time to time he wrote to him, and always he retained the affection for the longshoreman which had sprung up in him so suddenly and (I fear) so unaccountably.

On February 5th, 1871, FitzGerald wrote to Mr. Spalding (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p. 121):--

". . . Posh and his Father are very busy getting the _Meum and Tuum_ ready for the West; Jemmy, who goes Captain, is just now in France with a _Cargoe_ of salt Herrings. I suppose the Lugger will start in a fortnight or so. . . . All-fours at night."

In April of the same year FitzGerald wrote to Posh:--

"WOODBRIDGE, _Monday_.

"DEAR POSH,

"Come any day you please. The Horse Fair is on Friday, you had better come, at any rate; by Thursday, so as to catch the Market. For I think your Lugger must have got away before that.

"A letter written by Ablett Pasefield [otherwise called Percival] yesterday tells me there are four Lowestoft Luggers in Weymouth. I fancy that even if they were on the Fishing ground, the wind must be too strong to be at work.

"It was Mr. Kerrich who died suddenly this day week--and I suppose is being buried this very day.

"Yours, E. FG.

"Mr. Berry tells me that the Poultry Show here is on Thursday. You can, as I say, come any Day you please. I see the Wind is got West, after the squalls of Hail."

{Geldeston Hall, the Norfolk seat of the Kerrich Family: p173.jpg}

Ablett Pasefield (or Percival), the fisherman and yacht hand, has been mentioned before, and will be mentioned again. He was one of FitzGerald's favourites. Mr. Kerrich was FitzGerald's brother-in-law, the husband of the poet's favourite sister, who had predeceased him in 1863. On August 5th in that year FitzGerald wrote to Professor Cowell (_Letters_, II, 46, Eversley Edition): ". . . I have lost my sister Kerrich, the only one of my family I much cared for, or who much cared for me."

* * * * *

Mr. Kerrich lived at Geldeston Hall, near Beccles, which is still in possession of the same family.

Mr. Berry (as we know) was FitzGerald's landlord at Markethill, Woodbridge.

At this time Posh was a man of means, and drove his smart gig and mare, and it was with some idea of buying a new horse that he was to go to Woodbridge Horse Fair. In the seventies the horse fairs of Norwich and other East Anglian towns were important functions. The Rommany gryengroes had not then all gone to America, and those who know their George Borrow will remember with delight his description of the scene at the horse fair on Norwich Castle Hill, when Jasper Petulengro first brought himself to the recollection of Lavengro (or the "sap-engro") as his "pal"--that memorable day when George Borrow saw the famous entire Norfolk cob Marshland Shales led amongst bared heads, blind and grey with age, but triumphant in his unequalled fame (_Lavengro_, p. 74, Minerva Edition).

But Posh bought no new horse. And his recollection does not permit of any trustworthy account of his visit.

Perhaps it was during this trip to Woodbridge (and the carping reader will be justified in saying "and perhaps it wasn't") that Posh witnessed the curious and characteristic meeting between FitzGerald and his wife.

If this meeting were characteristic, still more so was the history of the marriage.

FitzGerald had been a great friend of Bernard Barton, the Woodbridge quaker poet, and on the death of his friend he wished to save Miss Barton from being thrown on the world almost destitute and almost friendless. The only way of doing it without creating scandal (and he changed the name of his yacht from the _Shamrock_ to the _Scandal_ because he said that scandal was the principal commodity of Woodbridge) was to make her his wife. This he did. But there were many reasons why the marriage was not likely to prove a happy one. It did not, and both parties recognised that the wisest thing to do was to separate without any unnecessary fuss. They did so. And no doubt their action proved to be for the happiness of each of them.

Posh was walking with FitzGerald on one occasion down Quay Lane, Woodbridge, when Mrs. FitzGerald (who was living at Gorleston at the time, but had gone over to Woodbridge, possibly to see some old friends) appeared walking towards them. FitzGerald removed the glove he was wearing on his right hand. Mrs. FitzGerald removed the glove she was wearing on her right hand. There was a momentary hesitation as the husband passed the wife. But Posh thinks that the two hands did not meet. FitzGerald bowed with all his courtesy, and passed on.

Posh says that Mrs. FitzGerald was a "fine figure of a woman." And I believe that she was, indeed, so fine a figure of a woman that the length of her stride excited the admiration of the local schoolboys when she was still Miss Barton. She was older than FitzGerald when he married her, and both were nearer fifty than forty.

In this context I give the following letter from FitzGerald to Posh, though I have been unable to fix its date with any certainty.

"WOODBRIDGE, _Tuesday_.

"DEAR POSH,

"I find that I may very likely have to go to London on Thursday--not to be home till Friday perhaps. If I do this it will be scarce worth while your coming over here to-morrow, so far as _I_ am concerned; though you will perhaps see Newson.

"Poor young Smith of the Sportsman was brought home ill last week, and died of the very worst Small Pox in a Day or two. There have been _three_ Deaths from it here: all from London. As young Smith died in _Quay Lane_ leading down to the Boat Inn, I should not like you to be about there with any chance of Danger, though I have been up and down several times myself.

"Ever yours, "E. FG."

"The Sportsman" was a public-house at Woodbridge, and it is probable that FitzGerald had helped "poor young Smith" substantially. His anxiety lest Posh should contract smallpox, and his indifference as to himself, are admirably illustrative of the man's unselfishness.

But now that the partnership was at an end he began to frequent Lowestoft less. During 1871 he sold the _Scandal_, and on September 4th he wrote to Dr. Aldis Wright from Woodbridge (_Letters_, II, p. 126, Eversley Edition): "I run over to Lowestoft occasionally for a few days, but do not abide there long: no longer having my dear little Ship for company. . . ."

Who bought the _Scandal_ I do not know. Posh has no recollection, and Dr. Aldis Wright has been unable to trace with certainty the subsequent owner of her, though he has reason to think that she was sold to Sir Cuthbert Quilter. She had served her purpose. She was, as Posh assures me, a "fast and handy little schooner."

After her sale FitzGerald still remained the mortgagee of the _Meum and Tuum_ and the _Henrietta_. But this was not to last indefinitely. Posh's spirit of independence and love of "bare" were fated to put an end to all business relations between his old "guv'nor" and him.