Chapter 2

It has been argued that Mr. Bruce had not the elevated motives which must inspire a thoroughly successful minister of education; that he was still the police magistrate in his ideas; and that he wished to call in the schoolmaster to aid in the repression of crime. But it is only fair to add that he never said a word to show that he did not value education for itself, and in his own locality he has been a constant patron of Mechanics' and other educational institutions. Again, it has been said that his rejection by the house-holders of Merthyr at the general election, indicated that he had not really succeeded in winning the confidence of the working classes. But there are other circumstances to account for this that ought not to be lost sight of. The constituency was suddenly increased from 1390 to 15,500, two-thirds of whom could neither read nor write. They chose, with great judgment, Mr. Richard, an eminent Nonconformist; with less judgment, Mr. Fothergill, an ironmaster, who had been conspicuous for the manner in which he had enforced "Truck," and opposed education. A new constituency naturally chose new members. But nearly 6,000 voted for Mr. Bruce, including, with very few exceptions, every man of education in the borough. One circumstance that was prejudicial to Mr. Bruce's interest, was his refusal to support the Ballot. Up to 1868 he had never voted either for or against that measure; but during the long contest which preceded the election of November, 1868, he saw much to recommend the Ballot, and to weaken his objections to it. Therefore, when he stood for Renfrewshire, on the death of Captain Spiers, he declared his devotion to the Ballot unsolicited.

Of the success of Mr. Bruce's administration at the Home Office, different and conflicting opinions are inevitably entertained. The post is one of great importance. Its holder stands above every other Secretary of State. He is the Minister who follows next after the First Lord of the Treasury. He is virtually the governor of Great Britain. But really the Home Secretary is not a man to be envied. He has a thousand things to decide which, decide them how he may, are sure to bring about his ears a nest of stinging critical hornets. He is responsible for so many things that his name is sure to be in the papers every day, and the notices of his words and actions are no less sure to be in the majority of instances unfavourable. Truly, it is a "fierce light" which beats upon the Home Secretary. It is a fine thing in its way to be a Cabinet Minister; but we can imagine some more enviable situations than the one which is at present occupied by the member for Renfrewshire. No doubt he gained the seat for that county by virtue of his position at the Home Office; but the same distinction has also made him one of the best-abused men of his day. The articles of almost savage ferocity which have been hurled against Mr. Bruce by the metropolitan newspapers would make, if brought together, one of the largest books in the world. He is assailed in books and pamphlets as well as in the newspapers. "Who could conscientiously envy Mr. Bruce?" asks a pungent critic who has recently been showering a series of "Sketches" upon the town, which have caused rather a sensation at Westminster. "Was there ever such an unmitigated mistake in any Cabinet as that man? He has proved himself weaker even than Mr. Walpole, and that was difficult." On every hand we hear it remarked that Mr. Bruce's solitary act of legislation has been the one relating to the London cabs, and even that is said to be an utter failure. It is true that, from no fault of the Home Secretary, but from political exigencies, Home Office Bills, being of a social and administrative and not of a political character, have been thrust aside. They have been obliged to give way to such measures as the Irish Church and Land Bills, Education, Army Organization, and the Ballot. As for the latter question, Mr. Bruce spontaneously handed it over to Mr. Forster, believing that it would be better treated by an old advocate than by a recent convert. In such small space of time as he could command, however, Mr. Bruce has carried the Habitual Criminals Act, which, in its proved results, has been the most successful measure for the repression of crime passed during the last thirty years. He has also successfully dealt with the difficult subject of Trades' Unions, and he has carried an important extension of the Factory Acts, besides many minor measures. As for the Cab Act, about which the _Pall Mall Gazette_ has every now and again raised a cuckoo cry, it is altogether a municipal one, and ought not to be in the hands of a Secretary of State. As it was, Mr. Bruce tried the experiment of "Free Trade." It failed, because the London cab owners had not the enterprise to introduce better vehicles, which he could not impose upon them. The Licensing question and the Contagious Diseases Acts are two of the most important questions with which Mr. Bruce is now endeavouring to grapple. Upon the construction of both measures he has manifestly bestowed a great amount of labour.

For a Scotch Member to be also a Cabinet Minister is, at present, a conjunction of exceeding rarity; and no less exceptional is it to find the county of Renfrew returning to the House of Commons one who is not a politician of native growth. For its size it has been remarkably prolific in statesmen of ability. One of its burghs can point to such memorable names as Wallace of Kelly, and Murray Dunlop; and the county itself has, in our day, been represented (amongst others of its own gentry) by that brilliant scholar and historian, the late Colonel Mure of Caldwell, who was the lineal descendant of the Mures of Rowallan, one of the very oldest of our Scottish families, and who was an embodiment of many of the finest qualities which have characterised the members of that ancient and honourable house. Nor can we forget that the sad event which made way for the return of a stranger was the sudden death of Captain Spiers of Elderslie--one who was just beginning to be appreciated by the general public, as they saw the gradual development of qualities which were solid rather than brilliant, and in whom were united manliness and modesty in a degree which is rarely to be seen, and which now gives more than a touch of pathos to his memory. There was no want of local talent to supply the vacancy so unexpectedly and painfully made by the removal of Captain Spiers, but a combination of curious circumstances, and chiefly the state of transition which at the moment characterised the politics of the two most likely candidates, left the field open for a stranger, while the enthusiasm felt in this part of the island for the new Prime Minister made it almost a matter of course that the vacant seat should be conferred, on terms unexampled for magnanimity and ease, upon that statesman who had been singled out for the post of Home Secretary by Mr. Gladstone, but who, having been thrown overboard at the general election by the new constituency of Merthyr-Tydvil, was still destitute of the essential condition to the retention of the high honour to which he had been nominated by his political chief. The manner in which the constituencies of Scotland, and especially those of our northern shires, responded to Mr. Gladstone at the supreme moment of his political career, is a fact which cannot be overlooked by any one who shall hereafter trace the lines of his biography; and the most striking proof of the trust that was reposed in him at that critical epoch by the people of Scotland will be found in the facility with which his Home Secretary procured a seat for one of her counties. Mr. Bruce's return for Renfrewshire was perhaps the finest of all compliments paid by a generous and intelligent nation to Mr. Gladstone. One could wish to see some proof that it was duly appreciated in a little more attention being given to Scottish business in Parliament, and also in an increased measure of respect being shown to those measures of reform in which our agricultural population justly feel so great an interest. Thus far, it must be confessed, the farmers of Scotland have met with but a poor return for their fidelity; and we cannot wonder if we perceive amongst them symptoms of discontent that may ultimately lead to bitter estrangement.

HENRY GLASSFORD BELL.

Of Henry Glassford Bell, the Sheriff of Lanarkshire, we may say, as Macaulay said of Johnston, "We are familiar with his personal appearance, as with the faces that have surrounded us from childhood." For nearly half-a-century he has been a foremost citizen in Glasgow. During that long period he has taken an active interest in all that relates to the welfare of the city. Not in Law alone, but in Music, Literature, Painting, and the Fine Arts generally, he is regarded as an authority. In short, he is the intellectual king of the city, although he differs from a monarch _de jure_ in his accessibility to all ranks and conditions of men, and in the homage and respect which are universally and spontaneously paid to his high personal qualities. His experience is a direct reversal of the ordinary rule, that "a prophet hath honour save in his own country and in his own house." In tracing the lines of Sheriff Bell's biography, we are entering upon a fertile but hitherto unoccupied field. A man of rare gifts, and one of whose happiest literary productions it may safely be predicated that they will live in the literature of his country, he has now for upwards of thirty years relinquished the pursuit of _belles lettres_, thereby sacrificing the world-wide fame as an author to which, in the early part of his career, he seemed likely to attain. But if he has failed to achieve a niche in the Temple of Fame, he has at least secured a permanent place in the respect of the legal profession, and in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. If the scope of his mind has been narrowed by the arduous and incessant labour devolved upon him by his official position, he has yet been enabled to lead a life of more than ordinary usefulness; and future generations will probably listen with wonder and admiration, when they hear of the extraordinary amount of hard and irksome labour which, when the eight or nine hours' movement was yet in embryo, the Sheriff of a county embracing a third of the population of Scotland was able to accomplish.

Born in Glasgow in 1805, Sheriff Bell is descended from an honourable and honoured family. His father followed the practice of the law, and educated Henry to the same career. It did not seem, however, as if the son cared to have his father's mantle falling upon him. After receiving the rudiments of his education at the High School of Glasgow, he proceeded to Edinburgh, where he commenced to go through a regular University curriculum. So far as the Scottish metropolis was concerned, the first quarter of the present century was the Augustan age of literature. Sir Walter Scott was in his meridian. De Quincey, under the influence of the "Circean spells" of opium, was making _Blackwood_ a power in the land. Sir William Hamilton, the greatest British supporter of _a priori_ philosophy in this century, had just been appointed to the Chair of Civil History. Through the columns of the _Edinburgh Review_, Francis Jeffrey was "propounding heresies of all sorts against the ruling fancies of the day, whether political, poetical, or social." John Wilson, "Christopher North," that "monster of erudition," was acting as the animating soul of his celebrated magazine. Amid such a galaxy of brilliant constellations, Henry Bell graduated for a literary career, and he was not esteemed the least of the parhelions that shone around the fixed stars in that spacious intellectual firmament. By contact and association with such men, he enjoyed exceptional facilities for qualifying himself as an author; and having the "root of the matter" in him, he published, in rapid succession, poems, sketches, and reviews that were more than sufficient to justify the compliment which the Ettrick Shepherd years afterwards pronounced upon them, when he said, "Man, Henry, it was a great pity ye didna stick to literature; 'od, Sir, ye micht hae done something at literature."

Finding, perhaps, that his tastes were literary rather than legal--that he had a greater aptitude for _belles lettres_ than jurisprudence--young Bell, on the 15th November, 1828, undertook the Editorship of the _Edinburgh Literary Journal_. He was then twenty-three years of age. The _Journal_ professed to be a "weekly register of criticism and _belles lettres_." It contained fourteen pages of royal octavo, and its price was sixpence. The motto of the _Literary Journal_--it was often the custom in those days to select a motto for periodical publications--was the following taken from Bruyere:--

"Talent, gout, esprit, bons sens, choses differentes, Non incompatibles;"

and this was supplemented by the well-known verse of Burns--

"Here's freedom to him that would read, Here's freedom to him that would write! There's nane ever feared that the truth should be heard, But they whom the truth would indite."

On looking over the index to the first volume of the _Literary Journal_, we find that it contained original contributions in miscellaneous literature from Thomas Aird, the author of the Odd Volume; R. Carruthers (editor of the _Inverness Courier_), R. Chambers, Derwent Conway, Dr. Gillespie, Mrs. S. C. Hall, James Hogg, John Malcolm, Dr. Memes, Rev. Dr. Morehead, Alexander Negris, Alexander Sutherland, William Tennant, and William Weir. Of those who contributed original poetry, our readers will be familiar with the names of the authoress of "Aloyse," Thomas Atkinson, Alexander Balfour, Sheriff Bell himself (who, by the way, is the most voluminous writer of all, his poems, in the list before us, including "The Bachelor's Complaint," "Song to Leila," "Lines about Love, and such like nonsense," "Edinburgh Revisited," and "To a Favourite Actress"), Thomas Bryson, Gertrude, Captain Charles Gray, Mrs. E. Hamilton, Mrs. Hemans, W. M. Hetherington, Alexander Maclagan, John Malcolm, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Doyne Sillery, Thomas Stoddart, William Tennant, James Thomson, Alaric A. Watts, and Mrs. Grant of Laggan. A rare combination of talent! An original contribution from almost any one on this long list would be esteemed a priceless treasure by the publishers of the present day. What would Mr. Strahan or Mr. Macmillan not give to have the command of such a host?

A disposition to linger over the history and varied fortunes of this now defunct censor, is naturally evolved from the contemplation of the talent which it was able to command. A well-known author has said that "whatever withdraws us from the power of the Senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominant over the present, advances us in the dignity of human beings." So must the quondam editor of the _Literary Journal_ think when he recalls the reminiscences of those bygone days--days that were spent in edifying and agreeable association with men and women whose names are inscribed on the roll of Scotland's illustrious sons and daughters. He may also take a justifiable pride in the fact that, by virtue of his position as editor, he was at once the arbiter and the censor of works which have since, by universal acclamation, been awarded a permanent place in the literature of England. That Bell's conduct of the _Journal_ was able, popular, and successful, we have ample evidence to show. It is proved by the variety and excellence of the contributions which poured in upon him from the most gifted writers of the day. In his _Noctes Ambrosianae_, Professor Wilson has published his attestation of the fact in the following passage:--

NORTH--Here, James, is one of the best, because most business-like prospectuses I ever read, of a new weekly periodical about to be published in Edinburgh in the middle of November--the _Edinburgh Literary Journal._ From what I know of the editor--a gentleman of talent, spirit, and perseverance--I foretell the book will prosper.

SHEPHERD--I shall be glad o' that, for ane gets tired of that eternal soun'--_Blackwood's Magazeen_--_Blackwood's Magazeen_--dinnin in ane's lugs, day and night, a' life long.

Our readers will bear with what may appear to some to some to be unnecessary digressions, when they reflect upon the influence that the _Literary Journal_ exercised upon the subject of our sketch while he was yet a young man "winning his spurs" in the field of literature. It was through his editorship of the _Literary Journal_ that Mr. Bell formed his close intimacy with all the distinguished writers of his day; and if this was not the most useful, it certainly was the most interesting part of the career of him whom we are proud to acknowledge as the author of "Mary, Queen of Scots." From this time forward he was the most intimate friend and companion of Wilson and Hogg. The former came to Edinburgh in 1815, with the view of practising at the Scottish bar, so that Bell had no opportunities of visiting him at his beautiful residence at Elleray, on the banks of Lake Windermere, where for years previously he had lived in Utopian health and happiness, "surrounded by the finest of scenery, and varying his poem-writing and halcyon peace, with walking excursions and jovial visits from friends that, like himself, entered with zest into the hearty enjoyment of life." But, as between Bell and Wilson, there was a fellow-feeling that made them "wondrous kind," they were much in each other's society. Both were fond of piscatorial pursuits. Wilson had early discovered an enthusiasm for angling, which he used to cultivate on the banks of Lake Windermere. Bell, too, became a disciple of Isaac Walton, and to indulge their love of sport, and to enjoy each other's company where, removed from the busy haunts of men, they might "hear the tumult and be still," they were accustomed to spend whole days and nights on the banks of Loch Awe, and amid the gloomy and impressive scenery of Glen Dochart. At other times they would plan walking excursions. It was no unusual thing for them to walk upwards of thirty miles at a stretch. They had not then the command of railway facilities, nor did they want them. Muscular vigour, and a love of intellectual pursuits were qualities characteristic of both men, and both possessed a large amount of physical endurance. In physique, too, there was a considerable _vraisemblance_. Christopher North has been described as a "Goth of great personal prowess." Haydon says of him that he was like a fine Sandwich Islander, who had been educated in the Highlands. His light hair, deep sea blue eye, tall athletic figure, and hearty hand grasp, his eagerness in debate, his violent passions, great genius, and irregular habits, rendered him a formidable partisan, a furious enemy, and an ardent friend. Of Bell, with one or two qualifications, the same description would hold good. Wilson has immortalised their intimacy and friendship in his "Noctes," where Bell is made to figure as "Tallboys," and where he is only mentioned with respect and affection. In the Six Foot Club, an institution which had a local habitation and a name in Edinburgh during the early part of the nineteenth century, and of which both Wilson and Bell were members, they had further opportunities for muscular exercise. It was an indispensable condition to membership in this club that the candidate should be over six feet in height; and it is surprising how many men who have made their mark in literature, science, and art had attained that _sine qua non_. Physical and intellectual greatness were so invariably combined in those days that the two were thought by many vulgar minds to go hand in hand; but even in the "Six Feet Club" there were few who presented in all respect a more _distingue_ appearance than the subject of these remarks.

Another of Bell's most intimate friends during these years was James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd." Along with Wilson and other friends he paid several visits to Hogg's native place, where they enjoyed pleasant ramblings by St Mary's Loch, and in the Vale of Yarrow, to which the Shepherd's muse has imparted quite a classic interest. There was, however, a species of vulgarity about Hogg, which marred his otherwise estimable qualities, and his uncouth Johnsonian habits were probably the means of erecting a barrier between himself and more cultivated friends. Lockhart, in his life of Scott, speaks of Hogg as a "a true son of nature and genius," and this he undoubtedly was. One who had taught himself to write by copyright the letters of a printed book as he lay watching his flock on the hill side, and whose vivacious imagination, as his own brother informs us, disqualified him from study or research, was not likely while alive to make many close friends in the exclusive and polished circles which formed the _elite_ of Edinburgh. But by Bell and a few others, who saw the diamond glittering in the rough casket, Hogg was duly appreciated. To the _Literary Journal_ he was a constant contributor both of prose and verse, and he took a warm interest in its success. When the proposal to erect a monument to the Shepherd in Ettrick Vale took a practical shape, Sheriff Bell was selected to inaugurate the structure. This he did on the 28th June, 1860. In fitting terms, his old friend panegyrised the virtues and the genius of The Shepherd, describing him "as a true poet--not equal to Burns, because no national poet was ever equal to Burns, because no national poet was ever equal to him--but justly entitled to take rank in the second place, and worthily taking up the harp which he found lying on the grave of that immortal man."

In the year 1830 Mr. Bell relinquished his connection with the _Literary Journal_, which was conducted for some time afterwards by Mr. William Weir. The paper had never been a "good property," even in its palmiest days, and Mr. Weir, after carrying it on for a few months, allowed it to stop, and came to Glasgow for the purpose of establishing a newspaper, pure and simple. Mr. Weir was well known in Glasgow from his long connection with the _Argus_, which he edited with rare tact and ability until he was called to occupy a similar position on the _Daily News_ in London. Meantime Mr. Bell was admitted a member of the Faculty of Advocates. This was in 1832, so that he was in his twenty-seventh year.