V. JAMES KENNETH STEPHEN
I have now to give a brief notice of events which had a saddening influence upon the later years. Fitzjames, as I have remarked, had seen comparatively little of his elder children in their infancy. As they grew up, however, they had been fully admitted to his intimacy and treated on the footing of trusted and reasonable friends. The two younger daughters had been playthings in their infancy, and grew up in an atmosphere of warm domestic affection. Just before Venables' death Fitzjames made a little tour in the West of Ireland with his daughter Rosamond, who has preserved a little account of it. I shall only say that it proves that she had a delightful travelling companion; and that his straightforward ways enabled him to be on the friendliest terms with the natives whom he encountered. Among the frequent declarations of the happiness of his life, he constantly observes that one main condition was that his children had never given him a moment's uneasiness. Two, indeed, had died in infancy; and Frances, a very promising girl, had died of rheumatic fever July 27, 1880. Such troubles, however deeply felt, cannot permanently lessen the happiness of a healthy and energetic life. His three sons grew into manhood; they all became barristers, and had all acted at different times as his marshals. I shall say nothing of the survivors; but I must speak briefly of the one who died before his father.
James Kenneth Stephen was born on February 25, 1859.[197] His second name commemorates his father's friendship for his godfather, Kenneth Macaulay. He was a healthy lad, big and strong, and soon showed much intellectual promise. He was at the school of Mr. William Browning at Thorpe Mandeville; and in 1871 won a foundation scholarship at Eton, where he became the pupil of Mr. Oscar Browning, the brother of his former master. He already gave promise of unusual physical strength, and of the good looks which in later years resulted from the singular combination of power and sweetness in his features. The head of his division was H. C. Goodhart, afterwards Professor of Latin at the University of Edinburgh.[198] Other boys in the division were George Curzon and Cecil Spring Rice. James was surpassed in scholarship by several of his friends, but enjoyed a high reputation for talent among his cleverest contemporaries. The school, it appears, was not quite so much absorbed by the worship of athletics as was sometimes imagined. James, however, rowed for two years in the boats, while his weight and strength made him especially formidable at the peculiar Eton game of football 'at the wall.' The collegers, when supported by his prowess, had the rare glory of defeating the Oppidans twice in succession. He was ever afterwards fond of dilating with humorous enthusiasm upon the merits of that game, and delighted in getting up an eleven of old Etonians to play his successors in the school. He was, however, more remarkable for intellectual achievements. With Mr. Spring Rice and another friend he wrote the 'Etonian,' which lasted from May 1875 to August 1876; and several of the little poems which he then wrote were collected afterwards in his 'Lapsus Calami.'[199] They are, of course, chiefly in the humorous vein, but they show sufficiently that Eton was to him very different from what it had been to his father. He was a thoroughly loyal and even enthusiastic Etonian; he satirises a caviller by putting into his mouth the abominable sentiment—
Ye bigot spires, ye Tory towers,
That crown the watery lea,
Where grateful science still adores
The aristocracy.
His genuine feeling is given in the lines on 'My old School':—
And if sometimes I've laughed in my rhymes at Eton,
Whose glory I never could jeopardise,
Yet I'd never a joy that I could not sweeten,
Or a sorrow I could not exorcise,
By the thought of my school and the brood that's bred there,
Her bright boy faces and keen young life;
And the manly stress of the hours that sped there,
And the stirring pulse of her daily strife.
To the last he cherished the memory of the school, and carefully maintained his connection with it. One odd incident occurred in 1875, when James got up a 'constitutional opposition' to the intrusion of the revivalist preachers Moody and Sankey. His father wrote him a judicial letter of advice, approving his action so long as it was kept within due limits. He takes occasion to draw the moral that the whole power of such people depends upon the badness of their hearers' consciences. A man who has nothing to hide, who is 'just, benevolent, temperate and brave,' can 'look at things coolly and rate such people at their value.' Those 'few words' (i.e. the names of the virtues) 'are the summary of all that is worth having in life. Never forget any one of them for one moment, though you need not talk about them any more than you talk about your watch.' James had a marked influence in the college; he was a leading orator in the school debating societies; and his good sayings were as familiarly quoted as those of Sydney Smith or Luttrell in the larger world. Mr. Cornish, who was his tutor for a time, tells me of the charm of James's talk with his elders, and says that, although he was careless on some matters upon which schoolmasters set a high value, he always showed power and originality. He won an English Essay prize in 1875, the History prize in 1876 and 1877, the Declamation prize in 1878, and was one of the 'select' for the Newcastle in 1877.
James went to King's with a scholarship in 1878. He gave up classics and took to history. He took a first class (bracketed first in the class) in the historical tripos, but was only in the second class in the law tripos. Besides prizes for college essays, he won the 'Member's Prize' for an essay upon Bolingbroke in 1880, and the Whewell Scholarship for International Law in 1881. He succeeded in every competition for which he really exerted himself; although, like his father, he was rather indifferent to the regular course of academical instruction. Among his contemporaries, however, he enjoyed the kind of fame which is perhaps of still better augury for future success. King's College in his day, says Mr. Browning, was only emerging slowly from the effects of its close dependence upon Eton. It had been in former days chiefly a little clique of older schoolboys. James helped much to change this, and distinctly raised the intellectual tone of the place. He was a well-known speaker at the Union, of which he was president in 1882. He was an 'Apostle' too; and in May 1881 his father visited him in Cambridge, and attended a meeting of the Society where James read a paper. Although, therefore, he scarcely won such a share of academical honours as might have been expected, James was regarded by his friends as the man of his time who was most definitely marked out for distinction in later years. His friends, indeed, were innumerable; and from all with whom I have communicated there is a unanimous testimony not only to his intellectual promise, but to his influence in promoting a high tone of thought and feeling. His father's letters frequently refer to him. James, he says, is a 'splendid young fellow'; he will surpass his father in due time, and be the fourth distinguished man of his name. James, he says once, using the epithet which in his mouth conveyed the highest praise, is a 'sturdier' fellow in many ways than I was, and writes better than I could at his age. One achievement of the son rather extorted than attracted his father's praise. He appeared in a Greek play as Ajax, a part for which his massive frame and generally noble appearance fitted him admirably. The father admitted that he had a certain dislike to a man's exhibiting himself personally, but was reconciled by observing that James acted more like a gentleman amusing himself than like a professional performer.
How far these anticipations of success would ever have been fulfilled must remain uncertain. James may not have had his father's extraordinary vigour, but he undoubtedly had one quality in which his father was defective. He had a surprising facility in making friendly alliances with all sorts and conditions of men. His opinions partly resembled his father's. In politics he was of the Conservative tendency, and he was certainly not of the orthodox persuasion in theology. But he was equally at ease with Tories and Home Rulers, Roman Catholics and Agnostics; and his cheery, cordial manners put him at once on the best understanding with everybody. There was something contagious in the enthusiasm of a young man who seemed so heartily to appreciate the simple joy of living. Perhaps his weakness was to be a little too versatile in his sympathies and interests.
After taking his degree, James spent some time in Germany and France. He was elected to a fellowship at King's College in 1885, and as a candidate wrote dissertations upon 'Political Science' and 'International Law.'[200] He was elected, it is said, as much upon the strength of his general ability as for any special performance.
He was called to the bar in 1884, and naturally employed his spare time upon journalism. He wrote a good deal for Mr. Greenwood in the 'St. James's Gazette,' and had extraordinary facility as a writer. Mr. Reginald Smith tells me how James once wrote a leading article in the train between Paddington and Maidenhead. Many of the little poems which he contributed to periodicals were improvised. He was famous for wit and readiness as an after-dinner speaker; and showed an oratorical power in electioneering speeches which gave the highest hopes of parliamentary success. Indeed, from all that I have heard, I think that his powers in this direction made the greatest impression upon his friends, and convinced them that if he could once obtain an opening, he would make a conspicuous mark in public life.
At the end of 1886 he had an accident, the effects of which were far more serious than appeared at the time. He was staying at Felixstowe, and while looking (December 29, 1886) at an engine employed in pumping water he received a terrible blow upon the head. He returned to his work before long, but it was noticed that for some time he seemed to have lost his usual ease in composition. He was supposed, however, to have recovered completely from the effects of the blow. In the early part of 1888 he astonished his friends by producing a small weekly paper called the 'Reflector.' It appeared from January 1 to April 21, 1888. He received help from many friends, but wrote the chief part of it himself. The articles show the versatility of his interests, and include many thoughtful discussions of politics and politicians, besides excursions into literature. Perhaps its most remarkable quality was not favourable to success. It was singularly candid and moderate in tone, and obviously the work of a thoughtful observer. Probably the only chance of success for such a periodical would have been to make a scandal by personality or impropriety. To expect a commercial success from a paper which relied only upon being well written was chimerical, unless the author could have afforded to hold out in a financial sense for a much longer period. The expense gave a sufficient reason for discontinuing it; and it is now, I fear, to be inferred that the venture was one of the first signs of a want of intellectual balance.
Meanwhile, it seemed to indicate that James had literary tastes which would interfere with his devotion to the bar. Some months later (June 1888) his father appointed him to the clerkship of assize on the South Wales circuit, which had become vacant by the death of Maine's son.
He now took comparatively little interest in his profession and spoke of taking more exclusively to literature. Clearer symptoms showed themselves before long of the disease caused by the accident. I have no wish to dwell upon that painful topic. It is necessary, however, to say that it gradually became manifest that he was suffering from a terrible disease. He had painful periods of excitement and depression. Eccentricities of behaviour caused growing anxiety to his family; and especially to his father, whose own health was beginning to suffer from independent causes. I will only say that exquisitely painful as the position necessarily was to all who loved him, there was something strangely pathetic in his whole behaviour. It happened that I saw him very frequently at the time; and I had the best reasons for remarking that, under all the distressing incidents, the old most lovable nature remained absolutely unaffected. No one could be a more charming companion, not only to his contemporaries but to his elders and to children, for whose amusement he had a special gift. He would reason in the frankest and most good-humoured way about himself and his own affairs, and no excitement prevented him for a moment from being courteous and affectionate.
He resolved at last to settle at Cambridge in his own college in October 1890; resigning his clerkship at the same time. At Cambridge he was known to everyone, and speedily made himself beloved both in the University and the town. He spoke at the Union and gave lectures, which were generally admired. And here, too, in 1891 he published two little volumes of verse: 'Lapsus Calami' and 'Quo Musa Tendis?' Four editions of the first were published between April and August.[201] It started with an address to Calverley, most felicitous of minor poets of Cambridge; and the most skilful practisers of the art thought that James had inherited a considerable share of his predecessor's gift. I, however, cannot criticise. No one can doubt that the playful verses and the touches of genuine feeling show a very marked literary talent, if not true poetic power. He seems, I may remark, to have had a special affinity for Browning, whom he parodied in a way which really implied admiration. He took occasion to make a graceful apology in some verses upon Browning's death.[202] But to me the little volume and its successor speak more of the bright and affectionate nature which it indicates, and the delight, veiled by comic humour, in his friendships and in all the school and college associations endeared by his friends' society. The 'Quo Musa Tendis?' composed chiefly of poems contributed to various papers in the interval, appeared in September 1891.
Mr. Oscar Browning quotes some phrases from one of James's letters in November, which dwell with lively anticipation upon the coming term. For a time, in fact, he seemed to be in excellent spirits and enjoying his old pursuits and amusements. But a change in his condition soon occurred. He had to leave Cambridge at the end of November; and he died on February 3, 1892. Many bright hopes were buried with him; but those who loved him best may find some solace in the thought that few men have been so surrounded by the affection of their fellows, or have had, in spite of the last sad troubles, so joyous or so blameless a life.
James's college friends have put up a brass to his memory in King's College Chapel. His family erected a fountain near Anaverna. His father added a drinking-cup as his own special gift, and took the first draught from it October 25, 1892, when about to take his final leave of the place.