The Henson Journals

[102]

Thursday, July 12th, 1917.

1074th day

I have promised to lecture to the Newcastle "Lit & Phil" on "The Art of Biography". It confesses my present embarrassment over the "Life" wh in a moment of rashness I undertook. At least I shall clear up my mind on the point of biographical method. Among the ancients I may consider Suetonius' "Cœsare": Tacitus' "Agricola": Plutarch's "Lives": in the Middle Ages there are some hagiologies – Adamnan's Life of Columba, & Bede's Life of S. Cuthbert, would have a local interest. Then Joinville's S. Louis: Cavendish's "Wolsey": & Bacon's "Henry VII", would bring me to the "golden age" of biography and auto–biography. Walton's Lives: Strype's &c. Heylyn's Land, Hacket's "Williams". A distinction must be made between the compositions of contemporaries which provide first–hand materials to later biographers: & the purely literary compositions of the latter: also between biographies which were designed with an edifying or polemical purpose; and biographies which were directed to the single object of portraying an individual. The bulky records, stuffed with letters, & filling volumes, which now pass as biographies have hardly any claim to the character of works of art. They are rather blue–books than literature.

I carried Ruth's portmanteau to Holborn Victoria Station, & there parted with her & with her father. They returned to Canterbury, & I walked to the Athenaeum, & wrote letters. There I had some speech with Sir Courtney Ilbert. He told me that he was Fellow of Balliol & Tutor of Corpus, & that he tutored Sir Wm Anson. He said that in the H. of C. the Warden made no great figure, but that he was very popular among the members. I returned to the Deanery for lunch, & afterwards walked & talked with Ralph in the Temple Gardens, where batches of recruits were being drilled. We walked on to the Club, where I wrote letters to Mary Radford and Jack Boden. We all dined with Miss Mundella very pleasantly. The party consisted of the Charnwoods, Lord Channing, ^Whittuck^, Mrs Buchanan, Prof: Baillie & his wife. I took down Lady C. & talked to her both during dinner, & afterwards. We were back in the Deanery by 11.30 p.m.

---