DOI article:
Noble, James Ashcroft: The phantasies of Philarete
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21806#0211
By James Ashcroft Noble 207
made by malignity or incompetence to crush a rising author ; ”
and the word “ rising ” was gall and wormwood to the man who
believed himself to have been for at least a year on the apex of
fame’s pyramid. Had he read Errington’s letter first, the un-
mistakable accent of timorous praise, and still more the appeal
to him as a possible patron, would have titillated his vanity and
sent him to the review with a clean palate ; but of course a
printed cutting, headed “ A Western Masterpiece,” could not
wait, and the “rising” vitiated his taste for what would have
been to him the dainty dish of adulation.
But Andrew Mackenzie neither knew this nor cared to know
it, and his thoughts turned from West to Errington. It has been
said that at the moment he knew not which he hated the more ;
but he did know upon which he could inflict immediate
vengeance, and that was a great point. As he brooded upon
Errington’s offence, West’s seemed comparatively trivial, for
was it not Errington who had provided West with his offensive
weapon ? The member of the Shandy Club had said that he did
not know whether Mr. Mackenzie had any views upon the
dignity of journalism. His ignorance on this matter was very
general 5 but there were many who knew that he held exceedingly
strong views concerning the dignity of one journal, Noon, and
one Journalist, Andrew Mackenzie. It was his pride to know
that the members of his political staff were to be seen at Govern-
ment Office receptions, hobnobbing with Cabinet Ministers, that
his critics dined with literary peers whose logs they judiciously
rolled, and that both were frequently represented in the half-
crown reviews. That was as it should be: and here was a
fellow who put it in the power of a man like West to say that
one of his contributors wrote from Titan Villas, Shepherd’s
Bush, about his slender resources, and his ardent desire to pick
up
made by malignity or incompetence to crush a rising author ; ”
and the word “ rising ” was gall and wormwood to the man who
believed himself to have been for at least a year on the apex of
fame’s pyramid. Had he read Errington’s letter first, the un-
mistakable accent of timorous praise, and still more the appeal
to him as a possible patron, would have titillated his vanity and
sent him to the review with a clean palate ; but of course a
printed cutting, headed “ A Western Masterpiece,” could not
wait, and the “rising” vitiated his taste for what would have
been to him the dainty dish of adulation.
But Andrew Mackenzie neither knew this nor cared to know
it, and his thoughts turned from West to Errington. It has been
said that at the moment he knew not which he hated the more ;
but he did know upon which he could inflict immediate
vengeance, and that was a great point. As he brooded upon
Errington’s offence, West’s seemed comparatively trivial, for
was it not Errington who had provided West with his offensive
weapon ? The member of the Shandy Club had said that he did
not know whether Mr. Mackenzie had any views upon the
dignity of journalism. His ignorance on this matter was very
general 5 but there were many who knew that he held exceedingly
strong views concerning the dignity of one journal, Noon, and
one Journalist, Andrew Mackenzie. It was his pride to know
that the members of his political staff were to be seen at Govern-
ment Office receptions, hobnobbing with Cabinet Ministers, that
his critics dined with literary peers whose logs they judiciously
rolled, and that both were frequently represented in the half-
crown reviews. That was as it should be: and here was a
fellow who put it in the power of a man like West to say that
one of his contributors wrote from Titan Villas, Shepherd’s
Bush, about his slender resources, and his ardent desire to pick
up