PERSONAL

Burton was a man whose mental capacity was extraordinary, and whose physical powers were far above the average, whilst he also possessed a phenomenal love and power of hard work. It may be asked why a man so exceptionally gifted did not achieve a phenomenal success and die a Peer and Knight of the Garter. The answer is not far to seek; he preferred a position where he was practically independent, and where he could say and do what he liked, to one which, however splendid, would involve certain restraints. He was not a man to endure the wearing of any fetters, not even if they were golden and bejeweled. His independence he valued before all else, and this love of freedom and his unflinching, outspoken honesty prevented his ever becoming a courtier. If he could have stooped ever so little no one can calculate the height (as judged by ordinary standards) to which he must have risen. . . . His scientific, apart from his linguistic and scholarly attainments, were most wonderful, and if he had cared to make them known to the world he would have ranked high as geologist, naturalist, anthropologist, botanist, or antiquarian; in fact, he was admirably equipped in all ways as a scientific explorer, and when you add to the above qualifications his marvellous aptitude for languages and his equally marvellous accuracy, it must be allowed that no traveller of present or past ages outrivals, even if any equals or comes near him. . . . Another point of superiority in Burton to most men was his power of instantly putting a stop to argument and dissension, and this whether the parties were white, black, or of both colors.

Fortunately I have not seen him have cause to do this more than twice or thrice, but on each occasion his influence was magical. As he could control others so he could also control himself, and in my experience of him I have never seen him lose his temper; and the perfect submission with which during the last few years of his life he acquiesced in the regulations of his wife and his doctor, without one word of murmuring or symptom of dissatisfaction, was one of the most touching things I ever witnessed, and also a proof of how completely he had mastered what in his young days had been a fiery temper.-CAMERON, V. LOVETT, 1890, Burton as I Knew Him, Fortnightly Review, vol. 54, pp. 878, 880, 881.

His pilgrimage in disguise to Mecca, his discovery of Lake Tanganyike, and his translation of the "Thousand and One Nights" (which his wife never read unexpurgated, though it was copied by "a lady amanuensis"), are the three things for which he will chiefly be remembered, In spite of great achievements, his was a life of signal troubles and disappointments. He declared, "My career in India has been in my eyes a failure;" even the famous Mecca trip was but a part of what he had meant to do; the irregular Turkish force which he helped to organise during the Crimean war never saw service, and his various suggestions met with snubs; his expedition with Speke ended in a bitter quarrel between the two, and it was Speke who was chosen to go a second time and have the glory of discovering the sources of the Nile; his name was struck off the Army List without warning when he entered the consular service at

perhaps the worst possible post, Fernando Po; when he did at last get a situation to his heart, the consulship at Damascus, after a while he was abruptly cashiered, though his conduct was subsequently approved and he was sent to Trieste where he was left from 1873 till his death in 1890. . . . This is a sad record for a man of such great and varied abilities, of such energy and industry, who knew twenty-nine languages, who understood the East as few Europeans ever have, who was one of the pioneers of modern African exploration, and who wrote, on widely different subjects, works that will always have value. In spite of Lady Burton's protestations, we can see that, to a certain extent, he had himself to blame for his woes; but we will not undertake to say how much.-COOL IDGE, A. C., 1893, Life of Sir Richard Burton, The Nation, vol. 57, p. 178.

Truly, the story of this good knight and "Isabel his wife" should be writ in other languages than our nineteenth century work-a-day tongue. It should be sung, as a "romaunt" of heroic emprise, of battle with savage foes, of wanderings through

the magic lands and mysterious cities of the sun: of glory and mishap, and much persecution; above all, of true love that never failed or wavered, through life or in death. Such a story we might have received as a legend of early medieval times, and treasured, like the acts of a St. George, or a knightly Quest originated at the "Round Table" of King Arthur. It is difficult to look upon it in the light of modern day, as a tale of marvels enacted concurrently with our own lives. The potent spell of it all lies in the man's ill-rewarded courage and endurance for honour and country's sake; in his lady's love and loyal service at his side, "surpassing woman's power."-GowING, EMILIA AYLMER, 1894, Sir Richard Burton, Belgravia, vol. 84, p. 146.

His intellectual gifts, his power of assuming any character he pleased, his facility in acquiring languages, his love of adventure and contempt for danger-all singled him out as a remarkable man. He was very dark, of an almost gypsy aspect. In fact, In fact, although he had no known Oriental blood, Lady Burton always thought it strange that he had so many characteristics of the race. He possessed the same power to read the hand at a glance, the same restlessness and inability to stay long in one place, the

same philosophic endurance of any evil, and the same horror of a corpse, that distinguish the highest gypsy races. While in the East he could disguise himself so well as to pass for a dervish in the mosques, or as a merchant in the bazars. He undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca, disguised as a pilgrim, and accomplished it in safety, his real identity and nationality never being suspected. It is a proof of the power of the man that he carried the assumed character through to the end-for one mistake or slip would have caused him to pay the forfeit with his life.CURTIS, GEORGINA P., 1900, Isabel, Lady Burton, Catholic World, vol. 72, p. 93.

GENERAL

His cast of mind was so original that not only did he never borrow from any one else, but he was disposed to resent another's trespassing upon such subjects as he considered his own. But no man could be more cordial in his admiration of honest work done in bordering fields of learning. He was ever ready to assist, from the stores of his experience, young explorers and young scholars; but here, as in all else, he was intolerant of pretentiousness and sciolism. His virility stamped everything he said or wrote. His style was as characteristic as his hand-writing.-COTTON, J. S., 1890, Sir Richard Burton, The Academy, vol. 38, p. 365.

A living soul that had strength to quell Hope the spectre and fear the spell,

Clear-eyed, content with a scorn sublime And a faith superb, can it fare not well?

A fame outshining her Raleigh's fame, A light that lightens her loud sea's rim, Shall shine and sound as her sons proclaim The pride that kindles at Burton's name.

And joy shall exalt their pride to be The same in birth if in soul the same. -SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES, 1891, Verses on the Death of Richard Burton, New Review, vol. 4, p. 99.

No man of modern times lived a life so full of Romance as Burton. To find his parallel we must turn to the careers of the Elizabethan heroes, notably Sir Walter Raleigh. For Burton was something more than a "gentleman adventurer." He was at once a poet-as the Kasidah, wisely quoted by Lady Burton in full, shows beyond cavil-historian, traveller, profound

oriental scholar, and soldier. Even his faults, often virtues in uncongenial sursoundings, were those of the Elizabethan age; and his failures were due almost entirely to the fact that he had to live, not under the personage of Gloriana, but in our nineteenth century. . . . That such a man as Burton should have been reduced to his last £15 is a burning scandal to the country whose interests he strove so gallantly to serve. His entire fitness for an Eastern

post is demonstrated by the respect the natives of all classes and divisions felt for him, and the fear and love he awakened in his subordinates.-ADDLESHAW, PERCY, 1893, Life of Sir Richard Burton, The Academy, vol. 44, pp. 333, 334.

Sir Richard Burton has left behind him an enormous mass of published and unpublished writings, consisting of accounts of countries which he visited, reports to the Royal Geographical Society, treatises on various subjects connected with his expeditions, a translation of Camoëns, and numerous grammars, vocabularies, and other linguistic works. As an Oriental scholar it is possible that his much-discussed edition of the "Arabian Nights" is his most valuable production; and it is therefore probable that the destruction of his manuscript "The Scented Garden,' was, at all events, a loss to Eastern scholarship. Generally speaking, his books, although graphic and vivacious, suffer from the want of a more complete digestion, and greater care in compilation, are too impetuous, and have the air of being written au courant de plume, without much arrangement or revision. Such volumes, however, as the famous "Pilgrimage to Mecca;' "Scinde; or, the Unhappy Valley;" or the Account of his Mission to the King of Dahomé, would alone be a sufficient monument even of an extraordinary man; but Sir Richard lets them fall by the way as chronicles of his amusements and records of the more picturesque episodes of his career. NEWTON, MRS. ROBINSON, 1893, The "Life of Mr. Richard Burton," Westminster Review, vol. 140, p. 482.

Whether or no Lady Burton was, all in all, justified in burning the "Scented Garden" is at least an open question; but the charge that in so doing she showed "the bigotry of a Torquemada and the vandalism of a John Knox" is overstrained. Miss Stisted's characterization of the act as

"theatrical" is unfair.-JOHNSON, E. G., 1897, Lady Isabel Burton, The Dial, vol. 22, p. 355.

Burton was attracted to Camoens as the

mouthpiece of the romantic period of discovery in the Indian Ocean. The voyages, the misfortunes, the chivalry, the patriotism of the poet were to him those of a brother adventurer. In his spirited sketch of the life and character of Camoens it is not allusions to his own career. This sympathy presumptuous to read between the lines breathes through his translation of the lar success, won the enthusiastic approval of Portuguese epic, which, though not a poputhe few competent critics. . . . Of Burton's translations of "The Arabian Nights" it is difficult to speak freely. difficult to speak freely. While the "Camoens" was only a succes d'estime, and "The Book of the Sword" little short of a failure, the private circulation of "The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night" (1885-6, 10 vols.), brought to the author a profit of about 10,000l which enabled him to spend his declining years in comparative luxury. This much at least may be said in justification of some of the baits that he held out to the purchasers. For it would be absurd to ignore the fact that the attraction lay not so much in the translation as in the notes and the terminal essay, where certain subjects of curiosity are discussed with naked freedom. Burton was but following the example of many classical scholars of high repute and indulging a taste which is more widespread than modern prudery will allow. In his case something more may be urged. The whole of his life was a protest against social conventions. Much of it was spent in the East, where the intercourse between men and women is more according to nature, and things are called by plain names. Add to this Burton's insatiable curiosity, which had impelled him to investigate all that concerns humanity in four continents. Of the merits of Burton's translation no two opinions have been expressed. The quaintness of expression that some have found fault with in the "Lusiads" are here not out of place, since they reproduce the topsy-turvy world of the original. If an eastern story-teller could have written in English he would write very much as Burton has done. A translator can expect no higher praise.— COTTON, J. S., 1901, Dictionary of National Biography, Supplement, vol. 1, pp. 354, 355.

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PERSONAL

The greatest preacher by far, and perhaps the greatest genius (though he retired a good deal from action), in the English Church is taken from us. You knew him much better than I did, but I have known him well since 1846, and almost from the first anticipated his greatness.-LAKE, WILLIAM CHARLES, 1890, Letter to Lord Halifax, Sept. 10; Memorials, ed. his Widow, p. 305.

As a preacher, his influence has been unique in our time-more powerful, as I believe, even than that of the present Bishop of Peterborough or the late Bishop Wilberforce, notwithstanding the close logic of the former and the persuasive rhetoric of the latter; for Liddon combined the two. Profound and ever-increasing stores of learning, careful study and preparation, great power of language, a clear, distinct intonation, and withal that great force which earnest personal conviction brings with it (the ǹlíkη íσтis of Aristotle) these seem to me to have been some of the elements of his strength. It has been said that his style was formed upon French rather than English models. . . . Of his charm in private life, of the value of his personal friendship, of the brilliancy of his conversation, of his quiet humour and power of sarcasm-ever kept within due bounds of these things I do not trust myself to speak. Much that I might say seems too private and too sacred for these pages. It is rather of his public life and his work for the Church that I write.-POTT, ALFRED, 1890, Canon Liddon, New Review, vol. 3, pp. 306, 307.

I never heard Liddon preach. But I have

The personal factor, by which the claim of St. Paul's to become once more a wide spiritual home for London could make itself heard and felt over the hearts of large multitudes, was to be found in the preaching of Dr. Liddon. That voice reached far and wide. It fixed the attention of the whole city on what was going forward in its midst. It kindled the imagination, so that the big world outside was prepared for great things. It compelled men to treat seriously what was done. No one could suppose that the changes in the services and ritual of St. Paul's were superficial or formal or of small account, so long as that voice rang on, like a trumpet, telling of righteousness and temperance and judgment, preaching ever and always, with personal passion of belief, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.-HOLLAND, HENRY SCOTT, 1894, Life and Letters of Dean Church, ed. his Daughter, p. 260.

A twofold memorial will keep his fame before the minds of future generations. First the beautiful monument in the great Cathedral, and next the scholarships at Oxford, founded in his name, for the training of candidates for Holy Orders in the careful and scientific study of theology. But his character and life will never be forgotten so