Another anniversary - a year since our first newsletter. We now have
nineteen members so, hopefully, we should be into the twenties before
too long.
One aim has been achieved. Enclosed with this newsletter is the Society's
first Journal. Thanks to three members - Raymond Moody from Burford in
Oxfordshire; Peter Davey from Wimborne in Dorset; and Christopher Hawtree
from Hove in West Sussex - it contains three fascinating articles on
aspects of JMF's career and milieu. I can only hope it encourages the rest
of you to submit something. A piece does not have to be long or particularly
erudite - the more variety the better. Peter is starting work on another
JMF article and would like help with identifying the house written about in
the poem "A Seaside Garden". For those of you who have not read it,
it is worth repeating.
MY Lady, round about your house
The evening shadows go:
There's not a breath to stir the boughs,
And all the lights are low.
Your lichened towers have seen the sun
Three centuries rise and set,
Have watched the white waves shoreward run,
Have felt the salt sea fret.
And in the noon of summer days,
The summer of the South,
The purple shimmering August haze
Hangs on the river mouth.
And still about your garden fold
There clings the ivy tree,
The horned poppy's flowers of gold,
The holly of the sea.
The shingled pathways to green bower
Lead on through shining box,
And clove and pink and gilliflower
And towering hollyhocks.
Here on the terrace we will sit
And watch the night come down,
Till the bats circling round us flit,
And here and there a lamp is lit,
Below us in the town.
Grey towers most dear to all that come,
Towers dearer still to me,
Whose wandering footsteps find a home
Beside the Hampshire sea.
Peter suggests Walhampton House near Lymington, owned by an Oxford cleric
at the time (1890s?). Can any of you think of any important families JMF
was friendly with in Hampshire? Do send me any ideas, so that I can pass
them on to Peter.
Raymond is also thinking of producing another article - on JMF and Burford
Church or JMF's Burford poetry. I look forward to either/both. I hope to
produce a piece on JMF's associations with Derbyshire. All in good time.
John Noble picked up on the comment in the last newsletter on the Polish
edition of Moonfleet having as a forwarding motto a comparison
between backgammon and life. John writes:
Christopher Morrell, our newest member, is looking out for a copy of The Nebuly Coat and a copy of Kenneth Warren's biography. I have told him the latter's publisher is Edward Mellen, but if any of you know where Christopher could purchase one or both, again let me know and I can pass the information on to him."On my grandfather Sir John Noble's leather covered backgammon
board the following motto in Latin appears. Indeed it appears
twice, i.e. on each side of the board, so that both players have
it in front of them:
Ita in vita ut in lusu aleae pessima jactura
arte corrigenda est
It seems more than likely that JMF is the author or the connecting
link with the Polish publication".
"Falkner's case is peculiar; but in spite of whatever may be
said against him he has been useful and has I am convinced
secured many foreign orders for us and though none of us are
infallible I think his performance generally correct..."
I thought you might like to see a copy of a water colour, painted by an
artist friend of mine, of JMF's Durham home - 'The Divinity House'. It
hangs in our sitting room and occasions considerable interest from visitors.
On a personal note, we may be moving house after a pleasant sojourn of
twenty years at 'Greenmantle'. If the move goes ahead, I will of course
let you all know my new address. Moving house is meant to be one of the
most stressful things in life and, after packing up nearly 7,000 books,
I am inclined to agree. Certainly I have great empathy with JMF, also
under great pressure, but this time at work, when he wrote to Gladstone
in December 1911:
"It is my swan song. I cannot do any more of these things.
They are too exhausting. Our motto ought to be festina lente.
Ever yours, but in great pressure...."
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