The Plastic Age - Percy Marks (classic literature books txt) 📗

Bull." He Strolled Out Of The Door,  Drawling A

Slow "Good Night" Over His Shoulder.

 

Hugh Went To His Room And Thought Over The Talk. He Was Miserably

Confused. Like Ferguson He Had Believed Everything That His Father And

Mother--And The Minister--Had Told Him,  And He Found Himself Beginning

To Discard Their Ideas. There Didn'T Seem To Be Any Ideas To Put In The

Place Of Those He Discarded. Until Carl'S Recent Confidence He Had

Believed Firmly In chastity,  But He Discovered,  Once The First Shock Had

Worn Off,  That He Liked Carl The Unchaste Just As Much As He Had Carl

The Chaste. Carl Seemed Neither Better Nor Worse For His Experience.

 

He Was Lashed By Desire; He Was Burning With Curiosity--And Yet,  And Yet

Something Held Him Back. Something--He Hardly Knew What It Was--Made Him

Avoid Any Woman Who Had A Reputation For Moral Laxity. He Shrank From

Such A Woman--And Desired Her So Intensely That He Was Ashamed.

 

Life Was Suddenly Becoming Very Complicated,  More Complicated,  It

Seemed,  Every Day. With Other Undergraduates He Discussed Women And

Religion Endlessly,  But He Never Reached Any Satisfactory Conclusions.

He Wished That He Knew Some Professor That He Could Talk To. Surely Some

Of Them Must Know The Answers To His Riddles....

 

 

 

Chapter 12 Pg 85

Hugh Wasn'T Troubled Only By Religion And Sex; The Whole College Was

Disturbing His Peace Of Mind: All Of His Illusions Were Being Ruthlessly

Shattered. He Had Supposed That All Professors Were Wise Men,  That Their

Knowledge Was Almost Limitless,  And He Was Finding That Many Of The

Undergraduates Were Frankly Contemptuous Of The Majority Of Their

Teachers And That He Himself Was Finding Inspiration From Only A Few Of

Them. He Went To His Classes Because He Felt That He Had To,  But In Most

Of Them He Was Confused Or Bored. He Learned More In The Bull Sessions

Than He Did In The Class-Room,  And Men Like Ross And Burbank Were

Teaching Him More Than His Instructors.

 

Further,  Nu Delta Was Proving A Keen Disappointment. More And More He

Found Himself Thinking Of Malcolm Graham'S Talk To Him During The

Rushing Season Of His Freshman Year. He Often Wished That Graham Were

Still In college So That He Could Go To Him For Advice. The Fraternity

Was Not The Brotherhood That He Had Dreamed About; It Was Composed Of

Several Cliques Warring With Each Other,  Never Coalescing Into A Single

Group Except To Contest The Control Of A Student Activity With Some

Other Fraternity. There Were A Few "Brothers" That Hugh Liked,  But Most

Of Them Were Not His Kind At All. Many Of Them Were Athletes Taken Into

The Fraternity Because They Were Athletes And For No Other Reason,  And

Although Hugh Liked Two Of The Athletes--They Were Really Splendid

Fellows--He Was Forced To Admit That Three Of Them Were Hardly Better

Than Thugs,  Cheap Muckers With Fine Bodies. Then There Were The Snobs,

Usually Prep School Men With More Money Than They Could Handle Wisely,

Utterly Contemptuous Of Any Man Not Belonging To A Fraternity Or Of One

Belonging To Any Of The Lesser Fraternities. These Were The "Smooth

Boys," Interested Primarily In clothes And "Parties," Passing Their

Courses By The Aid Of Tutors Or Fraternity Brothers Who Happened To

Study.

 

Hugh Felt That He Ought To Like All Of His Fraternity Brothers,  But,  Try

As He Would,  He Disliked The Majority Of Them. Early In His Sophomore

Year He Knew That He Ought To Have "Gone" Delta Sigma Delta,  That That

Fraternity Contained A Group Of Men Whom He Liked And Respected,  Most Of

Them,  At Least. They Weren'T Prominent In Student Activities,  But They

Were Earnest Lads As A Whole,  Trying Hard To Get Something Out Of

College.

 

The Nu Delta Meetings Every Monday Night Were A Revelation To Him. The

Brothers Were Openly Bored; They Paid Little Or No Attention To The

Business Before Them. The President Was Constantly Calling For Order

And Not Getting It. During The Rushing Season In The Second Term,

Interest Picked Up. Freshmen Were Being Discussed. Four Questions Were

Inevitably Asked. Did The Freshman Have Money? learly Realise Them As Types Which Can Never Recur.

 

The Secret Of Selwyn'S Charm Lies In The Contrasts Of His Character;

His Versatility And Cosmopolitan Sympathies Attract Us Now As They

Chapter 12 Pg 86

Attracted In His Lifetime Men Very Different In Habits,  Pursuits,

And Mind.

 

The First Lord Holland,  Horace Walpole,  The Duke Of Queensberry,

Each A Type Of The Society Of The Eighteenth Century; The

Unscrupulous Politician,  The Cultivated Amateur And Man Of Letters,

The Sportsman With Half The Opera Dancers In London In His Pay--Of

All He Was The Closest Friend. The Most Intimate Of Them,  The Duke

Of Queensberry,  Led An Extravagant And A Dissipated Life,  In

Contrast With Which Selwyn'S Was Homely And Simple. He Could Leave

The Gambling Table Of The Club To Play With Mie Mie Or A Schoolboy

From Eton; While His Friends Were Crippled By Dice And Cards And

Became Seekers After Political Places By Which They Might Live,  He

Was Prudent In His Play And Neither Ruined Himself Nor Others. He

Had A Self-Control And A Sound Sense,  Which Were Not Common In His

Generation; We See Them In The Tranquil,  Contemplative Eyes Of

Reynolds'S Portraits,  Ready In a Moment To Gleam With Humour. By

Reason Of His Unfailing Good-Nature,  He Was Always At The Service Of

A Friend. Himself Without Ambition,  He Watched Men,  Not Possessed Of

His Tact And Ability,  Rise To Positions Which He Had Never The Least

Desire To Fill. In an Age Of Great Political Bitterness And The

Strongest Personal Antagonism He Continued The Tranquil Tenor Of His

Way,  Amused And Amusing,  Hardly Ever Put Out Except By The Illness

Or The Misfortune Of A Friend. "George Selwyn Died This Day

Se'Night," Wrote His Friend Storer To Lord Auckland; "A More

Good-Natured Man Or A More Pleasant One Never,  I Believe,  Existed.

The Loss Is Not Only A Private One To His Friends,  But Really A

Public One To Society In General."* Gaiety Of Temperament And Sound

Sense,  A Quick Wit And A Kind Heart,  Sincerity And Love Of Society,

Culture Without Pedantry,  A Capacity To Enjoy The World In each

Stage Of Life: These Are Seldom Found United In One Individual As

They Were In George Selwyn,  And He Is Thus For Us Perhaps The

Pleasantest Personality Of English Society In The Eighteenth

Century.

 

* "Journal And Correspondence Of Lord Auckland," Vol. Ii. P. 383.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2. 1767-1769 The Correspondence Commences.

 

Frederick,  Fifth Earl Of Carlisle--Lady Sarah Bunbury--The Duke Of

Grafton--Carlisle,  Charles Fox,  And The Hollands Abroad--Current

Events--Card-Playing--A Dinner At Crawford'S--Lady Bolingbroke

--Almack'S--The Duke Of Bedford--Lord Clive--The Nabobs--Corporation

Of Oxford Sell The Representation Of The Borough--Madame Du Deffand

--Publication Of Horace Walpole'S "Historic Doubts On Richard The

Third"--Newmarket--London Society--Gambling At The Clubs--A Post

Promised To Selwyn--Elections--A Purchase Of Wine--Vauxhall.

 

In The Chapter Which Contains The Earliest Of Selwyn'S Letters To

Frederick,  Earl Of Carlisle,* Something Must Be Said Of The

Correspondence Itself. It Was Begun In 1767,  And Most Of The Letters

Which Selwyn Wrote To Lord And Lady Carlisle From That Date To His

Death Have Been Preserved At Castle Howard. The Collection Is In

Chapter 12 Pg 87

Many Respects Unique. It Records A Great Number Of Facts,  Many No

Doubt Small And In Themselves Unimportant,  Which,  However,  In The

Aggregate Form A Lifelike Picture Of English Society In The

Eighteenth Century. The Letters Are Written In The Bright And

Unaffected Manner Which Madame De Sevigne,  Whose Style Selwyn So

Much Admired,  Had Introduced In France. Filled With Human Interest

And Easily Expressed,  They Differ Materially From Walpole'S Letters

In That They Are Characterised By A Greater Simplicity,  And A Less

Egotistical Tone. They Show A Keener Interest In His Correspondent.

There Is In Them A Delightful Frankness,  An Unconventional

Freshness. Walpole'S Correspondence,  Invaluable As It Is,  Always

Bears Traces Of The Preparation Which We Know That It Received. But

Selwyn,  With A Light Touch,  Wre The Thoughts And Impassions Of The

Moment,  Never For Effect. Walpole Was Often Thinking Of Posterity,

Selwyn Always Of His Friends,  Who Were Numberless And Who Were In

Their Time Frequently His Correspondents. How Numerous Selwyn'S

Letters Must Have Been We Know From The Number To Him Which Have

Been Published; But With The Exception Of Those Which Have

Fortunately Been Preserved At Castle Howard,  His Appear To Have

Perished.

 

* Frederick,  Fifth Earl Of Carlisle.

1748. Born.

1769. Married Lady Caroline,  Daughter Of Lord Gower.

1777. Treasurer Of Household.

1778. Commissioner To America.

1779. Lord Of Trade And Plantations.

1780. Lord Lieutenant Of Ireland.

1782. Lord Steward.

1783. Lord Privy Seal.

1825. Died.

 

The Frequent French Interpolations With Which His Letters Are

Interspersed Now Strike Us As Affectations. They Were,  However,  A

Fashion Of The Day; Nor Should We Forget That Selwyn Spent So Much

Of His Life In Paris That The Language Came To Him As Easily As His

Own.

 

In 1767 Selwyn And Carlisle Had Not Long Been Friends. "Don'T Lead

Your New Favourite Carlisle Into A Scrape," Wrote Gilly Williams To

Selwyn In The Previous Year. The Words Were Written Without Serious

Intent,  But They Are Noticeable Because They Are So Opposite To The

Whole Course Of The Rising Friendship. The Relations Of The Two Men

Were Remarkable.

 

It Has Been Well Said Of Selwyn By A Statesman Of To-Day That He Was

A Good Friend,  A Fact Never Better Exemplified Than In His

Friendship With Carlisle. In His Affairs He Took A Greater Interest

Than Would Be Expected Of The Nearest Of Relatives,  And With This He

United A Singularly Warm And Open-Hearted Affection Not Only For

Carlisle But For His Family. It Lasted To The Day Of His Death.

There Was Between Them,  As Pitt Said Of His Relations With

Wilberforce,  A Tie Of Affection And Friendship--Simple And Ingenuous

And Unbreakable.

 

The Nobleman Who Has Been Referred To Simply As Lord Carlisle Had

Many Of The Qualities That Mark A Leader Of Men. He Did Not Attain,

However,  To The Eminence As A Statesman,  Man Of Letters,  Or In