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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
1835-1911
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
FREDERIC SHIELDS
THE LIFE
AND LETTERS OF
FREDERIC SHIELDS
EDITED BY
ERNESTINE MILLS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1912 . l^
Q 3 ' ^
All rights reserved > *\s I
PREFACE
MY thanks are due to those who have kindly allowed me
to use letters over which they had control Mrs. G. F.
Watts, Miss Rose Kingsley, Mrs. Hueffer, Miss Thomson,
Miss M'Laren, Mr. William Rossetti, Mr. Mackenzie Bell,
Mr. A. Wedderburn, Mr. Hall Caine, Mr. Cyril Gurney, Dr.
Paton, Mr. Charles Rowley, Mr. Arthur Hughes, and
others.
I have also to thank Mr. Hyslop Bell, Sir William
Houldsworth, Mr. J. Parkinson, Mr. Rowley, Mr. J. Simpson,
and Miss Thomson, for permission to reproduce pictures
in their possession, also the Manchester City Art Gallery,
and Messrs. Bradbury & Agnew for permission to use one
of the drawings which appeared in Punch, for which,
however, I have substituted the first pen and ink sketch.
Mr. C. Smyth very kindly sent me particulars as to
the birthplace of Frederic Shields, and Mr. T. W. Hanson
collected interesting reminiscences of the artist's life at
Halifax in 1859.
ERNESTINE MILLS.
1912.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Parentage and birth Hartlepool The Spanish wars St. Clement
Danes Charity Schools The Mechanics Institute Maclure and
Macdonald Newton-le-Willows Colouring posters Worsley
Hall and the Earl of Ellesmere Death of father Starvation
Baxter's oil prints Bradshaw & Blacklock's Housekeeping
Mother's death 1
CHAPTER II
Trade lithography Edwin and Horace Stott Bros., Halifax
First book illustrations ' ' A Rachde Felley " Ghost for the
landscape painter First water-colours Sam Bough's commis-
sion Drawing for wood engraving Manchester Art Treasures 32
CHAPTER III
First sketching expedition More water-colours W. J. Linton's
offer " Whistle and Answer " Ragged School teaching Ill-
ness and death of Edwin . 46
CHAPTER IV
Russell Street, Hulme Picture hung at the Royal Institution Illus-
trated London News The Pilgrim's Progress Charles Kingsley's
advice Poverty Death of Horace "Vanity Fair" Ruskin's
praise Rowbotham the picture dealer 58
CHAPTER V
Return to Manchester Sketching in Cumberland Designs for
Defoe's Plague Visit to London William Hunt sale First
meeting with Rossetti Madox Brown Butterworth and his
vil
viii LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
landscapes Rossetti's first letter Description of " Vanity Fair "
Ruskin again Charles Keene Finding Professor Scott, his
father's cou.in ... 77
CHAPTER VI
Visiting the sick Sketching Rossetti's " Hesterna Rosa 1 ' Offer
from William Morris & Co. Dr. Alexander M'Laren The Snow
Picture Farewells Elected to the Old Water-Colour Society
Winnington Hall London again Illustrated London News
Ruskin at Denmark Hill C. H. Bennett Swinburne Simeon
Solomon Sam Bough's letter The " Nativity " design Street
music 95
CHAPTER VII
Porlock revisited Return to London The Old Water-Colour Society
James Holland's generosity Bands, organs, nerves Sandgate
Boulogne Military pictures Chelsea C. H. Bennett's death
Ruskin's help Manchester again The old house at Cornbrook
Park Rossetti's letters Madox Brown and the condemned
Fenians Warwick Brookes . . 108
CHAPTER VIII
M'Lachlan the photographer Arthur Hughes Madox Brown's
advice Chloral Illness Winnington Ruskin's generous offer
M'Connell's invitation Rossetti's method of chalk drawing . 121
CHAPTER IX
Letters to the Press Madox Brown and Rossetti Agnew and Ros-
setti's " blessed rhyme " " Knott Mill Fair " reproduced in the
Graphic Matilda Booth Visit to Scotland Experiments in
oils Rossetti on Craven and Eelmscott The Heywood Prize . 136
CHAPTER X
Ordsall Old Hall Hermit life Rossetti's illness Crisis at Winning-
ton Holding and Davis Modern improvements threaten In-
somnia M'Lachlan again The young model The amazing
marriage Off to Blackpool 154
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER XI
PAGE
Ordsall Hall threatened Letter to Ruskin Sketching Queen Vic-
toria's drawing-room Death of Oliver Madox Brown The Royal
jig-saw puzzle Shields' Exhibition and farewell dinner . .167
CHAPTER XII
At Madox Brown's Bride at boarding-school To Italy with Charles
Rowley Letters from Italy 185
CHAPTER XIII
House-hunting The proposed decorations for Manchester Town
Hall English or foreign artists ? Shields' letter to the Council
The Photographic Company Rossetti reproductions Lodge
Place, St. John's Wood Commission for windows for Coodham
Chapel . 198
The Duke of Westminster's Chapel at Eaton Hall Rossetti and
James Smetham Madox Brown begins work at Manchester
Rossetti's " Launcelot and Guinevere " . . 225
CHAPTER XV
Mrs. Cowper- Temple Painting in Rossetti's studio Leyland's Bot-
ticellis " Priscilla and Aquila " Christina Rossetti and the
fairies Letters to Mrs. Kingsley Gilchrist's Life of Blake
Shields resigns the Town Hall commission 240
CHAPTER XVI
Notes on Blake's Designs Article in the Manchester Quarterly
Drawing of Blake's room Rossetti's sonnet Aberdeen Sir
Noel Paton Rossetti's illness His strange idea Shields visits
the theatre Letter from Christina Rossetti " The Scapegoat "
At Birchington Rossetti's death 253
x LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
CHAPTER XVII
PAGE
Lady Mount-Temple and Mrs. Russell-Gurney A visit to Babbacombe
G. F. Watts The Kossetti memorial windows The vicar's ob-
jections With Lord and Lady Mount-Temple at Broadlands
Mosaics at Eaton Hall Windows at Cheltenham College
M'Lachlan's lawsuit Sir Noel Baton's letters Sir John Gilbert
St. Luke's, Camberwell Memorial to Gordon Highlanders
Mosaic workers in Paris ^ ....... . 278
CHAPTER XVIII
Mrs. Russell-Gurney's dream Search for a site The disused mor-
tuary chapel The Jubilee windows at St. Ann's, Manchester
Window at Mereworth Church, Kent To Northern Italy At
Pietra Santa Letters from Italy Mrs. Gurney's letters De-
signing the Chapel of the Ascension The Madox Brown testi-
monial Correspondence with G. F. Watts Address to Art
Students " Knott Mill Fair " Holman Hunt's interesting ex-
periences Death of Madox Brown 294
CHAPTER XIX
The chapel built Mrs. Russell-Gurney's enthusiasm Death of
Christina Rossetti Sir Noel Paton's letter The opening of the
chapel Death of Mrs. Gurney The new studio at Wimbledon
Letters from Lady Mount-Temple, Dr. Alexander M'Laren,
G. F. Watts, Hall Caine The Chancery suit Illness ' . ' . 324
CHAPTER XX
Exhibition at the Manchester City Art Gallery Porlock revisited
Correspondence with Charles Rowley Death of Dr. M'Laren
and Holman Hunt The chapel finished . . .,,. t .. . . 342
CHAPTER XXI
Frederic Shields' will Personal recollections . . 349
INDEX .361
ILLUSTRATIONS
FREDERIC JAMES SHIELDS, 1903 (Photogravure) Frontispiece
From a 'photograph by Elliot & Fry
FACING PAGE
CROW TREE INN, NEWTON- LE- WILLOWS, 1848 . . . 14
Pen and ink. Drawn at the age of 15
SKETCH OP AN OLD MAN'S HEAD . . . ., . . 22
Drawn on brown paper. From a sketch book, about 1850
STREET SKETCH, MANCHESTER . , ,, . . . .30
From a sketch book, about 1857
FOUR WOODCUTS FROM " A RACHDE FELLEY'S VISIT " . 40
First book illustrations, published in 1856
BOBBER AND KIBS . . . . . : - ; .- . 42
Water-colour. First exhibited picture, 1856
EARLY PORTRAIT STUDY . . " '. ... . 46
From a sketch book, about 1856
WHISTLE AND ANSWER . . Iu " ..... 50
Water-colour, 1857. By permission of J. Parkinson, Esq.
THE BEEHIVE MAKER . . . . . .58
Water-colour. Hampshire, 1858
STUDY FOR FIGURE IN " SLOTH, SIMPLE, AND PRESUMPTION " 64
Now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. "Pilgrim's Progress,"
1860
THE HILL OF CAUTION . . . .
From study now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. "Pilgrim's
Progress," 1861 ( QQ
CHRISTIAN AT THE CROSS ,
From woodcut. " Pilgrim's Progress," 1861
xi
xii LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
PACING PAOB
THE ROBBER MONK 68
Drawn on wood. I'ublished in " Once a Week." Sept. 1861
VANITY FAIR . . .70
From the Drawing on wood (before engraving), 1861
Six ORIGINAL DESIGNS for Defoe's " Plague of London "-
Published 1 863. By permission of the Corporation of Manchester.
Now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
\. THE DECISION OF FAITH. The Saddler of White-
chapel reading the lists of mortality . . 76
2. SOLOMON EAGLE . . . . .78
3. THE DEATH OP THE FIRST-BORN ... 80
4. THE PLAGUE PIT .... 82
5. THE ESCAPE OF AN IMPRISONED FAMILY . . 88
6. THE END OF A REFUGEE . . 90
THE NATIVITY (1865) . . . A . ... 106
ONE OF OUR BREAD WATCHERS . . . . .,110
Water-colour, 1866. By permission of the Corporation of Man-
chester
THE BUGLER . .... ., . ,-i . 114
Water-colour, 1866. By permission of Sir William Houldsworth,
Bart.
ILLUSTRATION FOR " PUNCH" . . . v . , .150
Original sketch, 1870 ; published 1873. By permission of Messrs.
Bradbury, Agnew <fe Co., Ltd.
A WINNINGTON GIRL . . . . . . .156
Water-colour. About 1873
THE ARTIST'S WIFE. .164
Water-colour. Painted just after their marriage in 1874
LOVE AND TIME (1877) . . . . . . . 210
Design for a Golden Wedding. By permission of Charles Rowley,
E,q.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
FACING PAGE
EZEKIEL . . . : 'V . ' *'; : '
Design for the Duke of Westminster's Chapel
ST. JAMES THE LESS V ' ; ". a ." . . . . I 230
Design for the Duke of Westminster's Chapel at Eaton Hall,
1879-1880. From photographs by the Autotype Fine Art
Co. , Ltd.
WILLIAM BLAKE'S ROOM, 3 FOUNTAIN COURT, STRAND
(1880) . .* ' .256
From the original sketch. By permission of Dr. Greville MacDonald
LAZARUS . . . , . 262
Oil. Painted in Bossetti's Studio, 1880 ; now in the Chapel of the
Ascension, Bayswater
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL . . ... . . 266
Design for one of a series of Memorial Windows. From a
photograph by the Autotype Fine Art Co. , Lid.
THE LADY WITH THE JASMINE . . . . .278
Water-colour ; nearly life-size. About 1888
X
SKETCH OF ROSSETTI'S ROOM AT CHEYNE WALK . . 291
Drawn from memory by Sir John Gilbert, R.A.
LOVE . . . * . . v ... . .,_ 300
In the Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswaler
DESIGNS ABOVE GALLERY, WEST WALL OF THE CHAPEL
OF THE ASCENSION 306
KNOTT MILL FAIR . .-? -. . . . ; ,\. . . 322
Water-colour, 1869. Oil replica, 1893
THE DESPISED MANNA . . . ' . . ' . . . 326
From the Frieze in the Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater
THE GOOD SHEPHERD "=^ . . ...... :i _\ . , . ' . 334
Wall painting in the Chapel of the Ascension (Ante-Chapel),
Bayswater
xiv LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
FACING PAOB
MAN REPELS THE APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE . . t , 344
In the Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater, 1910
MAN HEARKENS TO THE APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE . . 346
In the Ante-Chapel, Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater, 1910
THE CHAPEL OF THE ASCENSION, BAYSWATER (Interior) . 348
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES' SKETCH 352
Life-size water-colour head. About 1887. By permission of
J. Hyslop Bell, Esq.
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
FREDERIC SHIELDS
CHAPTER I
Parentage and birth Hartlepool The Spanish wars St. Clement
Danes Charity Schools The Mechanics Institute Maclure and
Macdonald Newton-le-Willows Colouring posters Worsley Hall
and the Earl of Ellesmere Death of father Starvation Baxter's
oil prints Bradshaw and Blacklock's Housekeeping Mother's
death.
"OFT so it is that long after a man's death some scribe,
hunting after new subject matter, unearths a nigh for-
gotten existence, and for lack of certain data and facts,
produces, spite of all conscientious pains to revive a true
image, only a travesty either on the heroic or contempt-
ible side. Many are such biographies, presenting no
credible glimpse of the once living personality, mere
skins, stuffed with the writers' chaff in lieu of their sub-
jects' personality, the marvellous triune being of body,
mind, and spirit ' For who knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him ? ' And even so,
how much may not be publicly told, even by the most
candid nature ? How many follies and errors must lie
covered ? These considerations weigh to induce me to set
down some orderly relation of my years, which I may
fitly head with the words of the prophet Jeremiah ' It is
good that a man bear the yoke in his youth.' "
2 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
With these words, a few weeks before his death,
Frederic Shields began the story of his life, having
collected together many scattered sheets of reminiscences
written at different times for various purposes, innumer-
able letters, and a series of diaries extending over a period
of more than sixty years. It seems fitting that one
to whom he entrusted this varied collection, should
endeavour to complete the task, for which there is
certainly no lack of facts or data. Whether the facts
will be only those which Frederic Shields would have
wished to record, or how far the view given of that vivid
personality will resemble that which he himself would
have shown to the world, I cannot tell. But so far as
is possible, he shall speak for himself, whether in the
universal language, of which he was one of the greatest
modern interpreters, or the forcible English in which,
day by day, he recorded his life, from the time when,
at the age of fourteen, he opened the shutters of his
mother's tiny shop and spent his starved and strenuous
boyhood in pursuit of his ideal.
His grandfather, James Shields, was a sergeant in the
Dumfriesshire Light Dragoons, but almost the only fact
recorded about him seems to be that in the reduction
of the regiment in 1796 he was discharged. He died,
leaving two sons, John and James, in the care of their
grandparents, a Mr. and Mrs. Scott, who lived in the
parish of Cardross in Perthshire, on a small freehold
property of their own. The two boys early left their
grandparents. James emigrated to America; John, the
father of Frederic Shields, seems to have had a somewhat
adventurous youth. He was a bookbinder by trade,
and married in 1830, at the age of twenty-two, at the
Parish Church, Heton - le - Hole, Georgiana Storey, a
farmer's daughter and a native of Alnwick.
Two children, who both died in infancy, were born in
HARTLEPOOL 3
the following years, and on March 14th, 1833, Frederic
James Shields was born at Hartlepool. Pigot's Directory
of Northern Counties for 1834 records :
HARTLEPOOL
Bookseller, Binder, Stationer, and Printer :
Shields, John Southgate.
Libraries, Circulating :
Shields, John Southgate.
Straw Hat Maker:
Shields, Mrs. Southgate.
The house in which Frederic Shields was born has
been identified as a printer's shop in High Street. From
a printer's shop it became the General Jackson Hotel,
which was not long ago pulled down to make room for a
new fish quay.
What strange combination of circumstances can have
led to his father's next experiment in life we cannot say,
but in 1835, when the British Government, by the repeal
of the Foreign Enlistment Act, sanctioned the landing
of ten thousand men from Great Britain, in aid of Queen
Isabella of Spain against Don Miguel, John Shields left
his bookbinding, his circulating library, his wife and his
little son, and enlisted in the Scottish contingent under
General Shaw. Many recruits from all parts of Scotland
joined them, and they embarked at Greenwich on 19th
August 1835, arriving in Spain on the 31st of the same
month.
A much worn and tattered document, written by John
Shields, seems to recount his many grievances during his
time of military service. After some preliminaries, it
runs as follows : " It will digress too much to detail the
six general engagements, besides skirmishes, which we
were in, also the hardships and privations that we endured
without a murmur, until the period arrived that entitled
4 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
us to claim our discharge. As the expiration of our
engagement drew nigh, and as little prospect of the war
being near a termination, as when we first entered the
service, we thought it proper to state, in the beginning
of the month of September 1836, that we only enlisted
for one year and therefore were entitled to claim our
discharge, and intimated the same to Colonel Godfrey.
On the 18th, Colonel Godfrey called us on to the parade,
said there was a Board of Officers to sit in the convent
in a few minutes, and that any of us who could prove
by document or take an affidavit that he only engaged
for one year, that he had instructions from Lieut.-General
Evans to grant our discharge. Two hundred of us went
before the Board and legally claimed our discharge,
we were ordered to bring our arms, accoutrements, &c.,
and put them in Store.
" On the 19th, those who had been before the Board the
day previous were marched into Santander and quartered
there, and to our surprise were kept as prisoners, part of
the 9th Regiment doing duty over us. Here every means
was tried to induce us to volunteer for twelve months
more, and in many cases they succeeded, for a Spanish
prison at best is more loathsome than any other ; and in
this case our rations were curtailed. Our rations, when
doing duty, were one and a half pounds of bread, one
pound beef, and one pint wine per diem. By General
Evans' orders the wine was stopped ; but in lieu thereof
we should have a penny a day, but we did not receive it.
When we had remained here for six days we were marched
back to the Convent de Corbon, and were made to know
what we should have to endure if we did not enlist for
twelve months more. The English soldiers who did duty
over us were removed, and were replaced by Spaniards,
with whom, although fighting in the same cause, we were
not on friendly terms ; and to increase the breach they were
A SPANISH PRISON 5
told that we were mutineers, and if we attempted to pass
our prescribed limits to run us through or shoot us, which-
ever might be most convenient. It was not long before
the hospital at Santander was supplied with six patients,
who had been wantonly wounded by the Spaniards for no
real cause. Thus was English blood spilt and English
subjects maltreated to gratify the mere jealous passion of
a Spanish country. The officers in charge of us were
frequently changed, and they were mostly men of harsh
and cruel dispositions ; there was one in particular, I do
not know by what orders, but he did everything in his
power to make us more miserable, using the most petty
excuse for punishing and keeping our rations from us.
On one occasion he punished some men for disobeying an
order, which order was not read to us until we were on the
ground, where the poor fellows suffered the horrid torture of
the cat's tail. Without straw, or even a shirt to our backs ;
without covering, the bare floor was our bed. No oppor-
tunities for cleanliness were permitted ; soon we were
overrun with vermin and became loathsome in our sight.
When things were thus, we were visited by a medical
officer, who seemed to commiserate us, and shortly after
we received orders that we should embark on the 8th of
December 1836, and in the most wretched state we were
landed in England." Here the torn and faded document
becomes indecipherable, save for the words : " This is all
the return I have yet received for a year's hard servitude
in a foreign land, having exposed myself to danger and
death. Whether British subjects who left their homes
with the approbation of . . ." The rest is missing. It
appears to be an appeal to those in authority for arrears
of pay.
John Shields was twenty-eight years of age when he
returned from the Spanish war in 1836. What reception
he met with from his wife, his son Frederic, then aged
6 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
three years, and a baby daughter, born a few months after
his departure, is not recorded ; nor whether his poor wife,
left alone with her straw hat making and her two babies,
had not perhaps silently endured as much pain and priva-
tion as the volunteer who so gallantly left them to enter
the service of Isabella of Spain. We do not know how
the next few years were passed ; but in July 1839 we find
mention of the birth of another son, Edwin, and the family
is then settled in the parish of St. Clement Danes, London.
John Shields was a man of strong artistic instincts, and in
his youth greatly desired to be an engraver ; but his father,
the Dumfriesshire sergeant, sternly refused to allow this,
for two engravers had been hanged in Edinburgh for forg-
ing banknotes, and he was determined that his son should
run no risk of such temptation. The pent-up artistic
instincts of John Shields found an outlet in later life in
encouraging the genius of his son Frederic, who records
the first lesson given to him at the age of six years : his
father holding up to the window a print of T. P. Cooke,
as William in Black -Eyed Susan, for the child to
trace.
In one of the sheets of reminiscences written by
Frederic Shields he gives an account of his early home.
" My mother had a store of stirring Northumbrian
ballads (for she was born at Alnwick) that held my child-
hood spell-bound. Fair-haired was she, with grey blue
e'en, and features that must have been fine before the
combined labour of dressmaking and the cares of a family
ploughed her face. This business she carried on at
39 Stanhope Street, Clare Market, the first place I have
memory of. This street, largely swept away now, though
till lately (haply still) the old house stood, was bounded
at the south end by Clare Market, the busy food mart of
the poor ; and at the other by the Irish colony of Drury
Lane. A little eastward lay the great square of stately
BYGONE LONDON 7
Georgian mansions called Lincoln's Inn Fields, then so
jealously guarded that once, flying my little kite there, I
was hunted out of its precincts by the beadle, terrible in
his cocked hat. For London was then a provincial city
contrasted with its now palatial streets and roaring, hurry-
ing, perilous motor traffic. There were no refreshment-
rooms, save in back streets; grimy and ill-kept coffee-
houses where you sat within wooden partitions, with forms
on either side, with the bar and cooking arrangements at
the end of the shop. A chop or steak, fried liver and
bacon, was the varied menu. The streets were filled with
quaint cries, as ' Fresh country milk, bring out your pretty
jugs and your ugly mugs fresh from the cow-o ' ; or the
seller of winkles : ' Winkety, winkety, wink, penny a pint,
twopence a quart.' Rowlandson's virile presentations
vividly recall my young environment, and shame it is
to English connoisseurs that the sentimental rubbish of
Wheatley is preferably sought after. A wedding in the
vicinity was often signalised by the butchers marching in
procession to the festal house, clanging their cleavers with
marrow-bones. While still a schoolboy I was introduced
to an elderly gentleman resident in Maiden Lane, and his
interest in my work drew out the gift of sixpence. I
never saw him again ; but in that narrow lane had Turner
been born, whose wondrous gifts were to set my mind
a-quiver with joy in them in after days. What if I had
found a Mr. Munro in this early patron how different
would have been my early youth !
" A cellar beneath my mother's shop was incongruously
held by a blacksmith, and ever resonant with the strokes
of his anvil. One or two apprentices helped her in the
dressmaking, and the shop had a little triangular room
behind, where meals were taken with my sister and two
brothers I being the eldest. The first story was occu-
pied by a woman in charge of the property, and the attic
8 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
was used by her son, a costermonger, to store his fruit in.
The second story my mother rented, and used as our
Sunday room. It contained some shelves of solid litera-
ture, my father's gathering, some in rich bindings adorned
by his own tasteful tooling.
" In the attic, where I crept at every chance, neglected
and mouldering in a large portfolio, were treasures of fine
engravings after Fuseli, Stothard, West, Copley, and others.
Strangely was thus fed my early passion for the world of
Art. Over these I secretly gloated to my heart's content,
and here also, feeding my imagination, were a dozen or so
of old swords, of various designs, which I would wield as I
attacked imaginary giants and dragons, images conjured
from my mother's legendary lore, and fired moreover by
the heroics of the Iliad, which at the age of twelve had
become my favourite book. The London police, or
' peelers,' as they were nicknamed, then used big wooden
rattles for alarm. When I was at school, some fellow
schoolboys with myself clubbed our pence to buy a
quantity of ' red fire,' such as is used for stage conflagra-
tions, and one night lit this at the further end of the
deep arched entrance of a factory in Stanhope Street.
Soon the crimson glow made the factory seem on fire,
while we retired to watch the effect of our ruse, gleefully
hailing the peelers' rattles which successively alarmed the
neighbourhood, and were followed by their maledictions
on the hidden tricksters. A few houses from my mother's
shop stood St. Clement Danes Charity School, where some
sixty girls, attired in quaint caps and blue woollen dress,
were educated at the cost of the parish, while to an uncer-
tain number of boys clothing and education or education
alone was given."
To this school went Frederic Shields, leaving at the
age of fourteen, though at the age of thirteen he attended
an evening drawing-class at the Mechanics Institute,
APPRENTICED 9
Southampton Row, and gained a prize for a chalk
drawing of a figure.
Incessant use of the pencil had already won him the
reputation of a draughtsman, and the habit of sketching
any striking face or incident was begun in these childish
days and continued to the end of his life. For several
months after leaving school he worked daily in the
Sculpture Galleries of the British Museum. It was already
decided that he should follow some artistic profession,
and he attended for a few months the School of Art at
Somerset House, where a course of drawing of Greek out-
line from the flat was, he considered, of inestimable value
to him at that time.
His mother had some slight acquaintance with Robert
Carrick, who had then just forsaken lithography to apply
himself to painting domestic subjects, and he kindly
volunteered to give the boy a few lessons. So eager was
the boy, that although Carrick lived so far away as
Hampstead, young Frederic Shields was at his door
before he had risen, and stood eagerly awaiting the draw-
ing of the curtains of his room. But he did not gain
anything from Carrick's lessons, save some facility in
the use of Harding's conventional treatment of foliage.
Through Carrick's influence, a place was offered to the
boy as apprentice to a firm of lithographers, Maclure,
Macdonald & Macgregor, the first three years to be with-
out pay. He started work there on October 4th, 1847.
To quote again from his own words :
" The firm shortly removed to the very shadow of
Wren's noble steeple, Bow Church. Proceeding thither
one morning, I had to pass the Holborn end of Newgate
Street, filled with a surging mob, the attraction a black
scaffold and a woman hanging from it. Happily our lads
will no more see such a sickening spectacle. Crossing
Cheapside I was knocked down under the feet of a 'bus
10 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
horse and dragged out by a lady, who, asking me pitifully
if I was hurt, opened her purse and gave me a shilling
dear soul, strange to me ever, but for that one tender
touch. For practice I was set to copy upon lithographic
stone one of the cattle groups by Sidney Cooper, and
boy though I was, looking now at a print of this attempt
that I have preserved, I question if I could have made a
closer copy at any period of my work. One of Douglas
Jerrold's sons sat at the same bench, often dilating upon
the superiority of his father's powers to those of Charles
Dickens, and with us a brother of Fred Skill, an able
magazine illustrator, and worshipper of John Gilbert.
Through Skill I was moved to buy the London Journal
and Reynolds' Miscellany weekly, illustrated by Gilbert's
facile invention, two most skilful wood engravers, Gorway
and Hooper, rendering his swift, delicate drawing and his
rich chiaroscuro with the most worshipful fidelity. No
more, no more, shall we see the like ! Photography has
swept this beautiful art of engraving on wood from the
artist's line drawing away for ever, substituting its eye-
scarring snapshot blocks, and wholly destroying what
little sense of beauty dwelt in the public. Wonderful
stories of Gilbert's swift dexterity were told how an
editor would send up a block to him at Blackheath,
stipulating the subject to be designed, the messenger,
who had been instructed to wait, returning with it
completed."
During the year 1848 Frederic Shields began keeping
a diary, and the habit was continued, with more or less
regularity, to the end of his life. The first book has
inscribed on the fly-leaf: "Frederick Shields, from his
father, who hopes to see it when filled, a precious record."
It certainly records a strenuous life for a boy of fifteen.
The entry for January 1st is as follows, written in a beauti-
fully neat hand: "Got up 7.30. Cleaned my boots and
THE LITHOGRAPHER'S SHOP 11
face. Then took down the shutters, got my breakfast,
went to Mr. Maclure's, cleared up the shop, continued
drawing the infant's head which I was busy at yesterday,
finished it by 12 o'clock, began the tinting of some moun-
tain scenery on stone. Mamma sent me my dinner, bread
and roast veal ; continued tinting till 10 minutes past
4, when I left work and got home by 20 minutes past 4.
Read Rob Roy Macgregor from Chambers' Tracts. Got
my tea at 20 minutes past 5, went to the Mechanics
Institute. The porter was in the library. I returned
British Costume and got out the Pictorial History of Old
England. Went into the reading-room, read Punch, and
articles from the People's Journal. Got home by nearly
9 o'clock, went some errands for Mamma. Shut up the
shutters, read part of Shakespeare's King Henry V.
Had a slice of bread and butter and went to bed at
10 o'clock."
Again we read :
" Wednesday, February I5th. Got up at half-past six.
Cleaned my boots and face, took down the shutters, got
breakfast and went to work by eight. Rubbed down seven
inks, drew the winged lion until one. Had dinner 1 Ib.
bread and a cup of coffee, came back and drew until 7,
came home, got tea, read Coriolanus. Went to the
Mechanics to hear Mr. Hatton's lecture on the music of
Handel, Bach, and Mendelssohn. Came home, cleaned
the knives and forks, brushed my boots and clothes, went
to bed at 12.
" Monday, 2Qth. Got up, cleaned my boots and face
took down shutters, got breakfast, went to work by half-
past eight, rubbed down five inks, drew the weary soldier
till one, minded the office and ran errands till half-past
three, went to dinner, bread and coffee, came back and
drew till seven. Came home, got tea, read Coriolanus,
went to the Mechanics for the Human Figure class, paid
12
for the quarter 6d., outlined two hands, came home at
hall-past ten, cleaned knives and forks, went to bed
at 12.
" April 12th. Got up at half-past four. Cleaned my
boots and face. Lit the tire, took down the shutters, con-
tinued my design of Hamlet and the Ghost. Got break-
fast, and went to work by eight. Drew a ram's head
after Cooper, went to dinner, bread and coffee, drew till
seven. Went home, got tea. Read Sir Walter Scott on
Demonology and Witchcraft. Went to Mr. Cleverton's
lecture on Chloroform. A guinea-pig inhaled it, and a
young man had a tooth taken out under its influence.
Came home at half-past ten, shut up, wrote my diary and
went to bed at 11."
These are not exceptional days ; the record continues
for months in the same terrible style terrible, indeed, to
think of a growing boy working at this pressure on a diet
which mainly consisted of bread and coffee, for each day's
dinner is chronicled and any variation from 1 Ib. bread
and coffee is an exception. No wonder that pathetic
references to broken chilblains and other ills are frequent.
Surely few boys of fifteen have left such a record. At St.
Clement Danes schools the boys were marched to church
three times every Sunday, and the habit of writing the
texts and a short resume of the sermon was kept up by
Frederic Shields for many years. Each Sunday is thus
chronicled at the end of this little book.
All this year, the father, owing to slackness of trade in
London, had been in the North working for various firms,
sending what help he could to his family in Stanhope
Street. We hear of his going without a tire that cold
winter, sitting with his feet in a pail of shavings to keep
them from freezing. Times were very bad, and in June
he seems to have made up his mind that he could no
longer afford to keep his eldest son at unpaid work. John
NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS 13
Shields had at that time found a post as foreman book-
binder to the firm of MacCorquodale at Newton-le- Willows,
and he sent for his son to join him, leaving the brave
mother in London to support the three other children by
her trade of dressmaking.
There is no comment in the boy's diary, merely the
fact recorded on June 5th, " left Mr. Maclure's." He
seems to have then enjoyed a few days' relaxation if
relaxation had been possible to him at this time. Satur-
day, June 10th, records : " Got up at six. Cleaned my boots
and face, took down shutters, made breakfast ready, read
the Player's scene from Handet to Mamma. Went to the
Vernon Gallery ; stayed there until half-past twelve. Got
dinner, boiled bread and milk. Drew Mamma's portrait
till three, drew the Italian figure till five, and Charles I.
parting with his family till six. Went several errands,
read No. 1 of Mr. Fox's lectures on the Political Morality
of Shakespeare's plays, picked the gooseberries, cleaned
the knives and forks, washed plates, put my drawings
right, wrote to my father, shut up and went to
bed."
Here the small, neatly written paragraphs cease ; the
diary was apparently written for the benefit of his absent
father, and as the boy joined him at Newton shortly after
this, he presumably felt there was no need to continue the
record.
At Newton young Frederic Shields took whatever odd
tasks could be found for him, colouring many hundreds
of life-sized figures on posters advertising the tailor
Hyam's suits, wandering about the country near, sketch-
ing all that interested him. Careful pen and ink draw-
ings of old houses at Newton have been preserved, made
on his rambles in these new surroundings, which were
so different from the murky Clare Market streets. His
father directed his reading from an extensive and peculiar
14 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
selection of literature. In one month the following list of
books read is given :
Life of Theodore Hook.
The Tile Burner and his Family.
A Word on the English and Scotch Criminal Laws.
Recent Revelations of the Microscope.
Ben Jonson.
Narrative of Frederick Douglas.
Adventures in the Pacific.
The Progress of British Art.
Life of Blaise Pascal.
Manners of the Chinese.
Sketches from Flemish Life.
Gobbet's Grammar, and
A Visit to a Harem !
But the brave father evidently felt the hand of death
upon him, and his anxiety was intense to find some per-
manent situation for his beloved son. During his illness
he seems to have written to his cousin, of whom he had
lost sight since early boyhood, Dr. A. G. Scott, then of
University College, and was deeply pained that no reply
came. This arose from the loss of the letter, received just
as Dr. Scott was removing from London to Manchester,
a loss which Frederic Shields used to say " probably
entailed years of misery to myself, for its object was
to enlist the Doctor's interest in his boy, who he knew
would soon be left desolate." At last the father found
him a place at wages of five shillings a week with
a Scotchman named Cowan, a mercantile lithographer
in Manchester. Almost immediately the father's state
became more acute, and he had to return to London
alone, to seek admission to the Brompton Hospital.
Frederic Shields wrote of this period of his life :
" In a low quarter of the town, Cupid's Alley, I found
a lodging at 2s. Qd. weekly, leaving 2s. 6d. for food and
HARD TIMES 15
clothing. I used to buy a bag of Indian meal for the
week, and this served for all my meals, while my dress
wore shabbier and my shoes wore out with little margin
to amend them. Then Cowan failed, and I was without
any opening and friendless in the great city. I wandered
from public-house to public-house, offering for a penny
to sketch the profile of any man there, but few were my
paltry gains." One day he wandered to Worsley and
sketched the hall and the church. He writes to his
father :
MANCHESTEB, August 2nd, 1849.
MY DEAR FATHER, I received your kind letter on
Tuesday. I have also to thank you for the Illustrated
News you sent me. It is a splendid number ; the prize
cattle, and the views of the cascade, and the Gap of
Dunloe are worthy of any work.
Often as I lie in bed I think of your thin body and
face, and in my fancy see you beside me. Are you getting
any stouter with your increase of strength ? I wish to
God your cough was well, then you would soon recover.
I hope to hear of your admission into the Hospital next
letter. I intend to go down to Worsley in the course of
two or three days with my drawing of the church. I
hope that I may see the Earl or the Rector. I have got
some jobs at ticket designing for a private printer named
Bardsley, in Oldham Street, and several portraits, at
which I have improved wonderfully.
Regrets are useless now, father, but still I wish I
could get apprenticed to the woodcutting, the lithog
writing, or even the bookbinding. O, how I wish I
could get to the painting under a good master. Tell
me always how you are. I remain, your affectionate son,
FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.!
Worsley Hall seems to have been a promising sketch-
ing ground, as the next two or three letters relate.
1 It is perhaps a point of interest to those possessing early drawings
by Shields, that until about 1864, he signed his name " Frederick," sub-
sequently he omitted the final letter.
16 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
MANCHESTER, October 2nd, 1849.
MY DEAR FATHER, I received your kind letter of the
27th ult. ( but I thought I would not answer you until I
had seen either the Earl or the Rector. I went yesterday
to Worsley, and saw the Rector; he told me to make
him another drawing of the church, in addition to the
one I have already done. He gave me a shilling. At
the lodge I found my endeavour to see the Earl would
be fruitless, as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester,
Lord Wilton, and several other of the nobility were dining
with him that day. In a week I will go down again.
father, you know not what pleasure it gives me to
know that you are better; God grant that you may con-
tinue to progress towards recovery and go forth from
the Hospital with a thankful heart for God's mercy. I
get 4s. to 6s. for portraits, according to the style they
are done in. I thank you, father, for your kind considera-
tion, but I have got a good pair of boots.
I am sorry to tell you that I am about 12s. in debt,
but by the efforts I am making I hope soon to be free.
There is a young man named James Tait, a Scotchman,
lodging here. He is a painter, and his father is in busi-
ness for himself in the same line, in the small town of
Gatehouse, in Kirkcudbright. He is out of work just now
and thinks of returning to Scotland. He has offered to
take me with him to Gatehouse and apprentice me to the
painting and graining with his father, providing me with
meat, lodgings, and clothes. Of wages ne can say nothing
until he asks his father. I would wish you to weigh well
this offer before vou return any positive answer. Adieu,
dear father, for the present. Your affectionate son,
FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
MANCHESTER, November 18th, 1849.
MY DEAR FATHER, It is the old prologue " I went to
Worsley" again, but I am happy to be able to add that
the performances on this occasion were of a very novel
kind. Upon my arrival at the hall, I enquired for the
steward, Mr. Rasbotham, and was informed that he had
gone to his own house in the village. I immediately
THE EARL'S STEWARD 17
repaired thither. He was at dinner. The servant under-
took to announce my name, and returned with the kind
answer that I was to have something to eat and drink,
and that he (Mr. Rasbotham) would see me afterwards.
I had a capital dinner (at tea-time) of roast beef, boiled
salary, bread, potatoes, &c. The servant then told me
that Mr. Rasbotham was waiting for me. But before I
proceed further, I must ask you if you remember the
large sketch of Shakespeare which I did at Newton. Be
that as it may, I have since made a large drawing in
chalk of the same subject. This, together with a portrait
and some smaller drawings, I took with me to show him.
He took them into the dining-room to let the company
see them, and asked me what would be the price of a
copy of the Shakespeare. I scarce knew what to ask
but at last I said ten shillings, which I did not consider
too much, as there is four good days' work on it, besides
materials. He said he would see about it. He then
said that the Earl did not see how he could be of any
assistance to me with regard to a situation, but he would
consider the matter. In the meantime his lordship
wishes me to do a drawing of the Church for him in
pencil. Now for the grand climax, the last scene of all.
Mr. Rasbotham put his hand into his pocket and asked
if a trifle would be of any service to me, at the same
time putting into my hand half a sovereign. I thanked
him almost with tears in my eyes, so kindly and con-
siderately was the action performed, took my leave and
walked home praising God for His great goodness in
having found me at least a temporary friend. You
ask if my landlady trusts me. It will give you great
pleasure, I know, when I tell you that for nearly a month,
when I only brought a few shillings, she never grumbled.
It is true, she is a little hasty at times, but she is good at
heart, and I can put up with her. My dear father, you
ask me to tell you all my wants. Believe me, my chief
want, I might almost say my only one, is you, for I
cannot speak in a letter as I would if you were beside me,
for when I sit down to write, it chills the heat and
fervour of what I could wish to say into an arctic coldness.
I know well what must be your feelings concerning me,
B
18 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
you could swallow all, ah! and much more than all,
that I could tell you, at least so I feel with regard to
you. I remain, your affectionate son,
FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
The father, now in Brompton Hospital, is evidently
worse, and soon to be discharged as incurable.
MANCHESTER, November 27th, 1849.
MY DEAR FATHER, I received your kind and affection-
ate letter. I am grieved to hear that you have been
worse again. Oh ! tell me whether you are better. It
gives me the greatest pleasure to know that Dr. Roe
is kind to you, God will reward him.
I went to the Hall yesterday, the day appointed. I was
shown in to Mr Rasbotham, whom I found seated at his
desk writing. Upon my entrance he rose, and bade me
good morning. I returned his salutation. We then
proceeded to business. He seemed to like the view of the
Church very well and took it in to show his lordship.
He returned with the gracious information that his
lordship was very well pleased with it, and that I was to
execute two more views of the hall, to be sent down to
the house in London, 10 Belgrave Square, where they
intend proceeding on Friday. He then gave me 2
for the view of the Church, and I consider that I was
exceedingly well paid. I am glad that I left the Shake-
speare with Mr. Rasbotham, this time he told me he
should consider the ten shillings he gave me as an
equivalent for it. I gratefully acceded. I have great
pleasure in being able to send you an order for ten
shillings payable at the Brompton Hospital. I send
you a rough sketch which I took of John Bright, M.P.
I remain, your affectionate son,
FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
I thank God that I am out of debt.
WORSLEY HALL 19
MANCHESTER, December 2nd, 1849.
MY DEAR FATHER, I received your wished-for letter on
Thursday morning. On that day I went to the Hall with
a portrait for one of the servants. They were all very
busy making preparations for the Earl's departure. I
believe he is in London by this time. I have not yet
taken the sketches of the Hall, for I did not like to be
seen cutting and capering about the grounds adjacent to
the Hall in search of a point of view while the family
were at home, but I intend making them to-morrow.
It will be cold work taking them, but that is not the
worst of it. I shall have to turn the leafless, skeleton-like
trees of winter, into flourishing summer plants heavy with
foliage, a somewhat difficult task, but if I succeed in it,
the more triumph. They shall be done on tinted drawing
board. Oh ! father, if you had been at my side when I
received the money, and been able to see as it were
through a glass into my mind, you could not better have
interpreted my feeling than you have in your last letter ;
which I have read over and over again, until it has almost
made me cry, teeming as it does with kindness and
affection. But you say you cannot think of accepting the
money ; believe me, father, you could not hurt my feelings
more than by returning it. My only grief has been that
I have never been able to send you anything before,
and my present grief is that I am not able at present
to send you more. Think you I can forget one who,
with disinterested affection, sent me money so often,
when he himself so badly needed it. I pray God I may
never be forgetful and ungrateful, and do I not respect
Gibson (whose portrait and life you were kind enough
to send me) the more for that, in the words of his
biographer, " in affluence at Rome he never forgot the
duty of sharing his means with his parents in Liverpool."
I have been enabled, too, to buy myself a new waistcoat,
two pair of stockings, two cotton handkerchiefs, and a
pair of woollen gloves, so that you will perceive that I am
not in immediate want for anything.
You say well ! How often have I sighed, vainly sighed,
even as you now sigh, for a repetition of the happy
evenings we spent at Newton. It is only when in adver-
20 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
sity that we know the value of health and prosperity.
Write soon. I remain, your affectionate son,
FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
MANCHESTER, December 16tk, 1849.
MY DEAR FATHER, I received your kind letter, return-
ing the money order, this morning. I have been induced
to accept the money, the more especially as you say
you are not in want of anything, and yet (forgive me
for it) I scarce know whether to believe you or not,
I know so well your self-denying love. You say you
have no tire, for the love of God try to get some. Will
the landlady not let you sit at hers ? how do you spend
your time, nave you any books ? I would have liked
to have sent the sketch of the Hall to you with this
letter, but that I am not finished with it yet, it would
give you an idea of the place. It is a very elaborate
building in the Elizabethan style.
My dear father, do not grieve about me. Here I am
not as I should like to be, but thank God I am not so bad
as your fears lead you to suppose. On Monday I got six
shillings for a portrait of a child, on Tuesday, sixpence
and my tea for a sketch of a head, and to-day I shall
get two shillings and my dinner and tea for another
portrait, a small one, and last night another sixpence
for an hour's tuition in drawing. So that I am not so
badly off as you think, and I beg of you, dear father,
not to make yourself ill concerning me. If you were well
and by my side, I could endure ten times tne misfortune
I am now subject to with pleasure. Your affectionate
son, FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
He was at this time sixteen years of age.
For the two drawings the Earl of Ellesmere paid the
boy the to him fabulous sum of five pounds, and he
also drew the portraits of several of the servants at the
Hall for five shillings a head. But this could not last,
and no one seems to have heeded or inquired what
prospects the boy had. So he wandered back to Man-
A STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 21
Chester, and suffered every misery of cold, loneliness,
and starvation. His father, discharged from Brompton
Hospital, died, having succeeded in obtaining, a few
weeks before his death, a situation for his son at Brad-
shaw & Blacklock's, at a salary of seven shillings a
week.
Frederic Shields shall tell the story of this period
in his own words.
"Here, in the extremest drudgery of commercial
lithography, I endured daily torture of mind, suffering
also from a disease, brought on by semi-starvation, which
sapped my strength for four years, and made me of sad
aspect. A broad black ribbon round my face supported
the lint applied to a running ulcer which plagued me
for many months. The kindness of Dr. Whitehead
eventually cured me of this affliction, which had made
me a shamed and marked youth wherever I went.
Months passed in this new circle of misery and then I
was dismissed for inability to execute, with sufficient
nicety, repetitions of bobbin tickets ; some eighty on one
cold stone to be neatly painted with the brush for
printing from. Conceive the dull round of agony ;
suffering as of the victim of Inquisition under the slow
drops of water falling on his chest. In vain I strove
to satisfy the foreman, for my heart loathed the task,
so again I was without means of breadwinning.
" Mr. Blacklock, discovering after my dismissal that I
had talents unexercised in his service, asked me to make
two large drawings of the exterior and interior of McCorquo-
dale's works at Newton. The interior entailed much in-
tricate drawing of machinery, of the bookbinding and type-
setting departments with the men at their employment.
During the last three days of this work I had not a fragment
of food, and worked in hope of the paltry payment I received
from that wealthy business man seven shillings. I re-
22 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
member tramping to Liverpool, thirty-two miles by road,
with a few pence in my pocket, and back without any, in
search of work. On my way a tramp begged from me :
1 Master, I'm clemming.' I could but answer, ' So am I.'
Returning, I reached Bootle (midway to Manchester) foot-
sore and penniless. I looked at a wheatfield, stacked with
new-cut sheaves, and thought to sleep among them ; when
a band of Irish reapers stopped me, demanding with half
threatening humour, ' Are you a Ribbandman or an
Orangeman ? ' I knew not the distinction, and could only
reply that I was a poor lad, hungry, weary, and shelter-
less. ' Bedad, then, come along with us and get a plate
of porridge into ye.' They took me to a large farmhouse
kitchen, fed me as they had proposed, and then took me
into the great raftered room above, spread with many
mattresses on the floor, where, sandwiched between two
strong harvestmen, I slept off my exhaustion ; and after a
morning plate of porridge and many hearty expressions
of goodwill from my benefactors, I resumed my tramp to
Manchester. My heart warms to the poor Irish from that
day, and I have known many worthy of deep esteem.
But still I had no employment. What to do ? I thought
of my father's friends at the Newton works poor but
warm-hearted ; they might show me kindness. There, at
the tariff of seven shillings a head, they found me physiog-
nomies enough to keep my pencil busy for months. They
were drawn on tinted paper, life-size, in black and white
chalk with a little red. Excellent practice and joy deli-
rious after the grinding bondage of bobbin tickets, daily to
strive to catch something of the grace or strength of
Nature's most exalted work. But the mine of the little
town grew exhausted, and at this juncture old Bradshaw,
the Quaker partner in the Railway Guide printing firm,
sent for me and said, ' Dost thou think thyself able to
design for Baxter's patent Oil Painting Process ? ' Mod-
SKETCH OF AN OLD MAN'S HEAD
About 1850
BAXTER'S OIL PRINTS 23
estly but confidently I replied, ' Yes.' ' What wages wilt
thou require ? ' Seven shillings a week had I received at
bobbin tickets, and I dared to ask ten shillings a week for
the coveted post of designer, and returned to my old shop
in honour. The despised became a head, with a little
room to himself where no defilement of bobbin tickets ever
entered ; and I revelled in gleaners, and milkmaids, and
rustic lovers, and a box of colours for the first time."
Out of this scanty wage he saved enough to pay the
evening class fees for three months at the Manchester
School of Design. An anecdote shows how overmastering
was his habit of sketching. One night the " Perspective "
teacher was demonstrating on the blackboard, perched
upon an unsteady erection of boxes. This suddenly col-
lapsed, and the lecturer lay stretched insensible upon the
platform. Most of the students rushed to his assistance ;
but Frederic Shields, fascinated by the dramatic effect,
remained in his seat carefully sketching the scene.
The comparative prosperity of Bradshaw & Blacklock's
did not last long, for this firm also failed, and the boy
began to fear that he brought ill-luck to his employers.
However, having gained something of a reputation as a
designer, he obtained another situation with a firm named
Dubois, at the substantial wage of 25s. a week, to design
for what was known as the ticket trade tickets of various
designs to be attached to textile fabrics. Some of these
early drawings, which have been preserved, were shown at
the Memorial Exhibition of Shields' work in London, 1911.
At this time his mother's health was rapidly failing, the
little sister had died, and the struggle to maintain the two
younger children was daily becoming more acute. She
seems to have made a desperate attempt to cure her illness
by going for a few weeks to the Isle of Wight ; and some
pathetic letters, preserved by her son, faded and dim with
age, tell their own tragic tale. The first letter is written
24 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
on a sheet of paper headed with a print of Carisbrook
Castle.
NEWPORT, July 25th, 1853.
MY DEAR SON, I should have written to you sooner,
but I have been very ill ever since I have been here, most
of my time in bed. But this day I feel a little better, and
may it please that great God, Who is the best Judge for us
all, to spare me a few years longer for my poor boy's sake.
I cannot keep my mind easy about the children and home.
Only think, my Fred, how my home is left with a few
girls who mind not my interest, and if it please God to
spare thy mother to go back that place will kill me.
What am I to do ? Oh God, direct me, for I am weak in
myself.
Freddy, this is the castle that Charles 1st was confined
in before he was taken to execution ; and there is a well
three hundred and fifty fathoms deep, it supplies all the
town of Newport with water. You must write to me, and
that soon, for I am very dull. Direct to me at Mr. Hans-
ford, Castle View, Newport, Isle of Wight. I will feel
disappointed if I do not hear from you in a day or two.
Remember thy mother is ill and cannot bear anxiety.
Take care of thy health. God bless you, my Fred. Your
affectionate mother, G. SHIELDS.
The " girls " referred to were those apprenticed to her
to learn dressmaking.
MANCHESTER, July Zltk, 1853.
MY DEAR MOTHER, I wrote to you on Monday to
London, for I was afraid you were worse and could not
write. Oh, mother dear, I feel so anxious. You never
wrote either to tell me if you were not coming to Man-
chester, and I half fancied you meant to surprise me and
come down without telling me ; and I looked at every
female I passed as if I expected every one of them was
you. It is indeed as you say, mother, if you go back to
that smoky, confined little crio of a shop it will kill you ;
now, mother dear, I have often talked to Georgiana about
you coming down here. I do not know whether I ever
mentioned it to you before. I told you in my last I had
MOTHER AND BROTHERS 25
taken a house, with a friend who was going to lodge
with me. Well, it is what we call here a large house ; it
contains five rooms, a kitchen, a yard, three cellars. Well,
Scott, my fri nd, is not going to stop in Manchester ; and,
of course, if you could come down with the children and
stay here, there is room and to spare, I should say, for all
of us. It is a very healthy part of the town. You might
sell such furniture as you could easily replace here. I
have said, I believe, for the best for us all. God order it
so in His infinite wisdom. Write soon, I pray you, in
order that I may know what you have determined on.
The time and the hour demand decision. . . ."
The rest of this letter is missing. In the mother's
absence the two little ones at home seem to have done
their best to alleviate her anxiety. Edwin, the elder,
writes as follows :
LONDON, Wednesday, July 20th, 1853.
MY DEAR MAMMA, I received your letter this morning,
and am sorry to hear that it was such a bad passage. You
did not say whether you were sick or no. Tell me whether
you think the place will do you good and whether it is a
nice place. You say that the expense was great ; how was
that ? Is the things dear there ? We are getting on quite
well and are very happy. We shall be able to send you
some money soon. Tell me how I am to send, if I am to
go to the Money office and get the order ; please tell me
where it is. On Monday Mr. Collins called and said he
had got a place for me at Mr. Smith's in the Strand, a
newspaper agent. I went to school, and he gave me a
letter and told me to take it to Mr. Ellerman the overseer.
I took it in the evening, but the overseer told me Mr.
Smith was not in. I am to go in the morning at 11 ; but
Mr. Spiller does not seem to like to let me stay away a
morning to go there, and if I don't look after the place I
shall offend Mr. Collins, so that I know not what to do.
Pray write and tell me what I am to do.
We have had three dresses in and a body, and a muslin
one to repair. We have had the dress back: from Poppy's
to have eight yards of lace in it. Will you tell us in your
26 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
next letter what you charge Miss Broad for a barege dress,
because Jane has got one to make on Tuesday. We have
made the little frock for Burton's and they were very
pleased with it. Rhoda works very nicely wnile you are
away. Horace and I are very saving, and shall soon be
able to pay debts, Jane says. Mrs. Parker don't get on so
well as when you are at home. I hope that you will get
well by God's mercy. I remain, your affectionate son,
EDWIN SHIELDS.
It surely speaks well for the instruction at St. Clement
Danes Charity School, that the boy then aged about
thirteen could write such a letter as this without any
mistake in spelling, in a neat, boyish hand. He evidently
had his eye on the business and the apprentices in his
mother's absence, and the "very saving" ways of the
little brothers give a sad insight to the privations they
all suffered in those days, and their precocious knowledge
of the difficulties of life. The mother wrote again to
Frederic from Newport.
"Now, my dear son, about my coming to Manchester,
it requires some thought. First place, now shall we all
live ii I am not able to work ? I might not be able to do
so. The brokers give so little for what I might sell, it
would be a mere nothing. If I could get a few pounds
for the business it would pay my expenses down there.
Horace is not done with his schooling, but we might get
Edwin into something, and I might be better with the
help of God. But I am very bad, dear Fred, I am afraid
I shall not be able to the task of moving. You ask what
the doctors say; one said it might turn to consumption,
another says it is not. There is one thing I know myself,
that this consuming fever is eating flesh and bones. I
have lost all my strength. I am not so strong as a child,
my bones are sore. I know not how to lie in bed, I turn
and twist, seeking for rest and cannot find it night after
night until daybreak. I have cramp in my hips and in
my feet. My beloved son, I have only given you about
the half of my ills I think I hear you say I have said
HOUSEKEEPING 27
enough, but you asked for it. I mean to wash my arms
in the sea, it may put some little strength in them. If
you think we could do, I think how happy I could be with
my three sons, if it was the Almighty's Will. Oh, my son,
pray for thy weak mother. I mean to try a place called
Ryde, about seven miles from here, it is a small seaport.
If I find I get better in a few days I will return home.
Nothing in this world would give me more pleasure than
to have you here. You would see mountains too high to
climb.
" May God protect you, my good boy, is your poor
mother's prayer."
The friend with whom Frederic Shields had taken the
house was a young man named Eugene Montague Scott,
whose acquaintance he had made at the School of Design.
The son of a portrait painter, Scott was one of the first
friends made by the lonely youth in Manchester. Shields
was introduced by Scott to his sisters Emily, described
as " a charming personality with long raven curls descend-
ing in womanly winsomeness on either side her high brow,"
and Isabel, who had a rare gift for design remembered
always as the first ladies who had ever received him on
terms of friendship. They formed a little sketching circle,
each member engaged to produce an original design once
a month. When the family went to London, the son
proposed staying in Manchester, and as, in contrast to
Frederic Shields, young Scott was of a gay and flighty
disposition, his parents doubtless thought that the in-
fluence of a young man of such strict views might be
good for their son. However, the arrangement fell
through, and young Scott was eventually sent abroad by
his parents.
MANCHESTEB, 4th August 1853.
MY DEAR MOTHER, I scarcely know with what to
begin first, I have got so much to say. But about your
illness, I am so glad to hear the doctor said it was not
28 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
consumption yet, although it might turn to it ; that, with
God's help, must be prevented. O ! what you must suffer
with no friend or relation near you. . . . You ask, mother
dear, how we should all live if you were not able to work.
Since I have gone back to work, I have been getting
31s. per week, and but that I was in debt through previous
slackness and bad wages, I should have been able to do
much. In about a month I shall be completely out of
debt, and then 26s. is ^yours every week, God pleasing to
keep me in work. With that I think we might manage,
and we might get Edwin, I feel confident, into many
things here. As to Horace, you could get him out of
school whenever you please, I suppose. If you could get
a few pounds for the business, it would be a great help ;
you must try, I think it may be done. Would it be better
to sell your things to a broker or to bring them down here
by rail ? The rent of the house is 7s. per week, including
taxes. Coals are only 6d. and 7d. per hundred here.
I will take a walk over the house with you now, dear
mother, by your permission. Cellar for coals, cellar for
washing (of course that we would send out), with a boiler,
and fireplace, and pipe water-tap. Back cellar with a
shelf suspended from the ceiling to keep meat cool in hot
weather ; both cellars 12 ft. by 12 ft. We then go
upstairs and arrive on the Ground Floor, kitchen, with
rainwater tap, slopstone, fireplace, and oven, and small
safe. Back yard, 13 ft. by 7 ft., with back door to step
out by. Back parlour, with drawers, cupboard, and fire-
place. Front parlour, fireplace and cupboard, large plate-
glass window, and inside shutters ; both parlours 13 ft. by
10 ft. We then pass into the lobby (in which there is a
row of seven pegs for clpthes) and upstairs. One small
bedroom, one large bedroom with cupboard, large front
room with cupboard and plate-glass windows. So now,
dear mother, I have shown you our establishment, and
you can tell me in your next what you think and whether
it will suit you. ... I trust you will try to write to me
by Monday, for I shall be very anxious. My love to my
brothers. May God restore you to health I pray, through
Jesus Christ, Amen. Your affectionate Son,
FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
FAMILY PROSPECTS 29
A pathetic reply was written by the mother, in which
she sadly inquires, " How shall I feel, dear son, to take thy
wages, or how will you like to give them to me ? " Her
son replies :
"I would have written an immediate answer to your
letter, but that I have been very busy at home and in the
shop. You say ' how will you feel to take my wages.' I
don't know, but I know you ought only to feel that I am
your son and that it is my duty. For myself, I shall but
feel thankful to God Who has placed it in my power to
aid my mother. You asked in one of your letters how we
should all live if you were not able to work. I think, dear
mother, we should stand as good or better a chance of
living down here in such a case, than in London. As
regards selling the business, 15 is certainly very little for
it, but I cannot help thinking that it would be better to
take even less than that, if necessary, than to postpone your
departure from that little smothering hole. You say the
suspense and excitement make you worse, ah ! so it will !
Tell me in your next what you wish on your signboard,
if you please, dear mother, I think we had better put
' Mrs. G. Shields, dressmaker, from London,' and after
that what you please. Heaven bless thee again, we shall
soon behold each other face to face."
His mother writes again to say that she has not told
him that all the streets in London are having new drains
connected with each house, and that for three months Stan-
hope Street has been up thirty feet deep she finds that
it is hopeless to attempt to sell the business under these
circumstances, and agrees to come to Manchester at once.
Frederic Shields had made a stipulation with his
employers that when business pressure did not demand
early attendance he should be free to arrive at work at
any time not later than 11 A.M. Not that he had forsaken
his habit of early rising, but that he might be free to
sketch any incident or character that struck him in the
30 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
streets on his way to the shop. He used in after years to
say that the streets were his school of art, and that to this
habit he owed much of his swiftness of perception and
execution. His firm was situated very near to the
Theatre Royal, and in the theatre also he made many
sketches until he began to fear that attendance at the
theatre would imperil his soul, a conviction which he
retained, more or less, to the end of his days. Late in
life he wrote : " The evil seed sown in me when a child a
relative having thoughtlessly taken me to the pantomime
in London grew into an overshadowing passion for the
theatre. The good seed of my godly old schoolmaster was
not altogether expelled by it, sometimes I experienced
searching heart questionings on this matter which would
not be silenced, and gradually so worked within me that,
as a young man, I have sat in the Pit, seeing not, hearing
not, save the stirring Spirit of God bringing me into con-
demnation for refusing to yield up my darling pleasure,
whilst I trembled with fear for disobedience. At last I
yielded partially, making a compromise that I would
cease regular attendance, and be present only on those
occasions when Helen Faucit, that supremely gifted
actress, came to Manchester. But the voice would not
be silenced, and at last I utterly broke from the toils, and
resolved to visit the theatre no more, no matter what
temptation it held out. Then peace flowed into my soul.
Few of this age will read this with any understanding, but
I know this passion for theatrical entertainments was
gradually eating away all spiritual desires, and that, 'If
any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him,' and that indulgence in it would have made
me unfit for the labour God purposed for His servant
eventually."
Oddly enough, many years later, he showed his de-
votion for his friend, Rossetti, who was very ill at the
A STREET STUDY
Manchester, about 1857
MOTHER'S DEATH 31
time, by going to hear Gilbert and Sullivan's comic
opera, Patience, hearing it in misery and horror, no doubt,
only that he might be able to relieve Rossetti's morbid
fear that he was caricatured and held up to ridicule in the
play. Probably no service ever asked of Frederic Shields
by Rossetti cost him more suffering than did that evening's
entertainment.
To return to Clopton Street, Manchester, in 1853. His
mother arrived in September with the two little boys,
but after a few months of patient suffering she died. The
diary for this year is missing, but some pencil notes on a
faded sheet of paper record the fact of her death, ending
pathetically, " her last dear words, ' remember me some-
times.' "
CHAPTER II
Trade lithography Edwin and Horace Stott Bros., Halifax First book
illustrations " A Rachde Felley " Ghost for the landscape painter
First water colours Sam Bough's commission Drawing for wood
engraving Manchester Art Treasures.
FREDERIC SHIELDS was still working for the firm of Ernst
in Oxford Road, and in 1854 had secured a place for his
brother Edwin in the same firm in some humble capacity
to do with trade ticket printing. But the boy then aged
fifteen was evidently unable to adapt himself to his new
surroundings, and doubtless the strict rule of his brother
was a great change from the loving devotion of an indul-
gent mother. So Edwin ran away to London and sought
work in the neighbourhood of his old home. Any efforts
made by his elder brother to trace his whereabouts were
apparently of no avail until the following year, when, at
the end of April, the younger brother, Horace, also ran
away to London to seek Edwin and employment for him-
self. Frederic Shields had evidently written to their
schoolmaster at St. Clement Danes. This gentleman was
apparently a stranger to him, his old schoolmaster, Mr.
Thomas Davis, for whom he always cherished the deepest
regard, having retired some time before. The following
is the reply :
ST. CLEMENT DANES CHARITY SCHOOLS,
May 27th, 1855.
DEAR SIR, About a month ago I received a letter
from you, enquiring about your brother, Edwin Shields,
formerly a pupil in the above school, and requesting me
to make enquiry after him. I have done so, and with
32
THE LITTLE TRAMP 33
success. I find that lie has got a comfortable situation
at Mr. Watts', 63 Lincoln's Inn Fields. I must beg you
will pardon my seeming indifference to your letter, exem-
plified in the delay that has taken place, when I tell you
that I have not only found out Edwin, but Horace also.
I am trying to get him into the establishment of a re-
spectable butcher in our locality, where, should I be suc-
cessful, I am sure he will do well. Having known so long
their poor mother, and knowing also her to have been a
woman of a very superior mind, and one whose whole life
was bound up in her children, I have taken more than
ordinary trouble, and feel rejoiced in being able to give
such information to you respecting them as may ease the
harrowing feelings of a kind brother, and allay that intense
feeling that you must have experienced at their departure
from you.
It appears that Horace left last Thursday week with a
shilling only in his pocket, that he was five days and a
half travelling to London, that he slept in barns, stables,
and outhouses belonging to different farmers whom Provi-
dence threw in his path. I have given him a pair of
shoes, and his brother Edwin has supplied him with re-
spectable clothes. May the God of heaven, Who is indeed
the Protector of the fatherless orphan, watch over them
and guide them safely through the waves of this wicked
world, and bring them in His own good time to the land
of everlasting life. I beg to remain, yours very truly,
A. W. COLLINS.
So Horace Shields, aged thirteen years, tramped alone
from Manchester to London, his heart sore, we doubt not,
at the loss of the mother who had loved him so dearly,
and who described him in one of her letters as " such a
good boy, quite a little servant to me when I am ill."
Nearly sixty years ago, and yet who can think of it
without a heartache for the forlorn child sheltering in the
dark nights in barns belonging to the different or rather
indifferent farmers " whom Providence threw in his
path." Doubtless the little lad, with his mischief and
c
34 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
irrepressible spirits and pluck, had been a hard trial to
his pious brother, but had he been given the training and
environment which ought to be the birthright of every
child, he might have made a fine citizen. Apparently the
first situation found for him was not a success, for in June
a brief letter from Edwin gives an account of him.
4 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS,
June 4th, 1855.
DEAR BROTHER, I write to tell you, as you wanted to
know, how Horace is getting on. I am very glad to say
he is in a good situation, though he was very badly off at
first. He is now at a printer and compositor's in Fetter
Lane, and if he suits he is to be taught the trade and have
his board and lodging.
I am very glad that you are busy and hope you will
continue so. -Hoping you are well, I remain, yours affec-
tionately, EDWIN.
37 ALBERT GBOVE, MANCHESTEB,
June 25th, 1855.
DEAR EDWIN, I should have answered you before,
but I have been waiting in the hope of being able to send
you some money for Horace, for although you have not
told me explicitly how he is situated, I daresay he wants
it, but for this last three weeks I have drawn so little
money that I have not even been able to keep out of debt.
I cannot get many people to pay me when my work is
done. It is now so long since you saw fit to leave me in
a most wicked way, as if at that time I had not sufficient
to put me about, and to leave me for a year without the
slightest information about you until a few weeks ago,
and then I received half a dozen heartless lines notifying
to me and still without a word of information about
yourself that your young brother had followed the bright
example you had set him, and left the house of the only
person living with any right of authority over him. As
I have never received any explanation of your running
away, and am at a loss to conceive any, except it be my
prohibition of such cups of iniquity as Reynold's Miscel-
THE AFFLICTED BROTHER 35
lany, &c., and the substitution of works calculated to im-
prove you, not to debase you, I shall be obliged if you will
let me have those reasons, such as they are, detailed. I
have only further to add on this unpleasant subject, which
it was impossible to pass over in silence, that if you do
not see the vileness of your conduct towards me, nothing
that I can say more will expose it to you. On the other
hand, I am inexpressibly overjoyed to hear from Miss
D'Egremont that you have obtained so comfortable a
situation, and that your conduct is so highly satisfactory
to your employers. If there was one thing that grieved
me more than another in the departure of both you boys,
it was that, neglectful of the promise you made beside
your poor dead mother, you both left your Bibles behind
you. Oh, I implore you, Edwin, as you value God's
favour, do not neglect His Word. I wish to know if
Horace has kept his place. Compositors are wretchedly
paid, if he is apprenticed to that, but he, like you, has
made his bed, and so must lie on it. Did he bring you
his prize books, Dale's Poems, and Bingley's Travellers ?
I know that it is foolish to allow myself to be troubled
about your welfare when you fly in my face at every turn ;
but if you were ten times as bad even as you are, I could
not help it. I see you take blindfold the first step to ruin
and perdition, and all I say fails to stay you in your pro-
gress. When did I ever, in my hardest and most severe
moments (and such I had, I should have been an extra-
ordinary man if I had not, harassed as I was) seek any-
thing but your temporal and eternal good ? I assure you
that the chief thing that has kept me in England has been
the thought that I should be able to watch over you two
boys, for in July last my friend, Scott, went to New Zea-
land, and his father offered (so high is the opinion he
entertains of me) to pay my passage (25) and set me up
with his son in business there. The thought of your poor
mother's children and my brothers restrained me, and I
refused what might have been the making of me. My
nightly prayer shall be what it has been ever since you
left, that God will watch over you where I cannot, and
incline your heart to remember your Creator in the days
of your youth. From your afflicted brother,
FREDERICK.
36 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Poor Edwin replied :
63 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS,
September 6th, 1855.
DEAR FREDERICK, I received your letter, and am very
glad to hear from you, as I thought you had forgotten
me. I am very sorry that you have to work so hard and
so late at night. I hope you will get paid for your picture
and that it may be successful. I daresay you have a great
deal to put up with, and are very much tried with one
thing and another. I hope you are comfortable in your
house. Horace is getting on very well, I believe, in his
situation. I cannot get out but once in three weeks, and
sometimes not that, so that I cannot get to see him as I
should like to do. I believe he can do a little in his
trade ; he lives with his master, so that he has nothing
to trouble himself about food and lodging. I went to
the Exhibition last week, and a more splendid place
cannot be conceived ; it is far superior to the first. The
different courts are beautiful, especially the " Hall of the
Aberagynes" (Aborigines?), the roof being illuminated
with gorgeously stained glass, which gives it the appear-
ance as when they burn red fire at tne theatre, and the
ceiling hangs in drops of gold. The floor and walls are
beautifully inlaid with white and black marble in small
pieces of diamond shape. The sculptures there are very
fine, the gardens are not yet finished, but what is done is
very elegant ; the animals in them are already on the
banks of a stream, and they are of tremendous size. On
one of the sides of the river there are represented the
different strata of the earth, but whether they are real or
not I do not know. There is a cascade and crystallised
caverns. It is gradually improving, and of course next
year it will be much better ; I hope that some time you
will be able to spare time to see it.
I am very busy all the year round, and especially so
in the winter, as there are twenty-seven fires, and the
lamps are on then, and it is very little time I can get to
myself, as I can only get out once in three weeks, and
sometimes not then. I am up at six and I cannot go to
bed till eleven. I have 5 a year, but I expect to be ad-
vanced, or else I shall look out for something better. You
POOR EDWIN 37
ask me to tell you why I left. I did not like Manchester,
and not knowing anyone there I was very dull, and I did
not like that business, and indeed if I had stayed in it
longer it would have made me worse than I was, and I
thought I could do better in London, and you know you
often told me things I did not like . . . however, I hope
all that is forgotten between us. I hope that, by the
blessing of God, I may be spared in good health. I hope
that you have plenty to do and that they pay better ;
trade is very bad here, and everything extremely dear.
There are no news here. Jenny Lind is to sing at Exeter
Hall. I daresay you have heard of the new spectacle at
Drury Lane ; they say it is very grand indeed but I be-
lieve it will not do.
Hoping that you are well, and that you will not make
yourself uneasy any more, I remain, your affectionate
brother, EDWIN SHIELDS.
Edwin was at this time sixteen years of age. Soon
after, his brother wrote again at great length.
MY DEAR EDWIN, I am constantly thinking of you
and wondering what you are doing. It is very nard for
you to have to light twenty-seven fires, but I think it is a
much worse and far greater objection that you only get
out once in three weeks, no one should spend more than
twenty-four hours without the inhalement of fresh air.
But an even more serious objection exists in the fact that
you are compelled to work half the Sabbath. Whatever
else a master has a right to demand from his servant, he
has no right to demand that he should disobey the com-
mands of their common God. "Remember that thou
keep holy the Sabbath day, in it thou shalt do no manner
of work, thou nor thy servant." . . . For my own part I
should not for one moment hesitate in throwing up the
most lucrative situation rather than labour on the Sabbath.
... Is there no business or profession to which you would
like to turn your attention ? If so I will do my best to
aid you with my counsel. I have repeatedly asked you if
you read your Bible every night, but you never answer
me ! I do wish you would relieve me by telling me ; and
38 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
here, though I am far from counselling you either to
gloom or fanaticism, I would have you beware of that
dangerous and unrestrained tendency to wit, which you
have indulged in; that delight and interest in trifles
lighter than air which neither make wiser nor happier,
nay are positively suicidal in their operations against the
intellect, for wit so miscalled, talks the most and loudest,
when she has the least to say. It is true wit may be some-
times used to assist sense, but it is so much more fre-
quently made its substitute, that it becomes to the mind
a dire disease. The world, the blind world, thinks wit
rare. Wisdom is rare, Edwin, wit abounds. Wisdom is
sacred to the few, while wit is the common property of all
the gay thoughtless butterflies of fashion and the devotees
of the wine cup. With them it is indeed wit, widowed of
good sense, which hoists more sail to run against a rock
and it is especially with regard to the light and ephemeral
literature of the present day, which weekly pours forth its
poisonous cheap compounds of trashy novels, broad grins,
and comic songs, and such like that I would have you
beware of this rock. If, as I much fear, you have indulged
in these, I do trust that what I have now said will induce
you to consider the sinfulness of a rational creature, re-
sponsible to God for the right employment of every
moment of his time, wasting any portion of it in such
occupations. . . .
When did you see Horace, and how is he ? I have had
very indifferent health lately. Believe me, dear Edwin,
witn ever increasing desire for your eternal happiness,
your affectionate brother,
FREDERICK J. SHIELDS.
It must indeed have been a trouble to Frederic Shields
to learn that his young brother had been reduced to work-
ing for more than a year in the service of a tavern-keeper,
although the surroundings cannot have been so very
terrible or Mr. Collins, his schoolmaster, would hardly
have described it as "a very comfortable situation."
Having nothing to bind him in Manchester, and the
firm of Ernst having failed, Shields took an engagement
"A RACHDE FELLEY" 39
with a Halifax firm, Stott Brothers, at a wage of 50s.
weekly. Twelve months in these improved surroundings
invigorated mind and body, and here his first opportunity
for book illustration presented itself in (incongruously
enough) a comic vernacular record entitled "A Rachde
Felley's visit to the Grayt Eggshibishun," of which this
illustrated edition was first published in 1856. To this
droll volume Frederic Shields contributed fourteen illus-
trations, admirably interpreting the spirit of the writer.
In those days Stott's printing-shop was in Swine Market,
a few doors below the inn where Defoe is said to have
commenced writing Robinson Crusoe. The firm remained
in existence in 1912, and, strangely enough, one of Shields'
fellow-workers was still in their employ. Mr. William
Hoyle, who had worked at Stott's for sixty-four years,
remembered sitting, when a curly-haired boy, as a model
for Shields, who had to design a large poster for "Dr.
Marks and his Little Men." Dr. Marks conducted a
pioneer juvenile band, and young William Hoyle had to
perform silently no doubt, for the sake of the nerves of
the artist on each instrument in turn, that Shields might
compose an attractive picture of the young musicians.
Mr. Hoyle remembered how proud he felt to think that
his portraits were to be exhibited on hoardings throughout
the kingdom. He also gave melancholy evidence of
Shields' overworked and underfed condition. As a boy,
when at Maclure & Macdonald's, his mother used to give
him threepence a day for his dinner, but he usually saved
half that, by dining on dry bread and coffee, so that
he might spend his pence on prints and drawing materials.
At Stott's his wages were good, but he still pursued the
same course. " Many a time," says Mr. Hoyle, " Shields
would bring a few pieces of dry bread wrapped in a news-
paper, and have a pot of coffee made at the shop. He
never had any meat, nor even was his bread buttered he
40 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
did more reading than eating at meal times. His scant
frame clad in shabby clothes, his long hair and unshaved
whiskers, made him look ' half heckled ' but he had no
liking for chaff, and an aversion for women."
The shop worked until 7 P.M. every day, including
Saturdays, but Shields found time to go sketching. Mr.
Hoyle lived just opposite the back door of his lodgings,
and he was often awakened very early on summer morn-
ings by the sound of the gate opposite. Often, says
Mr. Hoyle, he jumped out of bed in time to see Shields
setting out on a sketching expedition ; some mornings he
went as far as Hebden Bridge a walk of fifteen miles !
On returning to Manchester Shields wrote :
37 ALBERT GROVE, HULMK, MANCHESTER,
December 7th, 1856.
MY DEAR EDWIN, You will wonder at my long silence,
but, indeed, I have been worked so hard lately that I have
scarce had time to eat my meals, being anxious to finish
the work before me ere I left Halifax, which I did last
Saturday week, and you may guess that what with getting
the house (which, after my absence of near three months,
was damp and dusty) cleaned and aired, and attending to
the numerous commissions which I found waiting for me,
it is but little leisure I have enjoyed since my return.
And now I know not what to answer you you speak
of want of amusements and inducement to keep you to
your work at Ernst's (who, I am grieved to say, is recently
bankrupt). I have but one thing to accuse myself of at
Ernst's in my conduct to you, ana that was an intemperate
passion, continually roused by your opposition to my
wishes for your good, more frequently than by any other
cause. I was wrong, and if you knew the grief it has
since caused me, and the caution it begets in me against
passion, even when excited by a good cause, you would
pity me. You say our tastes are different, so different
that it would be impossible for us to agree. They are
indeed different, but it would well behove you, dear
Edwin, I say it in kindness, not in anger, to consider
" Wat o yed E ad ! un wat ure E ad uppo his faze eh ! "
1 Aw seed Lord Jon Russil, eh !
wat a littul chap E is "
" O, E sed, you're the last biddur "
FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS FROM " A RACHDE FELLEY'S
Un neaw fur wat aw seed ith VISIT TO THE GRAYT EGGSHIBSHUN," 1856
Parleyment Heause "
A LANDSCAPE PAINTER 41
whose tastes, yours or mine, are right in the question at
issue. You, according to your own confession, have a
taste for novel reading, insipid and trivial witticisms, and
uninstructive, time- wasting amusements. I have a moral
horror and dread of all these things, of some of them as
positive sins against God, our fellow-men, and our own
soul, and of the others as things upon which no rational
man would waste the little time he has to live, and which
we shall find short enough to accomplish our work in this
world and prepare ourselves for that which is to come.
You seem to promise that you will leave the business you
are in as soon as possible. Oh, do not defer it one moment.
Now ! Now I Edwin, is the only time we have to do
anything in ; yesterday is gone, we know not whether
we shall see to-morrow, whilst you are hesitating to do
right the opportunity may be gone for ever. I will no
longer press you just now to come to Manchester, as you
seem to have so insurmountable an objection to it, and as
there is certainly reason and kindness in what you say of
Horace, although I doubt your capability to guide him,
who are not able to guide yourself. Yet, Edwin, if either
by influence, money, or advice, I can help you to do better,
rely on me to the full extent of my power, for I feel toward
you as St. Paul felt toward the Corinthians, that I " would
most willingly spend and be spent for you, though the
more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved."
With the kindest enquiries after yourself and Horace,
to whom I will shortly write, Believe me, your affection-
ate brother, FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
Being weary of the drudgery of commercial design, and
having a few pounds in his possession, Frederic Shields
accepted with delight an offer from a landscape painter,
C. H. Mitchell, to put figures and animals into his pictures.
This more congenial occupation was only occasional, and
he found it still necessary to make designs for commercial
use, sold to the trade for a few shillings each. But the
struggle for existence becoming less severe, he began
earnestly to seek a field for his burning passion for art,
so long held under by dire necessity. And now he made
42 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
his first independent attempt at a picture. Unable to
afford adult models, he engaged an Irish child to sit for
him, and so painted his first water-colour, called "The
Toilet," the subject being a little girl doing another child's
hair. Frederic Shields has often related how this picture
was at once bought by C. H. Mitchell, and how it stood
upon his studio mantelpiece one day, when Shields was at
work embellishing a landscape for Mitchell. Sam Bough
entered and his eye fell upon the little picture. " Hallo ! "
cried he, " who did this ? " " This youngster," replied
Mitchell, indicating the young artist. Sam Bough ex-
claimed, " Will you paint one for me ? " and the delighted
youth, who held Bough's work in high esteem, could
hardly be persuaded that he was not joking. But it was
not for some years afterwards that he painted a picture
which he felt was worthy to be offered to Sam Bough.
Another water-colour painted in this year was "Bobber
and Kibs," a group of five children playing that oddly
entitled game on some old stone steps. This picture was
shown at the Royal Institution, and in the Manchester
Exhibition Review for 1856 it is thus mentioned : "' Bobber
and Kibs.' This drawing is by a Manchester artist named
Shields, but it has no place in the catalogue. It is highly
promising, and in parts the work is excellent. In composi-
tion it reminds us of the manner of Rubens." In 1857
Frederic Shields made his first acquaintance, at the Man-
chester Art Treasures Exhibition, with what he describes
as "a marvellous unparalleled gathering" of pictures.
There first he saw Holman Hunt's "Hireling Shepherd"
and "Strayed Sheep," some of Millais' best early work,
and Arthur Hughes' " April Love," all revelations to his
eager eyes. Here, too, he first saw "Christ Washing
Peter's Feet," by the artist who was later to become so
dear a friend Ford Madox Brown.
His diary for this year tells much the same tale as did
BOBBER AND KIBS
(1856)
FIRST WATER-COLOURS 43
the earlier one, of strenuous work and rigid self-denial. An
entry for a day in January, taken at random, runs thus :
21st, Wednesday. Rose at 6, lit fire, prayed, studied
anatomy of arm until 8.30. Breakfast. At Mitchell's
copying landscape for him till 1. Wasted an hour at
Morton's talking of the pictures, &c. Nothing learned,
came home and was in a hurry for the loss of that hour
all night. I will spend no more precious time on ac-
quaintances. Finished Fleming's drawing on wood, worked
closely until 10 yet could do no more than finish the centre
piece. After, fell asleep in my chair and woke feeling stiff
and stupid at 11."
His brother Edwin, who was still in his situation in
London, was now evidently showing signs of the dread
disease which had already carried off their father, sister,
and mother. One of Frederic Shields' numerous letters
to him follows :
37 ALBEBT GROVE, MANCHESTER,
February 22nd, 1857.
MY DEAR EDWIN, Your last letter is to me indeed
a mingled web of pain and pleasure. You must have
grievously neglected the early symptoms of your cold to
allow it to reach such a length, and it is indeed evidence
of your needing someone to watch over you. Pray, Edwin,
be careful how you expose yourself to draughts, a draught
is the beginning of the most serious ills. I have told you,
Edwin, that I am ready to serve you in learning a trade,
something solid, upon which you can depend for a liveli-
hood hereafter. I believe that amongst my friends here
I have many able and willing to serve me in this matter.
My whole thoughts are at present swallowed up in the
necessity of helping you from the dreadful condition into
which you have fallen. Last Sunday, as I was in church
and thought of you and what I knew you must be engaged
in, tears sprang into my eyes and I prayed God to en-
lighten you and to show you the sinfulness of the way in
which you are. This shall be my prayer daily until it is
granted. I will say to you as a friend said to the murderer
44 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Dove, years before he committed the crime for which he
suffered, when he saw him defying all attempts to reform
him. " If," he said, "you will go to hell, it shall be over
mountains of prayers and seas of tears." I trust I have no
need to assure you of my sympathy with the accident you
met with, but coming as it did, through the medium of
the barrels, and therefore of the unlawful traffic in which
you are engaged, I would bid you enquire how much it is
probable it was a warning from that God without whose
Knowledge not a hair of our heads shall perish. Beware
how you slight it. For what saith St. Paul in the 14th
Romans ? " It is good neither to eat flesh nor drink wine,
nor do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is
offended or is made weak." And do you not daily, not
even excepting God's day, pursue your unholy traffic,
whereby thy brother stumbleth and is offended and
made weak both in body and in soul, and can you expect
God to bless you, or, as you say, " by God's help I am
enabled to live very well " ? Edwin, it is not by God's help
but in defiance of His precepts that you are enabled to
live sumptuously and clothe fashionably. I cannot see
you thus without a strenuous effort to snatch you from
the gulf that yawns open at your feet to devour you.
Again, I implore you to determine whether you are pre-
pared to defy God and to disregard the entreaties of a
brother whose worst fault to you has always been a too
earnest seeking after your welfare. . . . Your affectionate
brother, FREDERICK JAMES SHIELDS.
In justice to poor Edwin, it must be explained that he
was employed as porter at a tavern doubtless a very un-
suitable occupation for a delicate boy, though described
by his schoolmaster as a " most comfortable situation."
He had an excellent character from his employers, but
was evidently terribly overworked until too ill to work
any more. He apparently never received more than 5
a year, out of which he more than once assisted the
younger brother Horace, so the sumptuous living and
fashionable clothing could hardly have existed, save in
the anxious brain of his devoted elder brother.
DRAWING ON WOOD 45
Edwin grew rapidly worse, though his letters show
that he retained the hopefulness which is usual with
sufferers from consumption. The following pathetic entry
occurs in the diary of Frederic Shields :
March 12th, 1857. Rose at 7. Prayed. This morn-
ing came a letter from Edwin's master. God, what
must I do ? Agonised in prayer to God to restore Edwin
(if it be His Will). I have determined to give up paint-
ing and devote myself to the acquisition of money to sup-
port Edwin in his illness when he comes here. He must
not die so. May God help and support me, for I am sorely
tried put away my picture for good and all at present."
Numerous letters passed between the two brothers
during the next few weeks. Edwin's health seemed to
improve, and he came to Manchester to stay with his
brother, who now worked harder than ever to meet his
increased expenses, still designing trade labels, copying,
doing ghost for Mitchell and another painter named
Rothwell, and drawing on wood for the Manchester Art
Treasures Examiner. He used in after years to relate
an amusing anecdote of an incident in the picture gallery.
Each of the rooms of the various schools had its own
numeration of pictures, and this led to some diverting
errors in identification of the works. One morning when
working in the gallery of the British School, he heard the
ensuing conversation between an old farmer and his wife.
The good woman's gaze became riveted near the roof
upon the naked figure of a giant maniac, by Opie,
sitting upon his hams, his face between his knees, gibber-
ing in frenzy. " Whoever be he ? " she inquired. Her
good man opened his catalogue inadvertently in the
portrait section; "No. 328, Lord John Russell!" he
wonderingly replied. "Eh," she retorted, "whatever
made him be taken in that mak' o' fashion ? " Surely an
insoluble problem.
CHAFFER III
First sketching expedition More water-colonrs W. J. Linton's offer
" Whistle and Answer " Ragged School teaching Illness and death
of Edwin.
C. H. MITCHELL was now starting upon a sketching tour
in Devonshire and made an offer to Shields that he should
accompany him, and assist him, as usual, by painting
figures into his landscapes. The offer was joyfully ac-
cepted, and leaving his brother Edwin in charge of the
little house in Manchester, Frederic Shields and Mitchell
set off together. No doubt this introduction to open-air
work, which led to his painting out of doors for many
months after, had an incalculable effect hi enabling him
to resist the disease which proved so fatal to every other
member of his family, as well as in removing him from
the immediate danger of infection, which was little
dreamed of in those days. Of this excursion he writes :
" I drew all day unweariedly under the stimulus of the
strange scenes and life about me. A rugged old fisherman
attracted me, and in three hours I painted in water-colour
a vigorous full-length which Mitchell sold on his return
for 20. This opened my eyes to powers unsuspected by
myself until placed in this hothouse of rich subjects, and
to the market value of my brush, and determined me to
work on my own account. Mitchell offered me 5 as a
share of the price, but I replied that he had paid me the
weekly wage agreed upon, and he had also borne all
travelling expenses, so that I could not judge myself
entitled to accept the gift. I bade my kind employer
46
EARLY PORTRAIT STUDY
Pencil. About 1856
W. J. LINTON'S OFFER 47
farewell on his return from Manchester, and made my
own way over Exmoor to Porlock, which I had noted in
passing through it in the coach as rich in rustic wealth of
personalities and subjects."
Thus he began those exquisite water-colour drawings
of rustic subjects which were so soon to win him recogni-
tion as an artist. They found ready sale at moderate
prices. The necessity of drawing for the trade was gradu-
ally decreasing; drawing for wood engraving seems to
have offered a favourable field, though he never felt any
desire to pursue this branch of art except as a means to
enable him to live and to support his brother. In Feb-
ruary 1858 he sends Edwin off to Jersey. This month he
records cashing Mr. Falkner's cheque, 9, for his picture
" The Holly Gatherers," a beautiful water-colour drawing
of two children in snow, one of his earliest finished water-
colours, very much in the style of William Hunt. This
picture was engraved on wood and reproduced in the
Illustrated London News, December 24th, 1859. He had
received orders to draw on wood several pictures for the
Manchester Art Treasures Examiner, including " The
Three Maries" of Caracci, " The Return of Moses from the
Fair," by Maclise, Gainsborough's " Blue Boy," and others.
This led him into contact with W. J. Linton, the eminent
wood engraver, and on Thursday, February 18th, the diary
records :
" Rose 7. Read I. Corinthians. Received letter from
W. J. Linton offering me work on the Illustrated News of
the World, and desiring me to go to London, a matter for
deep consideration, especially as I have now so many
commissions here, and my connection becoming extended.
Worked at sky of Lindale. Design of Odd Fellows Card
for Falkner. Read Don Quixote. Ernst's ticket to bed-
time. Wrote to Linton, requesting to know the sort of
work and wages. Think I shall stay here."
48 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
These are Linton's letters :
6 LOWEB CALTHORPE STREET,
GRAY'S INN ROAD.
MY DEAR SIR, I have just undertaken the entire
management of the pictorial department of a new paper,
The Illustrated News of the World. Would you like now
to come to London ? I can promise you work to-morrow,
and regularly. Would be glad, indeed, of your immediate
help, if you choose to come on the chance, come at once.
If you would like more exact agreement as a prudent
man should write me directly what sum per week would
satisfy you. I do not mean therefore to engage your whole
time, but only to undertake to find you at least work to
that amount, at a not lower proportionate rate than you
have been working at. Yours in haste, very faithfully,
W. J. LlNTON.
6 LOWER CALTHORPE STREET,
February 19th, 1858.
MY DEAR SIR, You yourself must be the judge of
which is more to your advantage to stay at Manchester
or come here. The work I would have for you would be
copying pictures on wood. I do not propose to fill up your
time, but only supply you with a certain regular income
in return for certain regular work. Think it over, and,
recollecting the time occupied by the drawings you made
for me, tell me what sum per week would satisfy you for
what time ; and how long you would need such an amount
guaranteed to you, this if it seems desirable to you still to
come to town.
If not, my proposition is at an end. Of course, never-
theless, I shall be glad at any time to put work in your
hands, so far as the distance between us may allow.
Yours very faithfully, W. J. LINTON.
The diary continues
" February 22nd. Rose at 7. Prayer. Lit fire. Read
I. Corinthians, 9th chapter. To Mitchell's, put figure in
his Pier drawing. Letter from Edwin. Lodging in Jersey
dear, 6s. a week, food the same as here, so that it promises
SIX COMMISSIONS 49
to be a dear move. God help me to support it. Wrote to
Linton declining his offer to draw for the new paper. God
grant I may have decided for the best. Worked at ticket
for Ernst. Sent 1 to Edwin. Stretched paper, put my
study right for working in morning. Chilblains very bad.
There is still much to do ere I shall be clear of odd jobs,
and ready to paint."
An unusually interesting entry follows :
" March 1st. Rose at 7. Prayer. Finished Falkner's
Odd Fellows ticket thank God he liked it, though I was
doubtful. To Dunham, as it was snow, to study for
Lomax's picture, but when I arrived found there had been
no snow there. Walked through the old park and fixed
upon as much as I think would compose a picture, but
could do nothing for the wind. Missed my way and got
to Broadheath Station, waited an hour and a half for
train, got into the wrong one, found out my mistake two
stations off", and had to wait two hours for a return train.
Saw there a capital figure, a donkey cart driver, with a
green wide-awake and a red cotton handkerchief tied
round and under his chin to keep it on must remember
him. Began to snow as I came back. Got off at Oxford
Road. Called on Falkner; he said he had extraordinary
good news for me ; Edmund Potter, Col. Hamilton, and
others of the Art Treasures Committee had expressed
their approval of my picture and given their word for six
commissions. I am really stupefied by this sudden change
of fortune. God keep me humble under it. Wrote Edwin.
Prayer and bed 11."
The first of these new commissions was " Whistle and
Answer," a large water-colour, here reproduced by permis-
sion of the owner, Mr. James Parkinson.
" March 25th. Rose at 6. Prayer. Letter from Edwin,
he is better, thank God, but has no work yet. Went out
again to look for a model and called on old Donnell about
50
my boots. He told me of a lad at a coal shed, whom I
found the very thing. Little Patsey I shall try to make
play the small girl's part. Worked at them till 6 and got
the lad drawn in, drew his head whistling and succeeded
moderately in the expression but the drawing is weak.
Got out Thackeray's Esmond, tea. Tried to read Bible,
but fell asleep twice. I should not have done that over
Esmond. Shame. Paregoric and gruel, Ipecachuanha,
hot water, mustard, Thomas a Kempis."
With this vigorous treatment the cold evidently im-
proved, and work continued in much the same daily
round. The ticket for Ernst, and the " Eagle and Lion"
in the next entry, refer to designs for lithography.
"April 5th. Rose 6. Prayed. Read Ephesians 4th.
Finished Ernst's ticket and sent 'Eagle and Lion' to
Stott's. I must have money and this is a ready means.
My model, little Lucy, could not come until one o'clock,
so feeling that I wanted air, I walked down as far as the
' devil's grounds ' the fair. Went into a sparring booth
from curiosity two mere lads put on the gloves and
fought for a quarter of an hour. Was delighted to see a
stall of the British and Foreign Bible Society placed in
the middle of the ungodly throng the man holding a
placard ' For we must all appear before the Judgment
Seat of Christ.' Bibles 8d., lOd and I/- each. Called
for Lucy coming home and set to work, Sketched her
feeling in her pocket for some crumbs to throw to the
Robin, but I fear it distracts you and destroys the unity
of the subject which ought to turn on the pleasure derived
from the bird's answering. Miserably dispirited. Drew
at School of Design in evening outlined hands. Called
on Mr. Barnes to ask for time to pay my rent, which he
graciously accorded. Bed at 11."
A note early in this year mentions that he had asked
Mr. Hammersley to allow him admission hi the evenings
WHISTLE AND ANSWER
RAGGED SCHOOLS 51
to the School of Design. We find frequent references to
work done there, principally drawing from the antique.
Another picture, commenced in June, was a water-
colour of children in a flowery field blowing dandelion
seeds, entitled " What's o'clock ? " On June 8th the diary
records :
"Letter from Edwin, God knows where I shall get
money to send him, have but a shilling left."
The struggle to live, and to support his unfortunate
brother, while endeavouring to carry on his pictures which
brought no immediate payment was very severe during
this year. Insufficient food and privation of every kind
had played havoc with what must have been an iron con-
stitution, and the long hours of work, the solitary life, and
nervous strain, combined to produce constant attacks of
weakness and pain. In spite of all this, we read on June
30th :
" Was elected a candidate for teachership at our
school meeting. Tea capital, stayed until 11,30, sang,
prayed, home by 12.30, very tired."
Many spare evenings during the next few years were
devoted to teaching in the Sunday-school, and in the
Ragged Schools, which were founded by his friend,
Edwin Gibbs, whose portrait by Frederic Shields now
hangs in the Manchester Art Gallery. He and Gibbs
used to spend many evenings in distributing tracts and
visiting the sick and fever-stricken poor in the garrets
and cellars in the slums of Manchester. Edwin Gibbs
was by profession a music-teacher ; evidently as highly
strung, over-worked, and nervous as Shields himself, his
too self-sacrificing labours eventually terminated in mental
collapse.
Fortunately Shields had serious doubts as to his fitness
for a teacher, having little patience or ability to control
the very rowdy boys who frequented the classes in those
52 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
days. He realised that he could teach through his
pictures better than by word of mouth, though at one
period an evangelical preacher, for whom he had a great
respect, tried hard to persuade him to forsake painting
for preaching, " lest art should become his idol."
" August 21st. Rose at 6. Prayer. To Withington
for background, not the thing. Came back, found some-
thing nearer home, but by then the day so dull that I was
only able to outline it. Looked for pink frock for child,
got it from Mrs. Donoghue stayed some time arguing
and exhorting her husband, very ill doctor given him
up. Exhorted him to flee to Christ for salvation, and not
to give himself up to self-righteousness as he was doing
sick, and a Papist. Called for Amelia to sit for hair of
girl they had cut it so floored again. Painted child's
boots. To School of Design in evening, drew child's
head."
In September Frederic Shields had three pictures
hung in the Manchester Exhibition. The diary relates :
" September 8th. Rose at 5. Prayer. Read James 4th.
Prepared for work and went to the Exhibition Varnish-
ing day intending to be back at 1 to work. Some first-
rate pictures. They have hung me, thank God, capitally
too well, better than I deserve. Feel much benefited by
the sight, freshened for work. Called at Grundy's for
colours. Smith showed me an exquisite Turner of Holy
Island, a marvellous effect of Storm Cloud. Thank God
Stanway bought my Etty. Letter from Edwin. Prayer.
Tea. Old woman called and I had a talk with her against
her Unitarianism."
A letter to Edwin follows :
" You know so well the difficulties I have to contend
with, in money matters, while engaged on a drawing,
that it is not needful to apologise lor not answering your
letters before. Last night I got paid for my copy of
MANCHESTER EXHIBITION 53
Etty's Sirens, and hasten to send you the enclosed thirty
shillings. I am grieved that you are no longer employed to
teach at the school ; though intrinsically not worth think-
ing about, it helped a little, and more, it kept you from
listless indolence a state into which, unless you obtain
some employment or apply yourself energetically to some
study likely to be of service arithmetic, for instance
you will inevitably fall. I am still at work on my ever
work-exacting picture. I have over-estimated my strength
in this attempt, and come very near failure, only vigorous
exertion can save me from it. You will be glad to hear
that I have three drawings well hung, in the Exhibition.
I believe they are doing me good. One is 'The Holly
Gatherers.' Robert Carrick has a most exquisite picture,
the gem of the Exhibition ' Thoughts of the Future '-
a mother bending over her sleeping boy. Ruskin praised
him so highly for his Academy picture this year, that he
could not have gone much further in his approbation. I
hope this lack of money has not troubled you so much as
to influence your health. I sold the ticket you did of two
dogs to Wilcox last week for 3/6. Trade is very slack.
Tell me how you employ your Sundays now. Have you
family prayer every day where you lodge ? Of course
these things cannot save, but the neglect of them will
destroy."
The brother's letters from Jersey are usually very
hopeful ; he is always expecting improved health, some-
times full of a chance of getting employment on a ship
now as steward on a boat going to the West Indies, now as
a hand on board a fishing vessel, bound for Newfound-
land the great attraction in the last idea being that cod
liver oil could then be procured more cheaply. Neither
seemed to realise that the poor lad was within a few months
of dying of consumption.
But at last the landlady at Jersey refuses to keep him
any longer ; he can get no reason from her except that she
fears he will need more attention than she can give. In
December, when Frederic Shields is staying with a friend,
54 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
J. Edmondson, at Queenswood College, Stockbridge, Hants,
we learn that Edwin has returned to Southampton.
January 24th, 1859.
DEAR EDWIN, If it please God, I will come and see
you on Saturday next, and spend the Sunday with you.
Am very sorry you had so rough a voyage. Do you feel
better now, after the seasickness ? The captain was very
kind indeed it is not what many of them would do.
I hope your lodgings are in a healthy part of the town,
not in a close narrow street. I am suffering from tooth-
ache at intervals.
You must be wretched, so placed among strangers,
but what can we do? Southampton is, as I told you,
reported one of the healthiest towns in England, and those
suffering from chest diseases generally find great relief
from their removal there. If I were to take you back to
Manchester with me, I fear it would be to repent it. Your
illness is so prolonged as to be alarming, and you seem to
have behaved with an ignorance at once fatal and as-
tonishing. I must see you myself and so determine what
to do. I thought you were getting strong and stout
again, when instead you are thus prostrated. Do you feel
your chest sore again, as you did last whiter? But,
it's no use asking questions, I pray shortly to see you face
to face and have all my doubts resolved. You must go
to a doctor, whatever it costs. He won't want paying
directly, and, please God, against he does, I shall be
returned and able to set my foot firm again. Remember
your former dread experience in London with a chemist,
and be warned in time. Don't go to the Homeopathists,
1 have been studying it lately and believe it an im-
posture. If they cure, it is by leaving Nature to herself.
Their system is absurd, absurdity in practice must
result. . . .
Dear Edwin, once more let me impress upon you the
necessity for studying the Holy Scriptures. Look at
2 Tim. lii. chap., 15 to 17. ... Look, too, at 1 Cor. xv.,
1, 2. . . . Your affectionate brother,
FREDERICK SHIELDS.
THE DYING BROTHER 55
The diary records:
" Saturday, 29th January 1859. Rose at 8. Prayer.
Woodford 10 to 12. Walked to Dumbridge. Raining
heavily, cleared up so that I was dry by the time I got
there. Thank God, I was not allowed to turn back, for
when I got to Southampton I found a Ghost, rather than
Edwin. God ! pardon me ! He had not told me half,
and I had been pressing him to work when he was not fit
to move. My God, forgive me ! Praise Thee for the friends
Thou hast raised up in his extremity."
The friends seem to have been people named Clarke,
living at Southampton, who showed kindness to the
invalid, and wrote to his brother almost daily after he had
returned to Manchester.
On the advice of the doctor, Edwin was admitted to
the Infirmary as soon as it could be arranged, there being
no hospital which would receive him.
BKOUGHTON, HANTS, February 8th.
MY DEAR EDWIN, Miss Clarke's note informs me that
at length they have admitted you to the Infirmary. Oh,
had this been done before, there might have been hope.
But it is vain to repine and think what might have been.
Let me know how you are, for you know how concerned I
am and shall be, for your comfort ; do not, I pray you,
neglect any precaution or comfort attainable. Have I
ever hesitated between my interest and your health that
you should have forborne to confide in me ? Oh, my dear
brother, do agonise, pray and faint not in your endeavour
to see Jesus as your Saviour. Let us remember that it
is the Lord who killeth and maketh alive, and commit
our souls to His keeping. I am glad Horace has written
to you again, does he know how weak you are ? Would
you like to see him ? If so, tell Miss Clarke, she will
let me know. Why did I not know how sick you were
long before ? I had no idea you were so ill. You say you
received some peace from the texts. Cling to it. Has it
never appeared to you that God, in sending this disease at
56 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the first at London, sent it in mercy to bring you to Him,
to repent and humble yourself? And then when Dr.
Mason thought you were at death's door, sparing you
until now, giving you time and space to repent, " for He
wills not that a sinner should perish, but mat he should
turn from his sins and be saved. ' And ought it not to be
a strong ground of hope to you, that " whom the Lord
loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth ? " Blessed reparation lor our afflictions, enough
to make us rejoice under them. ... I shall be anxious
until I hear now you have borne the journey to the
Infirmary. Mrs. Clarke understands and thinks it best
that you should enter as a paying patient. They must
make a difference, or they are very superior beings, not to
be so influenced. I earnestly pray for you, body and
spirit. Do write, if able, and tell me all. Your affec-
tionate brother, FREDERICK SHIELDS.
Many letters in the same strain follow, with lengthy
texts and exhortations, page upon page.
Poor Edwin's letters from Jersey had always shown
pathetic anxiety that his brother's painting should not
be interfered with, but every attempt at securing em-
ployment had failed doubtless mainly on account of
his weak health except for one brief engagement as
temporary teacher in the school at 5s. a week. Now,
in the Infirmary, his pathetic letters still regret burden-
ing his brother, he still hopes for work, work of any
kind, and finds it hard, he says, to "pacify himself"
with texts. But his notes get shorter and shorter, more
and more illegible, until they are replaced by business-
like reports from Miss Clarke. She writes to Frederic
Shields about the state of the dying boy's soul, as well
as of his fast failing body, and declares herself con-
vinced as to his being in a proper state of repentant
resignation.
And so dies Edwin Shields, aged nineteen years,
THE VICTIM OF POVERTY 57
surely more the victim of the miserable social and in-
dustrial conditions of the " hungry forties " than of a
remorseless Providence who is accused of deliberately
chastening him with lingering disease and misery into
his early grave.
CHAPTER IV
Russell Street, Hulme Picture hung at the Royal Institution Illustrated
London News The Pilgrim's Progress Charles Kingsley's adrice
Poverty Death of Horace " Vanity Fair " Ruskin's praise Row-
botham the picture-dealer.
FREDERIC SHIELDS returned to Manchester soon after his
brother was admitted to the Infirmary, and in the diaries
there is no further reference to Edwin ; for the day on
which he died March 16th, 1859 and for a week after-
wards the pages are cut out. But neither grief, nor loneli-
ness, nor want could still the inward fire which fiercely
impelled Frederic Shields to devote every thought, every
hour, and every spark of nervous energy to the fulfilment of
his life's dream. In April we read of more commissions
one from Mr. Craven for a picture of an old beehive-maker
at a price of 20. Another drawing of the same subject,
painted in the previous year and sold to a Mr. Lomax for
5, was shown at the Exhibition of Shields' work at the
Brazenose Club, Manchester, in 1889.
In June he is much troubled by the piano-playing of
a neighbour, and decides that he must seek another house.
He is still obliged to draw lithographers' tickets and to
work for Mitchell at intervals, for, as he pathetically
remarks in a letter, " one can't live off pictures."
" July 1st. Rose 5. Wash. Prayer. Bible. Feel very
undecided about Russell Street house. 6 per year is a
great deal more. Prayed to God to guide me and prevent
my doing wrong or rashly. Put hens in landscape. Red
chalk sketch of ' Fisher Boy.' Determined on Russell Street
58
THE BEEHIVE MAKER
Hampshire, 1858
THE NEW HOUSE 59
house and went to see the landlord ; arranged to give him
an agreement for nine months. Drew a ticket for Fleming
If hours. Read newspaper account of this fearful battle."
On July 16th he moved to the new house, Russell
Street, Hulme.
July 28th. Rose at 4.30. To Mr. Falkner's, sketching
on the way. Rough colour sketch of Master Charley
Falkner. . . . Called on Letherbrow, and with him Will
Lomax. Thank God, he bought my old woman washing
for 4, and paid me. To old Donnell, and hair cut.
Stayed to listen to a quack and a working man preaching
with great power in Stretford Road.
" How evil ramifies. I have been unconcentrated and
listless to-day, and I sin against Frugality in wasting time
(that is, money) ; against Justice, because I might pay my
debts with money earned in the wasted time ; against
Sincerity, because I pretend to be eager to pay, and so on."
" 30th. Rose at 6. ... Got Life of Velasquez out of
Free Library. Sketched two hours walking about streets ;
got two capital subjects. Sketched pump in Oxford Road
for picture. ..."
" August 3rd. Rose 5. Wash. Prayer. Breakfast.
Got ready to go to the moors ; went by 10.20 train. Very
windy when I got there, and the heather in flower only in
small patches, so could do nothing. Made a sketch or
two for ' Gems of the Emerald Isle.' Waited in cottage
during rain and sketched the old Grandmother's head for
them. Walked across moor to train 5 o'clock. Called
at Grundy's ; met Charles Ernst, and had a very earnest
talk with him about his soul's state."
The inevitable beginning, " Wash, Prayer, Bible, Break-
fast," is gradually abbreviated to " W. P. B. B," though
for years it is neatly written at the commencement of
each day.
" August 7th. Rose 6. W.P.B.B. To Mr. Falkner's ;
60 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
painted Charley's head to 1. Dinner with them ; very
pleasant and social. Went to Royal Institution; my
pictures too well hung thank God amen. I deserve it
not in any sense. To Rowbotham's, and Lomax, to Mr.
Rawson ; went over to Examiner office with him ; he
wants cover designed for a new weekly of standard re-
issue ' People's Library.'
" Wrote up outline of Ragged School address for
Sunday ; have proposed a Mothers' Meeting there, but
met little encouragement."
Weeks go on in much the same round of work, study,
and devotion.
In October he first saw the Pre-Raphaelite illustrations
to Tennyson, and was immensely impressed by them.
On November 2nd a commission was given to Frederic
Shields which was to change greatly his manner of work,
and which for the first time gave him an opportunity in
design in a subject which roused all his enthusiasm. In
the diary the entry is as follows :
" Wednesday, November 2nd. Called on Crozier and
saw his drawings, which are very clever. Took Old
Ragman to Lomax to mount. To Morton's, Examiner
and Times office, and saw Mr. Rawson ; got near sixty
designs to do for Pilgrim 8 Progress ! God help me to
serve in this, amen. Received from Orrin Smith to-day a
block to draw ' Christmas Eve ' on it. Asked Falkner,
who was very kind and obliging."
The picture, engraved on wood by Orrin Smith, was
reproduced in the Illustrated London News, December
24th, 1859, with the following notice, interesting if only
as an example of contemporary art criticism :
" Mr. Frederic J. Shields, of Hulme, Manchester (an
admirable local artist, and particularly happy in domestic
subjects), has produced a very pretty picture of Christmas
gathering, now the property of George Falkner, Esq., of
A GREAT OPPORTUNITY 61
Manchester, which we have received permission to en-
grave. In this simple production, so full of truly English
nature, we have a couple of children, laden with their
evergreen store, just emerging from the secluded copse
where it had been gathered. They look healthy, happy,
and proud the little one especially of their day's work,
and in the reflection that they have done their share
towards to-morrow's festive display. We wish Mr. Shields
many happy returns of ' Christmas Eve,' and hope he
will produce many more such choice and pleasant sketches
of human life."
" Christmas Eve," renamed the " Holly Gatherers," was
shown at the Exhibition of the work of Frederic Shields
at the Brazenose Club, Manchester, in 1889 ; also in London
at the Memorial Exhibition in 1911.
In after years he wrote of the Pilgrims Progress com-
mission : " Here was a mighty drama, its scene thinly
veiling the invisible world ranging from the City of
Destruction through the Slough of Despond, the deadly
fight of Apollyon, to the triumphant passage of the Black
Styx and the welcome entrance into the New Jerusalem.
Fearful of this chance fading, I tremulously asked 1 each
for the designs, save the ' Vanity Fair ' agreed at 2. The
bargain was struck, and I went to my unlucrative task
happier than if I had struck a gold mine. Now, at last,
my life, I felt, had begun."
There had recently been published an edition of the
Pilgrims Progress, illustrated by C. H. Bennett, with a
preface by Charles Kingsley, to whom Shields now appealed
for advice. His kindly reply explains the nature of the
inquiries :
EVBESLEY RECTORY, WINCHPIELD,
November 29th, 1859.
DEAR SIR, Your letter is sensible and pertinent to the
matter in hand, and I tell you at once what I can.
I think that you overrate the disuse of armour in
62 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Bunyan's day. When the Pilgrim's Progress was written,
it was much gone out ; but in Bunyan's boyhood he must
have seen everywhere old armour hanging up in every
gentleman's or good burgher's house (he would to his
dying day) which had been worn and used by the genera-
tion before him. Allowing as we must in every human
being for the reverence for early impressions, I think his
mind would have pictured to him simply the Elizabethan
and James Ist's armour which he saw hanging in all noble
houses, and in which he may have, as a boy, seen gentle-
men joust, for tilting was not extinct in his boyhood. As
for this co-existing with slop breeches (what we now call
knickerbockers are nothing else), I think you will find
that, as now, country fashions changed slowlier than town.
The pufied trunk hose of 1580-1600 co-existed with the
finest cap-a-pie armour of proof. They gradually in the
country, where they were ill-made, became slops, i.e.
knickerbockers. By that time almost loose and short
cavalie/ breeks had superseded them in the court but
what matter ? The change is far less than that during
1815-1855. The anachronism of putting complete armour
by the side of one drest as Christian as in the frontispiece
of the original edition of the Pilgrims Progress is far less
than putting you by the side of a Lifeguards officer of
1855 ; far less, again, than putting a clod of my parish,
drest as he would have been in A.D. 1100 in smock frock
and leather gaiters, by the side of you or me.
Therefore use without fear the oeautiful armour of the
later years of Elizabeth and the beginning of James 1st,
and all will be really right, and shock nobody. As for
shields, I should use the same time. Shields were common
among serving men in James I. There are several in the
Tower, fitted with a pistol to be fired from the inside, and
a long spike. All are round. I believe that " sword and
buckler play" was a common thing among the country
folk in Bunyan's time. Give your man, then, a circular
shield, such as he would have seen in his boyhood, or
even later, among the retainers of noble houses. As for
the cruelties committed on Faithful for the sake of
humanity don't talk of that. The Puritans were very
cruel in the North American colonies horribly cruel
THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS 63
though nowhere else. But in Bunyan's time the pages
of Leger and Morland show us that in Piedmont, not to
mention the Thirty Years' War in Germany horrors
were being transacted which no pen can describe or pencil
draw. Dear old Oliver Cromwell stopped them in Pied-
mont when he told the Pope that unless they were stopped
English cannon should thunder at the gates of the Vatican.
But no bestiality or cruelty to man or woman, that you
can draw, can equal what was going on on the Continent
from Papist to Protestant during Bunyan's time.
I have now told you all I can. I am very unwell and
forbid to work. Therefore I cannot tell you more; but
what I send, I send with all good wishes to any man who
will be true to art and to his author. Yours faithfully,
C. KINGSLEY.
Most of this letter was printed in the Life and Letters
of Charles Kingsley.
During the next few weeks the diary records much
study of Bunyan's life, contemporary history, authorities
on costume and accessories, searching for models, and
preparing wood blocks. This ill-paid work was soon to
reduce Shields again to the direst poverty. The diary
for 1860 begins to record the expenditure of every hour of
time and every farthing of money with even more rigorous
exactitude than before.
In January he records :
"Saturday, 14th. Rose to 6. W.P. Bkft. Read
I. Sam. To Falkner's, Rowbotham's, Waterhouse's,
Fleming's, and to Rawson's thank God from my heart
got him to promise 3 for the large designs. Reviewed
last year's income from March 15th, being 91. 8. 5., and
the outlay 91. 16. 7|., showing a balance of 8/2| against
me. Arranged the twenty subjects from Pilgrim's Pro-
gress for Rawson's, approved and settled what accessories,
backgrounds, &c., I need in Derbyshire. Read Carlyle's
Cromwell."
64 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
From the 18th to the 27th there are no entries. Pre-
sumably these days were spent sketching in Derbyshire,
for on the 27th the diary records :
" Rose at 7. To Railway Station 8. Manchester 9.
Walk from Ardwick home, put on clean things, cleared
my pockets of Derbyshire accumulations and put all
things straight. Worked at Simple, Sloth, and Presump-
tion. Proof of Christian reading the Book from Swain
unsatisfactory. Out to seek model for head of Presumption,
got an old clothes man. Dinner at 4. Accounts \ past 4.
Dressed and to Armstrong to see his picture had tea
there and played Loto and Schimmel for the first time,
left at 9.30, having been there from 5 o'clock, shameful
waste of God's time entrusted to me. Read Bible, prayer,
bed."
Week after week passes in much the same round of
work.
" February 22nd. Rose 7. Traced Christian at Cross
on wood. To Theatre to borrow dress. To Infirmary to
see poor Jane Hoyle. How thankful should I be that God
gives me health hi spite of my sins and the hardness of
my heart. To Ragged School at a quarter to 7 a rough
night of it there, dreadful. Home 11.30. O Lord, crush
and break my hasty, unmortified temper, Amen, for Thy
Glory's Sake, that my light may shine before men un-
dimmed. Wrote begging time to pay the Poor Rate.
Prayer. Bed.
"March 1st. Rose 7. ' Vanity Fair ' to 3. Dinner. To
town to see G. W. Edmondson about a model for Wanton
in the Pilgrim's Progress. Saw him and arranged to go
with him the whole round of the scenes of Manchester
dissipation. Got tea first, and then to the Canterbury
Hall, next to the Dog, then the Shakespeare, and at
12 o'clock to the Egyptian Hall, where I staid sketching
till 3 A.M. Having had a terrible row with two of the
H
CO
THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS 65
girls about it, I was most mercifully preserved from harm.
To the Shakespeare again just as it was closing, and home
to Edmondson's by 4.30. Bed. I could not pray, for I have
sinned and I fear wilfully led both Edmondson and myself
into temptation, and though the Lord has preserved us
from outward evil, this lessens not my crime.
" March 12th. Rose at 8. Out to look for model for
Christian. Drew him until 2. Prepared blocks and
traced. Morton called at 9 P.M. and brought a sketch he
wanted making of Star the horse-tamer. Thank God, for
I had no money left. Did it by 2.30 A.M. Got 10/- for it.
Prayer. Bed at 3.
"March 2th. Rose at 5. Lit fire. Made extracts
from Bunyan's Heavenly Footman. Traced Faithful and
Wanton. Sorted portfolio for drawings to finish, by which
to make some money. Sketched Moses and Faithful.
John Taylor called. Got him to stand for Faithful. Went
to Ragged School in evening. Mrs. Poynter did not come,
and I found myself left to teach the Mothers' class, an
awkward place, but I received strength. Went to see
Gibbs after, and we resolved to write seventy letters to
the people around, on their souls. Bed at 12."
In May he is still working at the Pilgrims Progress
designs, notably the "Good Shepherd" and the "Man
with a Muck Rake," finding the proofs from the wood
blocks still unsatisfactory. Blank pages in June indicate
another sketching expedition, this time to Disley. In
July he begins the wonderful design of "Vanity Fair"
and records " Failure after failure."
During the latter months of this year he heard of the
serious illness of his young brother Horace, who had been
working at his situation as compositor, but now developed
the malady which had caused the death of all the other
members of the family. Frederic Shields now sadly
journeyed to London to visit the sick boy. Horace Shields
E
66 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
died in Brompton Hospital on November 19th, at the age
of eighteen. Long hours of work in an ill-ventilated
printing-room from the age of thirteen, with scanty pay
and indifferent food, gave him little chance of resisting
the disease to which he was doubtless predisposed. From
his letters he would appear to have had a lively disposi-
tion. He seldom wrote to his brother Frederic, though
he once returned to Manchester for a few days when his
brother Edwin was ill. His boyish letters are singularly
cheerful, although he was often out of work and always
desperately poor. For his unfortunate brother, Edwin, he
had a great affection, and whenever he had a few pence to
spare from his wretched wages he sent them cheerfully to
Edwin when he was ill in Jersey.
The pages of Shields' diary are again blank for several
days, only the date of the youngest brother's death being
recorded.
During the following year the entries continue. The
first design for "Vanity Fair" was abandoned after six
months' work for a better conception, and when this was
finished the artist felt that he had accomplished something
which showed he had higher powers than those required
for " mere rustic subjects." 1
In May 1861 we still see notes of work at "Vanity
Fair."
"May 18th. Rose 7. Practice from Holbein. Sim-
plicity of shading, arranging ornaments for lady's dress.
Wrote to Editor Once a Week. Sketched dress of court
lady and two spaniels, fan, and wig of King. To Free
Library.
" May 20th.' Vanity Fair.' Legs of King. The poet's
1 In 1912 a portfolio containing many of Shields' studies for these
wonderful designs was offered for sale in the collection of the late Mr.
Richard Johnson, an early patron of Shields. These drawings (of which
two are here reproduced) were purchased by the Victoria and Albert
Museum, where the interesting collection can now be seen.
o
a!
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in
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a
u
"VANITY FAIR" 67
hair, face, and leg. To see Gibbs, very ill, rubbed him.
Saw Dr. Brown who told me my lungs are sound. I have
reason indeed to be thankful to God if it is so. Sinned
by staying with William Gibbs too long and breaking my
vow of work. Drew poet and University man.
" Tuesday, June 18th. Finished ' Vanity Fair ' by 12
o'clock. Rid up back room of prints, draperies, &c.
Began letter to Ruskin, and prepared colour box to
paint."
Swain had engraved several of the smaller drawings to
the artist's entire satisfaction, but some had been proved
to lose much by the wire-like line of the engraver. For
this wonderful drawing of "Vanity Fair," on which he
had lavished so much work and care, he felt more anxious
and sought the advice of Ruskin as to an engraver who
could do justice to the work. But Ruskin was abroad,
and a faded letter dated " Denmark Hill, June 25th, 1861,"
signed "John James Ruskin," explains: "My son left
home a week ago, exhausted with seeing people and writing
letters and troubled with a cough. Having permission to
open all letters addressed to him, I may say, in reply to
yours of yesterday, that it will be laid before my son
on his return from the Continent, which (D.V.) may be
before October."
No doubt Shields felt bitterly disappointed by this
letter, for October would be too late, and the engraving
could not be delayed so long. Evidently Ruskin already
knew something of Shields' work, probably from a visit to
the Manchester School of Art, where Mr. Hammersley,
the headmaster, might have mentioned the young man
who came to study there in the evenings. In any case,
Mr. Ruskin, senior, changed his mind and forwarded the
letter promptly, for in a note dated " Poste Restante,
Boulogne-sur-Mer, June 28th," Ruskin writes : " I have
just received your note of the 25th from my father.
68 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
I have been going to write to Mr. Hammersley to ask
about you, over and over again you know you left
several of your proofs and sketches with me, they were
taken care of. Please write to above address and tell me
what you wished to tell me, and let me hear about your
work."
The photograph from the drawing on the wood was
then sent to Ruskin, who again writes :
BOULOGNE, 7th July 1861.
MY DEAR MR. SHIELDS, I have the photograph quite
safely. I think the design quite magnificent full of
splendid power.
I wish you could send me a photograph not enlarged,
and more sharp, to give me some idea of the drawing,
which I shoula think must be wonderful, and quite
beyond the power of any woodcutter I know. I will think
about it and write you more when I receive your second
packet. Most truly yours, J. RUSKIN.
F. J. Shields, Esq.
If there is any question about expense in the cutting,
I shall be most nappy to contribute towards having it
done well. But I fear no money can get it done.
The diary continues :
"July 9th. Wrote seven page letter to Ruskin.
Finished ' Robber Monk.' Altered ' Vanity Fair ' previous
to having a new photograph taken. To Rawson's, got 2
extra for ' Vanity Fair.' Thank God, what a relief.
" Jvly 15th. Finished Charley Falkner's portrait. Mr.
Falkner paid me. Put away all wood drawing apparatus.
Arranged fruit to paint. Cleaned windows. Read
Matt. 13th.
"September. Wrote to the papers against the Hulme
Wakes. Put figures into RothwelTs drawing. Mounted
THE ROBBER SAINT
Drawn on Wood for " Once a Week," 1861
RUSKIN'S ADVICE 69
paper. Went to Moseley to sketch, very threatening,
but the rain kept off, and I made two pencil sketches of
heather and gorse. Rained pell mell on the way to Staley
Bridge. The wakes on there, too. Waited an hour for a
train, got off at Ardwick and forgot my sketching stool.
Rushed back, past 10, but no use, someone had taken it.
Ruskin writes again :
BOULOGNE, 3rd August 1861.
DEAR MR. SHIELDS, I have not been ill ; but idle
at least I was ill when I wrote you last, and have been
resting since. The photo arrived quite safe but I have
not been able to attend to any business since and really
getting this drawing engraved is no small piece of business.
I expect my assistant from London very soon now, and
will consult with him and write to you.
Nothing can be more wonderful than this drawing
but I think your conception of Christian false Christian
was no Puritan.
I consider Puritanism merely pachydermatous Christi-
anity, apt to live in mud.
But you need study among the higher Italians you
have been too much among the Northerners. Ever faith-
fully yours, J. RUSKIN.
Little did the great man know that the artist was
starving in a mean lodging, living on a few shillings a
week so that he might be able to devote himself to a task
that fed his soul's desire. His entire expenses from March
to July in this year exclusive of seven shillings a week
for rent amounted to 4, 15s. 8d. about 5s. a week.
Eventually " Vanity Fair " was engraved to the artist's
complete satisfaction by Gaber, who reproduced so many
of Richter's beautiful drawings.
The wonderful Pilgrims Progress designs were pub-
lished, to the artist's disappointment, not as originally
intended, with the complete letterpress, but merely as a
70 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
series of illustrations, bound as a thin volume, with brief
quotations applying to the designs. In this year Frederic
Shields also contributed several drawings on wood to
Once a Week. At the end of the year he went back to
Porlock to recruit the losses incurred during so long a
period of ill-paid work, by returning to the water-colours,
which always found a ready sale. He remained at Porlock
during the whole of 1862, except for a week's visit to
London in June, producing many exquisite pictures of
rustic life in its most poetic aspect. Its picturesqueness
was vanishing even then, improved means of transit and
communication had already begun to infect the remotest
country village with the latest and most hideous of town
fashions. The delightful rustics in their smocks, the
innocent-faced children scaring birds, the placid mothers
in their sunbonnets, the old beehive-maker, the romantic
miller's boy, the girl handing straw to the thatcher,
these we shall see no more.
The diary continues its record of work day by day :
" January 9th. Rose at 6. W.P.B. Painted at small
sketch of the Orphans. Made sketch of interior of cottage.
To Luccombe, but on the way met with a girl keeping
birds, so capital that I stopped at once, drew her until
4. Home. Dined 7. Prayer meeting for Missionaries,
America, Jews, Religious liberty in Europe and East, and
the destruction of all anti-Christian error. Had elderberry
wine at Mr. Brown's resolved to take no more. Decided
to paint ' Hide a stick in a little hole.' "
Copies of the Pilgrims Progress woodcuts were sent
to Charles Kingsley, whose advice had been so helpful to
the artist, and were acknowledged as follows :
EVERSLKY RECTORY, WINCHPIBLD,
January llth, 1862.
MY DEAR MR. SHIELDS, Business has hitherto pre-
vented my acknowledging your kind letter and the
CHARLES KINGSLEY 71
drawings. Now I have time to say, that I cannot suffi-
ciently admire them. With strong individuality, and
varied imagination, here is real beauty of form, without
which I care for nothing. It seems to me that you are
about to become one of the first designers in Europe, and
I trust that you will spare no time or pains to make your-
self such. I think the period which you have fixed is
quite the right one. It may be a little late, but it is the
Siecle Louis XIV., which endured through Cromwell's
time also. It is " the world " against which Bunyan and
George Fox testified. I hope to see and hear more of you.
You must come down and see me here in the course of the
Spring or Summer. Yours faithfully,
C. KINGSLEY.
"What Mr. Buskin says," alluded to in Kingsley's
next letter, possibly refers to some theory expressed in his
books, and not necessarily to any advice given to Frederic
Shields personally, for though all Ruskin's letters appear
to have been preserved, there are none between that of
August 3rd and February 28th, when this next letter from
Kingsley is written.
EVERSLEY RECTORY, WINOHPIELD,
February 28th, 1862.
MY DEAR SIR, Don't mind what Mr. Ruskin says. He
is too apt to "bind heavy burdens and grievous to be
borne, and touch them not himself with one of his fingers."
The plain fact is, God has given you a great talent, where-
by you may get an honest livelihood. Take that as God's
call to you, and follow it out. As for the sins of youth,
what says the 130th Psalm ? " If Thou, Lord, were ex-
treme to mark what is done amiss, who could abide it ? "
But there is mercy with Him, therefore shall He be feared.
And how to fear God I know not better than by working
on the speciality which He has given us, trusting to Him
to make it of use to His creatures if He needs us, and if
He does not, perhaps so much the better for us. He can
do His work without our help. Therefore fret not nor be
of doubtful mind. But just do the duty which lies nearest
which seems to me to be, to draw as you are drawing
72 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
now. I showed your drawings to my friend Bennett, who
lately illustrated the Pilgrim's Progress, and without
rivalry or jealousy, he was astonished and delighted at
them, and said he knew a great deal more excellent work
of yours. Yours ever faithfully, C. KINGSLEY.
"February 18th. So dark I could not work at Bird
Keeper girl, so began crocus and withy. Difficulty in
getting the purple colour did all in body colour. Walked
too much uphill, hand shook on return. Had I carefully
set to draw this withy with pen and ink, and then washed
it, and touched on the lights, I should have done it better
in half the time, learned more, strengthened my hand,
and had something to keep for my pains. All this I have
lost by hurry."
In the first few months of this year, columns of the
diary are ruled off and headed Work, Walk, Dine, Read,
Study, Letters, Omissions. Under these headings the
hours devoted to each subject are recorded, and the
Omissions include such lapses from the strict routine he
had mapped out, as " read newspaper half an hour longer
than I ought," " stopped an hour instead of half an hour
with Mr. Brown, very wrong, ought to have used that half
hour for Sunday School lesson," " Slothfully stood half an
hour before fire folly sleepy in consequence," " Coldness
in prayer," "Painted ribbon three times over through
carelessness." Mr. Brown, the same neighbour who sup-
plied the elderberry wine after the missionary meeting on
" religious liberty and the destruction of all Anti-Christian
error," was the local clergyman. Shields interested him-
self greatly in the Sunday school, which he mentions
having found sadly neglected through lack of teachers.
His friend, the Evangelical preacher in Manchester, had
failed to persuade him to devote himself to preaching, but
doubts evidently still occasionally entered his mind, which
MORE ADVICE FROM RUSKIN 73
the following letter from Ruskin surely did much to
dispel :
NOETHWICH, CHESHIRE,
March 28th.
MY DEAR SIR, I was away from home when your
interesting letter came. No idea can be less justifiable
than that you have of your own inferiority. I know no one
in England who could have made that drawing of the
Pilgrim's Progress but yourself. Even should you never
be able to colour, you may perhaps be more useful, and
if that is any temptation to you more celebrated, than
any painter of the day. What you want is general taste
and larger experience of men and things. I cannot re-
commend you to pursue colour until I see some of your
attempts at it. When you have leisure to set to work for
a serious trial, I will send you anything you want of books,
and a little bit of Hunt's to look at or copy, and we'll have
a talk about it. Meantime, do put the idea of giving up
art out of your head, as you would that of suicide, if it
comes into it. I hope to be at home early next week.
Most truly yours, J. RUSKIN.
This letter is printed in the Life and Letters of John
Ruskin with the date given as 1865, but as a matter of
fact the original letter is not dated at all, and it is obvi-
ously written in 1862, when Shields was in such doubt as
to what to do next, and before he had met Ruskin.
" May 1st. Began sketch of Carter's boy with baby.
Painted boy in blue slop with pop-gun. To cottages to
sketch backgrounds. To Mr. Floyd's, too much levity and
griggishness. God forgive me.
" May llth. Walked to Minehead down the quay and
to the church. Sketched backgrounds."
In June the diary is blank for a week, save for the
words " week in London to see exhibitions."
The water-colours painted at this time found ready
sale, either to private collectors, or through his dealer
friend in Manchester, John Rowbotham. Mr. Rowbotham
74 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
was described in later years by Shields as " a man of
sterling worth and simplicity of character, an upright
Christian, a fair Greek scholar, and a leader in a little
gathering of Plymouth Brethren. His wife overwhelmed
me, then a lonely youth, with motherly kindness, and the
elder daughter became a dear trusted friend, ever ready,
in the business wherein she was her father's right hand,
to speak in my interests with the wealthy buyers who
frequented the shop." Many evenings were spent, when
in Manchester, with the Rowbothams, and many ara the
entries recording " Stayed too late at Rowbotham's after
supper." Shields had numerous anecdotes of the picture-
dealing trade in those days, he used to relate how Mr.
Rowbotham attended a sale at a mansion some distance
out of Bristol, and bought for a few shillings a large
aquatint as he supposed obscured by a very dirty
glass. The way to the railway station led by a muddy
path, and in a storm of wind and rain the encumbrance of
this large frame made him half inclined to cast it away.
However, he struggled on, and it was duly put into the
shop, where Frederic Shields saw it. One of Rowbotham's
clients saw it, too, and suspecting it to be something other
than was supposed, bought it for a small sum, and dis-
covered, on removing the grimy glass, that he had a
superb drawing by old Cousins, of the Tiber, with the
Castle of St. Angelo for its dominant feature. Years
passed by and Shields again saw the picture occupying a
place of honour at the Grosvenor Gallery and a centre of
interest in the Art world. Mr. Rowbotham's simplicity of
character perhaps made him rather unfit to cope with some
of his unscrupulous trade rivals. Shields had another story
of how, in looking through the portfolios at the shop, he
saw a brilliant study by William Hunt, of the vertical
depth of a sand-pit, with a narrow slip of sky and a cottage
seen above, evidently painted in pure delight of the golden
PORLOCK 75
colour, but utterably unsaleable. It long lay in the shop
and then disappeared. Some time after, Rowbotham
asked Shields his opinion of an oval drawing, a sprig of
holly and a snail shell, which he had bought as a William
Hunt. At a glance, Shields exclaimed that it was not
Hunt's work, then on examining it, that the shell and
holly were not Hunt's, and yet he could swear to the
background being his. Then he asked Rowbotham what
had become of the sand-pit study. "I exchanged it,"
said he, " with some other drawings, to a Birmingham
dealer." " Then, my friend," said Shields, " it has come
back to you with the forged holly and the shell added."
Rowbotham had paid 60 for the drawing, but the Bir-
mingham impostor gave way in fear and returned the
money.
To go back to the diary and Porlock.
The country children were not always the most docile
models.
" July 31st Tried to paint baby in cart, only did a
bit of its pinafore. Got Elizabeth at 11, obstinately lazy
she was, could do nothing with her, gave up, fearful head-
ache with the fight. Went for walk round Lord Love-
lace's and back by the Linton Road. Visited the sick
girl, Floyd. Read and prayed.
" October 31st Rose 6.30. W.P.B. Got old Jan from
9 to 11, only painted his hand in the time. Painted in
piece of boat wreck until 1.30. Packed up traps to go
back to Porlock. Terrible day to drive over Exmoor. At
the bottom of the hill I was thrown out, the gig upsetting
in the dark. A miraculous preservation. Let it make
me thankful and watchful. ' In an hour when we think
not.' Got a hearty tea and sat, much in pain, with four
men who came from a day's hunting and had ordered a
huge bowl of Punch.
"November 1st. Rose 7.30, Very windy with fitful
76 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
showers of rain. Went to Porlock Weir, but could do
nothing for wind. Made a sketch on road back of some
boys with boats, playing in stream. Made sketch of girl
with fork and straw at thatching. Made sketches of ex-
teriors until dusk. Had a glass of cider at a farmer's
invitation. Read Ruskin. Mended books and arranged
things. Prayer. Bed 10.30."
Early in January 1863 he left Porlock with much
regret at parting with his many humble friends there
the two maiden ladies, the Misses Pulsford, with whom he
had lodged, the hospitable vicar, to whom he had given
much assistance with tjie Sunday school, and many
another kindred spirit.
THE DECISION OF FAITH
Designs for Defoe's " Plague of London " (i)
From the original study now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
CHAPTER V
Return to Manchester Sketching in Cumberland Designs for Defoe's
Plague Visit to London William Hunt sale First meeting with
Rossetti Madox Brown Butterworth and his landscapes Rossetti's
first letter Description of "Vanity Fair" Ruskin again Charles
Keene Finding Professor Scott, his father's cousin.
THE house in Manchester had apparently been left empty
while he was in Porlock, and the diary soon goes on much
as before :
" April IQth. Began Plague drawings. Got Huddle-
stone for model. Traced Hogarth's Madhouse. Tried to
paint at Beehive, very low and dull. Gave up. Studied
Burnet's Education of the Eye. So foolish as to call on
Gibbs after 10 last night, staid longer than I meant, as
usual, and so slept an hour too late this morning. Lord,
forgive my manifold offences."
The diary is somewhat irregularly kept this year. A
few weeks were spent at Walton, Cumberland, with his
friend, Tom Rothwell.
"Thursday, June 25th. Rose 6. W.P.B. To Mr.
Pooley's. He bought drawing of Wood Boy, very kind.
Promised I would call when I had another drawing.
Finished Plague Stricken Field. Traced and began Dead
Cart. Worked at Plague six hours. Wrote letters, But-
terworth, Spottiswoode. Bed 11."
A grim little note, written about this time by a medical
friend, requested admission to a " dead-house " for " Mr.
F. Shields, an artist who desires to sketch some bodies."
" June 29#t. Traced Solomon Eagle."
77
78 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
This is considered one of the finest of his grand series
of drawings for Defoe's Plague of London. A water-
colour version of the same design is in the Manchester
Art Gallery.
The series of designs for the Plague of London, which
drew such praise from Ruskin and Rossetti, were unfor-
tunately, in the opinion of the artist, ruined in the cutting.
He had the drawings on the wood photographed, and they
are happily thus preserved, though very few copies of the
photographs are now in existence. The book was pub-
lished in a cheap, paper-covered series, entitled Laurie s
Shilling Entertainment Library, engraved by Swain and
Morton. The book is not in the British Museum, and is
apparently not to be procured. The disappointment at
the reproduction of these wonderful drawings probably
finally decided Shields against doing any more drawings
on wood, and made him return to his water-colours again.
In January 1864 he is working at "Bo-Peep" and the
" Girl with Pickel," from a sketch at Porlock.
" January 2oth. Finished ' Boo.' To town. Sold
it to Mr. Rawdon, 20. Looked for model, called at
Agnew's, and Mitchell's. He showed me all Bradley's
drawings what a reproof to my indolence and fastidious-
ness. To Free Library, to collect costume, to Crozier's
about dresses and armour.
" January 29th. Got room cleaned. To look for old
velvet frock at Knott Mill. Sold my Plague sketches to
Mr. Barrett, 5."
This entry is especially interesting. The final draw-
ings, as already mentioned, were ruined by the engraver.
At the Memorial Exhibition in London in the autumn of
1911, all that could be shown was a set of photographs
taken from the drawings on wood before cutting, kindly
lent by Mrs. Fowler. A few months later, in January
1912, these original sketches were discovered in a Man-
SOLOMOX EAGLE
Design for Defoe's " Plague of London " (2)
From the original study now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
MEETING ROSSETTI 79
Chester sale-room. Two Manchester men (Councillor
Butterworth and Mr. Roger Oldham) recognised them,
and with fine public spirit surrendered their rights in the
purchase to the Art Gallery Committee.
"March l&th. Prepared new colour box. Study for
' Cutting Loaf.' Tried coloured sketch for ' Turmit.' To
train to see Sheffield flood. Back at 11. Safe. Thank
my Heavenly Father.
" March IQth. Sketch of Sheffield Flood. Touched up
Plague photographs for Sir Walter James and Dr. White-
head. Painted background of 'Cutting Bread.' Out to
sketch cat at Booth's. Went to see poor old Stones.
Ragged School 9.
" March 28th. Models came. Worked at ' Playing
Toys.' Finished ' Cutting Bread,' to town with it at 1.
Mr. Salomons bought it 35, leaving me option of offering
it to Agnew."
In May 1864 he paid a memorable visit to London,
and first met Rossetti. Apparently one object of this
journey was to attend the sale at Christie's of William
Hunt's sketches and pictures, some of which Shields
bought for his friends Rowbotham and M'Connell, and
one or two sketches he was able to purchase for himself,
having been advised by Ruskin to study Hunt's colour.
" May 13th. To Station by 9. Too early. By God's
mercy preserved safe to London by 2.30. Straight to old
Hunt sale. There till 6. Dined. Looked for lodgings,
got very comfortable at 36 Norfolk Street,
"May 14th. Rose 6. W.P. Out at 8. Breakfast at
Coffee house. To see Swain. To old Hunt sale till 1.
To National Gallery. To British Museum, made notes
of Lycian Bas Reliefs. Tea Walked to City through
Newgate.
"May IQth. To Old Water Colour Society at 7.30
until 12. To Christie's sale. Bought for Mr. M'Connell
80 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
48, 10s., for Mr. Rowbotham 40, 10s., self 5, 5. To
Armstrong's at 5. Went to see Mother's house, 39 Stan-
hope Street.
" Tuesday, llih. To Academy, National Gallery.
Old Hunt's sale. To G. Butterworth, Thornton Heath."
George Butterworth was originally a carpenter. He
had been a student in Ruskin's classes at the Working
Men's College, and was at one time Ruskin's assistant.
This characteristic letter must have been written earlier
in this year.
6 CANTERBURY TEBBACE, THORNTON HEATH,
LONDON, February 1th.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, When was it I heard from you
last ? certainly not since the last time ! Has the iron of
adversity entered so deep into your soul, or a plethora
of success so obfusticated your mental vision tnat you
cannot strain your eyes Croydonwards for a brief space,
or is it only that, like Van Amburgh's lions, you refuse to
roar without being poked up ? Well, now, consider vour-
self poked up and roar accordingly. Roar an you like as
Bottom the Weaver would have done as gently as any
sucking dove, but roar, roar, roar ! ! J
Are you ever coming to London again, or have you
been and gone again, without the least intention of
extending your journey to here? Answer me that,
you ! ! ! It is astonishing how little I get to see of the
Exhibitions now. I suppose if I were 200 miles away I
should come up and see them all, but being so near you
will at once understand how impossible it is to visit any.
Well, now, what are you doing ? I am just managing
to keep my head above water, and only just. I think I
am improving in my work, however, I am at any rate
commencing a new game a game that everybody else
began long ago. I now keep my outdoor work to make
clear and clean drawings from at the easel and find it very
satisfactory. I am alas, however, occasionally bowled for
want of a few eyes in my pictures, dots or figures, &c.
Now I want to ask if I were to send down a few things
occasionally, could you find time and inclination to do the
DEATH OF THE FIRST-BORN
Designs for Defoe's " Plague of London" (3)
From the original study now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
AN AMUSING LETTER 81
necessary ? I can always trust to your judgment and your
work assimilates to mine in execution better than that of
any of my friends who have hitherto obliged me. You
have been a rare good fellow to me always in that respect,
and I had nothing to repay you with but thanks, but now
I should not permit that to suffice, and I can repay you in
a way that you will, I think, have no compunction in
according to. I have lately come into collusion with an
old gentleman who stupidly took a fancy to a number of
my things done within these last few years, and he raked
out an old folio containing treasures and treasures ! Prout,
De Wint, Girtin, Robson, Turner, John Lewis ! I Oh spare
me and he was barbarous enough to barter some of these
old musty things for my beautiful clean drawings ! Wasn't
I an ass ! Well, never mind, I've sold some of them for
a little more than I could have sold my own drawings for,
and some I have not about a score or more. There are
one or two among them would please you. I shall be
happy, at any rate, to pay you in that way for what you
do for me don't say nay. All my work now is about
fifteen inches by ten in size, and is chiefly old ruins,
churches, abbeys, castles, &c. If I have ever anything
more important, such as commissions, I shall feel bound
to pay you in coin. Now are you coming up, and when ?
Remember we have a bed for you, no cock, nor sparrows
now, go to bed at ten and oatmeal porridge for breakfast
such as you get at ! !
Now roar! Mrs. Butterworth desires her kindest re-
membrances to you. Thine faithfully,
G. BUTTERWORTH.
Some months later, Shields, as we have read, was in
London, and his diary records a visit to G. Butterworth.
" May 18th. With G. Butterworth to Old Hunt's sale
at Christie's. Ordered packing of drawings. To T.
Armstrong's.
"May 19th. To National Gallery, copied Memling's
' Holy Family ' to 4.30. To train 5, missed it. Went up
Monument. Glorious scene. Croydon 20 to 7. Stayed
with G. Butterworth.
F
82 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" May 2,0th. With Butterworth, put in his cows and
figures until 7 P.M. Had a short conversation with him
on Eternal things. Train to London at 9.30. Terrible
Thunder storm."
More than forty years later, in one of his loose sheets
of notes, Shields wrote ; " Butterworth essayed in feeble
fashion to paint landscapes, these he importuned me to
enrich with figures, and, unwillingly, I yielded. I visited
London in 1864, and hearing me express fervent admira-
tion for Rossetti's designs, he told me that, through
Ruskin, he was sufficiently acquainted with him to dare
to introduce his lowly worshipper. Rossetti was then
busy upon his David ; part of the triptych for Asaph
Cathedral."
Evidently the visit to Rossetti was made on the very
day after he left Butterworth, for the diary records :
"May 2lst. To Rossetti's studio. He painting his
David. A great day for me, to be praised by him. Intro-
duced to Sandys and Legros."
The account written in later years continues :
" Rossetti's graciousness of manner abides vividly with
me. He left a small group of friends and drew me into
an embrasure of the long room that was his studio, look-
ing out upon the spacious back garden. Face to face, I
felt such a sense of littleness as I have never experienced
in contact with any man but himself. This, through the
long years of intimacy that followed, never diminished
but increased. With trembling I showed him a few
designs, he expressing admiration that made me wonder.
He accompanied me to the street door, and as we parted,
I said something to the effect of the incompetency of my
strivings never can I forget the impulsive generosity
that responded ' Tut, tut, you design better than any of
us, but cultivate your imagination.' His freedom from
envy of any of his fellows, either in Art or Poetry, singled
THE PLAGUE PIT
Designs for Defoe's " Plague of London " (4)
From the original study now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
ROSSETTI'S FIRST LETTER 83
him out. An introduction to Madox Brown followed, who
said little to my work, and that wholesomely corrective of
any feelings of elation."
" May 23rd. To Sir W. James, Whitehall. To Madox
Brown's. To National Gallery.
" May 2bth. To Kensington, Study of Hogarth, studied
antiques there ; to West Croydon with Butterworth.
"May 2,8th. To Armstrong's, with him to Poynter's
and Bridgewater Gallery.
"June 4th. To Sir W. James, received commission
for 100 picture. To Burne-Jones. Train to Manchester.
By God's blessing safe home again at 7. To Rowbotham's.
Bed 11.30.
"June 1th. Mounted and packed three sets of photos
of Plague drawings for Ruskin, Kingsley, and Rossetti."
The following appears to be the first letter received by
Shields from Rossetti. It accompanied a copy of his Early
Italian Poets, inscribed, " To Frederic Shields, with friendly
regards. D. G. Rossetti. 1864."
16 CHEYNE WALK, CHELSEA,
14th June 1864.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I should have answered your
letter before, but had to send for the book, which has
only just reached me. It goes with this, and as it is
Dante's and other men's not mine I am happy in feel-
ing sure that it is worth offering you. I should like much
to have some day an opportunity of showing you various
water-colour drawings I have made at different times
from the Vita Nuova, but they are scattered in different
hands. Perhaps I may yet do better ones from the same
source if youth be not necessary to the illustrating as well
as to the writing of such a book. I feel sure the book will
be a new pleasure to you.
Many thanks for your admirable designs, which others
will enjoy here besides myself. When I see you again, I
hope I may have some photographs of my own to offer
you. Yours very truly, D. G. ROSSETTI.
F. Shields, Esq.
84 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
P. S. In Part I. of the volume, poems which I think
would please you are to be found among those of Guido
Guinicelli, Giacomino Pugliesi, Francesco da Barberino,
and Fazio degli Uberti.
"June 25th. Went down to Knott Mill Fair, back
at 11. Worked at 'Turmit' and 'Spinning Wheel.' To
Mr. Craven's to see his drawings, great pleasure. Writing
out ' Vanity Fair ' description."
" The period chosen for the illustration," wrote Shields,
" is the middle of the reign of Charles the Second. First,
because it is Bunyan's own time ; second, because never
was the Fair in England brisker or more bravely attired.
The two companion pilgrims are supposed to be torn
asunder in the tumult. This favours the division of
the subject into two heads, under which, and holding
out their peculiar temptations to diverse minds, may
be included all the wares and delights of this world.
Christian, who was led astray by Worldly Wiseman at the
outset of his pilgrimage, is here exposed to the snares of
worldly honours, riches, and the indulgence of so-called
refined tastes. Faithful, who was before tempted by
Madame Wanton and the Old Adam, is shown, subject to
the like trial here. Christian, with eyes averted heaven-
wards, clutches fast that truth which he will not exchange
for all the riches of the Fair. Then first, to Christian's
right, the soldier offering military glory such as was then
dispensed to the bloody Colonel Kirke, whose horrible
barbarities in Somersetshire, and his flag's ensign, procured
his ruffian soldiers the name of ' Kirke's Lambs.' Next to
him, the Duke, advertising titles, honours, &c., and offer-
ing for sale a patent of nobility. Behind him, the Lord
Chancellor, displaying his placard, hung with bribes, and
advertising lives, lands, &c. Above him, a Court Fool,
elevated on a man's shoulders, having robbed Christian
DESCRIPTION OF "VANITY FAIR" 85
of his hat, indicates the world's estimate of the Christian
pilgrim by crowning him with his own fool's cap and bells.
Below, a courtier poet, dressed in the extreme of the
fashion, proffers him the laurel crown. On the other side
of Christian, a Bully Lawyer puffs tobacco smoke into
his face. A Merchant, with his bale, cash bags, ledger,
and tile of accounts, thrusts back the Tall Jockey (they
were not light weights), who would press forward in the
interests of the Turf. Next are the Jew Usurer and the
Jeweller ; and immediately behind Christian a Trumpeter,
who hopes to provoke a laugh at Christian's start from
his rude alarm. Then is seen the Recorder of London
in his fur cap offering civic honours ; while above the
Merchant another holds up his book, and offers the
services of a venal pen. Next to the Merchant, the
University Dignitary, with cap doffed obsequiously proffers
university honours ; and before him the Painter, enraged
at Christian's refusal to so much as look on his unchaste
picture of a classic amour. Next, a Sculptor, with a like
lascivious group, and the Musician. Returning to the
opposite side ; the foremost figures on the steps of the
Royal Show are the King, with a tray like a pedlar, hung
from and filling which are orders, spurs (knighthoods),
field marshals' batons, warrants, pardons, &c., for sale.
The King's Lady Favourite is receiving from the French
Ambassador a bribe, a Jesuit backing up the transaction.
A black Page supports her train, and turns to laugh at the
cruel amusement of the dwarf, who pinches the spaniel's
ear. The Little Lady below draws nearer to her the
jewelled Star of the Garter, and the boy, bedizened in the
mode, rides his hobby-horse like his elders. Above, a
lady, disguised as a page, overtly receives a kiss from a
Courtier. Higher, a Bishop and a Roman Catholic ecclesi-
astic hand and glove together. Courtiers, ladies, and
bullies crowd the steps up to the railed division ; beyond
86 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
which bishops and collegians struggle for preferment; a
noble above holding the archiepiscopal mitre for disposal.
Mixed with these, and invited upwards by the Garter
King at Arms, another set fight for the possession of
coronets of all degrees a duchess handing down an Earl's
coronet to some bidder. The Royal Crown itself is in
front, guarded by the Yeomen, and ticketed at 800,000
(Charles II is reported to have offered it to the Duke of
Monmouth for that sum). Above, the Royal Show is
hung with the Chancellor's bag, and other insignia of
office, with the escutcheon of a member of the Royal
Family, bearing the bar sinister. Beyond these is the
Judges' seat, where the Butcher Jeffreys is receiving a
bribe from a masked lady, his low companions carousing
around him. This side being completed by the Theatre,
with the crowd pouring in ; and another popular spectacle,
the Gallows, decorated with three dangling figures. Nearly
lost in the distant crowd is Faithful, with fingers in ears,
and eyes shut against the words and charms of the women
who mockingly pull him ; while one of their male com-
panions crushes his hat over his face. Drunkards, one a
woman, make the foreground of this group. Another has
pawned all but his breeches at the sign above, linked in
partnership with the Red Lion, for which the pawnbroker
is the provider, as indicated by the jackal's head support-
ing the three balls. An overturned stool, cards, and
money, with the bloody knife among them, show how this
play has ended. Above the half-naked drunkard is
Hopeful, himself as yet a slave to vice, but moved with
sympathy for Faithful, which is noted by the Mounte-
bank, who turns to jeer him by pretending that he too is
going to pray. From the balcony above a female is setting
fire with a lighted torch to the Bible, which a halberdier
has hoisted up for this end. A carriage going to a rout.
A bombastic statue, in periwig and Roman armour, tramp-
LETTER TO RUSKIN 87
ling on the world. An auctioneer selling slaves (which
was publicly done at this time in England). Dancing and
other booths ; a Tailor's display ; a Rope Performer as
Mercury descending ; and Temple Bar adorned with grisly
heads ; the then new Cathedral of St. Paul's overtopping
all."
A rough draft of a letter dated June 5th, 1864, shows
that Ruskin sent a message through Butterworth asking
Shields to write to him, and explaining that only illness
had prevented his writing further about the engraving of
" Vanity Fair." Shields says that Ruskin had declined to
recommend him to pursue colour until he had seen his
attempts at it (referring evidently to his letter in March
1862 ; but adds : " I think I might be able to send you
one shortly if shame of the poor thing do not prevent me ;
yet Rossetti, to whom I showed two unfinished drawings,
did not disapprove of their colour."
Whether this letter was sent to Ruskin we cannot say ;
but the document goes on to mention that as Ruskin
attached so much importance to William Hunt's work, he
determined to possess something by him if opportunity
ever served, and had therefore bought, at the sale of
Hunt's sketches, a small study of a boy's head and a nude
life study, both most powerfully painted. Shields mentions
his own designs for Defoe's Plague of London, photographs
of which he seems to have sent to Ruskin, explaining that
they were slightly executed for the engraver's sake, as he
was to receive little for cutting them. No other opportu-
nity, he says, has been given to him for designing on
wood ; but if it had, he would not have been eager to
embrace it, so much does the work suffer in the reproduc-
tion. " So I have been compelled to go on with colour draw-
ings of rustic subjects, in which I have been so successful
as always to sell ; my object being to gather a little money
as a capital to fall back upon in the prosecution of more
88 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
important works, the beginning of which is the execution
of a drawing for which I have received the noble commis-
sion of 100."
This evidently refers to the commission from Sir Walter
James. Ruskin replied with a warmly enthusiastic letter,
in which he says : " I do not know any modern work which
has impressed me with so much sense of a sterling, manly
power of imaginative realisation as these Plague woodcuts
of yours. They are quite magnificent. I shall feel it the
merest and highest presumption to pretend to any power
of guiding or advising you. A designer of your calibre
can only do what he ought, and he only knows what he
ought."
Ruskin goes on to say that he may regret an artist's
bias, " and I do regret yours to old Calvinism ; but one
need not hope that it can be changed." He asks whether
there is any chance of seeing Shields in London, where he
might possibly help him a little in colour.
In a much corrected copy of what was apparently a
reply to the above, dated July 19th, Shields tells Ruskin
that he prizes his approval above that of any living,
and draws his breath deep and hard with emotion as he
reads his letter over and over again each time with increas-
ing wonder. He says : " Your strong words seem designed
to encourage me, and I will carry them in memory, trying
not to let my pride feed on them ; but to think This then
is the deliberate given judgment of one whose judgment I
most trust (on others' work). I will endeavour to act in
reliance on it, and no longer doubting that God has given
me a talent, only seek how I may best employ it to Him
Who has given it." Shields goes on to say how difficult
it is to decide what to do next, drawing on wood is dis-
appointing in reproduction, and etching out of date ; he
says he will come to London in October and bring some
drawings, adding, " I would become a child under any one
ESCAPE OF AX IMPRISONED FAMILY
Designs for Defoe's " Plague of London " (5)
From the original study now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
RUSKIN AND COLOUR 89
fitted to instruct me in colour." Whether this letter was
sent to Ruskin or whether it was again rewritten, we
cannot say ; but a little later Ruskin wrote : " I know
well enough without looking at your painting that you
can't paint, and have been wasting your time. No Puritan
can paint, but also your drawing is all against it. But
come up and show me."
Ruskin did not know perhaps he never realised how
sad had been the colour of Shields' early days, and how
even apart from his depressing Calvinistic views the joy
of life and the physical vigour of youth were spent in
fasting and prayerful emotion and the weary struggle for
a scanty subsistence.
Later Ruskin says : " I am very anxious about your
coloured work, and want to see it. I hope I may have
been wrong about it." Finally, he sent a study of a her-
ring by William Hunt for Shields to copy. In Mr. E. T.
Cook's Life and Letters of John Ruskin occurs the follow-
ing : " Mr. Ruskin," says Mr. Shields, " sent a fresh herring
in water-colour by William Hunt, of exquisite colour ; and
I had the reward, when I took it and my copy to him
at Denmark Hill, of hearing him say, ' Well, if you had
brought back your copy and retained the Hunt, I should
never have known the difference.' This settled the ques-
tion of my eye for colour, hitherto in doubt."
The diary continued :
"August 19th. The skeleton came; obliged to re-
arrange room in consequence. Drew old ragman ; enlarged
the girls. Jane came to sit ; very naughty ; no work till
3 o'clock. Much upset in my work by accordion next
door."
The Ragman refers to a picture called " Desire is
Stronger than Fear." This was one of the pictures which
won the artist admission to the Old Water-Colour Society.
" September 13th. Sought out my diaries for eight
90 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
years past. What a review ! Worked at William Gibbs'
portrait. Katie sat for hair ; made a mess of it. To Knott
Mill Fair with Laresche to buy old clothes."
The annual fair at Knott Mill, held on the site of the
camp of Agricola, said to have been named from the Mill
of Canute and to date from the days of Henry III, was in
later years described by Shields as " My annual sketching
festival, rich in character never seen but at those old fetes,
where WombwelTs Menagerie vied in attraction with the
strolling players who strutted upon the platform in paste-
board armour and conventional robber costumes. In my
early days I made acquaintance with Hanlon, father of
the Hanlon brothers, gymnasts, afterwards famous on
London boards. Their kindness to me during a sore crisis
of my being deserves grateful remembrance. I tried to
return it by designing a large poster for them."
Many years later in 1893 he painted Knott Mill
Fair, his largest realistic oil-painting, a replica of an earlier
water-colour, using many old costumes and properties
which had actually been purchased at the fair in those
early days.
" October 14th. To fruit market. Tried arrangements
for fruit picture. Painted purple grapes. Wrote Charles
Keene."
He had met Keene in London, and evidently sent
him photographs, probably of the Pilgrim's Progress,
about this time, which Charles Keene acknowledges :
55 BAKER STREET.
DEAR SHIELDS, Many thanks for your noble present.
I need not say how highly I prize it, intrinsically as an
artist and proudly as a pledge of remembrance of the
kindly donor. I wish I had some work of my own I could
feel more worthy to offer you in return. I shall hope I
may some day. I don't despair of seeing more of your
THE END OF A REFUGEE
Designs for Defoe's " Plague of London " (6)
From the original study now in the Art Gallery, Manchester
CHARLES KEENE 91
work of the same kind if the publishing world are not lost
to all sense of taste.
I hope you will look me up whenever you are near
here if you come to town.
Remember me to our friend, Tom Armstrong, when
you see him. And believe me, yours very sincerely,
CHARLES S. KEENE.
A letter from Rossetti, dated October 23rd, 1864,
says :
" I feel quite as neglectful as you can and more so,
not having yet answered your kind note accompanying
the translation of Solomons Song. My simple motive if
not excuse for the delay has been that, having little eye-
sight to spare after my day's work for reading, I have not
yet looked into it in any decided way. However, I still
fully intend to do it justice.
" Thanks for your intimation of W. Craven's wish to
possess a drawing of mine. It happens I have one just
nearly finished whose disposal is vet undecided.
" I may perhaps drop him a line on the matter, as you
have given me his address, this seeming the most direct
plan and avoiding further trouble to you. The subject of
my drawing is ' Joan of Arc.' Many sincere thanks for the
photos, which I am sure will be as widely admired as the
others have been."
Rossetti's letter acknowledging the Pilgrim's Progress
was friendly and encouraging.
16 CHEYNE WALK, CHELSEA,
December 4<A, 1864.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Many warm thanks for your
" Pilgrim " with its generous inscription, of which I can
only say that, taken in conjunction with the volume, it
makes me feel astoundingly undeserving. I imagine you
have published these designs thus separately in order to
get some justice done them in the printing, as they have
appeared (have they not ?) in an edition of the Progress.
92 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
My favourites are still " Christian reading " (in which the
idea of the crumpled burden shaping itself into a death's
head is in admirable keeping with the spirit of Bunyan)
" Sloth," " Simple," &c. (unusually well cut), " Mercy
Fainting" (ditto), and (for its great completeness) the
"Good Shepherd," though I have always thought that
this subject would be more properly rendered by giving
to the Symbolical personation of Christ the character and
costume of an actual shepherd rather than an uncertain
and somewhat conventional drapery. "Vanity Fair" is
an amazement to me, and an envy to my eyesight, though
seeming to me to belong less to the highest class of design
than some others. I ao not see in the description any
reference to the Banner of the Lamb surmounted by a
severed human head, but presume that this probaoly
symbolised corrupted Christianity. The " Hills Difficulty"
and " Caution " are very perfect in style for the material.
If you will allow me also to name tne one I like least, I
should fix on " Moses and Faithful," which seems to me
too incongruous an idea to bear embodiment in a picture.
Very tine as many of these designs are, I think there is
immense progress especially as regards power of striking
execution in the designs to Defoe's Plague. It is most
fortunate that you had these preserved, as you drew them,
by photography. I hope I may see you soon, and am
meanwhile and ever, yours very sincerely,
D. G. ROSSETTI.
Shields was so dissatisfied with the woodcuts of this
Plague series, that he gave his friends not copies of the
book, but sets of the photographs from the drawings on
the wood before cutting. The diary continues :
"December Gth. With Butterworth to look out
lodgings. To Mr. Ruskin's lecture.
"December Wth.To Butterworth's until 10.30, put
boats into his drawing. Mary came. Visited poor old
Stones. Made his bed.
" December 17 th. To Professor Scott's, discovered that
he was indeed my father's cousin."
PROFESSOR SCOTT 93
Frederic Shields wrote, many years after, the story of
his visit to the Scotts in these words :
" I had always known that my father had a cousin, a
Professor in London University, who had left him un-
answered when he wrote to him during his last illness.
When Ruskin came to Manchester to give his lectures on
' King's Libraries,' &c., he stayed with Professor A. J. Scott,
of Owens College, at Halliwell Lane, Higher Broughton.
Robert Crozier, his son George, William Hull, and others
had put into Ruskin's hands examples of their work for
his criticism, and I was deputed to call for these drawings,
as I knew Mr. Ruskin slightly. On the morning of his
departure I was at Professor Scott's house early, and was
told by the servant that Mr. Ruskin had left by an earlier
train than he originally proposed. I, who had hoped to
hear some expression of opinion about my friends' works,
was turning away, when I heard a sweet female voice from
the stair landing enquire if some one had called for Mr.
Ruskin, and I was asked in to stand before a presence that
won fullest confidence at a glance. I told my errand.
" ' The drawings are here ; Mr. Ruskin has been de-
lighted with them. Are you one of the artists?' 'No.'
' Then what is your name ? ' I gave it. The lady started,
and with a strange light in her eyes said, ' What was your
father's name ? ' ' John Shields.' With loving impulse
she drew me near to her, and kissed my brow, while the
tears started to her eyes as she told me how, when my
father's letter had reached them, they were in the throes
of removal from London, and how, over and over again,
she had hunted persistently for it, lost in the confusion,
without success. How they had grieved sorely, as they
conceived how pained my dear father must have been at
his cousin's apparent disregard and then last, she exulted
that I was found, on whom to pour out the long pent
kindness. 'And now I must go and tell my husband.'
94 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
I was left, I, who had no relative in broad England, a
lonely, unattached being, astonished under this strange
uncovering. And then, wrapped in a grey Scotch plaid
for warmth, for he was already failing in health, there
entered the room alone he whom I was so anxiously
expecting. The portrait that I afterwards drew of that
noble head is the best witness of how he impressed me.
He clasped my hands in silence, looking piercingly through
me, and then asked me to sit down and tell him of my
father's illness and death, and my own life since. As I
recounted all my sister's death, my father's, my mother's,
my two younger brothers', and my own stern struggles
with nakedness and starvation, he broke in with strong
emotion : ' I cannot bear to hear it ; tell me no more.'
I less walked than danced my way back to Hulme in
an ecstasy of unspeakable emotions. Not many months
after that Professor Scott was taken away for change to
Switzerland, and while I was at Porlock a letter reached
me from Mrs. Scott that told me of the great bereave-
ment. Many of the present generation know the worth of
character of his only son, J. A. Scott afterwards my firm
and noble friend."
To return to the diary of 1864. On the day after the
eventful interview with Mrs. Scott, the entry runs :
"December l$th. To Mr. Muckley's, painting Dr.
Crompton's boy. To Professor Scott's at 5 until 10 met
the Winnington pupils."
CHAPTER VI
Visiting the sick Sketching Rossetti's " Hesterna Rosa" Offer from
William Morris & Co. Alexander M'Laren The Snow Picture
Farewells Elected to the Old Water-Colour Society Winnington
Hall London again Illustrated, London News Ruskin at Denmark
Hill C. H. Bennett Swinburne Simeon Solomon Sam Bough's
letter The " Nativity " design Street music.
IN 1865 the diary continues:
"January 4th. To sketch snow. Victoria Station.
Guard says No Snow. Not go. Back. Wesley design.
To-day Joe Waring brought me the news of Jane Hoyle's
death and of her father's on the same day. Have mercy
on this foolish people, Lord, and let them take warning.
And on me, to-day if Ye will. Thou Whose throne is
Heaven, Whose footstool Earth, Thou awful God, have
mercy for Thy Son's Sake."
Jane Hoyle and her father were apparently among the
poor folk in the neighbourhood who were regularly visited
and prayed with by Shields and his fellow-workers at
the Ragged School.
In Mr. William Rossetti's volume of Rossetti Papers
he publishes the following letter, which was evidently
written in reply to Rossetti's letter of December 4th.
The picture referred to is the water-colour "Hesterna
Rosa." It was the first of several purchased by Mr.
Craven, an early friend and patron of Shields in Man-
chester. Mr. Craven's collection then consisted of a fine
group of David Cox's and a number of Fred Taylor's,
and Absolom's. At the suggestion of Shields, he asked
Rossetti to paint a water-colour for him, and this led to
95
96 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the formation of his noble collection of water-colours by
Rossetti, Madox Brown, and Burne-Jones, eventually
dispersed at Christie's.
50 RUSSELL STBEET, HULME, MANCHESTER,
January 9th, 1865.
MY DEAR SIR, On Friday last I saw the "Hesterna
Rosa." What a blaze of glory I received as my first
impression. . . . And I am not alone in this. Mr. Craven
said, " I wrote very little more than an acknowledgment
to Mr. Rossetti, for I was afraid that, if I attempted to
write what I felt, it would appear fulsome." . . .
I was astonished that you should have dwelt so care-
fully on my designs in the book as your remarks made
evident. I know the "Moses and Faithful" is a sad failure,
but I cannot lay the blame on the unfitness of the sub-
ject for pictorial treatment. I think I could do it very
differently now for I feel the truth Bunyan would here
convey better than I did when I made that design. I
think it might be made so much of by one who could
do it rightly. I also quite agree with you that it would
have been better to have made the " Good Shepherd " in
actual Shepherd's dress ; but one can only bear to think
of the oriental Shepherd in such connection, and this
would have necessitated Syrian sheep, about which I
know nothing; so that I thought it better to keep to
my English sheep, and the old conventional rdle. You
credit me with too much thought and intention when you
suppose that I meant the lamb on the banner in the
" Vanity Fair " to have any deeper motive than a reference
to the ensign of that bloody mercenary of James II
Colonel Kirke who so cruelly murdered, the poor Somer-
setshire peasantry after Monmouth's insurrection. It is
one of their heads that I suppose to surmount the pike
of the flagstaff. Colonel Kirke seemed to me to supply
a figure of that military life which seeks only its own
emolument or glory at the price of the blood and tears
of thousands. I should not like to be thought to make
Christian turn his back on the soldier altogether not
whilst I remember men like Gardener and Havelock. . . .
Ever most truly yours, FRED. J. SHIELDS.
MORRIS AND CO. 97
To this letter Rossetti replied :
16 CHETNE WALK, CHELSEA,
1 Ith January 1865.
My DEAR SHIELDS, Thanks for your letter. I am
extremely pleased that my drawing of "Hesterna Rosa"
should find so much favour with you. Mr. Craven had
already expressed to me his satisfaction with it, and I judge
from what you say that it does not lose in his esteem on
better acquaintance, which gratifies me to know. I trust
before long to be able to write him word of some larger
work in hand, according to what you say, if you think his
wish sufficiently definite to justify my doing so. At present
I have several engaged pictures in progress which pre-
occupy me, but I trust not for long. If Mr. Craven were
equally willing to have a work in oil instead of water-
colour, that material is the one I prefer for larger things,
indeed I have never employed water-colour, except on a
small scale. I had intended to write before this to say
that, according to your wish, I spoke to my brother about
noticing the " Pilgrim." Unfortunately, though he admires
the work as much as I do, and would have been very
glad of a chance of saying so, the only paper which might
ave been open to him for the purpose (the Reader)
he found, on enquiry, had already said something of the
designs I believe very inadequately in his opinion.
Should any other opportunity oner, he will avail himself
of it,
I have been asked by a firm with which I am con-
nected (Messrs. Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.) to ask
you whether you would be willing to furnish them some-
times with designs for stained glass. The firm has now
existed for some years, and includes in its Company
several artists, whose names you know, and indeed them-
selves in some instances, viz. : Madox Brown, E. B.
Jones, and myself. " We " are stained glass manufacturers,
and decorators of all kinds, at 8 Red Lion Square. The
original plan was for all designs to be made by members
of the firm ; but the partners concerned are so occupied
always with their pictures that it is often impossible,
for long intervals, that they should work for the firm,
G
98 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
and it would be highly serviceable if the managers could
rely on aid from without sometimes. Our endeavour has
been to make all our work more truly artistic than such
work has been hitherto. We have an admirable colourist,
William Morris, who gives his whole time to the work
of the firm, and all that is needed in the design is the
drawing the colour rests with him. Would you enable
me to give him, as manager, an answer to the above
question? The payment for designs would, I should
think, be about equal to that for wood-blocks, but he
would communicate with you if you are able to entertain
the idea. Believe me (still in hopes of seeing you), very
sincerely yours, D. G. ROSSETTI.
The idea of designing for glass did not commend itself
to Shields. In the next letter from Rossetti, dated
February 10th, after some reference to Mr. Craven and
his desire for a larger picture, he says : " I rather thought
that in all probability your engagements would prevent
your entertaining Mr. Morris's wish about designing
stained glass for him, but thought it better to ask you,
as he desired it."
"January 16th. To Town Hall to sketch Executive
Committee for M'Lachlan. To Rev. A. M'Laren, not in."
It was in this month that he was introduced to the
Rev. Alexander M'Laren, by a Mr. Richard Johnson of
Fallowfield. M'Laren became his life-long friend and
they corresponded until his death in 1910.
In February 1865, Frederic Shields was elected a
member of the Old Water-Colour Society.
"February 3rd. Worked at drawing for Rowbotham.
Packing up for Old Water-Colour Society. Reading
Oriental books for Beatitude."
Apparently he had arranged for some one at Burton
to let him know when there was a fall of snow there,
which it was necessary for him to sketch for his picture.
"February 14th. Touched up Whaite's sketch till
ROSSETTI AND EXHIBITIONS 99
11. Letter to go to Burton. Started. Walked from
Camforth. Got to Burton at 5.15.
"February 15th. Out to sketch snow, failed to find
what I want. Feet cold and wet, water frozen at my side."
The next three days were spent in much the same
way.
" February 17th. Out to snow again, and got done
at 3. Left dear Bentham and his wife at 4. Safe
home by 8."
Rossetti wrote :
" Thanks for your letter. If anything decided occurs
to me on the subject in question, I will write to Mr. Craven.
In any case I shall be glad to see him when in town.
" It is capital hearing that you have been elected into
the Old Water-Colour Society. I hope you do not suspect
me of any pigheaded or antagonistic notions as to the
natural ways of coming before the public. I simply found
in youth that the worry of getting ready for exhibitions
was unsuited to my disposition, and also with rather mis-
placed pride (at that age) refused to submit any work to
the Academy, which I considered (not untruly) unfair in
its practices. I have therefore no personal cause of com-
plaint against them, for I have never sent them a work.
In after life I have adhered to my plan of non-exhibition,
because I think it is well to adopt early a plan of life, and
not lose time afterwards in giving second thoughts to it.
It has come right with me more so, perhaps, than I
could expect. But I think that competition and appre-
ciation are among an artist's best privileges, and congra-
tulate you on securing them."
Shields now made preparations to leave Manchester
for London, whether with a view to making it his per-
manent home, or merely for a visit, is not quite clear.
"March 14th. Model disappointed me. Bentham
came, went to Mr. Rawson to see if I could get my money
for picture to lend Bentham 14. Worked at Beatitude.
100 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" Wednesday 15th. To see Mr. Rawson got 30 from
him. Lent Bentham 14. Lunch. Bentham sat for
Beatitude. Prepared lesson and bade adieu to my dear
lads, who presented me with a copy of A. M'Laren's ser-
mons. Bed at 11. Never slept from excitement.
" March VJth. To town with E. Gibbs to get his photo-
graph taken. Called on Craven and Falkner. Our fare-
well meeting at Ormond Street. A most precious night
in some respects, the good of which will, I trust, stick by
me as long as I live. Bed at 12."
The farewells seem to have been somewhat prolonged,
for a month later the diary records: "Very affectionate
farewell from Mr. Falkner, very, very kind."
In April, being still in Manchester, he frequently visited
Professor Scott.
"April Wth. To Winnington Hall with Mrs. Scott,
to meet Mr. Ruskin."
Winnington Hall, and its Principal, Miss Bell, were
destined to long retain their influence over Frederic
Shields. Forty years later he thus described his first
visit : " Winnington well deserved its name, a house full
of beautiful rooms, the chimney pieces of Italian work
exquisitely carved, fine casts and engravings everywhere,
many of Mr. Ruskin's most finished drawings of Venetian
architecture, &c., together with a noble collection of
minerals, all Mr. Ruskin's loans or gifts. He himself
giving lectures or lessons on his visits there his ' Ethics
of the Dust' was prepared for the Winnington pupils.
There was a fine library, rich in works upon Art, and
beautifully wooded and extensive grounds bordered by
the river Weaver, rendered always musical by the fall of
its weir. Into this Eden I was introduced, a shy, bashful
fellow, alone in the presence of many ladies, for I suppose
there were usually seventy girls of varied ages being edu-
cated there, with their unique advantages."
WINNINGTON HALL 101
No doubt the young artist felt shy and awkward in
these novel surroundings, but he soon won approval by
his sketches of some of the beautiful young pupils. He
used to say that he profited as much by the instruction of
the Principal, Miss Bell, as did any of the pupils, for this
was only the first of many visits, and the beginning of a
long, though not unbroken, friendship. It is interesting
to compare the description of Winnington given by Mr.
Ruskin in a letter to his father a few years earlier, quoted
by Mr. Cook in his Life of Ruskin. He says : " This is
such a nice place that I am going to stay till Monday :
an enormous, old-fashioned house, full of galleries up and
down stairs, but with magnificently large rooms where
wanted, the drawing-room a huge octagon I suppose at
least forty feet high like the tower of a castle, hung half-
way up all round with large and beautiful Turner and
Raphael engravings, and with a baronial fireplace; and
in the evening brightly lighted, with groups of girls
scattered round it, it is quite a beautiful scene in its
way. . . . The house stands in a superb park, full of old
trees and sloping down to the river, with a steep bank of
trees on either side ; just the kind of thing Mrs. Sherwood
likes to describe; and the girls look all as healthy and
happy as can be, down to the little six-year-old ones, who,
I find, know me by the fairy tale, as the others do by my
large books, so I am quite at home."
Strangely enough, many years later, Miss Bell, having
fallen upon evil days, was teaching a little girl a name-
sake of hers, though no relation then little more than a
six-year-old herself. Daily the old lady came, giving the
child interesting desultory instruction, chiefly in painting
and nature study, the latter then almost unrecognised as
a part of the school curriculum. The little girl now re-
members little of the subjects of the lessons, except that
they included very careful and minute drawings of budding
102 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
twigs it must have been in the spring-time carefully
set up in bottles containing sugar and water, and while
the pupil painted Miss Bell would read long extracts from
Ruskin with great earnestness. But one thing the little
girl (who happens to be now the present writer) remem-
bers the lessons must have sunk deep into her childish
heart, for Miss Bell having found a better post to teach a
nobleman's children in Russia, the child was sent to a
very ordinary school, where, from her spirited arguments
with the somewhat unenlightened painting mistress, to
whom she impertinently quoted her great authority, she
was nicknamed " Little Miss Ruskin."
Lady Burne-Jones, also a visitor at Winnington, says
in her book, Memorials of E. Burne-Jones : " Miss Bell
was an extremely clever woman, of a powerful and master-
ful turn of mind, evidently understanding that Ruskin
was the greatest man she had ever seen, and that she
must make the utmost of the intimacy he accorded her
and the interest he took in her school." Their intimacy
terminated sadly many years later, and it may be said
that the fault was not on Mr. Ruskin's side. But in the
case of Frederic Shields the friendship only ended with
his visits to Miss Bell during her last hours of life.
In April 1865 Shields made his first appearance at the
Old Water-Colour Society, and the Illustrated London
News thus describes his contributions :
" Mr. Shields has a provincial reputation, but had
scarcely been heard of in London. His election a short
time since is said to have surprised the artist himself; it
will, however, have a very different effect upon everyone
else. All his four drawings are small or of very moderate
size, and their subjects are of the humblest. One is
called ' Eleven o'clock A.M.,' and represents a cottager's
daughter, a strapping girl of ten or twelve, cutting with
a will the huge luncheon slice of bread and butter;
THE OLD WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY 103
another is ' The Baby-cart,' a third ' The Pop-gun/ and
the last is entitled ' Desire Stronger than Fear ' two
children timidly approaching an old pedlar, tempted by
his basket of sweetmeats and gaily coloured paper wind-
mills, yet terrified by his portentously ragged, grizzly,
hirsute appearance, and possibly in mortal fear of the
sack with which he is swathed, and into which they may,
recalling some nursery legend, think his encouraging
smiles are only designed to inveigle them. Humble, we
say, as are the subjects of these drawings, they have rare
and true qualities of art. We have no hesitation in saying
that for happy rendering of character and more espe-
cially of natural action, gesture, and expression there
are portions in them which will bear comparison even
with such a master in similar subjects as Wilkie; and
that there is nothing so good, exactly of their kind, in
the exhibition. What can surpass the hungry eagerness
of that girl with the loaf, or the impish delight of that
boy, with his knees so strenuously clamped together, at
having just discharged his pop-gun at the little frightened
fellow he has persuaded or compelled to kneel before
him to be shot ; or the inviting grin of the old cadger,
and the alarm of the child clinging to his elder sister's
back?"
On July 17th Shields was again in London, studying
Titian and Veronese in the National Gallery. He saw
Ruskin on more than one occasion, and several kindly
letters from him, undated, but evidently written at this
time, are preserved. In one Ruskin says : " You may
come whenever you like, and as often as you like."
Again
"You've just one thing to do to take care always
and first of your bodily health amuse yourself and see
the best work while you are in London. All this you
must do or you'll be getting on the wrong road
104 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
and for you the wrong road would mean Miching
Malecho."
The diary, irregularly kept, continues :
"July 20th. To see Mr. Ruskin at 12.30, then to
C. H. Bennett. Home at midnight."
His friendship with C. H. Bennett lasted until the end
of that artist's too brief career. This was their first meeting,
but his work had long been known to Shields, first through
Bennett's series of etchings for the Pilgrims Progress. He
had wandered through London streets seeking for heads
that suggested the personages of Bunyan's Allegory. It
was reading the preface to this edition that led the
young Shields to write to Charles Kingsley for advice
about his own project of representing the characters and
incidents in the costume and surroundings of Bunyan's
time, instead of with the ideal dress and features of
Stothard's lovely designs.
Drayton Grove, South Kensington, was now Shields'
home for many months. Here he renewed acquaintance
with Robert Collinson, an old fellow-student in Man-
chester, and his wife, and owed much to their generous
friendship; in this year also, he first met Mr. Arthur
Hughes, whose friendship in after years was very precious
to Shields.
" August 3rd. To see Rossetti 12. To Museum, drew
' Young Hercules.' C. H. Bennett called, a very happy
evening with him, looking at Tintoret prints, &c.
" September 20th. To Museum till 10. Began 'Nativity '
design. To see Jones, met Swinburne."
This meeting was described in later years. " My first
sight of Swinburne was at a reception at Burne-Jones's
house. I saw an impenetrably close knot of listeners
gathered round some central point of interest what or
who was it ? A mass of rich auburn hair leaped up for a
moment, disappeared and reappeared indicative of some
SAM BOUGH 105
excitable being pouring forth unseen. This I afterwards
learned was Swinburne."
" September 30th. Rossetti called. ' Nativity,' study
of old man's hands. To E. Poynter, Simeon Solomon and
Armstrong."
For the work of that ill-fated genius, Simeon Solomon,
Shields always expressed the greatest admiration. At
this period he was advising his Manchester friend, Mr.
Johnson, to purchase some chalk drawings by Solomon,
who wrote a friendly letter of thanks. In after years,
when nearly at the end of his tragic career, Shields came
across him again, and would again have befriended him,
had it been possible.
The diary is now very irregularly kept, but evidently
some other exhibition was pending, either in London or
Manchester, for which the early water-colour, bought by
Sam Bough, was desired.
CHAMBEBS, 2 HILL STREET,
EDINBURGH, 20th October 1865.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Surely you can have the drawing
to exhibit. Where is it to be sent to and when ?
I was very ill nearly all the time I was in London
couldn't tell what was the matter with me, but found out
when I got home that it was Chronic Bronchitis, and from
that cause you must perceive that I was in no condition to
go anywhere. This has been a miserable summer with
me, I have done nothing, but must now stick in and try
what I can for the winter Exhibition here. I hope you
have been well. I can't tell you how much pleased I was
to hear of your success, and I am very sure that there is
still greater luck in store for you. I can't make up my
mind to leave Scotland. I have been here too long to
like going, and, though I detest the people and wouldn't
cry if the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah overtook the
blasted lot, I can't easily hook it. If I came to London,
I am pretty certain to fall into the Theatre again, and that
my wife won't hear of.
106 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Bradly was here two or three days ago ; he is making
some drawings down at St. Menace, on the Fife coast ; he
had been in the Highlands, and I saw his sketches, very
good they are he is a clever chap and will do well.
C. H. Mitchell has been down in Scotland also, but I
didn't see him. B. said he was ill the whole time he
was here.
I shall be glad to have the photo from Duval, I expect
the dear old boy down here shortly. With all good
wishes, I am, my dear Fred, yours very faithfully,
SAM BOUGH.
The " photo from Duval " may perhaps refer to a
photograph of the beautiful "Nativity" design, which
was made at the request of Mr. Duval, a portrait painter,
" for the frontispiece of a volume of poems by a widow
lady whom he desired to serve." It was, for some reason,
never used for its original purpose, though Duval
expressed himself as being delighted with it. It is
undoubtedly one of the artist's finest designs, quite unlike
anything hitherto produced ; it marks the commencement
of an entirely different period of the development of his
genius.
On receiving the drawing, Shields evidently wanted to
touch it up, and also wished to know whether Bough
would like it to be priced in the catalogue of the exhibi-
tion. Bough replies November 4th : " Let me say that I
am perfectly satisfied with the drawing as it is, and I would
really advise you not to touch it. State any price you like
hi the catalogue, but let me beg you not to sell it, I
wouldn't part with it for any money unless such parting
was to do you a service, and then, my dear Shields, you
are welcome to it." This must have been the drawing
exhibited at the Manchester Shields Exhibition in 1875,
catalogued as " In Mother's Absence ; Somersetshire,
1865," lent by Sam Bough, " The Artist's first Commission."
THE NATIVITY
(1865)
RETURNS TO MANCHESTER 107
The diary is blank for October and November, but
shortly after the completion of the " Nativity " design he
returned to Manchester, driven away from London by the
incessant organ-grinding and street music, and in October
he was at work on the portrait of Professor Scott at his
house in Halliwell Lane.
CHAPTER VII
Porlock revisited Return to London The Old Water-Colour Society
James Holland's generosity Bands, organs, nerves Sandgate
Boulogne Military pictures Chelsea C. H. Bennett's death
Raskin's help Manchester again The old house at Cornbrook Park
Rossetti's letters Madox Brown and the condemned Fenians
Warwick Brookes.
EARLY in December he returned to Porlock, rejoicing to be
again in that romantic region, where he could paint rustic
cottages, picturesque fishermen and their surroundings,
and the dear, troublesome country children, who figure so
vividly in these early pictures. He remained there until
April, when the diary records: " Left Porlock with much
sorrow."
The months at Porlock were always a happy memory
to Shields. All the peasantry knew him, and there were
few dwellings into which he was not welcomed ; he visited
the sick, taught the children in the Sunday School, and
made friends with some of the fine old fishermen. Doubt-
less this visit did much to restore his nerves after the
distractions of London life. He returned to London in
April, for the diary records :
" April 2Qth. To National Gallery. To tailor's to order
new clothes.
"April 2lst. Not well, could not work. To Water-
Colour Gallery. Introduced to Gilbert, Goodall, Burton,
Fripp, Holland, &c.
" April 23rd. Worked on Snow Picture all day.
"April 24:th. Snow Picture until 6. Buttenvorth
called, went with him to his house."
108
"ONE OF OUR BREAD WATCHERS" 109
The Snow Picture referred to was " One of our Bread
Watchers," now in the Manchester Art Gallery. Studies
for this had been made more than a year before. At
Porlock on one occasion the artist worked for three days
upon a snow-covered ploughed field, sharing the privations
which his little model and many other boys and girls
endured for the poorest wage. The children were left
from dawn to dusk, armed with wooden rattles, in shelters
rudely constructed of gorse and hurdles, to scare the birds
from the newly sown corn, a small fire being lighted on
the ground, as shown in the picture, to keep the poor little
bird-watcher from freezing. This picture, as the diaries
show, was worked upon until the last moment, and when
it was taken to the gallery on April 25th it was a day too
late. The walls were nearly hung. An old member,
James Holland, in his admiration for the new comer's
work, took down one of his own pictures hung upon the
line and put the " Bread Watcher " in its place an act of
rare generosity never forgotten by Shields. The picture
was rather well reproduced with an appreciative notice in
the Illustrated Times, August llth, 1866. It was sold at
Christie's in 1894 for 100 (Agnew).
" May 1st. To City to meet Mr. Rowbotham, to sales,
and Old Water-Colour, and New Society with him. To
Charles Dickens' reading. Home 1.30.
" May Itth. Still unwell. To see Rossetti till 2."
The diary is almost blank for several months after this
entry, probably owing to the nervous breakdown he
suffered at this period. Early years of privation had
given Shields little chance to build up a physique of
normal strength. His vitality was astonishing, but the
intense nervous tension of years of overwork and under-
feeding, his terribly depressing views of life, with his
astounding energy and power of concentration, left him
little strength to cope with the everyday distractions of
110 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
town life. No doubt the fact of his having lived alone for
so many years made it more difficult for him to adapt
himself to his new surroundings. He said of this time :
" I have counted as many as seven organs in a morning at
Chelsea, with German bands. It was this infliction that
had brought me so low nothing else."
Presumably the nervous system of a genius is always
in a more or less abnormal condition ; certain it is that to the
end of his life even a distant organ-grinder would cause an
amount of acute distress quite incomprehensible to an
ordinary individual, while a barking dog, or even the
twittering of sparrows on the studio roof, was distracting
as the roar of a lion would be to most people. For six
months he could do no work, and his medical advisers
took a grave view of his case. One doctor ordered him to
Ems, but to use Shields' own words, " he might as well
have ordered me to the moon." He then asked his
patient if he could afford to go to Boulogne, and this was
settled. However, Robert Collinson and his wife were
going to Sandgate, and persuaded Shields to go with
them. A stay of some months, and the companion-
ship of his friends, failed to restore him. The Collin-
sons left Sandgate in September, and after an attempt
at sketching in the camp, Shields made up his mind to
go to Boulogne. For the first time setting his foot on
foreign soil, he found everything strange and of new in-
terest. His worn-out nerves began to regain tone, and
within a fortnight he was busily sketching among the
French fisherfolk.
He had seen enough of camp life at Sandgate to
interest him and returned there at the end of the year,
making a stay of some months, and there producing his
only military pictures, " The Bugler," sometimes called
" Sounding the Retreat at Inkerman," now the property of
Sir William Houldsworth, the " Drummer Boy's Dream,"
"AFTER THE STORMING" 111
and " After the Storming." l The last named, a pathetic
and realistic picture of a dying drummer boy, wonderfully
vivid in colour, is unlike any other work by Shields. Of
these pictures the artist wrote in later years : "I remem-
ber sitting beneath my umbrella, in a pouring downfall
of rain, the day after a review, to obtain the look of the
soaked ground cut up by the wheels of the artillery.
'After the Storming' was suggested by an incident of
a review, where a drummer boy fainted and a comrade
brought water to him in his bugle from a little stream
near by."
From Sandgate Shields returned for a time to London,
where he lodged in Phene Street, Chelsea. " The Bugler "
was finished there, and he records that Rossetti came to
see it.
MANCHESTER, 21th April 1867.
MY DEAR SIB, The Manchester Examiner of this
morning gave me your address at the top of a letter of
yours which Ruskin has printed in one of his to some
working men. I daresay you have seen it.
I have long been looking for some way of thanking you
for that very sweet and thoughtful and devout " Right-
eousness and Peace have kissed each other " which you
were good enough to send me, and for the friendly words
pencilled on the margin. I did not know whether you
were in England, and had no means of finding out. I hope
you are growing which is what people mean, if they are
wise, when they say succeeding. I for one wait to hear
of your work and shall have fallen from a great hope if
you do not become a teacher and a blessing to us. With
kind regards, I am, my dear Sir, yours truly,
ALEXANDER M'LAREN.
The letter referred to was probably one written to
Ruskin on the death of C. H. Bennett, which was a great
1 Now in the collection of Mr. Leicester Collier.
112 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
grief to Shields. The letter is printed in Time and Tide
the names being omitted.
1 PHENE STREET, CHELSEA,
April 10th, 1867.
MY DEAR MR. RUSKIN, It is long since you have heard
of me, and now I ask your patience with me for a little.
I have but just returned from the funeral of my dear
friend C. H. Bennett, the first artist friend I made in
London, a loved and prized one. For years he had lived
in the very humblest way, fighting his battle of life against
mean appreciation of his talents, the wants of a rising
family, and frequent attacks of illness, crippling him for
two months at a time, the wolf at the door meanwhile.
But about two years since his prospects brightened and he
had but a few weeks since ventured on a large house. His
eldest boy of seventeen years, a very intelligent youth, so
strongly desired to be a civil engineer that Bennett, not
being able to pay the large premium required for his
apprenticeship, nad been made very glad by the consent
of W. Penn, of Millwall, to receive him without a premium
after the boy should have spent some time at King's
College in tne study of mechanics. The rest is a sad
story. About a fortnight ago Bennett was taken ill, and
died last week, the doctors say, of sheer physical exhaus-
tion, not thirty-nine years of age, leavmg eight young
children, and his poor widow expecting her confinement,
and so weak and ill as to be incapable of effort. This youth
is the eldest, and the other children range downwards to a
babe of eighteen months. There is not one who knew him,
I believe, that will not give cheerfully, to their ability, for
his wife and children ; but such aia will go but a little
way in this painful case ; and it would be a real boon to
this poor widow if some of her children could be got into
an orphan asylum. If you are able to do anything I would
send particulars of the age and sex of the children. I
remain, ever obediently yours, FRED. J. SHIELDS.
P.S. I ought to say that poor Bennett has been quite
unable to save, with his large family ; and that they would
be utterly destitute now, but for the kindness of some with
whom he was professionally connected.
RUSKIN AND BENNETT 113
Ruskin replied with warm sympathy, sending 20 for
the widow, and saying : " I never heard of anything more
sad though I hear of awful things daily."
A few months after this Shields again fled from
London noise to the comparative quiet of Manchester.
In October Rossetti wrote :
16 CHEYNB WALK,
23rd October 1867.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Sending off the drawing at last
to-day to Manchester, to M'Connell (who, however, is in
Wales), I am so forcibly put in mind of one of the best of
fellows, now at Manchester, that I cannot help writing him
this line. I should be very glad to hear how you are and
how progressing. I myself have been mostly hard at
work since seeing you, though I was away in the country
for a short time, and may possibly go again.
I hardly know what news to give you of my monoton-
ous proceedings, which have consisted chiefly of producing
copies, for the last month or two, from my larger pictures
in hand, with the exception of this thing, finished for
M'Connell.
I am on the point of building a studio at last in the
garden, and am negotiating for the stables, as Webb,
the architect, declares it would be madness to begin
building right out if I can get such a good beginning as
they would afford.
I wish, if I can be in any way of the slightest service
in London, you would let me know at all times, and be-
lieve me, ever yours affectionately, D. G. ROSSETTI.
P.8. I find that you were really a shield to the
neighbourhood, and are dreadfully missed when razzias
occur on the part of organ-grinders, brass bands, et hoc
genus omne. So say the neighbours.
Mr. M'Connell was another early friend and generous
patron of Shields. He had just purchased his " Bugler "
picture, and was introduced by Shields to Rossetti. Mean-
H
114 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
while, in Cornbrook Park, Shields had found an old
detached house, long unoccupied, with a lovely over-
grown neglected garden and a great walled open space in
front. Far from organ-grinders and bands, here quiet
seemed attained, and Rossetti, writing again on Novem-
ber 16th, says :
" I congratulate you supremely on having attained at
last to complete desolation as regards social propinquity.
I suppose from what you say that you can even take good
walks without seeing or hearing your kind. Nothing
could suit me better, and I still hope to be an outcast
from humanity one of these days.
" I have received a ticket for the Private View of the
W.C. Sketches, which I suppose is another mark of your
bearing me in mind.
" I do not know that I shall go on that day, as humanity
will be rather too rampant ; but sometime when the thing
has proved a failure, to a sufficiently encouraging extent,
I may seek it for a desert walk, and hope to meet you
there in spirit. I have not heard from Mr. M'Connell how
he likes the ' Tristram,' and have an idea he may not
perhaps care much about it. This I should regret, but
could not help, as I did my best for it and certainly came
as near satisfying myself as I have done in most cases
with water-colours perhaps in any. If you have seen it
I should feel more interested in your verdict. You are
remembered and desired again by all friends here, and by
rione more than by your affectionate
" D. G. ROSSETTI."
A few weeks later Madox Brown writes, evidently in
great excitement.
37 FITZROT SQUABK,
November 20th, 1867.
DEAR SHIELDS, I have only time for a few words
Gabriel is here and it is 2 in the morning, and what I
have to say is this ; can you get the 2 names given in as
signatures to the memorial now in course of being sent in
THE BUGLER
(1866)
By permission of Sir William Hoitldsworth, Bart.
THE CONDEMNED FENIANS 115
in favour of the 5 Fenians under sentence now in Man-
chester? We know your sympathies are in the right
direction. As ever yours, FOKD MADOX BROWN.
DANTE G. ROSSETTI.
A day or two afterwards an appeal from Swinburne for
mercy for the Fenians appeared in the Morning Star.
37 FITZKOY SQUARE, W.,
November 23rd, 1867.
DEAREST SHIELDS, Thanks for your kind true-hearted
letter. It is now too late for any of us to be of use in this
black matter. This most egregious piece of Government
folly is consummated, and I fear it will be long before the
bitter fruits of it will be all swallowed and got rid of.
Your heart is in the right place, and Swinburne's too,
bless the little man, and old Gabriel's too, thank heaven
few others that I can make out. I am at least glad that
our opinions have been recorded thanks to your prompt
action in the case of Gabriel and myself. To you, sus-
ceptible and excitable as you are, the scenes and the
suspense must have been most painful and exhausting.
I only hope it may prove the downfall of the present bad
Tory Government, good of any other kind to come from it
one cannot expect.
Enough one must try and forget it for the present at
least.
Mrs. Brown was asking this morning if you might not
be persuaded to spend Christmas with us. I wish you
would. It will be a mighty sober affair with us, I expect,
only one elderly female cousin of mine with us. Try and
do it ! And believe always in our most affectionate regards
and wishes for you. FORD MADOX BROWN.
Among the pictures completed during the years from
1866-1869, may be named " Rahab awaiting the Coming of
Joshua" this was apparently painted for the generous
commission of Sir Walter James, who left the choice of
subject, size, and medium to the artist, " Wesley Preaching
116 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
at Bolton," "The Sisters," a very beautiful little water-
colour called "The Nautilus," probably from sketches at
Boulogne, the water-colour of " Solomon Eagle " now in
the Manchester City Art Gallery, " Sappho, " and others.
No one could have been more eager to help his friends
or his friends' friends than Shields. Indeed, in after years
he and Madox Brown seemed rarely to be without some
helpless widow with a large family on their hands, or some
unappreciated genius who had to be helped with a sub-
scription, or an exhibition, or a raffle. A big commission
either to Brown, Shields, or Rossetti usually had the
immediate effect of making the fortunate one write at
once with an offer of a loan of five or ten pounds to both
the others sometimes ' the tin " was despatched without
any preliminary offer and on rare occasions was returned
if there was no immediate need for it. Shields was
perhaps the only one of the three who had a real horror
of debt, and who would suffer any personal 'privation
rather than incur it. Mr. William Rossetti includes the
following letter in his Rossetti Papers:
CORNBROOK HOUSE,
MANCHESTER, llth, February 1868.
MY DEAR ROSSETTI, For the past month that is,
ever since Mr. M'Connell gave me the opportunity of
seeing the " Sir Tristram" I nave meant to write how great
pleasure I enjoyed in hanging over it ; and if (as you inti-
mated) you relied in any measure on my poor opinion, it
will satisfy you to know I indeed think with you that it
approaches nearer to the highest standard than anything
you have yet achieved in water-colour.
Let me say how much the subject of your last note
gratified me, for I have known Warwick Brookes for some
years, but not intimately, his disposition being too retiring
for that. Your information concerning him is not very
accurate, for he must be nearer fifty than forty, and has a
family of six children, the eldest girl being about sixteen
WARWICK BROOKES 117
years. With this young family he never dared to venture
to give up a situation as pattern designer for ladies dresses
which he held in a firm here, and which brought him in a
settled sum per week, for the uncertain and fluctuating
remuneration attending the profession of art. So that all
you have seen, and much more, has been done during the
leisure hours of his evenings and Saturday afternoons.
For two years back he has been lying sick of consumption ;
and his main, perhaps his only, source of income has been
the sale of the set of photos, with which you are acquainted.
Sir Walter James has most generously exerted himself to
spread the circulation, and other friends have done their
best also. He is too independent in temper to accept
help in any other way ; but I am certain would feel both
grateful and pleased with such assistance as you can
secure for him in this way. The price of the set is four
pounds. 1 took the liberty, believing it would gladden
his sick chamber, of showing him your letter on Saturday
night ; and though he was too weak to read it himself, he
most earnestly expressed his estimation of your approval.
Most truly yours, FREDERIC J. SHIELDS.
Rossetti replied :
16 CHEYNB WALK, 21st February 1868.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Your letter calls for my thanks in
various ways. First, about Warwick Brookes, whom I
almost guessed to be more of a regular artist than had
been represented to me. I shall be anxious to have a set
of his admirable photo'd drawings, and will write him with
this, enclosing the 4. When here I have little doubt
their being seen must lead to further sales. Howell, to
whom I spoke on the subject and who saw the photos at
my mother's, at once said he would undertake that Ruskin
would wish to have an original drawing. I will speak
further to him when my own photographs arrive. It is
melancholy to think that any aid and appreciation, such
as the drawings cannot fail to excite, will come only at
such a painful time. Is there really no hope of recovery ?
I cannot understand how such an artist can have failed so
long to obtain employment from the dealers in Manchester.
His babies are worthy of William Hunt, and have never
118 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
been surpassed. Does he work in colour ? In such case
I fancy employment in London as a copyist to begin with
might easily be obtained. But I suppose the health ques-
tion now quite negatives this. Now as to Mr. Johnson
and the cartoons. I still have the Vineyard set, and
though I have lately been asking more for them shall be
happy to sell them at the price named to him. My own
impression is that I must have said 100 guineas, not
pounds (because I always do so) ; but if he and you are
under the other impression, so be it. The frame will require
to be written on, after which I can send the set. Wnere
should it go to ? I should have to charge the carriage
and case to Mr. Johnson. What is his address? One
thing more on this point. I have another set of six (the
Vineyard is seven including a double-sized one) from the
legend of St. George and the Dragon. They are framed
to match the Vineyard set ; and as it would be a relief to
me to clear my walls and hang other things, I would part
with the two sets together for 170 guineas if Mr. Johnson
liked to have both. As I presume he must propose hang-
ing the one set in some hall or suchlike place, the effect
would be greatly enhanced by having the two sets, and
one is quite equal to the other. If you can conveniently
mention this to him, will you do so ? Otherwise it does
not matter, as also regarding the question between pounds
and guineas, which must not be raised at all ifyou have
to write or be in any way troubled about it. What you
say of the " Tristram " drawing is very gratifying to me. As
regards the application of the Leeds Committee for it, this
makes me somewhat anxious, as it is the third application
of the kind which has come to my ears. I had some time
ago, and have since had renewed, a promise from Mr.
Baring, the head commissioner, that no works of mine
shoula be applied for, or even admitted if offered ; but it
is quite comprehensible that in such a multitudinous
scheme of operations a slight matter of this kind might
get overlooked. I consider the point all important to me
now, as to which you understand my precise views. Only
a thoroughly well considered and sufficiently important
appearance in public, after all these years of partial repu-
tation on grounds chiefly unknown, could do otherwise
WARWICK BROOKES 119
than greatly damage me ; and this could only be obtained
by my having myself full control and selection. In short,
at present nothing would be so discouraging to me as to
be forced before the public in a sudden and incomplete
way, and I am most anxious to do all I can to prevent it.
Mr. Craven and Mr. M'Connell (thanks to you) have now
been secured on my side. You know Mr. Long ; shall
you be seeing him, and if so, could you see whether he
has been applied to and with what result ? I would
write to him if necessary. . . . Don't suppose that I mean
to worry you about my trumpery thin-skinned interests,
but a hint from you, if you possess the means, might
enable me to act for myself. Do you know when the
Leeds gallery opens ?
Daylight at this distance from town being only avail-
able for painting, I have actually never as yet seen the
Old Water-Colour sketches, though I have meant to do
so and may yet. I am glad you will appear in the main
exhibition ; but you do not tell me much of your own
doings. I heard from Chapman that your " Drummer Boy"
drawing was exhibited at Manchester. I hope with good
result, as it certainly ought to have served you well. . . .
Have you continued on the tack of the " Rahab " in subject
and treatment, or have you done subjects of the present
day ? I hope to have a full and satisfactory talk with
you on all points of interest to both of us (and we have
many in common) when you come again to London, and
hope further that that may be soon. Old Brown is as
choice an old master as ever, and all friends I think well
on the whole. Your affectionate D. G. ROSSETTI.
P.8. You know I could always lodge you on a run to
London.
Rossetti always made it a condition with the purchasers
of his pictures that they should not be exhibited without
his consent. It is pleasant to be able to record that
through the enthusiastic support of Shields, Dr. Crompton,
Rossetti, and others, Warwick Brookes received the recog-
nition he deserved, and was enabled to continue his work
120 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
for many years in comparative ease and prosperity. Lord
Northbourne brought him to the notice of the Prime
Minister, and Mr. Gladstone took an active interest in
him, inviting him to Hawarden. Through Mr. Gladstone,
Brookes' work was shown to Queen Victoria, who pur-
chased specimens ; and she consented to Mr. Gladstone's
proposal that Warwick Brookes should be granted a pen-
sion of one hundred pounds per annum, and that it should
be dated from the previous year. His biographer, Mr.
Letherbrow, himself a dear friend of Shields, relates : " For
eleven years longer, hopeful and happy to the end, Mr.
Brookes worked on at home, and making short excursions
to beautiful country lanes and green spots, producing a
series of exquisite studies." On hearing of his death,
Mr. Gladstone wrote a most touching letter of sympathy
to his son, and subsequently forwarded a donation of a
hundred pounds to the widow from the Queen's Bounty.
It is interesting to note the difference of spirit or perhaps
one should say nerves between Brookes and his friend
Shields as illustrated by the following anecdote. On the
evening of Brookes' death an Italian woman came and
played an organ in front of the house. Fearing the noise
would disturb the dying man, they were about to send
her away ; but he reproved them saying, " Don't send her
away ; she is the countrywoman of Raphael ! "
CHAPTER VIII
M'Lachlan the photographer Arthur Hughes Madox Brown's advice
Chloral Illness Winnington Ruskin's generous offer M'Connell's
invitation Rossetti's method of chalk drawing.
IN the diaries and elsewhere has been mentioned the name
of M'Lachlan, for whom Shields worked at several periods
of his career, more from friendship for M'Lachlan than from
any liking for the work entrusted to him. M'Lachlan was
a photographer who was given to composing with the
assistance of Shields and other artists large 'groups of
celebrities notably the terrible " Royal Group " which
was afterwards the subject of much litigation, and of
which we shall hear more later. At present it was a
group of the Relief Committee for the Cotton Famine.
From illness and other causes Shields was anxious to find
some one to take his place in assisting M'Lachlan, and
ultimately introduced his friend Arthur Hughes. Madox
Brown wrote :
1 BLENHEIM PLACE, APSLEY ROAD,
GKEAT YAKMOUTH, August 10th, 1868.
DEAR SHIELDS, I received your kind letter just as I
was leaving for this place, where I am pretty well with
but little traces of the old attack at present. . . . By the
way, I forgot to answer your enquiry about Swinburne.
The accident was not severe, and in spite of all the penny-
a-liner could say, he was out the next day. But the
worst of it is that the accident was caused by a Jit a
slight one, no doubt, still a fit, which is not the first of the
kind he has had. He is now with his parents in Oxford-
shire and quiet and safe for a time.
I have written to Hughes, explaining as well as I could
121
122 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the peculiarities of the case of M'Lachlan, also mentioning
what you wished to know as to the prices of his water-
colours. I don't know if he will answer me here or wait
till I am back home, which will be in two or three days.
I am glad to hear you are at work again, because I
conceive from that that you are getting all right again. I
must prescribe for you now. Rememoer my old advice :
when nervousness and debility supervene take wine!
Begin with a glass the first thing in the morning and
repeat the dose at intervals during the day, measuring it
so as never to allow it to produce confusion, and never to let
the spirits droop. If you can't sleep, porter and biscuits,
or hot water and brandy ; if you wake up with a start,
more brandy and water and wine the first thing in the
morning but as soon as good ensues from it, begin
leaving it off by degrees. This and change of scene you
know my course of tonics of old.
I think Hughes would be likely to photograph well if he
will do the work, because his modelling is always strong
and dark, and as he is a good worker he might possibly
undertake the job with advantage. Robertson is, I believe,
rather slow, very painstaking and slightly timid ; and being
used to portrait painters' prices, I tear he might scarcely
see his way to undertake a work with thirty figures in it.
But if Hughes cannot do the thing, I have the letter
written out to Robertson.
Nolly shall make you some sketch before long. Mrs.
Brown and Cathy join with me in kind remembrances and
best wishes. Always yours faithfully,
FORD MADOX BROWN.
The medical advice given in this letter was probably
in the nature of a joke, for Madox Brown was doubtless
aware of Shields' strict views on temperance.
Unfortunately he gave him some advice of a much
more dangerous nature in a letter written soon after this.
He says : " Stillman who is here has given me the name of
a splendid sleeping potion Hydrate of Chloral 1 dram in 1
oz. of water, and take one to four teaspoonfuls as needed."
RUSKIN'S KINDNESS 123
Unhappily this advice was followed by Shields, and
he was for years more or less enslaved by the drug, and
only broke from it in 1874 or 1875. He wrote in later
life, referring to Rossetti's illness: "Chloral gives only
deathlike stupefaction without restorative power. The
suicidal despondency produced by Chloral I know too
well only a resolute severance from it saved myself. No
friend had the same experimental sympathy with Gabriel
as I had."
Ruskin wrote more than once during this summer
thanking Shields warmly for help he had given at Win-
nington. He advised him about some casts of Greek
coins, probably for the use of the pupils there, introducing
him to Mr. Ready of the British Museum. Ruskin was
also concerned by Miss Bell's reports as to Shields' health,
and wrote in September the kindest letter, signed "Ever
yours affectionately," in which he says :
" I should be very grateful to you if you could trust my
respect for your genius so far as to let me make you a little
present of such sum as would enable you to take perfect
rest during the remainder of the autumn. Please write
directly to Poste Restante, Abbeville, and tell me what
would enable you to do so."
In a note, years later, Shields wrote :
" Let me also here record that twice in my life, hearing
through friends that I was run down in health, Mr. Ruskin
wrote to me, asking me to take from him freely such sum
as would have given me change and rest. But I sought
only his esteem and friendship, and therefore declined an
aid that might have made me numbered with many, whom
I knew preyed, leech-like, on his purse."
Madox Brown wrote on October 10th :
" From M'Lachlan I have heard the most flourishing
accounts of yourself, your house, and your work. As for
124 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
myself, I was ill twice this summer, but suffered more in
comfort and looks than in work ; for though I was in bed
at least two months in all, I certainly did not lose more
than three weeks of work. I was only too glad to be able
to wile away the time in painting the moment it was
possible. . . .
" As to Gabriel, he is, he tells me, much better as to
health and sleep, and the air of the North seems to suit
him, but the thing that troubles him is his eyesight ; this,
however, is at present a strict secret ; it alarms him more
than I can say ; but, as far as I can understand, the case is
a very common one, having to do with his general health
and not the optic nerves at least, both oculists and
doctors agree about it, But as yet it seems he has found
no relief, though improved in health. I have no doubt he
will be all right in a few weeks, if he continues to rest as
he is now doing ; I don't think he has been overworking
himself lately ; certainly not at the ' Perseus,' for it is not
begun ; but for a long time 10 or 15 years past his life
has been one of perpetual toil and anxiety, and he is now
beginning to feel it. I will write to you any favourable
news as soon as it may come to hand. Hughes will, I
hope, get on with M'Lachlan ; I am sure if he cannot
satisfy him, no one else will."
A little later he wrote again about the photographic
work :
" Hughes has, I am happy to say, concluded a rather
favourable bargain with M'Lachlan, which I trust will
turn out to the advantage of both.
" He was exceedingly interested in M'Lachlan once he
had seen him, though before that he was getting a little
tired of his pertinacity I suspect. I told M'Lachlan that
it was a chance in a thousand for him to have got
Hughes, and that if he did not profit by it, he might bid
food-bye to his undertaking. I saw Rossetti's doctor to-
ay whom I wish, by the oye, you would consult. He
had a letter later than I have had. Gabriel now begins
to feel his eyes better in Scotland, and is convinced that it
has to do with his general health, and has some thought
ARTHUR HUGHES 125
of wintering in Ayrshire. My 'Elijah' is progressing
rapidly. Mother and son both near finished, only Elijah's
head and the hen and chick not painted in yet. Those
who have seen it seem to think it will be my finest draw-
ing. What are you going to send to the Sketch Exhibi-
tion ? I trust you will put in a good appearance though
hindered by health."
Arthur Hughes undertook the work, which was appar-
ently to copy the photographs, correcting the composition
of the group and improving the portraits, the whole then
being photographed again by M'Lachlan. On December
15th, 1868, Hughes writes :
" Not having yet received the great group from
M'Lachlan, I begin to fear that he is still trying to make
some improvements in it, and if so, as I think, wearing
himself out unnecessarily ; for what points there are where
improvement is to be done, will, I firmly believe, yield
to me. I would like to tell you how very much I
like your drawings at the Old Water-Colour Society. It is
very seldom one sees such perfect pieces of drawing. The
heads fascinate one from their individuality just as a face
very full of character does in life, and do, and do not, most
happily make one forget the artist, it is too rare to see
such entire unaffectedness and loyalty to nature with such
power."
M'Lachlan seems to have been a man of extraordinary
pertinacity, and from subsequent correspondence it is
evident that he was a somewhat trying person to work
for. Some idea of the maddening nature of the task may
be gathered from a letter from Mr. Hughes undated in
which he says :
" I am awfully sorry to hear that M'Lachlan is poorly,
and greatly obliged for your work at the effect of the
picture. I agree with all of it, with the exception of the
Hayward waistcoat which I fear is calculated to pull
the eye from Lord Derby indeed I shall not wait for you
126 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
or Mac coming up, but to-morrow morning begin. This
is not the eleventh hour, but the eleventh and fiftieth
minute, and after all this coaching and experience of the
damnable photography I really do understand it."
Mr. Arthur Hughes was proverbially a man ot angelic
temper and patience, and if the work evoked this ex-
pression from him, it can be imagined to what state of
exasperation it must have reduced his nervous and excit-
able friend Shields.
The diary for 1869 is missing, but during that year
Shields was in his big, lonely house at Cornbrook, working
as before, chiefly in water-colour. In June he prepared
for a visit to London, and was asked to stay with Madox
Brown, who wrote on June 10th :
" Just as you like whenever you appear you will be
welcome;" and adds the characteristic postscript: "In
spite of what you say in the matter of ' tin,' should you
fall short, we will manage it somehow."
His good friend Mr. M'Connell, purchaser of several
of Shields' early works, wrote from Wales :
August Sth, 1869.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I am sorry you cannot come just
now ; but come when you can, sooner or later. I don't
know of anything on our part to prevent you coming,
but write as soon as you can fix anything, ana let us know
if you can come ana when, and I will tell you if that will
suit us. I am very sorry to hear of your not being well.
Perhaps this air might do wonders for you, and if you like
I could send you into the mountains for a few days. I
have a room or two up at the quarry, right high up in the
mountains and amidst beautiful scenery, good bread and
splendid milk and Welsh mutton to eat. You have not
tried such a place, perhaps it might quite set you up. It
would be rather lonely, but only because you are a
ROSSETTI AT PENKILL 127
bachelor, and I go there most days. Mrs. M'Connell
desires to be kindly remembered. Yours truly,
T. H. M'CONNELL.
P.S. There are no birds.
No Pianos.
No Babies.
No singing men or singing women.
Not even a clock ticking without ceasing.
There's Elysium !
Whether this genial note induced Shields to visit
Wales is not recorded, but in August he was at Cornbrook,
giving much attention to drawing in coloured chalk, and
the long letter from Rossetti that follows shows that he
was anxious to study methods of working in that medium.
PENKILL CASTLE, GIEVAK, AYRSHIKE,
27th August 1869.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I was going to write you myself
on the two subjects of your letter. Not that I have really
any word to say to such fateful horrors as the one which
is now crushing poor Craven's soul. They leave me dumb
with their anomalous enormity. But I wished to know
exactly how he was ; and may probably make up uiy
mind to write him a word, though a stranger like myself
naturally doubts his claim to speak at all at such a time.
I had already heard something of this terrible circum-
stance from Brown since coming here, where I have now
been over a week and am, I hope, benefiting by the
change. I may probably stay two or three weeks longer.
The surroundings of this house are most lovely and
soothing a glen which is quite private and gives pictures
at every turn. The inmates are the lady of the house,
Miss Boyd, a rarely precious woman, and our friend W. B.
Scott, the best of philosophic and poetic natures a man
of the truest genius and one of my oldest companions.
So you see I have peace, friendship, and art, all to help me.
I wish you were here to share the pleasure and advantage
of such sympathetic surroundings. Scott, who read your
128 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
letter, sends you his love which you seem to have secured,
though I do not know how often you have met him.
You may be sure the dreadful tidings you give have
furnished us with some sad thoughts and talk. . . .
At this moment I hear from London that Agnew
has called and bought two chalk drawings I left to be
shown him for eighty guineas each. If he will go on this
will furnish some profitable pot-boiling ; and I tell you, as
you were the first to suggest a connection with him.
Could I be of any service in lending you a little money
just now ? Do, do tell me if I can. I have plenty of good
opportunities of earning at present.
I have brought no work here with me ; but am occu-
pied lazily with the proofs of the poetry I am printing
mostly old things which I find sometimes going about in
blundered transcriptions which might some time get into
print to the affliction of one's still thin-skinned ghost. So
I am putting them in a permanent shape, though I shall
not publish yet, not having complete copies of a sufficient
quantity of verse. However, I go on writing at times, and
may soon break out into publicity. Incentives occur now
and then. There is an article on me in Tinsley's Magazine
for September, following one on my sister last month, and
to be followed, as I judge, by one on my brother next
month ! I do not know who is the writer so, after twenty
years one stranger does seem to have discovered one's
existence. However, I have no cause to complain, since
I have all I need of an essential kind, and nave taken
little trouble about it, except always in the nature of my
work the poetry especially, in which I have done no pot-
boiling at any rate. So I am grateful to that art, and
nourish against the other that base grudge which we bear
those whom we have treated shabbily.
However, I am adding you to that class by all this
tirade about myself, and though I do not think the grudge
will result on my side, I must beware lest it should on
yours.
I hope if you have time to write me again it will be
with good news after all the bad. Your health is a most
anxious subject, and I cannot but think that the extreme
excitement and exertion to which I know you subject
EOSSETTI ON CHALK DRAWINGS 129
yourself in other kinds of work than Art should be re-
mitted for a time as an experiment. Also, and above all,
I am sure that the matrimonial question should be kept
in view, though here I know one is far from being master
of the situation according to one's pleasure.
Thanks for remembering about the Warburg tincture.
In the matter of chalk drawings I don't know what
paper you use. The blue-grey is of course the one tending
most to deaden redness ; but it is apt to resist covering for
a long time and leave the drawing cold, besides much
increasing outlay of work to remedy this. I have lately
adopted a very slightly greenish tint instead, which has
great advantages ; but, of course, requires caution as to
redness. However, if you make a good progress with your
tints by merely rubbing with the finger before you put
white in at all this difficulty may be combated, as I think
the white rubbed into the red is what chiefly reddens it.
I have found the piece of grey chalk you brought me
useful to deaden little rednesses in finishing, and have
therefore got some more from Brodie. One objection to
the greenish paper is that it is so light that the white
makes at first little effect on it. I think not a bad plan
is to make a mixture of black and red powdered chalk,
dip a stump in it, rub it almost off the stump again, and
then rub the stump all over the paper you are going to
work on before you begin. The tint thus rubbed should
be no stronger than a sky, but is neutral and pleasant
with the greenish tint underneath, and gives a good
ground to work into, as the white tells on it and you can
bread out lights. I suppose, like myself, you hardly use
the stump at all in actual work ; but always rub with the
fingers.
I will send you my privately printed poems when they
are revised and finally struck off.
There is some chance, I hope, of Brown soon joining
here. I know he would enjoy it enormously. Ever affec-
tionately yours, D. GABRIEL ROSSETTI.
P.S. If you want grey chalk, or anything else, in
London, write a card to H. T. Dunn at my address, and I
am sure he will see about it for you.
I
130 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
The latter part of this letter was printed many years
later in an article by Shields in the Century Guild Hobby-
Horse, on Rossetti's chalk drawings. The article was
inspired by a friend, who said : " If the conditions of the
age in which we live are adverse to immediate tradition
from master to pupil, surely we should at least, when so
extraordinary an artist as Rossetti has passed from our
midst, seek to lay up as a treasure every fragment of his
methods that can be recorded."
This reply to the last letter appears in Mr. William
Rossetti's book, Rossetti Papers :
COBNBBOOK PABK, MANCHESTER,
October 29th, 1869.
MY DEAR ROSSETTI, Last week I had a note from dear
Brown in which he told me that you were not painting, but
still writing or correcting poetry. This makes me fear
that your stay in Ayrshire has done you no good ; and
that in some way, either in your eyesight or otherwise, you
are still suffering so much that you cannot pursue the
work you love. I am greatly your debtor for the long,
full, kind letter you wrote to me while there, as well as
for your good offices with Graham. . . .
How sad your thoughtful talks with W. B. Scott upon
all that poor Craven's affliction suggested must have been !
The philosopher is as blind here as the Christian, and, if he
be not both, without the consolations which support the
latter. I have seen but little of Scott, and that at your
table ; but I know and greatly esteem much that he has
done, especially as one 01 the most original designers living,
whenever he likes to put his full force into his work ; and
I beg through you to return, if I may, my love with my
admiration, in answer to his own kind message. I wish that
Brown had been able to join you as you expected. He is
too much closed up indoors, and a blow of glen air would
have done him great good, as his company would have
done you also. He was like friend and father to me in
London during my last visit. I am so glad that you have
been doing business, with Agnew profitably, for these
SHIELDS TO ROSSETTI 131
frequent illnesses of yours will inevitably bring down your
purse and make the wherewithal an anxious subject in spite
of all determination to hold up bravely. I know this too
well in recent experience ; and for this reason, as well as
for others, I cannot consent to accept anything from you,
even though pressed upon me with your generous impor-
tunity. . . . The writer in Tinsley certainly appreciates
your work in both arts, and I was on the whole thankful
for the article. . . . The notice of your sister, Miss Chris-
tina Rossetti, was very disappointing . . . stretched out
to its required length by pecking at slight faults in her
poems. But he cannot spoil my happiness in them, which
is as great, from some of her devotional pieces, as any that
poetry has ever afforded me. " After this Judgment "
and "The Martyr's Song" are not easily matchable in reli-
gious poetry. As I sit now, looking over her last volume
again and recalling the impressions left on me by frequent
readings of it, it appears almost invidious to select from
these devotional pieces. The " Despised and Rejected " and
" Dost Thou not Care ? " must come from her deepest
heart. The critic is deaf to all this, and so deaf to what
is best in your sister and forces the sweetest notes from
her. ... It is so good of you to send me such plain and
elaborate instructions about the three-chalk method on
grey paper. The opportunity you allowed me of watching
you at work was still more valuable to me ; and I think,
as a consequence, that the drawings I have done for
Graham will turn out successfully. Ever affectionately
yours, FREDERIC J. SHIELDS.
The terrible affliction of Mr. Craven, alluded to in
this and in Rossetti's last letter, was the death of his little
son, who was thrown from his pony and killed.
Arthur Hughes was in Manchester earlier in the year,
but this breezy letter shows him again in London.
" Adders " (grass snakes !) and other reptiles, being silent,
were among the few pets tolerated by Shields. A letter
from Madox Brown about this time says :
" I bewail with you the loss of your snake and lizard,
Death has also been busy in Nolly's house a shiny green
132 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
lizard, a flame-spotted salamander, and a slimy toad have
stretched themselves out and bitten the dust ; Nolly has
become more careful in consequence and builds houses of
clay and brick lined with wadding for his last lizard, the
one you gave him."
Arthur Hughes writes :
MY DEAR SHIELDS, How are you, I wonder? and
all your household adders and toads. I have taken
mine to the seaside for a week and came back most
virtuously to my work. There's self-denial. Left them at
Broadstairs all provided with spades, with which they
make trenches and castles and graves in which they bury
each other, all but the head, and thej have already
a collection of sea-monsters in a pail alive a jelly-fish,
a star-fish, some crabs, shrimps, winkles and whelks and
it seems to me a beach is a most interesting and proper
place to spend one's life on, doing nothing in the sunshine
and eternally doing still more nothing ; but I am writing
to say that Goodwin, to whom I mentioned some time
ago tnat you thought your clergyman friend, whose name
I rather forget, would perhaps like a drawing, tells me
that he has some little ones ready, so I am writing you
this scrawl, you see. Perhaps you will scribble a line
to him to say if he may send his folio down to you ; his
address is :
A. Goodwin, Esq.,
10 Waterloo Street,
Hove, Brighton.
I hope that you are keeping well and better than
I have known your general health, and that Fortune has
smiled also in other ways on you by this, and am, my
dear Shields, Ever yours, ARTHUR HUGHES.
A wealthy patron, Mr. Graham, then M.P. for Glasgow,
seems to have been rather disappointing about a com-
mission, and both Madox Brown and Rossetti did their
best to clear up the misunderstanding, apparently with-
MADOX BROWN 133
out success. The struggle with poverty and ill-health
was again severe, and Shields' fiercely independent spirit
doubtless kept most of his friends in ignorance of his
difficulties. A beautiful study of a rose bush, painted
in the gardens of Winnington in this year, was shown at
the Memorial Exhibition. Long devotion to "Wesley
Preaching at Bolton " and " Solomon Eagle " brought no
immediate remuneration, and this was probably another
reason for the straitened means evident from Madox
Brown's letter, dated October 19th, 1869.
"Rossetti wrote me the other day that Graham had
just been with him and talking about you, seemed as
though ashamed of his conduct in the matter of the
commission. He said he had called upon you in Man-
chester but you were out. Rossetti assured him he
was of opinion that 200 guineas was a very moderate
price for such a work as you had proposed to paint for
him, and Graham ended by saying that he repented
and would endeavour to renew the commission. You
will probably ere now have heard from him, but if not,
you may feel sure you will shortly, and should you feel
inclined to renew relations with him (and I have no
doubt you are too much of a man of the world not to
do so), it may be something to cheer you up a bit now
that things seem so depressed; what you say about
money matters grieves me more to think you should
be bothered at all, than it does even to find you thinking
about that paltry loan in the morbid way you do. Why,
man, you have been the means of putting hundreds into
my pocket. As to what I said about our friend, do
not think too much of it. I felt obliged to warn you,
on your account as well as my own. I have no proof,
except that he is one of the biggest liars in existence
but he is half mad and one never can tell what he will
be up to next ; at the same time, he is very good-natured
in reality, and I have known him take the greatest
trouble to be of use to people whom at the present moment
he was injuring in every way by lies and calumnies. He
134 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
is a perfect enigma. For some time past, the most
astounding lies in favour of Burne-Jones and George
Watts have been all his game. I heard him tell a string
of them to Rossetti and Leyland, of all people, at Rossetti's
the other night ; we all knew it was lies, but Leyland
next day called at Jones's and ascertained they were lies
and went and told Rossetti the result of his enquiries,
and still he likes him better than ever, and says so.
Rossetti is pretty well, painting little and writing
much poetry, and pretty hard up in consequence. I did
not go to him at Penkill, circumstances would not permit
it which was to me a disappointment, but I don't much
care so long as I can prevail on myself to work, and
the family get their outing, and things are kept square
somehow. We are all pretty well just now. Nolly, Cathy,
and Lucy beginning their season pictures. They would
heartily join me in kind remembrances if they knew I
was writing. I am, as ever, sincerely yours,
FORD MADOX BROWN.
P.S. Chameleon's dead. We painted him over with
brandy and water for three days, wh,ich seemed at first
to comfort him and revive him, but it availed not.
P.P.S. I would paint as many Macbeths as any one
choose to pay for upright, lying down, or standing on
their heads, if paid ror accordingly, but this would be
an extra.
Experiments with larger heads were made this year.
Madox Brown, in an undated letter, writes again :
" The Exhibitions are all in full swing, and the weather,
though so fearful with north-east winds, is most beautiful
to look at and good for much walking. I saw the chalk
studies you sent to the Sketch Exhibition before my
last letter; I omitted to say I had seen them, though
knowing all the time that I had something important
to say.
" There was one of a fine-looking girl with laurels
which I thought very fine, the throat and head in par-
ticular admirably drawn and fine in expression, only the
ROSSETTI'S INFLUENCE 135
hands seemed too lumpy. It was evident you had
Rossetti in your eye, but he obtains such beautiful models
to work from that the delicacy of their forms compensates
for the apparent simplicity in bulk. With this exception,
I thought the drawings very fine. I must, however,
notice (which I trust you will take well from me) that
the works I have seen of yours which are most directly
under the Rossetti influence are not your successful ones.
I have told him this also, and he agrees that I am right.
No doubt there is a radical difference in your natures,
and though the charm of his genius provokes sym-
pathetic emulation in you of a quite legitimate kind,
still it is disturbing you in your orbit but we must talk
this matter over at more leisure when you come here and
when I have seen your last works. Come up soon and
let us know first."
Curiously enough, many years later Cosmo Monkhouse,
referring to the windows for Eaton Chapel in the
Magazine of Art (February 1884), writes:
"There is, indeed, a well-spring of life and sincerity
in Mr. Shields' imagination, and it is to be feared that
glass, even though painted with his own hand, can never
do complete justice to the beauty and originality of the
designs, or the vigorous thought and poetical feeling
which has been literally lavished on them. With the
exception of Burne-Jones, there is no instance in which
the personal influence of Dante Rossetti has been at once
so powerful and so wholesome."
CHAPTER IX
Letters to the press Madox Brown and Rossetti Agnew and Rossetti's
"blessed rhyme" " Knott Mill Fair " reproduced in the Graphic
Matilda Booth Visit to Scotland Experiments in oils Rossetti on
Craven and Eelmscott The Heywood Prize.
ON several occasions during his life Frederic Shields took
up his pen a formidable weapon in his facile hand to
defend his friends or his theories in the Manchester papers.
Evidently a letter was inspired on Madox Brown's account,
and Brown's unselfish heart being only anxious lest his
champion should by this controversy himself suffer in
popularity, he wrote on December 23rd, 1869 :
" Your welcome letter has come just as Craven called
in this morning to complete, in the shape of a cheque, two
fresh and valuable commissions which this truly satisfac-
tory man has given me again.
" We have been so busy here, and somewhat anxious
and bothered to boot, that we have contemplated the
approach of Christmas with little thoughts of festivity.
We have had no prospects of anyone being disengaged to
dine with us that day, and this must to some extent
account for our not thinking of you sooner. But indeed
you must come yet. Mrs. Brown and all the family are
quite determined that you shall. Put up a few things in
a bag and come at once on receipt of this.
" Knowing how you have served us once before, when
you let me Know after, that tin alone had prevented you
from coming, I make bold to enclose a cheque which I
dare say you can get cashed at Manchester. So don't be
grumpy but come ; it will do you good, and you will work
all the better for it on getting back to your studio.
" I read your letter to the paper with infinite pleasure
136
MADOX BROWN AND ROSSETTI 137
and gratitude ; only if I had been present to be asked, I
should have advised you not to move in the matter on
your own account ; but of all this and more we will talk
when you come. Should I say too much now you will
have the less inducement.
" I have had no time yet to go to your Winter Exhibi-
tion, so that I cannot speak of your works ; but I have
heard them spoken of by others, some of them with
enthusiasm."
Rossetti, evidently pleased with the letter to the press,
stirred up Mr. Sidney Colvin to follow Shields' example,
and wrote :
" I was very glad to see your capital move in respect
to Brown's picture at Manchester. I sent it on to Colvin
at once, and to-day he writes me word that he has written
to the Manchester Examiner. I sent on your letter to
him in such a hurry (being at work) that I only read it
once, and forgot what you said as to your health ; but, in
fact, do not think you said much about it. I hope there
was nothing bad to say. Graham's conduct (this part I
carefully scored out so much as the first sheet contained
in sending your letter to C.) seems to me most extra-
ordinary, considering how invariably and excellently well
he has behaved to myself, and the personal and artistic
esteem I have heard him express for you. He is, I believe,
now permanently in town again with his family. ... I
shall be very glad to have the chance of telling him what
I think. I have been in various queer states of health
for some time past. My visit to Scotland seemed to do
me no good this time. I have just lately been calling on
doctors and oculists again, and the latter still say my
sight is not really affected ; while the former say much the
same as to my health, but speak most warningly as to
hours, exercise, and abstinence from spirits, for which
Heaven knows I have no taste, but had for a year and
a half just fallen into the constant habit of resorting to
them at night to secure sleep. I have now relinquished
them entirely, and take only at night a medicine prescribed
by my last doctor (Sir W. Jenner) not an opiate, against
138 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
which he warned me in all forms and have certainly not
slept worse, but rather better, since doing so. I also, when
weather is fine, take day walks in Battersea Park ; whereas
my habits had long been to walk only at nights except
when in the country. For many months I have done no
painting or drawing, but have just lately resumed work of
this kind, and am proceeding as best I may against the
stream of models, wno cannot be got or do not come, pitch
black days, &c., with such things as I want to be doing.
These are chiefly the large picture of Dante's Dream,
which I had not yet taken m hand since getting the
commission from Graham ; and (!!!) the old picture of
' Found ' (the calf and bridge subject), which I am actu-
ally taking up at last. I nave lots of time as yet in
preliminary studies for both works ; but hope to get the
man's heaa done in the ' Found ' next week, having found
a splendid model, and have also made considerable way
towards the bridge background. I am also beginning to
make studies again for the picture of ' Medusa,' and hope
to get that in hand as soon as the others are fairly under
way. Had I a large fine studio, I should now get all my
finest subjects squared out from the designs on canvases
of the size needed, and take them all up one after the
other whenever possible. This plan I shall pursue vigor-
ously more or less now, as life wears short, and do I trust
few single figure pictures except when shut out from other
work by the chances of the hour. Studio-building I have
funked hitherto, as the state of my health has induced
me to think I might be leaving Chelsea, just after I had
got the stables into my possession. I think it most likely,
however, that I shall begin building shortly after Xmas,
as the landlord has demanded that, failing that, I should
put the stables in repair as stables, which would be simply
throwing money in the dirt. I have been doing a good
deal of work in poetry lately, and shall publish a volume
in the sprint. I have got 230 pages in print, and want
perhaps to add about 100 more. This is hardly necessary,
as it is all very close and careful work ; but I daresay it
may be some time before I print again, if ever I should
wish to do so. At any rate, so much will be off my mind
when the thing comes out, and it is certainly the best
ROSSETTI'S LETTERS 139
work of my life, such as that has been. Have you seen
Morris's new volume of the Paradise. It contains glorious
things, especially the ' Lovers of Gudrun.' Tennyson's
new volume does not enlist my sympathies, except a
second ' Northern Farmer/ which is wonderful ; and of
course there is much high-class work throughout.
" I have not seen your heads at the Water-Colour ; nor
indeed do I ever go to any picture shows whatever now,
except once in the year to the R.A. Old Brown is doing
a water-colour (Don Juan found on the beach by Haidee),
which will I think be almost the finest of his works,
and certainly by far the most full of beauty. Indeed, to
my mind all eight figures are eminently beautiful in face
and figure, and the background of rocks and sea is most
fascinating.
" Ned Jones is doing a crowd of splendid works, though
he has sent no sketches to the gathering this time. He
was one of the hangers."
Madox Brown's cheque did not avail to persuade
Shields to spend Christmas in London, and the New Year
found him still at Cornbrook, with an occasional visit to
Winnington. In April Rossetti wrote asking Shields to
help him about a photograph. All his toil with M'Lachlan
had given Shields a really extensive knowledge of photog-
raphy, and though he always professed his detestation of
the art he would not even have allowed it to be called
an art at all this experience was undoubtedly very useful,
and enabled him to be of great service to his friends. In
after years he took endless trouble for Rossetti, superin-
tending the photography of his pictures and correcting
negatives and proofs with the utmost patience and devo-
tion to his friend's interest.
SCALANDS, ROBEBTSBRIDGE, SUSSEX,
llth April 1870.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Some time back I wrote to a Mr.
Mitchell, of Manchester, who possesses that " Venus " of
140 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
mine with the roses and honeysuckles, to ask if he would
object to its being photographed ; and I ventured to name
you as a friend who I thought would be willing, out of
consideration for me, to superintend its removal, photo-
graphing, and return to its owner. I proposed to save
you such trouble by having the loan of it in London ; but
to this you will see, by the letter I enclose, he objects. So
if you will kindly undertake this for me, I will be much
obliged. Any convenient moment to yourself would, of
course, do. You will see I am writing from the country,
and having none of my photos by me, cannot give you a
precise idea of the size I want it done. But you have
seen some of them and know the sort of size fairly large,
and, of course, deep tones. Your friend of the Lancashire
Committee photo; would, I should think, be the very man to
make a fine thing of it if worth his while to take the
trouble. Of course it is at my expense, not Mr. Mitchell's.
One difficulty occurs to me, and that is, that there is a
gold nimbus round the head. I wonder if some white
powder of some sort could be rubbed over this, or whether
there is nothing for it but to let it come black. I hope
you will get my volume of poems towards the end of this
month, as I have given your name to the publisher. I
shall like to know now it pleases you. There is one piece
called " Jenny," which gave Smetham a shock when I read
it to him ; but I was sincerely surprised on the whole at
its doing so in his case, though I Know many people will
think it unbearable. I myself have included it (as I wrote
it) after mature consideration, and could not alter my own
impression of the justness of my doing so, knowing as I do
how far from aggressive was the spirit in which I produced
it, as I should think the poem itself ought to show.
I saw your newspaper controversy about Brown some
time ago, and thought your part in it excellent. You
seem to have a large share of this sort of power, which has
grown to be almost a national instinct.
I will not write more, as I am not given much to letter-
writing at present. I need hardly say that my health
brought me here, and that means that there is not much
to boast of. I hope you can give a better account of
yourself. Your affectionate D. G. ROSSETTI.
ROSSETTFS LETTERS 141
Rossetti had offered to let Shields work in his studio,
and apparently Shields now contemplated a visit to London.
Rossetti's next letter is undated, but was probably a week
or so later than the last.
SCALAN0S, Saturday.
DEAR SHIELDS, I shall be delighted for you to work
at Cheyne Walk, but am not returning just now. How-
ever, I shall be on a flying visit for an hour or two or a
day or two (I don't know which) about Saturday, 23rd. I
write with this to Dunn to expect you ; he is doing some
big work for me which may possibly be taking up the
whole space in the studio, but m that case I dare say the
little studio upstairs would serve you. However, probably
the large one will be at your service. I don't think the
" Venus " photo should be bigger than about the size of this
sheet opened out at biggest. I see you're frightened of
poor " Jenny," my poem, but I assure you I was surprised
at Smetham's galvanic alarm, and shall be sincerely so if
you share it. The poem was written in a far different
spirit from any which should produce such results in
thinking men, I believe.
Pardon haste, but I am very busy to-day.
There was evidently some difficulty about photograph-
ing the "Venus"; apparently through the fault of the
owner of the picture, for Rossetti writes months later :
June 15th, 1870.
DEAR SHIELDS, Have you been able to do anything
about the photo of that picture of Venus ? Your affec-
tionate D. G. ROSSETTI.
P.S. Do you know if the brothers Agnew have
really got to hear of that blessed rhyme ? I might wish
to be writing them, but shouldn't if I thought they were
riled.
142 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
The " blessed rhyme " was one of Rossetti's nonsense
verses the slightly modified version of this choice
specimen given by Shields is as follows:
" There are two bad brothers named Agnew
Whose lies would make e'en an old nag new ;
The father of lies, with his tail to his eyes,
Cries ' Go it, Tom Agnew, Bill Agnew.' "
Very perfect of its kind, but hardly calculated to pre-
judice the picture-dealers in Rossetti's favour.
Shields was evidently suffering much in health and
spirits at this period, and no doubt his inability to serve
his friend in the matter of the photographer troubled him.
Rossetti wrote again in August :
"I cannot easily thank you enough for so much
friendliness under such very troublesome circumstances.
I now regret extremely that I did not write on receipt of
your former letter, as I meant to do, to beg you to take
no further trouble in a matter which presented such un-
expected obstacles. But I delayed doing so through
excessive preoccupation at the moment, and then thought
that it was no use writing, as further steps were probably
already being taken. I can now only say that I could
never have conceived, from Mr. MitcnelPs very straight-
forward conduct on former occasions, that he was capable
of so much changeableness and disregard of his word. I
do not like to make a cause of quarrel with him (after
very agreeable relations hitherto) out of a matter which,
in itself, is of no importance to me ; but am excessively
irritated at having been led on by him into causing you
so much disturbance, and on that account write him with
this- to express my surprise at his conduct. As far as I
myself am concerned, it is well the matter is no more im-
portant than it is; but I feel how much apology I owe
you for this unpleasantness which I could not have
foreseen.
" I wish I could say something to any good purpose on
what gives me great anxiety, the infinitely more im-
ROSSETTI'S LETTERS 143
portant matter of your own affairs to which you make
some allusion, and which, I assure you, already often
occurred to my mind. . . . Nothing could give me greater
pleasure than being able, should such opportunity occur,
to be of any service to yourself who have so often served
me so warmly and at the cost of so much personal exer-
tion. Is there any way suggesting itself to your own
mind by which I could be of the least use in forwarding
any object you have in view? If there were, the very
friendliest thing you could do would be to let me know.
Of your health you do not specially speak, nor do I
gather clearly whether what you say of your ' suffering '
from this truly atrocious and insufferable war related
simply to what all must feel, or to more direct influences
of a baneful kind on your own immediate prospects. Such
would doubtless be a possible result for any of us, as there
is no knowing the moment at which entrenchment may
be forced upon the wealthy classes of this country by the
state of affairs abroad, or even at home, and naturally Art
goes first to the wall.
" You allude in the kindest way to my poetry, and say
also that you would like to write me something about
'Jenny.' Pray believe that anything coming from you
could only be what I should sincerely desire to hear,
whatever its point of view ; only I really think there must
be too many affairs of your own to attend to, for it to be
worth your while to dwell on my verses except by word
of mouth when we meet again, which it would please me
much to hope might be soon. The book has prospered
quite beyond any expectations of mine, though just lately
signs of depreciation have been apparent in the press
(Blackwood, to wit). I am only surprised that nothing of
a decided kind in the way of opposition should have
appeared before. However, I have also been surprised
(and pleasantly) to find such things producing a much
more transient and momentary impression of unpleasant-
ness than I should have expected indeed I might almost
say none at all; particularly as I cannot help, in this
instance, putting against the Blackwood article the fact
that B. & Co. wished to publish the book and I went else-
where. But above all, these things probably do not touch
144 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
me much for the reason that my mind is now quite
occupied with my painting, and has been for some time
past. I am making very rapid progress with my large
picture of' Dante's Dream,' about 10 or 11 feet by 7. A
big picture is glorious work, really rousing to every faculty
one nas or even thought one might have, and I hope I am
doing better in this tnan hitherto. In another fortnight
or so, I shall have all the figures painted on the canvas,
and only the glazing of the draperies left to do. The
background is as yet untouched, and before I resume the
picture, after bringing it to the completion of the figures
as above, I intend to go for a month or so into the country
to recruit. However, though I have been working
decidedly hard, I find that it chiefly seems to have the
effect of consolidating and steadying the beneficial results
which my spring trip to the country had already had on
my health. I am not at present sensible of any incon-
venience with my eyes, though working good hours daily,
and have not been for months past. I have often spoken
with Brown about you, and I need not tell you wnat a
constant interest he takes in all that concerns you. He
himself is, I am glad to think, doing well at present, and
is just thinking of an excursion to Newcastle, and perhaps
to the Highlands, in company with his wife. He lately
finished his large oil picture of ' Romeo and Juliet,' but I
did not see it, as he would not show it while in progress,
and most stealthily and surreptitiously spirited it away at
the last moment to Leathart, who is its possessor. I be-
lieve, however, it is one of his best works. . . .
" You probably know of Burne- Jones' having left the
O.W.C. Society, but probably will be surprised to near that
Burton has now done so also. I believe B. finds it
necessary to take larger work, and thinks such scale
better suited to oil ; but his warm feeling on Jones' behalf
in the differences occurring between him and the Society
has doubtless led to his taking the step at this particular
moment. . . .
" Let me again beg of you, before I conclude, that you
will tell me without the slightest reserve of any wav that
may occur to you in which I could serve you at all. To
know that you were happier would be a real encourage-
ment to me."
CHALK DRAWINGS 145
In the autumn of 1870 was made the chalk drawing
" A Royal Princess," the subject being taken from Christina
Rossetti's noble poem. The picture was bought by Sir
William Houldsworth. In the Graphic, December 17th,
1870, was reproduced the large water-colour of "Knott
Mill Fair." On November 29th an interesting entry is
on the only page preserved of the diary for this year :
" Alteration to ' Hide.' To town to see Agnew's exhibition.
Mounted Falkner's drawing. Head of Matilda on green
paper rather a failure."
Matilda Booth, then aged about twelve years, was
destined to be the artist's wife. "Hide" was a water-
colour, bought by Mr. Craven.
In the New Year Rossetti writes :
" Your letter was, as you knew beforehand, a real relief
to me. It drives away the uneasy feeling inevitable lately
whenever your friendly image recurred to my mind, and
substitutes a satisfactory one. I can readily imagine with
what joy you will attack your favourite subject after a long
being kept at bay of it, and have no doubt of good results.
As to the Water-colour Gallery, your work would draw
me there if anything would, but I must say frankly that
I do not expect to get there. I have got into such an
absolute and undeviating habit of working all daylight
somehow whether on just the work I want to do or not
that I literally never go anywhere except once in the
year to the R.A. modern exhibition, and once nowadays
to the Old, which I have not yet accomplished this year.
I lately saw at Graham's your two chalk drawings of
Night and Morning, and thought them full of fine quality
and more decided in sense of facial beauty than any pre-
vious work I had seen of yours. I find now that it was
quite a mistake to draw on that dark blue grey paper. It
necessitated endless work to keep the ground down, and
even to the last it always came through. The greenish
paper (from Winsor & Newton specimen enclosed) is
much the best for the purpose which the English makers
afford I have tried several. Unfortunately the rule is
K
146 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
that as in France they never make a bad tint whether
cheap or dear, in England they never make a good one.
This, however, has no decided objection when covered,
except that I very much regret to say it has a tendency
to fade and turn yellow in parts. I aon't know whether
this is likely to cause any decided injury to the drawing,
or whether it would go further underneath the chalic.
Sometimes the paper seems to hold out for good, and
sometimes to go in this way in spots almost at once. I
have complained to W. & N., and they said they had
heard of it before, and referred to the makers, who say it
cannot be guarded against with this tint. However, there
is really no other tint tit to use, so I go on with it.
" I'm glad Mitchell has expressed to you some sense of
his being in the wrong. I expressed to him very de-
cidedly by letter the awkward position in which he had
placed me towards you after all the trouble you so kindly
took. I should really hesitate to mix you up with the
matter again, even if you were kindly willing. Perhaps
the best thing would be to see if he will lend the picture
to show with the large one when finished, and a few others
recently completed, when I shall be asking friends to come
and see. It could then be photographed at the same
time. I don't suppose I shall get up any kind of public
show this year, but most likely next only of a few weeks
and shall then have one other large one at least ready
I hope the ' Magdalene.' The big 'Dante ' is approaching
completion, but won't, I suppose, be done quite so soon as
I thought, as I knocked on lately to finish several other
things long on hand viz. Beatrice, Sybylla Palmifera,
and Mariana with boy singing (Measure for Measure), all
of which, you may remember, begin as life-sized things.
These three are finished, and I am now finishing ' Pan-
dora.' I think all show great advance in colour and
execution, and that the big picture will be much the best
thing I have done, in spite of the dissatisfaction accom-
panying without fail the close of a work, and now be-
ginning to set in with me. Perfect it won't be, but better
it will be.
" I have heard from Mr. M'Connell about his water-
colour, asking if it was sold again. I mislaid his letter
CORNBROOK THREATENED 147
with address and have not answered, but it is no use my
writing letters about it till sold, which is not as yet.
Hardly any one comes to my place now, as I have so long
been engaged on work which I decline to show, and
people have got sick of my sulks.
" I've not seen dear old Smetham for centuries, but
must try and do so. I'm glad he's stood by you, as I
knew he would not fail to do if possible. I feel as if I
chiefly among your friends had not succeeded in being of
any service to you in your time of trial, after all the good
turns you have done me. . . .
" Scott showed me a letter of yours in a Manchester
paper sent to him, where his name occurred in a manner
so well deserved, and I am sure gratifying to him. What
a horrid set they seem to be there ! Scott is my near
neighbour now, having bought Bellevue House, a very
fine old mansion twice as big as this and just opposite
Battersea Bridge. He is a great acquisition. And by
the bye, I may as well just mention, in case you had any
thought of returning to London, that Scott has a separate
building at the back of his house (very noiseless, I should
think) admirably fitted for a studio, but which he does
not use at all, having a good one in the house. I should
think (though I don't know at all) that he might possibly
be willing to let it to a quiet congenial inmate like your-
self. Boyce, as I dare say you know, has built himself a
house (by Webb) at the end of Cheyne Row, so Chelsea
is gradually filling."
Depression and ill-health continued during the early
part of this year ; one great trouble was that the secluded
old house in which Shields hoped he had found a per-
manent abode was wanted for Government offices. He
began to be much agitated as to his coming eviction;
this probably was the cause of the illness alluded to in
Madox Brown's next letter, dated July 6th.
" I have this moment received your kind and sad letter.
I shall not write a long one in return, but just tell you
that I shall remember to communicate with Rossetti and
14S LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Smetham. You can imagine how much we are all pained
at such bad news of your health, and how fervently we
trust it will improve with the fine air of Argyllshire. . . .
We are about to proceed to Dartmouth, in Devonshire,
for four weeks. Once there, I will write again with our
address. But cannot your friend who is with you write
for you and say how you are ? If it is M'Lachlan, give
him my kindest regards, and say I should be much
obliged by a line saying how you are."
There is no record of any Scotch visit, except two or
three undated sketches of Highlanders, and Madox
Brown's next letter, which seems to point to such a
journey having been taken.
LYNN COTTAQB, LYNMOUTH, DEVON,
26th July 1871.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I feel very anxious to know how
you are getting on, your last letter was so discouraging
in tone. Please let some one write if only a line just to
say how you are. We have been here just two weeks on
the north coast of Devonshire. It is a most lovely spot,
but we find it the reverse of bracing. . . . Rossetti is down
in Oxfordshire, William Rossetti gone to Italy, Morris to
Iceland, everyone somewhere. We shall be back in
London this day fortnight. This is one of the places
Shelley was at with his wife Harriet, when he was about
eighteen and she sixteen. We have found an old woman
who remembers them perfectly. I am going to draw her ;
Miss Blind is to make an article about her. We have got
some new facts from her. All unite with me in hoping
you may be much better by this time. Let me hear
something before long. I have lost your Scotch address,
so have to address to Manchester.
In October Shields was again searching for a new
house, uncertain whether to stay in Manchester or again
try London, which had now so many attractions for him.
At one time Liverpool seemed a likely place, and various
MADOX BROWN'S ADVICE 149
secluded spots were recommended to him by different
friends. To one of his temperament the fact of his being
obliged to leave the house which suited him so well was
quite sufficient to account for his having been " much
disturbed," as Madox Brown says in his next letter, dated
October 18th, 1871.
" Many thanks for your kind, long letter, which I am
afraid cost you more trouble than I deserve, but I was
just getting anxious at hearing nothing of or from you.
I hope you will fix on coming to town, now that you have
given up your lodgings house, I mean. I do not see
that you have any advantages in Manchester which you
might not have in London, and I believe you might get
chambers either in the Temple or some of the Inns of
Court, where you might be perfectly quiet and at less
expense than you have been in your house. Will you not
pay us a visit before deciding ? I ought to have pressed
this on you before, but I did not know (from your letters)
if it would have been good for you ; and I have been very
much absorbed of late in my own bothers, so that the
time has slipped away.
" You seem to have been much disturbed of late in some
way or other, but I shall not trouble you with questions
and leave it to you to explain matters, if you care to do
so, when we meet.
" Rossetti has nearly finished his great work and
written a deal more poetry. The picture is, as you sur-
mise, a perfect success ; at least it is becoming so within
the last few days. At first when I saw it, some three
months ago, it was admirable as to the figures and in all
separate parts, but the general effect was very unsatis-
factory ; now it is coming quite right.
"As to the Benzine process you ask about, I must tell
you that it is quite given up by Gabriel and myself as a
process. However, for rapidly laying in a large picture,
a la Watts, it certainly does offer advantages, but not all
those it was boasted of possessing. An absorbing ground
is the first consideration, yet this is no absolute necessity ;
next, some white and other colours, rather stiffish, is con-
150 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
sidered desirable, but by no means indispensable. You
may put such colours as you most use for laying in on
blotting-paper, and so stiffen them. The most important
matter is to mix your quantum of benzine for the day
with one-eighth part of oil, and shake it well up in a little
bottle. This prevents it all flying off into the air, to your
danger and detriment. You must be careful with your
benzine not to put it open under a light, as the whole
may explode and burn you up.
" There is nothing else 01 much importance. If you
trust too much to benzine and do not use enough medium
or varnish, your work will either wash off or crack off, as
many of Watts' have done."
The above suggests that Shields was now experiment-
ing in oils, but he also produced several water-colours this
year, including a portrait of Miss Carver, " Sweet Mary,"
and "Calypso" (both purchased by Mr. M'Connell), an
" Angel of the Annunciation," and two or three drawings
for Punch ; the largest of these, however, was not pub-
lished until 1875.
It must have been somewhat hard for him to decide
the rights and wrongs of the " hobble " Rossetti now de-
scribes! Mr. Craven was certainly entitled to a little
sympathy.
16 CHEYNE WALK,
15*A Not: 1871.
DEAR SHIELDS, I was very glad, as always, to hear
from you at such friendly length and to such friendly
purpose. I wish heartily you were here, for a selfisn
reason as well as for others ; for I should take a thorough
pleasure in showing you my large picture, as the only
thing (with all its faultiness) in wnich I ever tried com-
pletely to test (by unflinching efforts to get a work on a
good scale right in the end) what my powers for the time
being might be. It is really much better, I know, than
anvtning I have done yet, though I am very far from
being blind to its shortcomings. I am about immediately
HM +J
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i-l 'S
ROSSETTI, CRAVEN, AND KELMSCOTT 151
to get on other large work, and hope to make a further
step in advance.
Your mention of Mr. Craven induces me to detail to
you (though distasteful enough) a stupid misunderstand-
ing which seems to have arisen between us. I long ago
engaged to do him a drawing of Beatrice, price 300 guineas,
which (to make a long story short) was to liquidate to the
extent of its price some advances made at intervals on
work since abandoned, though on its delivery a sum (70)
would still remain payable by me, either in work (as origi-
nally intended) or in money. Craven behaved capitally
in not troubling me in the least about this drawing for a
long while (knowing that it could not be finished till the
original oil picture, of which it was a replica, should be
out of hand), but having some six months ago, or perhaps
more, called here and seen the oil picture then just finished,
he asked me when he might expect the water-colour, and I
told him " before long." However, every experiment I
have made for some time in water-colour has proved to
me that it suits my eyes much less than oil painting ; and
some little time after, on his making further enquiry by
letter, I told him that on this account I felt rather disposed
to pay back the money instead of delivering the drawing,
and proposed a plan of doing so by bills stretching over
some time. This he declined, and proposed instead that
I should pay him the sum (which was in itself larger than
I, writing then from the country, had thought) by two
bills bearing interest within a short time. This was out
of the question with me, and I therefore undertook to
finish the drawing and deliver it in three months from last
5th August (the date of writing). This I have done, with
a few days' delay only, agreed to by him for the advan-
tage of tne work in finishing. At the same time I sent
him a cheque for 30, thinking (mistakenly) that this was
the surplus sum owing, which he now informs me (quite
correctly, as I find) is 70. Of course I shall pay him the
additional 40 as soon as may be, either by money or
work ; but he now, to my complete surprise, again raises
the question of interest (a thing never spoken of at all
when the advances were made), and actually proposes to
charge it not only on the outstanding 70, but also on the
152 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
sum paid for by delivery of the drawing of Beatrice. Of
course this proposal I cannot entertain for a moment.
How he comes to make it I am at a loss to conceive, but
must suppose that temper has somehow got the better of
him. I regret extremely getting into these stupid hobbles
with him not from motives of interest (as I am not likely
to be doing more water-colours, or therefore to have him
as a customer), but because he always behaved in a friendly
and liberal spirit all along, and it seems absurd that a
reasonable intercourse should close in this unreasonable
manner. Thus far this unpleasant business. The drawing
of Beatrice sent to Manchester he has not yet seen, as he
is at Brighton. It is probably the best water-colour I
ever did, but I should not be at all surprised if, in his
present mood, he were to prove dissatisfied with it. That,
of course, I could not help, were it to be so.
What you tell me about the " Princess " drawing does
not surprise me. I sold it to a dealer, and did not finish
it in the way I should have done had it been for Craven,
for whom I always endeavoured to do my best. As
for taking it up again, life is short and might I think
be better employee!, though had Craven asked me to
do so at any time, I would have looked at the drawing
and worked on it if I saw my way to do so. This letter
has got long already, and I dont much know what to
write about, though there would be a thousand things to
talk about if we were together. I was away in the
country three months, at a house which I took jointly
with Morris, on the banks of the Thames at Kelmscott,
Oxon. There those verses you write so kindly about
were suggested, with other writing of a more elaborate
kind, and I also did some painting there. The house and
its immediate belongings are a perfect paradise, and the
place peaceful even to excess. It is an Elizabethan house
quite unaltered, and my studio was hung with tapestry
which no doubt had been always in it. I wish you could
find such a place within artistic limits. It is a most
anxious matter, with your special necessities, to find a
new nest now you have unluckily lost the old one. Of
course I feel ^'nclined to advise London again, but the
matter is much too serious for inclination to govern it,
THE HEYWOOD PRIZE 153
and I am quite uncertain whether such a move would be
good or bad for you.
You do not tell me of your work, but I judge you
must be engaged on the good commissions you told me
of some time back, and of which I then rejoiced to hear.
Things go on the same as ever in London. Everyone
works, and hardly anyone sees the other's work more than
if many counties lay between them every man having
his own daily groove, and the cross roads being somehow
of rare occurrence. Dear old Smetham I have not seen
for ages, though I did correspond a little with him when
in the country. However, week by week I project
tempting him from his distant entrenchment to see my
pictures, and shall really do so ere long. Good-bye, my
dear Shields, I hope our really seeing each other again
before we are much older is not quite out of the question.
Ever yours, D. G. ROSSETTI.
In December Frederic Shields was awarded the Hey-
wood Prize for his picture " After the Storming," then
exhibited at the Manchester Institution. A rough draft
of a letter of acknowledgment, dated Cornbrook Park,
December 7th, 1871, says, "This resolution of the Council
comes as a great surprise, rousing, I may say, shame
in me that it is not better supported by the inherent
excellence of my work. I beg to thank the Council and
to express my hope that the principle of allotting the
prize to a local painter may be tried for another year,
in the trust that the experiment may prove stimulating
to a noble emulation and the production of works of
higher aim among our young artists, often struggling
with poverty. To them such a prize would afford the
leisure to work independently for a time, of the necessity
for painting such subjects and in such a style, as to
command the readiest market in a country where the
average taste of picture buyers is very low."
CHAPTER X
Ordsall Old Hall Hermit life Rossetti's illness Crisis at Wilmington
Holding and Davis Modern improvements threaten Insomnia
M'Lacblan again The young model The amazing marriage Off to
Blackpool.
AFTER much searching and doubt, Shields discovered
another strange and lonely old house in Manchester
called Ordsall Old Hall. In Manchester Faces and Places,
August 1897, we are told " The hide of land on which
Ordsall Hall stands was formerly the property of Edward
the Confessor, and was bounded by the clear waters of
the Irwell. It was once the home of the Radcliffe family,
who took their name, it is said, from a red sandstone
cliff which overlooked the river, and which was sometimes
called Rougemont, a name often used by members of
the family. A noble residence for a man of rank, in
the days of Richard III., it had fallen from its high
estate, but was (in 1872) still a thing of beauty, with four
gables, oriel windows, great hall with magnificent open
roof, and moat. The city has now closed in upon it ; but
happily it is being restored by its owner, Lord Egerton."
In one wing of this vast and dilapidated relic of
the splendours of Richard III., Frederic Shields took up
his solitary existence, an old woman daily was his sole
attendant, though in a year or two she was replaced
by various more or less incompetent successors dignified
by the name of "housekeepers." Here he continued
working, chiefly at water-colour, paying an occasional
visit to London, staying for a few nights either with
154
ROSSETTI'S ILLNESS 155
Rossetti or Madox Brown, and visiting Ilkley in the
spring of 1872.
Madox Brown wrote on July 17th :
" I am quite overwhelmed with shame when I look at
the date of your letter, but when I explain the nature
of my silence, you, with your forgiving nature, will be
more ready to excuse me than I can be myself.
"About the time you wrote (12th May), I had already
lost a considerable amount of time, owing to repeated
attacks of rheumatism, and before I had time to answer
your long, kind letter, a matter of a quite new kind sprang
up whicn completely shut up my time and attention.
You know in your letter you ask for particular informa-
tion as to Christina Rossetti, whom you had heard to
be in the extreme or hopeless state ; this was an exaggera-
tion, she was not and has not been dying, so to speak,
though as ill as any one can well be without being
in articulo mortis, but since she has been better, but is
now again worse. However, now I come to what must
be a profound secret between us, and that is the state
of her brother Gabriel. He is at present in Scotland with
Dr. Hake, the poet, and his son. I and the younger
Hake went down with him three or four weeks ago. I
stayed eight days and left him with W. B. Scott and
G. Hake. Now Dr. Hake has replaced Scott and to-day
I have from him the first letter of a really hopeful kind
that has reached us from Scotland. You must know
that Gabriel for the last two years has been, without our
noticing it, subject to slight fits of eccentricity, partaking
of the nature of delusions, he had also been sleeping
worse and worse and taking enormous doses of chloral
every night about the time of that horrid Buchanan
pamphlet called the Fleshly School of Poetry. This state,
owing to the irritation consequent on that libel, reached
a state of development, accompanied by a kind of fit
(which, by the bye, was falsely represented to us and
his family as being hopelessly irrecoverable in its nature
you may judge of his poor mother's, and indeed all our
feelings) that rendered it unsafe to leave him alone.
156 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
I was some days at Cheyne Walk with him. Some days
ago we brougnt him here and then at last I got him off
to Scotland and went with him. There his state physically
did improve; sleep gradually began to return and with
less chloral (for they dared not leave it off) his walking
powers returned, for the fit had left him with a lame
leg. The gloomy black temper and the delusions, which
were to the purpose that the whole world was in a con-
spiracy against him, with the exception of a few friends,
did not give way, rather the reverse but to-day Dr.
Hake writes the first hopeful letter and we have every
reason to expect that as his mental state is not of the
worst kind, that in three or four months he will be all
right again and at work. . . .
" I have, perhaps, news of my own that might interest
you, but I nave little time left this morning to write
it. I am painting Fawcett, the blind Member, and his
wife in one picture for Sir Charles Dilke quite a pathetic
looking group. My large ' Don Juan ' has also made some
progress. Nolly has written a novel and is engaged on
another, but this is strictly a secret betwixt us. He has
developed an astounding genius in this line. He is only,
you know, seventeen. Cathy is to be married the first week
in September. We are all pretty well in health now
but I have not found time to go to a single exhibition,
yours included. Craven knows that D. G. has been ill
but nothing else ... so be on your guard.
" Now as to yourself, my dear Shields, pray how goes
it ? Write, I beg you, at once on receipt of this and don't
imitate my bad example, unless, indeed, you have as good
an excuse. I lost more than four weeks' work with
Gabriel and have been overwhelmed with business ever
since."
In September a more cheerful letter announced
Rossetti's recovery.
Early in this year matters at Winnington had been
approaching a crisis. Many letters from Ruskin, in his
most forcible style, were addressed to Shields on the
subject. Shields, as he wrote to Ruskin, strove hard to
v
A WINNINGTON GIRL
Northwich, 1873
CRISIS AT WINNINGTON 157
maintain his faith in Winnington, but he admitted his
inability to understand legal matters, or Miss Bell's ideas
of finance. He felt that, unlike Ruskin, he had no per-
sonal cause of complaint, having himself received nothing
but kindness from Miss Bell, and as at this particular time
of trial the life of Miss Bell's partner was to use Shields'
words " hanging by a thread," he felt that he could not
do anything but render them any encouragement and
assistance that he was able to give. This probably led
for a time to more or less estranged relations with Ruskin,
who wrote exhorting Shields not to bother himself about
anything but his work, and observed, " If I never hear
anything more about Miss Bell or the money I shall be
thankful." A pacifying reply from Shields drew a still
more forcible note from Ruskin, and evidently "the
subsequent proceedings interested him no more."
Winnington was reconstructed soon after on a much
smaller scale, at a house near Brighton called Winnington
Pines, and entered the life of Shields at a later date.
In the autumn of this year he was again plunged into
another's woe by the death under very sad circumstances
of a promising young Manchester artist named Holding,
and at once solicited Madox Brown's help in getting up
an exhibition of pictures to secure some provision for the
widow. With his usual warm-hearted generosity Madox
Brown replied on October 15th :
" I have got answers from Hughes, Boyce, Jones, and
D. G. R. ; they will all contribute something, and now
strengthened with their names I will apply to Antony,
Wallis, and Linnell. Lucy, Nolly, Edward Hughes, and
Dunn will also contribute something. I trust you are not
overdoing it in your zeal for this affair, and that you
will not make yourself quite ill. . . . The accounts from
Rossetti still confirm that he is perfectly restored to
health."
158 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Much correspondence passed about the Holding Fund
the first of many similar undertakings originating with
Shields or Brown. Early in the following year Shields
again paid a visit to Fitzroy Square, and when he returned
to Manchester, Madox Brown wrote on April 6th :
" You will be glad to know that Brockbank called here
the other day, and commissioned me for the ' Cromwell on
his Farm ' for 400 guineas. At least I said guineas, but in
his letter just received he puts it pounds, whether by
accident or intention remains to be seen ; however we must
not quarrel over this matter, so I have written to say that
if he is quite of opinion that I said Pounds I must accept his
impression as correct but do not mention it to him should
you see him. Have you been talking to him since your
return and so hastened his return here? In such case
how much have I to thank you ! . . . I trust you are
getting on all right with your pictures for this season's
exhibition, and that they will do you good. From your
manner I augur good things from them. I see they have
elected Tadema to your society, this is at least a step in
the right direction he was here the other night, a most
genial Dutchman, and he did admire your Plague of
London drawings excessively the only works he Knows
as yet of yours.
Another tragedy soon calls for assistance, the death
of William Davis, a Liverpool artist. Madox Brown
journeyed at once to Liverpool, whence he writes :
" I have been here a few days chiefly occupied about
the death of poor ' Liverpool ' Davis, who died suddenly
in London last Tuesday week, and unexpectedly at the
meeting of artists yesterday, I came upon your picture of
the children and tne new boots. It is the only really tine
picture in the room, and everybody is remarking on it,
and I cannot tell you how it pleases me to see the great
progress you are making. I should like to run over to
Manchester, but to-morrow I must return to London.
WILLIAM DAVIS 159
This affair of poor Davis is awful, leaving ten children,
widow, and widowed mother of Davis (twelve in all)
totally unprovided for. but I am glad to see that the
example of the Holding fund is having a good effect on
them here, and the artists promise pictures for an Art
Union, and the merchants are subscribing. You have in
all such cases done more than your share, and I abstained
from troubling you with news about it from the first
intentionally."
Shields had not waited to be asked, but had a
picture all ready for the Art Union. Meanwhile, as the
postscript to the next letter shows, he had another poor
family on his hands in Manchester a bed-ridden man
whose wife died leaving four children.
In June Madox Brown wrote again :
" Your silence, if it can be called such, does not sur-
prise me I know that whatever the cause it is hardly
ever on your own account, it is always about others that
you are engrossed. Your care in having your own work
already prepared (amid all your gratuitous bothers) is most
praiseworthy and generous. . . . Kossetti, with whom I have
been staying ten days, has contributed a most lovely chalk
head Davis' last sJketches and landscapes are now almost
ready for showing, and will be on view and on sale here soon.
I must price them low, I suppose, but no doubt one day
they will be thought much of. I suppose it would be of
no use your speaking to the Agnews about them. They
knew Davis and had even given him a commission, but
I dare say they would not give a penny for these beautiful
artistic sketches now. But should you know of anyone in
Manchester likely to buy you might give the address. . . .
Should Agnew care to call I am going away again to
Kelmscott on Monday. Thanks for your most loyal
pugnacity on my behalf, but for the present I think we
had better both be peaceable like the French, for fear of
worse. . . .
" P.S. I have again forgotten your most unfortunate
family. I enclose a pound lor them."
160 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
This summer Shields again visited London, staying
with the Browns, and a letter from G. F. Watts, dated
August 16th, invited him to Little Holland House.
In September he returned to Ordsall Hall, evidently
having expended rather than increased his means while in
London.
Madox Brown wrote on September 24th :
"I am very much obliged by your fiver received
safe the only thing that occurred to me at the time was
that it was almost my last one, but you were welcome to
it. The costumes are excellent and just what is required
for Puritans only almost too simple and severe, almost
to theatricality but I have no doubt correct. We hear
this morning from Rossetti that George Hake was almost
killed while bathing, by a young favourite dog that would
climb on to his shoulders and bite his head, He was only
saved by Nero, a large black retriever, which came and
seized the other with admirable sense. The young one
returned again and again to the attack possibly with
the intention of pulling his master out of the water. He
was shot immediately after. Glad to hear you are at
work."
Ordsall Hall began to be more noisy, and the neighbour-
hood was being encroached upon by builders, to the detri-
ment of the work and nervous system of the solitary
tenant.
In December 1873, Madox Brown wrote sympathetic-
ally:-
"I am very sorry to hear of the disaster that encom-
passes you, and from the peculiar nature scarce know how
to advise you. With one whose nerves were in a better
condition I should say put up with it till you have done
the pictures which require your presence in that locality,
but in your case I suppose the noise and irritation is
tantamount to a cessation of work altogether. In such
case I can only speak as to what locality is likely to suit
INSOMNIA 161
you best, and it strikes me that your idea of Liverpool is
by no means a bad one, for in the first place it is scarcely
like leaving Manchester, and next it is making a lot more
friends there, or perhaps only consolidating such as you
know already but I conceive I could introduce you to
some few that you don't yet know. It may seem cool
perhaps of me not to exclaim rapturously, ' Come to
London at once ' but you have already had my views on
that head, and I before impressed you with their validity
and sincerity. I was asking young Davis here as to the
quietness of different neighbourhoods in Liverpool, but
could not get much that was satisfactory in the way of
information. There is a village called Hale two or three
miles further up the Mersey than Speke same side as
Liverpool, and just a short walk from the estuary, which
there is like an inland sea. I am told this is a lovely
spot, and its beauty decided young Davis to be a painter
instead of a Catholic Priest, so it has some merits."
Insomnia was again troubling Shields, and young
Oliver Madox Brown now writes him an affectionate letter
of advice on the subject, and maps out a weekly table of
varied soporifics which might indeed inspire horror in any
normal breast ! He cheerfully suggests " A dose of
Chloral Monday, Sour milk Tuesday, Laudanum Wednes-
days, on Thursday a little Spirits (Irish Whisky is best
for sleep-producing purposes), while on Friday you might
modestly content yourself with fifteen to twenty-five drops
of Chlorodyne. In this way you would not grow hardened
to any one of them, and each would retain its full power
and proper efficiency." It is to be hoped that Shields did
not follow the advice of his young friend, although much
troubled at this time by various causes which gaye him
anxious days and sleepless nights.
Among other things M'Lachlan was again impor-
tuning him for aid over another still larger undertaking,
the "Royal Group" at Windsor Castle. This was to
L
162 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
include Queen Victoria and all her descendants in one
colossal photograph, which, it was hoped, would really
make the fortune of the photographer and all concerned
in the production. Arthur Hughes, on hearing some time
before of the project, wrote, " Fancy Mac actually fighting
another! I am almost breathless with astonishment."
This terrible photograph absorbed much of Frederic
Shields' time for the next two years, and he described the
work as " hateful slavery," to which he was only bound
by his rash promise to M'Lachlan, whose whole life
seemed to be hanging upon the enterprise.
A diary was very irregularly kept for the eventful year
of 1874 :
" Dec. 31st, 1873 Went with Cissy to Watch Night
service. Mr. Mason and Mr. Cousins spoke very earnestly
on time and immediate decision."
" Cissy " in every case refers to Matilda Booth, the
young girl who was very constantly his model at this time,
and who afterwards became his wife.
"Jan. 1st. No work. To exhibition with Cissy,
dined in town.
"Jan. 2nd. Worked at 'Girl with Ball' and apple
blossom. M'Lachlan dined here.
"Jan. 8th. Thankful for wet morning, began work.
Cissy troublesome. Ogden with his cart casting down
wood at my gate quite upset me. Went into fiery passion,
quite ill after.
" Jan. Sth. Too ill to work. No dinner. Going out
met Ogden, warned him that I should take action unless
nuisance ceased.
"Jan. 12th. Worked at M'Lachlan's enlargement
until 5. Reviewed my life by my diaries, would I had
kept them regularly. Mac came and I went over the
photographs with him, selecting the best, till 10.
"Jan. IQth. All day at M'Lachlan's enlargement.
DIARY 163
Then to town, afterwards to Ann Gibbs, very ill. She told
me a terrible story of the mystery of her twelve past years.
Is she sane ? I came home exhausted.
"Jan. 25th. To Gibbs just in time to see dear Ann
alive. Her death scene most bitter. Stayed with them
till 10 worn out.
" Jan. 2,7th. Fearfully tired. Worked at background
of Mac's enlargement till 5.30 dined. Read Ruskin to
Mac. Out to look for new Housekeeper till 9 P.M.
" Feb. 1st. To Chapel with dear Edwin Gibbs, a heavy
crape band round my hat. Revd. Williams preached on
' Bring all the tithes ' a shocking worldly wise sermon.
"Feb. 2nd. All day at Mac's enlargement. Young
fellow called to ask my advice about his work. (Con-
scientiously dissuaded him from art.) Dear Smetham
came from Southport to see me till 3. To train with him
at 4. To Club and then to teachers' meeting. Outvoted
by the British workmen advocates. Mostly females there.
Hunted for housekeeper again.
"Feb. 10th. Mac's enlargement to 11. Big drawing
of girl with ball till 5. Mac came, out with him and
Cissy. Read History of David with Cissy."
The diary continues irregularly until the end of the
month.
"Feb. 12th. Worked at Mac's enlargement. Cissy
gone to Bolton, saw her to cab.
" Feb. 28th. Started for the Isle of Man, from Liver-
pool at 12. A fine passage, and welcome from the Lewis
family.
"March 2nd. Saw Nicholson's drawings. To Lewis'
Gallery and a walk on the iron pier. Dined at 1. Then
for a row to the Northern point of the bay. Fine crags.
Back at 6. Took my first lesson on violin."
The violin lessons were not continued, nor is it easy
for anyone who knew Shields to imagine him as doing
164 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
anything but writhe in agony over the sounds unavoidably
made by a beginner on that instrument.
He returned to Ordsall Hall on March llth, and
shortly afterwards his housekeeper, Mrs. Walsh, was taken
to the hospital ill. The diary is blank until :
" April 10th. All the interval from my return from
the Isle of Man at Mac's group. To Brockbank. Saw
Madox Brown's grand picture of ' Cromwell on his Farm.' "
The diary is blank until August.
" August IQth. Mounted ' Roundhead's Wife,' coloured
' Knott Mill Fair.' Made two designs for Abel Lewis.
" August llth. A day of anxious irresolution with
Cissy. Resolved at last and went to Mr. Codling, the
minister at Irwell Street. Tea there, home 7.
"August 15th. Married at Irwell Street Chapel.
Revd. Mr. Codling. Off to Blackpool alone with Mac.
Did me wonderful good. Thank God."
The young bride, so strangely left on her wedding day,
in the great empty house, to the care of the old house-
keeper, was a girl of unusual beauty, with abundant
auburn hair, finely cut features, and fair delicate com-
plexion, the model, both before and after their marriage,
for many of his most beautiful subjects.
The previous year, when in London staying with Madox
Brown, he wrote to her :
Sunday, Augutt 4tA, 1873.
MY BELOVED, I am anxious about you, surely I
ought to have heard from you this morning if letters were
delivered in London on Sunday but they are not the
postman rests on this day, and so I must wait until to-
morrow. You know how much I dislike writing letters,
yet for you look how I have written this week. You
might have spared me a few poor lines. I have just re-
turned, having had to walk six miles to Chapel and back,
and am too tired to write more than God Bless You.
Take care of this poem, please, a good lady gave it to me
and you will like it. Ever your own FREDERIC.
THE ARTIST'S WIFE
Painted in 1874
THE AMAZING MARRIAGE 165
When a year later they married, her age, according to
the marriage certificate, was only sixteen, he was forty.
A life of rigorous self-denial, intense religious devotion,
seclusion from worldly frivolities of every kind, and a
necessarily rigid economy in expenditure, could hardly
have been ideal for a high-spirited, beautiful, but entirely
uneducated child for she was little more than a child in
years or experience and the mistake was dearly paid for
by both the sufferers. The great disparity in age, educa-
tion, and tastes eventually, though not for some years,
caused what might have been expected to be the sad but
inevitable end of such a marriage. It would be difficult
to attempt to explain the circumstances which led to this
strange union. Frederic Shields was no doubt actuated
by the highest motives. He had known his wife and had
much influence over her since she was a tiny child, and
had given her much instruction, though probably little of
a kind that she could assimilate. His feelings for her had
possibly changed very little from those of a strict though
very affectionate teacher who sought nothing but the
spiritual and moral improvement of his beautiful little
model. Probably some outside interference from her
parents or others made him suddenly realise that the child
was growing into a woman, very precocious for her years
in some ways, and very devoted to the great artist who
took her from her monotonous home surroundings, read to
her, dressed her up in pretty colours, and placed her
literally on a pedestal to be admired. But as time went on,
from the point of view of the wicked world, and of the girl
herself, the old relationship could not continue. The time
came when it must cease, or become a nearer one, and the
latter course was chosen. The diary continues on the day
after the wedding :
" Aug. IQth. Blackpool. Good sermon. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man.
166 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" Monday, 17 th. Saw Mac to train. Alone in Black-
pool. Walked much. Fine weather. Saw bulldogs in
show, splendid beasts. Evening with Mr. Roberts and his
family.
" Aug. 20th. No letter from Cissy since I left home.
Could rest no longer. Back by 4 train.
"Aug. 21st. Boy nearly drowned in pit opposite, spent
the morning trying to save him. By God's blessing
succeeded. To town, back at 5.
" Aug. 227id. Worked at wave in ' Caught by the
Tide.' "
The diary is blank for the rest of the year.
CHAPTER XI
Ordsall Hall threatened Letter to Ruskin Sketching Queen Victoria's
drawing-room Death of Oliver Madox Brown The Royal Jig-saw
puzzle Shields' Exhibition and farewell dinner.
ANOTHER distraction was now oppressing the artist again
his secluded old house was being beset by builders bent
on developing the neighbourhood. A letter addressed to
Mr. Ruskin described his woes in vivid language :
" About myself ere long I shall be driven out of
my house, the happiest refuge I ever nested in. It is,
like most old rooms, very lofty, is of wood and plaster,
evidently of the Seventh Harry's time, and is most in-
teresting in many ways. It belonged to the Radcliffe
family, some branch, as I understand, from the scanty
information I can scrape, of the Derwentwater family.
Lord owns it now, or did till lately, for I am informed
he has sold it and the lands about it to an Oil Cloth
Company, who will start building their factory behind
it shortly and probably resell the land they do not
use, with the hall, to be demolished as an encumbrance
that does not pay. Already the 'Egyptian plague of
bricks ' has alighted on its eastern side, devouring every
green blade. Where the sheep fed last year, five streets
of cheap cottages, one brick thick in the walls (for the
factory operatives belonging to two great cotton-mills
near), are in course of formation great cartloads of
stinking oyster shells having been laid for their founda-
tions, and the whole vicinity on the eastern side, in a
state of mire and debris of broken brick and slates, is
so painful to my eyes that I scarce ever go out in day-
light. Fifteen years ago a noble avenue of sycamores led
to the hall and a large wood covered the surface of an
167
168 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
extensive elevation of red sandstone, not a tree stands
now, and the rock itself is riddled into sand and carted
away."
So much of the letter is printed in Fora Clavigera,
as "A letter from an old friend whose home, like my
own, has been broken up by modern improvements,"
Ruskin having written to Shields asking permission to
print it without name or locality, as it saved him de-
scriptive work and authenticated facts.
Shields in the rough draft of the letter (preserved
for thirty-six years), which may or may not have been
sent to Ruskin as it stands, goes on to say :
" If the Parthenon itself stood here, and these specu-
lators could clear five pounds by its demolition, it would
go. And I, poor snail, with a shell that fits me so, that I
might have nad it made to my convenience (so quiet from
all the horrors which made London an unendurable
torture-house of organs, pianos, parrots, &c.), when my
shell is smashed, where shall I seek shelter for my
tender body ? "
Ruskin sent a rather doleful reply, and laments that
he has never succeeded in repressing Shields' excitability
or leading him into peaceful development of his powers.
He suggests that an " almost cottage " life in the country
would be healthiest for him.
Months passed in unsettled discomfort, visits to Black-
pool and London on M'Lachlan's business, lessons in
Scripture and grammar to his young wife, and occasional
work at water-colours. To his friends, who thought of
him as an ascetic, devout, almost hermit-like recluse,
the news of Frederic Shields' marriage must have come
as a great surprise. Apparently it was kept a secret for
some months, for in October Madox Brown wrote :
CONGRATULATIONS 169
" Ever since my answer to your last letter, when
you talked of coming to London to look out for a house,
I have been thinking of you and wondering what you
were after and intending to write to you again. What are
you up to ? I hope you are well. I am to lecture in Man-
chester, November 23rd and 25th. Brockbank has made
me promise to stop at his house. . . . You will be sorry
to hear that Nolly has been seriously ill now for three
weeks, and it may turn to rheumatic fever or we don't
know what. My wife and I have our health at present
but this illness of Nolly's puts us sadly out. I have
been at work at ' Byron and Mary Chaworth ' and can't
get it finished, and on a portrait but can't get the man
to sit so that hangs fire. Altogether things are a great
bother, but I shall be glad to hear that you are well.
For some time I hesitated to write thinking you had
moved, but Brockbank informed us you were still at
Ordsall Hall.
" P. 8. Of course I shall see you when I come to
Manchester."
Evidently the secret could not be kept any longer. A
little later Madox Brown wrote again :
"I should have written to congratulate you at once
had I not been so engaged. But I do now most heartily,
and believe that the agreeable society of your wife (and
let us hope children) will do much to alleviate the
nervous troubles and anxieties you have suffered from
I shall have for your wedding gift that cartoon of 'The
Way of Sorrow ' that you liked so, framed appropriately.
Your hint as to subject for Brockbank shall be borne
in mind. Thanks also for what you kindly say as to
the pictures in the exhibition. Nolly is not yet con-
valescent, I regret to say, and had a very sad night but
we hope for the best."
" The Way of Sorrow " strikes one as a cheerless choice
for a wedding gift only equalled by "The Sacrifice of
170 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Manoah " which was the subject of the drawing given by
Shields to Mr. William M. Rossetti on his marriage.
Meanwhile Shields was still struggling with M'Lach-
lan's Royal Group a collection of sketches carefully
preserved shows that he made a preliminary sketch of
the whole composition, and journeyed to Windsor Castle,
where he made drawings in colour of the drawing-room,
its large patterned carpet and gold furniture, upholstered
in green satin, all of which had to be arranged as a
background to the twenty-two Royal personages who
sat at different times to M'Lachlan or supplied their
portraits, to be fitted together like an early Victorian
jig-saw puzzle. M'Lachlan found the light of Blackpool
more favourable to his operations than the dull atmosphere
of Manchester, and they worked there for some time, also
at M'Lachlan's house at Whalley Range. The young
wife was at home, her loneliness occasionally consoled
by visits from Miss Thomson, one of her husband's young
pupils.
At times Ordsall Hall was deserted and Blackpool
became their headquarters.
Madox Brown's visit was delayed by the illness and
tragic death of his gifted young son Oliver.
37 FITZHOY SQUARE,
Oct. 30th, 1874.
DEAR SHIELDS, I steal a few minutes from my night
watch to tell you how Nolly is going on, and to speak
to you about another matter. We have now a regular
hospital nurse Nolly has been ill within two days of
seven weeks, about the third week he seemed mending,
then he had a relapse which is a common feature of these
fevers I am told, then his illness assumed the form of
blood poisoning recently it is more like enteric or gastric
fever. He is no longer in pain and to-day a slight im-
provement has shown itself, which we trust may be the
harbinger of ultimate convalescence when he would be
DEATH OF OLIVER MADOX BROWN 171
out of danger. Of course I have lost three or four
weeks' work, but that, and the expense, is nothing at all
in the scale. No end of people keep calling and enquiring
now that it is becoming known. But I can scarce see
any of them. I pass the night in his room, sleeping but
not undressing till six, when I wake the nurse and go
to bed for two or three hours. The nurse is admirable
in skill and tact. How get you on? And the lady?
I trust as happy as you deserve and I hope that Nolly
may be so improved as not to stop my coming to the
lectures and to see you both next month. (Nolly keeps
talking in his sleep). ... I have done a little to my
" Byron's Dream," and a little to a large portrait but so
little. . . . Mrs. Brown and myself are well. Hoping
as much of yourself and wife, As ever, yours most
sincerely, FORD MADOX BROWN.
Shields, working away at his uncongenial task, whether
at Blackpool or at Ordsall Hall, was doubtless agonising
in sympathy over his friends' anxiety, and the following
letter shows that he was afraid that other worries might
be still further depressing the anxious watchers. Part of
this letter appears in Mr. Hueffer's Life of Madox Brown,
but is in error addressed to Mr. Rae.
37 FITZEOY SQUARE,
Nov. 8th, 1874.
DEAR SHIELDS, I have delayed too long answering
yours of the 4th, though it be but for a day or two but
I determined to write to you myself and have had neither
time nor heart to do so and now I scarce can find words to
convey the dreadful intelligence in this black-bordered
paper will tell you better than I can that our poor dear
Nolly is dead on Thursday at about twenty minutes
to seven, and is to be buried this next Thursday about 12.
Nothing that I can say can add to the impression which
I know these words will make on you. The loss from
every point of view is heavy to me, to his mother, and
even to all his relations, and the public perhaps more
than any, though for the present it cannot be supposed
172 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
to judge of it. But being no ordinary loss, we have decided
to bear it, if we can, in no ordinary way, and not to
complain. I would have much more to speak about
to you but cannot write more now. As to your own
accident and proceedings I can only say that the first
grieves me, and the second (your voluntary loan) makes
me say you are one of the kinaest souls alive but though
sufficiently drained, no doubt, by these expenses and
hindrances to work, I am not yet at the end of my re-
sources, so do not for an instant attribute my sending the
money back to false pride, but to my not wanting it just
now. The lectures must be put off, as well as thoughts
about the Holding matter. Yours ever sincerely,
F. MADOX BROWN.
To one of Shields' emotional temperament and fervid
religious views, the calm, philosophic resignation of Madox
Brown was probably incomprehensible. By an irony of
fate Madox Brown and Rossetti, his two nearest friends
during many years of his life, differed from him absolutely
in their views upon religion. Probably very early in their
acquaintance they agreed to differ on the subject, for
although Shields could preach with great eloquence in
pictures, by writing, and by word of mouth, his intense
feeling made him almost incapable of arguing with any-
thing like calmness or coherence upon any question of
Christian faith. A cheerful and reverent Agnostic, whose
whole life was one of unselfishness and devotion to lofty
aims, who was tolerant and dignified in every relation of
life, and who bore an overwhelming sorrow with more
than the patience of Job, really gave painfully little oppor-
tunity for exhortation and prayer. The postponed lectures
took place, and Shields invited Madox Brown to stay at
Ordsall Hall, though evidently with some misgivings as
to the draughtiness of the old house.
MADOX BROWN 173
56 EUSTON SQUABE, W.C.
DEAR SHIELDS, Your nice kind letter finds me here
with William Rossetti, having just returned from staying
with the Hueffers at Merton. I have been intending to
write to you before coming next Monday, but have kept
putting it off', because what can I say ?
My wife has been rather alarmingly ill, and we had to
sit up with her for at least a week, but she is coming
round again, and I shall be able to leave her with her two
daughters for the three days I must be in Manchester. . . .
I shall arrive at 12.30 noon Monday, and if not putting
you out shall be glad indeed to meet you at the station.
Of course I would much prefer that it was to your house
that I was bound (draughts or no draughts), but the pos-
sibility of a solid commission from Brockbank must not
be overlooked. But I must try to be with you as much
as he will let me ; people who are your hosts are usually
tyrannical and jealous. I have told him, however, that
I cannot accept any public engagements of a festive
character, and have declined the soiree of the Athenaeum
as well. Brockbank had sent me your article yesterday ;
it is very thoughtful and friendly of you to make a row
about me in this way, and the article itself is proof that
as a literary character you would have been as remarkable
as in your pictorial one. What I shall tell the people in
my lectures will (after this) perhaps tend a good deal to
clear up misapprehension and induce people to look with
the eyes of common sense.
You will, I daresay, expect me to write more about
myself and ourselves at this melancholy juncture (I am
just now finishing an oil picture of " Byron and Mary
Cha worth," which has been of course much delayed, but
which I hope to get done with before leaving London) ;
but, as I said before, what can I say ? We must begin
soon to think of his literary remains, which I suppose
William Rossetti and Hueffer will edit between them.
It will be a sad task having to sort his books and look
out his manuscripts, but sad is the complexion of the
event.
I made a drawing of him after death, which I think
successful both for likeness and as a pleasing piece of
174 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
expression. We also have a cast of his right hand, which
is most beautiful, and a photograph was fortunately taken
some months before his cleath. I must bring you one.
We must make your wife's acquaintance soon. You
must bring her to stay with us, either at Fitzroy Square
or wherever we may be. With our best regards to her,
Yours as ever, FORD MADOX BROWN.
Shields now definitely made up his mind to leave
Manchester for London, and many were the letters re-
ceived suggesting various desirable localities or houses.
Early in February 1875 he went to London, principally
on M'Lachlan's business, but also to prospect for a likely
house. The young wife evidently found herself very
lonely, and apparently wrote suggesting that if her hus-
band did not return soon she would like to go and stay
with friends. He replied :
37 FITZROY SQUARE,
Feb. 2nd, 1875.
MY DARLING WIFE, If you are so ill that you must
go away, this cannot and must not be till I return neither
to the M'Lachlans' nor the Rowleys'. The house must
not be left to Mrs. Mahoney. If you are so ill you must
go away, I will return at once ; but do nothing without
letting me know, nor without my approval. I expect I
shall be quite ill myself after my return, with all the
wearying worry I have gone through alone. If you are
lonely, so am I. All these journeys must be made alone,
and all ending in disappointment, only to start and try
again. The expenses have been very heavy. Write to
me at once. I will return on Saturday, any way, and
before if you want me. Mrs. Mahoney should nurse you
well. Write your grammar lessons if you can, if you are
well enough. Ever your true husband,
FREDERIC J. SHIELDS.
The journeys were in search of a suitable house. An
undated letter written about the same time follows, hardly
calculated to raise the young wife's spirits :
FAREWELL MANCHESTER 175
37 FITZEOY SQUARE.
MY DEAR OWN WIFE, On Monday I had arranged to
go to see Watson's beautiful place, but he said there was
a shrieking parrot behind him driving him almost to
madness, and a stable underneath the studio where the
horses are always ringing their chains, and where they
kill pigs. In short, it was no use going to see it, and so
the great thing on which I depended is gone. I can't tell
you how I felt it. There is no peace until we reach those
mansions which Jesus has gone before to prepare for His
people, and seeing what a place this world is, and how
wretched I have been for so many years, I seek to settle
my hopes on His precious promise as sure and certain.
Watson said I should find more quiet in London. I don't
know what to do, and can only pray God to guide me into
some place of peace. Yesterday I found a place which
would suit me, but it is so far from every one, so difficult
to get at, that even Mac thinks it would be madness to
take it. The expenses of travelling day after day are
terrible, and all my work stopped besides. There's an
organ just begun to grind, driving me stupid before nine
in the morning. God bless you, my dear, and pray with
me that I may be guided as God sees best for me and you.
More than love to you from Your affectionate hubby,
FREDERIC.
Meanwhile, on learning that he had decided to leave
Manchester, his friends and admirers were arranging an
exhibition of Shields' work, with a farewell banquet and
conversazione. The exhibition was open from February
14th to March 3rd, and among the members of the com-
mittee were such well-known names as William Agnew,
Thomas Armstrong (afterwards Director of South Ken-
sington Museum), W. Keeling, then President of the
Manchester Academy, Alderman King, the Mayor of Man-
chester, R. M. Pankhurst, LL.D. (afterwards counsel for
M'Lachlan in his lawsuit anent the Royal Group), John
Ruskin, George Richmond, R.A., L. Alma Tadema, D. G.
176 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, Charles Rowley, Clarence
Whaite, and nearly a hundred others.
Evidently the success of the exhibition and the kind-
ness of his Manchester friends made Shields take a rather
more cheerful view of things in his next letter, which drew
the following kindly advice from Madox Brown :
" I am truly rejoiced to hear from you this morning
that your exhibition conversazione was a success, and your
wife admired as she deserved. From what you say I shall
certainly come to the banquet, though I felt great doubts
as to the propriety of this course, and indeed if it might
not be the occasion of more injury than good to you ; but
as far as trouble or time goes, it is a compliment I owe
you and a pleasure I shall enjoy. I do hope that after
this you will give up gloomy thoughts and turn to enjoy
life a little like a reasonable biped. Four-footed creatures
never go about tormenting themselves when there is no
reason, as we do. You owe it to your young wife to be
uproariously jolly and hilarious on all occasions now.
With our kindest regards and compliments to the lady,
Yours as ever, FORD MADOX BROWN.
" P.S. Some time ago Rossetti gave me two guineas to
dispose of in charity the remains of some money that he
had given in excess of what was wanted. I have re-
peatedly forgotten about it, but send it to you now, because
it will be of more use to your Manchester poor than when
you come to London."
Madox Brown came to Manchester and responded to
the toast of English Art at the farewell dinner, which
took place at the Queen's Hotel on March 6th, with the
IV^ayor of Manchester in the chair. The toast of the
evening was proposed by Mr. Councillor Fox Turner, and
Shields made an eloquent reply, urging the worthy de-
coration of their public buildings upon the Manchester
men.
THE ROYAL GROUP 177
Soon after this Shields and his wife went off to Black-
pool, making that their headquarters for the rest of the
year, until the worry of the photographic white elephant
should be lifted from his weary shoulders. Writing some
time afterwards about this work he said :
" I was foolish enough to yield to the reiterated solici-
tations of my friend Lachlan M'Lachlan, the photographer,
and design for him a group of the Royal Family, twenty-
two in all, as a basis for a picture to be produced by photo-
graphy. It was a concession both against my judgment
and feeling to an old friend's desire. At intervals during
these years I have often at great inconvenience been sum-
moned to aid him in difficult passages of his undertaking,
which is on a large scale; and whereas I thought to be
settled in London at my own work, all my other engage-
ments have had to give place to M'Lachlan's venture, and
I have been held in slavery to a most loathsome task,
endeavouring to bring into pictorial harmony for him a
huge mass of heterogeneous photographic material, at a
cost to myself of daily crucifixion. Every week it has
seemed to be approaching completion, only to sink into
littered and inextricable confusion again. The putting
together of hundreds of fragments of photographs, the
delay attendant on the chemical operations and measur-
ings of proportion in the camera, ere all would cleave
together into patchwork consistency by aid of pins and
paste, has left me unable to do anything else so com-
pletely that I count this year of my life lost to myself, a
veritable sacrifice to friendship. Having sworn to my
own hurt, I may not change when the consequences prove
heavier by far than I anticipated."
In June Madox Brown wrote warmly inviting them
both to Fitzroy Square, but the visit was again postponed.
A little later Shields, in Manchester with M'Lachlan,
writes to his wife at Blackpool. There is quite an Alice
in Wonderland suggestion in the description !
M
178 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
MY DARLING WIFE, We have got the Duchess to-day-
right, I believe. I am more tired than I can tell you, though
I am glad to say we have done the Princess of Wales's
dress to-day, with Mrs. Bartlett's help. To-morrow we do
the Marchioness of Lome, and there is still a model to
find for Princess Helena's body. On Friday, God willing,
I may get back to my own dearest wife again. What a
hideous place this Manchester seems to me now. Mac has
been better than usual, not so mad quite. ... I send
you a pattern for your upper skirt, and a sketch of how it
will look which I made from the fashion book. I also
send you a bit of silk braid or trimming which might suit
your dress. Tell me if you think it will. Write to me at
once, for I may not be able to get back on Friday, and I
shall be disappointed if I don't hear from you. Address
the letter care of L. M'Lachlan, 92 Bishop Street, Whalley
Range. God bless you, my sweet one ; what a shabby,
short letter you sent this morning. Your loving husband,
FREDERIC.
The summer passed, and still the Royal Group was
uncompleted. Madox Brown wrote in September :
"It is really time for me to write again and repeat,
' What has become of you ! ' I am aware, however, that
the last letter was from you to me, so that you might
retort, ' What has become of ' me. I fancy, however, that
you are tolerably certified as to the fact 01 my being here,
or not very far away. I suppose you are still on the great
work, let us call it the tunneling of Mont-Lachlan to avoid
terms of offence. Swinburne writes me that he and Pro-
fessor Jowett have seen more than one laudation of me in
the Manchester papers recently to what pitch of electric
commotion have you frictioned them that these sparks
are elicited ?
" Here there is nothing new with the exception that
Rossetti has received a commission for two thousand
guineas from a photographer ! So that your friend may
turn out a blessing in the end instead of a cause for curses.
But where are you ? Still the same ' Prospect Cottage '
AT BLACKPOOL 179
which same prospecting has not revealed the nugget suc-
cess photographically ? We have still got the place ready
for you ; but do not hurry or consider that one moment
will be more appropriate than another for your visit, for
you will put no one out."
The pertinacity of M'Lachlan and his dogged perse-
verance, in spite of all the complications attendant upon
getting sittings from Royal personages and fitting them
all into the composition as designed by Shields, were really
becoming very wearying. The following letter vividly
describes his condition :
PKOSPECT COTTAGE, BLACKPOOL,
November 1st, 1875.
DEAR Miss THOMSON, Dreary days here are less dreary
than in town; indeed, I am quite enamoured of the
moaning wind at nights, its soothing melancholy of tone,
and shall ill brook the change to the streets, where it is
prisoned in brick channels. We have longed for and in
vain expected your promised advent. But I rejoice that
you are working indeed. . . . What an amount of envy
you have created in my bosom for your beautiful days at
the Aquarium. Make much of this young joy in all beauty.
Such days of leisure grow rarer, and the power to enjoy
them with unrestricted mind weaker as age creeps on us.
All our house salute you. My wife specially, who
would write to you in gratitude for the pleasure which
your letter afforded her ; but that its brilliant excellency
of descriptive power and perfect caligraphy have abashed
her soul into silence and her pen into rust. But she
desires me to say that if you will get her the aforesaid
number of yards of the " bobby fringe " she will be your
obliged and faithful servant, if not correspondent, all the
rest of her life. Life, said I ? What is mine now ! A
slavery too cruel to bear, the iron (or collodion) really
entering my soul. By this time this vile picture has got
unendurable, and its end is hidden in fog yet. My heart
is weary. . . . Ever yours faithfully,
FREDERIC J. SHIELDS.
180 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Arthur Hughes, who from experience could sympathise
perhaps even better than any of his artist friends, writes
on November 9th :
" I am very glad indeed to hear of you and our
friend M'Lachlan ; but indeed sorry that the great work
keeps such a hold upon you, keeping you from other and
pleasanter work I presume. Of course, it will have to be
done whether pleasant or bitter, when two such men have
taken it in hand; but I look to see you both white-
haired old men when next we meet, and M'Lachlan will
certainly when he dies (which I trust will be a long time
hence, and may his shadow never grow less !) have to be
wrapped up and buried in all the big black and white
pictures he ever had a hand in ! I hope Mrs. Shields is
with you to cheer you up, though it's getting late for the
sea if Blackpool is by the sea. Not found a house yet ? "
An amusing letter from Madox Brown recounts a com-
mission from a Mr. Pooley to paint " Elijah seeing Elisha
ploughing at the head of twelve yoke of oxen twenty-
four in all, besides the men and landscape." More letters
from various friends suggest possible houses and localities ;
but Shields and his wife remained at Blackpool. In
November Madox Brown wrote :
" I am very sorry to know by your letter that both
you and your wife have been ill again; I daresay the
worry of this black art affects you, but I trust you may
soon be out of your trouble now. . . . As to Pooley, I
wrote him a longish letter some weeks ago, to which he
never replied, and I began to think him offended at my
not jumping with delinous joy over the twelve yoke of
oxen. However, I have again written him to-day. ... It
has struck me that I might perfectly place the twenty-
four oxen all in perspective behind the two prophets and
their mantle, which, after all, might screen a wnole army
of cattle. I shall be very glad to make Mr. Pooley's
acquaintance."
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC PUZZLE 181
Whether through the friendly services of Shields, who
knew Mr. Pooley, or not, Madox Brown was relieved of
the troublesome necessity of painting twenty-four oxen all
in a row, or even so many of them in perspective as could
not be concealed by the mantle of the prophets ; he wrote
in December :
" Some days since I received a very kind letter from
Mr. Pooley in which he hands over (in a manner) the
choice of a subject to me. . . . How get you on with your
Mac ? Is there any chance whatever of your getting done
with him and coming here according to promise, and his
making his thirty thousand pounds and then starting the
English Photographic Picture Company with three shop
windows full of them in the City, the West End, and over
by Westminster in Palace Yard ? It must be done ; the
foreigner becomes more rampant daily in the matter of
photographed pictures. All this time I am forgetting
your having been poorly again. I am a perfect brute."
In 1876 the diary begins again, kept very irregularly
at Blackpool.
The following entries give some idea of the fearful task
the photographic puzzle must have been :
" Jan. 17th. Royal Group. Finished pinning up the
second board, began pasting Princess Louise and back-
ground with vase. Reading Henry V.
" Feb. 3rd. Royal Group, Fighting with Lome and
Hesse. Got Prince of Wales pinned up.
" Feb. 8th, All day contriving Crown Prince Helena
and Princess Royal with pins. Got down Lome entire,
cushion pasted up eleven pieces in it.
" Feb. 15th. Got Princess of Wales down, and three
children in corner after a struggle. Measuring bust for
new negatives.
" March 6th. To Mac to square out Royal Group for
182 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
enlargement. Two hours. Tried to draw children in red
chalk in afternoon, could do little, weak and nerveless.
" Friday 17th. To London on the ' New Company's '
business, with Milner and Rowley, to arrange terms of
partnership, &c. Stayed at Mrs. Scott's."
During a visit to Mrs. Scott, Shields was invited to West-
minster by Charles Kingsley, and a letter to Mrs. Kingsley
from Mrs. Scott gives a glimpse of a cheerful break in this
rather dreary period.
Madox Brown wrote on March 6th :
" I hear from Rowley that he and you are to be in
London on or about the 17th, and so I suppose that you
will at length be free to come up on your search for a house
as before proposed, and that you will bring your wife with
you here, as we have so long been expecting. We shall
be ready for you both, and very happy to see you again
and know you are free of the lunatic business. . . .
Smetham, who called here some weeks ago, was telling me
of a house for you, but I did not write about it, as I well
knew it would only add to your feelings of hopelessness
and helpless rage.
" I near Rowley and you have had a recent confab
about the new company and that you were going to write
to Ruskin. I felt bound to express my views to our
' pardner ' Rowley in clear and forcible terms as to that
determination, and I have not yet heard as to results but
I believe I convincingly showed him that if the course
decided on was looked upon as imperative I would not
stand in the way of the prosperity of the business but
one thing that must be a sine qua non is secrecy. Our
names will not appear nor be hinted at even. Of all
this we must talk at much length on meeting, in expecta-
tion of which pleasure I remain as ever."
M'Lachlan's work really seems to have come to an end
at this juncture, leaving Shields exhausted in body and
mind. An undated letter from Rossetti refers to one of
ROSSETTI ON RUSKIN 183
these visits to town about the proposed photographic
company.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I really feel answerable for your
cold (with much sorrow therefore) as I induced you to
overstay the train. But you should always put down
the glass of a hansom on a cold night then it is safe
enough. I should be very glad to see you on Saturday. . . .
As for that blessed fellow Ruskin, I'll really beg you, as a
friend, to refrain from naming him. I daresay old Brown
has desired the same kind forbearance from you. The
influence he retains over you is a mystery to me. If /
am supposed included in any " realistic " school, what can
the fellow mean ? If I have any share in originating any-
thing, it is whatever there may be of ideal in English Art
just now. Yours affectionately, D. G. ROSSETTI.
In April Madox Brown wrote :
" I am quite concerned to hear of your being ill again,
and getting very anxious that you should come here at last.
Everything awaits you, and Rowley saw a house that
would exactly suit you at Bushey, where Herkomer lives.
As to the Town Hall affair it must now take its chance,
we can do no more that I can see, and we shall be singularly
lucky if we get it, I think. I have nearly done Pooley's
drawing, and Rowley wants one of the ' Jesus and Peter '
of the same size. ... I have just heard that a confounded
Parson managed to get a certain article put hi the Satwday
Eeview (I call it the Latter Day Spew) accusing the Blake
exhibition of being all indecency and rubbish being a
member of the Burlington Club, he was to move that the
Exhibition be closed on such grounds. Did you ever hear
the like ?
" Sich is Philistia, and it seems we can't alter it."
In another interesting letter from Madox Brown about
this picture he says :
" Originally in the large oil picture of ' Jesus washing
Peter's Feet ' the figure of Jesus was girt about the waist
184 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
with a towel for all clothing, in illustration of John xiii.
4-5 : ' He riseth from supper, and laid aside his gar-
ments : and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that
He poureth WATER into a bason, and began to wash the
disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith
he was girded.'
" Or course with all the flesh painting the picture was
far fuller of artistic material, but for which I should never
have chosen a subject without a woman in it. Of course
the intention is that Jesus took on Himself the appear-
ance of a slave as a lesson of the deepest humility and
with the gold nimbus round His head, the impression was
very striking. People, however, could not see the poetry
of my conception, and were shocked at it, and would not
buy the work and I, getting sick of it, painted clothes on
the figures. I should now like to revert to the original
drawing but not certainly should Rowley object."
CHAPTER XII
At Madox Brown's Bride at boarding-school To Italy with Charles
Rowley Letters from Italy.
AFTER weeks of ill-health and indecision, during which
the diary is blank, Shields made up his mind to go off for
a tour in Italy with his friend Charles Rowley, and to leave
his young wife in charge of Miss Bell, the erstwhile prin-
cipal of Wilmington Hall. Some time before, as already
mentioned, financial and other difficulties had arisen, and
Miss Bell, assisted by her partner Miss Bradford, was
conducting her school upon a less imposing basis at a
house near Brighton, also called Winnington. To the
care of Miss Bell and Miss Bradford, and to the very alien
atmosphere of a select finishing-school for young ladies,
the high-spirited young wife was committed. Miss Brad-
ford was tall and thin, with an aquiline nose and beautiful
brown hair coiled in severe Grecian plaits, her health was
delicate, and she was a living embodiment of the essence
of refinement and grace. Miss Bell was short, stout, grey-
haired, wearing spectacles, an eminently correct and zealous
instructress, a widely-read woman and a splendid teacher
to the end of her long life, but favouring a system of
espionage which one hopes would not be tolerated by
English girls nowadays. A short stay at the Madox
Browns' house was apparently made before leaving
England.
37 FITZEOY SQUARE, May 3rd, 1876.
DEAR SHIELDS, Just a line to say that you will find
your rooms ready for you and your wife, and I trust
comfortable. . . .
185
186 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
I have heard nothing from Waterhouse again as yet,
but I don't think we need trouble about the matter much
should we not get it, for it will have its disadvantages
as well as its advantages. For instance the moment
we get this commission we shall, you will see, be getting
all sorts of better things thrust upon us and no time to do
them. On the other hand, should we not get this, we may
also get nothing else so we must " open our mouths and
shut our eyes and see, &c. &c."
The diary records :
" May 16th. Left London for Brighton saw Cissy to
school. Parted with darling at 8. To Newhaven. Boat
cold, no sleep, very sick, morn at last.
" May 17th. Dieppe. Church of S. Jacque fine
exterior, flamboyant, funeral service inside, solemn dirge
of priests run to train. . . ."
Frederic Shields wrote regularly to cheer the drooping
spirits of his young wife, and of the letters written during
his Italian tour, all carefully preserved by his directions
in a leather case, the following are characteristic
specimens :
PARIS, May 19th, 1876.
MY DEAREST WIFE, First my thanks are due to God
on reaching Paris safely, my next duty and pleasure is to
write to you. I am very happy so far, for everything is so
new and wonderful that already I feel as if poor dear old
M'Lachlan and all his vexations were out of my mind.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and when I am
away from you I love you more and more, for I can think
of your best things without being vexed at those rude
little ways and sayings which so often cut me deeply when
we are together. I feel as if I had been parted from you
a year already, and I shall be as impatient as you can be
to see your face, my sweet one, in peace.
Paris is a city of wonders. Deluged with blood only
four years ago, it bears scarcely a mark of the awful
struggle now, so hard have they worked to restore it. I
hope you are as happy as you can be in my absence.
FLORENCE 187
How strange it was that I should open, the first morning
I was here, at the xviii. chap, of Revelation and cast my
eye upon the 15th verse For if any city in the world
lives as Babylon, without God, it is surely this. When
Rowley comes to-day, we shall leave for Italy at once, and
I will write to you as soon as ever I can.
The Lord preserve us both from the worst evil, a sinful,
disobedient will ; all will then be well here and hereafter,
come what else will. Ten thousand kisses, my own love.
Ever your true husband, FREDERIC J. SHIELDS.
My very kindest regards to Miss Bell and Miss Brad-
ford, and the lady with whom you have a bedroom I
forget her name.
One can imagine with what very mingled feelings the
young wife laboriously deciphered this next letter.
FLORENCE, May 2Sth, 1876.
MY DARLING WIFE, It was a pleasure to find a letter
waiting for me here. I was glad and thankful to hear
that you are well and as happy as you can be in my
absence. I am also pleased to hear of your daily Bible
lessons and that you enjoy them, only don't let them
satisfy you so that you neglect reading it in private as
God's message to your own spirit. Think what privileges
you enjoy over the people here. At a street corner to-
day I saw a shrine to the virgin her painted figure in it
with roses offered to her by the passers-by, with the
inscription upon it in Latin, " Refuge of Sinners, Mother
of Consolation, pray for us." It makes me very sad amid
all the glory of this land of Art and the wealth of this
city in that kind is indescribable though in the great
Gallery of the Uffizi Palace I saw more pictorial rubbish
than I ever saw in one place together except at this year's
Salon in Paris. The noble pictures are few out of the
great number. I have made notes of many things, and I
will tell you more when it pleases God to bring me back
to you and I will see if I can't bring some little thing
you will like from Italy or Paris. Write again at once as
before, and may He who is the only refuge of Sinners
188 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the God of all Consolation cleanse and deliver you from
all sin and comfort you with His Holy Spirit. Pray for
me that I may be preserved to see your face again and
see it brightened with intelligence and gentleness. I am
in hope tnat this thorough change will really do me good.
It would do me much more good were it not for these
stupid and insufferable women who can find no other
means of enjoyment in an evening (when one wants quiet
after the day's work) except squalling enough to lift the
roof off your head, and strumming at the vilest of Bar-
barian instruments the piano. Nowhere can I get away
from them, they are at it now, till I sweat with suffering
as I write this.
Tell Miss Bell and Miss Bradford that I hope to have
much to interest both them and their pupils when I
return.
Behave as my wife, so that in all things I may hear
such an account as shall make me proud of you, in atten-
tion, in seriousness, in courtesy and obliging behaviour.
You must not think Miss Bell too severe, a mistress must
often look hard, and hold things with a tight rein, when
she does not feel anything but love to those under her
care. You must remember, my dearest, that at school you
must expect to be treated as a scholar, and I pray you, my
love, as you love me, show a pattern of submission and
obedience to the rest. Hush and put down every fretful
thought, think for what purpose you are at school, consider
how great will be your loss if you neglect this opportunity,
and how much it will grieve your husband if ^ou show
any self-will or disobedience ; as my wife, it will reflect
shame on me if you do. Be humble, my dear, do just
what you are told. " Except a man humble himself as a
little child, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."
Consider Him for He is lowly and meek, and you will find
rest in obeying for His sake, whose bride you shall be if
you follow Him. And for my sake too, my love, I know
you will give up your own will. There is no peace for any
of us until we do.
Not till we crucify ourselves can we have any real life.
I wish you could learn to spell little simple words
better than you do, for you spell worse than you write.
FLORENCE 189
I could make a dreadful list of your wrongly spelt words
if I chose, from your letters, only I have not the heart to
pull them to pieces, seeing how full of love they are, my
darling. So try better, dear, and let me know what you
are learning every day. Above all, obey and submit your-
self to the School rules as if you were my child whom I
had committed to Miss Bell's care. There is nothing in
life without discomfort. The noise and discomfort I have
to bear on this journey is very hard, but to get what I
wish to learn from the works of the great painters in Italy
I must endure all this patiently, and to get any education
you must endure the troubles and learn the subjection of
a school-girl to those in authority over her. We have
changed into a boarding-house kept by a widow lady who
was once a member of Mr. M'Laren's chapel. For his
sake she is kind to me. The food is better than I have
had anywhere else, and Rowley and I are both better for
it, though we only changed our lodgings last night. May
God keep us both to meet again. Ever your husband true
and faithful, FREDEEIC.
While Frederic Shields wandered about Florence, dis-
tracted by the noise of the town and complaining much
of American trippers, his friend Rowley went on to Venice
alone, leaving Shields to follow later.
The diary records :
" 29th. Anniversary of the battle of Curtatone, 1848.
Saw the veteran volunteers of the Florentine contingent
going to St. Croce, and after on returning to St. Maria
Novella, got excited and cheered, ' Viva V Italia'
" To Spanish Chapel, noisy with carpenters, could not
think, came away."
And presumably spent the evening writing to his wife
at Brighton as follows :
VIA MAGGIO 28, FLOEENCE,
29th May 1876.
MY DEAREST WIFE, This is the anniversary of the
battle of Curtatone in 1848, and a grand mass for those
who fell there was held in Santa Croce and after the
190 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
service was over, as we were in the cloisters of Santa Maria
Novella, the veterans who had volunteered from Florence
into the Piedmontese army under Charles Albert, marched
in with a military band before them each veteran with
his medals. It was a touching and stirring sight to see
these men who had formed the very van of Italian liberty
though the blood then shed haa to wait eleven years
more before it bore the fruit desired. I wish you would
read this to Miss Bradford, for she will be interested. I
spend every hour carefully, knowing that I shall most
likely never have another opportunity of learning what
I am learning here about painting and now that Kowley
has gone, I can give better attention to the work I have
to do. And so, dearest, you feel about your one chance of
learning, I am sure, and you are doing with all your mind
and heart. As Simone Memmi paints Grammar in the
Spanish Chapel here, pointing three pupils through a very
narrow gate for Grammar is the very beginning of all
learning to know the meaning and the method of words
so make it a particular care to learn all about it. ...
Tell Miss Bell and Miss Bradford that I often think of them,
and make a note for their school uses which they shall have
on my return. Tell Miss Bradford that Dante's house or
birthplace has been so shamefully restored that it is not
worth drawing with any care and that I have got, for the
school's use, a photograph of the great fresco in the Spanish
Chapel, which forms the principal subject of Mr. Ruskin's
Mornings in Florence. I am leaving Florence sooner than
I would, because I can get no peace day or night, in any
spot of the raving place, and so I must needs leave it witn
much unseen and unstudied which I wished to do. I
would not spend another Sunday here for much, especially
as next Sunday there is a Regatta here on the river, and
the shrieking and roaring will be at its culminative height.
I will write to you when I get to Siena, God willing. There
is a canary shrieking now enough to cut your head in two.
Ever your own hubby, FREDERIC.
It is to be feared that the young girl who read these
closely written pages with some difficulty, wondered a little
at their contents.
SIENA 191
A canary bird and a regatta would have appealed to
her and to most girls of her age more than Simone
Memmi pointing his three pupils through the very narrow
gate of grammar and it must have been hard indeed for
her to adapt her little replies with any sincerity, to these
lengthy epistles (which hardly vary at all in style), even
when aided by her enthusiastic teachers.
SIENA, June th, 1876.
MY DEAREST WIFE, I reached Siena safely last night,
thank God, at 11 o'clock, having left Florence at 7, which
is just 4 hours for about 50 miles. Travelling is very slow
and tedious on these railways, but much safer than in
England. It was moonlight, and the country was very
fine. Almost every town set on a hill and the hills clothed
at their tops with stone pines and cypress, at their bases
with vines. This is Sunday, and I do not go to see build-
ings or pictures, but I can't stir out without seeing how
picturesque a place Siena is and I should have missed
the greatest treat I have had yet, if I had failed to include
it in my list. I went to the English Church, a little room
in an hotel, this morning, but I was obliged to leave the
service on account of the piano which was used in place
of an organ. It was too painful to bear, and as there is no
other English place of worship I found a Roman Catholic
one, where all was empty, and there, in quiet, I knelt to
God who knoweth all hearts. When I got out a military
band was playing in the Loggia, and all Siena as gay as
flags and colours out of every window, with coloured lamps
ready to light up at night, could make it. For this is the
15th anniversary of the proclamation of Victor Emmanuel
as King of Italy, and this morning as early as 7 o'clock I
was wakened by the blast of bugles, and out of my window
which overlooks the public gardens I saw fifteen hundred
soldiers marched and manosuvred about, the officers all
gay in blue and silver uniform which looked too pure ever
to be stained with blood. And this is Whit Sunday, the
day of the coming of the Spirit of Peace upon the Church.
How long yet will it be before the nations yield to that
blessed influence and learn to beat their sharp swords into
192 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
priming-hooks, and to make war no more ? How long,
O Lord, how long !
Your letter has caused me much anxiety, and much
gladness. Anxiety that you are so unhappy, gladness be-
cause of your sorrow for sin, a mourning which will turn
to joy, Jesus says, and so thousands of sinners have found
it come to pass. If I do not care for your happiness, who
should ? and I well know that all that people enjoy in this
world, whether innocent or sinful enjoyment, does not, and
cannot, satisfy the soul. With all the pleasures of the
world at our command there is always a miserable feeling
of unrest and dissatisfaction which nothing can take away
but the surety of being at peace with God. . . . And to
whom next to God should you look and tell your heart's
desire but to your husband ? . . . My dearest wife, the
sorest sin we can commit, is unbelief in God's words. The
Scriptures tell us we make God a liar by such feelings.
Take the words of Paul in the 4th of Hebrews, 14th, 15th,
and 16th verses. . . .
It is to be hoped that this letter, which continues in
this strain for eight more closely written pages, afforded
some comfort to the young wife, who was evidently finding
life at school very depressing to both health and spirits.
" June 1th. Returned to Florence.
" June 12th. Started for Bologna.
" 14th. Went to Hospital St. Anne. To Ariosto's
house. At Duomo painting lion.
" 16<A. Venice. To Academia. Walked about quay ;
could not find my way back ; obliged to call a gondolier."
VENICE, June 18th, 1875.
MY DEAREST WIFE, I was disappointed to find only
one little letter from you when I expected three or
four. If I were to write so seldom to you I know well
enough what you would think. I am very sorry that Miss
Bell nas been cross to you. I did not think she would so
far forget herself, for she knows well how few have been
your opportunities of knowing what is right to do. Well,
VENICE 193
darling, I at least am pleased that you took it without
resentment, though I am very vexed tnat you should have
been put to grief, and I do trust that Miss Bell will be
more careful in speaking to you for the future, as you say
indeed she has been since. As to mending your niults, it
is not easy for any of us to do, God knows ; but fear not,
you will mend, and I shall praise you proudly for mend-
ing, with God's help. You are never out of my mind
about your comfort, and most about your soul's comfort.
But remember, dearest, that God Himself is the Author
of all comfort, and if you seek His forgiveness earnestly
through Jesus, who has made peace for us all by the blood
of His Cross, you will yet say, " Lord, I will praise Thee
though Thou wast angry with me."
Do you write your dictation better as regards spelling
than when you write to me ? I am sure you are trying,
but your mind has been so neglected that for a long while
you will have to be busy uprooting the weeds of ignorance ;
and it is hard work for any of us, Cissy darling, and you
will find it so, but you must not be cast down.
Sunday night. I've just come in from a walk on the
Piazza of S. Mark. All Venice seemed to be there, young
and old, rich and poor, marching round the square in a
double stream in opposite directions, a band of music in
the centre. Yet no one jostled another ; and there was
not a rude word, or look, or movement anywhere to be
seen among the young people. I thought of Stratford
Road and what kind of behaviour is going on there at the
same time, and I blush for my country. Fancy what an
Italian must think when they see our English streets of
promenade on a Sunday night.
Venice gives me more pleasure than any place I have
ever seen : the great Church of S. Mark, the palaces, the
pictures, the canals, and the people themselves all so
wonderful that I feel dazed and confused with the marvels
about me. Oh, my dearest one, it will be such a joy to
see my sister wife again and to hear how obedient and
industrious you have been, to hear all you have learnt
and to tell you all I have learnt, for I am cram full.
Ever your loving husband, FREDERIC.
N
194 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
From Venice Shields went to Padua. The diary con-
tinues :
June 26th. St. Anastasia first. Benetiers at pillars,
by Veronese's father ; quaint, lovely, simple Gothic, with
round pillars. The roof bothered with arabesques. Fres-
coes all poor. Some good Gothic tombs. To cathedral ;
most beautiful Titian there; fine Carrotti in Baptistery,
which is twelfth century.
PADUA, Sunday, June 2WA.
MY DEAREST WIFE, I arrived here yesterday and
found my way at once to the Chapel of Giotto, which has
been one of my daydreams to stand within ever since my
boyhood. It is a wonderful place, and I spent all the day
till four in the afternoon, when I went to the Eremite
Church beside it to see the Andrea Mantegna frescoes.
We have had very melting weather for several days ; it
makes me feel very tired, and Venice is so full of glory
that whilst I was there I worked too hard, and I am very
glad of the quiet day of the Lord here, though it is very
nard to make it holy here, where everyone seems entirely
to disregard it. I am sure we in England have no idea of
the blessings that flow to us through the observance of
the Lord's Day. We ought to hold it fast as one of God's
best gifts to us as a nation. There is no English service
here, and so I am obliged to worship alone amidst so much
distracting noise of busy workers about that I can hardly
write to you even. To-morrow I start, God willing, for
Verona, where I hope to find a letter waiting for me or I
shall not get it, for I shall only stay there a day before
going on to Milan, which will bring me a long stretch
nearer home : for though we have none now till God directs
us to a settled place, yet where you are is home to me so
long as you love me, especially now, since I know of your
mourning for sin for where this is there is also fear and
hatred of sin, and these things must bring increasing
confidence between us. Look at the love of David and
Jonathan ; because it was founded in love to God, nothing
could move it or change it.
I am grieved to hear that you have been so poorly. I
SWITZERLAND 195
am writing to Miss Bell now about you, though I am
afraid she may not understand me rightly. It is very
hard to write about your going out more, although you
must get into the garden for your health's sake. I thought
that all the girls got out into the garden two or three times
a day, and you with them ; and if this is not so, then I
hope what I have written to Miss Bell will remedy it.
We want to see you get on, but not to make you ill, my
sweet one. I have made no complaints, but have hinted
to Miss Bell that you require more exercise, and I have
no doubt she will see to it. It must be our wisdom not to
count the days which lie between us and our meeting ; to
waste them in idle longing, but so to number them that
each minute may be employed in duty, looking to our
Great Master, Whose eye is upon us taking account of our
deeds.
" Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go,
My daily labour to pursue ;
Thee, only Thee, resolved to know
In all I think or say or do."
And if in such spirit you go on with your lessons, no doubt
the grace of God will sanctify the efforts you make to
advance.
God bless you, darling, once again. Don't you long to
see my treasure-box, my bunch of blue ribbons to tie up
your bonny gold hair, my Chrysomena? All my love
with this. Your true husband, FREDERIC.
From Padua Shields went to Verona; then to Como
and Cadenabbia, Lugano, Hospenthal.
HOSPENTHAL, SWITZERLAND,
July 5th, 1876.
MY DEAREST LOVE, I am very tired to-day, as you
may fancy when I tell you that I left Lake Como on
Monday morning at ten o'clock by bus for Porlezza, which
is on Lake Lugano ; then I had to take a small boat to
Lugano, at the other end of the lake such a beautiful
sail ; then the diligence to Bellinzona, which we did not
reach till 10 at night. Then next day I started from
196 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Bellinzona for Biasca at 11 o'clock A.M. by the railway,
and then took the government diligence to this place,
Hospenthal, over the Alps, and did not get here till 10
last night, cold and tired, for we are in the region of per-
petual snow here. All these two days I had no meals
after breakfast, only such snacks of food as I could swallow
in a hurry while the coach stops to change horses. The
Alps how shall I try to make you fancy what they are
like ? you might put Ingleboro on the top of them and it
would only look like a Scotch cap on their heads. You
should have seen the flocks of goats this morning going
to pasture, and the pretty little Swiss cows, their backs no
higner than my elbow, each with a bell round her neck ;
and then four little pigs behind, one dark reddish brown,
one a lighter brown, one the colour of a Scotch grey
terrier, and one such a golden colour that his bristles
would put even the light of your hair out, with little black
spots on him behind, and pink ears and legs. I laughed
at him, he was so odd, so lean, and so pretty coloured.
And the flowers such fields full in the valley, though
the great snow-peaks frown down on them ; and my brave
lovely dandelions growing all along the roadsides. I sup-
pose I shall get a letter from you at Lucerne, which won't
be for some days yet, and when you get this you must
write to Paris. It is so good to hear that Miss Colebrook
is kind to you, and that you are really making an effort
with your lessons. How is it that everything dies ? It
was so at Winnington before. Who neglects them or
teases the pets ? Someone is at fault. I suppose where
there are so many no one attends to the duty of feeding
them and cleaning them regularly. I hope you get out
daily into the garden for exercise and play. One thing I
long most of all for, to find your mind and heart still set
upon Christ, longing for the fulness of His salvation from
sin. There's a German band positively just struck up I
must run away ; who would have thought it here ? Think
how those fellows have climbed to make such a noise
nearly 5000 feet above the level of the sea. I am very
happy after your letter to think that you can learn from
the example of any one, to avoid and to shrink from
habits and manners which are painful to your husband
BRIGHTON 197
you see them now a little as I see them. Good night, my
love, ever your own husband, FEEDERIC.
" July 10th. Left Lucerne for Basle, an interesting
country, mostly soft, with a few bold cliffs and sweet quiet
villages. Basle Cathedral ; sketched door. Met Fildes at
dinner at the hotel."
From here in easy stages he returned to England, and
on July 17th he arrived at Brighton ; but for that day
and for many months the diary is blank.
CHAPTER XIII
House-hunting The proposed decorations for Manchester Town Hall
English or foreign artists ? Shields' letter to the Council The Photo-
graphic Company Bossetti reproductions Lodge Place, St. John's
Wood Commission for windows for Coodham Chapel.
SOON after his return from Italy, Shields went to London
to begin searching for a house, staying with the Madox
Browns, leaving his wife still at school at Brighton, where
he spent week ends at intervals.
37 FITZBOY SQUABK,
July 22nd, 1876.
DEAR SHIELDS, Why are you so silent ? Solacing
yourself with your wife at Brighton when your cry should
be, " To your tents, Israel ! " I have not been able to
write to you till this minute, for you left me no address.
I am to go down to meet the Committee of Decoration at
Manchester this week, and sadly would require to speak
with you before going. Things may get into a terrible
mess, I see, owing to Waterhouse and general stupidity,
but with Rowley and much energy may still be brought
right. ... I don't yet know what day the meeting is to
take place. You promised to finish your short truncated
visit here, you and your wife, on your return from Italy.
Are we to expect you now ? I suppose you must look out
for a house. I have just written off a scheme of decora-
tion for the five rooms (substantially what we decided on
before you left) to Rowley, to be shown to Councillor
Thomson, stating what portion you devised of it : 1. Com-
mittee Room Religious ; 2. Politics ; 3. Entrance Hall
Manufacture and Commerce ; 4. Legendary ; 5. The Ban-
queting Hall, to be devoted to great men of different
municipalities (your idea, and, as I told them, most im-
portant). Watson, Gregory, and Marks have, you know,
196
MANCHESTER TOWN HALL 199
declined. I, you, and Morgan are now, it seems, to be
spoken with, and (Oh that it should be so !) Gu/ens &
Swertz of Belgium. With our united kind regards to you
both, yours as ever, FORD MADOX BROWN.
The following is from a rough copy of a letter which
was apparently written to some member of the Man-
chester Town Council. The address is that of a studio
in which Shields worked at this time. The date is some
months later than the last letter of Madox Brown's, but
it may fitly be admitted here as showing the spirited part
played by Shields in these long-protracted negotiations,
and as reminding Manchester of her indebtedness to his
disinterested efforts.
20 HEREFORD SQUARE, BROMPTON,
Wth October 1876.
DEAR SIR, There are times and situations when a
man feels he must act and speak from his own individual
convictions, without consulting even those with whom he
is ultimately connected in some important matter which
hangs on the balance.
So I feel now, and I wish it to be clearly understood
that this communication is entirely independent of, un-
prompted by, and unknown to Mr. Madox Brown.
To the citizens of Manchester I owe some loyal grati-
tude, and I now seek by plain speaking their profit, not
my own as I believe your Decorative Committee also do,
but very blindly for I am amazed to hear that the idea
of committing the decoration of your Town Hall to foreign
artists is still entertained, and that a section of your Com-
mittee have even gone the length of visiting Austria, to
determine for themselves the merit of these painters. But
I venture to say that their merit is in this case entirely
outside the question at issue.
Had the Germans and French called in foreign artists
to adorn their town halls and public buildings, where
would have been the present capacity of the painters of
these two nations for public works ?
By inviting or receiving foreign painters you taunt
200 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
English artists with incapacity, whilst you rob us of a rare
opportunity of disproving your objections. Have English
painters failed when tried ? Witness the noble works of
Barry, in the Society of Arts at London on which he
starved as the result of his enthusiastic devotion. Witness
the Houses of Parliament, where the Government, at least,
acted with a right spirit of national patriotism in inviting
British painters to prove their fitness for great decorative
pictures. To that invitation there came a triumphant
response in the three great exhibitions of Westminster
Hall, revealing a wholly unexpected amount of genius for
poetic and historic design on a grand scale among English
painters. And what Englishman with soul and eyes can
look on the works of one of the chosen artists, Maclise
in the presentation of his country's great victories, Tra-
falgar and Waterloo without feeling a just pride in his
country's art ? The pictures themselves are victories, won
by the national enthusiasm of a painter who hitherto had
been bound down to small easel pictures, and was untried
in large works. Where on the Continent, in modern
public works, will you find their equals for greatness and
naturalness of conception combined ? Yet who expected
such a result from Maclise till the stimulus of a national
subject, and the gaze of a nation's eyes, were applied to
him ?
Had the Royal Commission invited Kaulbach and
Cornelius as foreign painters practised in large decorative
works, we should nave lost these two great pictures, and it
would have been supposed Maclise was incapable. Simi-
larly with Cope, who rose far above what he was generally
supposed capable of, and has produced his very finest
works on the corridor walls, works which will make his
name honourable as long as they exist.
To have placed these decorations in the hands of
foreign artists, no matter how great or skilled, would, I
scruple not to say it, have been foul shame to England
for ever. Compare this right procedure with that resolved
on in the decoration of Glasgow Cathedral, where the
painted glass was given into the hands of German de-
signers of great skill and experience, but utterly unable
to comprehend the necessity of adapting their designs to
ENGLISH OR FOREIGN ARTISTS? 201
the style and spirit of the grand Gothic structure which
they now painfully deface.
But I fear I protest in vain nor do I speak in my own
interest. Such tasks ever involve heavy and unforeseen
labour, with envyings and vexations, and prove unre-
munerative, if not absolutely beggarly, when executed with
a conscience. My one object is, if it be possible, to dis-
suade your Committee from exposing themselves to
merited obloquy by placing any part of this work in the
hands of foreigners, and to entreat them that this first
opportunity for the decoration of a great civic building in
England may be given to English painters whose hearts
and art are in sympathy with their own brethren.
You did not cross the Channel for a foreign architect.
You will answer, " No ! because we were able to obtain
the services of a man of proved capacity." But his
capacity had been proved beforehand, because he had been
trusted with a great building when comparatively un-
known, and as a consequence he astonished England with
the Assize Courts.
But we English painters your own children are
dogs, neither to be tried nor trusted, and the very crumbs
due to us are given to your foreign adopted children. For
very shame's sake, if none of your own blood can be found
whose character and ability entitle them to your confi-
dence, let the walls remain blank till such men arise or
are discovered, nor place in the hands of strangers another
unjust advantage for boasting over your country's poverty
of art. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
Servant, FRED. J. SHIELDS.
P.S. To me all is a simple question of British art
versus foreign, not of any English artist or artists against
Messrs. Guffens & Swertz.
Shields and his wife still exchanged letters almost
daily. The girl, thrust into an atmosphere of " prunes "
and " prisms," with no experience but that learned in the
streets of Manchester, save her strange first year of married
life under the instruction of her devout husband, evidently
202 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
found it very hard to adapt herself to her new environ-
ment and the restrictions of a school. Her rare beauty
no doubt added to her difficulties, and made her mistakes
and her high spirits doubly conspicuous.
37 FITZROY SQUARE,
Monday Evening.
MY DEAREST WIFE, I was glad to hear so good an
account of your health and conduct from Miss Bell, who
thinks you much improved in many ways. You say I am
always finding fault with you, and you think Miss Bell
can see no good in you, so I hope it will satisfy you to
hear this. But I have been, on the other hand, very
grieved all day so as to upset me very much that when
you had lost the key of your machine-box you should
force it open, breaking the lock, and should then, without
either explanation of it or any expression of sorrow for
your folly, coolly tell me that it is broken in your letter
of to-day. I quite expect they will make me pay for the
box ; they can do, for they could not sell it so damaged.
If you had expressed any regret for such thoughtless con-
duct, I should have said nothing about it ; but as it is I
cannot help feeling very much pained. With my dear
love to you, I am ever, your loving husband,
FREDERIC.
The Photographic Company absorbed some of his
attention, and the following letter from Rossetti indicates
that Shields was superintending the reproduction of one of
his pictures :
FRIDAY NIGHT.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, It really and truly seems too bad
that a living and breathing woman should suffer for the
sake of a mere picture of. one ! Do you not perceive that
an indignation meeting of Mrs. Shields with herself is
about to pass an awful female vote against me, the English
Autotype Company, and your cherisned self, so far and so
degrading ?
To Brighton, my boy, is my advice. Let the Company
take care of itself till you come back, and then they can
THE YOUNG WIFE 203
get the drawing and set about it. I find it is not likely to
be quite ready before Monday. Let this determine you to
go where you are most wanted. Don't suppose for a
moment that I am ungrateful for such kind and truly
brotherly care for my interests in this matter ; but the
very drawing itself seems to look from its window and
reproach delay. With love to Brown, yours affect.,
D. GABRIEL ROSSETTI.
The admiration felt by Miss Bell and her partner for
the genius of Frederic Shields, doubtless made any lack of
perfection on the part of his wife particularly shocking to
them. From reference to her poor little ill-spelt letters we
gather how she longed to get out more, to dance, to play,
even upon the piano, the very thought of which would
have distracted her husband.
LONDON, Sept. 29th, 76.
MY DEAREST WIFE, And do you think I would forbid
your learning to dance if I thought it well for you but I
did speak about it to you enough to show that whatever
I said before, I felt when I was last at school that I would
rather you did not learn to dance. It really grieves me that
you should take it hardly especially as I have just got a
letter from Miss Bell, giving you such a good character for
keeping rules, and industry, that it has made me quite as
happy as I can be under present circumstances. And I
was delighted that you are learning to sing, which will
give you and me much pleasure I hope. This constant
rushing about in trains, and the disappointment of every
place I have seen as yet, leaves me little time and strength
for writing. It is hard for me not to see you for another
week, but this is a time of hard trial for me, and often I
feel I could lie down and cry for weariness only I try to
say Thy will be done. I am glad you were at chapel
on Sunday, and that the teaching was good to your heart.
I found a Methodist Chapel near Fitzroy Square, and
heard a most moving sermon on the first chapter of
Colossians and the 27th verse : " If you continue in the
faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the hope of the Gospel." The good preacher recalled to
mind the numbers of those whom he had known in the
congregation, who had once seemed to be the disciples of
Jesus, out had been moved away from the hope of the
Gospel, the hope of being saved from sinning, as he
thought of these the preacher wept in the pulpit for
sorrow and pity. Your last letters are an improvement in
writing, and Miss Bradford gives me the best account of
you. I am so glad you really have your sins always
before your face. There is but one way to avoid sin, and
that is to put the Lord always before your face. Ever
with deep neart love, your husband, FREDERIC.
Rossetti's last letter was followed by a week end at
Brighton. On the following Monday he writes again.
The drawing referred to is the chalk study for " La donna
della Finestra," the picture afterwards purchased by Mr.
F. S. Ellis. " The English Picture Publishing Company "
consisted of Mr. Charles Rowley, Mr. George Milner, and
Frederic Shields, but there was no legal partnership. Mr.
Rowley says : " It was all done under Madox Brown's
influence, we lost half our cash, but we spread some fine
things, the like of which was not on the market." The
photographs alluded to in these letters were the first repro-
ductions of his pictures which Rossetti had allowed to be
published.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I believe I may consider the
drawing completed now, but it had better have a day's
grace. Could you spend Wednesday evening with me,
coming at about 8 or half-past, and dining beforehand, as
the culinary complication of which you became aware last
time you were here resulted next day in my being left
cookless, and the want has not yet been supplied. A man
is my sole domestic in the house at present, and though
he cooks for me, I cannot ask my friends to a share not
that his cooking is amiss, but that he has so much to do
besides. Would Brown come also ? Please ask him, with
my love. Yours affec., D. G. ROSSETTI.
PERLASCURA 205
Much pains were taken over this and other photo-
graphs, both by Shields and Rossetti. Photographic
reproduction was then far from the state of perfected
development in which we know it now, but all his weary
experience with M'Lachlan had taught Shields how to
overcome many of the difficulties of the process, and
much as he hated the very name of photography to the
end of his days, he was always ready to serve his friend in
this, as in any other way that his enthusiastic devotion
suggested.
Many other letters passed on the same subject ; in one
Rossetti says : " I cannot but remember your kind offer to
help me in the retouching. Your experience of such
things must be much more than my own, and if we were
each to retouch one unglazed proof and then compare
results, perhaps that might be the surest plan. I know
you are too good a fellow to mind wasted labour if mine
happened to secure our joint votes. If they have a fancy
to give the head a title of any kind I must dictate such
title. But best just call it a Study."
Apparently this being the first published photograph
of a work of Rossetti's, it was thought desirable to give it
a name, and the artist suggested " Twilight." However, in
a day or two he wrote : " I have thought of another name
for that profile head, ' Perlascura ' (i.e. dark pearl, as an
Italian female name). What think you ? The name is
exact for complexion."
Again with one of his flashes of keen business instinct
which he occasionally displayed to a surprising extent,
Rossetti wrote : " I have meant for some time to suggest
(but always forgot) that the dates should be scratched off
the negatives. There is no objection to their being sup-
posed more recent works of mine, but rather the contrary,
and I should prefer it. The initials could stand if wished."
So the drawing of " Perlascura " bears the date 1871, but in
206 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the Autotype issued in 1877 this is erased. Some months
later the poetic title was the subject of an indignant letter
from Rossetti :
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I heard to-day that the profile
autotype is being sold with the title of the Black Pearl.
Perlascura was the name I gave it, and if any other is
given it must really be at once withdrawn from circula-
tion. I am extremely vexed about the matter if true.
The right translation would be the Dark Pearl, but no
translation is needed. It seems one cannot sanction any-
thing of this kind without serious annoyances. A shop in
Bond Street was mentioned as the one where it was seen.
I must repeat that if the title reported was really put on
the profile head, it must be withdrawn at once.
All this time Shields was still searching for a house
where could be heard neither organs, pianos, railways,
traffic, parrots, German bands, babies, dogs, cats, nor any-
thing else likely to disturb his terribly sensitive nerves.
In October he discovered a small house iii Lodge Place,
St. John's Wood, now demolished to give place to the
railway with its huge coaling station. The house stood
in a small garden surrounded by high walls, in a very
quiet little road. In October he spent a day in the
empty house, to test its quietness. The diary records :
"At 7 Lodge Place all day. Reading Bible for my
glass window designs. Very cold. Caught cold."
However he decided to take the house, and put the
business part of the transaction into the hands of Mr.
Theodore Watts, Rossetti's friend, who kindly managed
the necessary formalities. It was found that in order to
make it worth while to build a studio, he must purchase
the lease, and this necessitated a mortgage and absorbed
all his spare capital. Apparently no sooner was the
THE NEW HOME 207
business settled than Shields saw a house he liked better.
According to the diary :
"Oct. 26th. To West Drayton to look at house.
Very good and likely. Walked to Stanwell. three miles
off, with Charles Pollard to see Mr. Nelson the landlord.
Walk by river back in dark. To London by eight. Lost
both tickets of G.W.R. back. Bed at 1.
"Oct. 2,7th. To see Watts he not in. To Museum
till two. Walked back and about London. Sketched
costume. Wrote to Rowley. Read Ariadne Florentines,
and Bible.
"Oct. 28th. To Watts about house. He tells me I
am tied by Equity to take the house. Very low spirited."
There are no more entries in the diary that year.
He wrote to his wife at Brighton :
MY DEAREST WIFE, Only the money arrangements
about the house remain to be concluded and I hope
these will be all right in the end. In some respects, and
on your account chiefly, I would have avoided the house
if I could, but I see only ruin staring me in the face
unless I take some house, and I can't find another, so
we must just make the best of it and thank God for all
He gives us, which is very much, and trust Him for the
future. I am sure everybody at Brighton will disbelieve
this poor nobody when he says he cannot come. I have
got home so tired that I can scarce write this, and cannot
enter into reasons except that I shall and must be at
Rossetti's on business to-night, and absolutely must be
at the house early on Monday morning. What a plague
the dishonesty and delay of workmen is and what I
have to suffer from it you will never know in your com-
fortable nest, where no real trouble comes near you, nor
anxiety how to provide for yourself or others. It is well
I made no promises when I would come back, the way
the men have absented themselves from the house these
three days past will compel me to stay now to look after
the alterations, they are not to be trusted and want
watching like thieves. God bless you, my darling. I
208 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
wish I could be on my way to you to-night. Tell Miss
Bell and Miss Bradford what I say. Ever your own
hubby, FREDERIC.
The building or enlarging of the studio was an
anxious matter, and as, through the introduction of his
friend Mr. Alfred Waterhouse, he had now an important
commission to design stained glass windows for Sir
William Houldsworth's chapel at Good ham, Kilmarnock,
it was a matter of vital importance that the artist should
be able to settle to work at once. His wife was also
evidently very anxious to leave the school at which she
had remained so much longer than she had anticipated
when her husband left her there while he spent two
months in Italy. Her impatience was as great as his to
have some settled home for the first time since their
marriage.
Dec. 16th, 1876.
MY DEAR WIFE, I am sorry that you have tooth-
ache again, but the weather is so damp that one cannot
escape something. I have a slight cold with sitting in
cold rooms and looking after drains day after day. As
for my coming to see you, I cannot do so for the present,
thougn I am at least as anxious as you can be to see you,
and I have much more reason to wish myself away from
this mess and worry than you know. It will cost far,
far more than I dreamt of, to make the place anything
like fit to live in ; every day I find out some new trouble
about floors, drainage, roofage, or something no end of
vital matters to look after with my own eyes, of which I
knew nothing before, and to pay heavily for my experi-
ence. Yesterday I bought two stout blankets to send to
your mother, she writes to me that John is out of work,
and it makes it very hard for her and I cannot send her
more than 10s. a week. Jessie's school will soon be due,
10 at least, and I sent Miss Bell 5 last week, and paid
the builder 15 on account, and all this is only the begin-
ning. I hope you had a profitable sermon last Sunday
"THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH" 209
from Mr. Punshan I wish I had been with you. We
had a very earnest sermon on John xi. 5 about the love
of Jesus for each member of a Christian family. My best
regards to your teachers. Ever yours in love,
FREDERIC.
It may perhaps be mentioned that Shields contributed
to the support of his wife's mother to the end of her
days. The little sister of his wife, who is mentioned in
this letter as Jessie, was adopted as their child very soon
after their marriage and sent to school for some years,
afterwards living with them until her marriage. She
grew up to be a very lovely girl, and married in 1893 the
Rev. B. Scott. Her early death, after a few years of the
happiest married life, was a terrible grief to Shields. A
very beautiful portrait of her was shown at the Memorial
Exhibition of his works.
Early in 1877 Shields and his wife settled in their
new home. His first work here was the series of stained
glass windows for Sir William Houldsworth, the subject
being "The Triumph of Faith." The work occupied
nearly the whole of the years from 1876 to 1880, and at
once established the reputation of Shields as a decorative
artist of the highest rank. From that time he had no
lack of commissions.
In this and succeeding years frequent reference will
be found to the commission given to Shields and Madox
Brown, after much delay and discussion, to decorate the
walls of the Town Hall, Manchester. Mr. Hueffer de-
scribed the part played by Shields in this matter, in his
Life of Madox Brown, as " the unique self-sacrifice of
Mr. Shields." The sacrifice was indeed a great one, for
the work had appealed far more to the younger man
than to Madox Brown, who wrote on Christmas Day
1876 :
o
210 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" I have this morning had a communication from
Rowley (only too good to oe quite credible) that the deci-
sion has been finally arrived at by the sub-committee
that five rooms are to be painted by you, me, Watts,
Poynter, and Leiyhton. I believe you will agree with me
that this if earned out will be quite as honourable, and
indeed as satisfactory as our larger scheme which would
have entailed heavy responsibility in many ways. If this
be true, you will attain your ambition of being one of the
historic painters of the country, and in company with
some of unquestionably the first of them of the day. I
do not myself say that this is a very obvious advantage
to you to my mind, you know, any kind of art one can
do well and easily is honourable, and I would just as
soon have painted 'Genre' works had I ever received
any encouragement to do so but you seem bent on it,
and you have your wish, and with your studio in London
and these commissions you will have every facility for
gratifying it."
Long negotiations, innumerable council meetings, and
various log-rollings on all sides, seem to have left the
matter more or less at a standstill after this, for many
months. The arrangements at the new house dragged on
week by week. Madox Brown wrote on Feb. 13th :
" I hope you are not ill again (that we hear nothing
further from you) but well at work doing good things.
Your design of Love and Time excites quite a thrill of
approval with all who see it. Lucy and others think you
ought to paint it and indeed if you were to increase the
landscape in size at one side you would have at once a
paintable design. . . . What are you about, and how are
you and your wife ? Here we are all tolerably d d
miserable as the British tar put it, leaving out the thanks
at the end. But Rowley, who is off again to-day, is a dear
little man and wishes me to paint him a Milton with a
Cromwell doing something together. Of course I shall do
it for him straight off, but it is rather a rude shaking off
of all our favourite subjects just at present. But it does
LOVE AND TIME
Designed for a Golden Wedding
By permission of Charles Rowley, Esq.
SHIELDS AND ROSSETTI 211
not matter, once on the subject I shall inspire myself with
the feeling of it, and I designed a subject in my head ten
minutes after. . . . There is really no news as to the other
matter, and we -had better try to forget all about it till there
is for otherwise we shall grow to take no interest in
ordinary work and forget our friends that we still have, in
the vain pursuit of this ignis fatuis like a law-suit or a
patent invention that will not act."
Shields had now constant intercourse with Rossetti.
Strange sympathy between two such different natures.
Rossetti, scornful of didactic art, and, as Mr. Watts-Dunton
expresses it, " thoroughly indisposed towards attempts to
ameliorate anybody's condition by means of pictures "
Shields, on the other hand, passionately devoting his art
to the interpretation of the Bible, having even, as we
know, hesitated at one stage of his career as to whether
he ought not to devote himself to preaching by word of
mouth, rather than by his pictorial sermons. Rossetti,
full-blooded, impetuous, Agnostic, outraging, as one
would imagine, every sentiment of the other, whose
ascetic nervous frame vibrated between admiration for
Rossetti' s genius, joy in his friendship, and real terror as
to the ultimate fate of his immortal soul. Shields often
painted for days in Rossetti's studio, taking his own work
and models there, and dozens of affectionate little notes
carefully preserved, tell how Rossetti helped him, and
sought his help in various details connected with their
work, especially in those later years when increasing ill-
health made Rossetti more dependent on the devotion of
his friends. As for example: "Dear Shields, The lay
figure stands'a monument of your friendly aid," or " I must
have a rose tree with leaves if without trouble to yourself
I should be glad of a tree on Tuesday," and again : " Do
you know any means of sending me good apple blossom,
I would pay anyone well to bring me as much as possible
212 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
for some days to come, you would really befriend me if
you could get me a good branch to-morrow what I want
is a full coloured red and white blossom, of the tufted
rich kind."
The next note says : " Thanks for the apple stem study,
I have been much bothered with the blossom, some of
which I have repainted since you saw it. As to stem, I
have a bad one in my garden, and with the help of your
study I might manage. The bark of the bough brought
by your messenger is as black as London bark, though I
believe he brought it from Edgware, so how far to seek
for grey or green bark, Heaven knows ! " later, " I hope
to see you to paint to-morrow, as for me I am stuck fast."
The diary for 1877 is very irregularly kept, and there
are no entries until June.
" Tues., June 12th Rose 6.30. Walk. Breakfast.
Prayer. Read Matt. 14. Mrs. Brown called, wished me to
go to Brown about Manchester Town Hall business. To
Heaton Butler's with glass design at 3.30. To Covent
Garden and Sir John Soane's Museum (Hogarth's). To
Brown's at 6.30. Home at 9.
" June 15th. Worked at 'A Street Song' red chalk.
To Bank and Exhibition of Japan Sketches. To Brown's,
arranged list of subjects for Manchester Town Hall.
Home 10.30.
" June IQth. Began You shan't go ' red chalk.
Worked at East Window all afternoon, thinking them out.
To Rossetti's after tea, found him very ill in bed.
" June 27th. Working at central windows for Good-
ham. To S. Kensington in afternoon with Cissy, in
Library, looking over Mediaeval works. To Rossetti's at
7, found him very ill.
"July 5th. Working at three central windows. To
see Brown in afternoon. To Mrs. Rossetti's in evening,
with Miss Bradford.
AT HERNE BAY 213
"August 1st. Working at colour drawing of Mel-
chisedec, and Crucifixion. Cayley called. To glass works
till 6.30, to Rossetti's till 12.30. Home in cab."
Towards the end of August Rossetti became worse, and
went to Herne Bay with Madox Brown, who wrote :
MB. SANDS, HUNTEES' FORESTALL,
NR. HERNE BAY, August 23rd, 1877.
DEAR SHIELDS. I am here for a day or two yet, having
promised to bring D. G. R. away from his home for a week,
till his Mother comes with his sister Christina. When I
am gone perhaps Watts may come for a few days, and
Rossetti wishes me to write and ask whether you would
be so kind as to come and cheer him also. I must tell
you that while his Mother and sister will be with him there
will be no room for a male visitor, only a bed in Rossetti's
room, into which the nurse may have to make an inroad at
times in the night. I should fancy, however, that by the
time you come, he will be so far recovered as no longer to
require such cockering up. At present even, after six days
only, he walks three miles, sleeps on the whole well, and
is indeed an altered man. While the nurse and I remain
this improvement will go on after what will happen I
can't say ! The deluge, possibly, after me, as Louis XV.
used to say. I get horribly bored and fidgetting down here
reflecting upon all my own affairs going to wreck, but it
can't be helped. My wife and Lucy Rossetti are well and
still at Gorleston and I trust you and Mrs. Shields are
prospering. Till meeting again, and ever, yours affec-
tionately, FORD MADOX BROWN.
Shields went to Herne Bay the following week, and
wrote :
HERNE BAY, Aug. 28th, '77.
MY DEAREST WIFE, Rossetti had a very restless night,
and as my bed is in his room, my rest was much broken up.
And yet I am better for the change of air. He seems very
much better, and would he but give up the demon Hydrate,
he would get better, but never without this abstinence.
214 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
How are you, my darling ? This absence will not be for
long, I hope, for Watts will likely take my place at the
end of the week, and whether he does or not, you know my
position will not allow me to stay from work long.
Mrs. Rossetti and Christina enquire very affectionately
after you.
This is a pretty cottage with a pleasant garden in
front, and kitchen garden behind, with beautiful espalier
apple trees, and great walnut trees, covered with nuts
looidng so bonny. There is no comfort or quiet to write
here, so that I must stop, with my dear love. Your own
true husband, FREDERIC.
Early in September Shields returned to Lodge Place
and continued working at the windows, and in October he
went to Kilmarnock, staying at Coodham with Mr. (after-
wards Sir William) Houldsworth.
COODHAM, KILMARNOCK, N.B.,
Oct. 23rd, 1877.
MY OWN DEAREST WIFE, I seem to have been away
from you a month, and am longing to see your dear sweet
face again but what a short letter you sent me this morn-
ing. I have been very much engaged since I came here
with the work for I find it likely that I shall have to
paint a picture on the wall opposite the windows, and we
must arrange about this so that I can design it when I
return to London. I shall have to come here again after
that to paint it on the wall. I shall stay here a day or
two still, but until I send you a new address, direct your
letters here. Part of your letter was blotted, and I could
not read it. Mind you address your envelopes properly.
N.B. stands for Scotland, which is called North Britain.
There is a lovely lake before this house, and a brood of
young swans they are not white, but spotted with dark
fawn colour, and nearly as big as their parents, though
this Spring's birth. Their beaks are black and won't be
orange coloured till next Spring. The old ones white as
driven snow their wings erect at my approach, and all
their neck feathers also. They carry their young under
COODHAM AND MANCHESTER 215
their wings when they are little, and their tiny brown
heads peep out of the mother's white feathers. You
should have seen how they pursued a black swan on the
lake, and cruelly beat it, and bit it till it shrieked again
I didn't like them after that.
Look, please do, at the 2nd Epistle of Timothy and the
3rd chapter 15 verse.
Without the Scripture no man knows anything of God
and God's Salvation. The Scripture is able to make you
wise truly wise in this life, and for the life to come will
you be content to be among the foolish virgins here, and
hereafter too, and cry " Too late " when the door is shut ?
Pray to God to make you wise by His Blessed Word, wise
to know your own self, your weakness, foolishness, and
sinfulness, and wise to know the only Lord Jesus Christ,
who can save you from your sinfulness, and strengthen
you to all goodness and virtue.
God bless you, my sweet. I must close, the post goes
out so early and I have been at work all morning. You will
be so glad that Mr. Houldsworth likes the designs. Is not
that a comfort, after all one's hard work ? Many hundred
kisses and loves from ever your own FREDERIC.
On his way back to London he stayed at Manchester
for some days.
MANCHESTER, 31st October 1877.
MY DEAREST WIFE, You will be glad to hear that
I got the drawings unpacked at Grundy's to-day, and
that they have been a great success. The few people who
have seen them to-day are delighted with them, and have
sat quiet and hushed before some of them. It is of God's
goodness and I hope they may do good. I see I shall
do wisely to stay over Sunday in order to see friends who
all receive me with open arms as if I were an angel.
This long absence from you seems like a year to me, my
sweet darling. I have had my hands full of business, but
I shall not neglect poor Mother or Jessie. If I can sell
these designs I shall be able to give Mother a good lift
out of the misery she has been in so long. She is quite
safe and well, and nothing you could do, my darling, could
help her now, for the child is a fortnight or more old. I
216 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
shall see her to-morrow and bring all the news I can
when I return. Shouldn't I like to have some of your
baking for my tea when I get home, I shan't have had
my dinner, and shall be hungry and tired.
Mrs. M'Laren and Miss Rowbotham send their love
to you very affectionately. Mind that Lilly takes care of
matches, gas, and fire. God bless you, dearest, and draw
us both nearer to Himself from whom all blessings flow.
With dearest love, FREDERIC.
Rossetti, who was still at Herne Bay, had been think-
ing of building an additional studio in his garden, and
now wrote :
" You will be glad to hear that since I last wrote my
hands have rather decidedly improved, though not yet
right. My object in writing to you to-day is to ask you to
enquire, when opportunity offers, all particulars respecting
Herkomer's wooden studio, price of building, time occupied
in erection, &c. I do not know what my moves may be,
but I think it is pretty evident that if I were in London
now, I could work somehow. I hope you have yourself
been more settled in health since your return to London,
and that you find no difficulties as to work. ... I am
making a drawing of my mother which is quite up to
my mark and much the best likeness I ever did of her.
It would be graceless in me not to believe now that I may
consider myself restored to the power of work. Moreover,
in London, I had back-weakness which forced me to give
up continually, though cushioned all round in my chair,
wnereas I believe now, I could go on for at least four
or five hours without needing a rest. I am much in-
terested in hearing of your work. In these glass cartoons
you have developed a vein which must be appreciated
if you can only secure field enough. My mother and
sister unite in kindest remembrances."
The idea of a wooden studio was quickly abandoned,
and a week later Rossetti wrote again :
ROSSETTI'S LETTERS 217
" Many thanks for sending me Herkomer's letter,
which seems in several ways conclusive. Even if one
could build a wooden studio it would not do if equally
objectionable with an iron one. ... I lately wrote to
Rae of Birkenhead, offering him (he is the oldest and
most faithful of my buying friends, not to disparage one
or two others, but they seem really filled up) well, after
this mighty parenthesis offering him that little picture
with landscape called the "Water Willow," and telling
him of a larger one, the " Proserpine." I asked but 300
gns. for the "Willow"; but his answer is that he is spending
thousands in building a new house and fears he cannot
buy at present. He is likely to be in London in about
a week, and will then look at the things, but I apprehend
he won't buy. Do you think it would be any good
offering the small picture at 300 to Turner? I have to
send him back his water-colour drawing and so this
would give some opening. Truth to tell, this spending
with nothing coming in is not calculated to raise the
spirits. In any case it would be necessary to wait for
Rae's ultimatum after his visit to town. I have no
intention of going to Broadlands, but how long I may
still be able to get on here, I don't know. My power
of work is not essentially impaired at present, I believe,
but I must confess that enthusiasm no less than encourage-
ment seems other than it was. I shall be very glad to
see your fine series of stained glass cartoons, but apprehend
that your visit to Kilmarnock cannot be a very short one
if there is a prospect of your painting a frieze there."
Apparently this letter evoked a reply from Shields
suggesting that the use of chloral had something to do
with Rossetti's discouragement, and he again writes to
Shields, who is still in Manchester :
HERNB BAY, October 21st, 1877.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, On thinking over the point of
perhaps offering the little picture to Mr. Turner (it is now
gone to Rae, but I know he will not buy) it strikes me
strongly that Mr. Turner did take a strong fancy to this
218 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
particular head, that he wrote to you after seeing it,
asking if you knew its price that you asked me, that
I told you 500 gns. (which was what I always meant to
ask if I parted with it) and that he thought it over his
mark. If it was so, what I say will probably recall the
matter to you. I certainly think it did occur. However
there would in that case be a difficulty in offering it
to him now at a lower price (though my long illness
compels me to an unwilling willingness to take the 300),
and the question, if opened to him, would be best alluded
to by me in some way when I return his water-colour.
I have finished a chalk head of my sister, which I
think so successful that I am going to do another of my
mother before I leave here, as the one I did does not
now satisfy me.
As to the eternal drug, my dear Shields, if I suffer
at times from morbidity, it is also possible for others to
take a morbid view of the question. I am quite certain
that I have, as an artist should, made solid progress
in the merit of my work, such as it is, and this chiefly
within the last five years, during which I have supplied
by application, some serious qualities which had always
been deficient in practice, and produced, I will venture
to say, at least a dozen works (among those covering the
time) which are unquestionably the best I ever did. In
those only which need deep tone, will it be found. Some
are among the brightest 1 ever produced, as " La Bella
Mano," "The Sea Spell," and I may add (for lightness
rather than brightness) the " Roman Widow." The only
picture indeed which at all really tends to darkness is
the " Astarte," and I remember that on the only occasion
when you saw this by daylight, you quite exclaimed
as to its brightness and fulness of colour when properly
seen. To reduce the drug as far as possibility admits
is most desirable (at present it is reduced to less than
a third of what I started with here) ; but if an opinion
were to get abroad that my works were subject to a
derogatory influence which reduced their beauty and
value it would be most injurious to me, and would in
reality be founded on a foregone conclusion as to the
necessary results of such a meuicine, and not on anything
ROSSETTI'S LETTERS 219
really provable from the work itself. I now find that
I have written more than enough in a vein which I hope
does not seem too egotistical.
I expect Brown here again before I leave, now that
he has finished and despatched his picture doubtless
now as fine as it promised to be when I saw it. It is
sure to aid his name. I suppose I shall not be leaving
much before the end of this month, but I think certainly
not later. My mother and sister unite in kindest regards,
and I am ever, Affectionately yours,
D. G. ROSSETTI.
Subsequently the "Water Willow" picture, "Proser-
pine," and "Fiametta" were all purchased by Mr. Turner,
a Manchester friend of Shields and by him introduced to
Rossetti, for the round sum of fifteen hundred guineas,
and Rossetti sent the news to Shields.
" I really must let you know that I have just succeeded
in doing some business with Mr. Turner, who brought
with him a friend long known to you Mr. Faulkner.
Mr. Turner acted, I am convinced, in the most liberal
spirit, though in these bad times some concession on
my part was necessary on his taking, as he has done,
several works together. Perhaps you may see him and
Mr. F. before this reaches you, as they were proposing
to look you up. Thanks about the house in St. John's
Wood. I have just heard that Topham's house at Hamp-
stead is to let ; 1 shall get Dunn to look at the two
together. I have to thank you greatly, I am certain,
for keeping up Mr. Turner's interest in my work, which I
perceive to be a genuine one."
Shields' visit to Manchester was somewhat prolonged,
but at last he wrote in a cheerful mood to his wife :
.''. .'! .;.
MANCHESTER, Nov. 8th, 1877.
DEAREST LOVE, I am glad to tell you that I have
realty, really sold the drawings to-day. It was not quite
certain till now, and that is why I have stayed another
220 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
day. I shall have a rush to get away to-morrow morning,
but I shall make a great eftort to get back, being quite
sick of rushing about and seeing people and talking from
morning till night. I can't tell you what train I shall
start by, so I cannot ask you to meet me, and you must not
be disappointed, my sweet, for I shall have a great deal
to do, and may be driven to a late train, or I may get off
by an early one as I want to. I am just going up to
see Jessie again and bring you the last news about her.
Have some tea ready for me when I come. I don't even
know what line I shall come by, nor what station I shall
arrive at, so that it is no use coming to meet me.
Your own, FREDERIC.
Soon after he returned to London he received this
amusing request :
MANCHESTER, 20th Nov. 1877.
MY DEAR FRIEND, I am going to ask a favour of
rather a queer sort because I trust you to say no without
hesitation. Do you see this beast enclosed? Well, he
is a trade mark, which my son-in-law's house has been
using for the African trade, and which they now find is
an infringement of some other body's animal. So they
are abandoning it, and my daughter came up to me this
morning did I think Mr. Shields would draw her some-
thing of a similar sort to use instead, and would I ask
Mr. Shields for "Edward" was so anxious to get some-
thing that would strike the nigger mind (!) and did not
know where to go, &c. I ventured to suggest that
perhaps your style was scarcely so broad as the "Felis
Leo" enclosed, and that it was rather Infra Dig to do
such a thing. But she seemed so disappointed that I was
fain to promise to ask you if you would give them a
drawing of any beast known and respected on the West
African coast, in a sufficiently rampageous attitude say
a Tiger (are there any in Africa ?) or a Lion, &c. If he
had a nigger in his mouth, or if he were in the Nigger's,
it might add poignancy to the production.
I know what an absurd request it is to make and
please understand that if you have the slightest objection
DR. ALEXANDER M'LAREN 221
I rely on your being honest and saying so. Not all
the lions in Africa will make me anything but Yours
very faithfully, ALEXR. M'LAREN.
The request must have been promptly complied with,
and a rough sketch sent, with a request for a description
of the correct native costume.
MANCHESTER, 30th Nov. 1877.
MY DEAR FRIEND, Your lion was so long behind your
letter that, I was afraid he had broken out of the mail
bags, eaten the P.O. clerks, and was devastating the
country about Stafford. However, my fears are gone,
and he has come.
We are very grateful to you (I mean my wife and I,
the young people will speak for themselves) for your
swift kindness in this matter, and do not know which to
admire most, the good nature which consented, or the
deft hand which drew such a monster. That nigger leg,
with the toes up to heaven, is grand. If the goods don t
go with such a leg as that, it's a pity not to mention the
tail. Lejeune is in raptures, and evidently sees himself
notorious over several degrees of latitude or is it
longitude ?
He will see about dresses but I thought they had
none. Manchester philanthropists I understood were
slowly elevating them in "the scale of moral and intel-
lectual beings" by sending them calico to induce them to
wear it on the principle " clothed " first and " right mind "
afterwards. But I did not know they wore anything
except fig leaves of a more or less literal kind. How-
ever, they shall be got and sent you, if possible, and there
will be a big obligation afterwards for your kindness,
which is felt to be even larger than your lion.
Don't you keep those hammers, that you speak of,
going "overtime." That is the most wasteful kind of
work ; and I wish brain- workers had a trades union which
prohibited it, as joiners and carpenters do. I shall be
grateful for photos of the Crucifixion group. That centre
panel haunts my memory, and I shall be thankful to have
222 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
it for my eyesight too. I am to be in town next week,
but it is only for a day, preaching, and I am afraid I shall
not get near St. John's Wood, either to see friends or
relatives. By the bye, that last word reminds me of what
I often meant to say. I have a sister in St. John's Wood,
a very respectable woman, kind and motherly, and with
lots of practical cleverness. She has a large household
would you care to make her acquaintance for Mrs. Shields ?
If so, 1 will tell her to call on you. If not, all right. Just
as you like. Yours always, ALEX. M'LAREN.
The decorations for the Manchester Town Hall were
now in the air again, and Madox Brown wrote on December
19th :
" Waterhouse has been here. His object to ascertain,
before meeting the Committee of Decoration at Man-
chester, if we were still up to the work of the great Hall,
as he reckoned on settling that for us next week. It
seems Gosse the poet, who is an old friend of his, had told
him that I did not care two pence about the job, and also
from his last interviews with yourself that he had derived
a similar impression I let him understand that we had
both of us plenty to do, and that had we cared so very
much about the matter we might both have been dead
before now that we never of late even mentioned the
matter, but that I believed we neither of us had changed,
provided the conditions were not changed. That, how-
ever, from my point of view the conditions might for all I
knew already have been changed, because it was one
thing for us to work in company with some of the finest
artists in the country, and another to form part of the
group of nobodies such as there was talk of giving the
rest to. We talked over this matter, and how these three
men had tried me before going to Watson, and how absurd
the whole thing is. I said it was like asking for two years'
time to prepare themselves to write poetry like Shake-
speare or Homer. Waterhouse agreed to state to the
Committee that should they insist on giving the other
rooms to these Manchester beginners it was likely I would
refuse to co-operate. This is what passed. No news of
FRESCOES FOR MANCHESTER
Rowley as yet ; should you see him don't forget William
Rossetti's Shelley lecture to-night at 8 at his house.
The previous engagement here to dinner you will not
forget."
Eventually it was decided that six frescoes in the Great
Hall should be entrusted to Madox Brown and six to
Shields. Then began endless discussions as to the choice
of subjects, which were to be submitted to the Council by
the two artists, and as Madox Brown plaintively remarks
in one of his letters : " What chance remains of a Common
Council deciding reasonably on matters of Art ? "
Meanwhile Rossetti, putting finishing touches on his
pictures for Mr. Turner, wrote from Cheyne Walk :
" Can you dine with me Monday 8.30 ? If not, would
you post a note in time for me to get it first thing that
morning. I have been painting a rough version of the
proposed change in Fiametta's drapery. It fits with
wafers over the picture so as to judge from, but really I
cannot make my mind up, and have no opportunity of a
second opinion. To destroy so much work is very serious
and risky. I would like your views. Come a little earlier
if you can and so see it by daylight but if not, it can
quite be viewed by gas."
In December Rossetti wrote again :
" I am grieved to learn that money bothers have been
assailing you. If I can be of any service pray give me
that pleasure. I shall be receiving a large remittance
next week from Mr. Turner (as I know for certain by a
letter just received), and am not without funds in hand
now, so don't delay if of any use. I judge from your note
that you might perhaps not be able to come down so soon
as to-morrow, but if you can, I shall be alone and delighted
to see you either at dinner at 7 or later. If you can come,
224 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
perhaps you can bring at any rate ' a red chalk morsel ' or
two for contemplation. Fogs have not certainly been so
bad here as in your neighbourhood, where I know that
darkness exists when light is everywhere else. The exhala-
tions of the deep mud soil in the Regent's Park district are
truly afflictive.'
CHAPTER XIV
The Duke of Westminster's Chapel at Eaton Hall Rossetti and James
Smetham Madox Brown begins work at Manchester Rossetti's
" Launcelot and Guinevere."
THE diary for 1876 recorded work on the Coodham win-
dows and various red chalk studies, several of which are
published by the Autotype Society. Shields' success in the
hitherto untried medium of stained glass now led to the
same architect friend, Mr. Waterhouse, offering him an-
other commission of much greater importance. This was
to design the stained glass and mosaics for the Duke
of Westminster's beautiful chapel then being built at
Eaton. The subject chosen was the Te Deum Laudamus.
Although Shields did not like designing for glass, recog-
nising that it was by no means an ideal medium for his
thought, this commission certainly offered him his first
great opportunity, and the large scale on which the draw-
ing had to be made completely revolutionised his style.
He found the technical difficulties great, and until he had
gained experience in the selection of the coloured glass,
the effect when the first windows were in place was fre-
quently very disappointing. But writing years afterwards
of this commission, he says :
" The opportunity for which my whole longings
and aims had fitted me come at last, late but come !
My soul kindled and flamed with the subject accepted,
the glorious hymn of St. Ambrose, the Te Dewm.
Nearly ninety subjects, all told, not isolated, but such
as could be linked in blessed continuity to keep the
225 r>
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
heart hot, and the mind quick, with its grand purpose
the praise of God and of His Son Jesus Cnrist, from the
lives of apostles, prophets, martyrs, and the Holy Church
of all the ages. My love of the written word of God and
all my longings after nobler avenues for expression in my
Art had been fitting me for such a work.
" It revolutionised all my views of design, imposing
bounds upon me that purified and ennobled my style,
while the practice in drawing upon a large scale gave me
great increase of knowledge and power, and the necessity
of grappling with the fine disposition of drapery gradually
taught me how much the dignity, grace, and action of a
figure depended upon this feature, and made me seek
arter excellence in this respect eagerly. It is a branch of
art that is most unteachable, nothing but study of the
works of the greatest and purest masters will teach it.
Fra Angelico in purely ideal draperies is supreme and
there is so strange a likeness to the finest Chinese designs
in his draperies, which stand apart in Italian art, that I
must think that he had become possessed of some tine
Chinese designs, and based his taste upon them. At
Orvieto, where Signorelli completed the chapel begun by
Angelico, how heavy, cumbrous, and inorganic is the
disposition of the draperies of Signorelli when compared
witn that noble compartment of Angelico's, wherein the
prophets sit tier upon tier in their stately beauty. It is
worth travelling thither from England to see this alone,
and I parted from it with slow, lingering gaze."
The diary for 1878 commences :
"January 2nd. Red chalks till 1. Upset by Lilly
upsetting table and ink. Quite ill. To National Gallery.
To Brown's lecture on Style ; met Long, R.A."
Lilly, often referred to in the diary, was a young maid
who had accompanied them from Manchester, where she
had for some time filled the place of maid and companion
to Mrs. Shields at Ordsall Hall. The incident is a
pathetic reminder of the constantly overstrung condition
of the artist's nerves.
JAMES SMETHAM 227
"January Wth. At work all day at scheme for Eaton
Hall Chapel. To Brown's and Rossetti's. Bed at 2 A.M."
Visits to Rossetti were responsible for many very late
nights in these days. His habit of frequently dining as
late as 9 o'clock and retiring at all hours of the morning,
ran counter to all Shields' previous habits of life. The
long distance from Cheyne Walk to St. John's Wood was
often the cause of his spending the night at Rossetti's,
especially in bad weather, but the menage was curiously
unlike what Shields had been accustomed to in his
hermit days. He used to relate how Rossetti would
breakfast at noon upon eight eggs in a row, that he
would then paint until dark without any other meal until
the long-delayed dinner, by which time his guest not
having such a capacity for breakfasting would be suffer-
ing real pangs of starvation.
"January 25th. To Grosvenor Gallery with Miss
Thomson. Wrote descriptions of 'Faith' cartoons. To
Rossetti about Smetham."
Much correspondence passed at this time between
Shields and Rossetti with regard to their friend James
Smetham, whose health, both mentally and physically,
had completely given way, and they both seem to have
made great efforts to assist in disposing of his unsold
pictures. Rossetti had many of them at his studio, and
effected several sales to his own friends and patrons;
some were sent to friends in Manchester and elsewhere,
and the business is alluded to in Rossetti's letters for
many months.
In February the Manchester business is again causing
much speculation, and various communications pass be-
tween the two artists and the Town Hall Committee.
Rossetti, at the suggestion of Shields, was working on
some of Smetham' s unfinished pictures, knowing that the
sensitive hand which had commenced them had lost its
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
cunning for ever, and anxious that the works entrusted
to him should appear to the best possible advantage, he
wrote on Feb. 13th :
" I wish I could report any progress with the Smetham
business yet. I wrote to Mrs. Cowper-Temple, but have
not her answer yet. To-day I have written to Valpy who
is in Italy. Graham I have seen no more. I am very
anxious about the matter and have no doubt of some
results. Meanwhile do you know whether the Smethams
are in want of funds to go on with ? If so, I would con-
sider the practicability of making some advance and
reckoning on sales, which, though delayed, must I think
occur to some extent. The delay in my movements has
depended partly on a wish to get something done to the
works (as you suggested) to give them a little better
chance, and this I have been unable to set to yet, owing
to the necessity of getting Graham's predella forward.
The latter is now nearly done, and to-morrow or next day
I trust to put a little work into the pictures sent to me.
The truth is that to do any real good to them will cut
into time, and I am most harassed to think what position
our poor friend may be in. Have you any further news ? "
The diary now records a visit to Manchester with
Madox Brown to attend the meeting of the Town Hall
Committee.
"February 26th. Left for Lichfield by 7 train.
Drove to Hoar Cross. Saw Bodley's church with Water-
house and Heaton. To Manchester and slept at dear
O'Connor's.
"February 21th. To Town Hall Committee.
"February 28th. To Chester by 7 train. To Eaton
HalL Slept at Waterhouse's.
" March 1st. Back to London at 11.
" March llth. To Brown's to write letter of terms to
Committee of Manchester Town Hall. To Waterhouse's
STAINED GLASS 229
with Brown. Dined with Brown, Rowley, and J. D.
Watson.
" May 18th. Really began the Duke's windows."
A year or two afterwards, writing to a friend in Man-
chester, he sent the following account of his views on the
subject of stained glass in general, and this commission
in particular :
" The scheme I proposed to His Grace was the illus-
tration of the Te Deum. This was decided on, and will
comprise nearly a hundred subjects of Angels, Apostles,
Prophets, Martyrs, Holy Church, with subjects from the
life of Christ, and symbolic figures of Christian Virtues
and Graces.
" The glass usually fixed in churches, however ad-
missible some of it now is in decorative effect, is entirely
without purpose, and I had almost said wholly without
reverence, for the subjects treated. It is composed of
spots of colour, repellent or attractive to the eye according
to the artist's skill ; but the mind or heart of the worship-
per whose eye fastens on it finds nothing in it warranting
its obtrusion on his vision in God's house. The designers
follow one another, as in Byzantine bonds of tradition.
Now wherever this traditional treatment appears to sit
with deadly purpose on the expression of the subject I
have to represent, I break myself loose from it ; while
I reverently regard it where it is itself subject to the
authority of the Scriptures.
" . . . It is my aim to make the designs as distinctly
didactic as possible, without losing regard to the neces-
sity of decorative effect. And in style I am always
struggling after purity of contour, elevation of individual
character, and intensity of expression. Yes, it is only stained
glass, an art invented by Goths and only fit to be continued
by Goths in my esteem ; but it finds me noblest matter
of design, keeps me germinating high thoughts and inven-
tions, and lifts me out of the petty trifling of petty sub-
jects and imitative facility to which I must otherwise have
gone on applying my efforts."
230 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Rossetti wrote (one of his numerous undated notes)
about this time :
" Many thanks for the beautiful studies you have sent ;
they are most complete, and will be sure to fit in for the
little I need. I must trust to your not thinking me a
humbug in not having made any appointment yet, after
so much delay. The fact is, these Dits of white drapery
needed to be settled, and have had to be changed several
times all you saw went next morning. I am getting
them right now (white undersleeves as well), but shall not
be clear of them till the end of the week. Suppose we
fix Wednesday of next week definitely say 2 o'clock and
to stay dinner. . . . You shone last night with such
lustre of diplomacy that I must needs sena you the draft
of a letter which I propose writing to Turner for the elicit-
ing of your views thereon. Witn it I send one of his,
most kindly enclosing a cheque for Smetham. You will
see by his letter that he is rather likely to be in town
almost immediately ; and thus, were it possible for you to
read and return my draft (with due inculcations) in time
for me to get it to-morrow evening, I should be glad."
The first week in June the diary records every after-
noon spent painting in Rossetti's studio :
" June 28th. Dorcas finished. Began Angel with bit.
Took to Waterhouse the first window for Eaton.
Wednesday 3rd. To town to see Waterhouse. To
Heaton, Butler's, to see Rahab, Moses, and Gideon glass.
To Moore and Burgess' Minstrels with Cissy in evening a
wretched entertainment."
The entertainment had such a depressing effect that
he records himself as very unwell for two days following ;
though on the Saturday he was so far recovered as to
spend the evening with Rossetti, and to actually return at
1.30 on Sunday morning, an unheard of commencement
of the Sabbath.
June and July were months of depression and ill-health,
EZEKIEL ST. JAMES THE LESS
Two designs for the Duke of Westminster's Chapel
From photographs by the Autotype Fine Art Company, Ltd., by permission
WILLIAM BELL SCOTT 231
though the work was slowly proceeding. William Bell
Scott, staying with Rossetti at Miss Boyd's in Ayrshire,
wrote announcing their arrival, and asking for a photo-
graph of the beautiful design of " Love and Time " :
PBNKILL, GIBVAN, AYESHIBE,
1st July 1878.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, The day before I left London,
Austin Dobson, my friend and brother poet only much
more popular saw the photo of " Time and Love " you
gave me, and was so struck by it, I took upon myself to
beg one from you for him. He will frame it in gold and
write a rondeau or a triolet, or some other conceit about
it. D. G. R. tells me you did the drawing for a friend's
" Golden Wedding," or Silver one ; and if you would have
the goodness to send him the photo, pray write him this
information, which will interest him as he is a domestic
and amiable bloke.
We arrived here after a warm journey on Saturday.
With affectionate regards, Yours very truly,
W. B. SCOTT.
In this month matters with regard to the Manchester
frescoes were so far advanced that Madox Brown wrote :
" It would appear they fancy that we are at work. What-
ever this may mean, I fancy it requires a change of tactics
to meet them. I have begun the ' Baptism of Eadwin,'
therefore, because it comes readily to my hand, having done
the sort of thing before as you declared you would not
choose for yourself. However, this is only one for a begin-
ning. I have got some medium and colours from Rober-
son's,as they supply it to Leighton for his South Kensington
Spirit frescoes. I am going to try it on my square of
plaster, and there will be enough for you, I should think,
if you wish to experimentalise upon yours."
August was spent in work at St. Matthew. Shields'
days were spent between his studio and the glassworks,
232 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
varied with occasional days of research at South Kensing-
ton or the British Museum.
Madox Brown writes from Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, a
remarkably cheery letter from a man in bed with the
gout :
August 25th, 1878.
DEAR SHIELDS, Here I have been since Wednesday,
the day after that on which I saw you, held fast in bed by
the gout. I am rather better to-day, and should wish to
be well enough to return home on Wednesday, but
must take what comes grinningly. You know all these
here parts, and I emphatically don't, so I won't write to
you about them ; but I shoula have nevertheless written
to tell you how we were getting on (very jolly we all are),
when yesterday a voluminous packet came stamped Cor-
poration of Manchester. Don't be alarmed ; I have mas-
tered it all, and have answered both Heywood and the
Committee Clerk. The first named with the slightest per-
ception of banter, which I find is the only way to deal with
him. To read his letter which I do not send on to you,
for it would drive you mad one would suppose he wished
us to write out eighty-four lists of all our twelve subjects
over again, plus alternate ones and incidental remarks of
an agreeable nature for the edification of the members of
the Corporation. But he meant nothing; the Clerk's
letter explains all. They only wish in a fit of generosity
to present each of us with an impression of the Corporation
Seal.
Could you, from memory, write out the Cotton Famine
subject again? It is unfortunately locked up in my
bureau at home. Yours as ever,
F. MADOX BROWN.
In this month Rossetti was much perturbed about
some forged reproductions of his pictures, and wrote :
" Burne- Jones sent me to-day one of these heads sold
as mine which a friend of his had bought. Of course it is
a forgery, and I must take some immediate steps about it
A FORGED PHOTOGRAPH
now writing to the papers or something. Must see Watts
on it forthwith."
Shields, having considerable experience in the ways of
dealers and photographers, evidently offered some advice,
for Rossetti writes again :
"I have sent your note on to Watts. He has been
to A , but I do not fully know with what results as
yet. I should think it by no means improbable that
he might like to go again in your company, as you have
some experience of these rascals in a transaction connected
with drawings. ... I really do not see, in spite of any
difficulties, how a public denial of these things as my work
is to be avoided. The mere prices charged for them are
so trivial as to strike at the root of my market, and them-
selves so contemptible as to discredit me completely."
Writing a few days later on the same subject :
" Re A . Watts thought well of the plan of your
accompanying him if necessary, but finally I made up my
mind to write to Athenceum and Times, and had just
despatched a note to the Aihenceum when Mr. Wynd-
ham (who bought the dummy drawing, which I think
you saw here) turned up, and thought it better that he
should make the first move. For this he got me to arm
him with a letter declaring it was not my work, and I
contrived to withdraw the Aihenceum letter pending his
proceedings. All this was on Thursday, and I have not
seen or heard from him again. . . . Many thanks about
writing to Turner.
" Suppose you dine with me on Tuesday, if at your
disposal.
"P.S.Re Butterworth. I would give 20 for the
drawing ; I got 15."
The postscript suggests the curious history of one of
Rossetti's early pictures. Butterworth was the old friend
234 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
whose landscapes Shields used to embellish, in his youthful
days, with figures and cattle ; he was also at one time
Ruskin's assistant.
Early in the fifties Rossetti did a water-colour for
Ruskin one of his beautiful luminous drawings looking
almost like a bit of glowing stained glass, the subject
being the last meeting of Launcelot and Guinevere. The
queen, in the garb of a nun, is kneeling on the sunlit
grass beneath a tree, beside the grim carven effigy of her
Lord, while Launcelot, in crimson tunic, leans over the
stone breast of the figure, yearning for one more guilty
kiss. Ruskin, later on, wrote rather petulantly to Rossetti,
complaining of some alteration in the picture, saying :
" You've scratched the eyes out of my Launcelot, and I've
given it to Butterworth."
Now, after twenty years or more, Shields had evidently
found the picture still in Butterworth's possession, and
told Rossetti, who was anxious to buy it, but did not wish
Butterworth to know who was the would-be purchaser.
On Sept. 4th he writes again to Shields on a postcard ;
" You might tell friend B. that your buyer will go 30 for
that water-colour: that is his tether: no more will be
offered."
Evidently some terms were made ; the drawing again
came into Rossetti's hands, and while he had it Shields
made a very perfect copy, which remained in his possession
until his death. Rossetti soon sold the picture again to
Mr. Graham.
The following letter shows Madox Brown in doubt over
the subjects of what were eventually two of the most in-
teresting of all his grand series of frescoes one represent-
ing Crabtree observing the transit of Venus, the other
John Kay, the inventor of the fly-shuttle, being saved
from the rioters by his wife, who concealed him in a
wool-sheet.
MANCHESTER SUBJECTS 235
"I have been at the Museum Library two or three
days since I have seen you, and should, I think, pretty
well have cleared up for us all doubts worth entertaining
with respect to our subjects. ... I wish to write to
Thompson, but first ought to clear up about Kay and the
wool-sneet. Can you advise me as to this matter ? Kay
seems to have been a sort of friend and hanger-on of Ark-
wright. I doubt if there is any biography of him. There
is still doubt as to Crabtree being a sufficiently important
character. I must consult with you about the matter,
and as to the Danes I can as yet discover no authority
for their taking Manchester, though no doubt they were
fighting all around them and were no doubt there often
enough; but I must consult Malmesbury. So there are
still three doubtful subjects. I have been trying the
square of plaster, and this seems equally a doubtful sub-
ject. 1 must talk the matter over with you when we
meet; meanwhile if you find out anything more about
Kay, pray remember him."
A week later the diary records half a day spent over
the Duke's windows, and half with Brown over the Man-
chester subjects.
In November Shields was working at a design illus-
trating Blake's poem, " Little Lamb, who made thee ? "
two children in a field with a lamb, the elder child being
drawn from his adopted daughter Jessie.
On the 15th Rossetti wrote :
" When you come to-morrow suppose you bring the
' Lamb ' drawing. Bates was here yesterday, an ex-
tremely nice, genial old fellow. He is an ardent Blakeite,
and the drawing is so valuable that I think you might
well dispose of it either to or through him. He is going
to look in late in the afternoon. When you come, let me
suggest your resuming your rightful coat which is still
lying here, its pockets full of prophets. I'd like your
views as to that drapery study."
236 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Bates was the Leeds dealer already referred to in con-
nection with the sale of Smetham's pictures.
Later in the month came several letters from Rossetti
about a poor man whom he was anxious to befriend, asking
Shields' advice as to setting him up in a little shop in
Manchester or elsewhere. He writes :
" Thanks for the letters, they are valuable. No doubt
the view taken is but too true, yet enforced inactivity is
so fearful a thing that I will try to help poor C. to some
use for his limbs and brain, if it be but for a while. He
has tried for over fifty situations as book-keeper and failed,
owing to his age, which must be considerably over my
own. I do not fancy his health is broken, thus if em-
ployment could be found for him, I judge he is equal to
it. He is quite without means, and has a wife.
" What a lark the Whistler case is ! ! I must say he
shone in the box, the fool of an Attorney-General was
nowhere. I am glad to see that Ruskin is not to be hauled
out. I send you a letter from Bates, but I suppose he
wrote to you also about the sale of your drawing. I have
actually got a blue face on the lonides canvas ! I hope
to see you on Wednesday."
The year 1878 closes with continued work at the Eaton
windows, the last entry being :
" Dec. 28th. Model for St. Thomas, sketches for two
lower subjects. To see Holman Hunt, afterwards Rossetti,
he very ill ; back at 2 A.M."
In 1879 the question of the subjects for the Man-
chester work was still absorbing much attention. The
commission was given jointly to Shields and Madox
Brown; each was to be responsible for six of the large
spaces on either side of the Great Hall. Meanwhile the
designs for glass were still proceeding.
" March 3rd. To glassworks all morning ; St. James
successful. Wrote out ideas for Philip and Andrew. Took
MADOX BROWN AT MANCHESTER 237
Cissy to concert in evening; Joachim played, didn't
like it.
" April 17 'th. Began Andrew ; had to alter pose of
legs from the nude study by standing myself for them
and the drapery until tea. Went and bought prints in
Hampstead Road. To Rossetti's.
"April 24th. To Oxford with Rowley by 10 o'clock
train. Saw Jones's lovely windows at Christ Church.
Keble Chapel (Oh, Butterfield !) "
Early in April Madox Brown proceeded to Manchester
and wrote :
TOWN HALL, MANCHESTER.
DEAR SHIELDS, I date to you from this, to us,
memorable place. How I have ever got here seems to
me a puzzle and a dream. I find it very comfortable,
the only fault about my box (for it's like a box at the
opera) being that it is far too comfortable, and I fear not
to be abandoned often enough to see the effect of one's
work, at a distance. At night when I'm all alone, with
an excellent gas-stand, it is perfectly delightful ; and by
daylight I feel charmingly free from household worries.
I have not yet begun on the wall myself because I am
delayed by want of more medium, but I have given the
first coating to one space and rubbed down three others,
all ready to coat when the stuff arrives; and the man
now is fit to be trusted to do the others by himself. The
cartoon seems highly successful with all who have seen
it, and all the masters and servants at the Hall are as
pleasant and attentive as they can be except Mr. ,
who is a Philister and will not let me have a room in the
building. However, his race will be run in another six
months. ... I am so glad to know you have sold one of
your large cartoons here. Remember me to D. G. R.
when you see him, and tell him I would he could see me
at my box at the opera, and how I have arranged it with
bits of string rolled up and stuck on pegs."
The subjects were all by this time practically agreed
upon, with the exception of the last, which seemed to
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
be especially difficult to decide. Shields used to relate
dramatically the scene at a meeting at which one of the
councillors rose and declared that they were all in favour
of the last scene representing " The Opening of the New
Town Hall." Madox Brown whispered furiously to
Shields that this meant that the councillors wanted all
their portraits painted, and was rising with an angry
protest, when Shields pulled his coat-tails and whispered,
" Shut up, Brown, for goodness' sake ; don't you see all
these old fellows will be dead long before we get to the
twelfth cartoon ? " Madox Brown's suggestion was " The
Peterloo Meeting (which led to reform which led to Free
Trade, without which no steam-power could have availed
at Manchester)." But this seems to have been considered
too controversial a subject ; a letter from him, dated
August 30th, 1879, says:
"You will have received a communication from the
Decorative Committee to the effect that they have now
definitely settled on 'The Opening of the Bridgewater
Canal' as their twelfth and last subject. I don't know
what caused their extreme tenacity on this head as far
as I could see it resulted from one of their number, Mr.
Councillor (who rules them by reason of a certain
preponderancy of nose and chin) having seen somewhere
a picture by a local artist representing 'a canal at
Amsterdam,' and having been very much struck by this
performance, and as it would appear not ever having in
nis life before examined any other picture, he wishes to
see something like it on the walls of the Great Hall.
"In confirmation of this theory is the fact that he
once commissioned a local painter to paint some ' shoot-
ing grounds' he owned somewhere, but after paying for
the same loyally, almost broke the said local man's heart
by steadily refusing to look at the work simply for the
reason that he thought he had done enough in ordering
and paying for the same. I perceived it was no use
standing out, and seeing that it must be long before the
DR. ALEXANDER M'LAREN
Canal scene need be begun, I thought it best to let them
have their way after protesting. If it came to the worst
I would do it. T gave the strongest reason in favour
of the subject, for he said that a quarter share in the
same canal had recently fetched 8000 in the market at
Liverpool. This was unanswerable ! . . . The Gambier-
Parry process I still find all that I can approve of. There
are difficulties with the work, however, that one could
not count on such as shadows cast at certain hours by
the projecting piers on either side and sunshine at certain
hours. These of course I manage to counteract in divers
ways, but the result is that time is wasted and the
difficulty of obtaining the desired effect increased."
This letter from Alexander M'Laren acknowledges
photographs of some of the Coodham windows :
MANCHESTER, 3rd April 1879.
MY DEAK FRIEND, Your gift of this morning has
given me the renewal of a great pleasure. I have been
looking at these designs again with fresh admiration and
thankfulness that you have been able to witness in them
so nobly for the Master. I feel their beauty none the
less because I prize them most for their wealth of reverent
thought and profound suggestiveness. ... In power and
harmony, in weighty meaning expressed in fair shape, in
delightful and not too misty symbolism, they seem to me
to surpass all that you have done, so far as I know it.
And one feels that they are not the work of a man who
looks at Christ as an artist, but of a painter, who looks at
him as a Christian. I only wish they were not going to
be buried in a hole in Ayrshire, where nobody will see
them but Presbyterians, who will think them "Rags of
the whore of Babylon," or spinners who will wonder what
they cost. When are you coming down here ? You will
not forget to give us as much of your time as you can
spare from swells who can give commissions. We are
getting gracious sunshine even here at last, and, ungrate-
ful as we are, it makes me restless and longing for Italy
or the New Forest, or anywhere, if only there are larks
and primroses and budding elms.
CHAPTER XV
Mrs. Cowper-Temple Painting in Rossetti's studio Leyland's Botti-
cellis Priscilla and Aquila Christina Rossetti and the fairies
Letters to Mrs. Kingsley Gilchrist's Life of Blake Shields resigns
the Town Hall commission.
IN June 1877 is mentioned Shields' first visit to Lady
Mount-Temple (then Mrs. Cowper-Temple). Introduced
to them by Rossetti, Lord and Lady Mount-Temple were
afterwards among his kindest and most intimate friends ;
they came to his help in one of the most tragic crises of
his life, and they introduced him to Mrs. Russell-Gurney,
who gave him the great task which occupied so many
years of his life, and was only completed a few months
before his death.
"May 23rd. Worked at St. Jude till 1. To Mrs.
Cowper-Temple's to lunch till 4. To Rossetti's back at
2 A.M."
So were the summer months spent, Shields working
at the big designs for the Eaton windows, and doubtless
greatly developing his mastery of colour under Rossetti's
generous help. Mr. Hall Caine records, in his Recollec-
tions of Rossetti, a conversation in which Rossetti told
him : " I paint by a set of unwritten but clearly defined
rules which I could teach to any man as systematically
as you could teach arithmetic ; indeed, recently I sat all
day for that very purpose with Shields, who is not so
great a colourist as he is a draughtsman ; he is a great
draughtsman none better living, unless it is Leighton or
Sir Noel Paton." Not for one day, but for many days
Shields worked in Rossetti's studio, and his rules for each
240
PAINTING WITH ROSSETTI 241
day's painting were all carefully written down as they
fell from his lips, and form the substance of a notebook
illustrated with diagrams and preserved by Shields. Did
space permit it might be included here, but the technical
details would perhaps be out of place.
This is another of Rossetti's undated notes written
about the end of June :
MY DEAR SHIELDS, When you come to-morrow try to
bring some of your work with you if you can. Davies was
here on Friday and brought some astounding incredible
miraculous designs in silhouette (cut out with scissors)
by a youth, a nepnew of Smetham's. They are from
Milton's Allegro and Penseroso. I am writing and asking
if he could possibly bring them again to-morrow, and meet
you, as he wants to know you. The boy is a marvel.
His work is up to Flaxman's very finest, and each design
cut out in five minutes, whatever subject you give
him! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I really judge you ought to make a start and get away
for awhile, though assuredly none would miss you more
than myself. Calais as nearest and new, would I fancy
be a good goal. You would delight in making sketches
on the ramparts. Your affect. D. G. ROSSETTI.
The diary at this time contains many references to ill-
health and weakness which led to a brief holiday this
month.
"June 20th. To Rossetti, beginning oil painting of
Mary Magdalene.
"June 27th. Colour sketches for St. Andrew and
Philip. To Rossetti's painting Magdalene, dinner at 10 P.M.
Home at 2 A.M.
" July 7th. Vine leaves in Sinful Woman. Finished
Simon and Jude. To Mrs. Cowper-Temple's to lunch.
To Grosvenor Gallery.
" July 9th. Left for Petersfield by 5 o'clock train with
Cissy."
Q
242 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Rossetti wrote :
16th July 179.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I was most glad to hear that Mrs.
Shields is already the better for her change, and hope the
improvement will increase. . . .
I regret much that you should have lost Mrs. Cowper-
Temple's visit and she the sight of your late work which
would have really rejoiced her, and into every detail of
which she would have entered with loving attention. She
and Mr. Temple called here the other day and I also missed
them ! The why, you will think, is to seek. The fact is I
was engaged in selling to Ellis a picture (" The Lady of the
Window ") which I afterwards learned they had come to
buy and having given orders to Dunn that no one was
to come in, he even excluded them. I was delighted to
hear that Mr. Temple was right again, his changes are
most fitful and I am glad to hear he does not mean to
stand for the next election. However I think they'll
want something else (probably not for themselves but for
a friend whom I also know) meanwhile the picture is
sold. I had written it down a thing, but I won't because
of the sitter, to whom I owe the best of my art such as
it is. ...
I am sorry to note that you do not mention Mrs.
Stillman's pictures at the Grosvenor ! I fear they may not
be her best. The good kind creature wrote me to-day
with the address of a nice model, " a friend of hers " a
poor lady I judge who wants to earn a little. She is
spoken of as " refined and suggestive " for Dante subjects,
i.e. ladies in such.
The second predella is getting on to the canvas but I
haven't yet put colour to either. The supposed Blake
portraits are to be sent to Palmer. The otner day I saw
Allen the Silhouettist. ... I gave him the advice to get
through the Slade Schools, make his Academy drawings
there, go in for the R.A. Studentship and do the cut and
dried thing altogether. That is the right course with but
one life at disposal, and so many millions of fools to dis-
pose of that.
I sold some books for him to Marks who wants to
charter him, but this I advised him to eschew, also wood-
LEYLAND'S BOTTICELLIS 243
designing altogether, into which he seemed getting drawn
by some advisers i.e. as a hack to some engraver. . . .
I am trying the Leeds Blake man as to a further market
for poor Smetham's works, but no answer yet. He would
at least appreciate them. My Mother and sister are gone
to Seaford. This seems the last scrap of news. Best love
to you and kindest remembrances to your wife. Yours
affec., D. G. ROSSETTI.
P.S. By the bye, here's an extra bit of news. Perhaps
you know Botticelli's four pictures of the story in Boc-
caccio where a cruel lady's ghost is hunted by a bogey
hunter and dogs. These were in Burke's sale some few
years back, but bought in at a high figure of reserve. Lately
they were at Christie's again without reserve, and were
sold, three to a London dealer and the fourth to a Paris
one. Leyland bought the three London ones for 800. He
was then in doubt what to do about the Paris one, till
Ned Jones told him it was the finest of the lot ; where-
upon he sent to Paris and bought it for 900 i.e. a
hundred over the other three in a lump. He then sent
them to be cleaned, which they have been most success-
fully and need little or no retouching on the excellent
renewed surface. The alterations were laughable. The
naked ghost-lady had been draped throughout and her
heart and entrails (as thrown to the dogs in one of the
scenes) obliterated, leaving inexplicable results. This,
however, was all in water-colour and came off quite easily.
However, the oddest is to come. The Paris picture is
pronounced on all hands to be a school work and not a
real Botticelli, though doubtless always forming part of
the series, of which Vasari speaks. Why Jones thought
it the best is a mystery, 'Murray and other good judges are
unanimous about it, and Leyland says it is plainly inferior.
Still he was right in getting the lot. I am doing a head
of him for a wedding present to his eldest daughter, but
have begun two already without quite pleasing myself.
His head is really fine, but there are difficult points in it.
Madox Brown was now beginning to wonder when
Shields was going to commence his share of the Manchester
frescoes, and wrote :
244 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
THE TOWN HALL, MANCHESTER,
July 18th, 1879.
DEAR SHIELDS, Rowley tells me you are gone to
Shottermill. ... I hardly know if this will reach you, but
I have long had it on my mind to write to you on some
important matters connected with the decoration of this
Hall, and this is almost the only opportunity I have had
of doing so for so long, that at all hazards I will now grasp
it come what may of the letter. First let me say I nave
rumours that you are beginning the Wickliffe design, if so
let me congratulate you, and if not, permit me to say that
I think it would be very desirable that you should make
some show in this direction. It is work that must pay
quite as well as your other work, so that whichever you
do it can make no great difference pecuniarily, and from
the numerous questions that are put to me, 1 think it is
not a matter that ought to be procrastinated much longer.
Hitherto I have refrained from writing on this topic from
the fear of worrying you, but now I think it would be
wrong to delay doing so longer. ... I am not quite so
satisfied with the Gambier-Parry process as I was at first.
I find it keeps on drying and getting paler and weaker for
three or four weeks, which makes it difficult to know what
one's work will look like. So that I may possibly do the
next in water-glass the wall being roughened up.
Things here are looking awfully down, but I must now
conclude. I have near done with the Baptism. Best
regards to your wife. Yours, F. MADOX BROWN.
Rossetti writes a day or two later :
July 21rf, 1879.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Write me a line when you can.
How long will your stay be from London ? Can you tell
me whether Mrs. Smetham is at home ? I wrote her some
days back and have received no answer. The occasion
was my sending all Smetham's little pictures here to Mr.
Bates of Leeds (whose letter you saw about Blake) and I
wished to know her lowest views as to prices. . . . He
seems to be that strange creature a dealer who admires
the spiritual only and sells nothing but what he admires !
I must try and know him. . . .
ROSSETTI AND MADOX BROWN 245
Murray has got out some divine photographs, which
you will enjoy greatly. One from J. della Quercia the
fountain figures, but very small he will get me others.
Two Botticellis recovered from whitewash in a scarred
state are nevertheless ravishing.
I hope you are doing well, and Mrs. Shields also, to
whom pray give my best regards. Your description of
your dwelling sounds as if your honeymoon ought to have
discovered it. . . . Yours affectionately,
D. G. ROSSETTI.
P.S. I write from a house servantless and so far blest.
The last of the lot went out to-day, and to-morrow I
expect two new ones promising decency at any rate.
Madox Brown had for some time cherished a special
aversion for an elderly domestic at Rossetti's, which went
so far that he refused to visit the house while she was
there. The news conveyed in Rossetti's postscript must
have been forwarded to him by Shields, for Brown writes
another letter, undated, but evidently a little later than
the last.
" MANCHESTER.
" Ever so many thanks for the magnificent cat you
have sent me; Rowley twigged it on my table, and his
heart seemed to yearn towards it or to itwards, as
Swinburne would put it. For indeed his whole poetical
practice seems to have reduced itself to this particular
form of this particular preposition. It lessens the amount
of his mannerisms. The puss must have been drawn by
one who had some knowledge of his subject. It is a pity
the head is not turned the way 1 want it but the motion
of the ears and tail is most valuable to me, and I find I
have room for the tail in this position. The news you
send me also about the proceedings at D. G. Rossetti's is
almost as glorious as the cat itself it is in fact of another
feline that we speak, and whose expression must now look
very like the one you sent me with tail ominous of fight
and claw lifted to strike. I should have springes set in
all the areas and bells fixed to the windows lest she should
246 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
get back on the premises after the manner of cats. Has
the very old one who used to open the door been served
with a similar notice ? Otherwise, depend on it, the
quarantine will not long keep the plague out ; it will
creep back through the keyhole, and then comes, like
Macbeth, his fit again."
On July 23rd the diary records: "Left Haslemere
7 P.M., home 9.30. Thank God for all mercies.
" August 15th. Study for ' Priscilla and Aquila.' "
For details as to accessories for this design he sought
the assistance of Holman Hunt, who wrote an interesting
letter, giving details and diagrams of the construction
of goat's-hair tents the black tents of Kedar which,
however, he did not think Priscilla and Aquila would
have used, as they did not dwell in the desert. The goat
hair is woven into a narrow black or brown cloth, about as
thick as "stiffish towelling," and these are sewn together,
the tents being ranged in a semicircle the letter ends with
the friendly offer of the loan of a goat's-hair cloak. Shields
spent the remaining months of this year in steady work at
the Eaton windows and in painting with Rossetti. The
diary continues much the same record.
" Dec. 2Qth. To Rossetti's Broke glass and tore picture
of Mrs. Morris through recklessness. Left very miserable
to see Scott about it. Rossetti sent Miss Asher up with
comforting note and invitation to return and dine."
This is evidently the "comforting note":
DEAR SHIELDS, It can't be helped, but it can be
mended I believe. I don't mean to say that I hadn't
rather almost anything else had happened. I'll hope to
see you to dinner and we'll consult about the mending.
The worst of it is, the delay of this Xmas season if one
sends it anywhere, and I shall be needing to begin the
picture. Your affectionate D. G. R.
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI 247
The year 1880 finds Shields engaged in much the same
routine, with brief entries in the diary recording each day's
work with rather monotonous brevity, varied by domestic
details of scant interest.
" Jan. nth. Dreadfully foggy, ' Angel of Tares ' till 2.
To Holman Hunt's to see his picture of 'Flight into
Egypt.' To Rossetti's. Befogged there all night.
" Feb. 2,6th. Tracing angels. To glassworks till 6.
To Holman Hunt's meeting on Deceased Wife's Sisters.
William Rossetti, Stephens, William Morris, Burne-Jones,
and Richmond there. Excited meeting."
This was a meeting organised by extreme Ritualists at
St. James's Hall " To oppose legislation of marriage with
a wife's sister." (They leave out " deceased," Holman
Hunt pointed out in sending the notice to Shields asking
him to come and help to prevent the perpetuation of this
law as " opposed to Bible edicts and to all common sense
and righteousness," by opposing the resolution at the
meeting.)
" March Sth. East windows all morning. To glass-
works. Waterhouse pleased with the windows now done.
To Mrs. Evans Bell's party, late in getting back.
" March IQth. Study from Cissy for ' Eve in Paradise.'
Reading and studying for East windows. To see Christina
Rossetti."
This undated letter from Christina Rossetti was probably
written about this time :
30 TOREINGTON SQUARE, W.C.
DEAR MR. SHIELDS, I must beg your patience and
favourable construction for this letter, for it may appear
to you that I ought not to write it. Even if so, you are
one to make allowance for a conscientious mistake. I
think last night in admiring Miss Thomson's work I
might better have said less, unless I could have managed
to convey more. I do admire the grace and beauty of
the designs, but I do not think that to call a figure a
248 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" fairy " settles the right and wrong of such figures. You
(as far as I know) are no dealer in such wares. Therefore
I think it possible you will agree with me in thinking that
all do well to forbear such delineations, and that most of
all women artists should lead the way. I ought not now
I fear to be having to say awkwardly what should not have
been so totally ignored in my tone last night, but last
night's blunder must not make me the slave of false
shame this morning.
Do not answer this : I am not afraid to have offended
you.
My mental eye is fixed on fetching the dear photo-
graph I hope possibly to do so to-morrow and then
quickly to send it to you. But if a longer time elapses, do
not think I am forgetful : sometimes I am hindered. Very
sincerely yours, CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
If the " dear photograph " was not fetched on the
following day, Shields must certainly have replied to this
letter and it is interesting to conjecture what his reply
may have been ! Of all men he had the most holy horror
of anything approaching what one might call " nudity for
the nude's sake " in art, and in Manchester in 1870 had
collected signatures for a public protest against the
Heywood prize being awarded to what he considered an
improper picture. The drawings with which he had
innocently thought to delight Miss Rossetti were the
exquisite child fairies which Miss Thomson had designed
for Christmas cards and other decorative uses. It is
difficult to realise that even in Victorian days a poetess
could be shocked at those fairy dream children with their
dainty tinted butterfly wings and sweet baby faces. One
would imagine that they were just the children to delight
a maiden aunt, so good, so pretty, and so innocent one is
before me as I write, sitting on a honeysuckle, talking to
a bumble-bee almost as large as itself, and like the bee
attired only in gauzy wings.
SHIELDS ON DRAPERY 249
In connection with this, it is rather interesting to read
Shields' advice on the subject of drapery in a letter written
some time before, which has been kindly sent to me by
Miss Thomson.
" What shall you do other than sea fairies ? I don't
know doing them so beautifully, what you might achieve
in other subjects, but hitherto I look on most of your
work as the playful sport of a kitten with a worsted ball.
It knows not its power. It shall toss mice soon, yea rats
mayhap with teeth, and count that play then. . . . And
to find subjects that you feel a heat about, or that will get
up a heat in you when found, you must seek them, in
books, in your memories, in your hopes and fears, in the
streets and the house, seek them diligently, and you shall
find them, subjects that will^ you like a good glove and
you will know as soon as you try them on, which they are.
When the pencil speaks out of the abundance of the heart,
it can be eloquent like the tongue out of the same full
well. Hence I am happier and gaming more skill and
power in the Bible designs than ever in my life. I grow
more in a week than in years of the dull grind of uncon-
genial work which I have so long endured.
"Drapery! This strikes me you will have to meet
that difficulty some day when people who live above
water will have to be dealt with. Its conception by diffe-
rent artists and natures is very expressive. Grave or gay,
majestic or playful, calm or tempestuous, its lines and
masses express all moods; and so to design your own
draperies that they shall support and sympathise with the
mood of the being they clothe is a problem which exer-
cises the artist's tailoring talents to their utmost stretch,
for no rules guide him here, no measurements, no ideal
principle of form deduced from the antique or fine nature.
And as soon as you undertake any other, or almost any
other, subjects but water babies, you will find yourself
strangled by calicoes and flannels, or burnt by them like
the shirt of Nessus, till you wish the whole race had
remained in Adamite innocence, if only for the cost to
your brains of dressing them with propriety.
250 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" When do you think of coming up, or down, to London ?
I hope it may nap when my nose is eased from the grind-
stone a wee bit, and I can get to some of the grand places
with you. You can compare school with school, method
with method here ; can resolve what is food and what is
poison ; can discern between good and evil in quite a new
way when near and among tne finest, though I miss my
dear old friends so, so mucn. . . ."
On March 15th the diary continues : " Very unwell.
Wrote to Mrs. Kingsley. To glassworks from 2 till 8.30."
Miss Kingsley has kindly forwarded the letter referred
to:
7 LODQB PLACE, N.W.,
15.3.1880.
DEAR MRS. KINGSLEY, For some time past I have
been engaged on a work of large dimensions, a series of
designs illustrative of St. Ambrose's grand anthem, the
Te Deum, for the mosaic and stained glass decorations
of Eaton Hall Chapel, Chester (the Duke of Westminster's).
Since I came to London to settle, I am entirely without
any cultivated Christian acquaintance or friendship upon
whom I might call for counsel in some of the greater
difficulties of invention, as, say, the character of St. Paul ;
how best to present that wondrous soul, and with what
accessories to set forth his work as one of the " glorious
company of the Apostles." It is true, I have formed
views of my own concerning the best method of designing
some of these difficult figures, casting aside all traditional
treatment ; but fain would I have the help of some earnest
Christian, learned, and with a love of art enough to make
him sympathise with my aim.
Once I could have come to Mr. Kingsley with certainty
of finding in him all I seek ; but now I am without anyone.
Were dear Howson in London, and had leisure for half an
hour, he is, I surmise from his noble Life of St. Paul, such
a counsellor as I need ; but I could ill express in writing
the conflicting views which divide my mind. The Rev.
Llewellyn Davies is near to me ; and sometimes, as he has
MRS. KINGSLEY 251
preached, I have thought he might afford me help if I
knew him.
I know that what your friendship can devise to help
me in this matter I may rely on ; but time presses for the
completion of the work, and what I do must be done
quickly. It is so long since through any avenue I have
heard of your health, which was most feeble last year, and
cannot have improved beneath the strain of the past ter-
rible winter, that I feel much doubt whether I ought to
trouble you ; though I shall be grateful if you are able to
give me such an introduction as I seek, without strain
either upon /your own strength or the kindness of your
friends. Believe me, dear Mrs. Kingsley, most truly
yours, FREDERIC J. SHIELDS.
The request evidently met with the kindest response,
and he wrote to Mrs. Kingsley a week later :
" The reception which your introduction secured me
from Mr. Llewellyn Davies evidenced how kindly you
must have written ; and you will be glad to know that on
the point which caused me most to halt, he threw out a
suggestion which was of the most essential service. He is
fond of Art, and was full of sympathy and desire to help
me in future hesitations or ignorance. So that I scarce
feel warranted in using the privilege which your generous
desire to make me ricn in sources of counsel has procured
from Canon Farrar ; but he has been of late so steeped in
the consideration of the life and work of the great Apostle
of the Gentiles that out of such special store he may
enrich me more than ever, I expect, and give me cause to
be still more grateful for your kindness. I suppose there
is scarcely a week that I do not feel how guided and
strengthened I should have been by Mr. Kingsley's spirit."
At various intervals the little garden at Lodge Place
was tenanted by a lamb, to be replaced by another when
in the course of time it grew to large and unbeautiful
dimensions.
252 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
" April 12th. All morning at sketches of lamb. After-
noon at Blake notes for Gilchrist."
Rossetti wrote about this date :
" To-morrow will suit me, and I advise you to go in
for a day's work here after your success last time. I shall
be very glad to see the Blake notes, and have a rich treat
for you in the way of cheap woodcuts eleven volumes
thrillingly embellisned by Sam Williams, the earliest of
high-spiced art-dramatists. I shall be glad to see you
again and talk the Manchester matter over. I do not
think the answer at all a matter of course, as Brown and
others would doubtless view it. It must be considered in
relation to your special state of health, &c., and it is by
no means easy to settle. I trust you will not be drawn
into taking any steps hastily."
Shields had probably made up his mind by this time
that Madox Brown should be left to complete the whole
series of frescoes at Manchester. Madox Brown had
written months before under the impression that the
Wickliffe cartoon was taking shape in Shields' studio ; but
if Shields had not always intended to let Brown do the
whole series, he certainly very soon made up his mind
that he himself would have nothing to do with them, for
he early realised that the artist who had made so magnifi-
cent a beginning ought to be allowed to complete the
whole. Neither the persuasion of his friends nor the
threat of a lawsuit from the Corporation could shake his
resolution not to move in the matter. And as no power
could compel him to evolve a series of designs against his
will, he eventually had the satisfaction of seeing his share
of the commission handed over to his friend.
CHAPTER XVI
Notes on Blake's designs Article in the Manchester Quarterly Drawing
of Blake's room Kossetti's sonnet Aberdeen Sir Noel Paton
Eossetti's illness His strange idea Shields visits the theatre
Letter from Christina Rossetti The scapegoat At Birchington
Kossetti's death.
EARLY in April 1880, Rossetti wrote :
" You will be glad to hear that Bates of Leeds is
delighted with Smetham's pictures and speaks confidently
of his chances with them. I've a letter from Mrs. Gil-
christ greatly rejoicing on the beauty of your notes on
Young.
" Watts is back in town for the morning and is asleep
on the sofa as I write ! He is delighted at the prospect
of getting his drawing.
" My servants are evidently excellent ones the little
housemaid of 16 most apt and very nice looking. I only
hope they'll stay."
The " notes on Young " were the remarkable descriptive
notes on Blake's designs for Young's Night Thoughts
which appear in the second edition of Gilchrist's Life of
Slake. Several entries in the diary refer to this.
" March 24:th. At Mr. Bain's, writing notes on Blake
drawings all afternoon until 7."
In an article in the Manchester Quarterly (April 1910)
Shields relates how an unexpected treasure trove of
Blake's designs was brought to light. A sale catalogue
from Yorkshire advertised some large volumes contain-
ing five hundred and thirty designs to Young's Night
253
254 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Thoughts, by William Blake. The announcement seemed
incredible, but one of the partners of Messrs. Bain, the
booksellers in the Haymarket, travelled to the sale, and
secured the books, which had been in the possession of
the family of Richard Evans, the publisher of the incom-
plete issue of the engraved designs to the earlier books of
Young's poem. Doubt was thrown upon the authenticity
of the designs when they reached the Haymarket, by
critics, " even," says Shields, " as Payne Knight scouted
the fact that the Elgin Marbles were the very crown of
the art of Phidias."
He goes on to say that at this juncture Mrs. Gilchrist,
then about to publish a second edition of her husband's
work, asked him to call and inspect the newly unearthed
volumes.
Shields was overjoyed at the richness of the discovery,
actually five hundred and thirty coloured designs. He
wrote :
" At the beginning of each volume there is a frontis-
piece entirely occupied by design, unbroken by text ;
and each 'Night' has to its pages of title and preface
appropriate suggestive inventions. The stupendous task
that confronted Blake when he entered on this commis-
sion, and its triumphal completion, staggers mind and
eye as the pages are turned, revealing wonder and glory
inconceivable. In the very fervency of enthusiasm I
described the volumes to Rossetti, who suggested that
some notice of so important an accession to Blake's
known works should be added to the second edition of
the Life of William Blake, then under preparation by Mrs.
Gilchrist. Messrs. Bain offered me every facility, placing
the books in an upper room at my service. There I
spent some glad days in rapt communion with the sublime
imagery that glowed from the amazing glory of the
designs. There I wrote the descriptive notes which
appear on page 289 of vol. ii. of the new edition. More-
over, all that I could freely give to increase the interest
WILLIAM BLAKE'S DESIGNS 255
of the new edition was done with joy. In the manuscript
book from which Rossetti collated some of the poems
of Blake there was a fanciful decorative drawing of Oberon
and Titania lying asleep in the heart of a poppy. Rossetti
suggested that I might adapt this for the cover, which
I did. Also, I reverently re-drew the profile of Blake by
his own hand, which had been indifferently engraved on
wood in the first edition, together with a profile of
Catherine Blake, and these were produced well in photo"
intaglio, as well as a plan of the room at Fountain Court,
Strand. Alas, when I would have renewed acquaintance
with the shrine I found the whole court demolished in
1901, swept away by Strand improvements."
The assistance given by Shields in the production of
these volumes is described in a letter from Rossetti to
Madox Brown which appears in his Life by Mr. Hueffer.
That letter is undated, but must have been written in
1880, and contains the following passages : t
" The new Blake volumes are truly splendid. Shields
has made the most wonderful cover from a design of
Blake's, and has written a long paper on Young's Night
Thoughts series, which reads as if he had been writing all
his life. He has also drawn a most interesting plate of
Blake and his wife from Blake's Sketches, and a separate
one of Mrs. Blake from another sketch of Blake's. In
fact he has half-made the book."
One evening early in May, Shields took a drawing \
which he had just made, to show Rossetti. A monochrome ^
drawing of William Blake's room, showing the window
overlooking the river, the cupboards, and the scanty
furnishing unpromising enough, as one might think, for
the subject of a picture, but over the low bed can be
dimly seen a vision of hovering angels. Though it was
late when Shields left Rossetti that night, he received
early next morning the perfect sonnet which must have
256 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
been penned in the small hours. The revised copy
referred to in the following note, sent a few days later
in answer to Shields' delighted acknowledgment, differs
only in a few words from the original.
FRIDAY.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Thanks for your loving words on
the sonnet ; and thanks most of all, for the chance of
writing it. I subjoin a revised copy.
I write this line because I expect Mrs. Gilchrist and
her son about 5 to-morrow, and I thought I should tell
you so. But I daresay you won't think this forbids work.
Hoping to see you, Your ever affec. D. G. R.
WILLIAM BLAKE
(To Frederic Shields, on hit Sketch of Blake's Workroom and
Death-room, 3 Fountain Court, Strand.)
This is the place Even here the dauntless soul,
The unflinching hand, wrought on ; till in that nook,
As on that very bed, his life partook
New birth and passed. Yon river's distant shoal
Whereto the close-built coiling lanes unroll,
Faced his work window, whence his eyes would stare
Thought-wandering, unto nought that met them there,
But to the unfettered irreversible goal.
This cupboard, Holy of Holies, held the cloud
Of his soul writ and limned ; this other one
His true wife's charge, full oft to their abode
Yielded for daily bread the martyr's stone,
Ere yet their food might be that Bread alone
The words now home speech in the mouth of God.
L
D. G. ROSSETTL
20th May 1880.
ROSSETTI'S SONNET 257
In the original the fifth line runs :
" Beyond the steep wynd's teeming gully hole,"
and the last :
" The words now home-heard from the mouth of God."
A little later Rossetti wrote again :
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I was very sorry to hear of Mrs.
Shields being unwell on Friday. I hope she is better
now, and that I shall not fail to see you on Tuesday. I
have done the Mike Holy Family sonnet and think it
is quite good. I want much to look with you at the
design of the archers. I am sending the Blake sonnet
to the Athenceum with the inscription to you. Your
affect. D. G. R.
In the article in the Manchester Quarterly Shields
says :
" In connection with Blake's illustrations to the
Night Thoughts, I asked Rossetti what was his estimate
of Young; and he, pre-eminently a poet of the super-
natural, replied : ' Young was the greatest poet of his
century.' That Blake caught fire from the fervent heat
of the Night Thoughts, that blazed into many of his sub-
limest designs, is brilliantly evidenced. The volumes were
offered to the British Museum print-room and declined.
They went finally to America, to England's impoverisa-
tion. The unbiassed, confident verdict of the critics, un-*\
trained though they may be by experimental study to
discern the character of unaltering, unfaltering execution
through which Blake infallibly manifests his mighty
visionary spirit, is, however, that this spirit is specially in
evidence in these books. No hesitation weakens the pre-
sentment ; as Blake himself puts it, ' execution is the
chariot of genius ; grandeur of ideas is founded on pre-
cision of ideas ; ' for, as I have described, the designs a
drawn on both sides of the paper, right at once, immortally
right. Blake's early training in Basire's shop with the
B
258 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
graver on copper or steel, whereon every line must be
governed by the calmest deliberation, had educated both
eye and hand until, when he exchanged the burin for the
pencil, pen, or brush, the forms sought were swiftly struck
with all the grace and strength consequent upon a clearly
conceived aim."
Hogarth, in like manner, learnt to draw first when ap-
prenticed to a " silverplate engraver " in Leicester Fields ;
is it not also probable that, in the case of Shields himself,
his early training in lithography and wood-engraving may
have done much to develop the power and decision of
draughtsmanship which made Rossetti compare his draw-
ing to that of Diirer ?
An undated letter of Rossetti's relates to a sale of casts
at which Shields had offered to make purchases for him.
" I forget when you told me Brucciani's sale was, but
I don't think I can well go a fiver. What I should prin-
cipally wish for would be useful hands, feet, &c. anything
really likely to serve in painting, or anything very special
in art, and not too big to find a place. I fancy Mike's
figures are better seen in the photos than at the top of a
book-case. If there were any portraits say Keats' of
special interest and cheap, I'd have one.
" I worked in the sea bird with immense effect. I shall
be doubly glad of a double visit on Wednesday. I have
done one of the predella designs, and should like to have
your views as to the drawing and proportions, &c., before
painting it.
" P.S. Thanks about Brucciani. It's a fact a fiver
was once a stiver. But in these times it's a keep-im-
aliver."
The diary is blank now until June 8th, when it
records :
"Left three cartoons with Heaton & Butler St.
Matthias, Jailer and Priscilla, and Aquila."
" June Wth. Left London for Aberdeen by steam."
ABERDEEN 259
Why Aberdeen was chosen is not quite clear, but evi-
dently the journey was an exceedingly uncomfortable one,
as shown by Rossetti's letter which follows. It enclosed
an introduction to Sir Noel Paton, in whom Shields found
a man after his own heart, and an artist for whose work
he had always a supreme admiration. They afterwards
corresponded regularly until Sir Noel Paton's death.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, Alas ! Much disaster has been
incurred, but it is my most serious opinion that the worst
by far is to come if you persist in coming home by the
Aberdeen route. Such result of sleeplessness and suffering
as you describe is enough to do away the good which, in
spite of all, the change must otherwise effect, and I should
anticipate serious illness for you on your return if you
come via Aberdeen. I do not want to make you over
anxious, but I feel that a strong expression of my con-
viction is necessary to deter you.
I hope you will be deterred. After all, a small money
loss is the worst on one side on the other, a likelihood
of far greater evil.
I enclose a note for Noel Paton. The appreciative
stationer is gratifying and surely exceptional, even among
the much-reading Scotch nation. I think I told you that
a thing called The Pen had descanted flatteringly on me,
as I heard. I have since seen it, and it is very good (I
know not by whom at all) but I regret to find that I
have killed off The Pen, as its writing days ceased with
that number. I took the head right out of my picture
and have put it in again, more to my liking, I feel sure,
when glazed and done. I have not yet got on any fresh
work, except that I am recommencing that figure of Bea-
trice (walking through street) on another canvas. I spoilt
it by glazing too soon, and must pay the penalty. Kind
regards to Mrs. Shields. Ever yours affectionately,
D. G. ROSSETTI.
Shields having taken return tickets to Aberdeen, felt
bound to return by the same route, however uncomfort-
260 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
able he had found it. Rossetti's next letter dissuaded
him from this unnecessary martyrdom.
" I had much better send you 5 ; if any surplus, you
can return it when I see you, but you really must not
return by Hell's Aberdeen. I fancy you must get good if
no more Aberdeen, but only harm with that.
" I can't conceive this election of G. R. Brown. What
can he possibly know ?
" I certainly didn't see what The Pen meant about
the ' Last Confession,' but am always rather glad, if not
all praise, so long as no spite. Leyland has sold Brown's
' Don Juan ' for 500 100 more than he gave to
Brookes the dealer, in part exchange for a Memling for
which he paid 500 cash besides. I don't know how it
will please Brown. Howell was the go-between, and told
Brookes that his market was Manchester ; so there it will
doubtless be hawked. As I told you, I am not hard up
just now.
" I'll hope to hear better news of you both next time."
Shields and his wife arrived at Edinburgh on July
13th. Madox Brown wrote from Manchester on the 22nd,
apparently not aware of their expedition to Scotland.
" Like you, I only seem to write to such as I do not
entirely care for. The harpies which befoul life's feast,
and make it scant and troubled through the penny post,
are those who are too dangerous to leave unanswered
those who forgive are easily put off. The weather has
been rather warm the first few days of it we have had
here this summer, but rain and thunder all day. I should
not be surprised at another bad harvest. You may be
surprised at my noticing this at present, but the state of
the country is so bound up with the harvest, and the state
of art in tne country so bound up with the state of the
country, that one cannot help thinking of it. Things are
much complained of in Manchester by all except friend
Rowley, who remains always cheery despite of head or
liver, and makes his little excursions -his ' goes ' and
EATON HALL WINDOWS 261
' little goes,' and ' Jacobs ' and building societies, as
though all were prospering preparatory to his August
trip to Scotland or Portugal. He is quite right, I am
sure what would be the worth of his working himself to
death ? and he manages to do all the business required of
him, in the intervals between these expeditions. . . .
"... Tell Gabriel, with my love, that Turner's father
is dead. As I believe his fortunes were to turn upon this
event, I suppose he is in luck again ! I hope so.
" At Eaton Hall I saw your windows made up for the
first time, of course. I was exceedingly pleased, and I
may say surprised at them. None of the subtleties of
detail or expression are thrown away, but, on the contrary,
these works seem to show that stained glass is particularly
suited for showing up these qualities the reverse of
Gabriel's maxim, ' Anything will do for stained glass.'
" These windows of yours seem quite original in treat-
ment, and if Heaton & Butler's rendering of your colour
is not always quite successful, at least you have got them
to execute works that for drawing and expression are
unrivalled, and they look at the same time thoroughly
decorative in design. The brassy yellow of some of the
hair they ought to be bullied for, though !
" People used to ask me when you meant to favour
us with a visit to Manchester ; of late, however, they have
left off. Sir Coutts and his wonderful conclusion, that
the four remaining rooms ought to be dedicated to the
four English Great Poets (this would include Swinburne)
shows that new ideas have already superseded the ones
we tried to inculcate. I care not enough and more is
for me what I am about."
On July 31st Shields and his wife left Edinburgh for
Manchester. In a hurried note Rossetti says :
" I write no longer to Edinburgh, as I suppose it is
probably too late to do so. Shall be very glad if you
can pay me a visit on Monday at usual time and let me
hear all about your doings. I am glad you liked Noel
Paton. I have pretty near finished the Sycamore picture
262 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the head at last I think to my satisfaction a honey-
suckle in hand.
" I expect the frame in just a week, when of course I
shall add work and tone. ... I heard an extremely good
account of Brown's progress from young Caine of Liver-
pool, who is going to notice it in the Liverpool press."
Young Caine refers of course to Mr. Hall Caine, who
was soon to be an inmate of Rossetti's house.
A week spent at Manchester in seeing various old
friends, and visiting Chester to see the Eaton glass.
"September 3rd. Took Cissy to Rossetti's to study
head for Magdalen from her and got it much better.
"September 14th. Went early to Rossetti's, painted at
hair of Magdalen and sky. Had to rub rosy sky out
wouldn't do. Stayed all night as rain severe.
" September 1 5th. Up at 8. Got to work at sky, tried
most part of day; rubbed it out twice, but left it success-
ful at last. Rossetti talked much of his early life. Home
11.30 P.M.
" September 22nd. All day at Rossetti's. Slept there.
Still painting sky."
Rossetti sent numerous undated notes about this time,
as:
" I don't know if you mean to paint here to-morrow,
but should be glad if you would, as I think of getting on
with that battlement work, and find it a bore when alone.
When you come, could you bring any photograph or
sketch of ivy growing on a wall, I want it for the distant
rampart of La Pia, if you happen to have such. I much
wanted to talk to you the other evening as to that back-
ground, but could not tackle it with Scott there. Thus I
trust not to miss seeing you to-morrow."
" October 22nd. To Rossetti's to paint the Lazarus
began it in blue."
LAZARUS (1880)
PORTRAITS OF CHATTERTON 263
This picture was painted almost entirely in Rossetti's
studio, and according to his methods, the flesh laid in
with ultramarine on a warm reddish-brown ground. It
was purchased by Mrs. Russell-Gurney, and was eventu-
ally placed in the Chapel of the Ascension. It now hangs
in the Ante Chapel.
Rossetti and Shields were both interested at this time
in some doubtfully authenticated portraits of Chatterton
which had been brought to their notice. Rossetti wrote :
" The Salford portrait looks evidently older than the
other, which is a life-sized oil head belonging to Sir Henry
Taylor, and seeming really about twelve or thirteen. It
has been engraved. I cannot see my way to believe in
either, though it is curious that both do seem markedly
to represent the same person, as does a third rough
engraving in different pose of head which I have seen.
My conceivable theory about the Chatterton portraits is
this. He did know a miniature painter named Alcock
at Bristol, and has written a laudatory poem on him.
The striking resemblance between the two portraits and
the rough proof I named, suggests conjecture. Had
Alcock painted Chatterton in his lifetime it would assur-
edly be on record with so many more facts we know, his
reputation having been rapid after his death. But it is
possible that Alcock may have been asked to make some
posthumous reminiscence of Chatterton from which these
portraits derive. But where then is the reminiscent por-
trait, which would probably be a miniature ? Of course
the Salford portrait is a good deal older than twelve. I
should be glad if you can bring sketch of fig-tree when
you come to-morrow, also of your aid in getting down a
branch to paint from. I have been three nights alone,
and shall be glad to see you."
The year 1880 closed without further incident, the
immense thought and care bestowed on the designs for
the Duke of Westminster's windows made the remunera-
tion very inadequate, and some increase of pay was
264 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
eventually agreed upon, so that it might be possible for
the artist to continue the work with comparative peace
of mind with regard to his worldly affairs.
"January 7th. Rose late. Gabriel Romano sat for
St. John. To glassworks to take cartoons. To Rossetti's.
A serious talk with him. Lord give me faith and courage
for more.
"January llth. Struggling all day with the drapery
of St. John on the lay figure. To Rossetti's. He very
depressed. Showed me background of his Beatrice put
in."
Rossetti now began working again at his long aban-
doned picture of " Found." He wrote : " I have really
resolved to take up that Calf picture and want to consult
with you ; my sincere thanks to Mrs. Shields for her kind
offer about the smock frock."
The weather in this month was very severe. Rossetti
writes a little later :
" To-night is fearful indeed. I merely write to say
that if possible on Friday you might do me an essential
service by helping to set the lay figure with the leggings
you lent me a matter at which I am always helpless.
This new fall of snow looks like a menace of a most
serious kind. I feel that absolute solitude is one likely
result to myself."
The diary records :
" January 26th. St. John finished in seventeen days
of bitter cold and suffering from chilblains. To Rossetti,
put gaiters on lay figure for him.
"February 1st. To Oxford with Butler to see New
College glass and Jones window. Back at 6. With Cissy
to see Christina Rossetti.
" February 2nd. To see The Colonel for D. G. R."
This was a terrible sacrifice to friendship, for Shields
SHIELDS AT THE THEATRE 265
loathed the theatre, and nothing but his devotion to
Rossetti would have induced him to witness an absurd
farce which must have made him feel that at any rate he
ought to shudder at what he would have considered its
depraved frivolity. Rossetti, possessed with the idea that
his enemies were caricaturing him on the stage, would
trust no one but Shields to give him a true account of
the performance. Oddly enough the diary records no ill
effects from witnessing The Colonel, though as a rule
such an entertainment as the German Reeds or the Moore
and Burgess Minstrels is held accountable for inevitable
illness on the following day. Perhaps the relief at being
able to assure Rossetti that he was not the subject of the
play accounts for the untroubled record following.
" February 3rd. Evans helped me with lead lines of
east window ; designed olive leaf background for St. Peter.
To Rossetti; stayed all night after setting lay woman
figure for ' Found.'
" February IQth. Painted apple blossom for gift to
Cissy. Finished all matter belonging to the four sub-
jects of East windows. To Rossetti's with Cissy about
dress."
One of Rossetti's notes says :
" I may probably be sending for the mantle to-morrow
evening. I want your views on that drawing, which I think
is doctored now. You said Mrs. Shields was kind enough
to express a wish to hear the ' White Ship.' Would she
five me the pleasure of dining here with you, after which
would produce the ballad ? My gratitude to her has
been much aroused in painting the smock frock, the
sleeve of which I think I have done all right by her
help."
" February 15th. To Rossetti's with Cissy to alter
mantilla for him. Stayed all night."
266 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
A day or two later Rossetti wrote in high spirits :
" Leyland was here to-day, and seems likely to buy the
' Blastea Damdozel ! ' I want your views as to the present
state of the big picture. I am sorry to say that William
is laid up with sore throat. Two sonnets a day and inex-
orable politics must be the result. I hope to see you on
Tuesday Friday I have proposed to Ned Jones."
March and April record much the same round of work
at the windows, varied with long days and evenings with
Rossetti and afternoons at the Museum for study. Days
of work selected here and there record :
" April 2oth. To Zoo for goat ; got a dead kid there,
and erased the lamb from Abel and put it in, which gave
much hard trouble."
" July 2Qth. To glassworks to correct John the
Baptist light. Tried coloured arrangement for Martyrs.
Mrs. Evans Bell sat for head of Stephen for me, 4 to 6.
Dined at Brown's. Watts there. Saw Brown's designs
for Flemish weavers and Crabtree."
" August 8th. Angel with crown and cross. To British
Museum for Martyr research. To Rossetti's ; Caine estab-
lished there."
A card from Madox Brown, dated Fitzroy Square,
August 9th, says :
" I believe I have got rid of this place, and shall
accept your kind offer of storage room in your house.
Will it be all right if I send things to-morrow and day
after ? In most frightful confusion and muddle ; we have
got a little house in Manchester."
" August IQth. Brown's things came. To see Brown
at Fitzroy Square ; all dismantled a sad sight.
" August 15th. To Hampton Court by river with wife
on our marriage day. Four hours' voyage; very cold.
THE GUARDIAN ANGEL
ARMY OF MARTYRS' DESIGN 267
Back by rail. To Real Niggers at Her Majesty's Theatre.
Vile vulgarity and noise ; bestial show."
As a usual consequence the next day's diary records :
" 16th. Very ill in head. Did a little at Lazarus (oil).
Turkish bath in evening.
"11th. Weak but struggling. Martyrs' design. Major
Evans Bell called. To Rossetti's ; an evening wasted in
Joe Miller'isms, of which he is too fond."
The rest of the month is spent over the two designs of
Martyrs, which necessitated much research at the British
Museum, and about which lie consulted Christina Rossetti,
who wrote the letter as usual undated :
" I am proud to offer such points as occur to me in
answer to your invitation ; however useless, they show
my sympathy in your noble work.
"As to the 'noble Army of Martyrs,' I see you admit
many (so to say) from the east and from the west ; may
we all meet in the heavenly Church ; but /, of course,
should draw my illustrations for the present from the
visible Church on earth. I only make this remark to clear
my conscience, not to seem impertinent, and even less to
seem indifferent to examples to which one's heart (if one
has a heart) responds. I shall feel you treat me as a
friend if you spare yourself any trouble in answering.
Thank you for the Museum book title."
To this letter Miss Rossetti appends a long extract
from Personal Names in the Bible, by the Rev. W. F.
Wilkinson.
In this month are recorded frequent visits to Cheyne
Walk, for Rossetti's health was causing much anxiety,
and his condition altogether was one which Shields, ner-
vous and sensitive as ever, could not contemplate without
grief and foreboding.
" September 16th. Finished ' Female Martyrs.' To
Rossetti, just about to leave for the Lakes.
268 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
"September 17th. To see Waterhouse. Gilchrist
brought Mr. H. Scudder of Boston to see cartoons."
Mr. Horace Scudder was so impressed with the car-
toons that he journeyed at once to Chester to see Eaton
HaU Chapel.
The result was a very thoughtful and appreciative
article entitled " An English Interpreter," which appeared
in the Atlantic Monthly for October 1882.
Mr. Scudder says, " It is in the interpretative function
of art that Mr. Shields has shown his great power ; and
the interpretation is not of a historical tradition nor of an
individual fancy, but of a Catholic and Comprehensive
conception of spiritual life."
And this is true enough, if by spiritual life is under-
stood spiritual life as represented by the literal interpre-
tation of the Bible, enriched with all the symbolism and
allegory that one whose whole life was devoted to devoutly
" searching the Scriptures " could discover or invent.
Rossetti, with Mr. Hall Caine at Keswick, wrote in
September 1881 :
FISHER PLACE, FISHER GHYLL, VALE OF ST. JOHN,
NEAR KESWICK.
MY DEAR SHIELDS, I think, on the whole, I had better
send you on the enclosed, true as it is that such hopes are
apt to become disillusions. But Sir Noel Paton is at any
rate a man who will not forget one word that he has
spoken, if only he have the power to make that word
efficacious.
That I am not absolutely limbless was proved yester-
day by my ascending the Great Hough, which is a steep
wooded height of 1200 feet, and this without particular
fatigue. Nevertheless I am still aware that my limbs are
out of order, and must hope to improve further. To-day
I set up an easel and shall drudge a little at an easy
replica for Valpy. I think I must muster energy to write
a letter to Sir N. P. Is there anything you would like
AZAZEL 269
said besides what I should say naturally ? Caine sends
kindest regards. Your affec. D. G. ROSSETTI.
A little later he writes from the same place :
" I am making some reduction in the drug, but cannot
sajr that I am feeling very well at present. May I put you to
a little trouble at your leisure ? If you can make time to
run down to Cheyne Walk, please open the top right-hand
drawer of the cabinet near the back door of the studio and
get out a slight sketch of binding. It is a piece of foliage,
and has ' Dante and his Circle ' inserted on it. Would
you send it to me and pardon trouble ? I note what you
say as to Paton. I shall not now be writing to him until
I can send him my book, which I hear is more or less
out."
Shields was now finding the drudgery of overlooking
the glass work very wearying.
" Oct. 29th. All day numbering glass and arranging
patterns and diapers on the tracing nine days of this
hideous slavery. Spent evening with Christina Rossetti."
Christina Rossetti wrote :
" Thank you for excusing and remedying my momen-
tary lapse of memory, and for writing words so kind that
I can only hope to deserve them some day no, not only
' hope,' I can try. I have thought of your fine scape-goat
since I saw it, indeed I have thought of a number of
your works to the glory of God, but that one is the one
specially in my mind at this moment. I wish I understood
tne meaning of the ' Azazel ' ; it appears, of course, to con-
tain the most sacred word ' El/ and I should be so glad to
ascertain the signification of the whole. I have lately
been struck by an idea (but am not aware of any authority
whatsoever for it it may be a mere fantastic error)
whether the two goats of the great Day of Atonement
taken together may not stand as one type of our Blessed
Redeemer the slain goat, His Sacred Body slain for our
sins; the scape-goat, His Soul sent all alone into the
270 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
desolate desert world of the departed, and bearing our
sins, as in Isaiah liii. 10. Not that the unseen world of
the elect really was at any moment of man's history a
desolate desert ; yet till our Lord entered it, it was an
unknown land fearful to flesh and blood ; fearful even to
saints, if we may judge by some Old Testament utterances,
as of Job or in the rsalms. I trust you will not dislike
my saying all this to you, for with you I have the happi-
ness of feeling that you accept the Bible as the Word of
God, to be venerated and made much of."
In connection with the question of the Scapegoat it is
interesting to note that Holman Hunt in one of his letters
says that he has long come to the conclusion that two
Messiahs were promised, one to suffer death and to be the
Shiloh to the Gentiles, the other to bring about the
restoration of the Jews. In painting his own picture of
the Scapegoat he felt that he ought to represent the beast
as suffering persecution or contempt, to the point of death,
but that he must not make it certain that the creature
died.
A little later Miss Rossetti writes again, saying :
" It is a comfort that nothing immediately depended on
my remarks about Azazel. Mr. Cayley (who asks to be
remembered to you) has come to the rescue, and has gone
far to rout my Hebrew!"
Then follows a disquisition by Mr. Cayley on " el " and
" azel," and the interpretation of Azazel in the valuable
lexicon of Ftirst. However, Miss Rossetti continues :
" Ftirst as a philologist is reckoned too deep if anything
in tracing Hebrew roots to their first fibres, so I still feel
at liberty to pursue my own train of thought, though I see
it is by no means to be built up so easily as my rash
ignorance supposed. I hope Mrs. Shields is a perfect
spring blossom of bloom for you this autumn, pray offer
her my love."
ROSSETTI'S ILLNESS 271
Rossetti returned, evidently in worse health than when
he left. This note shows a much feebler writing :
" I don't exactly gather whether you propose to kindly
come to-morrow or Saturday, but either evening will be
welcome, the only 'emanation' from outer space which
has greeted me since your last visit has been the calm
presence of William on his faithful Monday. I must say
I go daily from bad to worse, I am quite exhausted now,
and really don't know how it may end. I have been
seeing Marshall."
Again on November 22nd he writes :
" William has told you that I shall be alone to-morrow.
Let me implore you to come. I am still very ill."
"November 26th. Studying Bible for Chancel win-
dows. To town on Rossetti's business to get him a nurse.
To Marshall's, and to Rossetti's, he in a desperate state."
The diary continues its record of work and anxiety.
Two or three days are spent in designing a cover for
Hall Caine's Sonnets of Three Centuries.
" December 12th. Waterhouse sent most kind answer
about the Duke. Young William Sharp called. To Royal
Academy with Gilchrist to see the Prize work of students.
Shameful awards against merit. To Rossetti, in bed,
declares his left side paralysed since Sunday."
The anxiety as to Rossetti's fast failing health in-
creased, and many visits to him are mentioned in the
diary, with sad accounts of his mental and physical de-
pression. Christina Rossetti wrote on December 16th :
"Your letter comes like balm. My dearest Mother
thanks you with a warm heart, and so do I, for the hope
you help us to keep up. I need not dwell on our grief
and anxiety on poor Gabriel's account : yet with you I do
hope that under the absolute authority of a medical man
he may yet be weaned from that fatal chloral, and that
272 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
even now much which has been lost may be retrieved.
You and Mr. Watts, and every unwearied friend who is
kind to him now, earn our deepest gratitude."
For a week Rossetti's health improved slightly, and he
tried to work again. A day or two before Christmas he
wrote a shaky little note:
" Would you let me know how you are situated as to
next Friday and Saturday, which would suit you best ?
Things seem getting brighter, and I hope painting might
be possible. With Merry Xmas to yourself and wife."
" December 2Sth. To glassworks to meet dear Madox
Brown and show him the Martyr windows. Then to
binders about Caine's book, which lost all the day."
The diary for 1882 begins with a retrospect of the two
hundred and eight days spent on the Duke's work, and a
calculation that by the end of June the twelve designs
for the chancel ought to be finished.
Rossetti still made great demands upon Shields' time
and strength, also indeed upon his patience, which must
have been often sorely tried. The book referred to in the
next note was Clarissa, which Rossetti had persuaded
Shields to read aloud to him.
DEAR OLD SHIELDS, I mentioned to Watts about your
drawing here, and he has taken it upstairs to his own room
where it is quite safe, so I think it might be better not to
write him about it.
I felt very much your goodness about the book, as I
know it was really an effort to your friendship, and it has
proved a relief to me which I owe to you. Hoping to see
you to-morrow. The New Year does not find me merry.
Your affectionate D. G. R.
The diary continues :
"January 3rd. To Academy, Old Masters. Dunn
ROSSETTI DYING 273
called. To Rossetti, he out of sick bed now, but still
complains of arm. To British Museum, early Italian
Prints."
Early in February Rossetti went to Birchington with
Mr. Hall Caine. Three days after their arrival Mr. Caine
sent a hurried card to Shields :
" Rossetti threatens to return at once unless someone
comes out to see us. Such is the condition of things.
When can you come ? He says you promised to come
do try to do so, or something of the kind."
Shields however remained at his work until on April
8th he received another letter from Mr. Hall Caine, urging
him to come at once as Rossetti has become very sud-
denly worse, and he fears he is sinking rapidly. By a later
post Mr. William Rossetti wrote :
WESTCLIPF BUNGALOW,
BIRCHINGTON-ON-SEA, 8th April.
DEAR FRIEND, A few sad words in haste. On Mon-
day I told you Gabriel was dying, but did not know how
very close I spoke to the very fact. He is now dying I
don't particularly expect him to survive to-day. He is
calm, patient, conscious, rational but somewhat lethargic
through weakness suffering we may infer no acute pain,
and not any very excessive inconvenience. The Doctor
says that most probably he will pass off unconscious.
My Mother and sister, Watts and Caine, and myself are
here. Leyland looked in yesterday and is expected
to-day.
Not many minutes ago say at noon Gabriel, hearing
I was going to write to you, asked with his half extinct
voice that I would tell you that he knows he has neglected
you of late, but it was not through any feeling 01 indif-
ference. Don't let anything I say beguile you into coming
down here : it would be of no use.
Marshall is expected to-day, towards 3.30. He would
have come down with me yesterday, but great incon-
s
274 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
venience has beset us from Good Friday's trains being like
Sunday's, and we shall not be clear of tnis sort of interrup-
tion until Monday next is past. I wrote to Marshall at
length on Tuesday, mentioning about Clarke or some other
physician, and asking if he would appoint a day for me
to call.
He replied on Thursday by a verbal message through
Watts, merely to the effect that he must hi reason accom-
pany any such physician ; also that he did not agree in
the opinion that the malady is softening of the brain
perhaps not any brain disease. Three or four hours after
Marshall's message I received a telegram from Christina
showing that I must lose no time in coming down. I
quite tnink from what I see here that no skilfullest
physician would have been of the least practical avail:
a fatal form of kidney disease now exists besides much
other and total breaking up. Love and farewell to my
illustrious brother and your affectionate friend is all I can
say. Yours, W. M. ROSSETTI.
Shields, however, had already started for Birchington,
arriving on the evening of the 8th.
In his diary he wrote :
" April $th. Change for the better. Hope. At a
quarter to ten the loud clang of Fate and in five
minutes the great soul was gone ! God forgive him,
and me!
" April 10th. Spent day at William's request in draw-
ing the poor dead face, a melancholy tearful task."
On the same day he wrote to his wife :
" MY OWN BELOVED ONE, Our hopes of recovery are
over Oh, so suddenly last night at ten o'clock the
summons came ! In two minutes all of us knew that his
spirit was passed. It was an awful scene.
" So is gone the man whom I loved most, and who
loved me and I am more and more alone with you, my
best beloved. May God join our hearts more closely, so
that when the hour comes which shall divide us here,
DEATH OF ROSSETTI 275
we, having both the same hope in Jesus Christ, may part,
in sorrow indeed but sorrow that we know shall be turned
into joy when He shall call us from the dust again, to love
each other forever without a fault on either side. I will
tell you all when we meet which I expect at the latest,
by God's mercy, may be to-morrow."
Madox Brown wrote a touching letter from Manchester,
on hearing of Rossetti's death :
" I don't know how you feel this sad event ; to me it is
the greatest blow I have received since the loss of our dear
Nolly. I cannot at all get over the idea that I am never
to speak to him again. And yet when he was alive it
seemed as though nothing I could hear as to his health
could surprise me, and still it was not apparently his
visible ailments which proved fatal. How could one
imagine such a breakdown ? when I saw him in bed, eat-
ing sandwiches and asking for cake and grapes not three
hours after his dinner, I thought his ailments imaginary,
and so they might have been then, so little did they
shadow this last disease. A great man is gone ! And the
effects of it on art in this country none can tell, but one
may fear unsubstantiality and affectation on the one
hand, and ' Herkomerism ' on the other. I fear it will go
hard with the British School when a few more of us are
gone. You, Jones, Poynter, and Leighton are tolerably
young yet ; Hunt, Millais, Watts, myself, and Paton are in
the sear and yellow or wrinkling stage decidedly and
what is to follow ? I can't foresee. I hear you are at
Birchingtori or were on Saturday. I shall address this
to you there. You have seen so much of poor dear
Gabriel of late ; you must be terribly cut up. To me
it seems like a dream ; I cannot make out how things
are to go on ; in so many directions things must be
changed."
Shields records in his diary : " Made two copies (in
misery) of the drawing of Rossetti's face for Christina and
Watts."
276 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
He went back to Birchington for the funeral : " Awake
all night there," he says, and returning to town went to
see Burne-Jones, " to weep with him."
Sir Noel Paton wrote :
"I send you a hurried line all I possibly can just
now to thank you most sincerely for your most kind
and touching letter. When Rossetti's death has been
such a keen sorrow to me, whose actual intercourse with
that kingly soul was so much slighter than yours I can
but too well understand all that you feel, and from my
heart I offer you that sympathy which I myself crave,
and which I know you extend to me. . . . You did
inform me that the Duke of Westminster had done what
was right by you in the matter of the windows, at which I
Seatly rejoiced. I had intended being in London in
ay ; but I don't know that I have the heart to come
now. If I do, however, I shall not fail to see you ; and
you will tell me all you can of our dead King."
Immeasurable was the gulf of disagreement on all
spiritual matters between Shields and Rossetti ; agonising
to the younger man's sensitive, ascetic nature were many
episodes in their long intimacy, and terrible were his
misgivings when the end had come, lest he had neglected
any possible opportunity of essaying the obviously im-
possible task of converting Rossetti to his own religious
views.
But he never failed to express his scorn for those who
attempted to belittle Rossetti's greatness. As a heaven-
born genius and as a generous-souled friend, Rossetti
always had a large place in his loyal heart, and no one
more than Shields would have endorsed the words written
by Burne-Jones on his early friendship with Rossetti :
"His talk and his look and his kindness, what words
can say them ? But bit by bit little forgotten touches will
SHIELDS AND ROSSETTI 277
come back, I daresay, and some sort of image of him be
made out and if it is a perfect image and all overlaid
with gold, it will be truer really than one that should
make him halt or begrimed or sully him in the least."
Among Shields' possessions was a cast of a hand such
a small fine hand that it might be taken for that of a
woman, but that upon it are pencilled the words : " D. G.
Rossetti's cunning right hand, that clasped mine in
friendship once."
It has been said that Rossetti was born out of due
time and place Mediaeval Italy should have been the
setting for that strange jewel. And certainly Shields
would have been more suitably environed by a peaceful
hermit's cell, where, like Fra Angelico, he could have
spent his days in painting to the glory of God unless,
indeed, rumours of the wicked outside world had moved
him to head a crusade, or to offer himself up, like
Savonarola, to a losing battle against the Mammon of
Unrighteousness.
CHAPTER XVII
Lady Mount-Temple and Mrs. Russell-Gurney A visit to Babbacombe
G. F. Watts The Rossetti memorial windows The vicar's objec-
tions With Lord and Lady Mount-Temple at Broadlands Mosaics
at Eaton Hall Windows at Cheltenham College M'Lachlan's law-
suit Sir Noel Paton's letters Sir John Gilbert St. Luke's, Camber-
well Memorial to Gordon Highlanders Mosaic workers in Paris.
EARLY in May 1882, Lady Mount-Temple brought Mrs.
Russell-Gurney to Shields' studio a visit which led to
then undreamed of consequences, for the quiet lady
in the black dress was to become his nearest friend, and
her beautiful vision of a chapel of rest, to be built to the
memory of her husband, was to give the artist the
great opportunity of his life.
A week or two later Shields paid a fortnight's visit to
Lord and Lady Mount-Temple at Babbacombe, the first
of many visits to these " angelic hosts." At the end
of June he went to Manchester for a week, staying with
Dr. M'Laren, and returned home to attend the sale of
Rossetti's effects at Cheyne Walk. The diary records :
" July 6th. To Rossetti's sale. To see Holman Hunt,
he still patching at his big picture. He expects Ruskin
to-morrow to see it.
"July 7th. Drawing D. G. R.'s head for Leyland.
Tracing Miss S 's head for dear Hunt."
Miss S was a very beautiful model frequently
employed by Shields and subsequently by Holman Hunt.
The lovely water-colour head of the girl with jasmine in
her hair, bequeathed to the writer, and here reproduced,
was painted from her.
278
THE LADY WITH THE JASMINE
Portrait Study, 1888
DIARY RECORDS 279
" July Wth. To Cheyne Walk the things all re-
moved. All bare. The last look. To Christina Rossetti in
evening, she showed me D. G. R.'s golden hair, Hancock's
medallion at 13, his own drawing of the same time, and
one of him as a child of 4
"July 28th. To Lady Mount-Temple's to lunch, and
to Academy with Dunn. Leighton's decorations for St.
Paul's are dreadful."
The beautiful design of " Love " was made in the
autumn of this year, much time being spent in the
East End searching for a suitable black baby as model
the tiny chinaman being even more difficult to secure.
"December 3Qth. Put lettering in Paradise. Wrote
Rossetti notes for F. G. Stephens. To Rossetti Exhibition
a disgrace to the Academy."
In January 1883 William Rossetti lost a little son
the diary refers to the sad event.
"January 25th. To Academy and Burlington Club
all day with Theodore Watts. To Christina Rossetti and
to William Rossetti. Drew dead little Michael for his
Mother until midnight."
Madox Brown was very ill early in the year, but on
February 3rd he writes from Manchester :
"I will write you a line because I begin to be able
to write a little, and no one is more deserving of it than
you. I have been up for an hour to-day. This has been
a sad affair of the Rossettis' loss. Lucy writes that you
sat up late one night making a beautiful drawing of her
poor little boy a sad task, I know, for you, and very
kind of you."
Writing to G. F. Watts for some advice, Shields re-
ceived this kindly reply which in time was followed by
much helpful intercourse :
r
280 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
LITTLE HOLLAND HOUSE,
May 28<A, 1883.
MY DEAR SIR, If one lives long in the world, I think
the conclusion arrived at will be that the things best worth
having are, to be able to add something to humanity
real possessions, either by achievement or example, and
to give aid.
Sympathy may seem to be a very cheap kind of aid,
but I know very well that at times, if depressed, it is not
one whose value is least. Such workers as yourself may
be always sure of it from me, with such help, also, as my
experience may enable me to afford.
It will give me very great pleasure indeed to see you
any day this week, except Saturday between 2 and 3.
This will hold good for next week, but I might chance
to be out. Yours sincerely, G. F. WATTS.
In July came the question of a memorial window, and
Christina Rossetti wrote from Birchington :
" I am sure you will be in sympathy with us in this
spot of all spots. And one train of thought and feeling
will arise in us all alike.
" Now I am going to write frankly expressing a great
wish of my Mother's, if such a wish can be made to
harmonise with your good will and possibilities.
" Concerning our dear Gabriel's grave three things are
now in question: a stone on the grave itself, and two
windows which more or less look upon the grave. The
stone William in the main appropriates. One window
is supposed to be filled in by personal friends and admirers.
Indeed both windows might be so dealt with, only that
here my Mother steps in with her personal preference.
She wishes if it may be to secure this window (choosing
the one nearest the grave) as exclusively her own gift,
and she devotes 100 to the purpose. Please bear in
mind that we have no distinct idea of the costliness of such
work and then tolerate my enquiring for her whether
that sum would give her a right to request you to under-
take this window as her commission ? Even your
THE ROSSETTI WINDOW 281
personal love of Gabriel weighs less with, her in this
quest than your personal love of Christ. ... As the
window belongs to that part of the Church which forms
the Baptistery, Mr. Alcock inclines to a subject in some
way appropriate to Holy Baptism, and the lower section of
the window which consists of two lights the lower
section of each light has to be made slightly ornamental
in some simple way independent of the figure subjects,
as these panes of glass are made movable for the purpose.
Every message from my Mother to you goes with her
affectionate remembrances and her hopes (in which
I unite) that you and Mrs. Shields enjoy at least
tolerable health at present. Pray remember us both to
your wife. We have been here a week to-day and are
hoping to remain for 6 or 7 weeks longer, partly because
we like to stay here, and partly because our home-house
is in the hands of painters, paperers, &c.
" Please accept a poor photograph of the old familiar
bungalow ; poor as it is, it reminds one of the original."
Needless to say, Shields at once threw himself heart
and soul into this idea, and proceeded to Birchington to
discuss the question and examine the position for the
proposed window. Much correspondence passed between
Miss Rossetti and himself, and he prepared two designs,
one of his own, the subject being the healing of the blind
man, the other adapted from Rossetti's beautiful design of
Mary Magdalene. These had to be submitted to the
Birchington vicar for approval, and the dismay of Shields
can be better imagined than described when he received
a letter from the vicar objecting to the second design,
saying, "I do not think this picture is likely to inspire
devotional thoughts and feelings, and fear that in some
cases it might rather do the reverse."
What is presumably a rough copy of Shields' reply
says :
" My friend Rossetti himself would have shrunk with
shuddering at any supposition that the design could
282 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
have an impure effect. Mrs. and Miss Rossetti could
not have anticipated, even in dreams, such an objection
arising, for they have been accustomed to regard the
design as directly opponent to evil, and so it is, and has
been esteemed by many pious men and women whom
I have known enthusiastic in admiration of its conception
That the woman passing by with a crowd of worldlings
like herself to a revel was caught by an eye at the
window of the Pharisee's house an eye at once reproach-
ful and attractive, that with a glance broke her heart,
and drew her, spite of the interposed barrier of lover and
friend, so that she tore away her ornaments to fall
stripped of her pride at the Saviour's feet, changed and
renewed. Surely in an age of vanity like this when
another Isaiah might well arise, stirred by the Holy
Spirit to declaim against the daughters of Christian
England ' walking and mincing as they go ' in their
hign-heeled shoes, and decked with a larger catalogue
of fripperies than the prophet enumerates, their hair
curled with crimping pins (in defiance of Apostolic
injunction), the very trade mark of levity on their faces,
such an earnest and startling revelation of the 7th of Luke
may well awake in some gazers the thought of whether
the guise in which they present themselves for worship in
the place of your ministry is one on which the Lora is
likely to look graciously and speak forgiveness to their
souls.
" Was not the denuding of the ornaments, so aptly
insisted on by Rossetti, the very attitude required by God
from His people after their spiritual fornication of the
Golden Calf, as the express condition on which alone God
would not come up in their midst in a moment, and con-
sume them ? I perceive that the freedom of the design
from the dead, unhelpful conventionality common to
religious art has astonished you."
If the vicar received this letter, its eloquence pro-
duced no effect upon him, nor was he moved by another
letter in which Shields, apparently not having yet dared
to tell Mrs. Rossetti of the objection, prayed him to con-
sider whether "for the sake of such a visionary fear you
AT BROADLANDS 283
should grieve the love and piety which has dictated this
gift to your church, and which would provoke such a
storm of indignation from Rossetti's many friends, and
might become such a subject of public scandal that in
dread of such a calamity I have kept silence to everyone
concerning your communication."
The vicar was still quite decided that the ladies of his
congregation were not likely to be moved to cast aside
their hair-curlers or their high-heeled shoes, but that the
effect of Rossetti's beautiful design might be demoralising
rather than elevating. So after much more correspond-
ence on all sides, another design of Rossetti's, " Passover
in the Holy Family," was chosen for the second light, and
the window was fixed in position in the following year
when Christina Rossetti, who with her aged mother had
been at Birchington waiting to see it completed, wrote :
" At last I enjoy the pleasure of telling you that we
have seen the beautiful worth-waiting-for window, and that
it excels my mother's hope. This she tells you as her own
message I wish you also could have beheld it on this
bright morning, inviting us all to piety and devotion.
The homely little dog and puppies I much like, with
their spiritual suggestion. To me, the two subjects go
together quite well, both as to line of composition and
degree of action : let us hope that at least the ignorant
may see with my eyes rather than with yours."
In September, Shields went to Broadlands to visit
Lord and Lady Mount-Temple, and wrote to his wife :
MY BELOVED ONE, I should be so happy here, if my
own better part were not in Lodge Place. Everything
falls short of its full joy because you have not your share
of it, and I half quarrel with all the pleasures on this
account. Never have I been in any place so entirely to
my tastes it soothes me and delights me, more than I
can tell you. This morning, after a very restless night,
284 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
away from you, I rose at 7, and after prayers for you, my
dearest, what a walk I had along the swift river's beautiful
banks such great cedar trees, with their mighty boughs
sweeping down to the very ground, and the swallows and
the rooks overhead Ah me, I came across one dark
broad-beaked fellow, dead, with his splendid rainbow-
tinted feathers, that look black only Because they are
generally so far away from us and even here I thought
the sorrow of the earth is found, while far above his dead
body there flew his living fellows, none taking any thought
of the lost one who had been with them yesterday. . . .
Then I was startled by the rush of wings and scattered
water and a water-hen darted, with her feet touching the
water and her wings spread above it, straight across to
the opposite bank. Then a great heron with his broad
wings flapping away a little further on, then a startled
rabbit ran near my feet, and the wild doves cooed in the
trees. All the river bottom is spread with weeds and
long grasses, that quiver through the clear rushing water.
At nearly half-past ten the bell rang for prayers, which
Lord Mount-Temple led, Miss Juliet playing the har-
monium. I must get the prayers they use, as they are
the best I have seen for family worship. Then we sang
the fine hymn which begins : " the bitter shame and
sorrow, that a time could ever be "...
The air here to-day was like cream, so soft and sweet,
as I took an evening walk just now ; all the young bulls
in the park were butting at each other with their horns
for very playfulness. The organ has just begun with the
governess playing it, or I would write to Jessie it dis-
tracts my head -I must go out till it stops. Ever your
own FREDERIC.
A few days later Mrs. Shields joined him at Broad-
lands, where they stayed for a fortnight. The rest of the
year was devoted to the Eaton designs and the Rossetti
window. On Christmas Day Madox Brown, still in Man-
chester, wrote in anything but his usual cheerful vein :
" You will be glad to know that the Decoration Com-
mittee at the Town Hall have decided at length to advise
MOSAIC 285
that the remaining six panels in the large room should
be given to me to fill. Not exactly at what I required
for doing so, but at such price as would pay all round
375 for each picture of the twelve. It is only five years
more exile in this place, and after that it will not, I
suppose, much matter what happens. Altogether the
idea has made me melancholy, but I must endeavour to
get some place in London to come to, for otherwise it
would be more unendurable."
An entry in the diary for 1884, on January 7th,
records "To Merton Abbey to see William Morris. He
delightful, showed me many things."
This visit was made with a view to getting Morris's
advice as to the designs still to be made for the south
wall of the chapel at Eaton. They were to be carried
out in mosaic to Shields a medium even more distasteful
than stained glass. Much correspondence passed between
Mr. Waterhouse the architect, the Duke of Westminster,
and Shields, as to the relative merits of glass and marble
mosaic. The architect wrote that Morris had recom-
mended marble, Morris wrote that he didn't remember
anything about marble, but was inclined to agree with
the artist that glass mosaic is the only material worth
using, except for pavements or very simple wall orna-
ment. " I remember, however," he says in a letter to
Shields, "thinking that the chapel was not the best
possible place for mosaic, as the flat spaces were small
and cut up, and mosaic seems to call for large spaces, and
if possible curved ones, as in the great domical buildings
where it was used in early days."
Shields wrote in after years :
" When I learned that marble mosaic was determined
on, my soul sickened with recoil from a labour that I
foresaw hateful in its finality, interpreted by dull Italian
workmen, or even by the most intelligent that could
piece the small squares. I went to inspect some examples
286 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
lately placed in a London church, flat, tame, and feeble
in their effect. I concluded that only a background of
black could redeem my own designs from the like failure.
I made two sketches on this plan. 'What, black back-
ground,' said Waterhouse 'consider well before you
regret it.'"
But in the end the artist proved his point, and the
mosaics at Eaton were pronounced as successful as the
windows. Madox Brown wrote sympathetically about the
mosaic in a letter dated February 20th, 1884 :
" When you wrote you were in the throes of martial
encounter with Ducal and other stupidities. Is that
over, and can it ever pass away? Probably not; but I
trust it has already passed from you to others, more
leathery of nerves and of tougher SKin. I do not clearly
understand, however, what the other kinds of mosaic (not
marble) are. I suppose glass. Those who are to work
in contact with you must be a great drawback to the
expression of your work ; yet you nave, on the whole, got
the stained-glass workers into such effectual order that I
don't doubt your being able to overcome the denseness of
the mosaic workers, that is, if they work in London."
Some time was spent over designs for windows for
Cheltenham College, undertaken at the request of a friend.
The subjects were from Spenser's Faerie Queene. Unfor-
tunately Miss Beale, the well-known head mistress of
Cheltenham, seriously disagreed with the artist as to his
treatment of one of the figures that of a little Cupid.
Miss Beale thought that, as the figure was undraped, it
could only be allowed to appear if festooned with roses !
But roses had formed no part of the design, and Shields
was furious at the suggestion that the lovely little figure
needed any such alteration. One is wickedly but irre-
sistibly reminded of the school-girl's rhyme :
" Miss Buss and Miss Beale, Cupid's darts never feel.
How different from us, Miss Beale and Miss Buss ! "
MANCHESTER EXHIBITION 287
The result was that Shields would do no more of the
windows, and the series was completed by another hand.
A visit was made to Paris to study the technical processes
of the mosaic workers, and in August Shields paid a short
visit to Normandy, again accompanied by his old friend
Mr. Rowley. Madox Brown wrote on September 12th :
" How are you, and how is work progressing ? I wish I
were well back in London, for I am pretty nigh sick of
here. But I am making some progress with a small bit
of ' Wycliffe,' and a very exciting and curious subject it
is. For news while you were in Normandy we have been
in Scotland and Arran after health ! but I do not find
myself much the better for it now I am back again. But
it was tolerably jolly while it lasted. Arran might be
beautiful if it were not so Scotch, and yet I like the poor
Scotch people so much, though I do not care for their
scenery. The Autumn Exhibition is open here now, but
not much more interesting than the R.A., though, being a
local affair, it somehow is more interesting. I have not
troubled them. I see by the catalogue you have, but I
have not seen the work itself. The most curious thing to
notice in this exhibition is how all the works are for sale
some for large prices, like Herkomer's ; some for modest
prices, as are Frith' s! But all, whether R.A.'s or others,
for sale alack the day ! I do not think no one has any
money, because I know of many people who launch forth
more than ever ; but I think it is the fashion for buying
pictures that is passing. It never was a genuine taste,
and people are now getting ashamed of being sold by
dealers, without having acquired the taste to buy fine
things for themselves. Mr. - , M.P., appears very large
if not lifelike (by an R.A., of course), and he has exactly
the expression, or seems saying to himself : ' Really I must
forswear lying and live cleanly ; this last lie of mine was
too much, even for an M.P.'
" This inveterate habit of mine (for it is such, I gain
nothing by it) will be the ruin of me unless I give it up ;
but it sticks, it sticks ! . . . And his complexion is as if he
had been trying to wash it away in port wine. Dear
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Shields, I have nothing but this nonsense to write to you,
but you return me some sense for it in that vigorous
hand I know so well and see so little of."
Three days later Shields went to Manchester and
stayed for some days with Madox Brown. The Wycliffe
picture was still in progress, and Shields sat for the head
of Wycliffe himself quite a recognisable portrait, though
somewhat broadened about the lower part of the face.
The rest of the autumn was spent over designs for mosaic
and several other designs for glass, for which there was no
lack of commissions. A portrait of Miss Waterhouse is
mentioned in the list of this year's work, also a water-
colour of the " Good Shepherd " for Lord Mount-Temple,
and some drawings of children for Mr. Rowley ; these, in
addition to the Duke of Westminster's mosaics, the Ros-
setti windows, the Cheltenham windows, and other designs,
show a year of strenuous work.
A bad fall, resulting in serious injury to the artist's
finger, made him unable to do any work from December
8th until the beginning of January 1885, and the injured
hand troubled him for many months. On January 5th,
1885, the diary records :
" Able to begin to work a little in a rude way on
Seddon's panels for sideboard. Went to Bougereau's ex-
hibition with Brown, and to Holman Hunt's."
In this year Shields suffered long ill-health and
domestic trouble, and was much sustained by the steadfast
friendship of Lord and Lady Mount-Temple and Mrs.
Russell-Gurney.
In June a visit was paid to Sark, a place which always
had a great charm for Shields, and where, both on this
and succeeding visits, he made many delightful sketches
of rocks and sea, the entrance to one of the Gouliot caves
being the subject of an oil painting entitled " The Sea's
engulfing Maw."
SIR NOEL PATON 289
In October a long and kindly letter from Sir Noel
Paton asked Shields for a little bit of his work, in colour
or black and white, for his old friend Lady Jane Dundas,
suggesting that, if he found any difficulty in selection,
William Sharp, who was known to them both, might
assist him.
The diary is blank for some months of this year, but
the following letter, dated Oct. 19th, from Sir Noel Paton,
shows that Shields had been going through a time of
trouble and anxiety :
" I have just read need I say with what profound
sympathy your letter of yesterday. God grant that ere
long the terrible strains of soul, mind, and body from
which you have been suffering as only one of your high-
strung and ultra-sensitive nature can suffer, may be re-
leased, and a more or less easeful time be given you for
the prosecution and successful completion of your noble
work at Eaton Hall work which, long after we have
quitted this scene of probation, will remain a monument
to your honour. There is no need for your hurrying about
the drawing for Lady Jane Dundas : if it reaches Edin-
burgh a fortnight hence it will be in very good time. In
the meantime I hasten to relieve myself of the responsi-
bility of the enclosed. I .will not fail to convey your
message to Lady Jane. With sincere thanks for your
generous and correct construction of my silence, and
assurance that yows I shall never misconstrue."
Another letter from Sir Noel Paton begs Shields not
to send, as he proposed, a drawing which was unfinished
and needed working on. He says :
" I fully appreciate and sympathise with your wish to
send a bit of your best, but pray let it be a bit of work
already done. Keep every atom of your strength for the
heavy and troublesome task in which you are now engaged.
Pray pardon my thus speaking to you ' like a father.' ''
290 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Again, in a letter from Edinburgh dated November
15th, 1885, Sir Noel Paton writes :
" I conclude that you have disregarded my wise
paternal advice, and are pursuing your own headstrong
courses, as men of genius will ! Some time ago Lady Jane
Dundas (who is warmly disposed to further your interests
to the best of her power) wrote to me enquiring whether
I thought you would be disposed to undertake certain
windows for a private chapel now in process of erection
by her niece, Mrs. Bromley Davenport. But I have ven-
tured to say that your hands are, and will be for some
considerable time, fully occupied with the mosaics for
Eaton Hall, and that I am sure you could not undertake
them now. If, however, I have gone beyond my brief in
making this statement, it is not too late to reopen the case.
Further, I have this morning another communication
from Lady Jane to the effect that, finding the Earl of
Dysart wishes a music-room which he is now building
decorated with high-class mural paintings, she strongly
recommended that the commission should be offered to
you. Also that Lord Dysart (who is busy with arrange-
ments for his marriage) wishes your address, that he may
take a convenient opportunity of speaking to you on the
subject. I don't think it likelv that Lord Dysart will call
until after his marriage. In the meantime kindly let me
know how you feel about both these proposals."
Shields was unable to undertake any other work, know-
ing that Mrs. Russell-Gurney was eagerly awaiting his
freedom from the toils of stained glass and mosaic that he
might devote himself to her service.
Early in 1886 came M'Lachlan's lawsuit about the
Royal group, Shields, much to his distress, being subpoenaed
as a witness on his behalf. Madox Brown wrote from
Manchester on April 16th : " Thanks ever so much for
your kind letter and still kinder bridges ; I shall always
value them and certainly make as good use of them as I
am able. The small low one is particularly jolly."
SIR JOHN GILBERT 291
Then follow some particulars with regard to a raffle
which, with his usual generosity, he was getting up for
the benefit of an artist's widow, the prize being his own
picture of Platt Lane.
Madox Brown is also keenly interested as ever in social
reform, and says :
" I was at a mass meeting of the unemployed yester-
day at Pomona Gardens 6000 or 7000 poor, wretched-
looking, ragged fellows. I had to speechify them, for did
I tell you ? I and some others have started a ' labour
bureau ' to register all who want employment, and invite
those who want them to come to us. The workers have
come in numbers, but not 5 per cent, of those numbers as
employers. In fact, I believe the manufacturer looks
upon a good broad margin of starving workmen as the
necessary accompaniment of cheap labour I shall get a
nice name, I expect."
Shields took a ticket for the raffle and won the prize,
Madox Brown being highly delighted at this result.
It was in this year that Shields wrote an article on
Rossetti's method of drawing in coloured chalks. A copy
was sent to Sir John Gilbert, with a note describing the
pleasure Rossetti used to take in Shields' large collection
of prints and woodcuts from Gilbert's works. He wrote
on October 10th :
" It was thoughtful and kind to send me the ' Hobby
Horse.'
" That Rossetti could feel any interest in my Art rather
surprises me ; but I am glad to find that he did.
" I wish I had known more of him ; it was but seldom
that we met. He was a member of the Garrick Club,
where we more than once or twice dined together. It was
greatly to my loss that we met so seldom. I visited him
at his house in Chelsea once, uninvited, and was received
with the greatest kindness. While waiting until he came
in from his painting room, I looked all round the walls of
what 1 took to be the library, because there were book-
shelves well filled. And so careful was my survey and so
pleased and interested was I in the picturesque treatment
of the variety and beauty of its adornments that I made
a mental drawing, and wnen I got home put all down in
pencil sketch, which I still have by me.
" Now I know that he was a dear friend of yours,
would you like to have a copy of this sketch ? I will
with pleasure do it for you when time permits. The
original I should not like to part with, but you shall have
a fac-simile."
A month later Sir John Gilbert wrote again, sending
the sketch here reproduced. It is remarkable as a feat
of memory, and interesting also as showing the great
artist's pleasure in seeing a room which in Victorian days,
before the influence of Morris and his partners had pene-
trated further than their immediate circle, must have
been unique in the beauty of its furnishing.
" I have much pleasure in sending you this slight
sketch of the fireplace in a room endeared to you by many
recollections, before which you may have enjoyed happy
converse with a most valued friend. Better conversation
than is to be had generally. Of such a sort, too, which is,
I find, hard to get nowadays.
"You will recognise some of the adornments of the
mantel and above it. The owls, the little mirror, the
candle branches, the little round worsted balls hanging
over the shelf, the Dutch tiles and other things, the oefl
ropes, &c. &c.
" I am indeed glad to be able to send you such a
memorial of an old friend."
In December Madox Brown wrote in reply to Shields'
Christmas greeting. Incidentally he says :
" I have undertaken to execute some very large coloured
figures for their Jubilee Exhibition here, and they must be
VARIOUS COMMISSIONS 293
ready by a certain day. I have got Knewstub, D. G. R.'s
old pupil, to assist me. One of the characters is a
sheep shearer. Do you think that in London anywhere
there is to be got a cast of a shorn sheep ? I had one
in my studio, shorn on purpose ; but he was a Xmas one,
and so fat that taking his wool off made very little differ-
ence to him or to me."
In the spring of 1887 Shields had a pleasurable task
in designing symbolic decorations for the church of St.
Luke's, Camberwell, his friend the Rev. Hugh Chapman
then being the vicar. Mr. Chapman has published an
interesting little book describing Shields' work in his
church, entitled Sermons in Symbols.
Another commission, different to anything the artist
had hitherto undertaken, was a design for a memorial to
the Gordon Highlanders, to be executed in relief by Mr.
M'Lean for a church in Edinburgh.
In April Shields again visited Broadlands, and at the
end of July made another visit to Paris. The diary
records :
" August 3rd. To Rue St. Luc ; mosaic work woeful
in extreme. Did some myself, correcting the ignorant
tracing.
" August 8th. Burke having seen our work held all
in vain till we had formed a scale of tints. This I tried
to do with Zachariah, and came a cropper. Burke caved
in ; the colours are not to be had that he gave me samples
of. A wretched collapse ; I can fight this fool's war no
longer."
He returned to London more disgusted with mosaic
work than ever.
CHAPTER XVIII
Mrs. Rnssell-Gurney's dream Search for a site The disused mortuary
chapel The Jubilee windows at St. Ann's, Manchester Window at
Mereworth Church, Kent To Northern Italy At Pietra Santa
Letters from Italy Mrs. Gurney's letters Designing the Chapel of
the Ascension The Madox Brown testimonial Correspondence with
G. F. Watts Address to art students" Knott Mill Fair " Holman
Hunt's interesting experiences Death of Madoz Brown.
AT the end of August 1887 is an interesting entry in
Shields' diary :
"To Mrs. Russell-Gurney, and with her to National
Gallery. Her idea of a little Hall decorated."
On September 2nd he wrote to Mrs. Russell-Gurney,
whose dream of a decorated chapel was growing nearer to
possible realisation :
" All this is beautiful and felicitous beyond my thought
for yours is the conception, and yours the swift steps
taken to nurse it into well-being. I tremble with desire
and fear towards the work I say fear, for it involves great
issues, and may lead to a new departure in the alliance or
service of Art to Piety. Symbols affect men's imagination
and faith mightily still. The little spot should be pure
so that anything that defileth if it entered should feel
itself abhorred and reproved silently. I would wish it lit
from the roof, shut out from all but heaven's vault
closeted from the tumultuous world about it and this
also to economise wall space, precious for decoration in
so small a shrine.
" send wisdom out of Thy Holy Place, that being
present, she may labour with us.
"You imply the dear Mount-Temple's approval. By
Thursday next I trust that some embryo of a scheme may
294
MRS. RUSSELL GURNEY 295
be mine to submit to you for there is no engagement
that prevents me from immediate action. I have pur-
posely kept myself free from the bonds of two commissions
that were proffered me for glass decoration. It only
seems dreamlike yet and sacred so that I cannot breathe
a word of it to anyone."
Mrs. Russell-Gurney was now full of suggestions and
ideas which were eagerly welcomed and considered by the
artist, whose delight at the prospect of such an opportunity
knew no bounds. While their plans were maturing,
Shields was finishing the last of his work for Eaton
Chapel. In the autumn of this year he was much inter-
ested in the Salvation Army, which both his wife and
adopted daughter joined for a time. He had some friendly
correspondence with Mrs. Booth, and she sat to him for
her portrait.
Subsequently Shields became much prejudiced against
the methods of the Salvationists, though always retaining a
great respect for Mrs. Booth and her family. In October
he was greatly pleased to hear that Madox Brown was
really returning to London and had taken a house in St.
Edmund's Terrace within quite easy distance of Lodge
Place.
On December 13th Brown wrote :
" Now I expect to be in London (my ' Dalton ' at the
Town Hall being about to be fixed) about Xmas. . . .
Rowley has given me one or two rather mysterious hints
of some great works you are to be engaged on well, if so,
there is no one deserves more, nor whom I should so
rejoice to see get it. He also asked me from you what I
had said of you in a certain Lecture it was very little,
because, on the whole, they had treated you rather well.
I merely said, talking of the Black and White display,
that they might have shown your ' Plague of London '
designs, and with them Dyce's cartoons, &c. They had,
you must know, confined this department to a few hack-
neyed things out of Punch."
296 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Early in 1888 Mrs. Russell-Gurney's plan had grown
beyond its original conception of a small decorated hall.
As Shields says in his handbook to the Chapel of the Ascen-
sion, "The direction of the commission was changed, only
to carve for it a wider channel. It now welled forth as a
desire to plant in some great highway of London a place
of rest for wayfarers, and for prayer and meditation, where-
in body, mind, and spirit oppressed with the hurrying roar
of the city's life, might find repose and a refreshing feast
ever liberally spread upon its walls, for whosoever willed
to enter." Mrs. Gurney wrote in August 1888 : " It must
be in a good thoroughfare, and I suppose attached to a
parochial church for occasional services. ... I wonder
who would be a real authority to consult, and when we
know all, I wonder whether we could advertise in the
Guardian, ' Ho ! some London Clergymen would you
like a little additional chapel for parochial services to
be kept always open painted with divine symbols, and
with a Porch with seats and a little fountain ! ' Then the
willing Clergyman and the site must coincide, and the
Bishop must be willing to consecrate which he cannot
do without an endowment, that would be necessary,"
Some such advertisement was actually inserted, but
brought no response. Much advice was sought from friends,
who gave anything but encouragement. Miss Octavia
Hill wrote that she thought that only the associations of a
church would keep visitors at all in order, though in these
days of public museums and picture galleries that seems to
be a peculiarly depressing view.
A site was suggested in the Bayswater Road, with a
depth of 100 feet running down Orpington Street, for which
2000 was asked. After months of negotiations it seemed
impossible to come to agreement with the landowners.
At last Mr. Kegan Paul suggested that the dilapidated
mortuary chapel on the Bayswater Road might possibly
THE OLD CHAPEL 297
be acquired. Mrs. Gurney wrote on November 15th,
1888:
" I covet that site the disused St. George's, Hanover
Square, Burying Ground and Chapel. For such a site
I would spend more on building it might be lovely. I
would do up a pretty little garden it would be a delightful
Passengers' Rest, inviting within to a still deeper rest. I
could leave something to the Parish for perpetual custody.
Do find out whether an application in person to the Bishop
of London would be of any use he would, I know, remem-
ber my husband's name."
The legal preliminaries were now set on foot, but many
months elapsed before any definite permission to rebuild
the chapel was obtained from the Burial Board. In the
meantime Shields was maturing his plans, so far as it was
possible without definite knowledge as to the space which
would be available. In this year he also designed the
altarpiece for Eaton Chapel, the fine windows in St. Ann's,
Manchester placed there as a memorial of Queen Vic-
toria's Jubilee and a series of designs for glass for Mr.
Budgett. Sir Noel Paton wrote to report on the memorial
in Edinburgh :
33 GEORGE SQUARE, EDINBURGH,
November 18th, 1888.
MY DEAR AND MUCH FORGIVING FRIEND, I must not
allow my desire to write you the long letter which, by
every law of gratitude and friendship, 1 owe you, to delay
for another hour the brief report of my visit to the
"Gordon Highlander" memorial in St. Giles' already
too long delayed, through causes beyond my control. On
Tuesday afternoon I went to the grand old church with
one of my daughters, to see the memorial. The day was
a very dismal one, and the church so dark that the tattered
colours of the Scottish Regiments grouped over the capitals
of the great piers looked like so many gigantic bat spectres
hovering in their murky corners. We were conducted by
the verger towards a mysterious light flittering about in
298 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
the blackness under a painted window ; and there we
found the object of our quest. That I saw it, however, I
dare not venture to assert ; but one of the workmen who
was putting finishing touches to the " fixing up " was good
enough to pass his candle (my daughter, who has a fine
sense of the fitness of things, called it a "glimmering
taper ! ") back and forward over the tablet, and I saw
enough to realise the simple and pathetic dignity of your
design, and the admirable way in which it has been carried
out by Mr. M'Lean. When I see it under more favourable
conditions, as I hope to do soon, I will write again, and
more fully. Meantime you may rest assured that you
have not failed in your purpose of producing a work
worthy of its object, its place, and its author.
I must not write another line or I shall miss the
south post. Forgive haste, and believe me, with much
affection. Yours, NOEL PATON.
On January 1st, 1889, Shields went to see the chapel in
Bayswater Road, and met there Mr. Herbert Home, the
young architect who was to design the new building.
Later in the month he called on G. F. Watts, and wrote
to Mrs. Gurney :
" I thought it a most fortunate opportunity to ask
him what he thought of tempera. He says there is no
question of its beauty and durability ; but that all modern
attempts in it have failed from lack of some unknown
essential in the formulas bequeathed to us from the
ancients that I should find myself plunged in difficulties
if I essayed that medium ; but that a perfectly ' mat '
surface i.e. without shine could be attained on his own
lines painting on a preparation of tempera, and using
the smallest quantity of oil possible as medium for paint-
ing. You know how little sheen there is about his own
pictures, which always have a more or less fresco-like
aspect, as compared with all other men's oil paintings.
So far this is satisfactory, and enables me to balance the
qualities of the plans open to me."
DR. M'LAREN 299
A letter from Dr. M'Laren acknowledging a photograph
of the painting now in the crypt of St. Barnabas', Pimlico,
shows his faith in the vocation of Shields as a painter of
religious subjects ; he had evidently not been told of the
proposed chapel when writing from Manchester on March
20th, 1889 ; he said :
"I am delighted with the lunette. The rich sym-
bolism is not obtruded, and yet sufficiently emphasised. I
do not think you have ever touched a higher level in
intensity of conception. Was not the moon full at the
Passover ? I cannot find the Roman soldiers. They must
have made good their escape between your sending and
my getting the autotype. Where is the lunette put up ?
Wherever it is, there will not be many sermons preached
in that church, which will be as powerful to clothe the
story with reality and pathos as yours is. Surely you are
meant to be the painter of true sacred subjects. The old
men had a very narrow range of these; annunciations,
crucifixions, resurrections, ascensions, last suppers, are
about all, barring the cartoons. Oh, there's the woman
taken in adultery, too, for the sake of the opportunity of
painting some Italian harlot ; and then there's no more.
You have faith and imagination and mysticism, and you
can draw, so I hope that you will have strength to make
more of the gospel stories live to us.
"... My brain is very weary, and sometimes obsti-
nately refuses to secrete any more sermons. Small blame
to it, for last night's was the 5836th."
In May Shields designed the large window, " The Rais-
ing of Lazarus," for Mereworth Church, Kent ; and in this
month the Brazenose Club, Manchester, held an exhibi-
tion of his works, which included many early water-colours
and designs for woodcuts, as well as autotypes of his latest
works. Meanwhile the chapel business was progressing ;
and on May 6th Shields wrote to Mrs. Gurney, who was
away nursing her uncle at Hereford :
300 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
MY DEAR MISTRESS, I miss you greatly, desiring to
lay before you the possibilities of our plan, as far as I am
presently able to perceive them. I say presently, be-
cause I know that what will seem to you but a poor
handful of seed corn will develop and swell and bring
forth according as the sun and rain feed it and shine upon
it. And now I lack your casting vote amidst my own
counsels. No one has such paramount right as you, and
no one has a heart so joined in my desire and purpose in
this devoted work ; no one will look so intelligently and
sympathetically into the difficulties or inspirit me so much
in threading my way through them. Light dawns nay
rather, I should say, that my dimmed eyes begin to see,
under the dazzling glory of the fulness of the Revealed
Truth, what paths are open to us for this work. I see
many reasons why the selection of subjects essayed by the
old men were so narrow and oft-repeated. Here are two
or three walls possible to divide in so many spaces these
are one's chess-board and all the hosts of heaven and hell
to do battle within them. The space is an encounter on a
narrow bridge, where two combatants are pitched over,
where rank and courage are indifferent and foothold tells
for most. So cherished subjects perish from my scheme
for lack of space ; and I have often been as a child, stand-
ing environed with starry fields of daisies, who eagerly
begins to gather and goes on till its little capacity
to pluck and hold is exhausted, and then sits down to
weep because it cannot gather all. When do you return ?
You must, as my mistress, resolve for me which of the
tentative schemes I have prepared is most acceptable to
you. Ever since I knew tnat the Beloved Ladye was in
London I have wished to see her. Why have I not done
so then ? Truly because I feared to be questioned about
the scheme, while my own mind was a chaos of disordered
material. Now I have written to ask when I may wait at
Cheyne Walk.
The last paragraph refers, of course, to Lady Mount-
Temple.
Permission being at last granted to erect a new chapel,
LOVE
In the Chapel of the Ascension
AT PIETRA SANTA 301
the Burial Board elected Mrs. Russell-Gurney to their
committee.
Mr. Home was instructed to prepare designs, and at
Mrs. Russell-Gurney's suggestion he and Shields visited
Northern Italy to study some of the principal churches
and decorations.
Many letters passed during this Italian tour between
the artist and his " beloved mistress," whose soul was so
at one with his in the task before him.
ALBERGA UNIONE, PIETRA SANTA,
September 13th, 1889.
MY DEAR MRS. RUSSELL-GURNEY, We are at this
wonderful little place, having come from Milan, where we
have been feeding, both of us, on Luini, and Home par-
ticularly on the Sta. Maria della Grazia fa$ade. It is not
possible for me to say what I feel about this journey, nor
the rich rewards that meet us after the long railway
journeys. By the nature of our mission we are both fitted
supremely to receive all the best of suggestiveness in what-
ever passes beneath our notice ; and we are both resolute,
amid the many bye-path lanes that tempt us bewitchingly
in this land of marvels, not to be led astray from our
direct quest. Both the churches here are most choice
examples of Lombardic so simple and pure and we are
making studies of them and of the principles that govern
their design. Home admires them extremely. . . . We
make next for Pisa and Lucca, whence I will again write
a few words, for I feel so much engrossed with all the
varied interests of this tour that my mind cannot settle
itself to write at length; only I know that fruit must
come of all this delving, and daily do I ask that it may
be to the glory of God that first and to the delight of
our dear mistress in the work she has set her hand unto.
1 forget not my inward promise which you desired me to
make, remembering your solicitude with faithful affection.
We stayed at the Hotel Cavour two nights ; we were com-
fortable, but it was very expensive ; and though I know
that the privileges we enjoy cannot be had cheaply,
I do grudge all that seems to me the excess of expense
302 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
at such a hostel as the Cavour. I do hope that you are
keeping well. Ever, dear Mistress, gratefully yours,
FREDERIC SHIELDS.
Shields wrote again from Assisi on September 25th :
" My heart leaped and joyed in your dear messages
and you know so well, I see, the difficulty of putting one's
experiences into ordered description while more and more
are being shot in upon you that I have no need to excuse
myself for making little present attempt to do so. At
Florence save for two hours at the Umzi we confined
ourselves wholly to the church decorations. The Holy
Angelicos were so engrossing when I was at St. Marco,
that I absolutely forgot the Scalzi but I went back
and the first glimpse I got of the Cortile fascinated me.
The slender columns coupled at the angles, with the
single ones between, the beautiful light, and the noble
manner of the designs of Del Sarto, made a whole that is
fast in my mind as one of the most congruous things I
ever saw. He had varied the colours very cunningly
some of the subjects being wholly in raw umber, and
others a cooler greenish-brown. The Annunziata frescoes
are injured by the abolition of the coloured border origin-
ally painted round them by Del Sarto. I was greatly
impressed by the superiority of Giotto as a colourist
(especially in Sta. Croce) over all those of his epoch and
this applies here also. Nothing can be more beautiful in
tone than the frescoes over the high altar of the lower
church. These I have been studying, as well as the
frand Cimabues that are seen as wrecks here and there,
meant only to stay one day here, but it has won two
from me for it is unique in all things for situation, for
its galaxy of early frescoes, for its strange architecture.
The earliest, quite Byzantine, that I have seen, is the
Duomo front and very fine it is. And the fulness of
the Glory of God in the beauteous mountain itself under
storm and sunshine. To-night as I returned, the great
church in the valley below, St. Maria del Angeli, lay
under the golden sun as it set, its great dome surrounded
by a blaze of purple nimbus, lifting the church out from
ASSIST 303
the gloom of the wide campagna in the most mystic
manner. I never saw such an effect before so mysti-
cally unearthly. This people are the models of Leonardo.
Buonarotti, and Raphael, most evidently. I observe
their actions so spontaneously expressive not acting,
like much French action. And I perceive what a mighty
advantage the old designers had in familiarity with all
this, day by day. Their mouths are more flexible at the
corners than ours. Here, over and over again, I have
met with that rounded corner of the parted lips which is
seen in the Greek sculptures, but never in English faces
and the magnificent proportions of many of the men
and women justify the types of Michael Angelo, and
almost the exaggerations of Parmegiano. Home desired
to spend three days on his own account in Rome, and I
am not unwilling, though by no means desirous to go
thither, seeing we are now so near but this is out of our
sacred quest, and at our own cost, not yours, dear
Mistress. Then we are to touch Orvieto, and see the
Angelicos and Signorellis, and then to make for home.
Oh, that Delia Quercia at Lucca! Holy, Holy, Holy,
seemed breathed throughout its still beauty. Art never
excelled this. Adieu, until we can meet by God's mercy,
and I can enjoy the joy you have given me over again,
piece by piece. We are both agreed to beware of fixed
ideas during this period of reception but all our thoughts
and doings tend continually and everywhere to our one
great object."
The following letter is characteristic of Shields in a
cheerful frame of mind. It was addressed to the writer,
who had known him since babyhood, and to whom he
was now beginning to give regular instruction every week
at Lodge Place.
ASSISI,
September 24th, 1889.
MIA CARA PICCOLO BAMBINO, This pigeon Italian
faintly aims to breathe forth the expressions of my
altissima sentimente verso di cara Bambino pittore.
What have I seen in the brief days of my absence ! Is
304 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
it a year ago for so long have I lived since, at least.
What a tower of experiences, from whence I look loftily
down on the past. And here, in this divinely beautiful
Assisi I have you in my mind with St. Francis' great
presence all about me, and the marvellous church, filled
with art from vault to floor, and the great campagna
stretching below, rich with olives and vines. Stop it's
only a catalogue, which is provokingly whetting to the
tantalised appetite shut up in London's brick circles of
lost people to which also 1 must return as driven forth
from Paradise. And the people here are so gracious, so
truly polite from poor to rich. You seldom grate against
your fellows here they are as mellow as their own figs,
and sweet as their olive-oil, and inexpressibly graceful in
their ways. If I should get a note to say you are better,
my most dear baby, it would relieve my care about you,
dear little white spectre, whose pallor haunts me since I
saw you last. Bother your work don't worry about it,
you are more precious than any art of man, you wondrous
image, living, feeling, loving, the work of the Almighty
while our best works are but a poor silent mockery of life,
painfully wrought out. Now good night, I am so tired-
dear love to your Mamma, and your own self, mea
Piccolo Bambino. If you write, address Poste Restante,
Roma whither, God willing, we soon go hence. Ever
your affectionate Maestro, FREDERIC SHIELDS.
At Rome Shields had an attack of illness, and hurried
on as soon as he was able to Orvieto, whence he wrote to
Mrs. Gurney on October 6th :
" I have been out twice to-day. This afternoon over-
looking the Tiber valley with the tinkling of flocks com-
ing up from below, and the green lizards playing in and
out on the crannied wall. O the sweet heat of the sun,
and the flecking shadows of cloud over the far faint hills
and all so strange as well as lovely. This morning I
went straight to the Duomo. It is a miracle of art hurt
sorely by the modern mosaics on the fa9ade. Within, the
side chapels are all hoarded up under repairs, but Signor-
DESIGNS AND PLANS 305
elli's frescoes were visible, and I confess I was astonished
to find that the things I disliked in photographs from
them vanished in the breadth of the colour leaving a
most consistent impression of powerful mastery. I was
not able to look long, and mean to visit them again
to-morrow. But the passingly lovely portion of the
ceiling by Angelico I could sit gazing at as indeed forget-
ful that they are seen on the roof and not rather that
floating in the open glory of heaven, I beheld the saints
majestically seated on their thrones. I recognised at once
your favourite Magi Adoration in the altar near, by Moso,
and loved to think as I sat waiting opposite it for the
custode to open the chapel, that I was sitting where you
had sat, gazing where you had gazed. I have been in the
chapel of the Duomo a long time this morning learning
much, but chiefly from the contrast between the spandril
by Angelo and all the rest. Signorelli could never have
designed that noble David, the grand Moses, or the
Baptist. Spiritually, Angelico occupies the exalted
place."
Ten days later he returned to London, and at the end
of the month wrote to Mrs. Russell- Gurney as to a design
by Mr. H. P. Home, whose task was indeed a difficult one
owing to the narrowness of the frontage allowed, it being
necessary to preserve the old ante -chapel on one side, and
the caretaker's lodge on the other.
Shields wrote :
" The design is of the interior only as yet. That is
the vital thing to arrange primarily, and let the exterior
develop thence not the reverse way as with most
modern buildings. My schemes depend for organisation
on the number, size, and variety of shape of the spaces
possible to allot within even as do the thoughts and
purposes of a man, upon the space within his skull. In
all the church decoration in Italy, there is little more
than the segment representation of a sacred or legendary
story in one or two tiers of subjects. I seek to develop
U
306 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
rather a sequence of ideas, illustrated by wealth of figu-
rative ideas and symbols and types. To give the Spirit
of the Revelation of God to man from the beginning
conveyed in the forms of Scripture translated as much as
may be into the shapes at art's command. To glorify
the Father by a good work which shall teach, admonish,
and accentuate, with the never silent speech of Art. We
shall talk over it when I have sunnea my fruit against
the walls in my thought but the walls I must have
first."
Plans and models innumerable, and endless legal
difficulties occupied much time during the last months
of this year, and not until February 1890 were the
finished plans of the new chapel ready to be submitted to
the authorities. Only those who have perused the corre-
spondence can realise the endless complications of all the
proceedings from the moment the site was suggested.
" Progress was barred," writes Mr. Home, " by a special
Act of Parliament, a Rector, Churchwardens, a Vestry,
and a Burial Board, also if I remember rightly, a Duke
and his interests came in, some way or another." The
legal difficulties at one time made it apparently impos-
sible to pull down any of the old decaying walls, the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, Burial Boards, Vestries,
Consistories, Faculties, Court of Arches, Vicars, Bishops,
all these authorities seemed to the distracted artist to be
in league to delay the commencement of his great task.
Finally the matter was put into the hands of a skilled
ecclesiastical lawyer, who succeeded in reconciling the
various interests which barred the way, and carrying the
whole thing through the Court of Arches.
And then came all the questions connected with
building, into every detail of which, from the stencilling
on the rafters of the roof to the marble steps, Mrs. Gurney
entered with the greatest interest and enthusiasm.
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THE CHAPEL OF THE ASCENSION 307
Shields, writing to Mr. Home in December, says :
" Ever since we met on Saturday, I have been brew-
ing and stewing, and taking into the scales afresh all you
said. I have an awe of missing the mark in this momen-
tous matter, and a most earnest wish that no incertitude
of purpose on my part shall stumble you, or confuse you,
in a task of which I more and more discern the difficulty,
and to this end there is a foundation principle which I
desire to lay firmly down i.e. that the paintings are not
for the building, but the building for the paintings. That
I am not to be cramped into the bed, but the bed made
to my measure, with room to stretch myself a little. This
was why I endeavoured to begin at the end, to see before
me, and to formulate a settled plan of the division of the
wall into three main quantities or tiers.
" 1. The lowest to be of subjects with many figures.
" 2. That above to be mainly of single figures in divided
niches.
"3. And the uppermost of a narrower line to receive
angelic figures which Mrs. Gurney much sets her heart on."
That the architect, within the limitations already
alluded to, and with the restrictions imposed on him both
by the artist and the pious foundress, was able to achieve
a result so beautiful and dignified as the Chapel of the
Ascension as it now stands, speaks volumes for his skill
and patience.
Shields painted a water-colour entitled " Facilis Averni
Descensus " which he sent to the Old Water-Colour Society
Spring Exhibition. This was the last picture he exhibited
there; he subsequently retired, in order to give undivided
attention to the chapel work.
Being again out of health, some days were spent at
a Matlock Hydro, and on his return he wrote to his
pupil :
SIENA HOUSE, February 5th.
MY DEAR BAMBINO, I have borne inward reproaches
enough for not writing to you while away. What a
308 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
creature of habit I am ! Turned into a seething crowd
of my fellow-beings, without any possibility for a moment
of the solitude habitual to me I was carried away as
by a stream, and saw you, and all other things I care for,
wnisked past me without power to wave a "now do you
do " even. A hundred and sixty-three mortals made the
swollen current, with baths and other medicinal affairs
in one eddy after another you got caught all day, till you
gave up volition, as a vain struggle. Thursday is taken
up by an engagement. Will Friaay suit you ? Bring all
your work and discouragements to me I know all aoout
them, and how power is built up of them, eventually. If
you please to come for the whole day do. I will get old
Austen for a model. Bring a colour box and a sheet of
Arnold paper, N.B. Easel provided by the Institute.
Don't get discouraged with your efforts Colour is a
thousand times more difficult than black and white.
Remember that its beauty is very largely I had almost
said altogether dependent on the variety of its gradations
as it turns to or from the light, becomes more saturated
with the grey or golden beams, or more sobered by their
absence. How I puzzled through its mysteries, with
no one to show me anything only reading all I could
lay hands on and trying this way and the other, with
many a failure, on tinted paper, on white paper, with
body colour and without, with mediums and without.
Now I can reach what I seek in a direct and simple
way no simpler could be taught to you. Ever yours
affectionately, F. S.
The writer remembers one of her weekly lessons at
this time, when Shields with a radiant face, speaking of
his new work, exclaimed : " I feel as if I had been given
wings."
On April 9th he records in his diary in red letters
" Began Mrs. Gurney's work " and wrote to her saying :
" I have indeed begun to-day, even as I said. I feel
an unknown land is to be sought, in fear and trembling,
across unvoyaged seas. I feel that if Art may be used
/ O /
G. F. WATTS 309
in the service of God at all, if the fine talent may be
traded with in Christ's mart, then there is a scope and
part for it never yet approached save in a very few
exceptional examples. I feel that if there is to be spiritual
life in this work, and welling from it, it must be wrought
in and by the spirit of life.
" We are of one mind and heart in this, my beloved and
honoured mistress. May God fulfil it to His own glory,
though I be nothing."
In June, G. F. Watts wrote asking him to lunch any
day at Little Holland House. He knew nothing of the
work Shields was commencing, but said: "I should
like to have an occasional chat about serious art. I wish
you would kindly send me a line and tell me the correct
colours for the draperies of Faith. I know you are an
authority." To which Shields replied :
"It is good indeed to remember me, in spite of the
appearance of slighting you, and the fact is that I have
often yearned to see you again, but have feared intrusion,
perhaps at some unlucky time when you might, as a
painter sometimes does, wish me at Jericho. Then I
heard with pain of your illness, and became more shy
of troubling you. But thanks indeed for this word of
kindness, which assures me of your undiminished good-
will. I will take the earliest leisure I can make for
waiting on you. Art becomes to me so ' serious ' in all
senses that I am less and less inclined to talk about it,
especially in an age that runs to gabbling seed. The
power of Art for good and evil seems altogether unrecog-
nised, and I, who have some glimmering that way, am
so weak and purblind that I keep to myself, going timidly
on, but at least not giving myself up to the guidance of
the blind teachers who cry aloud, ' We see.'
" For answer to your question and compliment, I am
no ' authority.' I Know none on the subject but the
Authority of the Word revealed. Paul declares Faith
is God's gift. She is Heaven born. She is the assurance
of Heavenly things to mortals shut in by sensuous things,
310 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
therefore the skies hue is hers, her mantle and her wings :
and for her robe, white unspotted. And this because
they who seek righteousness by works fail of that which
only Faith gives. The 'fine linen of the Saints' sym-
bolises their righteousness in the Apocalypse, and it
is said that their robes were made 'white in the blood
of the Lamb.' If I seek where alone I look to find, this
is what is given me, and it is the best I can offer in
response to your question. I bow to tradition only where
it agrees with the written word."
The rest of the year was devoted to work for the
chapel. A visit to Sark in the autumn was saddened by
pathetic letters from Madox Brown telling him of the
illness of his wife, who died on October 10th. He wrote :
"It is no use your hurrying home, and spoiling all
the good of your outing. Good-bye, dear old fellow, try
and come back strong for the winter's work."
Shields was able to get home only on the day after
the funeral, but he lost no time in hastening to his old
friend's side, and through the years of life that were left
to him they were very frequently together.
In 1891 the little road in which Shields had found
so quiet a retreat was threatened by an extension of
the railway. He wrote several letters of protest to
the newspapers, and got up a petition to Parliament
signed by many artists who lived in the neighbourhood.
Eventually, however, the same fate which had interrupted
his tenancy of the two strange old houses in Manchester,
pursued him here, and over the site of Siena House now
spreads the great coaling station of St. John's Wood.
It would be of little interest to dwell with detail upon
the next few years, which were spent in work undisturbed
save by rare days of holiday when health showed this
to be necessary, and by personal sorrows of too intimate a
G. F. WATTS 311
nature to be dwelt upon here. In November 1891, being
much troubled as to the affairs of his friend Madox
Brown, he set on foot a movement in which he was joined
by nearly every artist of note in the country, to commission
a picture to be painted by Brown and presented by the
subscribers to the National Collection. Only those who
have seen the mass of correspondence, questioning and
answering, meddling and intermeddling, subscribing and
not subscribing, enthusiastic or indifferent, can understand
the work this entailed. Not the least of the difficulties
was that of keeping the whole affair a secret from the
veteran artist until some tangible result was assured.
For a time this was posssble, and the affair seemed likely
to proceed smoothly. G. F. Watts wrote, with his fine
generous spirit, on November 12th :
" I am greatly grieved by the contents of your letter,
forwarded to me here. I will, of course, send what aid
I can, and think the idea of giving a commission, or
better, buying a picture, the right thing. I wish I could
at once promise a liberal subscription, but I have never
had anything I did not work for (excepting once in my
life a very small legacy), and I have had from the begin-
ning to work for more than myself. Also, as may be
known, the number of things I have devoted to public
objects, and the number of works in my Gallery, mean
so much out of pocket and nothing in, and the state of
my health obliges many outlays that seem to be luxuries
but are necessities. I am sorry I missed seeing you,
I should have liked to have your opinion of some new
efforts, but I am obliged, by the state of my health, to
avoid the London winter fogs. Write and tell me what
you have been doing, your work is full of interest to me.
It may seem rather presumptive of me to say write and
tell me, but I think you will excuse my ardent desire to
know all that is being conscientiously done. In a few
months I shall be seventy-two, so have not much time
to lose."
312 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Shields' reply, written on the following day, speaks
eloquently of his new work :
" I know too sadly that all the noble works that hang
in your gallery unsold are costly in possession. The world
talks of them in affected raptures, and leaves them with
you. The day will come when they will fight for them.
No nation ever slighted and contemned its imaginative
artists as our England does. Yet what wonders have
they wrought, in conquest of neglect and poverty ? As
for Brown, the miserable pittance paid for the hrst six
frescoes at Manchester, left him eight hundred pounds
to the bad. Thanks to you indeed, for a sympathy I
knew you would extend, and for the promised aid accord-
ing to your power. Burne-Jones, Stephens, and myself are
to meet for an informal committee talk to-morrow, and
determine how best to proceed as quietly as possible to
the end we have in view. I hope we shall reach it. We
have now about 300 promised. I feel it is most kind
to enquire what I am doing, a subject I avoid in general,
chiefly, I think, from a pained sense of failure to hit
my mark, save now and then, and but for these occasional
approaches to the bull's eye, I should yield up effort
in despair. Art is harder to me every day, and the
long years I spent in solitary pursuit of elementary know-
ledge (which students under ordinary teaching acquire
early) left me in middle age far behind in all technical
attainment, and this still cripples me, yet I feel that I
can find means of expressing what I feel, whenever I feel
strongly. So I am battling away at a wonderful thing that
by God's blessing surely has been given me to do. A whole
chapel to fill with design from floor to roof, an Arena
Capella to myself. Suoject over subject, all pictured
walls. It seems incredible still. But the walls are slowly
creeping up under these November skies in the Bayswater
Road, and I am steadily adding subject to subject, all in
ordered plan, to take their places therein. You painted
once the portrait of Mr. Russell-Gurney a wonderful
picture. This is his widow's commission to me. The
beautiful soul had dreamed of helping some neglected
high-aimed artist from her youth. She found me, took
SHIELDS AND G. F. WATTS 313
me for such an one, and so will I prove to her, my
good mistress a faithful and unslothl'ul servant in the
work. I should have to write a book to lay before you
my scheme, but Prophets and Apostles, Christian virtues
and worldly vices, Gospel and Apostolic history, types and
symbols all enter into it, so that my mind and heart
are ever engaged, and I have that greatest of all intel-
lectual boons a consecutive work, that which made
the old men happy, and that which is denied to modern
artists. I have completed about 24 subjects, but unless
you had so generously professed an interest in my work,
I should not have said so much, for I dread that it should
be talked of prematurely, and so the press get hold of
Mrs. Gurney's dear hope, to tear its vitals with their
bear's claws. And it is because this work by its magnitude
calls for all my application, that I am so unready to
leave it in the daylight, so that while my affection has
gone out to Little Holland House, the work has kept me
bound day after day, month after month, till too late
to come.
" I do hope that when you return to town, your health
may be recruited, and so you may be the fitter to recur
to the work you have in hand, to enter upon the works
you meditate. As I grow older, I realise the preciousness
of the few coins of time possibly left to me also, and how
I squandered from my exhaustless purse when I was
young.
" May I send my kindest memory of Mrs. Watts' recep-
tion of a stranger?"
To this letter Watts replied on November 20th as
follows, enclosing a cheque for fifty pounds for the
Madox Brown fund :
" I send the enclosed cheque to be used for the benefit
of Madox Brown, much wishing I could contribute the
whole sum required ; but, as I told you, I am not a man
with independent means. How I envy you ! An oppor-
tunity not hitherto afforded to any modern, at least in
England. The boon could not have been afforded to any
314 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
artist more earnest than yourself; you have my best
wishes and all the aid the most profound sympathy can
give sympathy and really anxious interest, for it is an
event in the history of Modern Art."
Shields replied by return of post :
" I read your letter to the last words with deep interest ;
then, and not till then, did I open the cheque, and the
blood mounted to my cheeks with surprise yea why
should I not say the truth, with admiration for the gener-
ous spirit that dictated such a gift, with such added wish
that you could give the whole required. I say not my
thanks alone are due, but the thanks of all who are work-
ing in this cause. You will be glad to hear that we have
in promises and subscriptions paid in, over 580, your own
cheque added making 630. Leyland has promised 100
of this on condition that the picture or work purchased
from F. M. B. be presented to the nation ; so we are far
advanced towards our aim, and it makes me very glad.
Once more my heartiest thanks for the unexpected liber-
ality of your gift. Yes, you express exactly what I have
felt from the initial projection of the Chapel and its con-
tents, that it is a new thing in England, an unprecedented
opportunity, one for which I am conscious that all my life
has contributed singularly to fit me to grasp, in certain
aspects of it and one that, looked at from other points,
many living painters are better furnished than myself to
adorn. But I am so free here to give full vent to all I
feel, all I have in me to express, I who have been repressed
all my life before, bound, chained with evil and irksome
conditions. No words give utterance to my wonder and
reverence for this gift like those of the Psalm
' When the Lord turned again the Captivity of Zion,
Then were we like unto them that dream.'
Indeed for long I could with hardness persuade myself
this glorious place was mine. What a stimulus to work !
My health has improved since I began eighteen months
ago, a great aim quickens the vital powers, as a diffusion
of aims lowers them by distraction. I know I have your
MADOX BROWN 315
sympathy, for your life has been largely given to advocate
the introduction of painting into our public buildings, and
you have made great sacrifices to furnish some noble
examples, and yet England, that boasts herself of you, has
never given you an opportunity for a cycle of subjects in
which your powers could have full scope. She has pro-
duced artists during the last hundred years manifesting
gifts beyond those of any contemporary nation, and every
one of them has suffered from the same national indiffer-
ence to their high aspirations."
Holman Hunt wrote :
" Much more would indeed be but a poor acknowledg-
ment of the honour Madox Brown has been to this genera-
tion of English Art, but in justice to other obligations I
feel compelled to limit my contribution. Oh ! this is a
humbugging Age, and our country is tainted worse than
any, or such disregard of really great work could not
occur."
Sir Frederic Leighton wrote in his courtly style :
" I hope you will allow me as a brother artist and a
great appreciator of his gifts to contribute my mite."
Sir Noel Paton wrote :
" I am appalled when I realise how long it is since I
last wrote to you. But do not speak of my silence hav-
ing built up a wall between us. A mist-wreath it has no
doubt raised, but through that we can still clasp hands of
friendship, and with the eye of faith see each other spirit
to spirit. ... In the interval I have lost some old and
dear friends by death (I am thankful to say I never lost a
friend otherwise) ; but in the more immediate circle of my
belongings the Gods have been reasonably propitious.
This much of self which may explain some things to
you. For the sorrows through which you have passed,
accept my sincere condolence. But as is generally the
316 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
case with the generous personal troubles have not
blunted your sympathy in the troubles of others as your
efforts to help that great artist and sorely tried man, Madox
Brown, shows. I snould be grateful were you to let him
know, should occasion present itself, how highly I honour
him. I only wish I haa been the wealthy man the world
so fallaciously considers me, that I might have assisted
your scheme with a more liberal hand."
The names of Millais, Poynter, Alma Tadema, Burne-
Jones, and many others figure on the committee, and great
was the dismay of Shields when the secret was let out in
the most unfortunate manner by a paragraph, written in
the worst possible taste, in an evening paper. This un-
luckily was seen by Madox Brown, and its suggestion that
a charitable fund was being started to assist him made
him simply furious. He wrote to Shields repudiating the
whole idea, and threatening to write to the papers to say
that the whole thing was a mistake, and that he didn't
want any help and wouldn't accept any. Poor Shields was
in despair. Burne-Jones, who had given much invaluable
help, wrote very indignantly, and subsequently interviewed
a member of the staff of the offending paper and persuaded
him to put in another paragraph amending "the horrible
wording." But for some time Madox Brown was unap-
proachable, and there seemed a possibility that Shields
would have to return all the money subscribed amount-
ing to nearly 1000. However, Madox Brown was eventu-
ally persuaded to realise that an unprecedented honour
was intended, and it was explained to him that several
people had refused to subscribe for this very reason that
never before had artists subscribed to present a living
artist's work to the nation. The desirable end was partly
due to the fact that a friend of Madox Brown's died just
then, leaving a widow, and with his habitual generosity
he was anxious to assist her immediately. So he consented
HOLMAN HUNT 317
to accept an instalment of the money and to undertake
the commission. Shields had still much work and anxiety
over the choice of subject and various other details which
were not finally decided until the spring of 1892, when
Burne-Jones wrote : " Madox Brown has written me a nice
letter, so now all is healed and comfortable."
Holman Hunt was always in touch with Shields, and
many indeed were the letters they exchanged ; those care-
fully preserved by Shields date from 1877 to 1910. During
the last few years they were written painfully, the failing
sight of the great artist is only too evident in the strange
and almost undecipherable documents, which he knew
his friend's sympathetic eyes would grudge no pains to
decipher.
At this time Hunt was travelling in the East and wrote
some vivid letters to Shields ; the first from Rome six or
eight closely written pages full of interesting details of his
journey through Alassio, Genoa, and Pisa, at which last-
named place the destruction of some of the frescoes by
restoration, moved him to write a protest to the Times.
Shields would indeed regret the damage done to Gozzoli's
work. Lasinio's engravings of the Campo Santo frescoes
were introduced to him by Rossetti, and he always regarded
the big volume as a perfect treasure-house of invention
and design. The letter ends with a disquisition on the
sculptures in the Lateran Museum.
Holman Hunt's next letter is written from Cairo in
February, with vivid descriptions of the glorious scenes up
the Nile, new wonders every day. He dwells upon his
surprise at the beauty of the black and brown people who
are engaged along the banks of the Nile, drawing up water
to irrigate the land.
" These ply their trade and they get bronzed to a
perfect silky purple, every muscle is playing about
318 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
under their polished skins, and their forms are mag-
nificent. Buffaloes, camels, apes, cows, and horses go
along the banks led by youmj naked boys, and some-
times these ride the beasts, maKing perfect groups for a
sculptor. The river sometimes is disturbed as the sea, but
at others it is like a mirror in reflectiveness, and boats sail
along with sheets large enough to carry them into the sky,
and in the boats are sailors in long shirts, nearly always
blue, light and dark, but always of the most heavenly
colour, telling against the blue sky and the coppery
wavelets."
The letter goes on to describe a ride to the Temple of
Philae and a wonderful scene where some Nubian boys
swam the rapids astride logs of trees, and ends with sym-
pathetic reference to Shields' welcome letter : " Your
account of Brown's acceptance, and the manner of ac-
ceptance of the testimonial subscription, greatly pleased
and interested us."
Intensely interesting and enlightening to Shields must
have been Holman Hunt's next letter of eight or nine
pages, written from Jerusalem, where he was struck afresh
with the splendour of the chance of painting pictures of
the New Testament there, and lamented the necessity of
returning to London.
Knowing how much Shields desired to be able to
visualise the scenes in which most of the incidents he was
painting had taken place, he says :
"I wish very much you could see the country just
now; spite of the want of vegetation of large kind, it
appears to me most lovely in its character. When in the
day I look up from my drawing and turn towards the
landscape through the window, I think that the particular
preciousness and clearness of colouring of the view tran-
scends anything I have ever seen, and you know how very
much I dote upon English landscape. My window shows
me on the left the walls of Jerusalem surmounting the
mount, with large firs and cypresses as ornaments and
SCHOOLS OF ART
plumes behind the walls. The slope falls down to the
lower (dry) pool of Gihon, separated from Hinnon by
a causeway leading up to the plain of Rephaim, now
green with young corn and bordering the line that leads
traceably for two or three miles to a hill range which shuts
out the view of Bethlehem (three miles beyond)."
He goes on to describe the convent bearing the name
of Mar Elyas, because Elijah is said to have rested there
in his flight from pursuit, in witness of which there is a
depression in the limestone made by his recumbent body.
Interesting, too, is the amusing description of a wonderful
building half-way up the Mount of Olives, with four
bulging domed towers like German skittles, built by a
lady as to whose sanity the artist expresses doubt, and, in
contrast to this vandalism, a wonderful triple arch spanning
the road called the Via Dolorosa, which recent excava-
tions had led Holman Hunt to believe to be the very arch
under which Jesus Christ was marched to and from the
judgment-seat of Pilate, and the pavement the very pave-
ment worn by His sacred feet. With what delight must
Shields have perused these fascinating letters, but per-
mission to reproduce them here is unfortunately with-
held.
In this year he first undertook the work of examiner
at South Kensington, having as co-examiners in that year
William Morris and Lewis Day. Shields never believed
much in schools of art, and the students had doubtless
never before been examined by anyone who took so gloomy
a view of their future and of the decadence of modern art.
The system of teaching at the Royal College of Art is
much improved since those days, largely on account of
the energetic reports of Shields, Morris, Walter Crane, and
Sir William Richmond.
A year or two later he gave an earnest address to the
students at the Lambeth School of Art. After much
320 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
sound advice on the subject of draughtsmanship, he
said :
" Such counsel, I know, is old-fashioned amid the loud
and insistent claims of the Impressionists and their advo-
cates, crying out, ' We are the people, and wisdom shall
be with us.' Impressionism indeed ! but surely the nature
of an impression is according to the substance receiving
it. If the finely-moulded seal be pressed on mud the
impression must be blurred, indefinite, formless, muddled ;
but if on plaster or on wax, the impression received will be
clear, defined, a shapely rendering of all the fine mouldings
of the die. There are mud minds and there are wax minds
brought to Nature's exquisite seal, and you may know
them by their works. The worst of it is that the mud
splutters so loud and volubly of its superior powers of
receptivity that the fine wax is increasingly discredited,
until, as Rossetti once said despairingly to me, ' I am
ashamed to belong to a profession in which the possession
of intellect is rather a hindrance than an advantage.' And
Blake defines the noblest form of Impressionism for those
who can receive his words when he says : ' We are led to
believe a lie when we see with, not through, the eye.'
In other words, your sight and use of Nature must be
reverently sacramental, ever seeking to discern the inward
spiritual powers that lie within her material and sensuous
manifestations. Thus only can you ever hope to influence
and affect the spirits of those whose eyes your work ad-
dresses."
And again he goes on to say :
" If when you enter upon your profession the people's
clamour is that you make them a golden calf, then look
upon yourselves as bound to uphold the truth you know,
and rather to endure all neglect, poverty, and odium than
give way, especially in a day like this, when all the forces
of malformed devilry seem united to root out the sense
of beauty from the modern mind, so that our boasted
civilisation shows scarce an object of its own creation that
is not full of deformities or lifelessly mechanical, and the
DEATH OF MADOX BROWN 321
settled state of hopelessly mean rigidity of our male dress
is not to be paralleled in any previous age. At least we
must not willingly consent to become blind, through the
sufferance of habitude, to the widening realm of defor-
mity, or become ourselves subject to its deathly insensi-
bility to its own hideousness we, who are set to contend
against it."
In October 1893 Madox Brown died, leaving a terrible
blank for Shields, who had been so near a friend since the
early Manchester days. During the last few months their
intercourse had needed all Shields' love and tact, for diffi-
culties had arisen with regard to the last picture for the
Manchester Town Hall, also with the artists who had sub-
scribed to the scheme originated by Shields, and who were
at first not in agreement as to the subject of the picture
they had commissioned. A pathetic letter from Shields
to the writer was received a day or two after Madox
Brown's death :
SIENA HOUSE.
MY VERY DEAR CHILD, I am terribly depressed. Owing
to the direful embroglio of that Manchester last picture
and the subscription picture he wanted to exchange for
the former, and the fear of words with dear Brown, I had
not been near him for eight weeks until Friday last week,
when I found him all alone, without a word of reproach,
receiving me just as if I had paid my weekly call. But
he was very low, and I was troubled for him. And now
the more thanks for your dear sympathy another of my
dearest ones gone my very dearest. How lonely one
grows in age.
Holman Hunt wrote an affectionate letter begging
Shields not to grieve at the death of their great and good
old friend :
" He had done his work, and done it nobly and well,
and it was evident that he could not have made much of
322 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
further life in his art, and from his nature I think it is
pretty clear that he had made up his mind about other
matters, and would learn no more here, while elsewhere
he may, with his singular honesty and consistency, rise to
the highest pinnacle of wisdom. Death is a very little
change, seen from the other side, and yet it must be a
great clearer away of mists."
Later in the month Mrs. Gurney wrote :
" I rejoice that you are able to give forth your living
thoughts again on canvas. I ought to have sent you
back your scroll before this there is only one suggestion
I should like to make. It is in the Noah, who in his white
garment represents the cleansing of water-baptism. Might
he not speak, as John the Baptist did, of the further puri-
fication needed of the Holy Ghost and of Fire Matthew
iii. 2.
" It seems to me that the Annunciation of these two
great Baptisms at the commencement of your series is
very important, and as Enoch has prophesied of judgment,
the note of Noah might be its Object. Purification or
Righteousness, the Dove also promises this.
" You cannot think how thankful two or three of my
friends have been for the triumph of Life out of Death
pictured in your magnificent Jonah ! Everyone delights
in St. Andrew and the little lad, but my elect rejoice yet
more in Jonah."
In spare hours this year was finished the large oil
painting of " Knott Mill Fair " the only work quite of its
kind produced by the artist, and interesting as showing the
extraordinary versatility of his genius. Madox Brown
having only commenced the great picture of Wyclifie,
it was necessary to decide upon some other work of his
as a substitute, and after much negotiation " Christ Wash-
ing Peter's Feet " was acquired, and with the balance of
the fund some of the artist's fine cartoons were purchased
and distributed among the various Schools of Art. Hoi-
LETTER TO MRS. G. F. WATTS 323
man Hunt wrote in December saying that it was the best
fortune for Brown's reputation that they could expect, to
have "Christ Washing Peter's Feet" placed in the
National Gallery, and that he was altogether pleased at it,
although in his opinion there were other pictures " The
Last of England," for instance, or " Work" which might
have done him still more honour. Shields wrote to Mrs.
Watts on February 9th :
" I have never thanked you for your gracious letter.
Why ? Because I've not been myself alone, but plus
three lumbago, sciatica, and rheumatism possessing me
and rendering life and work an effort indeed. I carried
your letter with me to Manchester, whence I've just re-
turned, for I thought to write thence ; but that air made
me worse. One refreshing thing I saw, the Signer's great
picture of ' The Good Samaritan ' at last hung where the
eye can gloat on its grandeur of drawing and execution.
All else seems beside it so small and feeble. Ah me, it
made me feel so very small also ! Truly I am glad that
Mr. Watts is well enough to take riding exercise. It is
wonderful and joyous to hear of it, and that he is painting
the beautiful ' embodiment of innocence and purity ' which
some time, when the swallow's return emboldens yours, I
hope to see.
" It is indeed a great satisfaction to us to have placed
Madox Brown's work (one of his finest) in the National
Gallery. Mrs. Hueff'er declines to receive the surplus,
except as the price of some of his cartoons, and we are
seeking how to meet her, possibly by buying the ' Will-
helmus Conquistator,' if only we can find any institution
that will find wall-room for it. The photograph I sent to
you is not from one of the works for Mrs. Gurney's chapel.
It was painted for the crypt of St. Barnabas', Pimlico, a
few years ago. Do I hear aright that Mr. Watts has again
declined a baronetcy. I hope it is true it would be like
him, and all true hearts will praise him for it. With all
sincerity do I reciprocate your wishes. May the New Year
be rich in God's good and perfect gifts to you both."
CHAPTEK XIX
The chapel built Mrs. Russell-Garner's enthusiasm Death of Christina
Rossetti Sir Noel Paton's letter The opening of the chapel Death
of Mrs. Gnrney The new studio at Wimbledon Letters from Lady
Mount-Temple, Dr. Alexander M'Laren, G. F. Watts, Hall Caine
The Chancery suit Illness.
THE building of the chapel was now practically com-
pleted, and the two little lunettes over the entrance
were painted in fresco. Of these Mrs. Gurney wrote in
June 1894:
"I left your studio yesterday quite uplifted with
thankfulness for your blessed given-gift for the entrance
of our little shrine. You cannot think how it spoke to
me, and though it will not have the inward personal
whisper I alone could distinguish, it cannot fail to bring
to many hearts a fuller appreciation of the wonderful
parable it points to. ... I trust many, multiplying and
increasingly, will thank God with me for the fulness of
His that has been poured out through your hands.
" I know well you must be profoundly lonely and in
spite of your inner voice and teaching received and given,
must feel this loneliness in its anguish at times. Perhaps
it is because you are thus led into the lonely wilderness
that you gather so much for all of us who traffic with one
another in more beaten paths.
"What a privilege for me out of the Mammon of
unrighteousness to have been permitted to set free your
' long repressed aims.' Please remember that when I
hint at some vision, as I called it, of a possible Text and
Angels in the gable, that I merely mean a bare shadow
of a suggestion that may or mav not be glanced at, and
refused or moulded into something better. Always with
affectionate reverence, yours, EMILIA R. GURNET."
324
DEATH OF CHRISTINA ROSSETTI 325
Throughout the year Mrs. Gurney was constantly at
his side, discussing and thinking out every detail with
the artist. Another dear friend died this year Christina
Rossetti whose touching last letter of farewell, written
to Shields a few days before she died, has already been
published in her biography by Mr. Mackenzie Bell. She
died on December 29th, and on New Year's Day 1895
Mrs. Gurney wrote, having arranged that Shields should
come to her at Cheltenham for a few days :
" All blessings of Heaven and Earth be with you this
day and all the days ! Alas ! for ourselves and especi-
ally for you, in Christina's flight. What a reunion, what
a consummation of Life for her ! If you find yourself too
tired to come after the Memorial Service, telegraph and
come on Thursday."
In this month Sir Noel Paton wrote from Edinburgh
on receiving a photograph of one of the angels in the
chapel frieze :
"Your beautiful 'Angel of the Chimes' did me no
end of good, and has since stood within hand reach of my
bed, a pleasanter and withal more efficacious anodyne to
my special aches than as yet my pharmacist has supplied.
I thank you for it very heartily. What was my pleasure
when a little while ago the photographs of the grand
series of designs, of which my angel forms part, were
brought for my inspection by a friend of Mrs. Russell-
Gurney's.
" I. knew that you were engaged on a very important
work of a sacred character; but I was not prepared to
find it one in every way so congenial to your genius, and
so fitted to call forth those unique qualities of invention
and execution which the grand cartoons for Eaton Hall
chapel first revealed to me. How thankful I am that
these designs are being carried out under the auspices
of a friend evidently so well fit-ted to appreciate their
326 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
thought, fulness, and beauty. That they will speak to
many a listening heart aoove the rush and roar of
London, when we have all passed beyond the dark river,
must be a grateful reflection to her and to you. I
earnestly trust that strength will be accorded to you to
carry the noble work to completion. I wish I could hope
to see it even in progress, out it is very certain that I
shall never again bring my blue bonnet over the Border."
In February Shields was obliged to leave off work for
a time, the weather being exceptionally severe ; indeed
Holman Hunt wrote saying that it was really dangerous
for Shields to continue to work in that chilly chapel ; he
had been obliged to dismiss his own model day after day
because the man was unable to stand in the cold. He
sent a vivid description of frozen pipes, and the poor
Thames near their house at Fulham, looking like the
Polar seas, with wrecked barges, and icy winds. How-
ever, Shields was soon back at the chapel, finishing the
beautiful " Adam and Eve," working at the friezes on both
sides, the long panels, and the angels between them, so
that the great scaffoldings upon whose giddy height he
and those assisting him had to work, might be cleared
away as soon as possible. Mrs. Gurney's health began to
fail very much in this year, and she became impatient to
see the effect of the first pictures in the chapel. In
August Shields wrote to her :
" I have made arrangements now whereby the man
who will fix the pictures to the wall, can come up at three
days' notice, for now I see the light gleaming brightly
through the daily thinner streak of wood that nas yet to
be got through for a few days now, if no untoward
hindrance comes, will see the end scaffolding taken down.
I write this to cheer you with the good tidings. I don't
wish the text, ' When all the morning stars sang together '
put up, because it would confuse my purpose in the
circular design wherein I mean Adam and Eve to be
r -J
TROUBLED DAYS 327
glorifying God for His wondrous work in the heavens at
eventide, as the stars are revealed when the sun goes
down.
" What say you to ' All thy works praise thee, and all
thy saints bless thee ' ? There has been many a problem
of design and colour to solve these last few weeks, as piece
has got joined to piece, but I think that all is happily
coming into unity now, and I am as anxious as yourself
to see the scaffolding removed."
In October, writing to Mrs. Gurney from Brighton
where he was staying for a brief holiday at the house of
a friend, he says :
"It is a great comfort to me that in return for all
your patience and deferred hopes, you have joy in what
is already accomplished. It supports but does not elate
me, though if you had been disappointed I must have
sunk. There is too much of difficulty before me to admit
of my feeling but fear and trembling of some false step.
If Michael Angelo had had a mistress like you, instead of
those dreadful Popes, what might we not have had ? But
they could not comprehend his aims, nor his work when
done."
Troubles as hard to bear as Michael Angelo's Popes
were in store for Shields. Early in 1896 the question of
a new house became imperative, a vigorous crusade in the
press and elsewhere failed to abate the plague of organ-
grinders, the railway extension still threatened, his house-
keeper developed some form of religious mania and had
to be taken away hurriedly, and her place was not easily
filled; other troubles of a deeper nature beset him, and
Mrs. Gurney's failing health was a constant anxiety.
Some books sent by the writer in the hope of cheering his
solitude were acknowledged :
" Thank you so much for the books anything to
divert me from chewing my own heart. I have drunk in
328 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
that beautiful, most pure and exquisite Monk of Fife. I
truly think it has kept me sane this last fortnight to have
this to turn to. I thank Andrew Lang ana you, dear
friend, for its diversion. Mrs. Gurney is so, so weak, and
filled now with an anxiety about the chapel strangely in
contrast with her former trust and patience. She sends
pitiful messages begging me to get on with the important
parts, and I to ease her will do anything. Indeed ner life
seems to hang on my fidelity and energy just now. One
thing only appears to bind ner spirit to trie weary body,
and that is the chapel ; so, with all my sorrow, I brace
myself up to go on as if nothing grieved me, that I may
report progress to her."
In July Shields went to Manchester, at the request of
the Corporation, to repair some of Madox Brown's frescoes
which had been injured by the umbrellas or sticks of too
enthusiastic admirers ; only to do a service to the memory
of his old friend would he have left the chapel work just
then. He was still looking for a house, and very nearly
decided on one at Baling, but, taking the writer with him
for a final inspection, a parrot in the next house set up a
loud screech. That was enough ; Shields fled the place
at once. Finally an old house at Merton was found,
secluded in a garden of three acres, affording ample room
for the building of a studio large enough for the immense
canvases projected for the chapel.
The negotiations were hardly concluded when Shields,
returning from another short visit to Brighton, received
the news of Mrs. Gurney's death on October 17th.
On the day on which the chapel had been opened for
the first of a series of addresses on the pictures by the
Rev. R. Corbet, Mrs. Gurney had been present. Shields
records in his Story of the Chapel : " The next day she
was stricken with illness, which after seven months of
lingering suffering, endured with patient resignation, took
away her whose gracious presence, I had trusted, would
WIMBLEDON 329
have long remained my stimulating impulse and en-
couragement upon a lonely, toilsome path. ... It may
be conceived what drear vacancy this lady's loss leaves in
the heart of her servant."
However, with his indomitable courage Shields did
not allow his grief to interrupt his work ; only a few weeks
later he was collecting information as to the banks of the
Jordan, and Holman Hunt sent him a helpful letter, illus-
trated with slight sketches showing the steep banks of
alluvial drift with short trees surmounting them, the
higher cliffs in other places, and explaining the seasonal
differences in the appearance of the stream and its banks.
The studio in the garden of the old house at Merton
was now being built, and all Shields' friends must have
been relieved when he left the depressing little house where
he had suffered so much, and settled in the more cheerful
surroundings at Wimbledon. The year, however, was a
very sad one. In March he had planned a visit to Italy
with a friend, when he was seized with neuritis in his foot,
the beginning of the long and painful complaint which
troubled him to the end of his days.
For a time any work was out of the question. At the
end of April a letter was received, written in more cheerful
mood :
MERTON, April 22nd, 1897.
MY DEAR T , Instead of the promised hope of a
glint of your own sunshine, there comes a heavy-laden weary
postman. If the poor fellows strike, I shall know that you
have precipitated that national calamity by heaping this
last straw on the camel's back. The mysterious pulpy
parcel opened into a brilliant crimson plush dressed bottle,
capable of huge enlargement, and then I knew that you
had carried out your dreadful threat, and sent down upon
my already miserable head another debt of gratitude which
I am not caryatid vertical enough to bear up under. I
am lying under it now, cruel child I am mash ! Flat-
tened ! Pressed out ! Crushed flat and only fit to be
330 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
hung up like the victims of a cruel Ottoman tyrant. Well,
it is at my feet, and cosy. I am sitting up in an armchair
and a little better. . . . But the affection is most obstinate
in its hold. I hope you are able to enjoy that lovely
country. Sketch whatever you see, with absolute omm-
verous greed devour devour insatiably, small and great,
near and distant, trivial and important, rest and action,
high and low, heaven and earth, quadruped and biped,
fish and insect, if ever you hope to disgorge in the shape
of inventive design.
In May he went to Buxton for several weeks. The diary
is blank, but a long letter from Holman Hunt shows that
Shields visited Ireland in July for some necessary land-
scape material. In August he was able to get to work
again at the chapel, having in the interval completed the
first edition of the handbook. At the end of the year he
went to Morocco for a few weeks with his friend Mr.
Beckett, being still troubled with pain in his foot.
In April 1898 Lady Mount-Temple wrote:
BABBACOMBE, TORQUAY.
MY DEAR MR. SHIELDS, Ever since I received your
deeply interesting vision presentation of the sacred shrine
I have of course oeen longing to thank you in words, as I
have constantly in heart and spirit. How can we gather
thankfulness enough to God for the beautiful realisation
of this long-cherished inspiration, surely we only faintly
echo her hymn of praise in the heavenly chorus of the
blessed Te Deum. I cannot write as I would, for I am
very weak, and have but few borrowed gleams of her
angelic spirit. It all makes me long to see you. Will
you come some day ? At all events believe how gratefully
my heart turns to you, and among the many blessings of
my long life I shall ever count among the chief the honour
bestowed on me of bringing you ancl my best and most
blessed friend together. I do trust you are pretty well-
as well as your ardent spirit can allow the poor earthly
tabernacle to be. I have been living very much in the
LADY MOUNT-TEMPLE 331
Kossetti circle lately, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Mac-
kenzie Bell, who sent me his beautiful Life of Christina.
What the melody must be of the choir invisible ! Pray
for me that I may be permitted to hear its strain some
day, from however humbly distant a position. Come here,
please, some day, that we may listen together for its echoes.
Your ever sincere and affectionate friend,
G. MOUNT-TEMPLE.
In January Shields was again at work in the chapel.
The beautiful figure of " Patience " was completed in this
month.
Dr. M'Laren, with all his old enthusiasm, wrote in
July :
" I am ashamed to look at the date of your letter ; but
I have been torn in pieces by a multitude of daily recur-
ring trifles, the vermin that gnaw continually, and have
been able to do nothing that I wished to do, because there
was so much that I must. I was very sorry to find that
I had missed you. I had gone for a fortnight to the Isle
of Man ! the Paradise of Oldhamites, but with plenty of
glens without tea-gardens, where clear water runs and
cuckoos shout ; but I would rather have heard you than
them, if I had only known you were to be here. Thank
you for your noble ' Paul ' (what do you call him saint
for ?). I think you have never done a truer embodiment
of a great soul. The wasted eagerness, the weakness rein-
forced by supernatural strength, are magnificently ren-
dered. I wish every lazy, smooth-haired and smooth-souled
preacher had a copy of it hanging in his ' study ' to flame
down rebukes at him. I have had him framed to hang
in mine, and you through him will spur me often. I
grieve to hear of your being out of health, and I surely
need not add that my deepest, truest sympathy shares in
your burdens. Is it quite true that, as you say, ' it profits
not to speak ' ? Perhaps suppression aggravates the pain.
You will not suspect me of seeking to extort confidences ;
I only mean that if any time you feel that speech would
ease you, I am more than ready to listen, to share the
burden."
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
The work steadily proceeded until in September, after
fixing in the chapel the large pictures of " Nazareth," the
" Well of Samaria," " Transfiguration," " Baptism," and
others, the artist started for Italy with his friend Mr. Bod-
dington, revisiting Assisi, Perugia, and Venice. On
November 8th he wrote to Mr. Mackenzie Bell :
" I have got. back in better case for my work, and
much humbled by close contact with the mighty masters
of old Italy. I can scarcely suffer the sight of modern
art at present, while my impressions are unladed."
The next year passed uneventfully in work broken by
frequent ill-health and depression. In January 1900 he
wrote to Mrs. G. F. Watts :
" I have longed to again pay my respects to ' the Signer/
for I would not that it should be thought that I can be for-
getful of the kind interest he has shown in my work and
self. But all the past year till November I was glued to my
easel, labouring might and main to finish the largepictures
for the chapel. (' 'the Raising of Lazarus' and ' Then the
Jews took up stones again to stone Him.') This I did,
and in so doing, nigh finished myself, being stricken with
an illness which has held me to bed for five months past
in much pain. I am slowly mending, but quite unable to
resume work, and forbid by the doctors also, who bundle
me off, as soon as I can move, to Algiers. You may con-
ceive how I mourn over the snapped threads of my work-
loom, all tangled and distraught, with all there is yet to
do to complete my long and loved task. But I have
learned submission, and it may be that this sore discipline
is part of the needed education of my spirit for so exalted
and pure a task. My love and admiration to the large-
hearted great master, to whom I do not write direct, that
I may not burden him to reply."
In this year he began to be much troubled with legal
proceedings with regard to the terms of Mrs. Gurney's
THE CHANCERY SUIT
will, which were apparently somewhat involved, and her
relatives found no settlement to be arrived at short of a
Chancery suit, which to a person of Shields' temperament
was indeed a terrible blow. To be bereaved of such a
friend, whose whole life had been bound up in this work,
and who had ever treated the artist with the most gener-
ous devotion, was hard enough, but when her inspiring
presence was replaced by business-like lawyers who ques-
tioned every statement and estimated all service in terms
of hard cash, the sensitive heart shrank into fierce resent-
ment, and his closing years were embittered and saddened.
In December of 1900 he wrote :
" I was getting steadily better until that Monday, when
I was put under cross-examination for three hours about
the chapel dispute, and ever since I have been so low and
exhausted that I have little heart for anything, sleep
broken, and full of evil dreams."
G. F. Watts wrote to the trustees on Shields' behalf on
January 4th, 1901, saying:
" I am not surprised at criticism upon the progress of
the work ; it is too often made in England, when an im-
portant piece of wall decoration, or a work of monumental
character, requiring the full powers of the artist's creative
faculty at its best and in its highest moods, has been taken
in hand. I would beg those who would urge you to move
upon this point of time, to remember the result of Mr.
Ayrton's (First Commissioner of the Board of Works)
action with regard to the Wellington monument, action
which was generally condemned at the time, and which it
may not be too much to say cost the sensitive artist his
life, and deprived the country of perhaps the greatest
artist since Michael Angelo ! Mr. Shields is, I know,
making every possible endeavour to leave upon the walls
of the chapel his highest spiritual convictions, expressed
in a series of finely executed pictures. That he has been
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
able to complete so many of the designs in the time, is,
it appears to me, really remarkable."
It would serve no purpose now to enter fully into the
rights and wrongs of this miserable dispute, suffice it to
say that after being threatened that, under the ambiguous
wording of the will, it would be quite possible for the
trustees to take the work altogether out of Shields' hands,
and call in some other artist to complete the chapel, he
consented to sign a document promising as he wrote to
Miss Gurney " to finish the chapel in an impossible time,
for an impossible sum."
Mr. Hall Caine, of whom Shields always spoke with
affection, wrote :
GHEKBA CASTLE, ISLE OF MAN,
October 3rd, 1901.
MY DEAK SHIELDS, Forgive my long silence. I was
in London when your first letter came, and I set out to
see you, getting as far as Putney where Mackenzie Bell
told me that even if you were at home (which seemed
doubtful) you did not like to be visited on Sunday. I was
sorry to forego my visit, but perhaps in any case it would
have been fruitless. You misconceived the passage in the
Bookman. In speaking of Rome, the writer was using
the name in Mazzini's sense, not in the sense in which we
in England use it to represent the Catholic Church. If
you ever read the Eternal City you will find it in all
essentials a Protestant book. It does not deny the presence
of deep and true piety in the Catholic Church, and it re-
cognises in the Vatican and the Pope the power and
operation of the gospel ; it is above all else a plea for the
individual will and mind, and that I take to be essential
Protestantism. I have lived a great deal in Rome, and I
am outside all the churches, but I hold on to the funda-
mental things in the faith as Christ gave it us, and I feel
a very true charity towards all who kneel to the one God,
whether they approach Him by way of Christ or Christ by
way of the Virgin Mary. Yesterday I spoke from a
Catholic platform, and I had the difficult task of holding
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Wall painting in the Chapel of the Ascension (ante-chapel)
HALL CAINE
my independence untrammelled, and saying for the
Catholic Church what I thought to be its due. I know
well I shall please neither Catholics nor Protestants, but
that is not my first concern. You say very truly that my
book has been misconceived. The trouble is that it has
been dealt with chiefly by the literary critics who, speak-
ing of them as a whole, know nothing about religious
questions and very little about political ones. But there
have been very clear-sighted critics of the book too, and
among them were Ian Maclaren, Dr. Parker (in a letter, to
be followed I hear by a sermon), Mr. Hugh Price Hughes,
and Dr. Aked of Liverpool, whose sermon I will try to
send. On the whole I ought to be satisfied that the
message of my book is being heard. With the merely
malignant abuse of the literary critics I am not much con-
cerned. The book can take care of itself on their lines.
I am sorry to gather that you are in the midst of
worries. Are they about work? If so, that will right
itself in due course. I am also in the midst of worries,
and among them are two lawsuits, but I am not afraid.
It seems long since we met ; and how long it is since our
days with poor Gabriel I was made to feel very acutely
a few days ago when his niece (little Olive, William's
daughter, you remember) wrote to ask permission to
translate my new book. She is a married woman now,
and her father is seventy-two years of age. I was a
youngster of twenty-six when you saw me first how well
I remember the night, and see you where you stood on the
hearthrug in Gabriel's studio and now I am forty-eight.
But with all the changes I have gone through one thing
remains unchanged with me and that is the sincere affec-
tion with which I always think of you, which is a good deal
oftener than I write. Yours very truly,
HALL CAINE.
Writing on March 27th, 1902, to Mr. Mackenzie Bell,
who with many other friends had spared no pains to help
him through these troubled days, Shields says :
" I was much touched by your last words of assurance
that in this long, wearing, and unjust trial you have re-
336 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
membered me before the just Judge, that He would avenge
me of mine adversaries (not revenge me). I am enclosing
letters from G. F. Watts, Holman Hunt, &c., which are
absolute in the terms employed concerning the sum of
work done in the chapel ; tnere is also the President's letter
of regret that I left tne Royal Water-Colour Society for
the sake of the chapel work, and my doctor's certificate
that my last illness was induced by overwork. . . . They
have compelled me ' to boast,' as noble St. Paul says for
I want only to pursue my work unnoticed and undisturbed,
and they will not let me. It is very midsummer madness
to accuse me of delaying the work, and to disorder my
mind and break up my days with the legal persecutions
I endure only for the work's sake otherwise I would free
myself from them instantly."
In 1903 several friends, notably the Rev. Hugh
Chapman, Dr. Moir, and Mrs. Jervis decided to appeal
for a fund of 3000, the payments to extend over eight
years, to enable the artist to complete his labours with
freedom from pecuniary anxiety, the payment awarded by
the Court being entirely inadequate, especially when the
expense of materials and for workmen employed in the
fixing of the large pictures had to be defrayed by the
artist.
"We feel sure" (so runs the document) "that there
must be many who would be distressed to think that
London might be deprived of the fulfilment of the pious
Foundress's wishes, or that the work should suft'er from
transference to other hands. It is too delicate a subject
on which to dilate at length, but having satisfied ourselves
as to the absolute needs of the case, we earnestly ask those
who are able to contribute, and who believe in the services
of art as the handmaid to religion, practically to recognise
the devotion and ability of the artist, who has brought to
bear on his work unstinted sacrifice and diligence."
The appeal was generously responded to, both by
friends to whom Mrs. Gurney's memory was dear, and by
TROUBLED DAYS 337
many who appreciated the work for its own sake, but the
subject was always a bitter one to Shields, and no doubt
he was a little inclined to impute hostility and cruelty to
those whose actions were solely actuated by a desire to be
definite, business-like, and unemotional.
This attitude was in such fierce contrast to that of the
pious foundress, whose one idea had been to cherish and
support the sensitive artist whose heart and soul were,
with her own, so bound up in their sacred work, that
Shields, rightly or wrongly, had a burning sense of insult
and injury under which he smarted to the end of his
days.
In 1904 the diary is more regularly kept. The first few
weeks were spent in designing the great pictures of the
Crucifixion and Ascension for the end of the chapel.
Among the many entries relating to visits to Holman
Hunt is the following :
" March 3rd. To Holman Hunt's to design smoke for
his frame for ' Lady of Shalott.' He told me the strange
tale of his grandfather's wife and the game cocks (she
chopped off their heads)."
It is to be regretted that this evidently weird story
remains a mystery perhaps never to be solved.
During this spring Shields was much troubled by
constant pain in his foot. In May he stayed for some days
at Danehill with Mr. Hall Caine, and in June went
to Manchester to try some hydropathic treatment. He
wrote in low spirits :
" I begin to wonder if I am permanently a cripple and
there's no help in doctors none ! As old Carlyle said :
' I might just as well have poured all my sorrows into
the hairy ears of the first jackass I came across ; ' where
nervous diseases torment they are ignorant and impotent
(unless you know one that is not). I moon away my
useless days fretting at my neglected work and all the
Y
338 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
watchful bitterness of my enemies who wait to trap me,
and accuse me of delay."
Neither the many hydropathic treatments, nor the
most eminent specialists could avail in this painful com-
plaint. At one time amputation of the foot was recom-
mended, and probably this would have saved him much
suffering, but his horror at the mere suggestion of this
operation was such that it was vain to urge it, and the
suffering, now dull, now excruciating, continued with
intervals of relief until the end. A sea voyage was
suggested, and Shields went to Morocco in July.
In August he stayed with the Holman Hunts at
Sonning, and wrote :
" I am here for three days, unable to decline the
invitation, for life grows short, and I now feel that such
opportunities must be few, and any one of them may
be the last. But I sit in the garden all day, unable to
walk for pain in this peccant foot. All remedial mea-
sures appear vain the sea voyage from which I hoped
so much has not affected this trouble. This is a lovely
place so peaceful, but for the accursed motor car's
sputter and roar."
In the following year the foot troubled him severely.
Many friends endeavoured to alleviate the suffering, which
seemed at times unendurable. Mr. Hall Caine wrote from
St. Moritz on New Year's Day 1905 :
" Your letter of so many days ago has only just reached
me. We were several days in London on our way here,
but they were the days of the fog, and I tried in vain
to get out to see you. It was quite impossible to get out
at all. We are both dreadfully troubled to hear of your
continued illness. I can well believe that you must nave
suffered the most excruciating agony with your foot,
but I trust it is now better and that you are in a fair
HALL CAINE
way for recovery. It must be a joy to you to realise that
your work at the chapel is fast (I hardly dare to say fast)
attaining to the recognition it so richly deserves. When
the publishers of a book entitled The Gospels in Art sent
me a copy the other day, I took occasion to speak of your
own work in terms which, though far from adequate, were
at least enthusiastic. Turning over the pages of that
book, I did very strongly feel how much you had done
which even the old masters had imperfectly compassed,
and I do trust that in your dark hours you are cheered by
the certainty that the work of your life will not only achieve
a great distinction in the time to come, but bring to many
a real solace and a true understanding of the mighty
themes you have dealt with. Yet I know that you long
for health to complete your task, and I pray you may have
it, and have it abundantly, both for its own sake and for the
sake of the high uses you will surely put it to. We had to
come here again, for my health, though not utterly broken
(as the papers said), was getting low, and I was feeling the
strain of life severely. So here we are with blue skies over
our heads and the white ground under our feet and the
air full of sunshine. It is a strange and almost miraculous
change from the dark days of a fortnight ago in London.
I should have been happy indeed to hear your impressions
of The Prodigal Son, but you must not give yourself one
moment's pain to write on that subject. The book has
apparently had a generous reception more favourable
than perhaps any other book of mine, although allowance
has to be made for the operation of those inevitable laws
of poor human nature which express themselves in certain
little shrieks and squeaks. On the whole I have reason to
be thankful and happy, and if the work as a whole does not
cover all that I meant by it, I think it expresses more of my
best self than anything I have done. You may know that
it has been a subject of many sermons in many countries,
and I think it has done good. I ought to have sent
you a sort of long sermon of my own which I preached to
an audience of one my secretary, Miss Waddy (daughter
of the Judge-preacher) and afterwards printed in the
Daily Chronicle on November 17th. Apparently it made
a good impression and called out many interesting opinions.
340 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
There are other aspects of the book which it is less pleasant
to me to think about, and one of them concerns our friend
, who has written both to and of me in a spirit that it
is a little painful to remember. However. I put this as far
back in my mind as possible and try to think of pleasanter
things. . . .
" P.S. I trust you have heard of the very warm refer-
ence to yourself in the Life of Hugh Price Hughes."
Continued illness during this year sadly hindered
Shields' work, but on November 14th he was able to record
the completion of the great picture at the end of the
chapel in the words, "Finished Ascension this day, by
God's grace."
A few days later he was again at work on a new
subject, and during the spring of 1906 he was able to
work steadily with models sitting constantly. In May he
came to London to see the large picture, and several of
the smaller ones, fixed in the chapel, staying with friends
in Kensington for about three weeks, being unfit, with his
painful lameness, to journey backwards and forwards
to Wimbledon.
Mr. Arthur Hughes, on seeing the new pictures, wrote
warmly on May 30th :
" This is only a line of sincere congratulation on the
glorious progress of the chapel. When I think over
the enormousness of the undertaking, it seems incredible
that I saw it yesterday with my eyes. The innumerable
figures in the innumerable designs and their full pregnant
meaning and pathos and beauty, compel me to send
my most respectful homage, and if my appreciation is
anything at all, to hope you will see in it what I feel sure
will be a general or more-like unanimous one when the
final toucn is given to your crowning life's work. I
thought you looked splendidly strong yesterday, in spite
of the foot."
ILLNESS AND WORK 341
At the end of July Shields again suffered terribly from
his foot ; an operation gave relief for a time, and in the
autumn he was again at work.
His extraordinary courage and devotion to his great
task is well illustrated in the diary of 1908, when, in spite
of incessant pain, on the last day of January the entry
runs: "Sketched from live horse in the garden for
Eunuch. Keen north wind," and a few weeks later :
"Went to Cannon Hill Pond to study water for Eunuch.
Tree in garden blown down by gale."
Exhibition at the Manchester City Art Gallery Porlock revisited Corre-
spondence with Charles Rowley Death of Dr. M'Laren and Holman
Hunt The chapel finished.
IN the spring of 1908 an exhibition of Shields' collected
works was held at the Manchester City Art Gallery.
Writing in March to his old friend Mr. Charles Rowley,
who had just returned from Italy, he says :
" I wish I had been with you, for I just pant after Italy.
The more you study the early art of Italy the more you
will see that it sought its inspiration in the deep fount of
imaginative feeling to give out what men's hearts would
welcome if they would read it, and that when perfect in
this aim it lost itself in the vain glory of personal execu-
tive skill and slowly consumed away. English art began
in Hogarth, in like healthy wise, and has now sunk into
inanity. Nobody really cares for it ; and since it has long,
under the baneful shade of the Academy, been the slave
of fashionable society, blown about with every wind of
evil foreign influence, it has come to such a condition
that I can find no one with whom I have any art sym-
pathy except dear Holman Hunt and Arthur Hughes."
In April he went to Lynton, and thence revisited Por-
lock, where so much of his beautiful early work was done
nearly forty years before. His diary sadly records :
" To Porlock. The church interior changed and ruined.
Everyone I knew Pulsfords, Brown, Floyd all dead. A
melancholy experience."
On May 2nd he returned home.
" May 3rd. To Holman Hunt's at 4, by the horrible
CHARLES ROWLEY 343
electric railway. He fell while I was out of the room a
moment, and hurt his cheek. So full of the past talking
of it, and of the future of Art in England as stricken."
As an illustration of his unceasing energy in collecting
information or materials for his pictures, his diary records
a search for a head of some particular type :
" To Minories to seek for Jews' Home ; could find no
such place there. Hunted about Aldgate and Whitechapel
(pouring rain). To Asiatic Home, West India Docks ;
assaulted by a Chinese. Went to Jews' place, Leman
Street, and Hebrew Christians' Home, Whitechapel. Home
at 9 P.M."
The end of his great task was now in sight ; slowly the
vacant spaces on the walls of the chapel were filled, and
those friends who saw the veteran artist during the last
few years could not help feeling that with this work's com-
pletion his long strenuous life would be rounded to a close.
In 1909 he wrote to Mr. Charles Rowley :
MY DEAR OLD FRIEND, If you got it into your dear
old noddle that I had utterly forgotten you it would not
be strange. But though I was deeply touched with your
words, and under common conditions would have hastened
to reply, I have been and am, after the day's painting,
which Tfiust be done, so exhausted that to many a friendly
letter it would seem I was indifferent when truly I have
not strength to keep up with correspondence. And then
came a precious reprint of the Pre-Kaphaelite designs to
Tennyson, which sent my memory back to young days,
when these were a stimulus and a delight of the fullest
kind. An awakening to higher aims and effort, and the
effect yet remains. Those wonderful Rossetti drawings
ah me ! There has been none in my age like to him, and
life has been impoverished since he passed away the
great mind, the generous soul. And one after another
has gone : Madox Brown with his great brave heart, full
of welcome always ; Holman Hunt is left, but blind and
helpless, though still with his marvellous memory active,
344 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
talking of every experience of his life in the most vivifying
way. How terrible is the thought of blind darkness, and
most of all to a painter, who truly sees ; whereas most
men are purblind, while they think they see the glories of
this marvellous world. But worse infinitely is the blind-
ness of man's spirit, often wilfully barring out every avenue
by which Light might enter. TTiat word I know by experi-
ence is true. " The entrance of Thy Word giveth Light ; "
and those who glory in their acquaintance with the dis-
coveries of modern Science, and in Literature, Art, Music,
and every sensuous pleasure, are feeding on husks, like
the Prodigal, if their souls are estranged from God our
Father and from the True Light of man, Jesus Christ.
You and I have been friends so many long years, and life,
long life, has been given to us so long that we know it
cannot be much prolonged. None can answer for a single
day. What a message of the purpose of the Scripture is
this, " These things are written that you may know that
you have Eternal Life, and that this Life is His Son "...
were it not that I see that " there is no condemnation to
them that believe in Jesus," the Lamb whom God has pro-
vided to be the one sacrifice, I should sink into despairing
melancholy with the apprehension of the putting off this
feeble body and being a disembodied spirit, with all the
now unseen terror of judgment open before me in my
prison house. One does not often feel pressed thus to
open one's mind even to an old friend ; but I feel that
another omission of duty would be added to my charge if
I did not discharge my soul when you are in trouble, and
in that last stage of life when man craves for peace. There
is peace only in the faith that Christ Jesus claims from
us. ... For the calmest peace the world gives us is a
fading wreath that crumbles into dust. Inere, I weary
you, and this I would not do ! I recall so many benefits
from your hands that, believe me, nothing but old love
could move me to write thus. I have to face, in the two
last subjects of the chapel, the most difficult of all the
problems that have encountered me, when physically I am
weaker than ever before.
Interesting as showing that difference of opinion even
upon such vital matters had never lessened a friendship
MAN REPELS THE APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE
Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater
CHARLES ROWLEY 345
unbroken for forty years, is Mr. Rowley's cheerful reply,
written, not in answer to this particular letter, but evi-
dently to one of similar import.
HANDFORTH, CHESHIRE.
MY DEAR OLD BOY, What a charming letter you send
me. Mind and body as sound as nuts. It has always
been a great delight to me to hear your orthodoxies. I
wonder if I am a Pagan or what ? I do not like being
ticketed. If I presumed to call myself a Christian I should
burn to behave as such a one ought. The fact is, I have
read and heard so much about beliefs, philosophies, and
faiths, that I am muddled. I am just reading a wonderful
Indian book by the Swami Viv-Renanda, one of the most
recent holy men produced by the hundred in that won-
drous land. Our good friend Margaret Noble is one of
his followers. His sanity and his charity in finding good
in all faiths touches me. This kind of devoutness and
devotedness to good in everything strikes on my box.
The resulting light may be poor, but I fancy it is better
than darkness. I am certain always that our Lord would
shudder with horror at the sayings and doings of those
who loudest shout His name. In all things beyond my
ken I am going to wait and see, and do what little I can
to increase healthy joy, true knowledge, and love for every-
thing good and beautiful. If I'm to be damned for not
doing and believing more, well, I can't help it. To few is
it given to believe and to do as you have done. What a
life ! Would it could be told by a Defoe or a Borrow.
Send me as complete a set of the photos as you can ; I
want a couple of the " Widow and her Son." Our love
and best wishes to you. As ever yours,
CHARLES ROWLEY.
That the artist's powers of invention and execution
were not failing, in spite of continued ill-health and
sorrow, is evidenced by the two designs of " Man and his
Conscience," which were made in 1910 for the walls of
the ante-chapel. These are in some ways equal to any
of the artist's finest work, in their dignified strength and
346 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
simplicity they are unsurpassed. In this year he lost two
of his dearest and oldest friends.
To Miss M'Laren, on hearing of her brother's illness in
May, he wrote :
"So fresh in my vision is the entrance of Dr. M'Laren
into my studio, so honoured did I regard his dear visit,
that it seems but the briefest time since we parted, with
his 'Perhaps I shall come again.' Though he appeared
in health and strength above his years, I could not look,
I knew, that he should ' come again ' . . . I recall what
his warm interest in me has been from the day, long ago,
when I was privileged with an introduction to him, how
steadfast and helpful has been his friendship in many
relations, ever entering with earnest sympathy into my
sorrows and joys alike. His friendship has been a bright
gift of God in my being. I cannot hold back this word,
though I have no expectation that you will have oppor-
tunity even to say that I have him in most loving
memory, thinking of him when I wake in the dark
night, and praying for him in the passage through the
dark river, whither it cannot be long, at the longest,
ere I follow him."
And writing again, he said :
"Your beloved brother's friendship has been one
of the sweetest and most unclouded of my life, and his
influence mentally and spiritually always a blessing to one
who has drunk deep of the brook of sorrow."
Close upon this loss came the death of Holm an Hunt,
the warmth of whose affection for Shields throughout
their long years of friendship is amply testified by his
many letters. Shields continued his work for the chapel
in. spite of his deep sorrow and loneliness. In July the
diary records: "Put up the last two pictures in the
chapel," and in September, "Finished ante-chapel."
But the supreme task being completed, he felt his
MAN HEARKENS TO THE APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE
In the Ante-Chapel, Chapel of the Ascension
THE END 347
occupation gone. In September he began making some
notes for an autobiography, but his strength rapidly
failed, and after a feV months of painful illness and pro-
found depression, the end came on February 26th, 1911.
His old friend, the Rev. Hugh Chapman, who had
ministered to him in his last days, said at the funeral
service at Merton Old Church :
"It is indeed a genuine instance of the labourer's task
being done, and few stories are more eloquent of heroism
and romance than the completion of his work at the
Chapel of the Ascension, followed by the collapse which
was but the prelude to his crown. After a friendship
of twenty-five years, I have no hesitation in saying that
Frederic Shields knew and lived on his Bible as few whom
I can recall. Literalist to a large extent he ever was,
however mystically inclined in his role of artist, and there
was about him somewhat of the rugged Covenanter who
brooked no compromise where for him the honour of
his Master seemed to be concerned. Severe to himself,
he was infinitely tender towards those who suffered, nor
could he hear the mention of pain without his eyes filling
with tears. True that the thunders of Sinai played about
his head, and though part of him leant on the breast
of Jesus, another and quite a large part might have
merited the title of Boanerges, out of which he possibly
never wholly grew. But for those who knew him well,
and who had sounded the depths of this remarkable
personality, he had a unique charm, nor could you be
with him for long without leaving his presence a better
man. Frederic Shields hated money as much as he
loved God, and it is these two points which stand out
as I think of him now, promoted to his well-earned rest.
Not that I can imagine him in any stereotyped peace,
seeing that activity was the very breath of his existence,
but to no single soul can I picture a greater relief than to
our brother who at last knows freedom from all con-
ventions and shams, where the standard of truth alone
prevails, and where the curse of gold is unknown. He
had suffered to an extent which occurs to few, and
348 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
it were asking too much that such a training should not
have left behind it a legacy of sternness and impetuosity,
but the man himself had a single passion, namely : that
every bit of his being should be used up in illustrating
Jesus Christ, and in almost forcing the world to probe
the mystery of the Gospel. . . . This is what really meant
to him most, and compared to the thought of his Saviour
all the disappointment, all the hardships, all the rivalries,
all the self-imposed loneliness, due to exceptional sensitive-
ness, all the private anguish over which, as he would
have wished, I draw the veil, passed away, and folding
his hands over his breast, he grew supremely content.
Shortly before his passing he expressed a hope that the
Chapel of the Ascension might never be used except
to carry out the intention of its foundress, and more than
once he asked that every care might be taken to prevent
its being treated as an ordinary church, or ror the
purposes of a ritualism which he abhorred. ' Keep it/ he
said again and again, 'for simple contemplation and for
private prayer, so that men and women may learn the
inner meaning of the book, and become soaked with
the thought of God's great Love so portrayed in its pages.'
This was his dying request, which I most earnestly pray
may be observed, nor can I doubt but that the authorities
will put his desires on record, lest they be transgressed,
and so his sacrifice be robbed of its chief reward, which
was to fulfil the wish of his beloved friend, and help to-
wards a holy retreat for the refreshment of the souls
of men."
u
H
IX
H
CHARTER XXI
Frederic Shields' will Personal recollections.
IT is perhaps a point of biographical interest to mention
the terms of Frederic Shields' will. To his friends the
fact that he left a considerable sum of money was a
matter of great surprise. Subject to the payment of a
few small legacies, and a small annuity to his widow who
survives him, but who had ceased to live with him for
many years, the whole of his estate was bequeathed to
two foreign missionary societies.
The grand cartoons, over seventy in number, executed
for the Duke of Westminster's windows, were left, under
certain conditions, to be presented at the discretion of his
executors, to some public institution which would under-
take to frame and hang the entire series, the artist having
always refused to divide or separate this magnificent
group of designs. They form a consecutive series and
include some of his finest work, the artist was therefore
anxious that they should be kept together to be hung in
unbroken continuity. Their disposal was a matter of
some anxious consideration for the executors, as few
buildings in London certainly no museum or picture-
gallery had sufficient space available to hang the whole
of these cartoons at once. It was finally decided to offer
them to the Young Men's Christian Association for their
new London headquarters in Tottenham Court Road, the
walls of which they now adorn. The magnificent
draughtsmanship of the cartoons, their wealth of sym-
349
350 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
holism and invention, and withal their unique tenderness
and beauty of feeling and design, will surely place them,
as years go on, among the distinguished achievements
of a period when English Art was still a living force.
It has been suggested that the writer should give
some personal recollections of Frederic Shields, but it is
difficult for one who was for many years looked upon by
him almost as his own child, to attempt to give any ade-
quate impression of his strong and remarkable personality.
Especially perhaps is it difficult for one who, though
yielding to none in admiration for the greatness of the
artist and the lovableness of his nature, was never able
to appreciate or accept his views on many vital subjects.
But it was a part of the sweet unreasonableness of Shields'
nature to be in some cases very tolerant where his friends
were concerned, and although occasionally his anxiety for
their spiritual welfare would, as we have seen, make him
furiously eloquent, after a time he seemed to accept the
situation, as in the case of Madox Brown, Rossetti, and
his always well-beloved Charles Rowley. In his long life
he suffered more perhaps from the "unco' guid" than
from any of his agnostic friends, and the pious model who
tried to please him by reading Wesley's hymns diligently
during his rests, turned out far worse than the Syrian
carpet merchant who delighted Shields by telling him
that even the Mussulmans joined the universal grief in
Jerusalem when the news came that Gordon was slain,
because "General Gordon he Mussulman, he Jew, he
Christian he for everyone."
My first recollection of Shields is a vision of a fascinat-
ing but rather alarming giant, appearing at infrequent
intervals, whose invariable salutation was to seize the
little girl who gazed at him with three-year-old eyes, and
to throw her up towards the ceiling with an unearthly
laugh. To this day I remember the awful feeling of
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 351
coming down far worse than any rapid descent in a lift
and the gasping fear lest he should fail to catch me.
I am sure he thought I liked it, and I certainly never
complained.
As a child of seven I was taken to sit for him, but
that occasion I only recollect as an afternoon of extreme
boredom evidently shared by the artist, for his diary
records : " Miss Bell brought little Tina to sit made an
awful failure of it." The failure was doubtless due to my
restlessness and to the loquacity of the former principal
of Winnington, who talked to keep me amused.
Shields was always fond of children, as his exquisite
studies of child life testify; some of his pictured babes
are surely as beautiful and tender as can be found in art
of any period. I believe he conducted Sunday-school
classes for children for many years, but I cannot help
thinking that he must have made all the naughty ones
laugh, and all the good ones cry. He held terribly strict
views on the subject of discipline and teaching of every
kind, and can never at any time have been an easy person
to work with or under.
I remember many evenings at Lodge Place (for he
could seldom spare daylight hours for teaching), the little
gate in the high garden wall in which there was a tiny
peephole for the person opening the door to look through,
the great gloomy studio lighted only in one spot by a tall
gas-stand with a reflector, with grim lay figures attitu-
dinising in dark corners, and more than one skeleton in
the cupboard. And then out of the darkness would step
a figure, rather below the average height, always thin
almost to emaciation, with large head and towering brows,
crowned with long wavy hair, with earnest deep-set eyes,
and what seemed to a child a terrifying expression, until
a smile irradiated the whole face, and the outstretched
hands inspired confidence.
352 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Many days have I spent with him at South Kensington
Museum, and at various picture galleries ; no more delight-
ful companion could be found and no more instructive
guide ; his eloquence before some picture about which he
was particularly enthusiastic sometimes attracted a gaping
crowd of listeners. His standard both for teachers and
students was very high ; to go into a classroom and find a
student talking or whistling at his work would simply
infuriate him, this, of course, partly owing to his highly
nervous condition. Perhaps his physical state also ac-
counted to some extent for his fiery temper, which was, I
believe, throughout his life capable of volcanic explosion.
But though nervous irritability may be inevitable to the
intense and overstrung artistic temperament, and depres-
sion is perhaps natural to those who always strain at
seemingly unattainable heights of achievement, in the
case of Shields his mental outlook was largely affected by
his sad early experience of poverty, illness, death, and
loneliness. When Rossetti was boisterously enlivening
Academy Schools, Shields, a half-starved boy of fourteen,
was feverishly drawing early and late, in every moment
he could snatch from his drudgery at the lithographers'
shop, or his knife and boot cleaning for his poor over-
worked mother. When the Pre-Raphaelites were gaily
painting each other's portraits at Millais' house, Shields,
hungry and scantily clad, was wandering wearily from
door to door, sketching heads for a few pence, that he
might buy bread.
And worst of all, instead of happy fellowship with
kindred spirits, he was alone, and already imbued with
those terribly narrow religious views which made fear the
dominant feeling of his early youth. Fear of the wrath
to come, fear of idleness, fear of illness, fear of poverty,
fear of sin, fear of God, fear of the devil, always this
terrible fear causing that extreme morbid depression which
A FORTY-FIVE MINUTES' SKETCH
(1887)
By permission of J. Hyslop Bell, Esq.
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 353
seemed ever to be warring against the indomitable courage,
strength, and even gaiety of disposition which were really
the natural characteristics of the man. For although his
early sufferings and his tragic domestic life might well
have saddened the most buoyant heart, Shields had a keen
sense of humour and an immense capacity for enjoyment
to the end of his days.
As to the future of art in England Shields always took
a gloomy view ; writing of the talented son of a well-known
Academician, he said :
" A.'s son began by painting poetic pictures could not
sell them they are in his possession still. Compelled to
resort to portraiture to live. Self is the only subject of a
painter's art really desired by Englishmen. Well, Stothard,
Blake, and others lived by illustration of books, poetry,
fiction, history, wonderful and lovely imaginings precious
for all time. Can the modern painter of imaginative
powers turn to this as a resource ? No photography
usurps the old place of design in our illustrated newspapers
and books. Gilbert, Kenny Meadows, Cruickshank what
opening now to such men ? Every successive year shows
some development of its usurpation wood engraving
murdered, its skilled artists extinct. Steel and copper
also gone. Nothing now but muddled photo prints,
with all the values of the pictures they represent falsely
rendered."
His friend Mr. Charles Rowley says in his book Fifty
Years of Work without Wages: "I knew Shields for forty
years, and never knew him without an agony of some kind "
and this I can well believe. Shields probably never
accomplished a railway journey without a sense of wonder
and thankfulness that he had escaped with his life, nor
boarded a ship without feeling that he must prepare for
immediate wreck and disaster. This habit of thought be-
came a second nature, and although in congenial company
Shields could be intensely amusing, full of anecdote, and
z
354 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
a most brilliant talker, there always came a time when he
pulled himself up short, and felt that he ought not to
forget, even for a moment, the wickedness of the world
and the hollowness of it all. But occasionally, in moments
of forgetfulness, he would " let himself go " and have a
really good time. I remember his wild buoyancy of spirits
one summer in Sark, and how, on a sketching expedition,
he suddenly turned to me with a face radiant in delight
at some exceptionally lovely view and exclaimed, "Child,
let's both turn head over heels ! " But he never felt quite
sure that it was proper for a man of his faith to enjoy
himself except so far as joy in his work was concerned,
and he never lost the feeling which made him record in
his boyish diaries, his self-reproaches for a late tea-party,
or an hour wasted in "profitless conversation."
Shields always had a horror of Science in any form. I
remember expressing surprise at seeing a copy of Kra-
potkin's Mutual Aid in the studio, whereupon Shields
seriously explained that he had bought the book because
some one had told him that it entirely disproved Darwin's
theory of evolution ! A motor car was to Shields literally
an invention of the devil, and in the early days of bicycles
they came under like condemnation.
It is hardly necessary to say that Shields was a man
of intense feeling, and to those he loved he could show the
tenderest affection. Writing to a young friend in 1898 on
hearing that she was engaged to be married, he said :
" At the first sentence of your letter a great gulp of
anguish choked me, so that I put it away unread Tor two
days, self-tormenting with dread for you. For marriage
holds within itself such terrible possibilities of unmitigated
misery that I shook with fear for you. But now I nave
dared to read both yours and his, and my trembling heart
is reassured and a sweet hope steals into me that in this
hearts' love shall lie your dear heart's peace, safe hid with
one who shall indeed husband you."
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 355
The old house at Wimbledon was much too large for
his needs, and many of the rooms were always kept shut
up. A characteristic letter written early in 1897 described
his first few days there :
MORAYPIELD, KINGSTON ROAD.
" Yes, a bright New Year to you, my sweet sunshine.
How long it is since I have seen you, or myself, for my
life here nas been unspeakable. The stove proves an utter
failure. Hence impossible to work in the studio or to un-
pack or to anything. Then I have to get rid of the new
housekeeper who is a tartar, and filled with such high
notions 01 her own importance that there is no standpoint
where we can approach. I really think of getting rid of
the female kind altogether, and getting a man into the
house who can cook, &c. Did I tell you that the cat saw
a ghost, and that the house is haunted ? She did.
I care little, if aught, for Whistler or his art neither
to my poor mind merits the attention a trivial world has
given. His chosen Butterfly signature characterises all he
did and said Ephemeral. But we must not blame him
for the stupid scrawls that dealers gather and exhibit to
his injury scrawls never meant to be seen."
A letter a few days later refers to another house-
keeper who was so obviously unsuitable that he was
persuaded not to engage her :
"Well, as the Swiss said to the Englishman, 'Why
do you grumble at your short summer ? You have the
long winter.' Such consolation is ours to-day and haply
for many days to come. It is like your dear self to have
taken such pains for me the little medallions were
admirably done much more so than I needed. Absolutely
I defer to your judgment in a matter where a man is
usually dense and I denser than most men, because
more apt to trust implicitly in spite of sore experiences.
So I shall renew the search for a housekeeper and try
to be very careful if you are absent and I can't refer
to you. I am needing thy dear face for a morning or an
afternoon if you can spare it to me before you go but
356 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
don't distress yourself to come. I have tried after two
models and they can't come. As Holman Hunt says,
this difficulty to get models experienced by those wno
can make use of them is another of the many evils caused
by art schools."
Shields was generous to a fault, and was, as he said,
"apt to trust implicitly in spite of sore experiences."
To the many who from time to time preyed upon his
purse and ruined his peace of mind he showed a for-
bearance quite exasperating to those who would fain have
protected him from imposition and humbug. For a
small example : One summer at Wimbledon, a pear tree
in the garden bore an unusually fine crop of fruit, which
he watched ripening with pride and interest. My faith in
the gardener then employed had always been somewhat
weak, but it was rudely shattered when I found the
pear tree absolutely bare, while Shields gravely assured
me that according to the gardener on the very day
on which the pears were ready to gather, the blackbirds
had come in the early morning and completely stripped
the tree, apparently carrying the fruit away whole, with-
out leaving a trace ! " And it only shows," said Shields
earnestly, " that I am justified in calling birds mischievous
vermin." One might have been tempted to quote the
old lady in Punch who on a similar occasion retorted,
" Two-legged birds, you mean."
Shields never succeeded in the impossible task of
banishing from the delightful old garden at Wimbledon,
the crowds of blackbirds and thrushes whose singing was
far more irritating to him than any raids upon his fruit.
They woke him in the morning and disturbed him at
his work. " I hate all birds," he exclaimed indignantly
one day, " winged vermin of the air, I detest the whole
lot of them!" Glancing at the magnificent eagle in
his design of St. John, I said mildly, "You didn't hate
CLOSING DAYS 357
that eagle, surely ? " His face changed, and with his fine
disregard of logic he said blandly, " Oh my child, I don't
call an eagle a bird!"
One joy at Wimbledon was a huge bed of dandelions
the despair of the various gardeners who were from time
to time allowed to grapple with the wilderness. These
dandelions were never disturbed, and certainly when
open in the sunshine they were a glorious sight. Shields
used .to say they were his favourite flowers. Great sheets
of Oriental poppies also flourished, and along the pergola
leading to the studio wild bryony hung in festoons.
For the last twelve years his comfort was diligently
cared for by his housekeeper Miss Dales, and during long
months of illness it was largely owing to her devotion that
he was able to continue his great task in the intervals of
freedom from pain and weakness. Perhaps those last few
years, harassed though he was by illness and the troubles
of the Chancery suit, were as peaceful as any in his long
and strenuous life. To worldly success he was always
indifferent. His hatred of the modern system of exhibi-
tions, his scorn of the modern jargon of "Art for art's
sake," his passionate devotion of his art to the inter-
pretation of what he really believed to be the only hope
for a decadent and fast decaying world all this kept him
aloof from any possibility of popular recognition. There is
a story of an enthusiastic student who took a rare and
beautiful flower to the Botanical Department of the
British Museum, and asked to be told its name and place
in the world of flowers. The learned curator shook his
head : " No use bringing us a live flower," he explained ;
"take it home, dry it, press it between blotting-paper
for six months, then bring it back and we may be able
to name it for you." It is so,, perhaps, with the world's
estimation of a painter, and it may be long before Frederic
Shields can be placed in his rightful niche among the
358 LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
artists of England. Rossetti called him a greater draughts-
man than colourist, yet no sternest critic could condemn
the colour of such a drawing as " The Skylark." Exquisite
in its poetic feeling and harmony is this little water-
colour a country child in faded blue pinafore, sitting
on a stile in hawthorn time, listening entranced to the
song of the unseen bird. This was painted in Porlock in
the early sixties. "The Bugler," "The Bread watcher,"
now in the Manchester Gallery, "The Swing," "Cutting
Bread," and others of the same period, now in the collec-
tion of Mr. Leicester Collier, are of their kind equally
perfect. Again, in an absolutely different sphere, nothing
could surpass his designs for Defoe's Plague, or that won-
derful drawing on wood for " Vanity Fair," which was
recently described by one who like most modern critics
is far from being prejudiced in Shields' favour, as " an
absolutely unique achievement, which alone would suffice
to establish an artistic reputation." Then the large oil
painting of " Knott Mill Fair," with its vivid and romantic
realism, shows what the artist might have accomplished
in a quite different field, while no one who has studied
Shields' landscapes, or his exquisite rapid sketches of
English or Italian scenery, can fail to see that in that
branch, too, his work was unique. He cared little for
portraits, but what a portrait painter he might have made
may be imagined by studying the few portraits he was pre-
vailed upon to make from time to time, and such studies
as the "Forty Minutes' Sketch of an Old Man," shown
at the Memorial Exhibition in London, or the tender
pathetic drawings made (under circumstances sadly
against successful accomplishment) of his friends Rossetti
and Madox Brown after death. It is difficult not to feel
that in whatever form of art Shields had applied himself
he would have excelled.
Was the didactic work of his later years the literal
THE FINAL TASK 359
interpretation of the Scriptures by means of large mural
paintings enriched with elaborate and researchful sym-
bolism really the form of expression calculated best to
give scope to his undoubtedly unique powers ? This may
perhaps be questioned by those who have stood amazed
at the perfection of his early woodcuts, or charmed by
the tender poetic beauty of his water-colours. But he
himself felt that his whole life's work had been a prepara-
tion for this final task, and in the Chapel of the Ascension
he has left a monument which stands alone in English
one might almost say in European Art, as the achieve-
ment of one man in conception and execution from
beginning to end. London at least should realise more
and more, as years go by, the richness of Mrs. Kussell-
Gurney's gift.
Arthur Hughes, writing when the last picture in
the chapel was completed, said: "I think there never
could have been a greater triumph of endurance and
character, in any date of Art's history."
And this surely applies not only to his latest work,
but to the whole life story of Frederic Shields.
INDEX
ADOPTED daughter, Shields', 209
Agnew, Rossetti's rhyme on, 142
Apprenticed to lithographers, 9
Apprenticeship to painter and
grainer offered, 16
Assisi, Shields at, 302
Azazel, Christina Rossetti on, 296
BAXTER'S oil printing process, 22
Beale, Miss, of Cheltenham College,
286
" Beehive Maker," water-colour of,
58
Bell Mackenzie, letters to, 332, 335
Bell, Miss, of Winnington, 100, 101,
102, 185
Bennett, C. H., his illustrations to
The Pilgrim's Progress, 61,
104 ; death of, 111 ; appeal to
Ruskin for family of, 112
Benzine process, Madox Brown on,
149
Birchington, Rossetti's death at,
274 ; memorial window at,
280 ; correspondence with
vicar of, 281
Blackpool, solitary honeymoon at,
. 165 ; prolonged stay at, 179
\Blake, William, Shields' article in
Manchester Quarterly on,
253, 257 ; Blake's rocm,
Shields' drawing of, 256 ;
Rossetti's sonnet on Shields'
drawing of, 256
" Bobber and Kibs," first exhibited
picture, 42
Bobbin tickets, 21
Booth, Matilda, 145, 162, 163;
letter to, 164 ; married to
Frederic Shields, 164
Booth, Mrs., of Salvation Army, 295
^Botticellis, Leyland's, Rossetti's
account of, 243
Bough, Sam, gives Shields his first
commission, 42 ; letter from,
165
Bradshaw & Blacklock's, drudgery
at, 21
Bradshaw, Quaker partner of rail-
way guide firm, 22
Brazenose Club, Manchester, ex-
hibition of Shields' works in
1889, 58, 61
" Bread Watchers, One of our," 109
Brighton, Winnington school at,
185
Broadlands, Shields at, 283, 293
Brompton Hospital, John Shields
at, 18
Brookes, Warwick, Rossetti on the
work of, 117; Gladstone's
interest in, 120 ; death of, 120
Brown, Madox, and Rossetti, joint
letter from, 115
Brown, Madox, letters from, 115,
121, 122, 131, 133, 136, 147,
148, 149, 155, 157, 158, 159,
160, 169, 170, 171, 173, 176,
178, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185,
198, 210, 213, 222, 231, 232,
235, 237, 238, 244, 245, 260,
266, 275, 279, 284, 286, 287,
291, 293, 295, 310
Brown, Oliver Madox, his remedies
for insomnia, 161 ; death of,
171, 173
Buchanan pamphlet, 151
Burne- Jones, on his early friendship
with Rossetti, 276 ; and the
Madox Brown fund, 316
Butterworth, George, letter from,
80; introduces Shields to
Rossetti, 82; and Rossetti's
water-colour, 234
CAINE, Hall, letters from, 273, 334,
338 ; his Recollections
Rossetti quoted,
362
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
^Camberwell, St. Luke's, symbolic
decorations for, 293
Cat-rick, Robert, 9, 53
Cartoons for the Duke of West-
minster's Chapel given to
. Y.M.C.A.,349
VChalk drawing, Rossetti on methods
of, 129
Chapel of the Ascension, Bays-
water, 296, 297, 298, 300,
305, 306, 307, 308, 312, 314,
324, 326, 328, 330, 332, 333,
334, 335, 336, 340, 345, 348,
359
Chapman, Rev. Hugh, address at
Shields' funeral, 347
Chatterton, portraits of, 263
Cheltenham College, windows for,
286
/Chloral, recommended to Shields,
122; experience of, 123
Chloroform, lecture on, 12
Clare Market, 6
Clopton Street, Manchester, 31
Coodham, Kilmarnock, windows for,
208, 209, 214
Colour, Ruskin on, 89
Corn brook Park, 114
Cowan, mercantile lithographer, 14
Craven, W., introduced to Rossetti,
95
Cupid's Alley, poor lodgings in, 14
" DANTE'S Dream," Rossetti's, 144,
146
Davis, William, death of, 159
Defoe's Plague of Lvndvn, designs
for, 77, 78, 79
Design, Manchester School of, 23
Diary, first kept in 1848, 10; ex-
tracts from, 10, 43, 45, 47,
48, 50, 52, 55, 58, 59, 60, 63,
64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 72, 73, 75,
76, 77, 79, 80, 89, 90, 92, 94,
95, 98, 100, 104, 105, 108, 109,
145, 162, 163, 164, 165, 181,
182, 186, 189, 192, 194, 197,
206, 207, 212, 226, 227, 228,
229, 230, 236, 237, 240, 241,
246, 247, 252, 253, 258, 262,
264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269,
271, 272, 274, 278, 279, 288,
293, 294, 337, 340, 341, 342,
343, 346
Drapery, Shields on, 226, 249
Drawing-room, Queen Victoria's,
sketched by Shields, 170
Dubois, Shields employed by firm
of, 23
EARLY passion for art, 8
Eaton Hall Chapel, cartoons given
to Y.M.C.A. ; designs for
windows of, 225, 29, 230,
235, 236, 240, 250, 258, 261,
263, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269,
285, 286, 293, 295, 297
Ellesmere, Earl of, 16, 20
English Picture Publishing Co.,
202, 204
English or Foreign Art, letter on,
201
Ernst, lithographer, Shields em-
ployed by, 32, 50
Execution, public, 9
Exhibitions, Rossetti's views on, 99
FAREWELL dinner, Manchester,
1875, 175
Fairies, Christina Rossetti and Miss
Thomson's, 247
Father, Frederic Shields letters to
his, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
Fawcett, Henry, portrait by Madox
Brown, 156
Fenians, appeal for condemned, 115
First water-colour, " The Toilet,"
42
Florence, letters from, 187, 189
Pors Clavigera, Shields' letter to
Ruskin published in, 168
" Found," Rossetti's, 264, 265
Fund, Chapel of the Ascension, 336
GABEB, engraves " Vanity Fair,"
69
Gibbs, Edwin, and Shields, at
Ragged Schools, 51
Gilbert, Sir John, his swift dex-
terity, 10; letters from, 291,
292
Gilchrist's life of Blake, 253, 254
Gordon Highlanders' Memorial, 293,
297
Gorway & Hooper, wood engravers,
10
Graphic, " Knott Mill Fair" repro-
duced in, 145
INDEX
363
HARTLEPOOL, birthplace of Frede-
ric Shields, 3
Hanlon brothers, gymnasts, 90
Halifax, employed by Stott Brothers
in 1855 at, 39
Heywood Prize awarded to Shields
1871, 153
Herne Bay, with Rossetti at, 213
Holland, James, his generous act,
109
Home, Shields' early, described, 7
Home, Herbert. P., and the Chapel
of the Ascension, 298, 301,
305, 306 ; letter to, 307
Houldsworth, Sir William, 208, 209,
214
Hospenthal, letter from, 195
Hoyle, William, his recollections of
Shields at Halifax, 39
Hughes, Arthur, 104 ; letters from,
125, 132, 180, 340, 359
Hunt, Holman, 246, 247, 315, 317,
321, 326, 329
William, copied by Shields, 89 ;
sale of works at Christie's,
79,80
Illustrated, London News, art criti-
cism in 1859, 60 ; on Shields
in 1865, 102
News of the World, offer of work
in 1857, 48
Illness, 329, 332, 337-341
Impressionists, Shields on, 320
Improvements, modern, letter to
Ruskin on, 167
Irish, poor, kindness of, 22
Italy, first visit to, 185
" JESUS and Peter," Madox Brown's,
183, 184
Jubilee windows at St. Anne's,
Manchester, 297
KEENE, Charles, letter from, 90
Kelmscott, Rossetti at, 152
Kingsley, Charles, 182; letters from,
61, 70, 71
Mrs. Charles, letters to, 250.
251
"Knott Mill Fair," 84; described,
90 ; oil painting, 323
LAMBETH School of Art, address
to students at, 319
" Launcelot and Guinivere," Ros-
setti's, 243
Lawsuit re Chapel of the Ascension,
133, 134
Lazarus, raising of, painted in
Rossetti's studio, 263
Leighton, Sir Frederic, 313
Linton, W. J., on the Illustrated
News of the World, 47;
letters from, 48
Lithographers, Shields apprenticed
to Maclure, Macdonald, &
Macgregor, 9, 39
Lithography, designs for trade, 32,
39, 45, 47, 49, 50, 58, 59
Lincoln's Inn Fields, 7
Liverpool, tramping to, 22
Lodge Place, St. John's Wood, 206,
207, 351
"Love and Time," design, 210
MACLTTBE, Macdonald, & Mac-
gregor, Shields apprenticed
to, 9, 39
M'Connell, T. H. M., 113; letter
from, 127
M'Lachlan, Lachlan, photographer,
121, 177, 290; and Arthur
Hughes, 124, 125
M'Laren, Dr. Alexander, first
meeting with, 98 ; letters
from, 111, 220, 221, 239.
299, 331 ; death of, 346
Miss, letters to, 346
" Magdalen," Rossetti's design of,
281
Maiden Lane, 7
" Man and his Conscience " design
for ante-chapel, 345
Man, Isle of, visit to, 163
Manchester Art Treasures Examiner,
drawings on wood for, 45,
47
Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857,
42
Exhibition Review, 42
Exhibition, 52, 53
School of Design, 23
Shields' farewell banquet and
Exhibition, 1875, 175
Autumn Exhibition, described
by Madox Brown, 287
Town Council, letter to member
of, 199
Town Hall, decoration of, 199,
364
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
209, 210, 212, 222, 223, 227,
228, 231, 232, 234, 236, 237,
238, 243, 244, 252, 261, 284,
312
S Manchester Art Quarterly, Shields'
\ article on Blake in the, 253,
257
Marriage, 164
Mechanics Institute, 8, 11
Mereworth Church, Kent, window
for, 299
Military pictures, 110
Mills, Ernestine, letters to, 303, 307,
321, 327, 329, 337, 338, 353,
355
Mitchell, C. H., landscape painter,
41 ; sketching tour with, 46
Modern Improvements, letter to
Ruskin on, 167
Monkhouse, Cosmo, on Shields and
Rossetti's influence, 135
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.,
offer from, 97
William, 98
Mosaic, marble or glass, 285
Mother, letters to Frederic Shields
from his, 24, 26 ; letters from
Shields to his, 24, 27, 29;
death of, 30
Mount-Temple, Lady, at Broad-
lands, 278, 283; letter from,
330
" NATIVITY," design, 106
Newgate Street, woman executed
in, 9
Newton-le- Willows, sketching old
houses at, 13 ; M'Corquo-
dale's printing works at, 13
OLD Water-Colour Society, elected
to, 98
Once a Week, drawings on wood for,
68,70
Ordsall Hall, threatened by builders,
160, 167
Old Hall, 154
Organ-grinders and street music, 107
Orvieto, Shields at, 304
PADUA, letter from, 194
Paris, letter from, 186 ; mosaic
workers in, 293
Patience, Gilbert and Sullivan's,
Shields at, 264
Paton, Sir Noel, letters from, 257,
276, 289, 290, 297, 315, 325
Penkill Castle, Rossetti at, 127
44 Perlascura," Rossetti's, 205
Personal characteristics, 352
Photographs, retouching for Ros-
eetti, 205
Photography, Shields knowledge of,
139
Press, Shields' letters to, 136, 137
Picture, first attempts at, 42 ; first
exhibited, 42
Pilgrim's Progress, commission for
designs for, 61, 64, 65, 69;
now in Victoria and Albert
Museum, 66 ; Rossetti's letter
on, 92
Plague of London, designs for
Defoe's, 77, 78, 79, 87 ; Ruskin
on, 88
Porlock, 47 ; early water-colours at,
70 ; revisited, 108, 342
Portraits at seven shillings, 22
Posters, colouring figures on, 13;
designs for, 39
Prize, Heywood, awarded, 1871, 153
Punch, drawings for, 150
Puritanism, Ruskin's views on, 69
Rachde Felley, A, illustrations to, 32
Rahab, 115
Reynolds' Miscellany, 10, 34
44 Robber Monk," woodcut in Once a
Week, 68
Rossetti, Christina, letters from,
247, 267, 269, 270, 271, 280,
283 ; death of, 325
Dante Gabriel, first meeting
with, 82; letters from, 83,
^ 91, 97, 99, 113, 114, 117, 127,
V- v<* 137, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145,
\ * 150, 183, 202, 204, 206, 211,
A*'' 216, 217, 219, 223, 228, 230,
' ,/v 233, 234, 235, 236, 241, 242,
l-> 244, 246, 252, 256, 257, 258,
JL^ 259, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265,
V 266, 268, 269, 271, 272;
~ C letters to, 96, 116, 130 ; and
\ J Madox Brown, joint letter
^ from, 115; on methods of
^ .<v drawing in coloured chalks,
I~>JL 129, 145; on Pilgrim's Pro-
r ' \ gress designs, 92 ; his influ-
rj/ ence on Shields' work, 135 ;
^A and Gilbert and Sullivan's
INDEX
Patience, 31 ; death of, 273 ;
his room drawn from memory
by Sir John Gilbert, 292;
memorial windows, 280, 281,
282, 283
Rossetti, W. M., letter from, 273
Rowbotham, John, picture dealer,
73, 74, 75
Rowley, Charles, 185, 353 ; letter to,
343 ; letter from, 345
Rowlandson and Wheatley com-
pared, 7
"Royal Group," M'Lachlan's, 161,
170, 177, 178, 181, 290
Ruskin, John James, letter from, 67
John, letters from, 67, 68, 69,
73, 103 ; letters to, 87, 88, 112,
156, 167 ; generous offer from,
123 ; Rossetti refers to, 183
Russell-Gurney, Mrs., first meeting
with, 278 ; letters from, 296,
297, 322, 324, 325 ; letters to,
294, 298, 300, 301, 302, 304,
305, 308, 326, 327 ; death of,
328
Russell Street, Hulme, 59
ST. ANNE'S, Manchester, windows
for, 297
St. Barnabas', Pimlico, lunette in
crypt of, 299, 323
St. Clement Danes, 6
St. Clement Danes Charity School,
8, 12
St. Luke's, Camberwell, symbolic
decorations for, 293
Sandgate, military pictures at, 110
Santander, Spanish prison in, 4
Sark, Shields at, 288, 310, 354
School days at St. Clement Danes, 8
of Art, Somerset House, 1847, 9
of Design, Manchester, 23, 50, 51
Schools of Art, Shields examiner at,
319
Ragged, Shields' work in, 51
Scottish contingent in aid of Isa-
bella of Spain, 3
Scott, William Bell, 127, 130, 147 ;
letter from, 231
Professor A. J., 14, 93
Sculpture Galleries, British Mu-
seum, 9
Shields, Edwin, letters from, 25, 34,
36 ; letters to, 34, 37, 40, 43,
52, 54, 55 ; death of, 56
Shields, Frederic James
Addresses students at Lambeth
School of Art, 319
And the Manchester Town Hall
decorations, 199, 209, 210,
212, 222, 223, 227, 228, 231,
232, 234, 235, 237, 238, 243,
244, 252, 261, 284, 312
Apprenticed to lithographers, 9
And M'Lachlan the photog-
rapher, 121, 139, 161, 164-
177, 178, 180, 181
And William Morris, 98, 285
Appeals to Ruskin for family of
C. H. Bennett, 112
Article on William Blake in
Manchester Quarterly, 253, 257
At Assisi, 302
At Blackpool, 165, 179
At Brighton, 185
At Halifax, in 1855, 39
At Lodge Place, St. John's Wood,
206, 207, 351
At Mechanics Institute, 11
At the Manchester School of
Design, 23
At Newton-le-Willows, 13
At Orvieto, 304
At Ordsall Old Hall, 154
At Porlock, 47, 70, 108, 342
At Russell Street, Hulme, 59
At St. Clement Danes Charity
School, 8, 12
At School of Art, Somerset
House, 9
At Siena, 191
At Stanhope Street, Clare Market,
6,29
At Venice, 192
At Wimbledon, 329, 341
At Winnington Hall, 100, 101,
156
Awarded Hey wood Prize, 1871,
153
Brothers, death of, 56, 66
Cartoons given to Y.M.C.A., 349
Chapel of the Ascension, 296, 297,
298, 300, 305, 306, 307, 308,
312, 314, 324, 326, 328, 330,
332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 340,
345, 348, 359
Colours posters, 13
Contributions to Gilchrist's Life of
Blake, 253, 254
Describes his early home, 7
366
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Shields, Frederic James
Design for " Vanity Fair," 65, 66,
68, 69, 85
Design of " Love and Time," 210
Designing trade tickets, 47
Designs for Baxter's oil prints, 22
Designs decorations for St.
Luke's, Camberwell, 293
Designs for Defoe's Plague of
London, 77, 78, 79, 87
Designs for Pilgrim s Progress, 60,
61, 64, 65, 66, 69, 92
Designs for Eaton Hall Chapel,
225, 229, 230, 235, 236, 240.
250, 258, 261, '263, 264-269,
, 285, 293, 295, 297
\ Designs Rossetti memorial win-
dow, 280
Diary, extracts from, 10, 43, 45, 47,
48, 50, 52, 55, 58, 59, 60, 63,
64, 65, 66, 67, 70, 72, 73, 75,
76, 77, 79, 80, 89, 90, 92, 94,
95, 98, 100, 104, 105, 108, 109,
145, 162, 163, 164, 165, 181,
182, 186, 189, 192, 194, 197,
206, 207, 212, 226, 227, 252,
253, 258, 262, 264, 265, 266,
267, 268, 269, 271, 272, 274,
278, 279, 288, 293, 294, 337,
340, 341, 342, 346
Drawing of Blake's death-room,
256
Drawings for Once a Week, 68, 70
Drawings for Punch, 150
Drawings on wood for Manchester
Art Treasures Examiner, 45,
47
Early Drawings of Worsley Hall,
15, 16, 19
Early lessons from Robert Car-
rick, 9
Early water-colours
' Whistle and Answer," 49, 50
' Beehive Maker," 58
' Wesley Preaching," 115
'The Bugler," 110, 113
' One of our Bread Watchers,"
109
' The Holly Gatherers," 47
' After the Storming," 111
4 Bobber and Kibs," 42
' The Toilet," 42
1 What's O'clock," 51
' Bo-Peep," 78
' Cutting Bread," 79
Shields, Frederic James
" Girl with Pickel," 78
" Desire stronger than Fear,"
89, 102
" The Drummer Boy's Dream,"
110, 119
" Solomon Eagle," 133
" Knott Mill Fair," 145
Elected to the Old Water-Colour
Society, 98
Examiner at Schools of Art, 319
Experience of chloral, 123
Father, death of, 21 ; Letters to,
15 to 20
Farewell banquet, Manchester,
1875, 175
First exhibited picture, 42
First book illustrations, 32
First commission for picture, 42
First meeting with Rossetti, 82
First meeting with Mrs. Russell-
Gurney, 278
First sketching tour, 46
First visit to Italy, 185
Funeral address, 347
Gordon Highlanders' Memorial,
293, 297
Hatred of organ-grinders, 107, 110
His adopted daughter, 209
His passion for sketching, 23
House at Cornbrook Park, 1 14
In Cupid's Alley, 14
In Padua, 194
Knowledge of photography, 139
Last years, 357
Letter to Charles Rowley, 343
Letter to Herbert Home, 307
Letter to Manchester Town
Council, 199
Letter to Raskin, published in
Fors tfavigera, 168
Letters to Mackenzie Bell, 332,
335
Letters to brother, 34, 37, 40, 43,
52, 54, 55
Letter to the Council of Man-
chester Institution, 153
Letters to Miss M'Laren, 346
Letters to Ernestine Mills, 303,
307, 321, 327, 329, 337, 338,
353, 355
Letters to the Press, 136, 137
Letters to Mrs. Russell-Gurney,
294, 298, 300, 301, 302, 304,
305, 308, 326, 327
INDEX
367
Shields, Frederic James
Letters to Rossefcti, 96, 116, 130
Letters to John Raskin, 87, 88,
112, 156, 167
Letters to Miss E. G. Thomson,
179, 249
Letters to G. F. Watts, 309, 312,
314
Letters to Mrs. Watts, 323, 332
Letters to his mother, 24, 27, 29
Letters to his wife, 164, 174, 175,
186, 187, 189, 191, 192, 194,
195, 202, 203, 207, 208, 213,
214, 215, 219, 274, 283
Lunette in crypt of St. Barnabas',
Pimlico, 299, 323
"Man and his Conscience" de-
signs, 345
Marriage, 164
Meets Professor A. T. Scott, 94
Meets Swinburne, 104
Mother, death of, 30
Offered apprenticeship to painter
and grainer, 16
Oil painting, " Knott Mill Fair,"
323
On impressionists, 320
On stained glass, 229
On study of drapery, 226, 249
On Sundays in Italy, 193, 194
On theatres, 30
On the future of English Art,
353
Painting in Rossetti's studio, 211,
263
Paints military pictures at Sand-
gate, 110
Paints portrait of Mrs. Booth,
295
Paints portraits at 7/- a head, 22
Personal characteristics, 352
Picture reproduced in illustrated
London News, 1859, 60
Re-touching, Rossetti's photo-
graphs, 205
School days, 8
Sketches in Windsor Castle, 170
Sketching in streets, 29
Solomon Eagle, 77
Trade lithography, designing for,
21, 32, 39, 45, 49, 50, 58, 59
Tramps to Liverpool, 22
Visits Broadlands, 283, 293
Window for Mereworth Church,
Kent, 299
Shields, Frederic James
Windows for St. Anne's, Man-
chester, 297
Windowsfor Cheltenham College,
286
Windows for Sir William Houlds
worth, 208, 209, 214
Work in Ragged Schools, 51
Will of, 349
With mosaic workers in Paris,
293
With Rossetti at Herne Bay, 213 ;
at Birchington, 274
Mrs. F., letters to, 164, 174, 175,
178, 186, 187, 189, 191, 194,
195, 202, 203, 207, 208, 213,
214, 215, 219, 274, 283
Mrs Georgina, straw hat maker,
3 ; letters to, 24, 27, 29 ;
letters from, 24, 26 ; death
of, 31
Horace, walks from Manchester
to London, 33 ; death of, 66
James, Dumfriesshire sergeant,
2,6
John, bookbinder, stationer, and
printer, 2, 3, 12, 14; his
military service in Spain, 3 ;
death of, 21 ; letters to, 15,
16, 18, 19, 20
Siena, letter from, 191
Silhouettes, Rossetti's enthusiasm
for, 241
Sketching, Shields' overmastering
passion for, 23
Skill, Fred, illustrator, 10
" Skylark, The," early water-colour,
358
Smetham, James, 140, 141, 153, 227,
228, 230, 244, 253
Smith, Orrin, engraves Shields'
picture for Illustrated London
News, 60
Snakes as pets, 130
Snow picture, 108
Solomon, Simeon, 105
Somerset House School of Art, 9
South Kensington School of Art,
Shields examiner at, 319
Stained glass, first designs for, 208 ;
Shields' views on, 229
Stanhope Street, Clare Market, 6,
29
Street music, affliction of, 110
Sunday in Padua, 194
368
LIFE OF FREDERIC SHIELDS
Sunday in Venice, 193
Swinburne, 104, 121
Te Deum Laud-nuns, designs for
glass in Eaton Hall Chapel,
225
Theatre, Shields' views on, 30
Thomson, Miss E. G., letters to,
179, 249
" Triumph of Faith," series of de-
signs for glass, 209
"VANITY FAIR " design, 65; first de-
sign abandoned, 66 ; Ruskin
on, 68 ; engraved by Gaber,
69 ; description of, 85
Venice, letter from, 192
Victoria, Queen, her drawing-room
sketched by Shields, 170
WATERHOUSE, Alfred, 208, 222,
225, 271, 285
Water-Colour Society, Old, Shields
elected member of, 98
Watts-Dunton, Theodore, men-
tioned, 206, 207, 211, 213, 233,
253 273
Watts, G. F., letters from, 280, 311,
313, 333 ; letters to, 309, 312,
314
Watts, G. F., Mrs., letters to, 323,
332
Wesley preaching, water-colour of,
115
Westminster, Duke of, designs for,
225, 229, 230, 235, 236, 240,
250, 258, 261, 263, 264, 265,
266, 267, 268, 269, 276, 285,
286, 288, 293, 295, 297
" Whistle and Answer," early water-
colour, 49, 50
{jVill of Frederic Shields, 349
Wimbledon, Shields at, 329, 341,
Windsor Castle, Shields' sketches
in, 170
Winnington Hall, 100, 101, 156,
157
Winnington at Brighton, 185
Worsley Hall and Church, 15, 16
drawings of, 19
Wood engraving, drawing for, 43,
45, 47, 48, 59, 60, 63, 67, 69,
77,78
YOUNG Men's Christian Association,
Shields' cartoons given to,
349
Young's Night Thoughts, Blake's de-
signs for, 254, 255, 257
Printed by BALLANTTNE, HANSON 6 s Co.
Edinburgh & London
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