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biographical study of a. w. kinglake-第12章

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inous and entangled matter; but it is not  unique amongst martial records as 〃Eothen〃 is unique amongst books  of travel: it is through 〃Eothen〃 that its author has soared into a  classic; and bids fair to hold his place。  And; apart from the  merit of style; great campaigns lose interest in a third; if not in  a second generation; their historical consequence effaced through  lapse of years; their policy seen to have been nugatory or  mischievous; their chronicles; swallowed greedily at the birth like  Saturn's progeny; returning to vex their parent; relegated finally  to an honourable exile in the library upper shelves; where they  hold a place eyed curiously; not invaded:


〃devoured As fast as they are made; forgot as soon As done。 。 。 。 To have done; is to hang Quite out of fashion; like a rusty mail; In monumental mockery。〃



CHAPTER V … MADAME NOVIKOFF



THE Cabinet Edition of 〃The Invasion of the Crimea〃 appeared in  1877; shortly after the Servian struggle for independence; which  aroused in England universal interest and sympathy。  Kinglake had  heard from the lips of a valued lady friend the tragic death…tale  of her brother Nicholas Kireeff; who fell fighting as a volunteer  on the side of the gallant Servian against the Turk: and; much  moved by the recital; offered to honour the memory of the dead hero  in the Preface to his forthcoming edition。  He kept his word; made  sympathetic reference to M。 Kireeff in the opening of his Preface;  but passed in pursuance of his original design to a hostile  impeachment of Russia; its people; its church; its ruler。  This was  an error of judgment and of feeling; and the lady; reading the  manuscript; indignantly desired him to burn the whole rather than  commit the outrage of associating her brother's name with an attack  on causes and personages dear to him as to herself。  Kinglake  listened in silence; then tendered to her a CRAYON ROUGE; begging  her to efface all that pained her。  She did so; and; diminished by  three…fourths of its matter; the Preface appears in Vol。 I。 of the  Cabinet Edition。  The erasure was no slight sacrifice to an author  of Kinglake's literary sensitiveness; mutilating as it did the  integrity of a carefully schemed composition; and leaving visible  the scar。  He sets forth the strongly sentimental and romantic side  of Russian temperament。  Love of the Holy Shrines begat the war of  1853; racial ardour the war of 1876。  The first was directed by a  single will; the second by national enthusiasm; yet the mind of  Nicholas was no less tossed by a breathless strife of opposing  desires and moods than was Russia at large by the struggle between  Panslavism and statesmanship。  Kinglake paints vividly the imposing  figure of the young Kireeff; his stature; beauty; bravery; the  white robe he wore incarnadined by death…wounds; his body captured  by the hateful foes。  He goes on to tell how myth rose like an  exhalation round his memory: how legends of 〃a giant piling up  hecatombs by a mighty slaughter〃 reverberated through mansion and  cottage; town and village; cathedral and church; until thousands of  volunteers rushed to arms that they might go where young Kireeff  had gone。  Alexander's hand was forced; and the war began; which  but for England's intervention would have cleared Europe of the  Turk。  We have the text; but not the sermon; the Preface ends  abruptly with an almost clumsy peroration。

The lady who inspired both the eulogy and the curtailment was  Madame Novikoff; more widely known perhaps as O。 K。; with whom  Kinglake maintained during the last twenty years of life an  intimate and mutual friendship。  Madame Olga Novikoff; NEE Kireeff;  is a Russian lady of aristocratic rank both by parentage and  marriage。  In a lengthened sojourn at Vienna with her brother…in… law; the Russian ambassador; she learned the current business of  diplomacy。  An eager religious propagandist; she formed alliance  with the 〃Old Catholics〃 on the Continent; and with many among the  High Church English clergy; becoming; together with her brother  Alexander; a member of the REUNION NATIONALE; a society for the  union of Christendom。  Her interest in education has led her to  devote extensive help to school and church building and endowment  on her son's estate。  God…daughter to the Czar Nicholas; she is a  devoted Imperialist; nor less in sympathy; as were all her family;  with Russian patriotism: after the death of her brother in Servia  on July 6/18; 1876; she became a still more ardent Slavophile。  The  three articles of her creed are; she says; those of her country;  Orthodoxy; Autocracy; Nationalism。  Her political aspirations have  been guided; and guided right; by her tact and goodness of heart。   Her life's aim has been to bring about a cordial understanding  between England and her native land; there is little doubt that her  influence with leading Liberal politicians; and her vigorous  allocutions in the Press; had much to do with the enthusiasm  manifested by England for the liberation of the Danubian States。   Readers of the Princess Lieven's letters to Earl Grey will recall  the part played by that able ambassadress in keeping this country  neutral through the crisis of 1828…9; to her Madame Novikoff has  been likened; and probably with truth; by the Turkish Press both  English and Continental。  She was accused in 1876 of playing on the  religious side of Mr。 Gladstone's character to secure his interest  in the Danubians as members of the Greek Church; while with  unecclesiastical people she was said to be equally skilful on the  political side; converting at the same time Anglophobe Russia by  her letters in the 〃Moscow Gazette。〃  Mr。 Gladstone's leanings to  Montenegro were attributed angrily in the English 〃Standard〃 to  Madame Novikoff: 〃A serious statesman should know better than to  catch contagion from the petulant enthusiasm of a Russian Apostle。〃   The contagion was in any case caught; and to some purpose; letter  after letter had been sent by the lady to the great statesman; then  in temporary retirement; without reply; until the last of these; 〃a  bitter cry of a sister for a sacrificed brother;〃 brought a feeling  answer from Mrs。 Gladstone; saying that her husband was deeply  moved by the appeal; and was writing on the subject。  In a few days  appeared his famous pamphlet; 〃Bulgarian Horrors and the Question  of the East。〃

Carlyle advised that Madame Novikoff's scattered papers should be  worked into a volume; they appeared under the title 〃Is Russia  Wrong?〃 with a preface by Froude; the moderate and ultra…prudent  tone of which infuriated Hayward and Kinglake; as not being  sufficiently appreciative。  Hayward declared some woman had biassed  him; Kinglake was of opinion that by studying the ETAT of Queen  Elizabeth Froude had 〃gone and turned himself into an old maid。〃

Froude's Preface to her next work; 〃Russia and England; a Protest  and an Appeal;〃 by O。 K。; 1880; was worded in a very different tone  and satisfied all her friends。  The book was also reviewed with  highest praise by Gladstone in 〃The Nineteenth Century。〃  Learning  that an assault upon it was contemplated in 〃The Quarterly;〃  Kinglake offered to supply the editor; Dr。 Smith; with materials  which might be so used as to neutralize a PERSONAL attack upon O。  K。  Smith entreated him to compose the whole article himself。  〃I  could promise you;〃 he writes; 〃that the authorship should be kept  a profound secret;〃 but this Kinglake seems to have thought  undesirable。  The article appeared in April; 1880; under the title  of 〃The Slavonic Menace to Europe。〃  It opens with a panegyric on  the authoress: 〃She has mastered our language with conspicuous  success; she expostulates as easily as she reproaches; and she  exhibits as much facility in barbing shafts of satire as in framing  specious excuses for daring acts of diplomacy。〃  It insists on the  high esteem felt for her by both the Russian and Austrian  governments; telling with much humour an anecdote of Count Beust;  the Prime Minister of Austria during her residence in Vienna。  The  Count; after meeting her at a dinner party at the Turkish Embassy;  composed a set of verses in her honour; and gave them to her; but  she forgot to mention them to her brother…in…law。  The Prime  Minister; encountering the latter; asked his opinion of the verses;  and the ambassador was greatly amazed at knowing nothing of the  matter。 (23)  From amenities towards the authoress; the article  passes abruptly to hostile criticism of the book; declares it to be  proscribed in Russia as mischievous; and to have precipitated a  general war by keeping up English interest in Servian rebellion。   It sneers in doubtful taste at the lady's learning:


〃sit non doctissima conjux; Sit nox cum somno; sit sine lite dies;〃


denounces the Slavs as incapable of being welded into a nation;  urging that their independence must destroy Austria…Hungary; a  consummation desired by Madame Novikoff; with her feline contempt  for 〃poor dear Austria;〃 but which all must unite to prevent if  they would avert a European war。

How could one clear harp; men asked themselves as they read; have  produced so diverse tones?  The riddle is solved when we
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