A. W. Kinglake: A Biographical and Literary StudyTuckwell, William
General
A. W. Kinglake: A Biographical and Literary Study
Tuckwell, William
Kinglake, Alexander William, 1809-1891
By a curious oversight in the first two editions (p. 41) _Jove_ was made
to gaze on Troy from Samothrace; it was rightly altered to Neptune in the
third; and “eagle eye of Jove” in the following sentence was replaced by
“dread Commoter of our globe.” The phrase “a natural Chiffney-bit” (p.
109), I have found unintelligible to-day through lapse of time even to
professional equestrians and stable-keepers. Samuel Chiffney, a famous
rider and trainer, was born in 1753, and won the Derby on Skyscraper in
1789. He managed the Prince of Wales’s stud, was the subject of
discreditable insinuations, and was called before the Jockey Club.
Nothing was proved against him, but in consequence of the _fracas_ the
Prince severed his connection with the Club and sold his horses.
Chiffney invented a bit named after him; a curb with two snaffles, which
gave a stronger bearing on the sides of a horse’s mouth. His rule in
racing was to keep a slack rein and to ride a waiting race, not calling
on his horse till near the end. His son Samuel, who followed him,
observed the same plan; from its frequent success the term “Chiffney
rush” became proverbial. In his ride through the desert (p. 169)
Kinglake speaks of his “native bells—the innocent bells of Marlen, that
never before sent forth their music beyond the Blaygon hills.” Marlen
bells is the local name for the fine peal of St. Mary Magdalen, Taunton.
The Blaygon, more commonly called the Blagdon Hills, run parallel with
the Quantocks, and between them lies the fertile Vale of Taunton Deane.
“Damascus,” he says, on p. 245, “was safer than Oxford”; and adds a note
on Mr. Everett’s degree which requires correction. It is true that an
attempt was made to _non-placet_ Mr. Everett’s honorary degree in the
Oxford Theatre in 1843 on the ground of his being a Unitarian; not true
that it succeeded. It was a conspiracy by the young lions of the
Newmania, who had organized a formidable opposition to the degree, and
would have created a painful scene even if defeated. But the Proctor of
that year, Jelf, happened to be the most-hated official of the century;
and the furious groans of undergraduate displeasure at his presence,
continuing unabated for three-quarters of an hour, compelled Wynter, the
Vice-Chancellor, to break up the Assembly, without recitation of the
prizes, but not without conferring the degrees in dumb show: unconscious
Mr. Everett smilingly took his place in red gown among the Doctors, the
Vice-Chancellor asserting afterwards, what was true in the letter though
not in the spirit, that he did not hear the _non-placets_. So while
Everett was obnoxious to the Puseyites, Jelf was obnoxious to the
undergraduates; the cannonade of the angry youngsters drowned the odium
of the theological malcontents; in the words of Bombastes:
“Another lion gave another roar,
And the first lion thought the last a bore.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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