H. H. ASQUITH AS A CONTRIBUTOR TO THE " SPECTATOR
"
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Following your appreciation of Lord Oxford in last week's issue, Spectator readers may be interested in a few personal recollections of H. H. Asquith as a member of the Spectator staff.
It was in the late 'seventies that he entered the brilliant circle of writers and thinkers which Meredith Townsend and Richard Holt Hutton had gathered about them, and I can well remem- ber his first appearance in the office-4 well-built young man, neatly dressed, very full of life and energy, but apparently a trifle nervous as to his probable reception. The preliminary interview in those days was always a little trying for the new- comer, for the two partners had the practice of receiving all such in state, invariably on a Tuesday morning after the week's work had been formulated, and putting them through a very kindly but none the less searching inquisition.
On this occasion they had with them Thomas Hughes, M.P. for Chester, better known as the creator of Tom Brown, and what happened was apparently satisfactory, for Mr. Asquith brought downstairs with him two books for review, and notified us that•'he had been asked to submit a sub- leader on some topic of general interest. These commissions were speedily followed by others, in which he gave such unfailing evidence of his exceptional- soundness of judgment and power of presenting a case that he was soon taken on the staff of regular contributors, and within two years was acting
- as Assistant Editor when either Townsend or Hutton was away on holiday. It is an interesting fact that so closely did his lucid and incisive style of writing resemble Hutton's that many of his articles written on such occasions were generally accepted by the outside world as coming from the pen of his chief.
- The two partners never had any doubts about the quality of the new writer's work, and I remember Mr. Hutton telling me that W. E. Gladstone, referring to one of Asquith's political articles which had been very widely quoted, remarked to him that this article alone would mark out the young barrister as a rising politician. This prophecy was soon to be fulfilled when he entered Parliament in 1886 as M.P. for East Fife. The two Editors were amongst the first to congratulate him on his initial Parliamentary success, and I recollect that they also sent him a special message of congratulation on his powerful closing speech in the Times v. Piggott trial.
Most of his Spectator work was written in his chambers in one of the courts just off Middle Temple Lane. His MS. (this, of course, was long before the era of the typewriter) was exceptionally clear, and I do not remember the printers ever having occasion to query a word. His proofs seldom under- went alteration, and we could always rely on receiving either " copy " or proof by the time promised.
Although he took his journalistic work—and, indeed, his whole career—very seriously, he was a delightful man with whom to be associated. He always had a cheery word and smile for everyone, and on the occasions when he forgathered in the editorial rooms with other special contributors, such as Hughes, D. C. Lathbury of the Economist, and Professor A. J. Church, the- talk was invariably lively. I recollect that Mr. Asquith had a most infectious laugh, and, with a great fund of entertaining reminiscence, personal and acquired, he was certainly the best possible company as he stood, characteris- tically, with his back to the fireplace, his feet apart, and his two hands thrust down as far as they would go into his trousers pockets.
Even a rebuke could be conveyed by him in a whimsical way that stuck in the memory but never stung. His English was precise, and he prided himself on clear and absolutely unambiguous phrasing and punctuation. One day he was found gazing blankly at the proof of one of his articles. " What is wrong with it ? " he was asked. " I'm not sure," he replied slowly, " but it looks as if the compositor has been sprinkling the commas with a pepper pot."
Of all the eminent men and brilliant writers whom I had the privilege of knowing during my long association with the
Spectator there are few of whom I have more happy recollec- tions of him whose name appears in our records as " Asquith, H. H."—I am, Sir, &c.,
ALFRED EVERSON,
Sometime Publisher and Manager, the Spectator.
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