CHAPTER XIIITHE END OF THE PARTNERSHIP

Either in March or April, 1870, FitzGerald wrote to Posh the quaint letter which follows:—

“Dear Posh,“I never wanted you to puzzle yourself about the Accounts any more, but only to tell me at a rough estimate what the chief expenses were—as, for instance, Shares, &c.—I beg to say that Inever hadasked you—nor had you told me this at Lowestoft: if you had I should not have wanted to ask again. And my reasonforasking, was simply that, on Monday Mr. Moor here wasasking meabout what a Lugger’s expenses were, and I felt it silly not to be able to tell him the least about it: and Ihave felt so when some one asked me before: and that is why I asked you. I neither have, nor ever had, any doubt of your doing your best: and you ought not to think so.“Youmust please yourselfentirely about Plymouth: I only wish to say that I had not spoken as if I wanted you to go. Go by all means if you like.“When I paid the Landlady of the Boat Inn for Newson and Jack she asked me if you had explained to me about the Grog business. I said that you could not understand it at first, but afterwards supposed that others might have been treated at night. She said—Yes; drinking rum-flip till two in the morning. She says it was Newson’s doing, but I thinkyoushould have told meat once, particularly as your not doing so left me with some suspicion of the Landlady’s fair dealing. You did not choose to leave the blame to Newson, I suppose, but I think I deserve the truthat your hands as much as he does the concealment of it.“Yours,“E. FG.”

“Dear Posh,

“I never wanted you to puzzle yourself about the Accounts any more, but only to tell me at a rough estimate what the chief expenses were—as, for instance, Shares, &c.—I beg to say that Inever hadasked you—nor had you told me this at Lowestoft: if you had I should not have wanted to ask again. And my reasonforasking, was simply that, on Monday Mr. Moor here wasasking meabout what a Lugger’s expenses were, and I felt it silly not to be able to tell him the least about it: and Ihave felt so when some one asked me before: and that is why I asked you. I neither have, nor ever had, any doubt of your doing your best: and you ought not to think so.

“Youmust please yourselfentirely about Plymouth: I only wish to say that I had not spoken as if I wanted you to go. Go by all means if you like.

“When I paid the Landlady of the Boat Inn for Newson and Jack she asked me if you had explained to me about the Grog business. I said that you could not understand it at first, but afterwards supposed that others might have been treated at night. She said—Yes; drinking rum-flip till two in the morning. She says it was Newson’s doing, but I thinkyoushould have told meat once, particularly as your not doing so left me with some suspicion of the Landlady’s fair dealing. You did not choose to leave the blame to Newson, I suppose, but I think I deserve the truthat your hands as much as he does the concealment of it.

“Yours,“E. FG.”

The “Boat Inn,” Quay Lane, Woodbridge

Mr. Moor was FitzGerald’s Woodbridge lawyer, and no doubt he and other friends of FitzGerald thought that the affairs of the partnership of FitzGerald and Fletcher were not carried on with such precision as was desirable. Possibly they were right. But then, Posh couldn’t be precise. I have failed to get any intelligible account out of Posh as to that rum-flip orgy. All he could do was to chuckle. The question of loyalty raised in the letter is a nice one. But Posh and his kind would only answer it in one way. They would regard it as treachery to their order to betray each other to a “gennleman,” however kind the “gennleman,” may have been.

On April 4th FitzGerald wrote to Posh from Woodbridge:—

“Dear Posh,“Imay beat Lowestoft some time next week. As it is I have still some engagements here; and, moreover, I have not been quite well.“If you want to see me, you have only to come over here any day you choose. To-morrow (Sunday) there is a Train from Lowestoft which reaches Woodbridge at about 3 in the afternoon. I tell you this in case you might want to see or speak to me.“Mr. Manby told me yesterday that there was a wonderful catch of Mackerel down in the West. I have no doubt that this warm weather and fine nights has to do with it. I believe that we are in for a spell of such weather:—but I suppose you have no thought of going Westward now.“I have desired that a . . . [word missing] of the Green Paint which Mr. Silver used should be sent to you. But do not youwaitfor it, if you want to be about the Luggerat once. The paintwill keepfor another time: and I suppose that the sooner the Lugger is afloat this hot and dry weather the better.“Remember me to your Family.“Yours always,“E. FG.”

“Dear Posh,

“Imay beat Lowestoft some time next week. As it is I have still some engagements here; and, moreover, I have not been quite well.

“If you want to see me, you have only to come over here any day you choose. To-morrow (Sunday) there is a Train from Lowestoft which reaches Woodbridge at about 3 in the afternoon. I tell you this in case you might want to see or speak to me.

“Mr. Manby told me yesterday that there was a wonderful catch of Mackerel down in the West. I have no doubt that this warm weather and fine nights has to do with it. I believe that we are in for a spell of such weather:—but I suppose you have no thought of going Westward now.

“I have desired that a . . . [word missing] of the Green Paint which Mr. Silver used should be sent to you. But do not youwaitfor it, if you want to be about the Luggerat once. The paintwill keepfor another time: and I suppose that the sooner the Lugger is afloat this hot and dry weather the better.

“Remember me to your Family.

“Yours always,“E. FG.”

Mr. Manby has been already mentioned, and we have previously heard of the excellence of Mr. Silver’s green paint. But this letter must have been almost the last written by the sleeping partner before the termination of the partnership; for on April the 12th Mr. W. T. Balls, of Lowestoft, valued theMeum and Tuum, and “Herring and Mackerel Nets, Bowls, Warpropes, Ballast, and miscellaneous Fishing Stock belonging jointly to Edward FitzGerald and Joseph Fletcher.”

FitzGerald had started Posh, put him on his legs, and, as he believed, given him a chance to become a successful “owner.”But the poet was weary of the partnership. He had found it impossible to persuade Posh to keep accounts such as should be kept in every business, and had been disappointed more than once by the intemperance of the man. But as yet the kindly, generous-hearted gentleman had no thought of breaking with his protégé altogether, or of depriving him of the use of theMeum and TuumorHenrietta, both of which had been bought with his, FitzGerald’s, money. But he would no longer be a partner. So Mr. Balls was called in to value the stock-in-trade, with a view to arranging that a bill of sale for the half-value to which FitzGerald was entitled should be given him, and that Posh should thereafter carry on the business of a herring-boat owner by himself, subject to the charge in favour of his old “guv’nor.”

Despite the various “squalls,” there had, as yet, been no serious quarrel between these two. Indeed, FitzGerald’s kind heartnever forgot Posh, and the fascination of the man. But for the future FitzGerald and Posh were no longer partners. FitzGerald’s experience as a “herring merchant” was at an end.

Previously to the termination of the partnership FitzGerald had commissioned S. Laurence to paint a portrait of Posh. On the 13th January, 1870, he wrote to Laurence from Woodbridge (Letters, II, 113, Eversley Edition):—

“. . . If you were down here, I think I should make you take a life-size Oil Sketch of the Head and Shoulders of my Captain of the Lugger. You see by the enclosed” (a copy of the photograph of 1870, no doubt) “that these are neither of them a bad sort: and the Man’s Soul is every way as well proportioned, missing in nothing that may become a Man, as I believe. He and I will, I doubt, part Company; well as helikes me, which is perhaps as well as a sailor cares for any one but Wife and Children: he likes to be, what he is born to be, his own sole Master, of himself, and of other men. So now I have got him a fair start, I think he will carry on the Lugger alone: I shall miss my Hobby, which is no doubt the last I shall ride in this world: but I shall also get eased of some Anxiety about the lives of a Crew for which I now feel responsible. . . .”

On January 20th FitzGerald wrote another letter to Laurence on the same subject.

“. . . I should certainly like a large Oil-sketch like Thackeray’s, done in your most hasty, and worst, style, to hang up with Thackeray and Tennyson, with whom he shares a certain Grandeur of Soul and Body. As you guess, the colouring is (when the Man is all well) the finest Saxon type: with that complexion which Montaignecalls ‘vif, Mâle, et flamboyant’; blue eyes; and strictly auburn hair, that any woman might sigh to possess. He says it is coming off, as it sometimes does from those who are constantly wearing the close, hot Sou’-westers. We must see what can be done about a Sketch” (Letters, II, 115, Eversley Edition).

In February of the same year FitzGerald went down to Lowestoft, and wrote another letter from there with reference to the proposed portrait (Letters, II, 115, Eversley Edition). It is obvious from these letters that there was no bitterness on his side which led to the ending of the partnership. His long-suffering endured to the last.

“My dear Laurence,“. . . I came here a few days ago, for the benefit of my old Doctor, The Sea, and my Captain’s Company, which is as good.He has not yet got his new Lugger home; but will do so this week, I hope; and then the way for us will be somewhat clearer.“If you sketch a head, you might send it down to me to look at, so as I might be able to guess if there were any likelihood in that way of proceeding. Merely the Lines of Feature indicated, even by Chalk, might do. As I told you, the Head is of the large type, or size, the proper Capital of a six-foot Body, of the broad dimensions you see in the Photograph. The fine shape of the Nose, less than Roman, and more than Greek, scarce appears in the Photograph; the Eye, and its delicate Eyelash, of course will remain to be made out; and I think you excel in the Eye.“When I get home (which I shall do this week) I will send you two little Papers about the Sea words and Phrases used hereabout, for which this Man (quite unconsciously) is my main Authority. You willsee in them a little of his simplicity of Soul; but not the Justice of Thought, Tenderness of Nature, and all other good Gifts which make him a Gentleman of Nature’s grandest Type.”

“My dear Laurence,

“. . . I came here a few days ago, for the benefit of my old Doctor, The Sea, and my Captain’s Company, which is as good.He has not yet got his new Lugger home; but will do so this week, I hope; and then the way for us will be somewhat clearer.

“If you sketch a head, you might send it down to me to look at, so as I might be able to guess if there were any likelihood in that way of proceeding. Merely the Lines of Feature indicated, even by Chalk, might do. As I told you, the Head is of the large type, or size, the proper Capital of a six-foot Body, of the broad dimensions you see in the Photograph. The fine shape of the Nose, less than Roman, and more than Greek, scarce appears in the Photograph; the Eye, and its delicate Eyelash, of course will remain to be made out; and I think you excel in the Eye.

“When I get home (which I shall do this week) I will send you two little Papers about the Sea words and Phrases used hereabout, for which this Man (quite unconsciously) is my main Authority. You willsee in them a little of his simplicity of Soul; but not the Justice of Thought, Tenderness of Nature, and all other good Gifts which make him a Gentleman of Nature’s grandest Type.”

Little Grange

The new Lugger was, of course, theHenrietta. The portrait was, according to Posh, painted during the summer at Little Grange, the house which FitzGerald built for himself, or rather altered for himself, at Woodbridge. Dr. Aldis Wright was under the impression that the portrait was never finished; but Posh is very certain about it. “I mind settin’ as still as a cat at a mouse-hole,” says he, “for ten min’t or a quarter of an hour at a time, on and off, and then a stretchin’ o’ my legs in the yard. Ah! I was somethin’ glad when that wuz finished, that I was! Tired! Lor! I niver knowed as dewin’ narthen’ would tire ye like that. The picter was sold at Mr. FitzGerald’s sale, and bought by Billy Hynes o’ Bury St. Edmunds. Hekep’ a public there. I reckon he’s dead by now.”

Up to the date of going to press I have been unable to trace this portrait, and it is, of course, possible, that in spite of Posh’s vivid recollection, Dr. Aldis Wright’s impression may be the right one.

A letter to Laurence of August 2nd, 1870, corroborates Posh to the extent of proving that the painter had certainly seen the fisherman. On that date FitzGerald wrote (Letters, II, 118, Eversley Edition):—

“. . . The Lugger is now preparing in the Harbour beside me; the Captain here, there, and everywhere; with a word for no one but on business; the other side of the Man you saw looking for Birds’ Nests: all things in their season. I am sure the Man is fit to be King of a Kingdom as well as of a Lugger. . . .“I declare, you and I have seen A Man! Have we not? Made in the mould of whatHumanity should be, Body and Soul, a poor Fisherman. The proud Fellow had better have kept me for a Partner in some of his responsibilities. But no; he must rule alone, as is right he should too. . . .”

“I declare, you and I have seen A Man! Have we not? Made in the mould of whatHumanity should be, Body and Soul, a poor Fisherman. The proud Fellow had better have kept me for a Partner in some of his responsibilities. But no; he must rule alone, as is right he should too. . . .”

Yes. It would certainly have been better for Posh if he had kept his “guv’nor” for a partner. But the “squalls,” the occasional beer bouts (or “settin’ ins,” as they call them in East Anglia), had excited the spirit of independence of my gentleman. Possibly FitzGerald himself had, by too open a display of his admiration for his partner, this typical longshoreman, contributed to the personal self-satisfaction which must have been at the bottom of the man’s reasons for wishing to be free of one who had befriended him so delicately and so generously. Posh himself admits, or rather boasts, that the “break” was owing to his own action. From first to last it seems that FitzGerald, the cultured gentleman, the scholar, the poetof perfect language and profound philosophy, regarded Posh as almost more than man—certainly as more than average man—and there can be no greater token of the sweet simplicity of the scholar.

In September, 1870 (which would be just before the home voyage began and after the Northern voyage was over), Posh seems to have “celebrated” more than his whilome partner and then mortgagee thought proper. On the 8th of the month FitzGerald wrote to Mr. Spalding (Two Suffolk Friends, p. 119):—

“. . . I had a letter from Posh yesterday, telling me he was sorry we had not ‘parted Friends.’ That he had been indeed ‘a little the worsefor Drink’—which means being at a Public-house half the Day, and having to sleep it off the remainder: having been duly warned by his Father at Noon that all had been ready for sailing 2 hours before, and all the other Luggers gone. AsPosh couldwalk, I suppose he only acknowledges alittleDrink; but, judging by what followed on that little Drink, I wish he had simply acknowledged his Fault. He begs me to write: if I do so I must speak very plainly to him: that, with all his noble Qualities, I doubt I can never again have Confidence in his Promise to break this one bad Habit, seeing that He has broken it so soon, when there was no occasion or excuse: unless it were the thought of leaving his Wife so ill at home. The Man is so beyond others, as I think, that I have come to feel that I must not condemn him by general rule; nevertheless, if he ask me, I can refer him to no other. I must send him back his own written Promise of Sobriety, signed only a month before he broke it so needlessly: and I must even tell him that I know not yet if he can be left with the Mortgage as we settled it in May. . . .“P.S.—I enclose Posh’s letter, and the answer I propose to give to it. I am sureit makes me sad and ashamed to be setting up for Judge on a much nobler Creature than myself. . . . I had thought of returning him his written Promise as worthless: desiring back my direction to my Heirs that he should keep on the Lugger in case of my Death. . . . I think Posh ought to be made to feel this severely: and, as his Wife is better I do not mind making him feel it if I can. On the other hand, I do not wish to drive Him, by Despair, into the very fault which I have so tried to cure him of. . . .”

“P.S.—I enclose Posh’s letter, and the answer I propose to give to it. I am sureit makes me sad and ashamed to be setting up for Judge on a much nobler Creature than myself. . . . I had thought of returning him his written Promise as worthless: desiring back my direction to my Heirs that he should keep on the Lugger in case of my Death. . . . I think Posh ought to be made to feel this severely: and, as his Wife is better I do not mind making him feel it if I can. On the other hand, I do not wish to drive Him, by Despair, into the very fault which I have so tried to cure him of. . . .”

His mother did not try to excuse him at all: his father would not even see him go off. She merely told me parenthetically, “I tell him he seem to do it when the Governor is here.”

If FitzGerald had not set poor Posh (for in a way I am sorry for the old fellow) on a pedestal, he would have understood that to a longshoreman or herring fisher who drinksit (there are many teetotallers now), “bare” can never be regarded as an enemy. Posh did not think any excuse was necessary for having had, perhaps, more than he could conveniently carry. It was his last day ashore (though I can’t quite understand what fishing he was going on unless the herring came down earlier than they do now), and he was “injyin’ of hisself.” In the old days they took a cask or so aboard. This is never done now, and the chief drink aboard is cocoa (pronounced, as FitzGerald writes, “cuckoo”). Posh no doubt thought himself hard done by that such a fuss should have been made about a “drarp o’ bare.” He doubtless wished that FitzGerald should forgive him. For, despite his conduct, he did, I truly believe, love his “guv’nor.” As for the father and mother, well, they smoothed down the “gennleman” and sympathised with their son according to their kind and to mother nature. The Direction to FitzGerald’s Heirs, which herefers to, is still in existence, and reads as follows:—

“Lowestoft,January20th, 1870.“I hereby desire my Heirs executors and Assigns not to call in the Principal of any Mortgage by which Joseph Fletcher the younger of Lowestoft stands indebted to me; provided he duly pays the Interest thereon; does his best to pay off the Principal; and does his best also to keep up the value of the Property so mortgaged until he pays it off.“This I hereby desire and enjoin on my heirs executors or assigns solemnly as any provision made by Word or Deed while . . . [word missing] any other legal document.“Edward FitzGerald.”

“Lowestoft,January20th, 1870.

“I hereby desire my Heirs executors and Assigns not to call in the Principal of any Mortgage by which Joseph Fletcher the younger of Lowestoft stands indebted to me; provided he duly pays the Interest thereon; does his best to pay off the Principal; and does his best also to keep up the value of the Property so mortgaged until he pays it off.

“This I hereby desire and enjoin on my heirs executors or assigns solemnly as any provision made by Word or Deed while . . . [word missing] any other legal document.

“Edward FitzGerald.”

This solemn injunction was written on a sheet of note-paper, and in the fold, over a sixpenny stamp, FitzGerald wrote: “This paper I now endorse again on legal stamp,so as to give it the authority I can. Edward FitzGerald, July 31, 1870.”

Surely never man had so kind and considerate a friend as Posh had in FitzGerald!

Though the partnership was over, FitzGerald by no means gave up his friendship for Posh. From time to time he saw him, and from time to time he wrote to him, and always he retained the affection for the longshoreman which had sprung up in him so suddenly and (I fear) so unaccountably.

On February 5th, 1871, FitzGerald wrote to Mr. Spalding (Two Suffolk Friends, p. 121):—

“. . . Posh and his Father are very busy getting theMeum and Tuumready for the West; Jemmy, who goes Captain, is just now in France with aCargoeof salt Herrings. I suppose the Lugger will start in a fortnight or so. . . . All-fours at night.”

In April of the same year FitzGerald wrote to Posh:—

“Woodbridge,Monday.“Dear Posh,“Come any day you please. The Horse Fair is on Friday, you had better come, at any rate; by Thursday, so as to catch the Market. For I think your Lugger must have got away before that.“A letter written by Ablett Pasefield [otherwise called Percival] yesterday tells me there are four Lowestoft Luggers in Weymouth. I fancy that even if they were on the Fishing ground, the wind must be too strong to be at work.“It was Mr. Kerrich who died suddenly this day week—and I suppose is being buried this very day.“Yours, E. FG.“Mr. Berry tells me that the Poultry Show here is on Thursday. You can, as I say, come any Day you please. I see theWind is got West, after the squalls of Hail.”

“Woodbridge,Monday.

“Dear Posh,

“Come any day you please. The Horse Fair is on Friday, you had better come, at any rate; by Thursday, so as to catch the Market. For I think your Lugger must have got away before that.

“A letter written by Ablett Pasefield [otherwise called Percival] yesterday tells me there are four Lowestoft Luggers in Weymouth. I fancy that even if they were on the Fishing ground, the wind must be too strong to be at work.

“It was Mr. Kerrich who died suddenly this day week—and I suppose is being buried this very day.

“Yours, E. FG.

“Mr. Berry tells me that the Poultry Show here is on Thursday. You can, as I say, come any Day you please. I see theWind is got West, after the squalls of Hail.”

Geldeston Hall, the Norfolk seat of the Kerrich Family

Ablett Pasefield (or Percival), the fisherman and yacht hand, has been mentioned before, and will be mentioned again. He was one of FitzGerald’s favourites. Mr. Kerrich was FitzGerald’s brother-in-law, the husband of the poet’s favourite sister, who had predeceased him in 1863. On August 5th in that year FitzGerald wrote to Professor Cowell (Letters, II, 46, Eversley Edition): “. . . I have lost my sister Kerrich, the only one of my family I much cared for, or who much cared for me.”

* * * * *

Mr. Kerrich lived at Geldeston Hall, near Beccles, which is still in possession of the same family.

Mr. Berry (as we know) was FitzGerald’s landlord at Markethill, Woodbridge.

At this time Posh was a man of means, and drove his smart gig and mare, and it was with some idea of buying a new horsethat he was to go to Woodbridge Horse Fair. In the seventies the horse fairs of Norwich and other East Anglian towns were important functions. The Rommany gryengroes had not then all gone to America, and those who know their George Borrow will remember with delight his description of the scene at the horse fair on Norwich Castle Hill, when Jasper Petulengro first brought himself to the recollection of Lavengro (or the “sap-engro”) as his “pal”—that memorable day when George Borrow saw the famous entire Norfolk cob Marshland Shales led amongst bared heads, blind and grey with age, but triumphant in his unequalled fame (Lavengro, p. 74, Minerva Edition).

But Posh bought no new horse. And his recollection does not permit of any trustworthy account of his visit.

Perhaps it was during this trip to Woodbridge (and the carping reader will be justified in saying “and perhaps it wasn’t”) thatPosh witnessed the curious and characteristic meeting between FitzGerald and his wife.

If this meeting were characteristic, still more so was the history of the marriage.

FitzGerald had been a great friend of Bernard Barton, the Woodbridge quaker poet, and on the death of his friend he wished to save Miss Barton from being thrown on the world almost destitute and almost friendless. The only way of doing it without creating scandal (and he changed the name of his yacht from theShamrockto theScandalbecause he said that scandal was the principal commodity of Woodbridge) was to make her his wife. This he did. But there were many reasons why the marriage was not likely to prove a happy one. It did not, and both parties recognised that the wisest thing to do was to separate without any unnecessary fuss. They did so. And no doubt their action proved to be for the happiness of each of them.

Posh was walking with FitzGerald on one occasion down Quay Lane, Woodbridge, when Mrs. FitzGerald (who was living at Gorleston at the time, but had gone over to Woodbridge, possibly to see some old friends) appeared walking towards them. FitzGerald removed the glove he was wearing on his right hand. Mrs. FitzGerald removed the glove she was wearing on her right hand. There was a momentary hesitation as the husband passed the wife. But Posh thinks that the two hands did not meet. FitzGerald bowed with all his courtesy, and passed on.

Posh says that Mrs. FitzGerald was a “fine figure of a woman.” And I believe that she was, indeed, so fine a figure of a woman that the length of her stride excited the admiration of the local schoolboys when she was still Miss Barton. She was older than FitzGerald when he married her, and both were nearer fifty than forty.

In this context I give the following letterfrom FitzGerald to Posh, though I have been unable to fix its date with any certainty.

“Woodbridge,Tuesday.“Dear Posh,“I find that I may very likely have to go to London on Thursday—not to be home till Friday perhaps. If I do this it will be scarce worth while your coming over here to-morrow, so far asIam concerned; though you will perhaps see Newson.“Poor young Smith of the Sportsman was brought home ill last week, and died of the very worst Small Pox in a Day or two. There have beenthreeDeaths from it here: all from London. As young Smith died inQuay Laneleading down to the Boat Inn, I should not like you to be about there with any chance of Danger, though I have been up and down several times myself.“Ever yours,“E. FG.”

“Woodbridge,Tuesday.

“Dear Posh,

“I find that I may very likely have to go to London on Thursday—not to be home till Friday perhaps. If I do this it will be scarce worth while your coming over here to-morrow, so far asIam concerned; though you will perhaps see Newson.

“Poor young Smith of the Sportsman was brought home ill last week, and died of the very worst Small Pox in a Day or two. There have beenthreeDeaths from it here: all from London. As young Smith died inQuay Laneleading down to the Boat Inn, I should not like you to be about there with any chance of Danger, though I have been up and down several times myself.

“Ever yours,“E. FG.”

“The Sportsman” was a public-house atWoodbridge, and it is probable that FitzGerald had helped “poor young Smith” substantially. His anxiety lest Posh should contract smallpox, and his indifference as to himself, are admirably illustrative of the man’s unselfishness.

But now that the partnership was at an end he began to frequent Lowestoft less. During 1871 he sold theScandal, and on September 4th he wrote to Dr. Aldis Wright from Woodbridge (Letters, II, p. 126, Eversley Edition): “I run over to Lowestoft occasionally for a few days, but do not abide there long: no longer having my dear little Ship for company. . . .”

Who bought theScandalI do not know. Posh has no recollection, and Dr. Aldis Wright has been unable to trace with certainty the subsequent owner of her, though he has reason to think that she was sold to Sir Cuthbert Quilter. She had served her purpose. She was, as Posh assures me, a “fast and handy little schooner.”

After her sale FitzGerald still remained the mortgagee of theMeum and Tuumand theHenrietta. But this was not to last indefinitely. Posh’s spirit of independence and love of “bare” were fated to put an end to all business relations between his old “guv’nor” and him.

Matters were still progressing fairly satisfactorily when FitzGerald visited Lowestoft in September, 1872. On the 29th of that month he wrote to Mr. Spalding (Two Suffolk Friends, p. 122):—

“. . . Posh—after no fish caught for 3 weeks—has had his boat come home with nearly all her fleet of nets torn to pieces in last week’s winds. . . . he . . . went with me to the theatre afterwards, where he admired the ‘Gays,’ as he called the Scenes; but fell asleep before Shylock had whetted his knife in the Merchant of Venice. . . .”

“Gays” is East Anglian for pictures.

* * * * *

Towards the end of 1873 relations began to be severely strained between mortgagorand mortgagee. On December the 31st FitzGerald wrote from 12 Marine Terrace, Lowestoft:—

“12Marine Terrace,“December31.“Joseph Fletcher,“As you cannot talk with me without confusion, I write a few words to you on the subject of the two grievances which you began about this morning.“1st. As to your beingunderyour Father: I said no such thing: but wrote that he was to beeitherPartner, or (with your Mother) constantly employed, and consulted with as to the Boats. It is indeed fortheirsakes, and that of your own Family, that I have come to take all this trouble“2ndly. As to the Bill of Sale to me. If you could be calm enough, you would see that this would be a Protectionto yourself. You do not pay your different Creditorsalltheir Bill at the year’s end. Now, ifany one of these should happen to wantallhis Money; he might, by filing a Bankruptcy against you, seize upon your Nets and everything else you have to pay his Debt.“As to your supposing thatIshould use the Bill of Sale except in the last necessity (which I do not calculate upon), you prove that you can have but little remembrance of what I have hitherto done for you and am still willing to do for your Family’s sake quite as much as for your own.“The Nets were included in the Valuation which Mr. Balls made of the whole Property; which valuation (as you ought to remember) I reduced even lower than Mr. Balls’ Valuation; which you yourself thought too low at the time. Therefore (however much the Nets, &c. may have been added to since) surelyIhave the first claim on them in Justice, if not by the Mortgage. I repeat, however, that I proposed the Bill of Sale quite as much as aProtection to yourself and yours as to myself.“If you cannot see all this on reflection, there is no use my talking or writing more about it. You may ask Mr. Barnard, if you please, or any such competent person, iftheyobject to the Bill of Sale, I shall not insist. But you had better let me know what you decide on before the end of the week when I shall be going home, that I may arrange accordingly.“Edward FitzGerald.”

“12Marine Terrace,“December31.

“Joseph Fletcher,

“As you cannot talk with me without confusion, I write a few words to you on the subject of the two grievances which you began about this morning.

“1st. As to your beingunderyour Father: I said no such thing: but wrote that he was to beeitherPartner, or (with your Mother) constantly employed, and consulted with as to the Boats. It is indeed fortheirsakes, and that of your own Family, that I have come to take all this trouble

“2ndly. As to the Bill of Sale to me. If you could be calm enough, you would see that this would be a Protectionto yourself. You do not pay your different Creditorsalltheir Bill at the year’s end. Now, ifany one of these should happen to wantallhis Money; he might, by filing a Bankruptcy against you, seize upon your Nets and everything else you have to pay his Debt.

“As to your supposing thatIshould use the Bill of Sale except in the last necessity (which I do not calculate upon), you prove that you can have but little remembrance of what I have hitherto done for you and am still willing to do for your Family’s sake quite as much as for your own.

“The Nets were included in the Valuation which Mr. Balls made of the whole Property; which valuation (as you ought to remember) I reduced even lower than Mr. Balls’ Valuation; which you yourself thought too low at the time. Therefore (however much the Nets, &c. may have been added to since) surelyIhave the first claim on them in Justice, if not by the Mortgage. I repeat, however, that I proposed the Bill of Sale quite as much as aProtection to yourself and yours as to myself.

“If you cannot see all this on reflection, there is no use my talking or writing more about it. You may ask Mr. Barnard, if you please, or any such competent person, iftheyobject to the Bill of Sale, I shall not insist. But you had better let me know what you decide on before the end of the week when I shall be going home, that I may arrange accordingly.

“Edward FitzGerald.”

Mr. Barnard was a Lowestoft lawyer for whom Posh had no great love. It is hardly necessary to say that he did not “ask” him. He still raises his voice and gets excited when he discusses the grievances of which he made complaint in the winter of 1873. “He wouldn’t leave me alone,” says Posh. “It was ‘yew must ax yar faa’er this, an’ yew must let yar mother that, and yew mustn’t dew this here, nor yit that theer.’At last I up an’ says, ‘Theer! I ha’ paid ivery farden o’ debts. Look a here. Here be the receipts. Now I’ll ha’e no more on it.’ And I slammed my fist down like this here.”

(Posh’s fist came down on my Remington’s table till the bell jangled!)

“‘Oh dear! oh dear, Posh!’ says he. ‘That it should ever come ta this! And hev yew anything left oover?’

“‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I’ve got a matter of a hunnerd an’ four pound clear arter payin’ ivery farden owin’, an’ the stock an’ nets an’ gear and tew boots[184]an’ all wha’ss mortgaged ta yew. Now I’ll ha’e no more on’t. Ayther I’m master or I ha’ done wi’t.’

“‘Oh dear! oh dear! Posh,’ he say, ‘I din’t think as yew’d made so much.’”

That is Posh’s account of the final disagreement which led to the sale of the boats in 1874. Even if it be true one cannot say that the bluff independence came off with flying colours in this particular instance.But FitzGerald could have told another story, if one may judge from his letter to Mr. Spalding of the 9th January, 1874, written from Lowestoft (Two Suffolk Friends, p. 123):—

“. . . I have seen no more of Fletcher since I wrote, though he called once when I was out. . . . I only hope he has taken no desperate step. I hope so for his Family’s sake, including Father and Mother. People here have asked me if he is not going to give up the business, &c. Yet there is Greatness about the Man. I believe his want of Conscience in some particulars is to be referred to hisSalwagingEthics; and your Cromwells, Cæsars, and Napoleons have not been more scrupulous. But I shall part Company with him if I can do so without Injury to his Family. If not I must let him go onunder some‘Surveillance’: hemustwish to get rid of me also, and (I believe, though he saysnot) of the Boat, if he could better himself.”

Posh’s story is that after the letter of December 31st, 1873, FitzGerald tried to find him. He went to his father’s house, and (says Posh, which we are at liberty to doubt) “cried like a child.” He sent Posh a paper of conditions which must be agreed to if he, Posh, were to continue to have the use of theMeum and Tuumand theHenrietta. The last one was (Posh says, with a roar of indignation), “that the said Joseph Fletcher the younger shall be a teetotaller!”

“Lor’!” says Posh, “how my father did swear at him when I told him o’ that!”

No doubt he did. And no doubt in the presence of FitzGerald the “slim” old Lowestoft longshoreman raised his mighty voice in wrath and indignation that he should have begotten a son to disgrace him so cruelly! FitzGerald was too open a man, too honest-hearted, too straightforward to understand that a father could encourage his son insidiously, and swear at him, FitzGerald,at the same time as he deprecated that son’s conduct. But FitzGerald’s eyes, long closed by kindness, were partly open at last. He would not go on without some better guarantee of conduct, some better security that the boats’ debts would be paid. On January 19th, 1874, he wrote to Posh (and the handwriting of the letter suggests disturbance of mind) from Woodbridge:—

“I forgot to say, Fletcher, that I shall pay for any work done to my two Boats, in case that you get another Boat to employ the Nets in. That youshouldget such another Boat, is, I am quite sure, the best plan for you and for me also. As I wrote you before, I shall make over to you all my Right to the Nets on condition that you use them, or change them for others to be used, in the Herring Fishing, in any other Boat which you may buy or hire. I certainly shall not let you have the use of my Boats, unless undersomeconditions,noneof whichwhich [sic] you seemed resolved to submit to. It will save all trouble if you take the offer I have made you, and the sooner it is settled the better.“Edward FitzGerald.”

“Edward FitzGerald.”

But Posh “worn’t a goin’ ta hev his faa’er put oover him, nor he worn’t a goin’ ta take no pledge. Did ye iver hear o’ sich a thing?”

So in due course, on the 17th February, 1874, Mr. W. T. Balls, of Lowestoft, sold by auction the “LuggerMeum and Tuum” (she had been converted into a dandy-rigged craft about 1872) “and theHenriettaby direction of Edward FitzGerald as mortgagee.”

Edward FitzGerald’s gravestone in Boulge churchyard; at the head of the grave is a rose bush raised from seed brought from Omar’s tomb

So Mr. Balls writes me. But he has no letters from FitzGerald, and was kind enough to look up the valuation and sale transactions in his books at my request.

TheMeum and Tuumwas a favourite of Posh’s and he tried to buy her for himself.But although she had only cost £360 to build in 1867, in 1874 she fetched over £300, and Posh could not go so high as that. So he made other arrangements, and his fishing interests with FitzGerald were finally ended.

One would have thought that there would be no more letters beginning “Dear Posh.” But though FitzGerald had found himself obliged to end his association with Posh in the herring fishing, he never ended his friendship, even if, during the last years of his life, he neither saw nor wrote to his former partner.

TheMeum and Tuummade several more voyages in the North Sea and to the west, and, when she was no longer strictly seaworthy, was sold to a Mr. Crisp, of Beccles, a maltster and general provision merchant, who turned her into a storeship, and anchored her off his wharf in the river Waveney. When she became so rotten as to be unfit even for a storage ship she wasbroken up, and her name-board was bought by Captain Kerrich, of Geldeston Hall (the son of FitzGerald’s favourite sister), who was kind enough to present it to the Omar Khayyám Club. But as the club has no “local habitation”—only a name—it now remains in the charge of Mr. Frederic Hudson, one of the founders of the club.

Posh does not remember the last occasion on which he spoke to his old “guv’nor,” but he says that whenever he did see him he, FitzGerald, would take him by the blue woollen jersey and pinch him, and say, “Oh dear, oh dear, Posh! To think it should ha’ come to this.” Well, this may possibly have been the case. There is no doubt that FitzGerald resumed friendly relations with the fisherman, for on August 29th, 1875, he wrote from Woodbridge to his former partner:—

“Woodbridge,August29.“Dear Posh,“I have posted you a Lowestoft Paper telling you something of the Regatta there. But as you say you like to hearfrom me also, I write to supply what the Paper does not tell: though I wonder you can care to hear of such things in the midst of your Fishing.“I, and every one else, made sure that the littleSapphirewould do well when it came on to blow on Thursday: she went to her moorings as none of the others did except theRed Rover. But, directly the Gun fired, theOtter(an awkward thing) drove down upon, and broke up her Chain-plates, or stenctions [sic], to which the wire rigging holds: so she could not sail at all: and theRed Rovergot the Prize, after going onlytworounds instead ofthree: which is odd work, I think. Major Leathes’ mast went over in the first round, as it did a year ago. At Evening, theOttergrounded as she lay by the South Pier: and would have knocked her bottom out had not Ablett Pasifull gone off to her and made them hoist their main-sail.“Ablett and Jack got more and more uncomfortablewith their new Owner, who is a Fool as well as a Screw. At last Ablett told him that he himself and Jack had almost been on the point of leaving him, andthat, I think, will bring him to his senses, if anything can.“On Friday we sawMushellcoming in deeply laden, and we heard how he had just missed putting three lasts on board of you. I sent off a Telegram to you that same evening, as Mushell knew you would be anxious to know that he had come in safe through the wind and Sea of Thursday night. He was to have started away again on Sunday: but one of his men who had gone home had not returned by one o’clock, when I came away.This, I always say, is one of the Dangers of coming home, but, as Things were,Mushellcould scarce help it, though he had better have gone to Yarmouth to sell his Fish. He seems a good Fellow.“All these mishaps—I wonder any man can carry on the trade! I think I wouldrather be in my own little Punt again. But, while you will go on, you know I will stand by you. Your mare is well, and the sore on her Shoulder nearly gone. Mr. and Mrs. Howe send their Regards. Cowell is gone off to Devonshire instead of coming to meet me at Lowestoft: but I dare say I shall run over there again before long.“Yours always,“E. FG.”

“Woodbridge,August29.

“Dear Posh,

“I have posted you a Lowestoft Paper telling you something of the Regatta there. But as you say you like to hearfrom me also, I write to supply what the Paper does not tell: though I wonder you can care to hear of such things in the midst of your Fishing.

“I, and every one else, made sure that the littleSapphirewould do well when it came on to blow on Thursday: she went to her moorings as none of the others did except theRed Rover. But, directly the Gun fired, theOtter(an awkward thing) drove down upon, and broke up her Chain-plates, or stenctions [sic], to which the wire rigging holds: so she could not sail at all: and theRed Rovergot the Prize, after going onlytworounds instead ofthree: which is odd work, I think. Major Leathes’ mast went over in the first round, as it did a year ago. At Evening, theOttergrounded as she lay by the South Pier: and would have knocked her bottom out had not Ablett Pasifull gone off to her and made them hoist their main-sail.

“Ablett and Jack got more and more uncomfortablewith their new Owner, who is a Fool as well as a Screw. At last Ablett told him that he himself and Jack had almost been on the point of leaving him, andthat, I think, will bring him to his senses, if anything can.

“On Friday we sawMushellcoming in deeply laden, and we heard how he had just missed putting three lasts on board of you. I sent off a Telegram to you that same evening, as Mushell knew you would be anxious to know that he had come in safe through the wind and Sea of Thursday night. He was to have started away again on Sunday: but one of his men who had gone home had not returned by one o’clock, when I came away.This, I always say, is one of the Dangers of coming home, but, as Things were,Mushellcould scarce help it, though he had better have gone to Yarmouth to sell his Fish. He seems a good Fellow.

“All these mishaps—I wonder any man can carry on the trade! I think I wouldrather be in my own little Punt again. But, while you will go on, you know I will stand by you. Your mare is well, and the sore on her Shoulder nearly gone. Mr. and Mrs. Howe send their Regards. Cowell is gone off to Devonshire instead of coming to meet me at Lowestoft: but I dare say I shall run over there again before long.

“Yours always,“E. FG.”

Boulge church

The “littleSapphire” I cannot identify. One gentleman has been kind enough to try to help me, and thinks that she was theScandal. But this cannot be so, for theScandalwas built for FitzGerald at Wyvenhoe in 1863, was first called theShamrockand then theScandal. Personally, I remember the names of a good many of the yachts of the Norfolk and Suffolk coast of the period, but I can’t identify theSapphire. TheRed Roverwas a river craft, a cutter, with the one big jib of our river craftinstead of jib and foresail, belonging to the late Mr. Sam Nightingale, of Lacon’s Brewery. She was originally about twelve tons, but by improvements and additions, when Mr. Nightingale died in the eighties, was eighteen tons. For many years she was the fastest yacht in the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club, and though she was occasionally beaten on fluky days she never lost possession of the challenge cup for long. Fred Baldry, who steered her with extraordinary skill, is, I believe, still alive, and lives on Cobholm Island, Yarmouth.

TheRed Roverwas not only successful on the rivers and Broads, but in the Yarmouth Roads. I was on her when she was beating the famous Thames twenty-tonnerVanessa, when theRed Rovercarried away her bowsprit (a new stick) as she was beating on the sands to dodge the tide, and I remember how we were hooted all the way up Gorleston Harbour when Mr. William Hall’s steam launch towed us in.

I believe that when the little ten-tonButtercup(unbeaten at her best) came down and gave the poor oldRed Roverthe worst dressing down she had ever experienced it broke Mr. Nightingale’s heart. He died soon after, and he left a direction in his will that theRed Rovershould be broken up and burnt. It would, I think, have been a kinder and better direction to have left the yacht to Fred Baldry, who had steered her to victory so often.

Although I have described her as a river yacht, she was purely a racing machine, and used to be accompanied (in the home waters at all events) by a wherry, with all spare spars and sails, on which everything unnecessary for sailing was stowed before the starting gun was fired.

Once a year she carried a picnic party over Breydon Water, on which occasion, I believe, Mrs. Nightingale was invariably seasick going over to Breydon. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Nightingale ever used her forpleasure except on that one annual excursion up to Reedham.

Well, well! There are noRed Roversnow, and no Fred Baldrys coming on. But there are plenty of stinking black tugs and filthy coal barges embellishing the lovely Norfolk waters. I do not wonder that Colonel Leathes, mentioned in the last quoted letter, has taken his yachtoffthe public waters and confined her to the beautiful wooded reaches of Fritton Mere.

TheOtterwas a rival of theRed Roverin the early days of the latter yacht, and was a clumsy, rather ugly, ketch-rigged craft belonging to Sir Arthur Preston. Major Leathes’ (now Colonel Leathes) boat was a yawl named theWaveney Queen, and the Colonel tells me that he carried away his mast twice, each time because he would “carry on” too long.

I can’t ascertain who was the “new owner” of Ablett Percival and Jack—and if I could I suppose it wouldn’t do to namehim, in view of FitzGerald’s stringent criticism of him. Subsequently Jack Newson went on theMars, the sea-going craft belonging to the late J. J. Colman,m.p., but this was later than 1875.

“Mushell” was the nickname of Joe Butcher, the former skipper of theHenrietta, under Posh, as owner.

I must admit that this letter is hard to fit in with the year 1875, when theMeum and Tuumand theHenriettahad been sold, and the separation between Posh and his “guv’nor” final, so far as herring fishing was concerned. The last paragraph, in which FitzGerald writes that so long as Posh goes on he will stand by him, seems in flat contradiction to what happened in 1874. But Colonel Leathes puts the date as 1875, and Dr. Aldis Wright has been kind enough to look up old almanacs in his possession and corroborates this view. It speaks with extraordinary eloquence of FitzGerald’s affection for Posh, of hispatience with the man, that after the want of recognition of his kindness shown in 1874 he should have written to him in such a manner in 1875.

“Mr. and Mrs. Howe” were, as I have stated before, the caretakers at Little Grange. “Cowell” was, no doubt, Professor Cowell, though it seems strange that FitzGerald should have mentioned him to Posh without any prefix to his name.

That is the last letter in which I can find any reference to Posh, and the last letter in Posh’s possession which was written to him. I dare say there were later letters, but if so they have been destroyed.

FitzGerald had tried a new experiment, and it was ended.

Myself, when young, did eagerly frequentDoctor and Saint, and heard great argumentAbout it and about: but evermoreCame out by the same door wherein I went.

He had found a new love, a new interest, and believed that he had found a new trustworthiness.But he returned through the same door by which he entered; and he was an old man for disillusionment.

Posh was, no doubt, rude, harsh, overbearing with the old gentleman, but his eyes grow moist now when he speaks of him. I think he would surrender a good deal of his boasted independence if only he could have FitzGerald for his friend again.

The last time he was with me I read him

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,Moves on: nor all your Piety nor WitShall lure it back to cancel half a Line,Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

“Well tha’ss a rum un!” said Posh.

THE END

william brendon and son,ltd.printers,plymouth

[184]In East Anglia “boat” is pronounced to rhyme with “foot.”

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