1907] Francis Thompson's Talk 181 



the Church of England. The other had modified his views of reform 

 and was working among the hop-pickers in Kent. Their idea in going 

 to Rome had been to found a new order. On the whole I find Thomp- 

 son much saner and more sensible than I expected. Of his poetry he 

 talked reasonably and said that he took a soberer view of his talents now 

 than he had done as a boy. ' I have written no verse.' he said, ' for ten 

 years past, and shall write no more. If I have at all succeeded it is 

 because I have tried to do my best.' 



" Talking with him I am more than ever convinced that there is no 

 essential difference between a man of great talent and what is called 

 a man of genius. Thompson, if any living poet can now be said to 

 be so, is a man of genius, yet one sees precisely how his poetry has 

 come about. If he had lived a happy, easy life at home he would 

 probably have done nothing very noteworthy, but the terrible experi- 

 ences he has gone through have given him that depth of thought and 

 feeling which is the feature of his poetry, distinguishing him from his 

 fellow poets. His ear, of course, is a very fine one, but a vast amount 

 of the beauty of his verse lies in the underlying tragedy, while the 

 wealth of imagery and the elaboration of his diction have been pro- 

 duced by sheer hard work. Above all it is the essential goodness of his 

 character shining through it that attracts. There is so little of material 

 selfishness, so great a sympathy with all forms of suffering, such thank- 

 fulness for the small change of beauty in the world, scattered as alms to 

 the poorest. All this is beautiful and of immense value, but I see 

 nothing supernatural in it, nothing above the nature of many other 

 good people who are without his talent of speaking what he feels in 

 rhythmical words. 



" 30th Aug. — Neville has been over here, having been summoned by 

 me, and has made an admirable drawing of Thompson, a profile in 

 coloured chalks. It is an absolutely exact presentment of what he is, 

 and will be very valuable as a record in the days to come. He, Thomp- 

 son, is pleased with it himself. To-day the elder Meynell came down 

 for the day and I had a long talk with him making him give me over 

 again the history of his connection with Thompson. What he told me 

 was this : 



" ' It was twenty years ago when I was editing " Merrie England," 

 that I received a very dirty crumpled envelope containing some MS. 

 verse and an essay. They looked so uninviting that I did not read 

 them but put them away in a pigeon hole and it was not till six months 

 afterwards, that wanting something for the magazine I took them out 

 and read them. The essay was on — ' (I forget what Meynell told me 

 was the title, but something to do with the claims of body and soul) ' a 

 commonplace subject of which I expected nothing new. I soon saw, 

 however, that there was nothing commonplace in the essay. It was full 



