NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



207 



of taste that has taken place in the last fifty years 

 has not been wholly his work, but he began it, 

 and even those who now refuse to acknowledge 

 him a master, are the fruits of the stimulus which 

 he gave to the love of art and the sense of beauty. 

 " The great distinction of all Ruskin's writings 

 is their sincerity, or may be called originality- 

 He drew inspiration from men and books, but he 

 gave us no second-hand work. He describes for 

 us what he has seen with his own eyes — never 

 through the eyes of another." 



Fig. i3i8. R. D. Blackmore. 



R. D. Blackmore. — The Garden also 



fitting-ly announces the death of this writer, 



so popular with us in Canada, that we take 



the privilege of the extract, of course giving 



due credit : 



This writer of delightful romances — a writer 

 who has told us of the beautiful Devonshire 

 scenery and its flowers in his tale of " Lorna 

 Doone " — passed away on Saturday last at his 

 Teddington home. The English-speaking world 

 is poorer for the loss of this gifted and interesting 

 man, who hid himself from the world and its 

 gaiety in his garden at Teddington, where he cul- 

 tivated fruits enthusiastically for many years. 

 Pear culture was his favorite hobby, and his assist- 

 ance for many years as a member (then as chair- 

 man) of the fruit committee of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society was of importance. We remem- 

 ber with pleasure Mr. Blackmore's paper upon 

 Vine pests delivered some years ago at a confer- 

 ence, under the auspices of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, a paper of practical value, brimful 

 of humor and revealing a deep knowledge of the 

 subject. Lovers of gardens, of scenery, and of 

 healthy literature should read Mr. Blackmore's 

 novels, " Lorna Doone," " Cradock Nowell," and 



" Perlycross" being among his most interesting 

 productions. Mr. Blackmore was bom at Long- 

 worth, in Berks, about seventy-five years ago, was 

 educated at Blundell's School Tiverton, and from 

 thence passed to Oxford and to the Bar. " Lorna 

 Doone " shared the fate of many novels as bril- 

 liant ; it failed to find a publisher until long after 

 it had been written. It is said that eighteen pub- 

 lishers rejected the work, and when it appeared it 

 received scant attention from reviewer and public. 

 Mr. Blackmore attributed the ultimate success of 

 his best known work to the fact that the marriage 

 of Princess Louise to the Marquis of Lome gave 

 rise to the supposition that the novel was in some 

 way connected with the "Lome" family. 

 Editions quickly appeared. The public were sat- 

 isfied, too. If Lome had nothing in common 

 with Lorna, they agreed the writer had given to 

 the world a brilliant romance. About ten years 

 after its first publication Messrs. Sampson, Low, 

 Marston and Co. issued the 22nd edition. It is 

 not too much to say that Lynton and Minehead 

 were made famous by this novel of the land of the 

 Doones. Mr. Blackmore was a thorough lover of 

 the open air, and. besides a keen gardener was a 

 good shot and trout fisherman. Of late years 

 we have missed his familiar face at the meet- 

 ings of the Royal Horticultural Society, due 

 not to a lessened interest in flowers and fruit, 

 but to failing health. 



Mr. Blackmore, we believe, was not offended 

 when described as a "market gardener," and used 

 this noni de plume to one of his works. He was 

 an enthusiast, and his produce from the many 

 acres cultivated at Teddington found its way to 

 Covent Garden, but he confessed once to the 

 writer that Pear culture was not all profit. 



The Chronicle (England) says : 

 R. D. Blackmore was a good cultivator and a 

 practical man ; we have seen him pruning his own 

 vines and fruit-trees. When fruit-growers were 

 being lectured upon the necessity of selecting the 

 best fruits only, of taking great pains with pack- 

 ing and other details of marketing, Blackmore 

 once drew us aside with a curious smile to show 

 us that what was being recommended was just 

 what he had been doing for years. In these par- 

 ticulars he was like Thomas Rivers, who, however, 

 was not so lenient to those who were presump- 

 tuous enough to think they could teach him how 

 to g^ow fruit-trees. There is one trait in our 

 friend's character that has not been alluded to, 

 though the reader has but to look at his genial 

 portrait to see that a keen sense of humor 

 was one of his most prominent characistics. 

 Those who were present at a certain con- 

 ference on vine diseases held at Chiswick some 

 years ago, will remember the rich, rollicking 

 humor with which he described a certain disease 

 whose nature at that time was unknown. The 

 way in which he criticised the plant doctors with 

 an imperturbable countenance, was one of the 

 richest bits of fun we ever remember. Unfortu- 

 nately the critic was no better but rather worse 

 informed, but everyone enjoyed the fun neverthe- 

 less. Another characteristic of our lamented 

 friend was his generosity. Several instances of 



