POSH SHOWS TEMPER
Posh says that there "were lots o' breezes" between him and his
"guv'nor," and when the reader of this study (who should have got to know
something of FitzGerald's attitude by now) realises this he will be able
to appreciate the long-suffering generosity of this cultured scholar whom
fools have painted as a mere eccentric hermit. Posh, now that he was
well started by the aid of his governor, began to yearn for independence.
Possibly he had some reason to complain that his sleeping partner
interfered in matters of which he was ignorant. On September 21st, 1869,
FitzGerald wrote to Mr. Spalding (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p. 118):--
"Posh came up with his Lugger last Friday, with a lot of torn nets,
and went off again on Sunday. I thought he was wrong to come up, and
not to transmit his nets by Rail, as is often done at 6d. a net. But
I did not say so to him--it is no unamiable point in him to love
_home_: but I think he won't make a fortune by it. However, I may be
very wrong in thinking he had better _not_ have come. He has made
about the average fishing, I believe: about 250 pounds. Some boats
have 600 pounds, I hear; and some few not enough to pay their way.
"He came up with a very bad cold and hoarseness; and so went off, poor
fellow: he never will be long well, I do think."
Probably Posh knew all about the best way of making a profit out of
herring drifters, and FitzGerald may have been wrong in fearing that he
did not. FitzGerald, with his superb culture, may not (I do not say he
did not) have understood that Posh, on his native North Sea, may have
been more than a match for all the culture in the world. For what I know
of the old longshoreman, I am convinced that if he brought his nets home
in his lugger he did so because he thought it was the most profitable way
of bringing them back. But FitzGerald grew anxious, and his anxiety was
not understood by the natural child of the beach, and caused friction and
mutual irritation.
But this did not break out till the north voyage was over and the _Meum
and Tuum_ had been on the home fishing for more than a month. Then Posh
began to have the fingering of a good deal of money, and FitzGerald had
already had reason to doubt his abilities to keep his credit and debit
sides of account in proper order. Moreover, the usual autumn gales had
been bringing the stormy and dark nights which are as profitable as they
are dangerous to the drifters. On Monday, November 1st, 1869 (one of the
few letters of FitzGerald's which I have seen completely dated), the
sleeping partner wrote on a sheet of paper headed by a monogram which is
"S.W. & B." so far as I can make out. To make up for the fullness of the
date there is no address.
"I cannot lay blame to myself, Posh, in this matter, though I may not
have known you were so busy with the boat as you tell me. Hearing of
great disasters by last week's gale, I was, as usual, anxious about
you. Hearing nothing from you, I telegram'd on Thursday Afternoon to
Mr. Bradbeer: his answer reached me at 5 p.m. that you had come in on
Tuesday, and were then safe in harbour. Being then afraid lest you
should put off paying away the money, which, as I told you, was a
positive _danger_ to Wife and Children, I directly telegram'd to _you_
to do what I had desired you to do the week before. Busy as you were,
five minutes spent in writing me a line would have spared all this
trouble and all this vexation on both sides.
"As to my telegrams telling all the world what you wish to keep
secret; how did they do that? My telegrams to Mr. Bradbeer were
simply to ask if you were _safe_. My telegram to you was simply to
say, 'Do what I bid you'; Who should know _what_ that was, or that it
had anything to do with paying the Boat's Bills? People might guess
it had _something_ to do with the Boat: and don't you suppose that
every one knows pretty well how things are between us? And why should
they not, I say, when all is honestly done between us? The Custom
House people must know (and, of course, tell others) that you are at
present only Half-owner; and would suppose that _I_, the other Half,
would use some Authority in the matter.
"You say truly that, when we began together, you supposed I should
leave all to you, and use _no_ Authority (though you have always asked
me about anything you wished done). Quite true. I never did wish to
meddle; nor did I call on you for any Account, till I saw last year
that you forgot a really important sum, and that you did not seem
inclined to help your Memory (as every one else does) by writing it
down in a Book. In two cases this year I have shown you the same
forgetfulness (about your liabilities I mean) and I do not think I
have been unjust, or unkind, in trying to make you bring _yourself_ to
Account. You know, and ought to believe, that I have perfect
confidence in _your honour_; and have told you of the one defect I
observed in you as much for your sake as mine.
"_Quite as much_, yes! For the anxiety I have . . . [word illegible]
[? suffered] these two years about your eleven lives is but ill
compensated by all these squalls between us two; which I declare I
excuse myself of raising. If, in this last case, you really had not
time to post me a line or two to say you were all safe, and that you
had done what I desired you to do; I am very sorry for having written
so sharply as I did to you: but I cannot _blame_ myself for the
mistake. No: this I will say: I am not apt to think too much of my
doings, and dealings with others. But, in my whole sixty years, I can
with a clear conscience say that I have dealt with _one man_ fairly,
kindly, and not ungenerously, for three good years. I may have made
mistakes; but I can say I have done _my_ best as conscientiously as he
can say he has done his. And I believe he _has_ done his best, though
he has also made mistakes; and I remain his sincerely,
"E. FG."
Mr. Bradbeer was a herring merchant, and his family is still prominent in
the fishing industry of Lowestoft. Posh's letter, to which the above is
a reply, must have been very characteristic of his race, to which secrecy
concerning their private affairs is a first nature. The mistrust of the
privacy of the "telegrams" may possibly have had some justification. Even
in these days there are East Anglian villages where the contents of
private telegrams are sometimes known to the village before the actual
information reaches the addressee. And in 1869 Lowestoft was not much
more than a village, and telegraphy was in its infancy. Possibly Posh
exaggerated the importance of secretiveness, and FitzGerald the security
of privacy. But apart from all questions of "the rights of the matter,"
what a letter it is! What a splendid justification for almost any
action. I fear, however the matter in dispute be looked at, Posh cannot
have the best of it in this case. He had fired up at an imaginary
slight, wrong, whatever he chose to think it, and if he has any excuse at
all, it is that, but for his unreasonableness, we should not have this
letter.
One would have thought that it might have given Posh pause if even he
felt disposed to show his independence again. But this "squall" between
these two curious partners was not destined to be the last. For the time
it blew over, and the mutual relations between Posh and his "guv'nor"
were as friendly as ever.