Hall Caine's first writings for the public were done in the Isle of
Man, at the age of sixteen, when he had come over to recruit his
health at the house of his uncle, the schoolmaster at Kirk Maughold.
At that time the island was divided by a discussion as to the
maintenance or abolition of Manx political institutions, and the boy
threw himself into this discussion with characteristic ardor. His
vehement articles in favor of the maintenance of the political
independence, published each week in "Mona's Herald," were full of
force. They attracted, however, little notice beyond that of James
Teare, Caine's uncle, the great temperance reformer, who admired them
justly. He encouraged the boy to write, and told his skeptical
relations that if Hall Caine failed as an architect he would certainly
be able to make a living with his pen.
A visit to Kirk Maughold will afford to the observer the best insight
into Hall Caine's literary temperament. The spirit of the place
expounds his spirit; its genius seems to have entered into him. There
are seasons when this headland height lies serene and calm, wrapped in
such loveliness of light on sea and land that the heart melts for very
ecstasy at the beauty of all things around, the glowing hills, the
flowers that are everywhere, the sea beyond, the tenderness, the
color, the native poetry of it all. There are seasons, too, of strife
and hurricane, of titanic forces battling in the air, when vehement
and irresistible winds burst forth to make howling havoc on the
bleakest heights--so they seem then--that man's foot ever trod. There
are times when not one harebell nods its head in the calm air, not one
seed falls from the feathered grass, in the tender serenity of a quiet
world; and there are times, too, when Nature aroused puts forth her
terrible strength, so that man ventures abroad at his great peril, and
ropes must be stretched along the roads by which the unwary wanderer
may drag his storm-tossed body home. In Hall Caine's work we also
find these extremes of tenderness and its calm, of passion and its
riot.
On his return to Liverpool, encouraged by what James Teare had said,
Hall Caine continued to write. No longer, however, on political
questions, but on the subjects with which his profession had
familiarized him. Between the ages of sixteen and twenty this boy
wrote learned leading articles on building, land-surveying, and
architecture for "The Builder." George Godwin, the editor of this
leading periodical, could not believe his eyes when he first met his
contributor. Hall Caine was then nineteen. "I felt terribly ashamed of
being so young," he says, in speaking of this interview.
It was about this time that he returned to the Isle of Man, tired of
architecture. His uncle died, and there was no schoolmaster at Kirk
Maughold school. So Hall Caine became schoolmaster, and for about six
months kept a mixed school on the bleak headland. He is still
remembered as a schoolmaster, and last year, when "The Manxman" was
appearing in serial publication, his grown-up scholars used to gather
at a farm near Kirk Maughold school and listen to the schoolmaster
reading the story as each instalment came out.
The six months of his schoolmastership were a period of great
activity. It was the time of the Paris Commune, and, a rabid
Communist, Hall Caine read Communist and socialistic literature with
avidity. He contributed violent propagandist articles to "Mona's
Herald," in which three years previously he had preached the virtues
of conservatism, and attracted the attention of John Ruskin by his
eulogies of Ruskin's work with his recently founded Guild of St.
George. His leisure was spent in his workshop, and during this period
he not only carved a tombstone for his uncle's grave, but built a
house--Phoenix cottage--both of which are still standing and may be
seen. It was a happy time, a time of inspiration; and it may be, from
the sympathy between the man and the place, that Hall Caine would have
stayed on at Kirk Maughold had not a most imperative letter from
Richard Owens, which said that it was deplorable that he should be
throwing his life away in such occupations, recalled him to Liverpool.
To Liverpool accordingly he returned, to work as a draughtsman, and
fired withal with a double ambition--for one thing to win fame as a
poet, for another to succeed as a dramatist. Already in 1870 he had
written a long poem, which was published in 1874 anonymously by an
enterprising Liverpool publisher. About this poem George Gilfillan, to
whom Hall Caine sent it in 1876, wrote that there was much in it that
he admired, that it had the ring of genius, but that in parts it was
spoiled by affectations of language which could, however, be remedied.
Of the same poem, Rossetti, to whom it was also sent, wrote that it
contained passages of genius. As a dramatist, Hall Caine wrote, at
this period in his career, a play called "Alton Locke." founded on
Kingsley's story. It was shown to Rousby, the actor-manager, who liked
"the promise that it showed" and asked Hall Caine to write a play to
his order. At that time he looked upon himself as a dramatist, and
indeed still hopes to achieve as such--when he shall have tired of the
novel as a vehicle and shall have learned, the present object of his
closest study, the technicalities of the stage--a success as great as
that which has attended his novels. Many of his friends, indeed, hope
for even better things from him as a dramatist; and Blackmore, for
instance, hardly ever writes to him without repeating that, great as
has been his success as a novelist, it will be nothing to his success
when he gets possession of the stage.
[Illustration: R.E. MORRISON. R.H.SHERARD. HALL CAINE.
From a photograph taken specially for MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE, by George B.
Cowen, Ramsey, Isle of Man. Mr. Morrison is an artist who has lately
painted a portrait of Mr. Caine.]