Part 15 (1/2)
”The Free Lances” was published in three voluton
The _Saturday Review_, July, 1881, says: ”Captain Mayne Reid seems to be as lively a writer as he ever was, and if 'The Free Lances' causes any less thrill of excitement than ont to be aroused by 'The Scalp Hunters,' the fault e in the reader rather than in the author”
”The Free Lances” is now published in one volume
The last novel from Captain Mayne Reid's pen was ”No Quarter,” an historical tale of the Parliamentary wars Most of the scenes are laid in Herefordshi+re and the Forest of Dean, all of which Mayne Reid personally visited before writing the story The principal characters and scenes of the book are historically correct
He also wrote for the _Sporting and Dramatic News_ articles on ”Our Home Natural History,” and letters to the _New York Tribune_ on the ”Rural Life of England”
For Mr Ingram's paper, the _Boys' Illustrated News_, of which Captain Mayne Reid was co-editor on its first appearance, he wrote ”The Lost Mountain” and ”The Chase of Leviathan,” also natural history notes and short stories
”The Naturalist in Siluria,” a popular book on natural history, was also written in Herefordshi+re
Mr WH Bates, author of ”The Naturalist on the Ahout our mutual acquaintance Captain Mayne Reid always impressed me as a man deeply interested in all natural history lore, and the subject was one of our most constant topics of conversation If circumstances in early life had turned his attention in that direction he would have made a reputation as a naturalist”
The last book for boys written by Captain Mayne Reid was ”The Land of Fire,” a short story of the South Seas; but ere its publication the hand that penned it was cold in death
Captain Mayne Reid possessed great powers of oratory He would speak for hours on a subject with untiring energy The language froue flowed facile as that fro politics He would often astound his hearers by the eloquence he expended upon his beloved theory--the superiority of Republican over Monarchial institutions Occasionally he came across a Tory equally red-hot, and then the ”fur would fly” But Captain Reid, by his great charave offence, and was, as a rule, listened to with good nature on both sides Often while in the height of a very hot discussion he would suddenly change the the at once from the sublime to the ridiculous with such ease that it was difficult for his audience to tell if he had really been in earnest Had Mayne Reid chosen, he would have made a name as an orator The few occasions on which he occupied the platforest Republican principles, Mayne Reid was by no s the very opposite to what the expression of his opinions would lead one to suppose He was an enigma, which only one in the close contact of everyday life with hiatherings, but he soical Societies' ht literary society
Before cohly study his subject and work out the plot He would h drafts at first, which were afterwards throay
He had no skill with the pencil, but would lyphics in his manuscript, intended to represent objects described, but bearing to all but hiinary rese was peculiar He rarely sat at a table, but reclined on a couch, arrayed in dressing-gown and slippers, with a portable desk and fur robe thrown across his knees even in hot weather, and a cigar between his lips--which was constantly going out and being re-lighted--while the floor all around him was streith matches
Latterly, after he becae Norfolk jacket, made from his own sheep's wool; and he would sit and write at thein a large ar on his knees, upon which at night he would have a couple of candles placed, the inevitable cigar,the accessories
He had a singular habit of reading in bed, with newspapers, hted candle on his pillow At least a score orwith the paper burnt to black tinder all round hihtest singed
The Mexican hero was never an idle man; and after his sas sheathed in its scabbard, his pen never rested His brain was as active as ever till within a fortnight of his death
On October 22nd, 1883, Mayne Reid had fought his last battle
An irregular block of whiteeach other, and these words from ”The Scalp Hunters:--”
This is the weed prairie, It is misna-place, in Kensal Green Cemetery, London
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DONN PIATT'S REMINISCENCE PRESS NOTICES
In this chapter are given a reminiscence by Donn Piatt of Mayne Reid, and a few extracts from the numerous obituary notices which appeared in the press Donn Piatt writes: