Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/263

  PATMORE, COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON (1823–1896), poet, the eldest son of [q. v.], was born at Woodford in Essex on 23 July 1823. He was educated privately and with no view to any special profession; in the main his own teacher, but, as he warmly acknowledged, profiting greatly by his father's precepts as regarded English literature. In 1839 he spent six months at a French school at St. Germains. Upon his return he addicted himself for a time to scientific pursuits, and afterwards thought of taking holy orders, but was discouraged partly by his father's inability to support him at the university, partly by scruples relating solely to the position of the church of England; for, although his father was a free-thinker, his own studies and reflections had already reconciled him to orthodox Christianity. He had begun to write poetry in 1840, and in 1844 published a slender volume containing, with minor pieces, four narrative poems: 'The River,' 'The Woodman's Daughter,' 'Lilian,' and 'Sir Hubert,' strikingly original and individual in style and thought, though not without traces of Tennyson and Coleridge. As narratives they are wholly uninteresting, almost vapid; but the weakness of construction is relieved by strokes of psychological insight and descriptive power altogether surprising at the author's age. In many respects the volume anticipated the principles and the work of the pre-Raphaelites in another sphere of art, and paved the way for the writer's subsequent relations with the leaders of that movement. It brought a letter of warm praise and sound advice from Bulwer, and an absurd denunciation enlivened by a clever parody from 'Blackwood,' but otherwise attracted little notice beyond the author's own circle.

In the following year (1845) the embarrassment of Patmore's father, due to unfortunate railway speculations, threw him entirely upon his own resources. Up to this time his circumstances had been good, and he had made no serious effort to earn a living. He now earned a scanty subsistence by translations and contributions to periodicals until, in November 1846, the recommendation of (afterwards Lord Houghton) [q. v.], at the instance of Mrs. Procter, obtained for him an appointment as assistant in the printed book department of the British Museum. The post was congenial to Patmore, and he proved himself highly efficient. He appears to have about this time assisted Milnes in the preparation of the 'Life and Letters of Keats' (1848), but to what extent is difficult to determine. No part of it can have been written by him. Feeling now comparatively at ease in his circumstances, he married, in September 1847, Emily Augusta Andrews (b. 29 Feb. 1824), daughter of a congregationalist minister, a lady possessed of mental and personal charms far beyond the common, and a model of gracious geniality and clear common sense. She was herself the author of some small useful books, under the pseudonym of 'Mrs. Motherly,' and assisted her husband in the compilation of his excellent collection of poetry for children, 'The Children's Garland,' published in 1862. The union was most happy, although the cares and expenses of an increasing family, and, after a time, of Mrs. Patmore's declining health, frequently made Patmore's situation one of considerable anxiety. He never compromised his independence, and laboured hard to provide for his family by writing in reviews, especially the 'Edinburgh' and 'North British,' efforts the more creditable as the work was uncongenial to him. He wanted the first qualification of a literary-critic, sympathy with his author. An egotist and a mystic, he could take no vital interest in any one's ideas but his own, and hence his treatment of other authors is in general unsatisfactory: while his fine taste, intuitive insight, and careful study of aesthetic laws frequently render his isolated observations of great value. One exception to this habitual indifference to other men's work was the admiration he at this time entertained for Tennyson, with whom he had as much intercourse as the elder poet's distance from town and dislike to letter-writing would allow. Another friendship, which had more important results, was his acquaintance with Ruskin. who had been the pupil of Mrs. Patmore's father; Ruskin's enthusiasm for architecture was fully shared by Patmore, who wrote on this subject with far more enjoyment and spontaneity than upon literature. Patmore had made in 1849 the acquaintance of the pre-Raphaelite group of artists, with whom he had much in common, and to whose organ, 'The Germ,' he contributed a remarkable essay on Macbeth, as well as verses. They were almost succumbing to the universal hostility aroused by their originality and their peculiarities, when, at Patmore's prompting, Ruskin wrote the memorable letter to the 'Times' which turned the tide of public opinion. Another important service rendered by Patmore was his promotion of the volunteer movement after Louis Napoleon's coup d'état in December 1851. Others came forward simultaneously, but the idea was original with him. 