London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
THE SAVAGE AND THE ARUNDEL.
Then there was the Savage, and a little later the Arundel. I have belonged to both and can testify to the delightful hours spent in the neighbourhood of and Salisbury Street, Strand. The | |
82 | history of the Savage is given in the preface of the first volume of the Savage Club Papers. I was looking at the volume only the other day, and admiring the frontispiece. It contained any number of portraits. The Savages were grouped round the offspring of their brains. In the centre was that magnificent figure of an old Bohemian, Dr. Strauss. Round about him were crowded Halliday, Jeff Prowse, J. C. Brough, H. J. , George Rose, Harry Leigh, Artemus Ward, Planche, Tom Robertson, Clement Scott, John Holingshead, George Cruikshank, and Tegetmeier. Quite in the background were two writers who have since come well to the front. It was natural enough to see them side by side, for their fathers (both eminent men of letters) had been the staunchest of staunch friends. The first of these workers in the background was Mr. W. S. Gilbert, and the other (to give him his French title) was I had the honour of contributing almost my first story to the Savage Club Papers. It was simply beautiful. It contained a duel, a murder, an abduction, and all sorts of horrible incidents, and had the cheerful title of |
I eagerly asked the editor. | |
replied Andrew Halliday. | |
I did; and on the publication of the Papers discovered that had been illustrated with a sketch of an idiotic stork standing on one leg in a puddle in front of a feeble waterfall! When I complained to Andrew Halliday afterwards he said, in a sorrowful tone, | |
I did not reply, but my heart (in its own fashion) consented. Thinking the matter over now, I am convinced that Andrew Halliday was a model editor. His motto seemed to be | |
The Arundel was also a delightful gathering of lawyers, wits, and actors. However, it lacked the entertainments of the Savage, and never rushed into amateur theatricals. The gentlemen with the fierce titles and kindly hearts once appeared before the and the late in a piece written by themselves and played by their own company. | |