|
PREFATORY
REMARKS
1995
A lazy man requires a gentle nudge, so I must begin
by paying tribute to my good friend and colleague, Terence Donaghy,
who administered it. We were lunching one day in Delaney's Restaurant,
Lombard Street, Belfast. Somehow, I know not how, the subject of my
grandfather's autobiography cropped up. Terry encouraged me in my
ambition - vague and lackadaisical at that stage - of editing and
printing it.
Soon, a task which I dreaded became a labour of love. At first, I had
been too much influenced by the fact that on many matters, ranging
from the spiritual to the spirituous, my grandfather and I would have
differed. But as the work progressed, I came to revere him.
My father had pasted into the book which contains the typescript of
the autobiography numerous newspaper cuttings and other items. Among
the cuttings was one from the Lisburn Standard of 4th December 1936
containing a report of the unveiling of RWH's portrait in Railway
Street, Lisburn. The Rev. T. H. Robinson, on that occasion, read out a
long letter from the Rev. Alexander Egan, who had during three
separate periods, starting in 1883, been the minister of Lisburn
Methodist Church. Mr Egan finishes his letter with these stirring
words from the Epilogue to Asolando:
"One who never
turned his back but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to
wake." |
And I think he was right to apply those words of
Browning's to RWH. My generation lacks the certitude of the
Victorians, but at least we can admire it.
In preparing the autobiography for the printers, I have suppressed
nothing, as I felt it would be wrong to distort the picture which
emerges from my grandfather's words. I have merely made minor
orthographic or Abbreviations stylistic changes and added some notes -
I hope not too many.
It would, I think, be not inappropriate that I should conclude these
few remarks with the words of one of the greatest of the Victorians,
John
Henry Newman:
"And with the morn
those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile."
J.V Hamilton
Holywood, Co. Down |
|
