In Manchester

Saturday, January 25th., Midland Hotel, Manchester.

C E Montague

I came here from Burslem yesterday at the invitation of Haslam Mills and G.H. Mair of the Manchester Guardian. I was entertained to lunch by them and also present was the renowned C.E. Montague their chief leader writer; also A.N. Monkhouse. Quite a gathering. I felt honoured. Montague's hair is quite grey. He has a tight, prim way of speaking and when he disagrees, or is not convinced, he is sometimes silent with a slight working of the muscles in his face; probably due to sloth. I was told afterwards that he lives in a shell; but yesterday he came out and people were surprised. Monkhouse is a large grave man, slow speaking, with an extraordinary sedate and sincere charm. 


In the afternoon I was taken to look round the Municipal Art Gallery of which they are very proud, and with good reason. A lot of good solid paintings. Best of the lot, in my opinion, was "Work" by Ford Madox Brown. This is a very impressive piece of work which bears close inspection. I can see why it suits the Manchester character alright. Brown has shown in this picture that there is nobility to be found in the commonplace and, not content with that, has filled his painting with social references. In the Hogarth manner. You really need to get up close to see all the detail he includes and I should think there will be new things to discover whenever one returns to the picture. It is clearly in the Pre-Raphaelite mould in terms of its colouring, attention to detail, and narrative content, but I think it goes further, and may be the best of the lot. Thinking about it in the night I felt my work has something in common with it, in fact quite a lot. I feel proud of that realisation.

Woke up with a headache at 10 am. caused by too many strong cigars. But yesterday was one of the most agreeable days I have ever spent in my life. I could live in Manchester. The whole atmosphere of the place suits me and I can imagine a good novel or two germinating here.