The writing of "The Tour of the Don" by John Holland

The following extract is taken from the "Life of John Holland of Sheffield Park : from numerous letters and other documents furnished by his nephew and executor, John Holland Brammall" by William Hudson (available on Internet Archive).  It describes the writing of "The Tour" and gives insights into the character of its author.

 From "Chapter XI. - 1835—1836" p198ff concerning the writing of The Tour of the Don

As the year 1835 was drawing near its end, Mr. Holland must have felt himself in command of much leisure, with good opportunities to employ that leisure agreeably and well.  Several of his chief literary designs had recently been accomplished; and he was encouraged to seek new employment for his pen.  There was one project which had been before his mind for many years, but which had been quite impracticable until the year now under review.  That project was, to ramble along the banks of the Yorkshire River Don, and to write a description of the various portions of its course and especially of that in the neighbourhood of Sheffield.  He thought he could trace the desire to do so to the reading of one or two books; and after revolving it in his mind, amidst other literary adventures of twenty years, he at length reached the determination that it should be put into action, and that a series of papers should appear in the pages of the Mercury .  There the introductory article was published on the 2nd of January, 1836.  The date which it bore was December the 24th; and the writer signed himself "Viator".  At the end of the year fifty-three chapters had appeared, and the river had been traced from its source to its confluence with the Ouse.  The papers excited considerable interest; their republication was strongly requested; and Mr. Holland, in compliance, sent out, at the beginning of 1837, two volumes forming together nearly five hundred pages, and entitled The Tour of the Don.  The explanatory part of the title was, " A series of Extempore Sketches made during a Pedestrian Ramble along the Banks of that River, and its principal Tributaries". For variety, descriptive power, and general interest, this work will most favourably bear comparison with all topographical books known to the present writer.  It is now out of print; and he that tries to purchase a copy when it has found its way into the hands of a Sheffield bookseller, learns, and probably marvels to know, how it is valued in the neighbourhood. 

The Tourist actually visited the places described.  In order to render effectual his efforts to be quite correct in his descriptions of scenery and in his application of local names, he drew section maps of the course of the river, which, however, were not printed.  And the tedium of occasional topographical details is hardly felt by the reader, because of the ingenious introduction of notices of eminent men and interesting events, with judiciously selected passages from the poets and occasional original verses. 

It would be grateful to the biographer to linger long over The Tour of the Don, the first of Mr. Holland's books that he remembers to have read.  It is so comprehensive and so pleasantly written, that it deserves a very prominent place among the productions of its author.  But only a few quotations can here be made.  The following descriptive passage occurs in the paper on "The Sources of the River" : —

"There is in the outline of the moors, when enveloped with snow, a peculiar and chastened beauty, which persons are in general too much chilled to appreciate.  Covered by such a mantle, almost every asperity of surface, and generally every harsh tone of colour are obscured; there appears something like a process of magical assimilation to have taken place ; and 'the mind in the eye' glides, as it were, over the glistening whiteness with a facility and a velocity far surpassing the powers of the most skilful sleigher that ever drove over its surface with dogs or deer.  It is true, the scene presently becomes monotonous; but still it is beautiful.  And, then, when the fall has been gentle, and the quantity not too great, how surprisingly distinct does it often render the more prominent features of a landscape! Trees, fences, buildings, and almost every other conspicuous object, appearing of uniform dark colour, give to the snow-covered expanse some of the effect of an uncoloured engraving, or delicate pencil sketch of the scene presented; and so distinct are sometimes these inimitable pieces of Nature's delineation, that places are clearly descried under the influence of a chilly blue winter's sky, that had been unnoticed amid the splendours of summer”.

The passage next subjoined shows Mr. Holland's wisdom in carefully observing things at hand when his attention could not be given to distant objects.  It also gives an additional revelation of his social sympathies: —

" The writer of this notice walked from Midhope to Penistone on the morning of the 7th of December, 1835, which was remarkable for the densest fog which had occurred during the season.  Never, surely, did any one before go out on such a day in search of the picturesque! As I traversed the three- mile-long lane, encaged, as it were, in a moving lantern of chilly light, it was some amusement to notice the appearance of the various lichens which encrusted the walls, and which appeared to derive distinctness of outline and depth of tint from the peculiar atmosphere in which those minute vegetables and their admirer were enveloped.  It would just have been the morning and the occasion to engender in some minds- peevish- ness and melancholy ; but why should it have such an effect ? ' In nature there is nothing melancholy.'

Onward I wended, until in due time the tower of Penistone Church made its appearance, looming through the mist like a gigantic apparition.  I love to come upon a rural church under any conditions of atmosphere.  Dull as the morning undoubtedly was, I was struck on approaching the churchyard to perceive that all was not dullness even there, a cheerful gaily- dressed wedding party of six or eight persons just issuing from the porch, scattering as they passed along a quantity of half-pence among a lot of merry children whom the twelve o'clock bell had most seasonably liberated from school in time to obtain the bridal largess.  Well, thought I, after smiling what I had not the courage to speak, 'May happiness be yours, ye wedded pair'. 

The misty obscurity of this day is strikingly significant of the unseen future of matrimonial experience.  I know of a certainty that this mist will be dissipated; that the sun will again shine and display those features of the landscape which at present are looked for in vain.  Equally confident, no doubt, are these sanguine young people, although perhaps they do not see far beyond the present hour, that if gloom sometimes obscure their Providential path, the sunshine of life will again break out, and the scenery of domestic joy display itself in renewed beauty”.

The biographer has heard Mr. Holland tell with great interest, how, at a subsequent period, the accuracy of the foregoing account had to be tested by reference to the Parish register. 

The entertaining Tourist lingered long in Sheffield and its vicinity, devoting thereto more than a dozen successive chapters, which appeared in the newspaper during the summer quarter when the reader might, with the greatest pleasure, go out to test the descriptions for himself.  Lively topographical essays were interspersed with appreciative, honest, and courteous notices of the principal literary men of Sheffield, and of some other persons known to fame. 

For example, Botany received a eulogium in connection with the name of Mr. Jonathan Salt; and Ornithology, the famous works of Audubon, and a memorable interview which Mr. Holland had in Sheffield with that justly celebrated naturalist, had such mention as became a Tourist who was an admiring and successful student of birds and their habits.  That interview would be at the house of Mr. Heppenstall, a member of the Society of Friends, who "had his house full of ornithological specimens”. The Tourist says: — "I shall not soon forget the evening I spent with John James Audubon and Lucy, his wife.  He was one of the few men that a lover of natural history, or a lover of mere adventure either, would have gone a great way only to have seen.  Truly a fine figure he is, with the eye of an eagle, the limbs of an antelope, and the simplicity of a real child of the forest; yet there was a quiet dignity in his demeanour, and a placid energy in his conversation, which impressed me with the idea of being in the presence of a man whose spirit was with future times, in the assurance that the moderate award of his contemporaries would not be the full measure of his renown”.

The sketch of Montgomery proved that love of the country can live and be powerful in a man, and poesy can raise his nature to her great elevation, amid "filthy backyards, black brick walls, shelving roofs, and a grotesque array of red chimney-pots", with a "cluster of substantial obstacles to the common daylight"; and, perhaps, the same sketch brought to some readers their first knowledge of Montgomery's removal from "The Hartshead", the place just described, to "The Mount," a place of residence which most people would deem fit for a poet. 

The chapter devoted to Samuel Bailey, a man whose name and works are well known to political and philosophical students, contains some severe but just criticism.  Mr. Holland had no sympathy whatever with those religious and political opinions for which Mr. Bailey was distinguished.  He paid a just and generous tribute to the philosopher's great ability; but he commended the electors of Sheffield for persistently refusing to send that philosopher to Parliament.  Mr. Holland was not a bigot; but he was a staunch orthodox believer; and while he was extremely liberal in matters of mere opinion, he could not bear what he regarded as repudiating the authority of the Word of God. 

Ebenezer Elliott, the "Corn-law Rhymer", has frequent mention in The Tour; and the chapter dated August 13th is devoted to him and his poetry.  The opening sentence is this : — " The most extraordinary man whom any tourist on the banks of the Don can turn aside to see, is undoubtedly the individual whose name stands at the head of this sketch”.  Then, " in a spirit of the highest admiration of Mr. Elliott's genius," the Tourist fearlessly points out the peculiar blemishes of his published poems, showing that the lustre of Elliott's great ability shone through much of abuse and execration, but that his wit was quick, his sarcasm keen as a Sheffield blade, and his desire to serve a good cause strong, sincere, and constant.  Some of the blemishes of his works are shown to be egregious; but of a passage quoted in The Tour, Mr. Holland says, that "to a local reader of any feeling, it seems as if poetry, piety, and painting had commingled their choicest influences in its production”. In a notice, not in The Tour, of the collected poetical works of his justly celebrated fellow-townsman, Mr. Holland says, that there are among them passages which no living poet could surpass, together with that which none but the lowest-minded of political economists could admire, and which showed a wilful prostitution of a fine genius to a worse than useless end.  Sheffield has honoured itself in erecting an abiding memorial of so remarkable a genius as Ebenezer Elliott ; but his poems owe so much of their special flavour to a contemporary but transient grievance, and contain so much of the evil element described above, that in a few generations they will probably be very seldom named among the people of his native district; though Southey expressed the opinion that some collector will eventually receive the grateful acknowledgments of his countrymen for bringing into notice poems unworthily neglected in the age of their production ; and certainly Elliott's "name can never be erased from the Bard-roll of Britain”.  He has been truly characterised as a most fierce, fervid, and eloquent man of genius that entered the temple of poetical fame through the "iron gate" of politics.  The following passage speaks the truth about a gentleman whose memory is still fragrant in Sheffield, and whose successor is believed to have deserved and secured like influence and respect.  It also contains a description of a state of ecclesiastical affairs, the long continuance of which the right-minded readers of The Tour must have ardently desired.  Speaking of the Established Church in Sheffield, Mr. Holland says: —

"To a race of preachers, of whom the praise was more frequently couched in social or political than religious epithets, and in whom the gentlemanly may be said to have too generally predominated over the Christian characteristics, has happily succeeded a body of clergy no less zealous in duty than sound in doctrine, no less unwearied in pastoral attentions than irreproachable in private life, no less gentle in demeanour than firm in discipline.  Of the Sheffield clergy it may be truly affirmed, that whatever others may do, they preach the gospel; that whatever others may be, they are benevolent; that whatever others may do, they do not seek to interrupt the usefulness of their fellow Christians of other denominations; that, whoever is ready for every good work, local or national, they are ready ; that, whoever else may do it, they make everything beside subservient to the Christian character.  Such is the popular estimate of the Sheffield clergy as a body.  May I be permitted to speak of the vicar in particular?  To the Rev. Thomas Sutton, this parish owes, under God, a weight of obligation which assuredly it never lay under in respect to any other clerical person.  The name of this good man ought ever to be associated with prayers, that blessings may descend upon him for the manner in which he has administered and does administer the important trust devolved upon him, in caring and providing for the churches.  An anonymous and disinterested writer may perhaps be allowed, without offence, thus to express himself”.

In an article headed "Preaching in the Hamlets," the Tourist has much to say about Methodist Local Preachers.  He calls Local Preachers an extraordinary class of men, which the energetic genius of Methodism has a direct tendency to develop.  He describes "a working man" who, scarcely distinguishable from his fellow "smithy-men" on six days of the week, is found on the Sunday, "according to plan" in the pulpit of a village chapel.  The service which he conducts is depicted in true colours ; the characteristics of a Methodist village congregation are indicated ; and then comes the following passage : — " Could you hear the members of the religious society, who sit mingled with the general congregation as worshippers in that little rustic chapel, relate by what processes they have been, as the cases may be, transformed from neglecters of the Sabbath to its stated observers, from men of profanity to men of prayer, from bad husbands to lovers of their wives and children, from drunkards to sober persons, from individuals who scarcely knew the alphabet to those who can read the word of God, — in short, from bad men to good men, by whatsoever criterion tried, — could you hear the villagers, in their simple way, thus tell their experience, you, gentle reader, would surely rejoice in the blessed effects which have resulted from the preaching of the gospel in the hamlets on the banks of the Don”.

This witness is true; but the Tourist knew too much to give all the credit of the witness to the Methodists.  The reader is reminded that the Independents also have their village chapels; and the significant question is asked, why the Established Church should not at once recognise and encourage such extra-clerical agencies as might arise among her own adherents.  A generation has gone since the Tourist asked that question ; the venerable Established Church has freely "discussed the question" of lay agency, while various Nonconformist Bodies have had it in full and effective operation ; and the Church of England has become able at last "to make a good beginning" in the direction here indicated.  Several "lay preachers" licensed by the Archbishop of York are now at work in Sheffield itself. 

The late Mr, Samuel Roberts, of Park Grange, was the subject of the article for August 27th.  It gave an account of some of his numerous literary achievements, awarded him a good share of well-deserved praise for the manifold good work which it had been his happiness to do, and showed that the Tourist was, by no means, in agreement with him as to some questions of historical importance, although his personal character and his literary ability were regarded with great admiration.  The two authors were attached friends.  It seems very probable that before this time they had talked to each other about the authorship of the Tourist's articles in the Mercury.  It was a real pleasure to Mr. Holland to preserve an editorial secret; and his allusions lead to the impression that he had in that respect a special gratification in this instance.  The concealment appears to have been so complete as greatly to puzzle all the literary men of the neighbourhood.  Mr. Roberts entered with interest into the speculation; and the biographer has heard Mr. Holland tell the following story as illustrative of his success in an effort to conceal his authorship.  During the day on which the article on Mr. Roberts appeared, the Tourist and the subject of his sketch met in the street.  "Holland." said Mr. Roberts, brandishing his stick over his head, "now I know who is the author of those papers; for no one but yourself could have given the particulars published this morning about me”. A fortnight later the Tourist sketched Mr. Holland himself in such a manner that Mr. Roberts lost all confidence in his former conclusion.  Soon the two friends met again, when Mr. Roberts said, "Holland, I must have been in error after all; for you cannot have written what has now been said about yourself”.  Mr. Roberts always addressed Mr. Holland in the familiar style here exemplified.  — It must be added that the introduction of Miss Mary Roberts's name into the account of The Royal Exile, led to a correspondence with that gifted and accomplished young lady, on what she regarded as a disagreeable subject. 

From the Tourist's sketch of himself and his career several things have already been transferred to this volume, which need not be particularly referred to again.  The additional sentences, here subjoined are characteristic and very significant : — "Our poet, I am sorry to say, remains unmarried — why and wherefore, he best knows ; but however unable or unwilling to satisfy others on so important a point, it must be presumed that he is fully persuaded in his own mind, that his case forms an exception to the general bearing of his poetical precepts on this subject”. Additional meaning may be found in this passage when it is considered that one of his most respected friends had lately been advising him to marry.  — " It remains to be added that, for some years past, Mr. Holland has had an official connection with the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society ; and there he is to be seen, duly and truly, either conversing with some visitor or member of the Institution in the Museum, or seated at his desk in the Council-room, cogitating, it may be presumed, some subject in prose or verse, yea, in the opinion of certain sagacious persons, writing these very papers!  I hope neither he nor any other person to whom they may be imputed will think it necessary to deny the authorship”.

The Tourist significantly made himself the subject of his last Sheffield article ; and the next following week found him at Attercliffe, whence by weekly rambles he proceeded until he found the Don no more, but stood beside the Ouse.  Then his long cherished project was accomplished.  Reviewing the process, he wrote that his own name had been withheld out of "regard for considerations of obvious propriety, and that the names of others had been introduced, and opinions about them had been honestly expressed, without any unkind personal feeling”.  And he was happily able to add: — " I do not entertain any such feeling towards any individual living ; nor do I believe that I am the subject of any such feeling on the part of others”.  It remains to be stated that The Tour of the Don contains a number of original poems and anecdotes, that there is in it much useful information, and that the author appears in it as a very decided Christian, vigorously defending the theory of an Established Church, and yet writing of Nonconformists and their good works in a spirit of great admiration and strong sympathy.  The biographer puts the book aside with reluctance and regret, because he feels that it contains most interesting things to which not so much as a reference can be given in the present volume, through want of space,.