System Number: 05526
Date: 23 November 1902
Author: JW
Place: London
Recipient: Samuel Henry Jeyes[1]
Place: [London]
Repository: Glasgow University Library
Call Number: MS Whistler S171
Document Type: ALdS[2]
Podsnap's at Bay[3]
Sir -[4] To the Editor of the Standard -
Sir -
From Respectability to Crime there is but a step - and in the long run Podsnap inevitably takes it!
Of course he
& I have Sir the honour
Also the faith of Podsnap is sublime - For twenty years he cries have I sustained and upheld this man - and thrust him upon a Brithish [sic] People that would none of him - and in the beginning refused even to notice!!!
Sir in your Columns let me hugely apologize for this colossal impertinence, of which believe me I had no knowledge not the faintest suspicion! Of None of these irrelevant
To be imposed upon this much troubled Public
evil meant and inocuous [sic] writings of Podsnap have I come upon - though I have known of certain "corners" in Catalogues[5], in his earlier Counting house manner - inventories with harmlessly foolish comentaries comment that put guineas in the pocket of Podsnap, who in the way - was the Parasite who fed & unpleasantly fattened upon me, "and did exceeding well!" -
And I have the honour to be
Sir,
Your obedient Servant
J. McNeill Whistler
Chelsea
Nov. 23. 1902.
This document is protected by copyright.
Notes:
1. Samuel Henry Jeyes
Samuel Henry Jeyes (d. 1911), author and journalist.
2. ALdS
See also a related draft #13425. This is a response to a letter from F. Wedmore to S. H. Jeyes, 21 November [1902], #12628. It is one of a number which relate to JW's correspondence with the Standard, #05525, #05526, #05527, #07476, #09448.
3. Podsnap's at Bay
Triple-underlined. John Podsnap, a self-important character in Charles Dickens's Our Mutual Friend (London, 1864-65). On 19 November 1902 JW wrote to the Standard criticizing a review of 12th Exhibition, Society of Portrait Painters, New Gallery, London, 1902 (Whistler, James McNeill, 'Une Dernière Incarnation,' The Standard, 21 November 1902; #09448). He complained that Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921), art critic [more], had suggested that Grenat et or: Le Petit Cardinal (YMSM 469) was an old work. Wedmore had in fact noted that just before its arrival at the New Gallery, the picture had been exhibited at the 12th Exhibition, Ouvrages de Peintures, Sculpture, Dessin, Gravure, Architecture et Objets d'Art, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1902.
4. Sir -
This has been over-written by 'To the Editor of the Standard -'.
5. Catalogues
Wedmore, Sir Frederick, Whistler's Etchings: a Study and a Catalogue, London, 1886.