Page:Adams - Songs of the Army of the Night.djvu/24

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Introduction.

difference that the despondent fortitude of the pessimist is here quickened and energised into the fierce resolution of the reformer. The Songs, taken individually, will best speak for themselves; it is not necessary or desirable, in this brief Introduction, to attempt an estimate of their comparative merits or shortcomings. But it is highly important, for a full and just appreciation of these most characteristic and impassioned products of Adams' genius, that something should be said of the very singular personality which everywhere underlies the poems, and is intimately connected with their mingled strength and weakness. In these lyrics, if anywhere, the writer spoke his soul; they are an absolutely faithful and unreserved expression of a certain portion of his feelings.

When Francis Adams died in the autumn of 1893, he was but thirty years old, yet during that short lifetime he had amassed an extraordinary record of poignant and heart-stirring experiences.^[1] Gifted with immense natural vitality, both physical and mental, he found himself at an early age the victim of inherited consumption, and his adventurous career, in England, in Australia, and again at the close of his life in England, was the incessant struggle of a proud and heroic spirit against the forces of disease and poverty that were gradually closing around

↑ These cannot here be narrated, but a few biographical facts and dates may serve to explain some of the references in the poems. He was Scotch by extraction, the son of Prof. Leith Adams, a scientist and army surgeon. Born at Malta, where his father's regiment was stationed, on Sept. 27th, 1862, he spent his childhood in England, New Brunswick and Ireland. He was educated at Shrewsbury school (the "Colchester" described in "Leicester, an Autobiography"), and after spending two or three years in Paris and London, became an assistant-master at Ventnor College in 1882. In 1884 he was married and went to Australia, where he busied himself in literary, educational, and political work, and was on the staff of the Sydney Bulletin. His wife having died in Australia his second marriage took place in 1887. In the same year he went on a short voyage to China and Japan. In 1890 he returned to England, much broken in health, and his last two winters were spent in the Riviera and Egypt. He died, at Margate, on September 4th, 1893.

[1] These cannot here be narrated, but a few biographical facts and dates may serve to explain some of the references in the poems. He was Scotch by extraction, the son of Prof. Leith Adams, a scientist and army surgeon. Born at Malta, where his father's regiment was stationed, on Sept. 27th, 1862, he spent his childhood in England, New Brunswick and Ireland. He was educated at Shrewsbury school (the "Colchester" described in "Leicester, an Autobiography"), and after spending two or three years in Paris and London, became an assistant-master at Ventnor College in 1882. In 1884 he was married and went to Australia, where he busied himself in literary, educational, and political work, and was on the staff of the Sydney Bulletin. His wife having died in Australia his second marriage took place in 1887. In the same year he went on a short voyage to China and Japan. In 1890 he returned to England, much broken in health, and his last two winters were spent in the Riviera and Egypt. He died, at Margate, on September 4th, 1893.

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