ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN (1841 - 1901)

THE DEVIL’S CASE

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THE DEVIL’S CASE.
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THE DEVIL’S CASE

A Bank Holiday Interlude

BY

ROBERT BUCHANAN

“Diabolus Hominum Salvator.”

“Est Diabolus in nobis!”

LONDON:

ROBERT BUCHANAN,

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

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PRINTED BY THE NEW TEMPLE PRESS

                                                                             17, GRANT ROAD ADDISCOMBE, CROYDON.

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CONTENTS.
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                                                                                                                     PAGE

DEDICATION     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .           vii

THE DEVIL’S CASE       .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     1

EPILOGUE: THE LITANY DE PROFUNDIS     .     .     159

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[Notes:

“Diabolus Hominum Salvator” is a reworking of the Christogram, IHS, “Iesus Hominum Salvator ” - “Jesus saviour of men”. So, “The Devil saviour of men.”
“Est Diabolus in nobis!” is a reworking of a quotation from Ovid: “Est deus in nobis: agitante calescimus illo.” - Fasti (bk. VI, 5). “There is a God within us, and we glow when he stirs us.” So, “There is a Devil within us!”
The biblical quote (in Greek) is from St. Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians, 11:14: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

The illustrators of The Devil’s Case are not credited and I have only come across one review of the book which mentions the illustrations - Reynolds’s Newspaper ended its review with the following sentence: “A serious [sic] of striking illustrations add to the interest of the book.” One of the things which strikes me about the illustrations is that they do appear rather amateurish - certainly when compared with the pictures in Buchanan’s earlier illustrated works. And the fact that none are signed by the artist leads me to wonder whether they are by Buchanan himself. At least the portrait of the devil on the front cover and the frontispiece above, and the illustrations opposite pages 64, 72, 78 and 90 - the style of the one opposite page 131 seems to be different. I have no hard evidence for this but I did come across the following in The Glasgow Herald of 6th February, 1897:

Of course, neither The Ballad of Mary the Mother or The New Rome are illustrated, and by the time the latter was published (in December 1898) Buchanan had given up his own publishing venture. Still, it does seem to indicate that Buchanan was trying his hand at illustration, which would explain the amateurish nature of the pictures in The Devil’s Case. As for the different style of the picture opposite page 131, there is that article about Harriett Jay in the Omaha Daily Bee which includes the following sentence: “While waiting for a possible debut on the New York stage she is writing the concluding chapters of a novel that is running in a London paper and drawing the illustrations for it.” But, maybe that’s taking speculation too far.

The Devil’s Case was published in February 1896, along with the pamphlet, Is Barabbas a necessity? A discourse on publishers and publishing, the first fruits of Buchanan’s self-publishing venture. A letter to Dr. Stodart-Walker, quoted in Chapter 28 of Jay’s biography, indicates that the poem was actually completed a year before its eventual publication:

Feb. 22, 1895.

     “DEAR WALKER,—I am so sorry you have been ill, and as glad to hear you are all right again. It is see-saw with us all, and I am now myself a little seedy and over-worked. I am hoping to get out of town very soon, for indeed I require a rest.
     “Of course I’ll send you the ‘Devil’s Case,’ and any work of mine which possesses my affection as this does. It is a book which will be torn in pieces, which will be thought by many to be the very acme of human blasphemy; but it is true for all that, and it will live. I had just finished it when my beloved mother died, and for a time I hesitated about publishing it, and I do so now because I am convinced that she would have approved it, for even in her last illness she clearly and penetratingly held to her old eclectic faith. This is the dedication to her, which I transcribe for the first time to you.

DEDICATION.

November, 1894.

While the life blood was spun
     From the heart in her breast,
She look’d on her son,
     Smiled, and rock’d him to rest. . . .

How swift the hours run
     From the east to the west!
Erect stood the son,
     And the mother was blest!

Of all the joys won
     Love like his seemed the best,
He was ever her son
     Whom she rock’d on the breast!

Yet lo! all is done!
     (’Twas, my God, Thy behest)
In his turn the gray son
     Rocks the mother to rest!

All is o’er, ere begun! . . .
     O my dearest and best,
Sleep in peace! till thy son
     Creepeth down to thy breast!

     “The book itself ends with a new verse edition of the Litany which will sadden the scribes and pharisees of modern Christianity. Thanks for the lecture, and for the kind allusion to your friend. It touched me greatly, for I saw in it a fresh proof of your affection.
     “I hope the Professor is mending a little—the milder weather, which seems approaching, should help him. Give my affectionate regards to him and to Mrs. Blackie, who is well I trust, and believe me,
                                             “Always yours,
                                                         “ROBERT BUCHANAN.”

The dedication to his mother differs slightly from the published version which opens the poem. Buchanan’s mother had died on 5th November, 1894, towards the end of a year which had also seen the death of his friend, Roden Noel (also mentioned in the poem) on 26th May and the bankruptcy proceedings which had stretched from June to August and had been extensively reported in the newspapers. The opening of The Devil’s Case captures Buchanan’s mood at the end of this annus horribilis (thank you Ma’am). I have no explanation for the delay in the book’s publication, but Buchanan’s finances did not improve until the success of The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown in June 1895, which would have provided the money to set up as his own publisher. ]

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