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diff --git a/38596.txt b/38596.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dce0a7f --- /dev/null +++ b/38596.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8559 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Notable Women Authors of the Day, by Helen C. Black + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Notable Women Authors of the Day + Biographical Sketches + +Author: Helen C. Black + +Release Date: January 17, 2012 [EBook #38596] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOTABLE WOMEN AUTHORS OF THE DAY *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Portraits have been moved from the middle of the + chapter to the beginning of the same. Footnotes have been renumbered + and moved to the closest paragraph break. Obvious errors have been + silently corrected. + + + + NOTABLE WOMEN AUTHORS OF + THE DAY. + + + + Printed at the University Press, + AND PUBLISHED BY + DAVID BRYCE AND SON, GLASGOW. + + LONDON: + SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD. + + + + NOTABLE WOMEN AUTHORS. + + + + Notable + Women Authors + of the Day + + _Biographical Sketches_ + + By Helen C. Black + + With Portraits + + Glasgow + David Bryce and Son + 1893 + + + + TO MY + BELOVED AND ONLY DAUGHTER. + + These sketches originally appeared as a series in the + "Lady's Pictorial" and are republished with the Editor's + kind permission. + + They are now revised, enlarged and brought up to date. + + Helen C. Black + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + _From Photographs by_ PAGE + + _MRS. LYNN LINTON_, BARRAUDS Ltd., London, 1 + + _MRS. RIDDELL_, C. VANDYK, S. Kensington, 11 + + _MRS. L. B. WALFORD_, BARRAUDS Ltd., London, 26 + + _RHODA BROUGHTON_, BARRAUDS Ltd., London, 37 + + _JOHN STRANGE WINTER_, BARRAUDS Ltd., London, 45 + (_MRS. ARTHUR STANNARD._) + + _MRS. ALEXANDER_, ELLIOTT & FRY, London, 58 + + _HELEN MATHERS_, WALERY, London, 68 + + _FLORENCE MARRYAT_, LONDON STEREOSCOPIC CO. Ltd., 81 + + _MRS. LOVETT CAMERON_, MAYALL & CO. Ltd., London, 96 + + _MRS. HUNGERFORD_, GUY & CO., Cork, 107 + + _MATILDA BETHAM EDWARDS_, BARRAUDS Ltd., London, 120 + + _EDNA LYALL_, G. CHURCHILL, Eastbourne, 133 + + _ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY_, S. J. POOLE & CO., Putney, 145 + + _ADELINE SERGEANT_, H. S. MENDELSSOHN, London, 157 + + _MRS. EDWARD KENNARD_, SPEIGHT, Market Harboro, 172 + + _JESSIE FOTHERGILL_, WARWICK BROOKES, M'chester, 184 + + _LADY DUFFUS HARDY_, J. RUSSELL & SONS, London, 198 + + _IZA DUFFUS HARDY_, J. RUSSELL & SONS, London, 204 + + _MAY CROMMELIN_, J. THOMSON, London, 210 + + _MRS. HOUSTOUN_, 223 + + _MRS. ALEX. FRASER_, W. & A. H. FRY, Brighton, 234 + + _HONOURABLE MRS. HENRY CHETWYND_, MAULL & FOX, London, 247 + + _JEAN MIDDLEMASS_, T. FALL, Baker St., London, W. 260 + + _AUGUSTA DE GRASSE STEVENS_, VERNON KAYE, London, 270 + + _MRS. LEITH ADAMS_, J. H. BLOMFIELD, Hastings, 286 + + _JEAN INGELOW_, BARRAUDS Ltd., London, 299 + + + + +NOTABLE WOMEN AUTHORS. + + + + +[Illustration: E. Lynn Linton] + +MRS. LYNN LINTON. + + +A blue sky and a bright sun belie the typical foggy month of November, +and while entering the elevator which glides rapidly and smoothly to the +eighth floor of the gigantic pile of buildings once cynically termed +"Hankey's Folly"--now Queen Anne's Mansions--you feel justified in +anticipating a glorious view over the great city. You step out into a +corridor where are arranged a stand of grenades with a couple of +hydrants, backed by printed directions for their use, and are shown into +the library of the distinguished author; but ere there is time to look +around, the door opens, and Mrs. Lynn Linton enters. + +Her personality may be described thus: tall, upright, and stately in +appearance, the keen, but kindly bright blue eyes smiling through the +gold-rimmed glasses which she always wears. She is clad in a suitable +black dress, trimmed with jet, a white lace cap partially covers the +thick grey hair, which escapes in a tiny natural curl or two on each +side of the smooth, intellectual forehead. The eyebrows--far apart--are +straight and level, but shaded off so delicately that they impart a look +of benignity and softness to the aristocratic nose, while the curves of +the well-cut lips indicate straightforwardness, sincerity of +disposition, and power. Can it be possible that you had felt a momentary +trepidation before meeting the gifted woman for whose genius you have +ever entertained the greatest reverence? But Mrs. Lynn Linton will have +none of it! Her kind and friendly greeting puts you at once at ease. She +says that she has an hour or two to spare, that her work is well on, and +that there is no immediate fear of her being disturbed by an emissary +from the printers, so you settle down to have a good talk, and to learn +from your hostess some particulars of her early life, and her subsequent +eventful career. + +Mrs. Lynn Linton was born at Keswick; her father being the vicar of +Crosthwaite, Cumberland. When only five months old, her mother (a +daughter of Dr. Goodenough, Bishop of Carlisle) died, leaving a family +of twelve children. She was brought up plainly and frugally, with no +particular advantages of education; nevertheless, at an early age she +developed a strong taste for reading and a thirst for knowledge. Casting +aside her childish story books, she dived into such ancient literature +and chronicles as she found on her father's book-shelves, and at the age +of eleven determined to train herself to be a writer. About this time +she became keenly interested in Polish affairs, in which her favourite +brother took an active part. In those days there were not the same +facilities for procuring books as in later years, but the young +child-student managed to overcome all obstacles, and educated herself, +mastering French, German, and Italian. The one aim and end to which her +ambition was directed buoyed her up through early years of what were +somewhat rough times to the shy, nervous, short-sighted girl, who always +seemed in everyone's way. + +To this repression and self-training may be attributed the independence +of thought, the thoroughness, the originality of idea, as well as the +deep sympathy with young and struggling authors which are Mrs. Lynn +Linton's prevailing characteristics. One of her earliest recollections +is of the poet Southey, and that to this day she can recall to mind his +peculiar face, his dark eyes, full of fire, his eagle nose, and thin +figure. She wrote her first novel, "Azeth, the Egyptian," when she came +to London, at the age of twenty-three, and from that day to this has +supported herself entirely by her pen; but she says that this "first +book" gave her a whole year's hard work to write, and she thinks it is +now probably "unreadable." For her second, "Amymone," she will ever have +the tenderest memories, and the blue eyes kindle when she remarks that +it was the means of bringing her into contact with Walter Savage Landor, +and securing for her his lasting sympathy and friendship. She says he +was her literary father, her guide, philosopher, and friend, and that +one of her dearest treasures is a large packet of letters from the poet, +beginning "My dear daughter," and signed "Father" only, or "Your +affectionate father," as well as those verses which he addressed to +her, ending with the line, "Pure heart, and lofty soul, Eliza Lynn." + +Between the production of "Realities: a Tale," in 1851, and "Witch +Stories," there was a gap of ten years, which the young writer devoted +principally to journalism. She was, indeed, the first of women +journalists. She contributed to several of the daily papers and +magazines. Presently a series of pungent and clever essays began in the +_Saturday Review_, which increased its fame, and took the world by +storm. "The Girl of the Period," "The Shrieking Sisterhood," "Paying +One's Shot," "Mature Sirens," have now passed into proverbs. They made a +famous topic of conversation at dinner-tables, and proved a decided hit. +For many years a certain lady of rank had the credit of the series, +until at last, after many futile efforts, Mrs. Lynn Linton was allowed +to collect her own papers and publish them under her own name. + +"I never mind how much I slash," says Mrs. Lynn Linton, "because I +always feel I am not slashing at a personality, but at a type. Thackeray +never drew Becky Sharp from one individual; we all know a Becky Sharp." + +In 1858 the young writer married Mr. Linton, the well-known wood +engraver, and in 1861 began again the interrupted series of fifteen +novels, amongst which were "Under which Lord?" "Patricia Kemball," "The +True Story of Joshua Davidson," "Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg," "Sowing the +Wind," "The Atonement of Leam Dundas," "The World Well Lost," "The Rebel +of the Family," "My Love," "Paston Carew, Miser and Millionaire," "Jane +Stewart," "Through the Long Night," and "Christopher Kirkland." This +last is deeply interesting, as a history of the author herself, her +theories, philosophy, and religious opinions. + +The writing table in the cosy library--or as Mrs. Lynn Linton often +calls it, "the workroom"--is placed slantways to catch the best light, +and commands a beautiful view from the windows, full south over the +Surrey hills. + +The cut-glass inkstand has been in constant use for over fifty years. +Papers, reviews, and books of reference are tidily heaped up; the table +is full, but in perfect order; commenting on this to your hostess, she +says it is "part of her nature, she could find anything in the dark." +She is altogether a believer in method, regularity, and punctuality, +which last quality gained for her from Charles Dickens the remark that +she was "good for anything, and thoroughly reliable." + +Opening a well-worn "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities" lying on +a side-table close at hand, Mrs. Lynn Linton remarks it was bought with +nearly her first earnings, and that she has by degrees purchased nearly +all the books, which seem to occupy every available recess. The two deep +cases opposite are filled with treasures of literature, and the tall +revolving bookstand contains chiefly her collection of favourite +poets--Landor, Arnold, Swinburne. + +A Persian carpet of subdued tints covers the floor; on a large round +table, over which hangs a lamp of graceful design, is heaped, with +extreme precision, a mass of journals, magazines, and periodicals; not a +paper is awry. The great accumulation of literature has indeed +necessitated the fitting up of two tall, narrow recesses at the other +end of the room, each neatly hidden by a long tapestry curtain. A tender +light comes into Mrs. Lynn Linton's face as she points out three +photographs hanging on the wall. The first is of her beloved brother, +"without fear or favour," who died of a broken heart after the death of +an adored wife; the second is of her "father" Landor; and the third is +of Mr. Linton--"brother, father, husband," she says, with infinite +tenderness for the memory of all three. + +Asking to be allowed to see the famous view from the drawing-room, which +it is said "looks over St. James's Park and Carlton Terrace, and +embraces the whole of the park from Buckingham Palace to the Horse +Guards," "_Did_ embrace it," amends Mrs. Linton, mournfully, "but come +and see." She leads the way to the opposite side of the flat, into a +rather long drawing-room, the windows of which look due south over the +uninterrupted view one might reasonably have expected to see. Alas! a +tall and ugly erection of bricks and mortar has sprang up to the left, +obscuring a portion of the prospect. "They have given me only a vista," +says Mrs. Lynn Linton, "where I once had a view." What is left, however, +is very fine, and from the great height above ground the people look +like pigmies dotted about. Queen Caroline once talked of shutting up +this lovely park, and converting it into a noble garden for the palace. +She consulted Walpole as to the probable cost; the witty minister +replied, "Only three crowns, your Majesty," and the idea was abandoned. + +There is a peculiarly long, narrow frame hanging on the opposite side of +the wall, and as Mrs. Lynn Linton permits an inspection of everything, +you examine it carefully, while she explains the subject. It is nearly +four yards long, and represents the Parthenon frieze--the Panathenaic +procession--and the fight of the Amazons and Athenians, reduced and +restored by John Herring. As the slate matrix was broken, it is now +extremely valuable. It is in plaster of Paris, mounted on red, and is +the property of Mr. Linton, who has bequeathed it to the National +Gallery in America. The small statuette of "Margaret," modelled by +Geefs, is another and very rare gem. Mrs. Lynn Linton is also the +possessor of a quaint grey vase, a relic of the Great Exhibition of +1851. On one little table, covered with an Oriental cloth, crowded with +favourite photographs, the portrait of a graceful, pretty girl occupies +a prominent place. "That is my Beatrice, my Bee, my dear adopted +daughter," she says, "dear as if she were my own; and these," pointing +to two large framed pictures, "are both likenesses of my friend Mr. +Fuller, a nephew of Sir Arthur Helps. We first became friends through +correspondence. He sent me his book, 'Culmshire Folk.' His wife invited +me to Ireland last year, and the result was my first and last political +work about that country." + +You ask Mrs. Lynn Linton to tell you about some of the celebrated people +whom she has met. After musing awhile, she mentions Captain Maconochie +(the convicts' friend), Sir Charles Babbage, Kinglake, Miss Jane Porter, +Mrs. Milner Gibson--"she was my social godmother; but these all belonged +to a past generation. In later years I was more or less on intimate +terms with Harrison Ainsworth, George Eliot, Sir Henry Layard, Sir Henry +Rawlinson, Tom Taylor, Thackeray, Dickens, Yates, Wilkie Collins, +Swinburne, Sir Roderick Murchison, Rider Haggard, Dr. Elliotson, and +William Spottiswoode, late President of the Royal Society. _He_ was a +prince among men, and I loved and reverenced his noble character." + +Unlike many literary women, Mrs. Lynn Linton is a great adept with her +needle. The beautiful silk embroideries--of which she is very +proud--cushions, chair seats, and the handsome fire-screen are all the +work of her skilful fingers, and made from her own designs. The big +green frog and the swallows hanging on the left are a present from Mr. +Oswald Crawfurd, the famous consul at Oporto. The Tunis plates and +various photographs indicate that your hostess has made sundry journeys +abroad, and travelled in many foreign lands where she has picked up a +few picturesque "bits" as mementos of the places which she visited; but +she says her most cherished possession is the gold cinquecento basket +standing yonder, the gift of Walter Savage Landor. + +Yet more books! Each recess in the opposite wall is well filled, also +the low dwarf bookcase under the large mirror, and another under the +Herring "slate." + +You are curious to know if Mrs. Lynn Linton reads and is influenced by +criticisms on her works? She says she has never striven for popularity, +and has boldly put forth her opinions, without caring for the +consequences. She was once called "selfish." _Selfish!_ Have you not +known, and been told by a score of young authors, that they owe their +success and a deep debt of gratitude to her! In despair, one after +another has taken to her an article, a story, a three-volume novel, a +play; what not? With patience she would pore over a crabbed manuscript, +word by word, suggesting, correcting, improving, advising. She has a +large number of young friends, who confide all their troubles, hopes, +and wishes to her, with the certainty of absolute sympathy and wise +counsel. Far from being stern or severe, as some of her books might lead +one to think, she is bubbling over with the milk of human kindness, and +her chief desire is to be of use or help to some one. The tender, +motherly manner casts its spell over you too, and you find yourself +presently pouring out confidences as if she were an old acquaintance. + +Mrs. Lynn Linton generally enjoys the best of health. She keeps early +hours, works in the morning, takes plenty of exercise, and "plain +living" keeps the _mens sana in corpore sano_ for "high thinking." +Although in her sixth decade, she possesses a splendid physique, of +which she is pardonably proud. She says she finds residing in her +exalted flat far preferable to a house. There she is out of the reach of +burglars and beggars; she lives at less expense, combined with +incomparably more comfort; whilst the servants of the gigantic +establishment all respect her, and "Ellen," who has been there for +eleven years, she calls her "child," and looks upon her as a personal +friend. + +But the clock strikes. You have been unconscionable. The time has sped +so rapidly that the promised hour has doubled itself. You say good-bye, +and as Mrs. Lynn Linton kindly asks you to come again on her "Saturdays, +to one, or to all," you look down on the small white hand which holds +yours, and notice the long slender fingers. The memory of its hearty +clasp remains on your mind as you are conveyed down the eight stories of +Queen Anne's Mansions, and so, into the street, where you become one of +the aforenamed "pigmies." + + + + +[Illustration: Charlotte Eliza Riddell] + +MRS. RIDDELL. + + +The sleepy little village of Upper Halliford, Middlesex, has one +peculiar charm. Though within ten minutes' walk of Walton Bridge, it +lies quite off the main line of traffic, and is consequently free from +the visits of Cockney tourists, affording in this, as in many other +respects, a striking contrast to Lower Halliford, which, situated on a +lovely reach of the Thames, welcomes annually thousands of visitors. + +There the inevitable steam-launch cuts its swift way through the water; +there boating-men, clad in all the colours of the rainbow, are to be met +with, on or after Good Friday, when the "season" begins; there +persistent fishermen, seated in punts warily moored, angle day after +day, and all day long, for the bream, roach, and gudgeon, to be found in +such abundance; there furnished houses let at high rents; willows dip +their branches in the river, and from thence the trees of Oatlands show +well on the upland on the opposite sides of the glistening Thames. + +It was between Lower Halliford and Walton Bridge--half of which is in +Surrey and half in Middlesex--that, at a point called the Coway Stakes, +Julius Caesar is believed to have crossed the river. The name "Coway +Stakes" originated in the fact that there Cassivelaunus fortified the +banks, and filled the river with sharp-pointed stakes to prevent the +enemy from crossing the stream, but notwithstanding these precautions +the Roman leader and his legions accomplished their purpose, and, a +little way above where the Ship Hotel (so well known to boating-men), +now stands, a terrible battle was fought in the year 54 B.C. between the +Britons and Romans. Several relics have been dug up about this part of +the Thames, also a number of the stakes taken from the bed of the river, +black with age, but still sound. + +Any one who cares to walk on to Walton should make a point of visiting +the old Church of St. Mary--an edifice of great antiquity--in order to +see a curious relic, dated 1632, a scold's bit, or bridle, bearing the +following inscription:-- + + "Chester to Walton sends a bridle + To curb women's tongues that talk too idle." + +Upper Halliford, unlike Lower Halliford, or Walton, has nothing to show +in the way of beauty or relic. It boasts no history, it has no legend, +or old church, or historic mansion. It is only a quaint little hamlet, +which might be a hundred miles from the bustle and roar of London; +there, however, the famous author of "George Geith of Fen Court" has for +the last seven years made her home, where she lives in absolute +seclusion. + +Her little cottage stands slightly back from the high road. It is built +flush with the ground, and covered with trellis-work, which in summer +time is concealed by clustering white roses and clematis. The porch is +in the centre, and the rooms on each side have broad bay windows. There +is a large field in front, and so many evergreens about the cottage, +that, when snow comes, the place looks like a winter "transformation +scene." + +A great, old-fashioned garden stretches far out at the back, and it was +chiefly the tranquillity and privacy of this delightful garden, with its +grand old hedge of holly, now bright with red berries, which attracted +Mrs. Riddell, and decided her to settle down, away from the world, after +long and fierce buffeting with the stormy seas of sorrow, +disappointment, losses, and bereavement, of which she has had so large a +share. + +The gentle, quiet face tells its tale of early struggles, heavy burdens, +severe trials; yet time has not laid its ruthless hand over-harshly on +the author. Not a silver hair is visible on the soft, brown hair, which +is simply rolled into a neat coil, high on the back of her head, and +fastened by a large tortoise-shell comb. The deep grey eyes are +undimmed, and wear a look of peace and resignation, nobly won; while +"ever and anon of griefs subdued, there comes a token" which recalls the +past. But Mrs. Riddell can smile sweetly, and when she smiles, two--yes +two--absolutely girlish dimples light up the expressive countenance. She +is tall, has a good carriage, and is dressed in black; she has worn no +colours for over ten years. + +The little room is very simply but prettily furnished. It is lighted by +one bay window reaching to the ground in front, and a glass door at the +side. Soft, white rugs lie here and there on the dark red carpet, and an +old-fashioned bookcase contains the works of her favourite authors. +There are no particular curiosities or decorations to be seen, save one +valuable bit of old Dresden china, two or three plates of ancient Crown +Derby, together with a couple of quaint Delhi-work salvers, and a few +pictures hanging on the walls. Of these last, two are particularly +attractive. One is the Head of a Christ crowned with thorns, beautifully +painted on copper; the other, over the fire place, represents the Castle +of Carrigfergus, which, though built nearly a thousand years ago, is +still strong enough to hold a troop of soldiers. + +Mrs. Riddell was born in Ireland, at The Barn, Carrigfergus. She was the +youngest daughter of Mr. James Cowan, who held the post of High Sheriff +for the county of that town. + +"Yes, I am from the north--the black north," says your hostess in a low, +soft voice. "My grandfather was in the navy, and my great-grandfather +fought at Culloden, so I may fairly claim to be English, Scotch, and +Irish. My mother, Ellen Kilshaw, was a beautiful, graceful, and +accomplished English woman. On most subjects people have two opinions, +but I never heard a second opinion about my mother. Even amongst those +who only knew her in later life, when stricken with disease, and changed +by long years of sorrow, she stands out a distinct personality, as one +of those possessed of the manners, appearance, and ideas, that we +associate with the highest bred women of the past!" + +"And she was good as she was beautiful. I wish you could hear how rich +and poor who knew her in the old time at The Barn still speak of her. As +for me, while I speak, the grief of her death seems sharp and present as +on that sixteenth of December when she left me." + +Last autumn, after a lapse of twenty-five years, Mrs. Riddell revisited +her native place. "Such of our old friends as were left," she says, "I +found as kind as ever." + +It must have been sad, yet sweet, for the author to recall the old +reminiscences of her girlish home as she saw once more the pretty +bungalow-like house, with its gardens, hot-houses, and vineries, and to +visit again the spot where, at the age of fifteen, she remembers writing +her first story. + +"It was on a bright moonlight night," she says--"I can see it now +flooding the gardens--that I began it, and I wrote week after week, +never ceasing until it was finished. Need I add it was never published?" + +She goes on eloquently to tell you of yet further recollections of the +old house, the memory of her father's lingering illness, and the low, +sweet tones of her mother's voice as she read aloud to him for hours +together. "From my father," says Mrs. Riddell, "I think I got the few +brains I possess. Undoubtedly he was a very clever man, but _I_ never +knew him at his best, for as far as my memory goes back he was always +more or less a sufferer, blessed with the most tender and devoted wife +man ever had." + +On her father's death, the property passed into other hands, and with +but a small jointure the broken-hearted widow and her daughter left +their old home. They lived afterwards, for a while, in the charming +village of Dundonald in the County Down, where the young author +subsequently laid the scene of her novel, "Berna Boyle," and then, after +a good deal of meditation, they decided to come to London. In later +years she wrote three other Irish stories, "The Earl's Promise," "The +Nun's Curse," and "Maxwell Drewitt," which last contains an exciting +account of an election at Connemara. + +"I have often wished," says Mrs. Riddell "we never had so decided, yet +in that case, I do not think I ever should have achieved the smallest +success, and even before we left, with bitter tears, a place where we +had the kindest friends, and knew much happiness, my mother's death +was--though neither of us then knew the fact--a certainty. The illness +of which she died had then taken hold of her. She had always a great +horror of pain mental and physical; she was keenly sensitive, and +mercifully before the agonising period of her complaint arrived, the +nerves of sensation were paralysed; first or last, she never lost a +night's sleep the whole of the ten weeks, during which I fought with +death for her, and--was beaten." + +Mrs. Riddell's first impressions of London are well worth recording. +Coming as strangers to a strange land, throughout the length and breadth +of the great metropolis, she says, "We did not know a single creature! +During the first fortnight, indeed, I really thought I should break my +heart. I had never taken kindly to new places, and, remembering the +sweet hamlet and the loving friends left behind, London seemed to me +horrible! I could not eat; I could not sleep; I could only walk over the +'stony-hearted streets' and offer my manuscripts to publisher after +publisher, who unanimously declined them." The desolation of her spirit +can be more easily imagined than described. Conceive the situation of +the young girl, burning to earn a living by her pen, knowing that it was +within her to do so, yet unacquainted with a single literary or other +person; friendless, unknown, with an invalid mother, and terribly +insufficient means! And when, at last, she sold a story, called "Moors +and Fens," that beloved mother had passed away; and your eyes moisten as +the daughter mentions the touching and filial use to which her first +twenty pounds were applied. + +But Mrs. Riddell has something pleasant to say for those who declined +her MSS., and it must be related in her own words: "Looking back I +_must_ say, as a rule, they were all very kind to me. I was too ignorant +and heartsore to understand how gracious they were to my simplicity, +even more than to my youth. Yet I shall never forget how charming Mr. +George Bentley's manner seemed the first day I saw him. His father--the +kindest, most impulsive, most sympathetic of men--was alive then, and +for many a year afterwards; but it so happened that Mr. George Bentley +was the partner whom I saw, and," she adds smiling, and naively, "though +he, like everyone else, refused my work, still I left his office not +unhappy, but thinking much more about how courteous and nice he was +than of how entirely the wrong person in the wrong place I seemed to be. +Ere long, with some publishers I became quite on friendly terms, and I +have now known three generations of the Bentleys." + +After a short silence Mrs. Riddell resumes the subject, saying, "I must +name also Mr. Charles Skeet, of King William Street, who was good enough +to keep my mother supplied with books. Long as it is since he retired +from business, our friendship remained unbroken until his death. He was +most kind to me always. He published 'The Rich Husband,' 'Too Much +Alone,' 'The World and the Church,' and 'Alaric Spencer.'" + +"I could always, when the day was frightfully cold--and _what_ a winter +that was when I first came to London--turn into Mr. Newby's snug and +warm office in Welbeck Street, and have a talk with him and his 'woman +of business.' I am glad to mention her name--Miss Springett. She was a +lady, always kind, nice, and capable; she remained with him till her +death, I believe. Everyone was good to me in those days; but, indeed, I +have received, all my life through, an enormous amount of kindness, and +have not a word to say against a world which has treated me far better +than I deserved." + +A year after the death of her mother the young author married. Mr. +Riddell belonged to an old Staffordshire family, a branch of the Scotch +Riddells, of long descent and gentle blood. "Courageous and hopeful, +gifted with indomitable energy," says his widow, "endowed with +marvellous persistence and perseverance; modestly conscious of talents +which ought to have made their mark, he, when a mere lad, began his long +quest after fortune, one single favour from whom he was never destined +to receive." + +Gifted with much inventive genius, Mr. Riddell was also possessed of +considerable general knowledge, and was deeply versed in literature, +medicine, science, and mathematics. To him his wife turned for all the +information she needed in her novels; the chemistry in "Too Much Alone," +the engineering in "City and Suburb." He supplied all the business +details in "George Geith," and "The Race for Wealth"; while in +"Mortomley's Estate" Mrs. Riddell says she has "but told the simple +story of what, when in ill-health and broken in spirit, he had to +encounter before ruin, total and complete, overtook him." Too early in +youth overweighted with a heavy burden, under which a strong man might +have found it hard to stagger, she declares that, "in spite of harassing +trouble and continuous misfortune, their twenty-three years of married +life were happy as few lives are, simply by reason of his sweet, patient +temper, and his child-like faith." Suddenly and unexpectedly, the end +came, and the crowning sorrow of a much-tried life was laid upon the +devoted wife when death claimed her gifted husband. Over that grief a +veil must be drawn. Suffice it to say that it is a sorrow which will +ever be keen in her remembrance "Until the day break and the shadows +flee away." + +"I never remember the time," Mrs. Riddell says, "when I did not compose. +Before I was old enough to hold a pen I used to get my mother to write +down my childish ideas, and a friend remarked to me quite lately that +she distinctly remembers my being discouraged in the habit, as it was +feared I might be led into telling untruths. In my very early days I +read everything I could lay hands on, the Koran included, when about +eight years old. I thought it most interesting." + +Mrs. Riddell describes the way in which the situations and characters of +her books are often suggested. She observes everything almost +unconsciously; but if asked, directly after, her impressions, she could +scarcely describe them. Later on, perhaps, when between the border-land +of sleep and waking, scenes, words, people whom she has noticed seem to +be photographed on the brain; sentences form themselves, and in the +morning she is able to reproduce them at length. + +The intimate knowledge of the city possessed by this novelist is the +result of personal experience. Whilst on her once fruitless expeditions +to publishers she learnt every short cut, every alley and lane by heart. +Little as she relished these excursions at the time, they laid the +foundation for many a scene afterwards so faithfully depicted in "George +Geith," "City and Suburb" (in which most of the poetry was quoted from +the works of her young sister-in-law, a genius who died at the age of +nineteen), "Daisies and Buttercups," "The Struggle for Fame," "Mitre +Court," "My First Love, and My Last Love," "The Earl's Promise," and +also that entrancing book, "The Senior Partner," in which the old Scotch +merchant, M'Cullagh, "plain auld Rab," worthy but saving old gentleman, +is a distinct creation. "In all the old city churches and graveyards, +such, indeed, as are left," Mrs. Riddell says, sorrowfully, "you could +take no better guide than myself; but, alas! many of the old landmarks +are now pulled down to make room for the ever increasing business of the +great metropolis." + +"Austin Friars" described her first home after her marriage, when, +without much practical knowledge of business, she was greatly impressed +by the lives of business men. This old house is now a thing of the past, +and the Cannon Street railway runs over the place where it once stood. + +The author's latest work--a story of seaside life, and her twenty-ninth +novel--is called "Grays Point," and will be brought out in three volumes +in the coming year. She lately was invited to write an article for _The +Lady of the House_, a new journal which appeared in Dublin last year, +and this is the first time that she has ever written a line for an Irish +paper. Of her own books, Mrs. Riddell says that she prefers "The Mystery +in Palace Gardens" and "Too Much Alone." The latter she considers made +her name, though the first edition was only a short one, and but four +copies were sent out for review. "A Mad Tour, or A Journey Undertaken in +an Insane Moment through Central Europe on Foot," in one volume, is a +recent work, and describes accurately her own experiences in company +with a young friend. It gives a bright and amusing account of their +misadventures. + +Mrs. Riddell's latest published novel in three volumes, "The Head of the +Firm," fully bears out the high literary reputation of the author of +"George Geith." Carefully and conscientiously worked out, each +character is drawn with an unerring hand, and sustains its interest to +the final page, whilst here and there are not wanting those touches of +humour which have always distinguished her works. + +After a snug luncheon in the comfortable dining-room, in which, by the +way, unexpected little steps and deep cupboards seem to be built +promiscuously--as, indeed, they are throughout the cottage--your hostess +takes you round the garden, which is well worth seeing, mid-winter +though it be. She points out the great height of the holly hedge, and +laments that she has been obliged to have twelve feet cut off the top. +Notwithstanding, it is still twenty feet high. The japonica is the +admiration of passers-by in the early spring, being then covered with a +mass of scarlet flowers. The apricot tree is sadly in want of root +pruning, but, as she says, "I cannot persuade the old gardener to do it, +and as I am never equal to arguing, I let him take his own way." There +is an extraordinary plant which you have never seen before; its flowers +are green, and Mrs. Riddell says that she never saw one like it except +in her old home. The huge weeping ash, although now bereft of leaves, is +a great feature, and the high box borders divide large squares of +ground, wherein good old bushes of lavender, rue and lad's love grow +profusely. + +Your hostess points out the adjoining cottage, the home of her old +gardener, aged eighty, and remarks that another old man who preceded him +begged from a neighbour enough elm to make him a coffin. It was given to +him, and the hitherto unnecessary article made. He kept the gruesome +object for some time, but finding it took up too much room in his small +abode, he altered it into a cupboard. + +A turn round the last walk leads to the poultry-yard, which is a great +delight to Mrs. Riddell. She has several fine breeds of fowls and geese, +amongst which last are two handsome but noisy specimens from Japan. One +little peculiarity of interest must be noticed. The wall which supports +the granary steps is pierced by two holes for dog kennels, an +arrangement of great antiquity. + +Mrs. Riddell loves walking. The church she attends lies rather more than +two miles away towards Laleham, which place Arnold left with so much +regret, and where Matthew Arnold is buried. She speaks of Littleton in +the neighbourhood as being the village she described in "For Dick's +Sake," and says, laughing, "It has stood still for over two hundred +years. There is no resident rector or squire, or doctor, or lawyer, or +publican, or farrier, but it is a sweetly peaceful spot, and the woods +in primrose time are a sight to behold, whilst at Sunbury," she adds, +"to show you how little change may take place, in one hundred years +there have been only two vicars, and one of them is alive now!" + +But it is getting dark, and tea is ordered as a preparation for your +cold journey; whilst sipping it, she says that as you are so much +interested in her own early "struggle for fame," she will mention one +more anecdote _a propos_ of Mr. Newby, as it is amusing, and she relates +it thus: "In those early days he--Mr. Newby--was good enough to take a +book of mine. Of course he only knew me by my maiden name, because +after my mother's death Welbeck Street lay quite out of my way, and I +fear I ungratefully forgot the cheerful fire, and the talks about +authors, which were once so pleasant. + +"For this reason he knew nothing of my doings. The years came and the +years went, till after the crash came in our affairs; when I was looking +about me for every five-pound note I could get, I bethought me of this +and another old book, which I can never sufficiently regret +republishing. Well, I found I could sell both of them, and forthwith +repaired, after all that time, to Mr. Newby's, where nothing looked much +changed, and no one seemed much older, except myself, who had lived many +lives in the interval. + +"Of course both Mr. Newby and Miss Springett had a vague memory of me, +when I reminded the former that he had published 'Zuriel's Grandchild.' +What I wanted was a copy of the book. He feared he had not one, but +promised to ascertain. I can see them both now in that warm, comfortable +back room, into which, as a girl, I had often gone shivering. + +"He took a seat on one side of a large table, she on the other. I sat +facing Mr. Newby--a most anxious woman, yet amused. + +"'Have you,' he said delicately, 'gone on at all with literature?' + +"'Oh, yes,' I answered. + +"'Have you--published anything?' with great caution, so as not to hurt +my feelings. + +"'Several books,' I replied. + +"'Indeed!!!' _amazed_. 'Might I ask the names?'--tentatively. + +"'Well, amongst others, "George Geith."' + +"A dead silence ensued, during which I had the comfort of feeling that +they both felt sure I was saying what was not true. I sat quite quiet, +and so did they. If I had not been so burdened with care I must have +laughed out loud. As it happened, I comported myself, as I have often +done since, in many difficult and humorous positions, with decent +gravity, and then this came from Mr. Newby, the while the ribbons on +Miss Springett's cap were tremulous: + +"'_If_--you _really_ wrote "George Geith," _then_ indeed you have +achieved a success!'" + +And so you part; with loving tender sympathy. Though the morn of this +distinguished woman's life has been so clouded, the noon so stormy, the +noble, self-reliant spirit has battled through it bravely and patiently, +and you leave her with the inwardly-breathed prayer that "at evening +time there shall come light!" + + + + +[Illustration: L. B. Walford] + +MRS. L. B. WALFORD. + + +A thick fog obscures the whole of London. You grope your way through +Liverpool Street station with considerable risk, now colliding with a +truck full of luggage, anon canoning against an angry passenger. Not a +yard can be seen in advance, more by good luck than good guiding the +right train is somehow found, and, half an hour later, it is delightful +to find the enemy is left behind, and that there is once more cheerful +daylight. The sun at first looks like a sullen ball of fire, but +presently, shaking off, as it were, the heavy clouds, he begins to shine +out brightly, as, after a drive of something under a mile from the +station, the carriage turns into the old-fashioned lodge gates of +wrought iron on the left. A long road between two low wire fencings, +running nearly straight through the park, which is dotted about with +clumps of trees and spinneys, suddenly rounds into a wide space in front +of the house, and breaks off into one of those quaint old rights-of-way +which are so common in this part of Essex. + +Cranbrooke Hall is a substantial red-brick, many-windowed building, +dating nearly two centuries back, but it has been greatly added to +and improved during recent years. The lofty, spacious entrance-hall, +laid down with parquet, branches out into five reception rooms, opening +one into another, all facing south, and overlooking some +seven-hundred-and-fifty feet of lawn, bordered by a lake formed of +clear, running water, the overflow of a spring which is a +hundred-and-fifty feet deep, and has never yet been known to run dry. +This is, in its turn, bounded by a shrubbery, which leads round to one +of the principal features of the Cranbrooke Gardens, the "Lovers' Walk," +an ivy colonnade, carpeted with thick, soft moss. + +Passing through the ante-room, a door opens on the left, and the picture +which presents itself to the eye is a thoroughly domestic one. A huge +fire, heaped with acacia logs, blazes brightly in the low deep grate, +flanked with brass dogs; tall standard lamps shed a soft light over a +merry family group; a silver urn stands on the cosy five o'clock tea +table, where a young, fair girl presides. A few guests are present, and +two younger daughters of the house are flitting in and out with plates +of Scotch scones, cakes, and muffins. The three nursery little ones have +come down to say good-night; the youngest, a fair-haired, blue-eyed +little maiden of four years, is nestling on her mother's lap. Rising +from amidst them, Mrs. Walford comes forward to welcome you. She wears a +pretty steel-blue tea-gown, richly embroidered in silks by her own hand; +for your hostess loves needlework, and looks on it as a great resource +for a weary brain. She has a clear, fair complexion, dark brown hair, +and laughing grey-blue eyes; and the bright, sunny smile, which in +childhood gained for her the pet name of "the laughing girl," lights up +her expressive countenance, and just reveals two rows of white, even +teeth. She gives you the impression of being a thoroughly happy, +contented, and sweet-tempered woman, and her subsequent conversation +assures you that your judgment has been correct. + +Mrs. Walford is of Scottish birth. Her father was the second son of Sir +James Colquhoun, the tenth Baronet of Luss, to whom Burke wrote on one +occasion that he was "_the_ Baronet of Scotland, just as Sir William +Watkin Wynn was _the_ Baronet of Wales." For seven hundred years the +Colquhouns of Luss have held the same lands, and, unlike those of many +other ancient families, they are still in as flourishing, or, rather, +more flourishing condition, than they have ever been. The Sir James +Colquhoun who--with four of his keepers and a ghillie boy--was drowned +in Loch Lomond, nearly seventeen years ago, was a widower with an only +son, the present baronet. Mrs. Walford's mother was the daughter of Mr. +Fuller-Maitland of Stanstead, Essex. + +Whilst the other visitors are leaving, the opportunity arises of +examining the room more minutely. The polished oak floor is covered here +and there with Persian carpets; near the door is a lovely Dutch +marqueterie bureau, a husband's gift to a busy wife, and at which most +of her well-known novels were written. Mrs. Walford says they +"furnished their home as a jackdaw does his nest, stick by stick. From +many an old farm-house and wayside inn they collected piece after piece, +handsome old oak cabinets, chests and chairs, scarcely a single article +having passed through the dealers' hands," indeed, you shrewdly suspect +that the large carved settle whereon you are seated has been part of +some despoiled church or sacred edifice. + +On a table yonder stands a miniature set of china under glass, "Jane +Eyre's own doll's tea service," by which Mrs. Walford sets great store, +as she became possessed of it when visiting the house of Charlotte +Bronte. The dainty, antique spinning-wheel known as "Lady Helen's wheel" +(it belonged to an ancient dame of the Colquhoun family) is so old that +the woodwork has begun to crumble away; but a more modern specimen +opposite, covered with a cloud of flax, is often used by your hostess's +own nimble fingers. The relic she treasures above all, however, is a +gold "mazer," inherited by Mr. Walford through a long line of ancestors. +This is a real curiosity, there being but few of these "mazers" now left +in England. The little "silver table" holds many a prized bit of old +Highland silver, including one which was picked up on the field of +Bannockburn. Big bowls of Oriental china are filled with _pot-pourri_, +which gives out a delicious fragrance. This, Mrs. Walford adds to afresh +every year from an old recipe. Her children laughingly declare that +"whenever they go out to gather flowers for the tables, mother, with a +pair of scissors in hand, has snipped off all the finest roses and +quietly slipped them into her pocket." + +Mrs. Walford has inherited her literary tastes. Her father's well-known +book, "The Moor and the Loch," now in its eighth edition, and full of +spirited engravings, is considered as a classic amongst sportsmen; and +who has not read and laughed over, in by-gone days, "Holiday House," and +other delightful stories, by her grand-aunt, Catherine Sinclair, +daughter of Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, himself one of the most +distinguished men of his day? In spite of Catherine Sinclair and her +sister being authors (the latter was known as the "good" Lady Colquhoun, +and the writer of many religious books for the Scottish poor), so little +was literary reputation then thought of by some members of the family +that, when Sir Walter Scott appeared at Rossdhu to take notes for "Rob +Roy," he was shown round _by the butler_, and never forgave the affront. +In consequence he never mentioned the Colquhouns in that great romance +or in the "Lady of the Lake." + +Speaking of Rossdhu, you tell your hostess that you have been taken over +those ancestral halls and round the great picture galleries, and had +noticed with much surprise that there was no portrait of her to be seen. +This omission may however some day be repaired. + +Mrs. Walford remarks that it was not until after her marriage that she +took seriously to novel writing. Whilst yet in her teens she was wont to +steal out into the shrubbery with paper and pencil and write short +stories, one of which was called "Macgregor, our Chieftain," but as she +burnt these early effusions as fast as they were written, nothing +remains of Macgregor's adventures. In 1872 delicacy of health prevented +her pursuing the active out-of-door life which she had always enjoyed; +so, as the necessity arose for finding vent for her energy, the young +author spent a long period of bodily rest in mental activity, its first +fruits being "Mr. Smith: A part of his Life." This character was drawn +from life; even the name was the same, and he was found dead as +described in the book. She sent the MS. anonymously to Mr. John +Blackwood, the late distinguished editor of _Blackwood_, who--much +struck with its promise--at once accepted and published it. + +Brought up from her childhood in the stately homes of her own people, +now in Scotland, now in England, and reared in the atmosphere of healthy +country life, Mrs. Walford has been enabled to write with the frankness +and accuracy which make her books so thoroughly characteristic and +enjoyable. + +_A propos_ of "Mr. Smith," an amusing anecdote is told. The Queen had +had the story read to her twice, and, being much interested in it, +expressed a wish to see the author. She was presented on her marriage by +the Duchess of Roxburghe, who on the occasion happened to take the place +of the Mistress of the Robes, absent from indisposition. It is said that +as the young novelist made her curtsey before the Royal presence, the +Duchess softly breathed into Her Majesty's ear the words, "Mr. Smith." + +A series of short stories soon followed this first success and appeared +in _Blackwood_, beginning with "Nan, a Summer Scene," and under this +name they have since been collected and published in one volume. +"Pauline" next ran through the same magazine as a serial; "Cousins" was +written in 1879; "Troublesome Daughters" followed in the ensuing year. +"The Baby's Grandmother," which is perhaps the most popular of all, was +written in 1885. Then came "A Stiff-necked Generation," "A Mere Child," +"A Sage of Sixteen," "The Havoc of a Smile" "The Mischief of Monies." +The latter book is more on the lines of "Mr. Smith" than any of Mrs. +Walford's recent works of fiction, and proved a great success in +_Longman's Magazine_. Then came "A Pinch of Experience," and later on, +she wrote a series of Biographical studies on "Famous Authoresses of +Bygone Days," for _Far and Near_, an American Magazine. This is coming +out as a Christmas gift or prize book. A little volume of Christmas +Tales illustrated by T. Pym (Mrs. Levett) is shortly to appear, and will +be called "For Grown-up Children," being stories _about_ children _for_ +grown-up people. Besides this, she is a constant contributor to the _St. +James's Gazette_. She also writes a weekly letter for the American +_Critic_ on literary subjects; one called an "Epidemic of Smartness" +made a special sensation; and she has, in addition, stories in two +Christmas numbers, _The Queen_ and _Atalanta_. + +One great aim of this author has ever been to make herself thoroughly +acquainted with all the details of her subject. So particular is she to +ensure absolute accuracy, that every item of military life is submitted +to one or other of her soldier brothers (two of these were respectively +in the 4th Dragoon Guards and the 42nd Black Watch), and every detail of +sport to her father; indeed, so well up was she in the latter, that a +reviewer of "Mr. Smith"--when the sex of the author was yet +unknown--caustically observed, that the writer was "more up in woodcock +shooting than in religion!" the young author not having yet learnt to +verify a quotation, even from Holy Writ. + +An ardent lover of the old Scottish kirk, Mrs. Walford says that she +"would go any distance to hear a good, long sermon from some of its +divines." She is an indefatigable walker, and has traversed on foot +twenty-three miles, from Arrochar to Inveraray--"from milestone to +milestone" she is careful to add, knowing what Scotch and Welsh miles +are supposed to be. She is extremely fond of poetry, and has a good +collection of her chief favourites, whilst she keeps habitually on her +own table copies of Tennyson, Jean Ingelow, and Coventry Patmore's work. + +In earlier days your hostess gave much of her time to water-colour +drawing, but her children have claimed for the decoration of their +schoolroom all her pictures, the majority of which, they proudly remark, +were "exhibited and hung on the line in the R.A. of Edinburgh." Mrs. +Walford is just saying that she was married at St. John's, Edinburgh, +when the door opens and in comes the bridegroom on that occasion. He is +a native of another part of Essex, in which county his forefathers have +held lands for several centuries, his grandfather having been High +Sheriff in the famous "Waterloo year." He is a magistrate for the part +in which he now lives, and, amidst the claims of a busy life, he finds +time to sit on the bench perhaps oftener than do many of his less +occupied colleagues. Looking at the noble, genial face, you secretly +wonder if he can ever find it in his heart to pass severe sentences on +offenders. He is extremely popular, has made a distinct mark for himself +in his own circle, and it is his wife's pride to recognise that he will +never be known as "Mrs. Walford's husband." + +An hour later you are taken into the dining-room, through the ante-room, +in the latter, a table near the great bay windows is filled with all the +newest books and magazines; these are regularly changed and brought up +to date by Mrs. Walford, and are a constant source of attraction to +visitors. On your left at dinner sits your host's elder son, +"Desborough," a fine manly young fellow, just of age; he is full of +intelligence, and possesses great powers of observation. He is +delightfully entertaining throughout the meal, and asking him about the +pictures, which literally cover the walls, he explains that they are a +complete collection of Boydell's fine old Shakespearian engravings, and, +he adds modestly, these, and all the many etchings and pictures in the +house, were framed by his father. + +It is quite apparent in this happy home that there is perfect love and +sympathy between the parents and the children. The children are as proud +of their good, distinguished-looking father as they are of their pretty, +gifted mother; the elder ones are keenly interested in her books, and +look out eagerly for the new copies, each confiscating one for his or +her own room. Mr. and Mrs. Walford have ever been in touch with each +individual member of their family. The children have never been put +aside for her work, and they are constantly with their mother. They have +all inherited her talent for drawing, and many of them bid fair to be no +mean proficients in the art. + +On the following morning your hostess announces that she has "given +herself a holiday," and she proposes to take you out for a turn. The +season is late and, though within but a very few weeks of Christmas, the +sun is shining brightly over the grounds and the air is pleasantly warm. +What was once said of a famous lawn at Oxford may well be applied to +Cranbrooke Hall. A stranger inquired of a solemn old gardener what was +done to keep it so fine and smooth? "Well, sir," was the reply, with the +utmost gravity and good faith, "first we sows the seed, and then we +rolls it and we mows it for three hundred years." Skating will soon be +largely indulged in on the glittering lake, and many merry moonlight +parties are looked forward to during the coming severe weather, which is +predicted by the great holly trees covered with red berries. After a +stroll round the pleasant demesne, and a peep into the vineries, in +which is the old black Hamburg vine, sister of the famous one at Hampton +Court, you return through the billiard-room into the Camellia house, +which, a little later on will be a mass of bloom, sometimes as many as +two thousand being in flower at a time, in every variety of colour. + +The billiard table is decorated at the sides with groops of +hand-painted flowers, exquisitely designed, and the cues are arranged in +a round oak niche, which you feel sure once contained the image of a +saint in some old cathedral. Just above the seat backs, and extending +all round the room, is a perfect picture gallery of friends' +photographs, placed closely side by side, and above these there is a +wealth of engravings and etchings which would take days to examine. + +Mrs. Walford has had three old-fashioned predecessors in the paths of +literature in her own neighbourhood, namely, Thomas Day, who, exactly a +hundred years ago, wrote "Sandford and Merton," at the little village of +Aybridge, within half a dozen miles of Cranbrooke; Anne and Jane Taylor, +whose "Original Poems" were, according to Sir Walter Scott, "known to +four continents." + +Before leaving, you ask to see your hostess's own special portrait +gallery of her seven children. First comes "Desborough," then the eldest +daughter, in her _debutante's_ drawing-room dress of last season; next, +two young girls yet in the schoolroom, + + Standing with reluctant feet + Where the brook and river meet, + +and then the three "nursery" children, one of whom is taken in her +mother's arms. Lastly, you are shown a faded portrait of the famous +author herself, taken at the age of fourteen, and called "A +Yellow-haired Lassie," and, in the bright, radiant smile, you recognise +the appropriateness of her childish cognomen of "The Laughing Girl." + + + + +[Illustration: Rhoda Broughton] + +RHODA BROUGHTON. + + +The ancient and historic village of Richmond is too well known to need +much description. It is thronged with kingly memories. Entering the old +park by Kew Bridge, you drive past the large and beautiful Royal +Gardens, extending along the banks of the Thames to Richmond, which were +cultivated under the immediate superintendence of King George III. The +old manor garden became Crown property in the reign of Edward I., when +it was known as Shene, and was converted into a palace by Edward III.; +but, being destroyed by fire in 1498, it was rebuilt with great +splendour by Henry VII., who changed the name to Richmond, after his +title of Earl of Richmond, ere he ascended the throne. Here was Philip +I. of Spain right regally entertained. Here was the Princess Elizabeth +shut up by her sister Mary, and here occasionally resided Charles I. On +the right stands the Observatory, built by Sir William Chambers two +centuries ago. When the road turns into the New Park south of Richmond, +the coachman points out the massive brick wall encompassing the eight +miles of its circumference, and remarks that in the reign of George II. +an attempt was made to exclude the public, which was frustrated however +by an enterprising inhabitant, who, pluckily going to law, recovered +the right of way, and thus secured the everlasting gratitude of later +generations. + +It is for this picturesque and attractive place Miss Rhoda Broughton has +deserted her quiet little home at Oxford, where she had lived for twelve +years. On the high ground overlooking the Terrace Gardens, she and her +sister, Mrs. Newcome, have established themselves in the quiet and peace +they both love, in a comfortable house, standing back from the road, +which commands an extensive view of the river, winding serpent-like +through a forest of trees. Ushered upstairs into the drawing-room, where +the author receives you with much cordiality, the first thing which +strikes you is the sweet rich voice in which her welcome is uttered. +Standing facing the setting sun, with its golden light reflected on her, +you observe that she is above the middle height, and graceful in figure; +the hair, rolled back from the low broad strong-looking forehead, is +becomingly tinged with grey over the right temple, harmonizing well with +the darker shades on the neat, well-shaped head. The mouth and chin +indicate firmness and resolution. In repose, the expression might almost +be called sad, but as she speaks, the frankness in the grey eyes, set +well apart, at once dispels the idea, and the pleasant musical laugh +betrays the vein of fun and wit--entirely of an original kind--which +runs through her books. She is dressed in some fabric of dark green, +with velvet sleeves and bodice; the latter relieved at the upper part +with a paler shade of embroidered vest. The windows open on to a broad +trellised verandah, which runs the whole length of the house; and, +stepping out to it, Miss Broughton bids you look at the exquisite view. +It is a lovely day in latest autumn, the trees, turned to every shade of +gold, copper, and brown, are shedding their leaves profusely. The +sinking sun is leaving the sky deeply tinged with waves of pink and +purple, and the river looks like a silver stream, with here and there a +tinge of reflected colour, unbroken by a single boat. The air is pure +and still, with a faint suspicion of a coming frost. For a few moments +you both stand in rapt silence admiring the beautiful prospect, yet +sighing to think that the winter is so near at hand; then your hostess +leads the way back into the drawing-room, where tea is served, and as +you settle comfortably in a luxurious couch covered with tapestry of the +first Empire, and sip the fragrant beverage out of a cup of old Spode, +the eye travels round the quiet restful room, and notices the many +little knick-knacks that fill it. + +On the right stands an antique writing table, with pigeon-hole drawers, +and old blue china grouped over the top. The two ancient oak cabinets +are covered with pretty "bits"; growing in a cunningly-concealed basket +is an immense pyramid of ferns and palms, which are Miss Broughton's +particular delight. On the little plush-covered table by the side of a +delicately wrought iron Italian stand--whereof the copper bowl is filled +with autumnal flowers--lies a business-like work-bag, filled to +overflowing, which gives a home-like look to the room and indicates that +it is useful as well as ornamental. On asking Miss Broughton for a peep +into her sanctuary, she smiles indulgently, and begs you to descend. The +white-painted fresh-looking staircase is partially covered with Persian +carpet of warm colour, and, throughout, the dado is composed of Indian +matting, above which hang many engravings and photographs. The large +black-and-white lozenge-shape tiles give the hall an indescribably +bright appearance, which here and there the long Indian rugs subdue, yet +throw up into relief. You enter the room sacred to the gifted authoress, +and look round. Where are the manuscripts, the "copy," the "proofs," +which might reasonably have been expected? There is no indication of her +work on the old oak knee-hole writing-table beyond a single blank sheet +of paper reposing on a large wooden portfolio, exquisitely painted on +both sides by her friend Mrs. Andrew Spottiswoode at Dresden. A solitary +penholder lies on a china inkstand, flanked by a pair of large green +jars from Hyeres. She half guesses your look of interrogation, and +remarks that she is "resting" awhile, now that her latest book "Alas!" +is published, before launching another, entitled "Mrs. Bligh." _Elle +recule pour mieux sauter_, but at the present moment, as she kindly +causes it to be understood that no encroachment is being made on her +valuable time, you do not hesitate to ask for some details of her +literary life. + +Rhoda Broughton was born at Segrwyd Hall, Denbighshire. Her father was a +clergyman, and held the family living in Cheshire, where her childish +days were passed, varied by visits to her grandfather, Sir Henry +Broughton, at Broughton Hall, Staffordshire. Her father was a student, +and himself grounded her in Shakespeare and the English classics, and +imparted also the rudiments of Latin and Greek. She was brought up +strictly, and the hours of study were long, but made interesting by her +scholarly instructor. Asking Miss Broughton if her father had been an +author, she replies, "only of his sermons, and I do not believe any of +my relations wrote a line in their lives." It is a surprise to hear that +her great gifts, her originality of style, her wonderful descriptions of +scenery, her subtle humour, are not hereditary. Keenly interested, you +ask her how then the idea of writing occurred to her. + +She says she remembers a certain wet Sunday afternoon when she was about +twenty-two; she was distinctly bored by a stupid book which she was +trying to read, when "the spirit moved her to write." It was on the +leaves of an old copy-book lying at hand that she delivered her soul of +the ideas which poured in on her brain. Day after day, night after +night, she wrote swiftly and in secret, until at the end of six weeks +she found a vast heap of manuscript accumulated, to which she gave the +title of "Not Wisely, but Too Well." Miss Broughton kept it by her until +January, 1865, when she crossed over to Ireland on a visit to her +uncle-in-law, Mr. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, then editor of the _Dublin +University Magazine_; she selected two chapters at random and read them +aloud to him. He at once prognosticated the success of the book; +accepted it as a serial, and later on, suggested to Mr. Bentley that he +should bring it out in three volume form. Here, however, a check +occurred. The reader pronounced so unfavourably of its merits, that Mr. +Bentley held off. But the inspiration, once set in motion, could not be +stopped, and soon found vent in a new work, "Cometh up as a Flower." +This was well received. A couple of columns of favourable criticism in +the _Times_, and various eulogistic notices in other papers, soon caused +it to become such a marked success that Mr. Bentley reconsidered the +matter. His deliberation happily ended in the purchase of "Not Wisely, +but Too Well" from Tinsley, so that the two books were actually brought +out in the same year. The home of Miss Broughton's ancestors, Broughton +Hall, built in the reign of one of the old Tudors, is so well depicted +in "Cometh up as a Flower," that none who have read the book and seen +the place can fail to observe the absolute truthfulness of the +description. + +_A propos_ of this novel, Miss Broughton tells an amusing anecdote:--"It +was claimed by other people," she says; "a lady told an acquaintance of +mine that her son had written it, which diverted me much." + +The fame of these books went far afield. Some years ago a graceful +tribute was paid to the author. Captain Markham, of H.M. ship _Alert_, +begged to be introduced, and told her that in a remote Arctic region +they had by common consent christened an icebound mountain, "Mount +Rhoda," in grateful acknowledgment of the pleasure which her books had +given the officers of the ship on their perilous voyage. + +"Temple Bar" secured her next two novels, "Red as a Rose is she" and +"Goodbye, Sweetheart." About once in two years Miss Broughton delights +the world with a new book. "Nancy," "Twilight Stories," "Joan," "Second +Thoughts," "Dr. Cupid," "Belinda," followed at about these intervals, +but her latest work, "Alas!" must take a high stand, if only for her +faithful delineation of life in Florence, her intimate knowledge of all +things artistic, her scenes laid in Algeria, which place she visited +last year, and her vivid and graphic descriptions of those lovely +countries, which are an education in themselves. And the humorous +touches! How much everyone sympathises with the meek, but excellent +"Amelia," whom no one thoroughly appreciates until after her death. +Uneducated in art, she appeals pitifully in the following words to her +lover, who finds out her worth too late. + +"And now, where shall we go? that is the next thing--not to any gallery +or church, I think, if you don't mind. I say such stupid things about +art, and the more I try the stupider they are; let us go somewhere into +the country. I can understand the country, I am not afraid of saying +stupid things about it." + +You tell her later of an observation made to you quite lately by her +sister author, Miss Braddon, ever keenly appreciative of the gifts of +another, on reading a striking description in "Alas" of the sea after a +storm, which runs thus:--"A sea even more wonderful than radiant; no +servile copy of the sky and clouds to-day, but with astonishing colours +of its own; a faint yet glorious green for a part of its watery +breadth; then what our poverty compels us to call blue; and then a great +tablecloth of inky purple, which looks so solid, that the tiny white +boats which are crossing it seem to be sailing on dry land." Miss +Braddon remarked, "Rhoda Broughton is a genius and a prose poet." Your +hostess is charmed with the kindly speech. + +No solitary copy can be seen, in the well-filled book-cases, of the +author's works. She says that she sells them out and out at once, and +then has "done with them"; but, "Come," she adds, "we have talked long +enough about my books; let me show you a few of my treasures," and she +points out a small sketch by Hamilton Aide, two busts of Lord Wolseley +and Mr. Carlyle, presented to her by Sir Edgar Boehm; presentation +copies from Matthew Arnold, Lord Lytton, Henry James, Andrew Lang, etc., +etc., and an ornamental plate rack, by which she sets great store, from +Adelaide Kemble (Mrs. Sartoris); a very ancient engraving of Titian's +"Danae" hangs over the mantelpiece opposite three lovely photographs of +"Garrick between Tragedy and Comedy." The floor of this delightful room +is covered with peacock-blue felt and a few rugs of Eastern manufacture; +a small aviary of birds stands by the window, which is open, for your +hostess is a "great believer in plenty of fresh air and a good fire." +Ere taking leave, you ask if the two fine pugs basking on the rugs are +especial pets. "Yes," says Miss Broughton, "but," mournfully, "they are +a degenerate race; and not the dear dog heroes of my books. _They_ are +all dead and gone!" + + + + +[Illustration: H. E. V. Stannard] + +MRS. ARTHUR STANNARD + +("JOHN STRANGE WINTER"). + + +Emerging from the Earl's Court Station, where once stood the old manor +house of the De Veres, and glancing at the noble row of buildings across +the road, which until quite lately was the site of a _maison de sante_, +it seems impossible to realise that it was at the end of the last +century a miniature private zoological garden. Yet here the great +anatomist and surgeon, John Hunter, kept a collection of rare and +foreign animals; here, too, was the kitchen and the great cauldron in +which he performed the gruesome operation of boiling down the giant +O'Brien, whose skeleton can be seen in the museum of the College of +Surgeons. It is to be hoped that the ghost of the big Irishman was +safely laid when the work of destruction was carried on! Turning to the +left, you go down Trebovir road, past the great red-stepped house of the +well-known and successful "crammer" and army coach, Captain Pinhey, +which leads out into Nevern square. Perhaps in nothing more than in the +present style of building does the growing artistic spirit of the day +assert itself. Although the houses are not erected with the solid +masonry of other days, which seemed to defy the hand of time, they +rejoice in more picturesque effects, and certainly the handsome, +spacious Nevern-square, with its large gardens, its three well-kept +tennis courts, and its fine red-brick dwellings, is a striking instance +of the fact. It is barely a decade and a half of years since this site +was occupied by large nursery gardens, through which a winding country +lane lead to St. Mathias' Church yonder; now it is surrounded by stately +mansions, broad roads, and pleasant gardens. On the south-side a ruddy +gleam of fire-light through the red window-blinds marks the residence of +the popular author, John Strange Winter. Passing through the outer and +inner entrance doors, with mounted antlers, and Swiss carvings hung +between them, you reach the long, narrow hall, where the tesselated +black-and-white paving is covered for the most part with heavy Wilton +carpets; the rich, deep-red walls are profusely decorated with quaint +old prints, whose sombreness is relieved by Nankin and Spode china. A +later inspection shows these to include some choice engravings by +Morland, a few miniatures, and a group of family silhouettes. ("Had we +any more black relations?" Mrs. Stannard, when a child, once asked her +mother on being told which members of her family they portrayed.) + +Entering the dining-room on the right, your hostess is discovered, +deeply engaged in dressing dolls for an approaching juvenile festivity, +when each little guest is to receive some gift. Clouds of filmy muslin, +embroidery, lace, and silk lie before her, and several of those already +attired repose in a row on the sofa. She extends a firm, white hand in +cordial greeting, and as there is only one more doll to complete the +set, you settle down beside her to watch the process, and notice the +deft and nimble fingers, as they swiftly run up a flounce or adjust a +tiny trimming. She is dressed in a black and grey tea-gown, which looks +like fine tapestry, with grey satin sleeves, panels, and front. + +Mrs. Arthur Stannard is a tall, handsome young woman. She has fine, dark +brown eyes, which sparkle with intellect and humour, level eyebrows, and +dark hair curling over her low forehead, and well-shaped head; she has a +pretty but firm little mouth, and clear-cut chin, indicative of strength +of will. Her face has settled somewhat into gravity as she pursues her +occupation, for she has put into this apparently trivial matter, just as +she does in greater things, her very best efforts with that thoroughness +which characterises her; but as she suddenly looks up, and catches you +intently watching her, she smiles a sweet, bright smile, and laughs a +low, rippling laugh, as she seems to guess exactly what are your +thoughts. "It is for the children," she says softly, and in those few +words she betrays at once the sympathy of her nature, that sympathy with +these little ones which has caused the children of her pen to live so +vividly in the hearts of her readers. + +It is a large, lofty room, pale green in colour, with carved oak dado. A +bright, clear fire blazing in the wide, tiled hearth makes the heavy, +polished brass fender and "dogs" glisten like gold. On the high, black, +carved "chimney shelf," as Mrs. Stannard calls it, stand three valuable +old blue jars, and the low, broad overmantel is composed of genuine +Dutch tiles, three hundred years in age, framed in wood. Over this is +grouped a collection of ancient blue Delft; the walls are hung with a +few good proof engravings; at night the room is amply lighted by the +huge hanging, crimson-shaded lamp, which casts a soft, becoming glow +over every corner; the floor is covered with a thick Axminster carpet of +subdued colouring, and with the exception of a handsome old carved oak +dower-chest and grandfather clock, with loud and sonorous strike, which +both date back into the last century, the rest of the furniture is +mahogany; pieces picked up here and there, restored, modernised, and +chosen with an eye to effect as well as to comfort. + +Mrs. Stannard is the only daughter of the late Rev. Henry Vaughan +Palmer, rector of St. Margaret's, York. For some time Mr. Palmer had +been an officer in the Royal Artillery before his convictions led him to +lay down his sword and enter the church militant; he had come of several +generations of soldiers, and to the last day of his life found his +greatest pleasure in the society of military men; this perhaps accounts +for Mrs. Stannard's almost instinctive knowledge of army men and army +ways. Asking her if, when a child, she loved books, and gave promise of +her brilliant gift, she says, smiling, "Well, as regards my lessons, +most emphatically no! I was a restless, impatient sort of child, who +tired of everything before it was half done. I think, like all very +enthusiastic people, that I was never as happy as with books, that is to +say, novels. I was just eleven when I went to my first school, but I had +read Thackeray, Dickens, Charles Reade, and Whyte Melville up to date, +besides many others, and I was never restricted in my reading; I never +remember in my life my father or mother telling me not to read any +particular book, and," speaking very impressively, "I am all the better +for it. Years afterwards, when my father died--I was twenty-one then--I +felt that the few stories I had written and sold up to that time, were +but child's play. Then I began to work in real earnest, studying certain +authors that I might clearly realise the difference of their method and +style." But the thought at once arises, that the touching and simple +pathos of her style is entirely original, and born of no earthly model. + +And then, as ofttime happens when two women are sitting together in +friendly converse, a word is dropped about her married life. Ah! here, +though much could be said, in deference to your hostess's wishes the pen +must be stayed. All who know Mr. and Mrs. Stannard know how complete and +perfect is their union. Mr. Stannard is a civil engineer, and at one +time served under the late General Gordon. He is very pardonably proud +of his clever wife, and efficiently transacts all her business +arrangements, the two--so perfect an one--working, as it were, hand in +hand. + +Her _nom de guerre_, "John Strange Winter," was adopted by the advice of +the publishers of her first books, because they thought it wiser that +works so military as "Cavalry Life" and "Regimental Legends" should be +assumed by the world to be written by a man, and that they would stand a +better chance of mercy at the hands of the critics than if they went +forth as the acknowledged writing of a woman, and for a time it was so +assumed; but when "Booties' Baby" made such a success, and people wanted +to know who the author was, and where he lived, it soon became known +that "he" was a woman, although, as she did not add her name to the +title-page, it was a good while before it was generally believed. It may +here be remarked that Mrs. Stannard holds very strongly the opinion that +there should be "no sex in art," and whilst never desiring to conceal +her identity, deprecates the idea of receiving indulgence or blame on +the ground of her work being that of a woman, as both unjust and absurd. +In private life she carries out her ideas on this point so effectually +that few acquaintances would gather from her conversation (unless it +were necessary to "talk shop") that she was a literary woman at all, as, +except to a fellow worker, she would rather talk on any subject under +the sun than literature. + +"The author to whom," according to Ruskin, "we owe the most finished and +faithful rendering ever yet given of the character of the British +soldier" can portray, too, in a wonderful degree the beauty of +child-life. Of modern creations there can be none better known to the +public, or which have excited more sympathy, than "Mignon" and +"Houp-la." + +Correct in detail, as those can prove who were in India at the time of +the terrible mutiny of 1857, she might have written "A Siege Baby" on +the spot had it not been that she was only born on the thirteenth of +January in the previous year, and at that time was an infant in arms. +Fertile in imagination, acute in observation, sprightly and wholesome in +style, there is a freshness and life in her books which charm alike old +and young, rich and poor, at home and abroad; and that her popularity is +fully maintained is testified by the gratifying fact that a late story, +"He went for a Soldier," one of the slightest of her efforts, had a +larger sale during the first month after publication than any previous +work from her pen in the same period. One practical result of this book +must be mentioned. The scene is laid at Doverscourt, a few miles from +Mr. and Mrs. Stannard's pretty summer home at Wix. She had been greatly +distressed, when visiting that seaside place, by the sight of the +overloaded hackney-carriages, with their poor, broken-down horses. +Immediately after her indignant comments on this fact in her story, +bye-laws were passed bringing these vehicles under effective police +supervision. + +Besides those already named, amongst some two or three and twenty +novels, which are all so well known as not to need description--for are +they not to be found in every library and on every railway bookstall in +the United Kingdom?--"Beautiful Jim," "Harvest," "Dinna Forget," and a +most pathetic story called "My Poor Dick," remain fixed on the memory. +This last is perhaps the author's own favourite. "Booties' Baby," as all +the play-going world knows, was dramatised and brought out four years +ago at the Globe Theatre in London. It has been on tour ever since, and +there seems no intention of terminating its long run, dates having been +booked far into the year. A late story, entitled "The Other Man's Wife," +has been running in a serial in various newspapers, and is now issued +in two-volume form. One great element in the author's success and +world-wide literary reputation is undoubtedly to be found in her +creations of the children of her military heroes, alike among the +officers' quarters and those "on the strength." She has the happy knack +of depicting them at once simple, natural, and lovable. + +"I never begin a novel," says Mrs. Stannard, "until I have got a certain +scene in my mind. I cannot write any kind of story without having one +dramatic scene clearly before me; when I have got it, I work up to that; +then the story arranges itself. But this is only the germ, the first +conception of the tale. As I write one thread after another spins itself +out, to be taken up afterwards to form a consecutive, concise whole. +Sometimes I lose my original story altogether, but never any dramatic +situation towards which I am working, and the end is often quite +different to what I had intended. When this happens I very seldom try to +fight against fate. I think all stories ought more or less to write +themselves, and it seems to me that this must make a tale more like real +life than if it were all carefully mapped out beforehand, and then +simply padded up to some requisite length." + +By this time the last doll is finished and added to the row on the sofa. +They all look as if they had been turned out of a first-class milliners' +establishment. Mrs. Stannard suggests a move to her study, and leads the +way up the wide staircase, the handrail of which is protected by a broad +and heavy brass guard, put there for the sake of the little children of +the house. A broad settee on the wide conservatory landing invites you +to rest awhile and look at all the odds and ends which your hostess says +are so precious to her. Here are two handsome Chippendale chairs picked +up in Essex, many photographs of the house at Wix, a dozen pieces of +Lancashire Delph porcelain, made specially as a wedding present for Mrs. +Stannard's grandmother in 1810, some Staffordshire hunting jugs, and +some quaint little figures, "all rubbish," she says, smiling, "but +precious to me." There is, however, a Spode dinner service in blue which +is emphatically not rubbish, and a set of Oriental dishes, blue and red, +which are very effective. The landing is richly carpeted; the windows +and the doors of the conservatory are all of stained glass, while above +hangs an old Empire lamp of beautiful design filled in with small +cathedral glass. The first door on the left leads into the author's +study. It is a charming room, small but lofty, with pale blue walls hung +with many little pictures, plates, old looking-glasses, and chenille +curtains of terra-cotta and pale blue softly blended. A pretty inlaid +bookcase stands opposite the window, filled with a few well-selected +books. The horseshoe hanging yonder was cast in the Balaclava charge. +She has indeed a goodly collection of these, and owns to a weakness to +them, declaring that her first great success was achieved on the day +that she picked one up at Harrogate. There must be many hundreds of +photographs scattered about in this room, and it would be a day's +occupation to look through them all; but each has its own interest for +her, and most of them are of people well known in the literary, +scientific, artistic, and fashionable world. "I never sit here," she +says. "It is my work-room, pure and simple. Sometimes my husband comes +up, and then I read to him all my newly-written stuff, but this I do +every day." + +The next door opens into the drawing-room, where there is a rich harmony +in the details of the decoration and furniture, which suggests the +presence of good and cultivated taste, combined with a general sense of +luxury and comfort. The entire colouring is blended, from old gold to +terra-cotta, from Indian red to golden brown. On the left stands a +cabinet crowded with choicest bits of china, in the middle of which is +placed the bouquet, carefully preserved, presented to the author by Mr. +Ruskin on her birthday. A lovely Dutch marqueterie table contains a +goodly collection of antique silver, and among the pictures on the walls +are a painting by Lawrence Phillips, Batley's etching of Irving and +Ellen Terry, also one of Mrs. Stannard, and a series of all the original +and clever pen-and-ink sketches in "Bootles' Children," by Bernard +Partridge, drawn as illustrations to the story in the _Lady's +Pictorial_. + +After lingering long over afternoon tea, you express a wish to see the +children before they sleep. Mrs. Stannard leads the way first to a room +next her own, which is occupied by a fair little maiden, seven years of +age, with grey-blue eyes, sunny hair, and a wild-rose complexion, who +asks you to "go and see the twins." Accordingly their mother takes you +on to a large night-nursery, where the two little ones, boy and girl, +are being prepared for bed. They are just turned four, and are called +Eliot and Violet Mignon, after two of the characters in Mrs. Stannard's +books. They are perfectly friendly, and as you bend to kiss the baby +girl last, she looks reproachfully out of her great dark eyes, and +sternly commands you to "kiss Gertie, too." (Gertie is the under nurse.) +This raises a hearty laugh, under cover of which you hastily retreat. + +Above all things, Mrs. Stannard is a thoroughly domestic woman. Popular +in society, constantly entertaining with great hospitality, she yet +contrives to attend to every detail of her large household, which +consequently goes like clockwork. She writes for about two hours every +morning, and keeps a neat record book, in which she duly enters the +number of pages written each day. + +Presently Mr. Stannard comes in, and soon suggests an adjournment to his +study downstairs, a snug, business-like room, half filled with +despatch-boxes, books, and MSS. On a table stands a large folio-like +volume, which is Mrs. Stannard's visiting book, containing many hundreds +of names. She looks ruefully at a clip containing some sixty unanswered +letters, and candidly confesses that she finds considerable difficulty +with her private correspondence and her calls, both of which accumulate +faster than she can respond to; though, as she says, her many friends +are very indulgent to her on those scores, and are "quite willing to +make allowance for a poor woman who has the bulk of her literary work +cut out for a year or two in advance, three little children, and a +houseful of servants to manage; but, happily," she adds, "good servants. +I have been so lucky in that way." + +Just now, indeed, she claims especial indulgence in respect to social +observances, for, as though so busy a life were not enough to exhaust +her energies, early in 1891 she added a new burden to her indefatigable +pen, by starting a penny weekly magazine under the title of _Golden +Gates_, subsequently altered to _Winter's Weekly_ in deference to the +opinion of those who objected to the somewhat religious sound of the +former name. The little paper was the first weekly periodical that was +ever exclusively owned, edited, and published by a popular novelist, and +its fortunes have been watched with vivid interest by all who know how +treacherous and adventuresome are such enterprises. The fresh, frank +individuality of _Winter's Weekly_ has, however, made friends for the +journal wherever it has gone, and if John Strange Winter can keep it at +its present point of unconventional interest, it may consolidate into a +valuable property. Already it seems to have suggested the publication of +new journals on similar lines, though no other woman novelist has yet +had the courage to follow suit. + +Later works of this favourite writer are "Mere Luck," "My Geoff," +"Lumley, the Painter," also a powerful and pathetic novel, in two +volumes, entitled "Only Human." Her last is a story called "A Soldier's +Children," which she has given for the benefit of the Victoria Hospital +for Children, Chelsea. + +But with all this accumulation of business, these domestic cares, and +social claims, somehow Mrs. Stannard never seems in a hurry. The kind +and hospitable young couple are always ready to do an act of kindness, +and to welcome with help and counsel a new aspirant to fame in the +thorny paths of literature. Small wonder that they are so much sought +after in society, and so heartily welcomed wherever they go--and one is +seldom seen without the other. You go on your way with every hearty good +wish that each year may bring them ever-increasing prosperity and +success, for in such union there is strength. + + + + +[Illustration: Annie Hector] + +MRS. ALEXANDER. + + +About three miles north-west of St. Paul's lies a comparatively new +suburb of the great metropolis, which but forty years ago was described +as "a hamlet in the parish of Marylebone," and through which passes the +Grand Junction Canal, almost reaching to Kilburn. London, with her +ever-grasping clutch, has seized on the vast tract of ground, which +erstwhile grew potatoes and cabbages for the multitude, and, abolishing +the nursery and market-gardens, has transformed them into broad streets, +of which one of the longest is Portsdown-road. + +Not altogether inartistic is the row of substantially built houses where +Mrs. Alexander Hector has been for some years located. It is far enough +away to enable the popular authoress to pursue her literary vocation in +peace and quiet, yet sufficiently near to keep her in touch with the +busy world of literature and art, wherein she is deservedly so great a +favourite. The blue fan, serving as a screen for the window, is a sort +of land-mark distinguishing the house from its fellows. You are shown +into the library, where Mrs. Alexander is seated at a handsome oak +writing-table, busily engaged in finishing the last words of a chapter +in her new story. She looks up with a smile of welcome, and is about +to discontinue her occupation; but you hastily beg her to go on with her +work, which will give you time to look around; and as she complies with +the request, she says pleasantly, "Well, then, just for three minutes +only." + +Your glance lights again on the gentle author herself, and you watch the +pen gliding easily over the page, which rests on a diminutive shred of +well-worn blotting-paper. The face is fair and smooth, the hair, +slightly grey, is simply parted back from the forehead, and the +three-quarter profile, which presents itself to your gaze, is straight +and well-cut. She wears a little white cap, and a long black gown, +trimmed with jet, and close by her side lies an enormous Persian tabby +cat of great age. + +The study is divided from the adjoining room by heavy curtains drawn +aside and a Japanese screen. It is all perfectly simple and +unpretending, but the rooms are thoroughly comfortable and home-like. + +The chapter being finished, your hostess rises, declares herself +entirely at your service, and mentions that she is now engaged on a new +three volume novel, which is to come out early next year in America, and +is as yet unnamed. + +Mrs. Alexander was born in Ireland, though no touch of accent can be +detected. She never left that country until after her nineteenth +birthday. Her father belonged to an old squirearchal family, the +Frenches of Roscommon. He was a keen sportsman, and a member of the +famous Kildare Hunt. The few old pictures which hang on the wall are all +family portraits. One represents a paternal ancestor, Lord Annaly, +painted in his peer's robes. He was one of the Gore family, of whom no +less than nine members sat at the same time in parliament shortly before +the Union. Another picture of a comfortable-looking old gentleman in a +powdered wig is the portrait of a high legal dignitary, well known in +his day as Theobald Wolfe, a great-uncle of Mrs. Alexander. A third is a +seventeenth-century portrait of Colonel Dominic French, who looks manly +and resolute, in spite of his yellow satin coat, flowing wig, and lace +cravat, drawn through his buttonhole. This gentleman was the first +Protestant of the family, and is credited with having given up his faith +for love of his wife, who simpers beside him in an alarmingly +_decolletee_ blue dress, suggestive of the courtly style in the time of +the Merry Monarch. Her husband, with the ardour of a convert--or a +pervert--raised a regiment of dragoons among his tenantry, and fought on +the winning side at the Battle of the Boyne. + +Mrs. Alexander remarks that her "kinsfolk and acquaintance in early +life, were, if not illiterate, certainly unliterary." "I always loved +books," she adds, "and was fortunate, when a very young girl, barely out +of the schoolroom, in winning the favour of a dear old blind Scotchman, +whose wife was a family friend. He was a profound thinker, and an +earnest student before he lost his sight. My happiest and most +profitable hours were spent in reading aloud to him books, no doubt a +good deal beyond my grasp, but which, thanks to his kind and patient +explanations, proved the most valuable part of my very irregular +education. In reading the newspapers to him, I also gathered some idea +of politics, probably very vague ideas, but so liberal in their tendency +that my relatives, who were 'bitter Protestants' and the highest of high +Tories, looked on me, if not as a 'black sheep,' certainly as a 'lost +mutton.' The tendency has remained with me, though my consciousness of +the many-sided immensity of the subject, has kept me from forming any +decided opinions." + +The only bits of ancestry she values, Mrs. Alexander says, are her +descent from Jeremy Taylor, the celebrated Bishop of Down and Connor, +and the near cousinship of her grandmother to Lord Kilwarden, who was +the first victim in Emmet's rising; that high-minded judge, whose last +words, as he yielded up his life to the cruel pikes of his assailants, +were, "Let them have a fair trial." + +The above-mentioned Jeremy Taylor, and the Rev. Charles Wolfe--whose +well-known poem, "The Burial of Sir John Moore," was so greatly +appreciated by Lord Byron--were the only literary members of the family +on her father's side; on her mother's, she can claim kindred with Edmund +Malone, the well-known annotator of Shakespeare. + +On leaving Ireland, Mrs. Alexander, with her parents, travelled a good +deal, both at home and abroad, occasionally sojourning in London, where, +while still young, she began to write. Her first attempts were made in +the _Family Herald_ and _Household Words_, beginning with a sketch +called "Billeted in Boulogne." This is an account of their own personal +experience, when they endured the inconvenience of having French +soldiers quartered on them. + +It was about this time that she was introduced to Mrs. Lynn Linton, by +the late Adelaide Proctor, with whose family she was on terms of some +intimacy, and with whose charming grandmother, the once well-known and +admired Mrs. Basil Montague, she was a prime favourite. From this +introduction arose the long, close friendship with the brilliant author +of "Joshua Davidson," which Mrs. Alexander values so highly, and of +which she is so justly proud. + +In 1858 she married Mr. Hector, and wrote no more until she became a +widow. + +Mr. Hector was a great explorer and traveller. He had been a member of +Landor's expedition to seek the sources of the Niger, and immediately +after his return to England he joined General Chesney in his attempt to +steam down the Euphrates to the Persian Gulf. He was also with Layard +during his discoveries in Nineveh, and spent many years in Turkish +Arabia. A man of great enterprise and ability, he was the pioneer of +commerce, and was the first who sent from London a ship and cargo direct +to the Persian Gulf, thereby opening up the trade between the two +countries. + +It was after her husband's long illness, which terminated fatally, that +Mrs. Alexander again turned her thoughts to literature, to seek +distraction from her bereavement. It was then she wrote "The Wooing +o't." The book was a great success; it ran first through the pages of +_Temple Bar_; it was then published in three volumes, passed through +many editions, and has a world-wide reputation. + +"I always write leisurely," says Mrs. Alexander; "I never will hurry, or +write against time. No, I have not much method," she answers, in reply +to your question, "nor am I quite without it. My stories are generally +suggested to me by some trait of character or disposition, which I have +adapted rather than produced. My people are rarely portraits, they are +rather mosaics; and, I _must_ say, I am exceedingly shy of dealing with +my men. Women I _do_ understand. Character to me is all-important. If I +can but place the workings of heart and mind before my readers, the +incidents which put them in motion are of small importance +comparatively. Of course, a strong, clear, logical plot is a treasure +not to be found every day! I am not a rapid writer; I like to live with +my characters, to get thoroughly acquainted with them; and I am always +sorry to part with the companions who have brought me many a pleasant +hour of oblivion--oblivion from the carking cares that crowd outside my +study door." + +There is one point on which you would fain differ from the author. An +intimate knowledge of her books convinces you that her power of dealing +with her "men" is very great, and that her habits of observation have +stood her in good stead, whilst depicting with ready wit and +considerable skill the characters of her heroes. As you follow step by +step the career of the fascinating Trafford, in "The Wooing o't," and +watch the workings of his mind, the struggles between his natural +cynicism and pride, and his love for the humbly-born but high-souled +little heroine Maggie; his graceful rejection of the hand and fortune of +the proud heiress, and the final triumph of love over pedigree, you can +with truth echo the author's words, and feel that you too are "sorry to +part" with him and his wife, and would gladly welcome a sequel to their +histories. + +Mrs. Alexander observes that there _is_ one character in that book drawn +from life, but adds, with a laugh, she "will not tell you which it is." +You have, however, a suspicion of your own. + +"Her Dearest Foe" was the author's next work. It is constructed on +entirely different lines, but it is equally absorbing. The varied +fortunes of the brave heroine of the "Berlin Bazaar," of the masterful +Sir Hugh Galbraith, and the faithful cousin Tom, keep up an engrossing +interest from the first line to the last. + +Her husband's Christian name being Alexander, she elected to write under +that appellation, fearing that her first book might be a failure. Having +begun with it, she has ever since kept the same _nom de plume_, and she +remarks, "It does just as well as any other." + +The great success which attended these two books justified Mrs. +Alexander's further efforts. "Maid, Wife, or Widow," a clever little +story, is an "Episode of the '66 War in Germany"; "Which Shall it Be?" +"Look Before You Leap," and "Ralph Wilton's Weird" were brought out +during the next few years. They were all favourably reviewed, and many +of them passed into several editions. These were followed at intervals +by "Second Life," "At Bay," "A Life Interest," "The Admiral's Ward," "By +Woman's Wit." Mrs. Alexander wrote "The Freres" during a long residence +in Germany, whither she went for the education of her children. The +fact that she was on intimate terms with many of the good old German +families enabled her to write graphically from her personal knowledge of +the country. + +In "The Executors" Mrs. Alexander broke new ground. The life-like +delineation of Karapet is drawn from her own observation and experience +of Syrian Christians, but the incidents are, of course, imaginary. + +"Blind Fate," "A Woman's Heart," "Mammon," "The Snare of the Fowler," +followed in due course, also some clever little shilling stories. The +author's latest published work in three volumes is called "For His +Sake," a pleasant and interesting novel, well worthy of the writer of +"The Wooing o't." + +Mrs. Alexander's great ambition originally was to write a play; indeed, +her first few stories were planned with that object in view, but she +soon abandoned the idea, and says she "turned them into novels instead." +That there was some dramatic power in a few of her earlier efforts is +evident, as she was applied to for permission to dramatise "Her Dearest +Foe" and "By Woman's Wit." "Though," she adds, "it seems to me that the +latter is not suited to the stage." + +Mrs. Alexander writes best in England. She says that London "inspires +her." She holds strong views upon education, and maintains that girls, +as well as boys, should be trained to follow some definite line in life. +She would have any special talent, whereby its possessor could, if +necessary, earn her own living cultivated to the utmost; and, +consistently following out her principles, she has sent her youngest +daughter, who has a decided genius for painting, to work in one of the +best-known studios in Paris, where she takes a fairly good place, and by +her diligence and ardour for her art at least deserves success. Another +daughter fulfils the onerous task of being "mother's right hand." But +she has yet a third, who has found a happy career in the bonds of +wedlock, and has made her home at Versailles. She is now on a visit to +her mother, and whilst you are conversing, the door opens, the young +wife comes in with a lovely infant in her arms, and the "first +grandchild" is introduced with pride. He is a perfect cherub, and makes +friends instantly. + +Asking Mrs. Alexander about her early friends in literature, she +mentions with grateful warmth the name of Mrs. S. C. Hall, "whose ready +kindness never failed." "To her," she says, "I owe the most valuable +introduction I ever had. It was to the late Mr. W. H. Wills, editor of +_Household Words_. To his advice and encouragement I am deeply indebted. +His skill and discrimination as an editor were most remarkable, whilst +his knowledge and wide experience were always placed generously at the +service of the young and earnest wanderer in the paths of literature, +numbers of whom have had reason to bless the day when they first knew +Harry Wills." + +Mrs. Alexander is pre-eminently a lovable woman. In the large society +where she is so well known, and so much respected, to mention her name +is to draw forth affectionate encomiums on all sides. You venture to +make some allusion to this fact; a faint smile comes over the placid +countenance, as she says inquiringly, "Yes? I believe I have made many +friends. You see, I never rub people the wrong way if I can help it, and +I think I have some correct ideas respecting the true value of trifles. +Yet I believe I have a backbone; at least I hope so, for mere softness +and compliance will not bear the friction of life." + + + + +[Illustration: Helen Reeves] + +HELEN MATHERS. + +(MRS. REEVES.) + + +Although it is but two o'clock in the afternoon, the streets are black +as night. With the delightful variety of an English climate, the +temperature has suddenly fallen, and a rapid thaw has set in, converting +the heavy fall of snow, which but two days before threatened to cover +the whole of London, into a slough of mud. It is a pleasant change to +turn from these outer discomforts into the warm and well-lighted house +which Mrs. Reeves has made so bright and comfortable. + +You have judiciously managed to arrive five minutes earlier than the +hour appointed, in the hope of being able to make a few mental notes +before Helen Mathers comes in, and your perspicacity is rewarded, for a +bird's-eye glance around assures you that she possesses a refined and +artistic taste, which is displayed in the general arrangement of the +room. Lighted from above by a glass dome, another room is visible and +again a glimpse of a third beyond. The quaint originality of their shape +and build suggests the idea, of what indeed is the fact, that the house +was built more than a century and a half ago. + +The first room is very long, and its soft Axminster carpet of amber +colour shaded up to brown gives the key-note to the decorations, which +from the heavily embossed gold leather paper on the walls to the +orange-coloured Indian scarves that drape the exquisite white +overmantels (now wreathed with long sprays of ivy, grasses, and red +leaves), would delight the heart of a sun-worshipper as Helen Mathers +declares herself to be. + +As she now comes in, she seems to bring an additional sense of the +fitness of things. She carries a big basket of China tea-roses, which +she has just received from a friend in the country, and the long white +cachemire and silk tea-gown which she wears looks thoroughly +appropriate, despite the inclement season. It is her favourite colour +for house wear in summer or winter, and certainly nothing could be more +becoming to her soft, creamy complexion, and the natural tints of the +thick, bright copper-coloured hair, which, curling over her brow, is +twisted loosely into a great knot, lying low on the back of her head. + +The conversation turning upon the peculiar structure of the rooms, Mrs. +Reeves proposes to take you into the one innermost which is truly a +curiosity. A very old cathedral glass partition opens on to a square and +lofty room, used as an inner hall, with great velvet shields of china +and brasses on its gold leather walls, and quaint old oak chairs, +cabinets, and high old-fashioned clock. A portrait in sepia of Mrs. +Reeves, done by Alfred Ward, hangs over a paneled door on the left. It +was to this picture that Mr. Frederick Locker wrote the following +lines:-- + + "Not mine to praise your eyes and wit, + Although your portrait here I view, + So what I may not say to you + I've said to it." + +Opposite is a very wide, high door that opens into the oak-panelled +room, which may well have been a banqueting hall of the last century. It +is lighted from above, and each pane of glass has in its centre, in +vivid colours, the initials of the royal personage who, if the coats of +arms abounding everywhere are to be trusted, may have occupied this room +over a hundred years ago. By the way, the harp is absent from these +armorial bearings. + +One entire side of the room is filled by a vast mirror, set in a +magnificently carved oak frame, and supported on either side by colossal +winged female figures, that are matched (and in the glass reflected) by +the caryatides who appear to hold up the massive carvings above the +door, which is itself covered entirely by superb carvings of beast and +bird, and laughing boys playing at Bacchus with great clusters of +grapes. Round this unique room runs an oak paneling of about five feet +in height, surmounted by a ledge, now decorated with trails of ivy, and +above the oak cupboards are panels representing a boar hunt, and worth, +it is said, a fabulous sum. But the glory of the room is the +mantelpiece, reaching to the roof. It was probably once an altar piece, +as the centre panel represents the Crucifixion. Two busts--one of Queen +Elizabeth, the other of the Earl of Leicester--frown down on you from a +great height, and do not please you half as well as a bronze Venus of +Milo below. The hearth itself (of an incredibly old pattern, with heavy +iron fender, which suggests a prison) has on either side two odd-looking +figures, that are supposed to represent Joan of Arc and her keeper. He +carries a knotted whip in one hand, and seems to look ferociously on +poor Joan in her half-manly, half-feminine garb. + +"I am very fond of these two," says Mrs. Reeves, looking affectionately +at them, "and often dust their faces, but I am not at all fond of +sitting in this room. I much prefer my sunny quarters upstairs, and +these high carved oak chairs are uncomfortable to sit in, especially at +dinner!" + +But pleasant as it is, there is other business on hand, and you cannot +linger over these beautiful antiquities; the afternoon is wearing on, +and Mrs. Reeves leads the way to the drawing-rooms, which are also oddly +shaped, and open one out of the other, like those downstairs; but those +rooms are very different to look upon, and are, in your hostess's +opinion, "much more cheery." You can step from the long windows on to a +flower-filled balcony that looks up and down Grosvenor Street. The +hangings of the first room are of yellow satin, of the second room pink; +the furniture is merely of basket work, but made beautiful and +comfortable by many soft cushions; and a long glass set in a frame of +white woodwork, its low shelf covered with rare old yellow china and +flowers, reflects the gold and cream leather walls, and the overmantel +crammed with a lovely litter of china, pictures, and odds and ends, in +the centre of which is a horseshoe. "Picked up by my boy, Phil," says +Mrs. Reeves, as you examine it, "and we always say it has brought us +luck." + +But when you ask to see her writing-room--for there is not a sign of +pen, ink, and paper to be seen on a modest white escritoire behind the +door--she shakes her head and laughs. + +"I have no writing-room and no particular table," she says, "indeed I +can't say in the least how my books get written. I jot down anything +that I especially observe, or think of, on a bit of paper, and when I +have a great many pieces I sort them out, and usually pin them together +in some sort of a sequence. At home, where I had an immense room to +write in over the library, the boys used to say no one must speak to me +if my 'authoress lock' were standing up over my forehead, but if I ever +display it nowadays, nobody," she adds, ruefully, "is deterred by it! +Often, just as I have settled down to do a good morning's work, and have +perhaps finished a page, someone comes in and puts letters or account +books on it, or my boy Phil rushes up and lays his air gun or his banjo +on the table, or my husband brings in some little commission or a heap +of notes to be answered for him. I always tell them," laughing, "that +everyone combines to put out of sight the story which is being written, +and often it is not touched again for a week; but my composition, when +really begun, is very rapid, and my ideas seem to run out of my pen. At +my old home they used to say I wrote the things that they thought, which +was a good, lazy way of getting out of it." + +This leads to the subject of her "old home," and Mrs. Reeves imparts +some interesting details of her youthful days. She was born at +Misterton, Somersetshire, in the house described in "Comin' thro' the +Rye," and she has always most passionately loved it. Mrs. Reeves was one +of twelve children, who spent the greater part of their time in outdoor +sports and amusements, in which the girls were almost as proficient as +the boys. Their father was a great martinet, and never permitted any +encroachment on the regular lesson hours with their governess. "When I +was only eight years old," says your hostess, "our grandmamma Buckingham +(after whom I take my second Christian name) sent us a biography of +famous persons, arranged alphabetically. I looked down the list to see +if a Mathers were amongst them. It was not, and I took a pencil, and +made a bracket, writing in my name, Helen Mathers, novelist; so the +ruling idea must have been in me early." + +The colour of her hair was Helen Mathers's greatest trouble in her +childhood. It was a rich red, and in the familiar home circle she was +called "Carrots," to her great annoyance, until she was sixteen. She +says:--"It gave me such genuine distress that before I was nine years +old, I had written a story depicting the sufferings of a red-haired girl +who wanted to marry a man who was in love with her golden-haired sister. +I inscribed this in an old pocket-book, looking out the names and places +in the _Times_ each day, and afterwards, in agonies of shyness, I read +it aloud to the assembled family, who received it with shouts of +mirth!" + +At the age of thirteen, she was sent to Chantry School, and, +unfortunately for her, she was placed at once in the first class, +consisting of girls many years older than herself. Always ardent and +ambitious, she worked so hard that quite suddenly her health broke down, +and she became deaf--an affliction which has partially remained to this +day. No doubt this trouble drove her more into herself, and helped her +to concentrate her thoughts on literature. She wrote and wrote +incessantly for pure love of it, and before she was sixteen had +completed, her poem, "The Token of the Silver Lily." This she gave to a +friend of her family who was acquainted with Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The +great man read it, and sent her a message to the effect that, if she +persevered, she bid fair at some future day to succeed. This highly +delighted the girl, who was always working while the others played in +the beautiful place to which her parents had removed when they left +Misterton. This later home is described as "Penroses" in her late novel, +"Adieu!" which previously ran as a serial in a monthly magazine. + +Her first appearance in print is thus described:--"It was hay-making +time, and everybody, boys and girls, children, servants, and all, were +down in the hayfield, when someone brought me a shabby little halfpenny +wrapper with the magic word 'Jersey' at the top. I gave a sort of whoop, +and fled down the lawn and across the orchards, and into the bosom of my +family like one possessed. 'Boys, girls!' I cried; 'it's +_accepted_--it's here in _print_! Look at it!' And never did a prouder +heart beat than the heart under my white frock that day for my +first-born bantling of the pen. I had been yachting with my +brother-in-law, Mr. Hamborough, a short time previously, with this +result, that I wrote a sketch of him and his wife and the place, and, +signing it 'N.'--short for 'Nell'--I took counsel with Mr. George +Augustus Sala, whom I did not know in those days, but who was very kind +in replying to me, and he despatched it to _Belgravia_. When it _did_ +appear Jersey was very angry, and declared it was libelled, and I should +not have ventured to go over there again for a long while!" + +About three years later she produced her first novel, "Comin' thro' the +Rye." It proved a great success, and was rapidly translated into many +languages; indeed, a copy in Sanscrit was sent to her. This work was +written unknown to her family. "My poor father," says Mrs. Reeves, +sadly, "I got him into the story, and though I did not mean to be unkind +or disrespectful, I could not get him out again. I hardly drew a free +breath for months afterwards, fearing someone would tell him I had +written it, and that he would be grievously offended; but I was young +and foolish, too young a great deal I often think to succeed, but it +makes me feel a sort of Methuselah now." + +A story is told that many years ago a very youthful writer supplemented +a story of her own with several pages of this book, and wrote to Messrs. +Tillotson, saying she had written the twin novel to "Comin' thro' the +Rye," and would they buy it? The publishers told Mrs. Reeves of this +application. She was much amused, and in high good humour wrote back to +say that she had always understood twins appeared about the same time, +and that she had never heard before of one arriving seven years after +the other. + +In 1876 Helen Mathers married Mr. Henry Reeves, the well-known surgeon +and specialist on Orthopaedics. He has been on the staff of the London +Hospital for nearly twenty years, and he, too, is an author, but his +works bear more stupendous and alarming names than those of his wife, +such as "Human Morphology," "Bodily Deformities"--sad, significant +title! But not only as the skilful surgeon, the renowned specialist, the +student, and author, is Henry Reeves known. There is another section of +the world--amongst the poor and suffering, the over-worked clerk, the +underpaid governess, the struggling artist, where his name like many +another in his noble profession, is loved and revered, and where the +word "fee" is never heard of, and the "left hand knoweth not what the +right hand doeth." Did you not know all this from personal experience, +it is almost to be read in the kind, benevolent face. His wife says, +laughing, that "he is so unselfish, he never thinks of himself, and I +have always to be looking after him to see that he gets even a meal in +peace"; and she adds, in a low and tender tone, "but he is the kindest +and best of husbands." They have but one child--"Phil"--a bright, +handsome boy of fourteen. He is the idol of their hearts, and like +quicksilver in his brightness. His mother says when he was only three, +he was found sitting at her desk, wielding a pen with great vigour, and +throwing much ink about, as he dipped his golden curls in the blots he +was making. "What are you doing?" his mother asked. "Writing ''Tory of a +Sin,'" he said, with great dignity; and now that he is older he composes +with great rapidity. + +"He is at school now," says Mrs. Reeves, "and the house is like a tomb +without him. If it were not for my needlework (my especial vanity) I +could not get through the long weeks between his holidays. Children, +flowers, needlework--these are my chief delights; and as I often have to +do without the first two, my needle is often a great comfort to me." + +Shortly after her marriage, Mrs. Reeves again took up her pen, and +during the next few years she wrote several novels and novelettes, +selecting peculiarly attractive titles. Amongst these books are "Cherry +Ripe," "As He Comes up the Stair," "The Story of a Sin," "The Land of +the Leal," "My Lady Greensleeves," "Eyre's Acquittal," etc., etc. +Referring to a character in the last of these, you ask to see the book; +but there is not a single volume visible; they are all conspicuous by +their absence. + +Mrs. Reeves remarks that she "has done nothing to speak of lately, +feeling she has had nothing to say." Some months ago the inclination to +begin a new story came back to her, and she set diligently to work while +it lasted. A great catastrophe occurred. The first volume was finished +when, having occasion to go on other business to her publisher, she had +the manuscript put into the hansom which was to convey her to his +office. After a long conversation, she suddenly remembered that the +parcel had been left in the cab, and from that day to this she has never +recovered it. At the time she did not take the matter seriously, feeling +sure the precious packet would be found at Scotland Yard; but, though +rewards were offered and handbills circulated by the thousand, all was +of no avail. Mrs. Reeves adds, "the Press most kindly assisted me in +every possible way. Either the cabman threw it away, in total ignorance +of its value, and then was afraid to come forward and confess it, or +some dishonest person who next got into the cab may have sold, or used +the story, in America probably, or elsewhere. _Nous verrons!_ I have +written it over again. It took me a few weeks only, without notes, +without a scrap of anything to help me, save my memory, and never in my +life did I sit down to a harder task." + +The author is very modest in her own opinion of this last book, and adds +ruefully, "I feel miserable over it, but I never _am_ at all satisfied +with my work, and when I sent it to my publishers, I told them that they +had much better put it into the fire--it fell so entirely short of what +I had intended." They however, happily took quite a different view of +its merits, and the novel will shortly be brought out in three volumes. + +Helen Mathers is a great needlewoman. Not only are the long satin +curtains, the pillows, cushions, and dainty lamp shades all made by her +own hands; but she can cut out and sew any article of feminine apparel. +She has, indeed, a very pretty taste in dress, and many of her friends +are in the habit of consulting her in that line--from the designing of +their smartest gowns to the little economies of "doing up the old ones +to look like new." "And yet," says Mrs. Reeves plaintively, "people call +me extravagant. Why! I have not even got a fashionable dressmaker. All +my makings and mendings and turnings are done at home by a clever little +workwoman, under my own superintendance, and I am most careful and +economical. When a child, I was never taught the value of money, but I +learnt it later by experience, and experience, after all, is the best +teacher. I look upon myself as a sort of 'Aunt Sally,' at whom Fate is +always having a 'shy,' chipping off a bit here, and a bit there, but +never really knocking me off my perch." + +A great solid silver donkey with panniers which must hold a pint of ink, +stands on a table close to an oval Venetian glass framed in gold and +silver. Mrs. Reeves observes that though she has no writing-table, that +is her especial ink-stand, which is carried about from room to room. It +was given to her when very young, and, she laughingly adds, "You can +imagine all the complimentary remarks the boys at home made to me about +it." She goes on to say, "I always loved a good laugh, even though it +were against myself. We were such a happy united family in the big old +house. We are all scattered now," she remarks sadly; "some are dead, +some are abroad, and one sister, who married a son of Dr. Russell, of +_Times_ renown, is in China with her husband." + +Mrs. Reeves is essentially a domestic woman. She cares comparatively but +little for society, and is never as happy as when at home, with her +husband sitting on the other side of the fire-place, like "Darby and +Joan." She is excellent company, and a brilliant conversationalist. She +possesses that good gift, a low, sweet voice, which glides on from topic +to topic--now gay, with flashes of wit and mirth, now subdued to gravity +or pathos. Albeit, she is a good listener, and has the happy knack of +drawing out talk. Yet, though constantly conversing on people and social +matters, not one unkindly word or suspicion of scandal escapes her lips. +She has a good word to say for all, and speaks with affectionate +gratitude of many. She prefers the company of woman, and says that her +best friends have been those of her own sex. But the charm of her +society has beguiled you into a long visit, and whilst bidding her +good-bye the feeling arises that if a friend in need were wanted, a +friend indeed would be found in "Helen Mathers." + + + + +[Illustration: Florence Marryat] + +FLORENCE MARRYAT. + + +Battling with a fierce snowstorm, and a keen east wind, which drives the +flakes straight into your face like repeated stings of a small sharp +whip, a welcome shelter is presently found in Florence Marryat's pretty, +picturesque little house in St. Andrew's Road, West Kensington. Two +bright red pots filled with evergreens mark the house, which is built in +the Elizabethan style of architecture, with a covered verandah running +along the upper part. By a strange coincidence, the famous author has +settled down within a stone's throw of the place where her distinguished +father--the late Captain Marryat, R.N.--once lived. Until three months +ago, there stood in the Fulham Palace Road, a large, handsome building +enclosed in ten acres of ground, which was first called "Brandenburg +Villa," and was inhabited by the celebrated singer Madame Sontag. It +next fell into the hands of the Duke of Sussex, who changed its name to +Sussex House, and finally sold it to his equerry Captain Marryat, who +exchanged it with Mrs. Alexander Copeland for the Manor of Langham, in +Norfolk, where he died. For some years past Sussex House has been in +Chancery, but now it is pulled down; the land is sold out in building +plots, and the pleasure grounds will be turned into the usual streets +and rows of houses for the needs of the ever-increasing population. The +study--or as Florence Marryat calls it, her "literary workshop"--is +very small, but so well arranged that it seems a sort of _multum in +parvo_, everything a writer can want being at hand. It has a look of +thorough snugness and comfort. The large and well-worn writing table is +loaded with books of reference and a vast heap of tidily-arranged +manuscript, betokening the fact that yet another new novel is under +weigh. A massive brass inkstand, bright as gold, is flanked on each side +by a fierce-looking dragon. Two of the walls are lined with bookshelves +from floor to ceiling, filled with books which must number many hundreds +of volumes. Over the fireplace hangs an old-fashioned round mirror set +in a dull yellow frame, mounted on plush, around whose broad margin is +displayed a variety of china plates, picked up in the many foreign +countries which Miss Marryat has visited, and the effect is particularly +good. The room is lighted at the further corner by glass doors opening +into an aviary and conservatory, which is bright with many red-berried +winter plants; this little glass-house opens on to the big kennels where +Miss Marryat's canine pets are made so comfortable. + +But the door opens. Enters your hostess with two ringdoves perched +familiarly on her shoulder. She is tall in stature, erect in carriage, +fair in complexion: she has large blue eyes--set well apart--straight, +well-formed eyebrows, and an abundance of soft, fair fluffy hair. She +is dressed very simply in a long black tea-gown with Watteau pleat, very +plainly made, but perfect in cut and fit, and looking quite unstudied in +its becoming graceful simplicity. + +Florence Marryat is the youngest of the eleven children of the late +well-known author, Captain Marryat, R.N., C.B., F.R.S. Her mother, who +died at the good old age of ninety--in full possession of all her +faculties--was a daughter of Sir Stephen Shairp, of Houston, Linlithgow, +who was for many years H.B.M. Consul-General and _Charge d'Affaires_ at +the Court of Russia. One side of the little study is dedicated to the +relics of her father, and in the centre hangs his portrait, surrounded +by trophies and memories. The picture is painted by the sculptor Behnes, +in water-colours, and represents a tall, fair, slight, though +muscular-looking man leaning against the mast of his ship, _Ariadne_, +dressed in the full uniform of those days, a long-tailed coat, white +duck trousers, and cocked hat held under his arm. Two smaller pictures +of him are pen-and-ink drawings by Count D'Orsay and Sir Edward Belcher +respectively. + +Entering the service at a very early age, and in troublous times, +Captain Marryat gained rapid promotion, and had been in no less than +fifty-nine naval engagements before he was twenty-one, and with the +single exception of Lord Nelson he was the youngest Post Captain ever +known, having indeed attained that rank at the age of twenty-four. After +the first Burmese war, in which he took so distinguished a part, he was +offered a baronetcy as a reward for his services, but refused it, +choosing instead a crest and arms to commemorate the circumstance, with +the stipulation that the arms should be such as his daughters might +carry. This was accordingly done, and at the present moment there are +only eleven women in England who possess the same right, of which number +Miss Marryat and her sisters make five. The crest, with arms (a +fleur-de-lis and a Burmese boat with sixteen rowers on an azure ground, +with three bars argent and three bars sable) is framed, and hangs close +to what she calls her "Marryat Museum." Just below the portrait is an +oval ebony frame containing an etching of a beaver done on a piece of +ship's copper by her father, a morocco case close by holds all his +medals, which were bequeathed to her, including the Legion of Honour +bestowed on him by the Emperor Napoleon, and the picture of the dead +Emperor, sketched by the gallant sailor, and published by Colnaghi, +which is considered the best portrait of him ever taken. His daughter +remarks:--"It was always said of my father that he ever displayed to +perfection that courage, energy, and presence of mind which were natural +to his lion-hearted character. Unlike the veteran who 'shouldered his +crutch to show how fields were won,' he never voluntarily referred to +exploits of which any man might have been proud. He was content to _do_, +and know that he had _done_, and left to others the pride which he might +justly have felt for himself." + +Independent of his nautical career, Captain Marryat had other great +talents. His writings will never be forgotten, from "Peter Simple" and +"Midshipman Easy" down to "Masterman Ready," the much-beloved books of +children. His "Code of Signals" is so celebrated that reference must +just be made to it. Shortly before he was elected a Fellow of the Royal +Society, he invented and brought to perfection the code which was at +once adopted in the Merchant Service, and is now generally used by the +British and French navies, in India, at the Cape of Good Hope, and other +English settlements, and by the Mercantile Marine of North America. It +is also published in the Dutch and Italian languages, and, by an order +of the French Government, no merchant vessel can be insured without +these signals being on board. Rising, Miss Marryat puts the original +work into your hands, and you observe, with something like awe, that it +is all written in the deceased sailor's own hand; the penmanship is like +copper-plate, the flags and signals are painted, and each page is neatly +indexed. Needless to say, it is regarded as a priceless treasure by his +daughter. + +Born of such a gifted father, it is small wonder that the child should +have inherited brilliant talents. She was never sent to school, but was +taught under a succession of governesses. "On looking back," she says +with compunction, "I regret to remember that I treated them all very +badly, for I was a downright troublesome child. I was an omnivorous +reader, and as no restriction was placed on my choice of books, I read +everything I could find, lying for hours full length on the rug, face +downwards, arms propping up my head, with fingers in ears to shut out +every disturbing sound, the while perpetually summoned to come to my +lessons. I may be said to have educated myself, and probably I got more +real learning out of this mode of procedure than if I had gone through +the regular routine of the schoolroom, with the cut-and-dried +conventional system of the education of that day." + +Florence Marryat has been twice married: first at the age of sixteen to +Captain Ross Church, of the Madras Staff Corps, and secondly to Colonel +Francis Lean of the Royal Marines. By the first marriage she had eight +children, of whom six survive. + +The first three-volume novel she published was called "Love's Conflict." +It was written under sad circumstances. Her children were ill of scarlet +fever; most of the servants, terror-stricken, had deserted her, and it +was in the intervals of nursing these little ones that, to divert her +sad thoughts, she took to her pen. From that time she wrote steadily and +rapidly, and up to the present date she has actually turned out +fifty-seven novels besides an enormous quantity of journalistic work, +about one hundred short stories, and numerous essays, poems, and +recitations. She says of herself, that from earliest youth she had +always determined on being a novelist, and at the age of ten she wrote a +story for the amusement of her playfellows, and illustrated it with her +own pen-and-ink sketches (for be it known, the accomplished author has +likewise inherited this talent from her father, and to this day she will +decorate many a letter to her favourite friends with funny and clever +little illustrations and caricatures). But she wisely formed the +determination that she would never publish anything until her judgment +was more matured, so as to ensure success, that she "would study people, +nature, nature's ways, and character, and then she would let the world +know what she thought"; and in this piece of self-denial she has shown +extreme wisdom, and reaped her reward in the long record of successes +that she has scored and the large fortune she has made, but which, alas! +she no longer possesses. "Others have spent it for me," she says +plaintively; but she adds generously, "and I do not grudge it to them." +Part of it enabled her, at any rate, to give each and all of her +children a thoroughly good education, and she is proud to think that +they owe it all to her own hard work. Miss Marryat is always especially +flattered to hear that her novels are favourites with women, and she had +a gratifying proof of this when visiting Canada in 1885. She was waited +on by a deputation of ladies, armed with bouquets and presents, to thank +her for having written that charming story called "My Own Child." + +"Gup," which had an extensive sale, is entirely an Anglo-Indian book, +not so much of a novel as a collection of character sketches and tales, +which her powers of observation enabled her to form out of the life in +Indian stations. For the benefit of the uninitiated, the word "Gup" +shall be translated from Hindustanee into English: "Gossip." "Woman +Against Woman," "Veronique," "Petronel," "Nelly Brooke," "Fighting the +Air," were amongst the earliest of the eighteen novels that she brought +out in the first eleven years of her literary career. These, together +with her "Girls of Feversham," have been republished in Germany and +America, and translated into Russian, German, Swedish, and French. Miss +Marryat says: "I never sit down deliberately to compose or think out a +plot. The most ordinary remark or anecdote may supply the motive, and +the rest comes by itself. Sometimes I have as many as a dozen plots, in +different stages of completion, floating in my brain. They appear to me +like a set of houses, the first of which is fully furnished; the second +finished, but empty; the third in course of building; till the furthest +in the distance is nothing but an outline. As soon as one is complete, I +feel I _must_ write it down; but I never think of the one I am writing, +always of the next one that is to be, and sometimes of three or four at +a time, till I drive them forcibly away. I never feel at home with a +plot till I have settled the names of the characters to my satisfaction. +As soon as I have done that they become sentient beings in my eyes, and +seem to dictate what I shall write. I lose myself so completely whilst +writing, that I have no idea, till I take it up to correct, what I have +written." Judging by the great heap of MSS. alluded to on her +writing-table, there seems but little for the writer to correct. At your +request, she hands you half a dozen pages, and you notice but three +alterations amongst them; the facile pen, the medium of her thoughts, +seems to have known exactly what it had to write. The novel is called +"How like a Woman," and will shortly make its appearance. + +Her latest published works are "On Circumstantial Evidence," "A Scarlet +Sin," "Mount Eden," "Blindfold," "Brave Heart and True," "The Risen +Dead," "There is no Death," and "The Nobler Sex." With respect to Miss +Marryat's book, "There is no Death," many people have pronounced it to +be, not only the most remarkable book that she has ever written, but the +most remarkable publication of the time. To the public it is so full of +marvels as to appear almost incredible, but to her friends, who know +that everything related there happened, under the author's eyes, it is +more wonderful still. The amount of correspondence that she has received +on the subject ever since the book appeared in June, 1891, is +incalculable. Even to this date she has seven or eight letters daily, +all containing the same demand, "Tell us how we can see our Dead." This +book has done more to convince many people of the truth of Spiritualism +than any yet written. Florence Marryat numbers her converts by the +hundred and they are all gathered from educated people; men of letters +and of science have written to her from every part of the world, and +many clergymen have succumbed to her courageous assertions. It is +curious and interesting to know that Miss Marryat's experiences are not +only those of the past, but that she passes through just as wonderful +things every day of her life, and the spirit world is quite as familiar +to her as the natural one, and far more interesting. Whether her readers +sympathise with her or not, or whether they believe that she really saw +and heard all the marvels related in "There is no Death," the book must +remain as a remarkable record of the experiences of a woman whose +friends know her to be incapable of telling a lie and especially on a +subject which she holds to be sacred. "I really do not care much," says +Miss Marryat with a smile, "if my readers believe me or not. If they do +not it is their loss, not mine. I have done what I considered to be my +duty in trying to convince the world of what _I_ know to be true, and to +which I shall continue to testify as long as I have breath." + +"Tom Tiddler's Ground" is the history of her own adventures while in +America. Many of her books have been dramatised, and at one time nine of +these plays were running simultaneously in the provinces. She says, "The +most successful of my works are transcripts of my own experience. I have +been accused of caricaturing my acquaintances, but it is untrue. The +majority of them are not worth the trouble, and it is far easier for me +to draw a picture from my own imagination, than to endure the society of +a disagreeable person for the sake of copying him or her." + +But Miss Marryat's talents are versatile. After a long illness when her +physicians recommended rest from literature, believing an entire change +of occupation would be the best tonic for her, she went upon the +stage--a pursuit which she had always dearly loved--and possessing a +fine voice, and great musical gifts, with considerable dramatic power, +she has been successful, both as an actress and an entertainer. She +wrote a play called "Her World Against a Lie" (from her own novel), +which was produced at the Prince of Wales' Theatre, and in which she +played the chief comedy part, Mrs. Hephzibah Horton, with so much skill +and _aplomb_, that the _Era_, _Figaro_, _Morning Post_, and other +papers, criticised her performances most favourably. She also wrote +"Miss Chester" and "Charmyon" in conjunction with Sir Charles Young. +She was engaged for the opening of the Prince of Wales's (then the +Princes') Theatre when she played "Queen Altemire" in _The Palace of +Truth_. She has toured with D'Oyly Carte's _Patience_ companies, with +George Grossmith in _Entre Nous_, and finally with her own company in +_The Golden Goblet_ (written by her son Frank). Altogether Miss Marryat +has pursued her dramatic life for fifteen years, and has given hundreds +of recitations and musical entertainments which she has written for +herself. One of these last, called "Love Letters," she has taken through +the provinces three times, and once through America. It lasts two hours; +she accompanies herself on the piano, and the music was written by +George Grossmith. Another is a comic lecture entitled, "Women of the +future (1991); or, what shall we do with our men?" She has also made +many tours throughout the United Kingdom, giving recitals and readings +from her father's works, and other pieces by Albery and Grossmith. + +For the last seven years Miss Marryat has never looked at a criticism on +her books. She says her publishers are her best friends, and their +purses are her assessors, and she is quite satisfied with the result. +She has an intense love of animals, and asks if you would object to the +presence of her dogs, as this is the hour for their admittance. On the +contrary, it is what you have been longing for, and two magnificent +bulldogs of long pedigree are let in. Ferocious as is their appearance, +their manners are perfect, and their great brown eyes seem human in +their intelligence as each comes up to make acquaintance. Meantime the +two doves have gone peacefully to sleep, each perched on a brass dragon, +and the dogs eye them respectfully, as if they were all members of "a +happy family." + +A neat little maid comes in with a tea-tray, but ere she is permitted to +lay the prettily embroidered cloth, Miss Marryat directs attention to +the table, which is a curiosity. It is a small round table, made from +the oak planks of the quarter deck of H.M.S. _Ariadne_. This was sent to +her by a gentleman who never saw her, with a letter saying that she +would prize the wood over which her father's feet had so often trod. It +bears in the centre a brass inscription, as follows:--"Made from the +timbers of H.M.S. Ariadne, commanded by Captain Marryat, R.N., C.B., +1828." + +Miss Marryat, probably wishing to pay you a peculiar honour, pushes +forward her own special revolving writing chair; but no, you had +surreptitiously tried it whilst waiting for her, and unhesitatingly +pronounce it to be the most uncomfortable piece of furniture ever made. +It is constructed of wood, is highly polished, and has a hard seat, hard +elbow rests, and a hard unyielding back. She laughs heartily, and +declares she will hear no word against her "old arm-chair"; she says she +has got used to it; it has been, like herself, a great traveller; she +has written in it for twenty years, and it is a particular favourite. +Miss Marryat wears a diamond ring, which has a peculiar history, and is +very old. During the first Burmese war in which her father was engaged, +the natives were in the habit of making little slits in their skin, and +inserting therein any particular stone of value they wished to conceal. +One of these men was taken prisoner, and on being searched, or felt +over--for there was not much clothing to search--a small hard lump was +found on his leg, which at once revealed the presence of some valuable. +A slight incision produced a diamond, which was confiscated, set, and +presented by the good old sailor to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Horace +Marryat, whose only son, Colonel Fitzroy Marryat, gave it to his cousin, +the author. + +She takes you into the adjoining room to see two oil-paintings of +wrecks, _chef d'oeuvres_ of the great Flemish seascape painter, Louis +Boeckhaussen, and valued at a high figure. There is a story attached to +these also. They belonged originally to the Marryat collection at +Wimbledon House, and were given to her brother Frederick by his +grandmother on his being promoted to be first lieutenant of the +_Sphynx_, and were hanging in his cabin when that ship was wrecked off +the Needles, Isle of Wight. They remained fourteen days under water, and +when rescued were sent to a Plymouth dealer to be cleaned. Lieutenant +Marryat, for his bravery on that occasion, was immediately appointed to +the _Sphynx's_ twin vessel, the ill-fated _Avenger_, who went down with +380 souls on the Sorelli rocks. + +After this catastrophe, the dealer sent the paintings to the young +officer's mother, saying it was by his instructions, and that he had +refused to take them to sea again, as he declared that they were "much +too good to go overboard." Miss Marryat also possesses a painting by +Cawno, from "Japhet in search of a Father," which was left to her by the +will of the late Mr. Richard Bently, the publisher, and this she prizes +highly. She has several presentation pens, one of porcupine quill and +silver, with which her father wrote his last five novels; another of +ivory, coral, and gold, inscribed with her name and presented by Messrs. +Macniven and Cameron; a third of silver, and a fourth of gold and ivory, +given by admirers of her writings; fifthly, and the one she values most +and chiefly uses, a penholder of solid gold with amethysts, which +belonged to an American ancestress of the family, for Miss Marryat's +paternal grandmother was a Boston belle. This was a tribute from her +American relations when she crossed the Atlantic, with the words that +she was "the most worthy member to retain it." A noise of barking and +scratching at the door is heard outside. Florence Marryat opens it, and +many tiny, rough, prize terriers rush in. She laughs at your exclamation +of surprise at the number of her dog friends and answers, "They are not +all kept entirely for amusement. I sell the puppies, and they fetch +large prices. It is quite the fashion to be in trade now-a-days, you +know. One lady runs a boarding-house, another, her emporium for +furniture, a third, her bonnet shop, a fourth, her dress-making +establishment, so why not I, my kennels? I love dogs better than +bonnets, or chairs, or people, and so I derive pleasure as well as +profit from my particular fancy, and I should be lonely without these +pets." + +But, as though talking of old reminiscences had changed her mood from +gay to grave, she asks you to look at a few very special treasures in +her writing room. "I call this my room of home memories," she says with +exceeding softness and pathos. "There are my children's pictures; +those," pointing to a small shelf, "are my best friend's books." "_Here_ +are portraits of all whom I love best, my living, and my dead!" + + + + +[Illustration: Emily Lovett Cameron] + +MRS. LOVETT CAMERON. + + +Nestling between Knightsbridge on the north, and Brompton Road on the +south, lies a quiet, old-fashioned square, which the organ-grinder and +brass band are no longer permitted to disturb. Everything is so still +that it is difficult to realise that it is within a few minutes' walk +from a busy, noisy thoroughfare. So near and yet so far from London's +"madding crowd." In summer time when the ancient trees, which are said +never to have been disturbed for generations, are in full leaf, the +little square might indeed be a slice out of the country itself; and +even now, with bare and leafless branches, it presents a peaceful, rural +appearance, for the hoar frost has covered every bough and shrub with a +million of glittering particles, which sparkle like diamonds in the +wintry sunshine. In the centre of the north side of Montpelier Square is +Mrs. Lovett Cameron's home, a cheerful-looking little house, gay with +window boxes, and fleecy muslin curtains draped with bright coloured +ribbons. An application at the brass horseshoe knocker is promptly +responded to, and you are admitted into the hall and vociferously +greeted by "Nancy," a handsome fox-terrier, the pet of the house, a +treasure-trove from the Dogs' Home. The first object which attracts +the eye, and, as it were, overshadows you, is the head of a gigantic +Indian buffalo, so sleek and life-like in appearance, with its huge +horns, that you involuntarily shudder to think what a formidable +opponent the savage monster must have proved in the flesh ere he became +the trophy of that gallant sportsman, the late Hector Cameron. + +Ascending the staircase, the walls of which are hung with a series of +Colonel Crealock's spirited hunting sketches, you are ushered into the +drawing-room, which is divided midway by a carved white wood archway of +Moorish design. Large palms, tall arum lilies, and graceful ferns, are +grouped here and there about the room; no sound is heard save the song +of caged birds. The Oriental bowls and jars are filled with great double +chrysanthemums of golden brown, and other winter flowers; but a light +step approaches; the door softly opens, and the author enters: seeing +her framed in the doorway, clad in the soft folds of a simply-made +violet velvet tea-gown, the first glance conveys to the mind an +immediate impression that she is in thorough harmony with her +surroundings. + +Mrs. Lovett Cameron is a fair, slight woman, a little below the middle +height; her large blue eyes have a very thoughtful, gentle expression; +her broad low brow is crowned with bright chestnut coloured hair. Her +habitually serious look changes, however, when having settled you into a +corner of the couch, with a cup of steaming coffee, she enters into +friendly conversation. Meanwhile you cast furtive glances around the +room. A bright fire blazes cheerfully on the blue and brown tiled +hearth. The carved white mantelpiece, with side recesses, is covered +with delicate specimens of old Dresden china, and surmounted by a broad +shelf, on which stand five exquisite antique Japanese jars, the _bleu +poudre_ and deep crimson being thrown into relief by the soft tints of +the "buttercup" coloured wall paper. + +Amongst the pictures which adorn the walls is a portrait, after Sir +Godfrey Kneller, of Sir Edmund Verney, an ancestor of the family, +bearing the inscription "Standard Bearer to Charles I., who lost his +life in the Battle of Edghill." The original painting is at Liscombe, +Buckinghamshire, a property which still belongs to the Lovett family. +Further on is a lovely copy of the Madonna Caracci, in the Dresden +Gallery. Several pieces of valuable old blue china, quaint bits of +Oriental flat figures, together with a plate or two of old Dutch ware +decorate the walls, and an ancient convex mirror of great antiquity. Two +antique corner cupboards (Dutch) with flat glass doors disclose many +little treasures of enamel, old Worcester and Nankin, which Mrs. Cameron +says that she prizes as much from association as for their own intrinsic +value. An Italian cabinet inlaid with ebony and ivory occupies one side +of the wall, and, unlocking its doors, she takes out some priceless +scraps of old lace of cobweb-looking fabric, which she inherited from a +maternal ancestress, together with a few pieces of the Queen Anne silver +which are scattered on the tiny marqueterie table yonder. Amongst these +there is a richly-chased tankard, on which is the inscription, "Oration +Prize adjudged to Verney Lovett, of Trinity College, Cambridge, in the +year 1774." There is an amusing story told of another of Mrs. Cameron's +ancestresses. She was a Huguenot, a Mademoiselle de Bosquet, and, at the +time of the persecution of the French Protestants, when only a little +girl, she was packed up in a basket, smuggled out of France and sent +over to England to ensure her safety. + +The long, dwarf bookcase on the right is filled with literary treasures, +inherited from the "Oration Prize" winner. Mrs. Cameron takes out +several, and mentions that they are valuable editions of "Montaigne," +"Chesterfield's Letters," the "Tattler," the "Spectator," etc., but the +gem of the collection, and one that she greatly values, is a complete +set of the poems of Edmund Waller, dated 1729, in good preservation, +each poem headed with engravings by Vertue, chiefly portraits of the +Stuart family. The bookcase opposite contains several presentation +copies from brother and sister writers. Amongst them you look in vain +for the author's own works, but she says that they shall all be seen +presently in her own study below, and as she leads the way thither, past +the conservatory, you pause to admire the picturesque grouping of the +flowers and palms, some so high that the cages of the feathered +songsters are half concealed. Your hostess remarks that she "delights in +flowers, and is always lucky with them." + +Turning to the right, she opens the door of her cosy little +writing-room. The dark red walls, with a frieze of large Japanese +flowers, are hung with etchings, photographs, and pictures, all of +which have their own story. Here is a complete series of Aitken's +"First Point to Point Race"; there portraits of the "Prize Fox-terriers +of England," presented to her by the late Sir John Reid. Also sundry +winners of the Derby, and many a pet dog and horse. Mrs. Cameron points +out her husband's favourite hunter, "Roscommon," and his wonderful pony, +"Tommy Dod," who "jumped like a cat," and carried him for many seasons +in Leicestershire, and who, with his master, was often mentioned with +honour in _Baily's Magazine_. A few sketches of the Thames indicate her +favourite resort for leisure hours, many summer days and autumn holidays +being spent on the river, in quiet nooks and corners, where, under the +able tuition of her barrister brother, Norman Pearson, late of Balliol, +and coach of the "Kingston Eight," Mrs. Lovett Cameron has achieved +considerable dexterity in sculling and canoeing. + +Antlers and deers' heads, ranged high near the ceiling, testify further +to the sporting proclivities of the family. Over a quaint little corner +cupboard a big stuffed hawk looks down with an absurdly wise expression. +A high, three-cornered, and somewhat ascetic-looking chair is pushed +aside from a proportionately high and business-like writing table--a +handsome old English piece of furniture, which is loaded with manuscript +and books of reference, denoting the occupation in which Mrs. Cameron +was probably engaged when summoned to receive you, and you hastily begin +a word of apology; but she turns it aside and observes that she was +"quite glad to be interrupted, as she had been working beyond her usual +hour." + +Over the table hangs a venerable canary, _aetat_. fourteen, who has +learnt to be mute in business hours. Opposite the window stands a large +antique Chippendale bookcase with glass doors, filled with hooks of +history, travel, biography, English poets, and old dramatists. One shelf +is reserved for another purpose, and here can be read the names of +fourteen three-volume novels, well known to the world, written by Mrs. +Lovett Cameron. Her husband has had them all bound alike in Russian +leather, and looks on them as his own especial property. This shelf is +now nearly full, and Mrs. Cameron remarks laughingly that "by rights she +ought to die when it _is_ full, as there will be no room for any more in +the cupboard." Of these novels, the first, "Juliet's Guardian," made its +bow to the public in 1876, having previously appeared in the pages of +_Belgravia_, "Jack's Secret" ran as a serial through the same magazine, +having been applied for, when _Belgravia_ changed hands, by the present +owner "to bring him luck." Taking out one after another of these +daintily-bound volumes--"Deceivers Ever," "Vera Nevill," "Pure Gold," "A +North Country Maid," "A Dead Past," "In a Grass Country," "A Devout +Lover," "This Wicked World," "Worth Winning," "The Cost of a Lie," "Neck +or Nothing," and other short stories--you see that most of them have +passed through several editions, and in "In a Grass Country," "ninth +edition," proving the special popularity of that particular book, which +chiefly made Mrs. Lovett Cameron's literary reputation. Her latest +additions to these entertaining works of fiction are "A Lost Wife," +"Weak Woman," and "A Daughter's Heart." + +It is always deeply interesting to hear about the early days of such a +well-known writer. Explaining to Mrs. Cameron that not only in Europe, +but also in the Colonies where her books are as largely circulated, that +she has many friends and admirers who will love to hear all about her +first literary efforts, she kindly consents to gratify you, and says, +that "to begin at the beginning," she was sent at the early age of six +to Paris, to acquire the language; she was placed in the family of the +late M. Nizard, an academician, and a man of some literary repute, who +later on became a member of the Senate. She has a vivid recollection of +the house--since demolished--surrounded by a large garden in the Rue de +Conscelles, where her childish days were spent. Amongst such +surroundings, it was natural that the girl should become imbued with a +love of reading, which, though carefully guided, was stimulated to the +utmost, and when, later on, after some further years at a school in +England, she returned home, she found herself in constant disgrace, +because she was always reading and hated needlework. As her mother and +sister were enthusiastic in this feminine accomplishment, and were +constantly engrossed in the embroidering of church altar-cloths and +linen, they were inclined to look on books as an excuse for idleness. + +It was at this time that the young girl-student secretly wrote several +short stories, and, although very shy of these efforts, she one day +confided to her elder sister that she "felt certain she could write a +novel." With the honest candour of a family circle towards each other, +she was promptly extinguished with the remark, "That is nonsense. If you +had any talent for writing, it would have shown itself before this." +Thus discouraged, she laid aside the idea, and never resumed it until +after her marriage, when the talent which had lain dormant could no +longer be hidden. The story of the launching of her first novel is most +interesting, as showing the courage and perseverance of the young +author. + +She had no acquaintance with a single member of the literary +profession--no interest with any editor or publisher; nevertheless, on +the completion of "Juliet's Guardian," she took up, by chance, the +nearest book at hand; reading therein the names of Chatto and Windus, +she then and there packed up her MS., and without any introduction, but +with many qualms, made her way to their office. She was courteously +received, and informed that she might leave it, and after a brief period +of anxious waiting, the good news came that it was accepted. Shortly +after, it was brought out, and the young author's first step to fame was +accomplished. + +Rising to replace this volume, you inadvertently press against a panel +in the lower cupboard, which falling open, dislodges a large and +somewhat discoloured roll of newspapers, and hastening to gather them up +with a murmured word of regret for the accident, Mrs. Cameron remarks +with a laugh that they are copies of a paper, the _City Advertiser_, +which she and her two brothers started, and actually kept going for six +months, the three meeting once a week to carry it on. It was a source of +endless amusement to them, until the scattering of the family caused it +to die a natural death. + +The easel yonder holds a large framed photograph of the head of an +Apollo, discovered when digging under the streets of Athens; and +opposite stands a portfolio full of sketches and maps, descriptive of +the route taken by her brother-in-law, Commander Lovett Cameron, the +well-known African traveller, who nearly seventeen years ago went on +foot across Africa with a small party of friends, but, alas! came back +alone. He was the only survivor of the intrepid band, the rest all +succumbed to the perils of the expedition. He it was who surveyed the +southern portion of Lake Tanganyika, proving it to be a lake, and +discovered the river Lukuga, which is the outlet thereof. Pursuing his +travels further, he also proved Lualaba and Congo to be one river, and +later discovered Lake Kassali and the sources of the Zambesi. + +But whilst following out the route on a well-worn map, and listening to +these interesting details, youthful voices are heard outside, which +recall the fact that it is the first day of the holidays, and a tap at +the door is followed by the entrance of Mrs. Cameron's two fine, bright +boys, accompanied by their father. + +The elder lad, "Verney" is at Winchester, the "school for scholars," and +he has already evinced a distinct talent for composition, combined with +a fund of humour, which has found vent in one or two clever, though +childish stories, which betoken the probability that he has inherited +his mother's gift of writing, but the younger boy, "Hector," bravely +tells you he "likes play better than lessons, and he means to go abroad +and shoot elephants." As he is, however, only twelve years old his +parents feel no immediate anxiety on _that_ score. + +Mrs. Lovett Cameron seldom writes after two o'clock. She uses a pen +placed in a funny little stump of a broken mother-of-pearl holder, and, +handing it to you, she says, "I have a superstition about it. Every one +of my novels has been mainly written with it, and I often say that if I +use another penholder, I write badly. I have told my husband to put it +into my coffin." + +She is a capital woman of business, and remarks that she "bought all her +experience for herself." + +Those who do not know Mrs. Cameron well, think that she is cold and +proud. Truly, she does not wear her heart on her sleeve; but not to all +is revealed the true nature of the woman. Do you go to consult her on a +tiresome bit of business, to take a tale of deserving charity, to +confide a personal grief? Though in the midst of writing a sentence, the +busy pen is thrown aside, as she straightens the tangled web, opens her +purse to the pitiful story, or, with tender sympathy, enters into the +sorrow. + +The good old "grandfather" clock in the corner is a very ancient and +much-treasured relic; its hands, however, mark that it is time to go; +but Mrs. Lovett Cameron asks you to "stay a moment." She runs lightly +upstairs and returns with a bunch of the gold and brown chrysanthemums, +which she puts into your hands; then, casting a last look at the fierce +buffalo, you pass out into the quiet little square, and in less than +five minutes find yourself again in the noisy region of cabs and +omnibuses. + + + + +[Illustration: M Hungerford] + +MRS. HUNGERFORD. + + +It is well worth encountering the perils of the sea, even in the middle +of winter, and in the teeth of a north-east wind, if only to experience +the absolute comfort and ease with which, in these space-annihilating +days, the once-dreaded journey from England to the Emerald Isle can be +made. You have resolved to accept a hospitable invitation from Mrs. +Hungerford, the well-known author of "Molly Bawn," etc., to visit her at +her lovely home, St. Brenda's, Bandon, co. Cork, where a "hearty Irish +welcome" is promised, and though circumstances prevent your availing +yourself of the "month's holiday" so kindly offered, and limit an +absence from home to but four days, it is delightful to find that, +travelling by the best of all possible routes--the Irish Mail--it is to +be accomplished easily and without any fatiguing haste. + +Having given due notice of your intentions, you arrive at Euston just in +time for the 7.15 a.m. express, and find that by the kindness of the +station-master a compartment is reserved, and every arrangement, +including an excellent meal, is made for your comfort. The carriages are +lighted by electricity, and run so smoothly that it is possible to get a +couple of hours' good sleep, which the very early start has made so +desirable. On reaching Holyhead at 1.30 p.m. to the minute, you are met +by the courteous and attentive marine superintendent, Captain Cay, R.N., +who takes you straight on board the _Ireland_, the newest addition to +the fleet of fine ships, owned by the City of Dublin Steam Packet +Company. She is a magnificent vessel, 380 feet long, 38 feet in beam, +2,589 tons, and 6,000 horse-power; her fine, broad bridge, handsome +deck-houses, and brass work glisten in the bright sunlight. She carries +electric light; and the many airy private cabins indicate that, though +built for speed, the comfort of her passengers has been a matter of much +consideration. She is well captained, well officered, well manned, and +well navigated. The good-looking, weather-beaten Captain Kendall is +indeed the commodore of the company, and has made the passage for nearly +thirty years. There is an unusually large number of passengers to-day, +for it is the first week of the accelerated speed, and it is amusing to +notice the rapidity with which the mails are shipped, on men's backs, +which plan is found quicker than any appliance. Captain Cay remarks that +it is no uncommon thing to ship seven hundred sacks on foreign mail +days; he says, too, that never since these vessels were started has +there been a single accident to life or limb. But the last bag is on +board, steam is up, and away goes the ship past the South Stack +lighthouse, built on an island under precipitous cliffs, from which a +gun is fired when foggy, and in about an hour the Irish coast becomes +visible, Howth and Bray Head. The sea gets pretty rough, but luckily +does not interfere with your excellent appetite for the first-class +refreshments supplied. The swift-revolving paddles churn the big waves +into a thick foam as the good ship _Ireland_ ploughs her way through at +the rate of twenty knots an hour, "making good weather of it," and +actually accomplishes the voyage in three hours and fifteen minutes--one +of the shortest runs on record. The punctuality with which these mail +packets make the passage in all weathers is indeed truly wonderful--a +fact which is experienced a few days later on the return journey. +Kingstown is reached at 6.10 p.m. (Irish time), where the mail train is +waiting to convey passengers by the new loop line that runs in a curve +right through "dear dirty Dublin," as it is popularly called, to +Kingsbridge, and so on to Cork, where you put up for the night at the +Imperial Hotel. + +Another bright sunshiny morning opens, and shows old Cork at her best. +Cork! the old city of Father Prout's poem, "The Bells of Shandon," which +begins thus:-- + + With deep affection and recollection + I often think of Shandon bells, + Whose sounds so wild would in days of childhood + Fling round my cradle their magic spells, + On this I ponder where'er I wander, + And thus grow fonder, sweet Cork, of thee; + With the bells of Shandon + That sound so grand on, etc., etc. + +The river Lee runs through the handsome little city, and has often been +favourably compared with the Rhine. But Bandon must be reached, which is +easily managed in an hour by rail, and there you are met by your host +with a neat dog-cart, and good grey mare; being in light marching +order, your kit is quickly stowed away by a smart-looking groom, and +soon you find yourself tearing along at a spanking pace through the +"most Protestant" town of Bandon, where Mr. Hungerford pulls up for a +moment to point out the spot where once the old gates stood, whereon was +written the legend, "Let no Papist enter here." Years after, a priest in +the dead of night added to it. He wrote:-- + + Whoever wrote this, wrote it _well_, + The same is written on the gates of _Hell_. + +Then up the hill past Ballymoden Church, in through the gates of Castle +Bernard, past Lord Bandon's beautiful old castle covered with exquisite +ivy, out through a second gate, over the railway, a drive of twenty +minutes in all, and so up to the gates of St. Brenda's. A private road +of about half a mile long, hedged on either side by privet and hawthorn +and golden furze, leads to the avenue proper, the entrance gate of which +is flanked by two handsome deodars. It takes a few minutes more to +arrive at a large, square, ivy-clad house, and ere there is time to take +in an idea of its gardens and surroundings, the great hall door is flung +open, a little form trips down the stone steps, and almost before the +horse has come to a standstill, Mrs. Hungerford gives you indeed the +"hearty Irish welcome" she promised. + +It is now about four o'clock, and the day is growing dark. Your hostess +draws you in hastily out of the cold, into a spacious hall lighted by a +hanging Eastern lamp, and by two other lamps let into the wide circular +staircase at the lower end of it. The drawing-room door is open, and a +stream of ruddy light from half-a-dozen crimson shaded lamps, rushing +out, seems to welcome you too. It is a large, handsome room, very lofty, +and charmingly furnished, with a Persian carpet, tiny tables, low +lounging chairs, innumerable knick-knacks of all kinds, ferns, winter +flowers of every sort, screens and palms. A great fire of pine-logs is +roaring up the chimney. The piano is draped with Bokhara plush, and +everywhere the latest magazines, novels, and papers are scattered. + +Mrs. Hungerford is a very tiny woman, but slight and well-proportioned. +Her large hazel eyes, sparkling with fun and merriment, are shaded by +thick, curly lashes. She has a small, determined mouth, and the chin +slightly upturned, gives a _piquante_ expression to the intelligent +face--so bright and vivacious. Her hair is of a fair-brown colour, a +little lighter than her eyelashes, and is piled up high on the top of +her head, breaking away into natural curls over her brow. She is clad in +an exquisite tea-gown of dark blue plush, with a soft, hanging, loose +front of a lighter shade of silk. Some old lace ruffles finish off the +wrists and throat, and she wears a pair of little high-heeled _Louis +quinze_ shoes, which display her small and pretty feet. She looks the +embodiment of good temper, merry wit, and _espieglerie_. + +It is difficult to realize that she is the mother of the six children +who are grouped in the background. One lovely little fairy, "Vera," aged +three and a half, runs clinging up to her skirts, and peeps out shyly. +Her delicate colouring suggests a bit of dainty Dresden china. Later on, +you discover that this is actually the pet name by which she is known, +being indeed quite famous here as a small beauty. "Master Tom," a +splendid roly-poly fellow, aged sixteen months, is playing with a heap +of toys on the rug near the fire and is carefully watched over by a +young brother of five. The three other girls are charming little +maidens. The eldest, though but in her early teens, is intellectual and +studious; the second has a decided talent for painting, whilst the +third, says her mother, laughing, "is a consummate idler, but witty and +clever." + +By and bye your hostess takes you into what she calls her "den," for a +long, undisturbed chat, and this room also bears the stamp of her taste +and love of study. A big log fire burns merrily here, too, in the huge +grate, and lights up a splendid old oak cabinet, reaching from floor to +ceiling, which, with four more bookcases, seems literally crammed with +dictionaries, books of reference, novels, and other light literature; +but the picturesque is not wanting, and there are plenty of other +decorations, such as paintings, flowers, and valuable old china to be +seen. Here the clever little author passes three hours every morning. +She is, as usual, over-full of work, sells as fast as she can write, and +has at the present time more commissions than she can get through during +the next few years. Everything is very orderly--each big or little +bundle of MSS. is neatly tied together and duly labelled. She opens one +drawer of a great knee-hole writing table, which discloses hundreds of +half sheets of paper. "Yes," she says, with a laugh; "I scribble my +notes on these: they are the backs of my friends' letters; how +astonished many of them would be if they knew that the last half sheet +they write me becomes on the spot a medium for the latest full-blown +accounts of a murder, or a laugh, or a swindle, perhaps, more +frequently, a flirtation! I am a bad sleeper," she adds, "I think my +brain is too active, for I always plan out my best scenes at night, and +write them out in the morning without any trouble." She finds, too, that +driving has a curious effect upon her; the action of the air seems to +stimulate her. She dislikes talking, or being talked to, when driving, +but loves to think, and to watch the lovely variations of the world +around her, and often comes home filled with fresh ideas, scenes, and +conversations, which she scribbles down without even waiting to throw +off her furs. Asking her how she goes to work about her plot, she +answers with a reproachful little laugh--"That is unkind! You know I +never _have_ a plot really, not the _bona fide_ plot one looks for in a +novel. An idea comes to me, or I to it," she says, airily, "a scene--a +situation--a young man, a young woman, and on that mental hint I begin +to build," but the question naturally arises, she must make a beginning? +"Indeed, no," she replies; "it has frequently happened to me that I have +written the last chapter first, and so, as it were, worked backwards." + +"Phyllis" was the young author's first work. It was written before she +was nineteen, and was read by Mr. James Payn, who accepted it for +Messrs. Smith and Elder. + +Mrs. Hungerford is the daughter of the late Rev. Canon Hamilton, rector +and vicar choral of St. Faughnan's cathedral in Ross Carberry, co. Cork, +one of the oldest churches in Ireland. Her grandfather was John +Hamilton, of Vesington, Dunboyne, a property thirteen miles out of +Dublin. The family is very old, very distinguished, and came over from +Scotland to Ireland in the reign of James I. + +Most of her family are in the army; but of literary talent, she remarks, +it has but little to boast. Her principal works are "Phyllis," "Molly +Bawn," "Mrs. Geoffrey," "Portia," "Rossmoyne," "Undercurrents," "A +Life's Remorse," "A Born Coquette," "A Conquering Heroine." She has +written up to this time thirty-two novels, besides uncountable articles +for home and American papers. In the latter country she enjoys an +enormous popularity, and everything she writes is rapidly printed off. +First sheets of the novels in hand are bought from her for American +publications, months before there is any chance of their being +completed. In Australia, too, her books are eagerly looked for, whilst +every story she has ever written can be found in the Tauchnitz series. + +She began to write when very young, at school taking always the prize in +composition. As a mere child she could always keep other children +spellbound whilst telling them fairy stories of her own invention. "I +remember," she says, turning round with a laugh, "when I was about ten +years old, writing a ghost story which so frightened myself, that when I +went to bed that night, I couldn't sleep till I had tucked my head under +the bedclothes. This," she adds, "I have always considered my _chef +d'oeuvre_, as I don't believe I have ever succeeded in frightening +anyone ever since." At eighteen she gave herself up seriously, or +rather, gaily, to literary work. All her books teem with wit and humour. +One of her last creations, the delightful old butler, Murphy, in "A Born +Coquette," is equal to anything ever written by her compatriot, Charles +Lever. Not that she has devoted herself entirely to mirth-moving +situations. The delicacy of her love scenes, the lightness of touch that +distinguishes her numerous flirtations can only be equalled by the +pathos she has thrown into her work every now and then, as if to temper +her brightness with a little shade. Her descriptions of scenery are +specially vivid and delightful, and very often full of poetry. She is +never didactic or goody-goody, neither does she revel in risky +situations, nor give the world stories which, to quote the well-known +saying of a popular playwright, "no nice girl would allow her mother to +read." + +Mrs. Hungerford married first when very young, but her husband died in +less than six years, leaving her with three little girls. In 1883 she +married Mr. Henry Hungerford. He also is Irish, and his father's place, +Cahirmore, of about eleven thousand acres, lies nearly twenty miles to +the west of Bandon. "It may interest you," she says, "to hear that my +husband was at the same school as Mr. Rider Haggard. I remember when we +were all much younger than we are now, the two boys came over for their +holidays to Cahirmore, and one day in my old home 'Milleen' we all went +down to the kitchen to cast bullets. We little thought then that the +quiet, shy schoolboy, was destined to be the author of 'King Solomon's +Mines.'" + +Nothing less than a genius is Mrs. Hungerford at gardening. Her dress +protected by a pretty holland apron, her hands encased in brown leather +gloves, she digs and delves. Followed by many children, each armed with +one of "mother's own" implements--for she has her own little spade and +hoe, and rake, and trowel, and fork--she plants her own seeds, and +pricks her own seedlings, prunes, grafts, and watches with the deepest +eagerness to see them grow. In springtime, her interest is alike divided +between the opening buds of her daffodils, and the breaking of the eggs +of the first little chickens, for she has a fine poultry yard too, and +is very successful in her management of it. She is full of vitality, and +is the pivot on which every member of the house turns. Blessed with an +adoring husband, and healthy, handsome, obedient children, who come to +her for everything and tell her anything, her life seems idyllic. + +"Now and then," she remarks laughing, "I really have great difficulty in +securing two quiet hours for my work"; but everything is done in such +method and order, the writing included, there is little wonder that so +much is got through. It is a full, happy, complete life. "I think," she +adds, "my one great dread and anxiety is a review. I never yet have got +over my terror of it, and as each one arrives, I tremble and quake +afresh ere reading." + +"April's Lady" is one of the author's lately published works. It is in +three volumes, and ran previously as a serial in _Belgravia_. "Lady +Patty," a society sketch drawn from life, had a most favourable +reception from the critics and public alike, but in her last novel, very +cleverly entitled "Nor Wife, Nor Maid," Mrs. Hungerford is to be seen, +or rather read, at her best. This charming book, so full of pathos, so +replete with tenderness, ran into a second edition in about ten days. In +it the author has taken somewhat of a departure from her usual lively +style. Here she has indeed given "sorrow words." The third volume is so +especially powerful and dramatic, that it keeps the attention chained. +The description indeed of poor Mary's grief and despair are hardly to be +outdone. The plot contains a delicate situation, most delicately worked +out. Not a word or suspicion of a word jars upon the reader. It is not +however all gloom. There is in it a second pair of lovers who help to +lift the clouds, and bring a smile to the lips of the reader. + +Mrs. Hungerford does not often leave her pretty Irish home. What with +her incessant literary work, her manifold domestic occupations, and the +cares of her large family, she can seldom be induced to quit what she +calls, "an out and out country life," even to pay visits to her English +friends. Mr. Hungerford unhesitatingly declares that everything in the +house seems wrong, and there is a howl of dismay from the children when +the presiding genius even suggests a few days' leave of absence. Last +year, however, she determined to go over to London at the pressing +invitation of a friend, in order to make the acquaintance of some of her +distinguished brothers and sisters of the pen, and she speaks of how +thoroughly she enjoyed that visit, with an eager delight. "Everyone was +so kind," she says, "so flattering, far, far too flattering. They all +seemed to have some pretty thing to say to me. I have felt a little +spoilt ever since. However, I am going to try what a little more +flattery will do for me, so Mr. Hungerford and I hope to accept, next +Spring, a second invitation from the same friend, who wants us to go to +a large ball she is going to give some time in May for some charitable +institution--a Cottage Hospital I believe; but come," she adds, suddenly +springing up, "we have spent quite too much time over my stupid self. +Come back to the drawing-room and the chicks, I am sure they must be +wondering where we are, and the tea and the cakes are growing cold." + +At this moment the door opens, and her husband, gun in hand, with muddy +boots and gaiters, nods to you from the threshold; he says he dare not +enter the "den" in this state, and hurries up to change before joining +the tea table. "He is a great athlete," says his wife, "good at cricket, +football, and hockey, and equally fond of shooting, fishing, and +riding." That he is a capital whip, you have already found out. + +In the morning you see from the library window a flower garden and +shrubbery, with rose trees galore, and after breakfast a stroll round +the place is proposed. A brisk walk down the avenue first, and then back +to the beech trees standing on the lawn, which slopes away from the +house down to a river running at the bottom of a deep valley, up the +long gravelled walk by the hall door, and you turn into a handsome +walled kitchen garden, where fruit trees abound--apple and pear trees +laden with fruit, a quarter of an acre of strawberry beds, and currant +and raspberry bushes in plenty. + +But time and tide, trains and steamers, wait for no man, or woman +either. A few hours later you regretfully bid adieu to the charming +little author, and watch her until the bend of the road hides her from +your sight. Mr. Hungerford sees you through the first stage of the +journey, which is all accomplished satisfactorily, and you reach home to +find that whilst you have been luxuriating in fresh sea and country air, +London has been wrapped in four days of gloom and darkness. + + + + +[Illustration: M Betham-Edwards] + +MATILDA BETHAM-EDWARDS. + + +A winding road from the top of the old-fashioned High Street of Hastings +leads to High Wickham, where, on an elevation of some hundred feet above +the level of the main road on the East Hill stands a cottage, which is +the abode of a learned and accomplished author, Miss Betham-Edwards. The +quaint little "Villa Julia," as she has named it after a friend, is the +first of a terrace of picturesque and irregularly-built houses. A +tortuous path winds up the steep ascent, and on reaching the summit, one +of the finest views in Southern England is obtained. + +The vast panorama embraces sea, woodland, streets, and roads, the +umbrageous Old London coach-road, above, the grassy slopes reaching to +the West and Castle hills. Far beyond may be seen the crumbling ruins of +the Conqueror's stronghold (alas! this historic spot is now defaced by +an odiously vulgar and disfiguring "lift!"), and further still, the +noble headland of Beachy Head and broad expanse of sea, on which the +rays of sunshine glitter brightly. Between the East and West hills, a +green environment, lies nestled the town, with its fine old churches of +All Saints' and St. Clement's. On a clear day, such as the present, +no view can be more exhilarating, and the ridge on which Miss +Betham-Edwards's cottage stands is lifted high above the noise of the +road below. Behind stretch the gorse-covered downs leading to Fairlight, +from whence may be seen the coast of France, forty miles off, as the +crow flies. Close under the author's windows are hawthorn trees made +merry by robins all through the winter, and at the back of the house may +be heard the cuckoo, the thrush, and the blackbird, as in the heart of +the country. Truly, it is a unique spot, inviting to repose and +inspiring cheerfulness of mind. + +The interior of the Villa Julia is in thorough keeping with the +exterior. The little study which commands this glorious view is +upstairs. It is a charming room, simplicity itself, yet gives evidence +of taste and culture. There is nothing here to offend the eye, and no +suggestion of the art-decorator, but it is all just an expression of its +occupant's taste and character. "I have a fancy," says Miss +Betham-Edwards, "to have different shades of gold-colour running through +everything. It is an effective background for the pictures and pottery"; +accordingly, the handsome Morocco carpet, bought by herself in the +Bazaar at Algiers, is of warm hue. The furniture and wall-paper have the +prevailing delicate tints; an arched recess on each side of the +fireplace displays lovely specimens of brilliant pottery from Athens and +Constantinople, with many shelves below, filled with volumes in various +foreign languages. On the mantelshelf stand statuettes of Goethe and +Schiller, remembrances of Weimar; the walls are hung with water-colour +sketches by Mdme. Bodichen and many French artists. Long low dwarf +bookcases fill two sides of the room, the top shelves of which are +lavishly adorned with more pottery from Germany, Italy, Spain, and +Switzerland, the whole collected by the author on her foreign travels. +Her choice little library contains first and foremost the great books of +the world, and, besides these, a representative selection of modern +literature. "It is in a small compass," she remarks, "but I keep it for +myself, eliminating and giving away useless volumes which creep in." On +a neatly arranged writing table stand a stationery-case and a French +schoolboy's desk, which is rather an ornamental contrivance of +_papier-mache_. "I invariably use it," says Miss Edwards, "it is a most +convenient thing, and has such a good slope. When one is worn out I buy +another. I do not like things about me when I write; I keep a clear +table, and MSS. in the next room. I rise early, and work for five hours +every morning absolutely undisturbed: my maid does not even bring me a +telegram." + +From the window just below on the left can be seen the house of one of +Miss Betham-Edwards's _confreres_, Mr. Coventry Patmore, the poet. A +little further on is the picturesque villa which Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell +(the first woman doctor) inhabits. "As remarkable and good a woman as +ever lived," she adds. "I do not go much into society, for I find the +winter is the best time for writing. I lead a completely retired +literary life, but I have a few kindred spirits around me, and I +occasionally hold little receptions when we all meet." + +In person Miss Betham-Edwards is about the medium height, middle-aged, +and slender in figure. She is fair in complexion; has hazel eyes, and a +mass of thick, dark hair, grey over the temples, and worn in a twist at +the back, the ends dispersed neatly round a small and compact head. She +is wearing black for the present, being in mourning, but is fond of +warm, cheerful colours for habitual use. "But, indeed," she says, +smiling, "I have not much time to think of dress, and I was greatly +amused by the remark of a former old landlady who, anxious that I should +look my best at some social gathering, remarked austerely to me, +'Really, Madam, you do not dress according to your talents!' Upon which +I replied 'My good woman, if all folks dressed according to their +talents, two-thirds, I fear, would go but scantily clothed.'" + +Matilda Barbara Betham-Edwards is a countrywoman of Crabbe, R. +Bloomfield, Constable, Gainsborough, and Arthur Young. She was born at +Westerfield, Suffolk, and in the fine old Elizabethan Manor House of +Westerfield, Ipswich, her childhood and girlhood were spent. There was +literature in her family on the maternal side, three Bethams having +honourably distinguished themselves, viz., her grandfather, the Rev. W. +Betham, the compiler of the "Genealogical Tables of the Sovereigns of +the World"; her uncle, Sir W. Betham, Ulster King of Arms, the learned +and ingenious author of "Etruria Celtica," "The Gael and the Cymri," +etc.; and lastly, her aunt and godmother, Matilda Betham, the author of +"A Biographical Dictionary of Celebrated Women," and other works, and +the intimate friend of Charles and Mary Lamb, Southey, and Coleridge. + +From the paternal side Miss Betham-Edwards inherited whatever mother-wit +and humour she displays; her father, for whose memory she entertains the +deepest affection, was like Arthur Young, an agriculturist, and +possessed a genuine vein of native humour. Left motherless at a very +early age, she may be called self-educated, her teachers being plenty of +the best books, and with her first story-book arose the desire and fixed +intention to become herself a story-teller. + +In these early days among the cowslip meadows and bean fields of +Westerfield, books were the young girl's constant companions, although +she had the happiness of having brothers and sisters. By the time she +was twelve, she had read through Shakespeare, Walter Scott, "Don +Quixote," "The Spectator," "The Arabian Nights," Johnson's "Lives of the +Poets"; then, _inter alia_, Milton was an early favourite. As she grew +up, the young student held aloof from the dances and other amusements of +her sisters, writing, whilst yet in her teens, her first published +romance, "The White House by the Sea," a little story which has had a +long life, for it has lately been re-issued and numerous "picture-board" +editions have appeared. Amongst new editions, cheaper and revised, are +those of "Disarmed," "The Parting of the Ways," and "Pearls." By +request, some penny stories will shortly appear from her pen. "John and +I" and "Dr. Jacob" were the result of residences in Germany, the former +giving a picture of South German life, and dates from this period, and +the latter being founded on fact. + +"On arriving at Frankfort," says Miss Betham-Edwards, "to spend some +time in an Anglo-German family, my host (the Dr. Paulus of 'Dr. Jacob'), +almost the first thing, asked of me, 'Have you heard the story of Dr. +J---- which has just scandalized this town?' He then narrated in vivid +language the strange career which forms the _motif_ of the work." That +novel too has had a long existence. It was re-issued again lately, the +first edition having appeared many years ago. The personages were mostly +taken from life, "a fact I may aver now," she says, "most, alas! having +vanished from the earthly stage." On the breaking up of her Suffolk +home, the author travelled in France, Spain, and Algeria with the late +Madame Bodichen--the philanthropist, and friend of Cobden, George Eliot, +Dante Rossetti, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, and Herbert Spencer--herself a +charming artist, and writer of no mean power, but best known, perhaps, +as the co-foundress with Miss Emily Davis of Girton College. "To the +husband of this noble woman," she continues, "I acknowledge myself +hardly less indebted, for to Dr. Bodichen I owe my keen interest in +France and French history, past and present, and I may say, indirectly, +my vast circle of French friends and acquaintances, the result of which +has been several works on French rural life, and the greatest happiness +and interest to myself." + +"Kitty," which was first published in 1870 in three volumes, later on, +in one volume, and which is, perhaps, the most popular of Miss +Betham-Edwards's stories, belongs to this period. In Bishop Thirlwall's +"Letters to a Friend" occurs the following from the late Lord Houghton: +"'Kitty' is the best novel I have ever read." + +A compliment the author valued hardly less came from a very different +quarter. Messrs Moody and Sankey, the American revivalists, wrote to +her, and asked if she could not write for their organ a story on the +lines of "Kitty," but with a distinctly Evangelical bias. The request +was regretfully refused. Each character in this original and delightful +book is drawn to perfection and sustained to the end, which comes all +too soon. The genuine novel-lover, indeed, feels somewhat cheated, for +did not the author almost promise in the last page a sequel? A new +edition has just been published. + +"Kitty" was followed by the "Sylvestres," which first ran through _Good +Words_ as a serial. Socialistic ideas were not so much in evidence then +as now, and many subscribers to this excellent family journal gave it +up, frightened by views which are at the present moment common property. +No story, nevertheless, has brought Miss Betham-Edwards more flattering +testimony than this; especially grateful letters from working men +pleased a writer whose own views, political, social, and theological, +have ever been with the party of progress. The books already mentioned +are, without doubt, her most important novels, though some simple +domestic stories, "Bridget" for instance, "Lisabee's Love Story," "The +Wild Flower of Ravenswood," "Felicia," and "Brother Gabriel," are +generally liked; whilst in America several later works, "Disarmed," and +particularly the two German Idylls, "Exchange no Robbery" and "Love and +Mirage" (which last novel originally appeared as a serial in _Harper's +Weekly Magazine_ in America), have found much favour. Of this novel, +indeed, Miss Betham-Edwards received a gratifying compliment from Mr. +John Morley, who wrote to her, saying: "'Love and Mirage' is very +graceful, pretty, interesting, and pathetic. I have read it with real +pleasure." It has twice been translated into German. Of later years many +editions have been reproduced in one volume form. Another American +favourite is the French idyllic story, "Half-Way," now re-issued in one +volume. + +In 1891 Miss Betham-Edwards received a signal honour at the hands of the +French Government, viz., the last dignity of "_Officier de l'Instruction +Publique de France_." She is the only English woman who enjoys this +distinction, given as a recognition of her numerous studies of rural +France. Her last and most important work in this field is in one volume, +"France of To-day," written by request and published simultaneously in +London, Leipzig, and New York. In fiction her most recent contributions +are "The Romance of a French Parsonage" in two volumes, "Two Aunts and a +Nephew" in one volume, and a collection of stories, entitled "A Dream of +Millions." Of this the late lamented Amelia B. Edwards wrote to her +cousin: "It is worthy of Balzac." + +Miss Betham-Edwards has devoted herself entirely to literature, and is +an excellent linguist. "I have been again and again entreated," she +says, "to take part in philanthropy, public work, to accept a place on +the School Board, etc., but have stoutly resisted. A worthy following of +literature implies nothing less than the devotion of a life-time. +Literary laziness and literary 'Liebig,' _i.e._, second-hand knowledge +or cramming, I have ever held in disesteem. If I want to read a book I +master the language in which it is written. If I want to understand a +subject I do not go to a review or a cyclopaedia for a digest, but to the +longest, completest, most comprehensive work to be had thereon. In odd +moments I have attained sufficient Latin and Greek to enjoy Tacitus and +Plato in the original. French, German, Spanish, and Italian I consider +the necessary, I should say the obligatory, equipments of a literary +calling. It seems to me that an ordinarily long life admits of reading +the choicest works of the chief European literatures in the original, +and how much do they lose in translation!" + +An early afternoon tea is served in the snug little dining-room below, +in which stands a magnificent inlaid Spanish oak chest, occupying nearly +the whole side of the wall. This is a treasure heirloom, and is dated +1626, the time of Charles I.'s accession to the throne. Two quaint old +prints of Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds are also old family relics. On +the table is a German bowl from Ilmennau--Goethe's favourite +resort--filled with lovely purple and white anemones, which have just +arrived from Cannes, and in other little foreign vases are early +primroses and violets, for Hastings has enjoyed a long continuance of +bright sunshine and mild weather. Whilst at tea, the conversation turns +on music, celebrated people whom your hostess has met, and many social +subjects. Miss Betham-Edwards says, "Music has ever been one of my +recreations, the piano being a friend, a necessity of existence, but, of +course, a busy author has not much time for pianoforte playing. _Vidi +tantum!_ I have known and heard the great Liszt. I have also spent a +week under the same roof as George Eliot and G. H. Lewes. I have watched +the great French artist, Daubigny, paint a flotilla of fishing boats +from a window at Hastings. I have heard Gambetta deliver an oration, +Victor Hugo read a speech, the grandson of Goethe talk of _den +Grossvater_ in the great poet's house at Weimar. Browning, too, I used +to meet at George Eliot's and Lord Houghton's breakfast parties. +Tourgenieff, Herbert Spencer, and how many other distinguished men I +have met! It is such recollections as these that brace one up to do, or +strive to do, one's best, to contribute one's mite to the golden +store-house of our national literature, with no thought of money or +fame!" + +Miss Betham-Edwards is a first cousin of the late Miss Amelia Blandford +Edwards, the distinguished Egyptologist, and author of "Barbara's +History," etc. The author of "Kitty" is a Nonconformist, and holds +advanced opinions. She is an ardent disciple of Herbert Spencer, a keen +antagonist of vivisection, and has written on the subject, the only +social topic, indeed, which ever occupies her pen. She divides her time +between her cottage residence on the hills above Hastings and her +beloved France, where she has as many dear friends as in England. Of her +own works, the author's favourite characters are the humorous ones. The +Rev. Dr. Bacchus in "Next of Kin," Anne Brindle in "Half-way," Polly +Cornford in "Kitty" ("Where on earth," Lord Houghton asked her, "did you +get the original of that delightful woman!"), and Fraeulein Fink in "Dr. +Jacob," a study from life. As works of imagination, perhaps "Love and +Mirage" and "Forestalled" are, in her estimation, the best. "The Parting +of the Ways," "For One and the World," are also among a long list of +Miss Betham-Edwards's works. She has written a great many short stories, +whilst four charming volumes of travel must not be omitted; they are +entitled "The Roof of France," "A Winter with the Swallows," "Through +Spain to the Sahara," and "Holidays in Eastern France." These journeys +are all described with much brightness, reality, and graphic +word-painting, and betoken so thorough a knowledge of the scenes and +people that they form most pleasant and instructive reading. Many of the +works above mentioned have been translated into French--"Kitty" has just +gone into its second edition in that language--German, and Norwegian, +and all are published in Tauchnitz. + +"I am always glad," remarks the author, "to hear of cheap editions. I +should like to see good books brought out at a penny. I have had various +publishers, and never quarrelled with any of them. I know Mr. George +Bentley well. He is a man of great literary culture, and is always +kindness itself to me. The late Mr. Blackett, too, was a great friend." +Miss Betham-Edwards holds such decided and sensible views on one of the +great questions of the day that they shall be given in her own words. "I +consider," she says emphatically, "cremation to be an absolute duty +towards those to come, and support it on hygienic and rationalistic +grounds. Each individual should do his or her best to promote it." + +The conversation of this sympathetic and intellectual woman is so +fascinating that you are loath to leave without hearing somewhat of her +own principal reading. Expressing the wish to her, she smiles +pleasantly, and says: "My favourite English novels are 'Villette' and +'The Scarlet Letter,' both perfect to my thinking, and consummate as +stories and works of art. In German, my favourite novelist is Paul +Heyse. George Sand I regard as the greatest novelist of the age. George +Eliot's sombre realism repels me, whilst I fully admit her enormous +power. 'Don Quixote' in Spanish, with some other favourite works, I read +over and over again, Lessing's 'Nathan the Wise,' Schiller's 'AEsthetic +Letters,' these, and some of Goethe's smaller works I re-read regularly +every year; they are necessary mental pabulum. Spinoza is also a +favourite, second only to Plato. Of contemporary writers, Spencer, +Harrison, Morley, and Renan stand first in my opinion; whilst of the +living novelists I can only say that I endeavour to appreciate all. For +the stories of the late Mrs. Ewing I entertain the highest admiration; +also I delight in the graceful author of 'The Atelier du Lys.' Tolstoi, +Ibsen, Zola, and that school, I find repulsive in the extreme. +Imaginative literature should, above all things, delight. With the +sadness inherent in life should be mingled a hopeful note, a touch of +poetry, a glimpse of the beautiful and of the ideal." + +Miss Betham-Edwards has one faithful and cherished companion, who always +accompanies her in her walks, and who sits quietly beside her when she +writes. This is a white Pomeranian dog, very intelligent and +affectionate, who will certainly never be lost while he wears his +present "necklace," bearing the following inscription:-- + + My name is Muff, + That's short enough; + My home's Villa Julia, + That's slightly peculiar; + On the east side you'll find it, + With Fairlight behind it; + My missus is a poet, + By this you should know it. + +Ere the train leaves there is a good hour to spare; so, taking leave of +the gifted author, you employ the time in sauntering about the town, and +first go to see the fine church of St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea, founded by +Mr. Coventry Patmore; also some ancient buildings of quaint +architecture, in which the notorious Titus Oates is said to have lived. +The Albert Memorial is the most prominent object in the town, occupying +a central position at the junction of six roads, and close by are the +renowned Breach's oyster rooms, where the temptation to taste the +Whitstable bivalve in the fresh white-tiled shop is not to be resisted; +but whilst there the great clock on the Memorial warns you to be up and +away. There is much food for meditation on the return journey to town; +and on reflecting over all that Miss Betham-Edwards has learnt and +achieved, the poet's lines involuntarily suggest themselves: + + "And still the wonder grew, + That one small head should carry all 'she' knew." + + + + +[Illustration: Ada Ellen Bayly, "Edna Lyall"] + +EDNA LYALL. + + +To the befogged Londoner there is perhaps no greater treat than to +escape for forty-eight hours to the seaside even in the depths of +winter, and whilst spinning along by the London, Brighton, and South +Coast express, there is a pleasurable sense of excitement in the feeling +that you are going to breathe the fresh sea air of Eastbourne untainted +by smuts and smoke. "The Empress of watering-places," as a well-known +journalist has named it, is now seen in its best aspect. It presents +quite a different phase in August and September, when the residents, +almost to a man, desert the town, having previously with great prudence +let their houses at a high figure, and the place is given over to the +holiday-makers, nigger minstrels, braying bands, and itinerant beach +preachers. Now its genial, pleasant society is in full swing, and merry +golf parties are the order of the day. Few places have increased with +more rapid growth during the last fifteen or twenty years, or become +more popular as a residence than Eastbourne, partly owing to the +excellent train service, partly to the well-organised supervision over +every detail in the whole town, and again probably more to the bright, +healthy atmosphere, which registers three hundred days of sunshine as +against sixty-nine in London. + +In one of the prettiest roads in this pleasant seaside town stands--a +little way back from the red-and-black tiled pavement--a large brown +creeper-covered house with red tiled roof built in the Gothic style of +architecture. Though it has only been constructed during late years, the +gables and points give it an old-fashioned and picturesque look, but +beauty and variety of style are studied at Eastbourne, and each house is +apparently designed with a view to artistic effect. College Road is +bordered on either side by Sussex elms. The approach is by gates right +and left which open into a garden filled with shrubs. On seeking +admittance you are taken up to a bright, cheerful room which faces the +west, and has all the outward and visible signs of being devoted to +literary and artistic pursuits. As the young author, Edna Lyall, rises +from the typewriter in the corner opposite the door, with kindly +greeting, you are at once struck with her extremely youthful appearance. +She is about the medium height, pale in complexion, with dark hair +rolled back from a broad forehead which betokens a strongly intellectual +and logical cast of mind. She has well-defined, arched eyebrows, and +very dark blue eyes, which light up softly as she speaks. Her manner is +gentle and sympathetic, and her voice is sweet in tone. She wears a +simply-made gown of olive-green material, relieved with embroidery of a +lighter colour. + +The room seems exactly what one would expect on only looking at her. It +is the room of a student who prefers books to society, and every part of +it bears evidence of the simplicity, refinement, and quiet comfort of +her tastes. It is square and low, with a broad cottage window, +commanding a lovely view over the Downs, which have somewhat of an +Alpine look, the high hills in the distance, and the furthermost broad +belt of trees in the grounds of Compton Place are tipped with snow, as +also are those in the foreground, belonging to some private gardens. The +whole scene, now flooded in sunshine, is a constant delight to Edna +Lyall, who says that she "rejoices in the knowledge that it can never be +built out." Over the window hangs a wrought-iron scroll-work fern +basket, which looks like Italian manufacture, but is in reality made by +the boys of St. John's, Bethnal Green Industry, developed by Miss +Bromby. Under this is a broad, low shelf, covered with terra-cotta +cloth, which is the repository of many little treasures. The floor is +covered with Indian matting, strewn about with a few brightly-coloured +Indian and Persian rugs; and in the centre is a comfortable couch with a +guitar lying on it. The pretty American walnut-wood writing-table +against the wall on the right has a raised desk and little cupboards +with glass doors, which reveal many good bits of china. On the further +side is a handsome revolving table filled with books, and in the corner +stands an old grandfather clock of the seventeenth century. There is a +neat arrangement for hiding manuscripts out of sight, a tall piece of +furniture with little narrow drawers, also a piano opposite, and a +variety of quaintly-shaped chairs; but the feature of the room is a +large ornamental book-case on the left, filled with a hundred or so of +standard volumes. On the mantelshelf, amongst odds and ends of china, +stand some favourite portraits, and the author particularly calls +attention to a photograph of her great friend, Mrs. Mary Davies, whom +she describes as "a woman of most beautiful character." Another is of +Captain Burges, R.N., who was killed at Camperdowne, a third is a +platinotype head of George Macdonald, a fourth is of Frederick Denison +Maurice, the theologian, the others represent some of her principal +heroes, Sir Walter Scott, Algernon Sydney, John Hampden, and Mr. +Gladstone. There are many good pictures on the walls, a few pretty +landscapes in water-colours, a fine photograph of Sant's "Soul's +Awakening," and an Irish trout stream in oils; two are especially +attractive, the large and beautifully-executed photograph over the +fireplace of Hoffman's "The Child Christ in the Temple," and "The Grotto +of Posilipo," the grotto described by Edna Lyall in her novel, "The +Knight Errant." + +Ada Ellen Bayly (Edna Lyall) was born and educated at Brighton. Her +father, Mr. Robert Bayly, barrister-at-law, of the Inner Temple, died +when she was eleven, and three years later she lost her mother. Always a +thoughtful, studious child, at the age of ten she had already written +some short stories, which were read and thought promising by her +parents, who, however, wisely made her understand that story-writing +must stand second to her own training. From that time forward she was +always preparing for her future profession. After losing both her +parents the young girl made her home with a sister, who had married +Canon Crowfoot, of Lincoln. It was shortly after leaving school that she +wrote her first book, "Won by Waiting," a story of home life in France +and England. It is a charming story, simple in sketch and style, with +some clever bits of character-painting, in which, as her later books +show, she excels. + +There is a peculiar interest in her second novel, "Donovan." This work +was written at intervals during three years. "When beginning it," says +the young author, "I had very little notion of what I had undertaken. +Sometimes I wrote easily; sometimes I was at a standstill." But the +reason is easily explained. It was about that time that she began to +experience a great mental conflict. Profoundly religious by nature, she +entered deeply into the theological questions of the day, and though the +struggle was deep and painful, she never rested until her mind was +satisfied. "No one can regret," says Edna Lyall, "having been forced to +face the problems which 'Donovan' had to face, and I am very thankful to +have had that struggle. I wished to draw the picture of a perfectly +isolated man and his gradual awakening. He had, of course, to begin by +professing himself an atheist and a misanthrope; but very soon he begins +to love a child, then a dog, then a woman. By these means he comes to +realize his selfishness, and to detest it; he begins to love humanity, +to pity and help his worst enemy, and finally to 'love the highest' +when he sees it. Someone made me laugh the other day by saying that 'it +was stated on the best authority that Edna Lyall had cried most bitterly +at the thought of having written "Donovan" and "We Two," and would give +anything to recall them.' I can only tell you that all that makes life +worth living came to me through writing those books. So much for gossip! +The struggle is one which we have each to go through. We must think it +all out for ourselves," she goes on to say softly, whilst a bright, glad +smile illumines her face; for light and peace have come to her, and she +describes herself as having surmounted the storm, and achieved the haven +of rest and happiness in her belief. "Won by Waiting" and "Donovan" had, +according to the author, "fallen flat." + +In 1884 she introduced "We Two" to the world. This book, which is a +distinct story, is yet in a sense a continuation of the former, and was +the outcome of all that she had lived through in the preceding years. It +was so well reviewed in all the leading journals, and became so much +talked about, that people began to ask for "Donovan" so extensively, +that it took a new lease of life, and was soon as popular as or more so +than its sequel. These two works were brought out by Messrs. Hurst and +Blackett. + +In September, 1884, Edna Lyall came to Eastbourne, and established +herself with her sister, Mrs. Jameson, whose husband, the Rev. Hampden +Jameson, is attached to the handsome church, St. Saviour's, standing +close by, and she is herself a member of the congregation. Soon after +her arrival a new book was begun; this is a historical novel, and the +author gives an interesting account of the facts which suggested the +work. "Shortly after I had finished 'We Two,'" she says, "I happened to +visit an uncle and aunt of mine, whose charming old house in +Suffolk--Badmondisfield Hall--was connected with some of the happiest +days of my very happy childhood. The place had always been an ideal +place for dream stories and old-world plays. I knew every nook of the +quaint old hall and garden and park, and now the spell laid hold of me +again, and the characters of Hugo and Randolph, with whom I had had such +delightful imaginary games in old days, started into life once more. One +morning, pacing to and fro beside the bowling-green between the house +and the moat, the thought flashed into my mind that the time of the Rye +House plot would best develop the character of my hero--a naturally +yielding and submissive boy, whose will was held in bondage by the +stronger will of his elder brother. Little by little the outline of the +story shaped itself in my mind. Every history of England to be found in +the ancient bookcases was pulled down, old papers relating to the old +house and its owners looked through, old pictures studied, and the +possibility of Hugo's escapade in the musician's gallery at the end of +the dining-hall tested by an inch tape and elaborate calculations." + +On leaving Suffolk, Edna Lyall went up to London to study the reign of +Charles II in the reading-room of the British Museum. The story was +published in 1885 under the title of "In the Golden Days"--"a title +which," she says, "some people fancied I had meant seriously, but which, +of course, referred to the first line of the 'Vicar of Bray.'" In this +work are undoubtedly some of the finest characters of Edna Lyall's +creation. The chapter headed "The Seventh of December" contains a most +touching account of the patriot Algernon Sydney's death. Whilst still +engaged on this book the author spent many weeks yachting in the +Mediterranean, and during one visit to Naples and its neighbourhood used +some of the experience she had gained during former visits to Italy to +begin and think out the plot of "Knight-Errant." "The motive of that +book," she remarks, "is, I think, so distinctly expressed that I need +not say much about it. The motto I chose for the title-page shows that +in its central idea--reconciliation--it is the completion of 'Donovan' +and 'We Two,' though, naturally, as a story of stage life, it is quite +unlike them in plot and surroundings. I dislike 'novels with a purpose' +as much as any one," she adds, "but at the same time it seems to me that +each book must have its particular _motive_." + +"Knight-Errant" is a book of thrilling adventure and absorbing interest; +the account of the attack on the hero, Carlo, in the Grotto of Posilipo, +is so powerfully drawn that it keeps the reader in breathless suspense. +Norway, too, is one of her favourite haunts, and in the land of the +mountain and the fjord she is quite at home. Intensely fond of nature, +she has depicted, in her latest three-volume novel (Hurst and Blackett), +"A Hardy Norseman," in most realistic language, the exquisite scenery +that she witnessed during some of her long, solitary carriole drives. +She spent many very happy days with her friends, Presten Kielland +(brother of the well-known Norwegian author, Alexander Kielland) and his +charming wife and children. "He and his eldest daughter," says the young +author, "are excellent English scholars, and I owe to them an +introduction to Norwegian life which as a mere tourist I could never +have gained." + +None who read Edna Lyall's books can fail to be struck by her tender and +vivid word-painting of animals (the faithful dog, "Waif," is familiar to +all) and of little children, but here she can draw from the life, as +there are eight little nephews and nieces downstairs whom she adores, +and with whom she is a great favourite. + +But the mid-day sun is high in the heavens, and your hostess proposes to +take you for a stroll round the grand extension parade below the Wish +Tower, and as you walk she beguiles the time with pleasant conversation +on personal incidents. Referring to a little sketch published in the +form of a shilling book by Messrs. Longmans in 1887, called the +"Autobiography of a Slander," "Ah!" she says smiling, "that _was_ +written 'with a purpose,' and was suggested by a very disagreeable +incident. On returning from one of our delightful Norwegian tours, I was +greeted on every side by a persistent report that had been set afloat to +the effect that I was in a lunatic asylum! We found out at this time +that an impostor had been going about announcing that she was 'Edna +Lyall,' and that in Ceylon, and during her voyage home, she had +deceived many people. The only possible explanation of the lunatic +asylum slander seems to be that this woman was in reality mad. But the +episode was decidedly unpleasant, and set me thinking on the birth and +growth of such monstrously untrue reports. During the autumn of 1886 I +wrote the little story, taking different types of gossip for each stage +in the Slander's growth and baleful power--the gossip of small dull +towns, of country life, of cathedral precincts, of London clubs, and the +gossip of members of my own profession in search of 'copy.'" + +By this time you have reached a spot called by the inhabitants Mentone. +The broad tiled walk is sheltered by the great cliff, behind which is a +steep embankment prettily planted with shrubs, and traversed here and +there by steep little zigzag paths running upwards to the heights, +whilst before you rises the grand outline of Beachy Head. The sky is +brilliantly blue as far as eye can reach all around. The sun (which you +had not seen in town for six weeks) is shining brightly, casting its +radiance on the calm sea, the little wavelets are gently breaking over +the pebbles below, and the fresh, pure air is most exhilarating. A few +invalids in bath chairs are being drawn slowly along, and all the beauty +and fashion of Eastbourne are out enjoying a sun-bath. Amongst the +_habitues_ you recognize many well-known faces. That tall, graceful, +Madonna-like woman, with her fair young daughter, surrounded by a group +of friends, is Mrs. Royston-Pigott, widow of the eminent scientist. The +handsome soldierly man with the benevolent face is General Buchanan, of +cavalry renown, and close to him strolls his youngest daughter, radiant +in the beauty of youth. Edna Lyall observes that Mr. Balfour is +occasionally to be seen on the links enjoying a game of golf. Everyone +seems revelling in the warmth of this January sunshine, but time +presses, and you may not linger. If aught could compensate for turning +away from such a scene, it is the charm of your hostess's conversation, +as she walks with you and speaks of her favourite poets--Tennyson, Mrs. +Browning, and Whittier, whilst she declares her favourite characters in +prose fiction are "Jeanie Deans" and Thackeray's "Esmond." Asking her +which are her special pets in her own books, she says laughing, "As +Anthony Trollope said when asked a similar question, 'I like them all,' +but perhaps Carlo the best, so far. You asked me just now, when we were +interrupted, how my books succeeded. 'Won by Waiting' had a very small +sale. It was favourably reviewed in several papers, and cut into +mincemeat by a very clever weekly journal, so wittily, that even a +youthful author could only laugh! Then it 'joined the majority.' +'Donovan,' in spite of many excellent reviews, shared the same fate; +only 320 copies sold, then he, too, sank into oblivion temporarily. It +was a hard time, and I could not resist weaving some of my memories of +those literary struggles into my latest story--a little sketch called +'Derrick Vaughan, Novelist,' published first in _Murray's Magazine_, +later, in one volume form, by Methuen. Since May, 1889, I have been +unable to write at all, owing to my long attack of rheumatism and fever, +but now that I am growing strong, I hope to set to work again"; and as +you bid adieu to this gifted and interesting woman, you heartily +re-echo the wish. + +_Sic transit gloria mundi._ A couple of hours later the train has borne +you swiftly from the glorious sunlight and sea into the persistent gloom +and obscurity of London. The speed slackens, you glide into the station, +your brief holiday is at an end. + + + + +[Illustration: Rosa Nouchette Carey] + +ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY. + + +Although a sad change has come over the ancient and historic village of +Putney, and it has lost much of its quaint and picturesque environment +since the destruction of the toll-house and the dear old bridge of 1729, +with its score of narrow openings--at once the delight of artists and +the curse of bargees--there is still a bit left which has escaped the +hands of the Philistines. Unique and fair is the view from the +magnificent, though aggressively modern, granite structure which now +spans the river; and how many memories of the past are aroused! The grey +old church of St. Mary's, Putney, and the massive tower of All Saints, +Fulham, flank either end. This latter edifice, originally built as a +chapel of ease to Wimbledon, is of great antiquity, and has been twice +rebuilt, once in the reign of Henry VII. and again in 1836, when the +grand old tower, which gives such a prominent feature to the landscape, +was restored. On one side is the fine terrace of lofty houses known as +The Cedars, with their wide breezy gardens overlooking the river, so +short a time since the scene of many pleasant garden parties, when a +well-known and popular author occupied one of these houses. Now, alas! +they are all empty and deserted; cranes and stones and heaps of rubbish +have transformed their time-honoured lawns into desolation. No scheme of +utilization seems to suggest itself, and meanwhile the noble site is +unused, and these handsome tenements are rapidly solving the question, +and, abandoned to all the ravages of time, are dropping into obtrusive +decay. On the other side of the bridge there is a glimpse of the shady +grounds of Fulham Palace, the leafy foliage of the Bishop's Moat and +Avenue, and a view of a lovely line of trees on the shore skirting the +grounds of old Ranelagh--now given up to the building fiend--and +Hurlingham, while the broad silvery river itself, and its slow-moving +barges and boats with brown and red sails, give life and colouring to +the scene. At night, when the lights only of unlovely Hammersmith are +gleaming across the water, the effect is decidedly picturesque. + +In a second the mind involuntarily travels back a few centuries, and +pictures to itself the appearance of this same spot when the army under +Cromwell made it their head quarters, while the King was a prisoner in +Hampton Court; when forts were standing on each side, and a bridge of +boats was constructed across the river, by order of the Earl of Essex, +during the Civil War, on the retreat of the Royalists after the battle +of Brentford. But the imaginary panorama fades, and your thoughts return +to the present age as you drive a few hundred yards further on, and +reach the top of a long terrace of small but artistically built +red-brick Elizabethan houses, where in one which is semi-detached, the +well-known writer, Miss Rosa Nouchette Carey, has made her home with her +eldest widowed sister and her family. The author meets you at the +threshold of her study at the top of the staircase, and takes you into +what she calls her "snuggery," a simple, but tastefully furnished room, +looking out into a large garden, where birds of all sorts are encouraged +to come; a thrush sings melodiously, and is among many singing birds a +daily visitor. An oak knee-hole writing-table, with raised blotting-pad, +stands in the corner by the window, and on it is a vase full of bright +scarlet geraniums and ferns. Everything is arranged with great neatness, +and each spot seems to have its use. Little and big lounging chairs, a +low spring couch, one or two small tables, a bookcase filled with +well-bound books, and a cabinet covered with photographs and pretty +little odds and ends of china, all combine to make a cheerful, +comfortable, and attractive whole. A cage is on the floor, and perched +on the top is a beautiful cockateel, or Australian Joey bird, of the +parrot type, with grey top-knot, yellow tuft and pink feathers on the +sides of the head, which give it the odd appearance of a fine healthy +colour on the cheeks. This intelligent bird is a great pet of your +hostess, and walks up and downstairs in answer to her call. + +Miss Rosa Nouchette Carey is tall, slender, and erect in carriage. She +has large blue-grey eyes with long lashes, and her soft dark hair, in +which a silver thread may be seen here and there, is parted smoothly +over her brow, and plaited neatly round her head. She wears a black +dress with brocaded velvet sleeves, and is cordial and peculiarly gentle +in manner. + +"We have lived here six years," she says, in a low, tuneful voice; "but +Putney is getting quite spoilt. They have pulled down and built over the +grand old Jacobin House, which stood close by in the Richmond Road, with +its seven drawing-rooms, subterranean passages, and lovely gardens which +were a joy to us, also Fairfax House, with its pleasant garden and its +fine old trees." + +There are other, not a few, historical recollections of Putney. Queen +Elizabeth used often to stay at the house of Mr. Lacy, the clothier, who +also entertained Charles I. It was the birthplace of Edward Gibbon, +author of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"; of Thomas +Cromwell, who was made Earl of Essex by Henry VIII.; and of Nicholas +West, Bishop of Ely, who originally erected the small chantry chapel in +the old church near the bridge; but though this has been removed from +the east end of the south aisle to the east end of the north side, the +old style has been carefully preserved. Many eminent people have lived +here. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, widow of Shelley, had her residence at +the White House by the river; Leigh Hunt lived and died in the High +Street. Among others, Theodore Hook, Douglas Jerrold, Henry Fuseli, the +painter; Toland, the friend of Leibnitz; James Macpherson; and last, but +not least, Mrs. Siddons. Putney also witnessed the death of William +Pitt, Earl of Chatham. + +Rosa Nouchette Carey was born in London, near Old Bow Church, but she +has only vague memories of the house and place. She was the youngest but +one of a large family of five sisters and two brothers. Her father was a +ship-broker, and afterwards had vessels of his own. He was a man of +singularly amiable character, and his integrity and many virtues made +him universally beloved and respected. Her childhood was passed at +Hackney in the old house at Tryons Place, where many happy days were +spent in the room called the green-room, overlooking a large +old-fashioned garden well filled with shady trees. "It was a simple, +happy, uneventful life," says Miss Carey. "Being a delicate child, my +education was somewhat desultory. My youngest sister and I were left a +good deal alone, and I remember that my chief amusement, besides our +regular childish romps, was to select favourite characters from history +or fiction, and to try and personify them. I was always the originator +of our games, but my sister invariably followed my lead. I used to write +little plays which we acted. I began a magazine, and wrote several +pieces of poetry, of the most foolish description probably," she adds, +smiling, "for I am sure I could not write a line now to save my life! My +greatest pleasure was to relate stories to this same sister over our +needlework or under the shade of the old trees." + +In this way the whole of "Nellie's Memories" was told verbally, when +still in her teens, and was only written down seven years afterwards. +"My mother was a strict disciplinarian and was very clever and +practical," she continues. "As a girl I was singularly dreamy, and spent +all my leisure time in reading and writing poetry; feeling the +impossibility of combining my favourite pursuits with a useful, domestic +life, and discouraged by my failures in this respect, I made a +deliberate and, as it afterwards proved, a fruitless attempt to quench +the longing to write, while at the same time I endeavoured to be more +like other girls, but this unnatural repression of a strong instinct +could not last, and after some years I gave it up. I am not aware that +my mother knew of this strange conflict, but she was the first to +rejoice at my literary success. My literary taste is not inherited, +except in one solitary case, my father's cousin, Christopher +Riethmueller, author of "Teuton," "Legends of the Early Church," "The +Adventures of Neville Brooke," and "Aldersleigh." + +Later on the family moved to South Hampstead, where Rosa Carey's +schooldays began, and it was whilst at school that she formed an +enthusiastic friendship with Mathilde Blind, afterwards the clever +translator of Marie Bashkirtseff's Journal, and author of "The Descent +of Man," and other works. This friendship, which was a source of great +interest to both girls, was only interrupted by a divergence of their +religious opinions. Mathilde Blind was brought up in the most advanced +school of modern freethought, but Rosa Carey, adhering to the simple +faith of her childhood, could not follow her there, and the friends +drifted apart, sorrowfully, but with warm affection on each side. + +The next change in her life was the death of her father, after which +terrible bereavement the widowed mother and three daughters lived +together, but the gradual breaking-up of the once large family had set +in. After their mother's death, the youngest daughter's convictions led +her to embrace a conventual life, and she entered the Anglican +Sisterhood of St. Thomas of Canterbury. The death of their mother +occurred on the same day which three years before had witnessed their +father's end. After this sad event Miss Rosa Carey says her real +vocation in life seemed to spring up, and she and her remaining home +sister went to Croydon to superintend their widowed brother's household. +Three years later the circle was again narrowed. Her sister married the +Rev. Canon Simpson, vicar of Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland, on the Valley +of the Eden, a most lovely spot, where the author for eleven years +regularly paid an annual visit, and where she laid the scenes depicted +in vivid and eloquent words in her novel "Heriot's Choice." Rising, she +points out four pictures, reminiscences of Westmoreland, which hang over +her writing-table. One is a view of great beauty, a second the exterior +of the church, a third is the handsome interior, which looks more like a +cathedral with its massive pillars and groined roof, and the fourth +represents the vicarage. Her brother's death soon left the orphan nieces +and nephew to her sole care. "The charge somewhat tied my hands," said +Miss Carey, "and prevented the pursuing of my literary labours as fully +as I could have otherwise done. Interrupted by cares of house and +family, the writing was but fitfully carried on. Six years after, +however, circumstances tended to break up that home. Three of my charges +are married, and one of my nephews is a master at Uppingham. These six +years have been my first leisure for real work." + +The launching of "Nellie's Memories" threatened at first to cause the +young writer some disappointment. Quite unacquainted with any +publishers, and without any previous introductions, she took the MSS. to +Mr. Tinsley, who at first declined to read it. Some months later she +consulted Mrs. Westerton, of Westerton's Library, who good-naturedly +undertook to induce him to do so. "I am glad to name her," says Miss +Carey. "I shall always remember her with gratitude, for, on hearing that +the reader's opinion was highly favourable, she hurriedly drove from +some wedding festivity to bring me the good news. I can even recall to +mind the dress that she wore on the occasion." + +Not to many girl-authors is it given that her first novel shall bring +her name and fame, but this simple, domestic story of English home-life +speedily became a great favourite. Though free from any mystery or +dramatic incidents, the individuality of the characters, the pure +wholesome tone, and the interest which is kept up to the end, caused +this charming story to be widely known and to be re-issued in many +editions up to the present date. The next venture was "Wee Wifie," which +Miss Carey pronounces to have been a failure; but as that work has been +quite lately demanded by the public, it is possible that she may have +taken too modest a view of its merits. On being applied to for +permission to bring it out again, she at first refused, thinking that it +would not add to her literary reputation; but subsequently, however, she +rewrote and lengthened it, though without altering the plot, and it has +passed into a new edition. + +Her next five novels--entitled respectively "Barbara Heathcote's Trial," +"Robert Ord's Atonement," "Wooed and Married," "Heriot's Choice," and +"Queenie's Whim"--came out at intervals of two years between each other, +and were followed by "Mary St. John." Then came a delightful book +called "Not Like Other Girls," which was a great success. This is a +spirited and amusing story of a widowed mother and her three plucky +girls, who, in the days of their prosperity, were sensibly brought up to +make their own frocks, and who, when plunged into poverty, turned this +excellent talent to such good account that they set up in business as +dressmakers, being employed alike by the squiress at the Hall and by the +village butcher's wife, and there is as much of quiet humour described +in their interview with this worthy dame, and their attempts to tone +down her somewhat florid taste, as there is in the discussions and +opinions of the neighbours and friends of the family about the venture +of these wise and practical girls. Since Miss Carey came to Putney she +has brought out "Lover or Friend," "Only the Governess," "The Search for +Basil Lyndhurst," and "Sir Godfrey's Grand-daughters." She is also on +the staff of the _Girl's Own Paper_, and, whenever she has time, sends +short stories, which run as serials for six months in that journal +before being issued in single volume form. Four of these tales have +already appeared. + +It is quite obvious to the readers of Miss Carey's works that she is +fond of young people--she has, indeed, at the present time a regularly +established class for young girls and servants over fifteen years of +age, which had already been formed in connection with the Fulham Sunday +School, in which she takes a great interest--and that the distinctive +characteristic throughout all her books is a tendency to elevate to +lofty aspirations, to noble ideas, and to purity of thought. With great +descriptive power, considerable and often quiet fun, there is a delicacy +and tenderness, a knowledge and strength of purpose, combined with so +much fertility of resource and originality that the interest never +flags, and the sensation, on putting down any of her works, is that of +having dwelt in a thoroughly healthy atmosphere. "Heriot's Choice" was +originally written for Miss Charlotte Yonge, and was brought out as a +serial in the _Monthly Packet_ before being issued in three-volume form, +but all Rosa Nouchette Carey's books are published by Messrs. Bentley. + +"My ambition has ever been," says the gentle author, "to try to do good +and not harm by my works, and to write books which any mother can give a +girl to read. I do not exactly form plots, I think of one character and +circle round that. Of course, I like to meditate well on my characters +before beginning to write, and I live so entirely in and with them when +writing that I feel restless, and experience a sense of loss and blank +when a book is finished, and I have to wait until another grows in my +mind. I have sometimes rather regretted a tone of sadness running +through some of my earlier stories, but they were tinged with many years +of sorrow. Now I can write more cheerfully. Like many authors, I only +work from breakfast to luncheon, sometimes at the table, more often with +my blotting-pad on my knee before the fire, and I cannot do without +plenty of air and exercise, and often walk round Putney Heath. More than +twenty years ago I was introduced to Mrs. Henry Wood, who used often to +come down to the old Jacobin House, of which I spoke just now. Our +acquaintance ripened into an intimacy which only ended with her life. +She was very quiet, interesting, and unlike anyone else, but no one ever +filled the niche left by her death. Some of my favourite books are +'Amiel's Journal,' Currer Bell's works, George Eliot's, and biographies; +also psychological works, the study of mind and character, whilst in +poetry I prefer Jean Ingelow and Mrs. Browning." + +The long-standing friendship with Helen Marion Burnside--the well-known +writer of many clever tales for children, booklets, verses, and +songs--began when they were in their early womanhood. Eighteen years ago +Miss Burnside became an inmate of Miss Carey's house, and ever since +they have shared the same home, living in pleasant harmony and +affection. + +Presently comes an invitation to join the family five o'clock tea-table. +Glass doors in the drawing-room lead into the conservatory, whence +issues the soft cooing of ring-doves. The pretty marqueterie cabinets +disclose a set of Indian carved ivory chessmen and many quaint bits of +china, whilst on a sofa, in solitary state, sits a knowing-looking +little tame squirrel with a blue ribbon round its neck. After tea, on +the arrival of some visitors, you are so lucky as to get a few minutes' +private conversation with Miss Burnside, and you learn a few facts +concerning your hostess that could never have been gleaned from one of +such reticence and modesty as she. "I do not think," says Helen Marion +Burnside, "that I have known any author who has to make her writing--the +real work of her life--so secondary a matter as has Rosa Carey. She has +so consistently _lived_ her religion, so to speak, that family duty and +devotion to its many members have always come first. She never hesitates +for a moment to give up the most important professional work if she can +do anything in the way of nursing or comforting any of them, and she is +_the_ one to whom each of the family turns in any crisis of life. Having +had so much of this, and rather weak health to struggle against, it is +the greatest wonder to me that she has been able to write as many books +as she has done, and in so bright a spirit as many are written. Of +course, real womanly woman's work _is_ the highest work, but I think few +writers put it so entirely above the professional work as she does. I +have often been surprised at her surprise when some little incident has +brought her public value home to her. Even now she does not in the least +realize that she has her place in the literary world as other +contemporary authors have. It is really quite singular and amusing to +come across such a simple-minded 'celebrity.' I wonder if you found it +out for yourself," she adds quaintly. + +Certainly no better words could be found to describe the sympathetic, +gifted, and lofty-souled Rosa Nouchette Carey. + + + + +[Illustration: Adeline Sergeant] + +ADELINE SERGEANT. + + +Despite the proverb that "comparisons are odious," there is a great +fascination to those who love to explore the old quarters of London, and +to hunt up the records of people who have lived and died there, leaving +their mark whether for good or evil, and then to note the difference +that a hundred or so of years have made in its buildings and +inhabitants. Take old Bloomsbury for instance--by no means an +uninteresting stroll--described by Evelyn in 1665 as "a little towne +with good aire." Pope alludes to this once fashionable locality thus:-- + + "In Palace Yard at nine, you'll find me there, + At ten for certain, sir, in Bloomsbury Square." + +According to Timbs, in his interesting work on London, this "little +towne" was the site of the grand old Domesbury Manor, where the kings of +England in ancient days had their stables. Yonder great corner house was +built by Isaac Ware, editor of _Palladio_, originally a chimney-sweep, +of whom it was said, that "his skin was so ingrained with soot, that to +his dying day he bore the marks of his early calling." By the way, that +particular trade would appear to have been extremely lucrative in those +days, as it is well known and authenticated that two great squares--not +a hundred miles away--were entirely built by one David Porter, "who held +the appointment of chimney-sweep to the village of Marylebone." + +A few hundred yards further on to the north-west, and you reach the +quiet thoroughfare of Chenies Street, which connects Gower Street and +Tottenham Court Road, and here, indeed, a transformation has taken +place. Where are the solid, but dull, old, grey houses which erstwhile +stood on this spot? Within the last few years they have all been swept +away, and the street is vastly improved by the imposing block of +red-brick mansions which has been erected, and which bears outside a +brass plate, inscribed "Ladies' Residential Chambers." A long-felt want +is here supplied. In an age when hundreds of women of culture and of +position are earning their living, and whose respective occupations +require that they should dwell in the metropolis, a necessity has arisen +for independent quarters, such as never can be procured in the ordinary +lodgings or boarding-house, where, without being burdened with the cares +of house-keeping, the maximum of comfort and privacy with the minimum of +domestic worry can be obtained. All this is amply provided for within +these walls. Touching an electric button without, the door is opened by +the porter--the only man in the house--who wears on his breast the Alma, +Balaklava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol medals, you enter a spacious hall, +which opens on all sides into a number of self-contained flats. In the +centre is a vast well staircase running up to the top of the building. + +On the present occasion business takes you only to the first floor, +where, rounding the great corridor, are separate little vestibules, each +containing a complete suite of rooms, and Miss Adeline Sergeant's +chambers are reached. They are so exquisitely arranged, and display so +much artistic taste and refinement, that a few words must be said in +description of them. The outer door is covered inside with a striped +Moorish _portiere_, and leads into a little hall faced by the study, and +opening into the drawing-room on the right. The blue and white walls, on +which hang half-a-dozen pictures, are of conventional floral design, +relieved by cream-coloured mouldings, which throw up the rich Oriental +draperies of the couch and Japanese screen near the door. The floor is +laid down with peacock-blue felt and a few Persian rugs of subdued +tints, whilst a white Siberian wolf, mounted on a fine black bearskin +forms the rug. The broad bay windows are hung with soft cream-coloured +muslin and guipure curtains, peeping out from the folds of oatmeal cloth +hangings of the same shade of blue. Three dwarf bookcases are fitted +into recesses, and are well filled with all the books necessary to a +woman of letters. A clear fire blazes and sparkles in the tiled hearth, +and throws out a ruddy glow over the bright brasses. The fireplace is +draped with wine-coloured brocaded velvet curtains; the mantelshelf is +high, and the long oblong mirror, in plain black narrow frame, is raised +just sufficiently to show off the beautiful Oriental china, Benares +brass vases, and Indian jars standing thereon. Over it hangs a single +plaque, framed in dark oak, copied by Miss F. Robertson, in _violet de +fer_ on china, from the original engraving of "Enid, a Saxon Maiden." +There are flowers everywhere--pots of lilies of the valley, ferns and +palms, alike on the little hexagonal ebonised table in the windows and +the small cabinet, whilst cut daffodils and anemones are grouped in +vases in other parts of the room. The great Arabian brass salver, with +its mystic scrolls and ebonised stand, forms a suitable tea-table +alongside the comfortable American rocking-chair. The copper-coloured +brocaded silk gown, with a tinge of red, which Adeline Sergeant wears, +with leaves of darker and flowers of lighter pattern woven in, is in +unison with the prevailing tints by which she is surrounded. A black fur +boa is carelessly thrown round her shoulders, she is rather below the +middle height, dark grey eyes, with a mischievous twinkle in them, can +be discerned behind the _pince-nez_ which she habitually wears, her good +colouring betokens a healthy constitution her extremely thick hair, +lightly touched with grey, is loosely rolled back from her forehead, she +has a merry, bright smile, and laughs with silvery sweetness on being +told you had nervously expected, from her pictures, to see a +strong-minded, austere-looking woman; but until a sun-portrait can +produce rich colouring, earnestness of purpose, combined with an +ever-changing, laughing expression, she will appear to those who have +only seen her photograph as being somewhat severe and stern. + +Adeline Sergeant was born at Ashbourne, in Derbyshire. Her father +belonged to an old Lincolnshire family who had lived since the sixteenth +century, at least, on the same ground, and had inhabited for many years +a long, low, rambling house, of which he used to delight to tell her +stories. When yet but a child she went with her parents to Selby, +Easingwold, Weston-super-Mare, Worcester, and Rochester, where, when she +was nineteen years of age, her father died, and their wanderings +practically ended. + +"My mother was a quiet, delicate, refined, sensitive woman," says Miss +Sergeant, while a look of sadness comes over her face. "She spent most +of her spare time in writing, and from her, I suppose, I inherit some of +my taste for writing, though it comes from my father's side too, for a +cousin of mine is a literary man, and several of my relations dabbled a +little in literature. My mother wrote verses and religious stories +chiefly; she had a very high ideal of style, and one of my earliest and +latest recollections of her is seeing her covering scraps of paper with +her peculiarly beautiful handwriting in pencil, and afterwards copying +them most carefully in ink at her desk. She had a long illness; she died +of consumption, after eight years of confirmed invalidism and gradually +wasting away. I remember it now as a remarkable fact that I never knew +her to complain or to have anything but the sweetest, brightest smile. +Her sense of the ridiculous was acute to the very last, and she was +always ready to enjoy a good story. Her appreciation of literature was +very great, and it was from her that I learned to enjoy Browning as well +as the older masters of verse. After my father's death we removed to the +suburbs of London, and my mother died fifteen months later. We were +united heart and soul, and her death was the greatest sorrow of my life, +especially as I had been much separated from her by school and college +life, and had been promised that I should live at home and care for her +when my elder sister married, but my mother died four months before the +wedding, and that dream--hers as well as mine, I think--was never +realized." + +Adeline Sergeant began to write at the very youthful age of eight. Her +first published verses appeared when she was but thirteen, and a volume +of verse when she was sixteen years of age. "It always seems to me," she +continues, "that I owe a great deal to the influences of the free +country life of my early childhood when we lived at Eastington, near +Stonehouse, for two years. I believe that modern teachers would say that +I wasted my time, for I went to no school then, but 'did lessons' with +my mother in a desultory fashion." Rambling for hours in the fields and +lanes by herself, sometimes with a book and sometimes without, the young +author used conscientiously to set herself her own tasks; she wrote +innumerable stories, had no playfellows, and no children's books, but +she had the run of her father's library. Here she read Shakespeare until +she knew him by heart; next to Shakespeare her favourite book was +Addison's "Spectator"; after these came Byron, Mrs. Hemans, and many +earlier poets, Prior, Gay, Dryden, etc. Here, from the age of eleven to +fifteen, she also studied theological writers like Chalmers, Butler, and +Jeremy Taylor; whilst a set of Encyclopaedias, in twenty-two volumes, +gave her many happy hours. It is no wonder that Adeline Sergeant +declares this to have been one of the most fructifying periods of her +life, and that her impressions of landscape, cloud scenery, effects of +light, shade, sound, etc., are still coloured by her remembrances of +that time. + +"I think," she observes, smiling, "that this was better bracing for the +mind than the indiscriminate devouring of story-books, which is +characteristic of young folks nowadays. But I must also add that at +Weston, our next place of residence, I simply gorged myself on novels of +all sorts, as I had the command of every circulating library in the +place, and no control was ever exercised over my reading." + +At sixteen Miss Sergeant went to Laleham, Miss Pipe's well-known school +at Clapham; and at eighteen to Queen's College, Harley Street, where she +held a scholarship for some time. The death of her sister two years +after her marriage left the young girl very much alone in the world. For +some years she lived with very dear and kind friends, whose two +daughters she had some share in teaching. Having much time free, she +went on with her literary work, which had been suspended for a long +while after her bereavements, when she had no heart to write anything. +After leaving college, Adeline Sergeant devoted herself entirely to +study for the Cambridge and other examinations. After taking her First +Class Honours Certificate in the women's examination, she gave up her +time to teaching, writing, and parochial work of all sorts; she played +the organ in church, held Sunday and week-day classes for village +children, trained the choir, and so on. A temporary failure in health +made a winter in Egypt a real boon to her about that time, and it was on +her return that she gave herself up more to literary work. + +"I was not at all successful at first," says Miss Sergeant in a cheerful +tone of voice. "My first novel has never seen the light to this day. My +second was also refused, but has since been re-written and re-issued, +under the name of 'Seventy Times Seven.' I wrote little stories for +little magazines, and a child's book or two. But I had no success for +many years. In 1880 I competed for a prize of L100 offered by the Dundee +_People's Friend_ for a story, and gained it, to my great delight. I +have kept up my connection with this paper ever since, and am always +grateful to the editor for the help he gave me at a critical time. This +story was 'Jacobi's Wife.' When I heard the good news I was in Egypt, +where I was spending a winter at the invitation of my friends, Professor +and Mrs. Sheldon Amos. On my return I wrote 'Beyond Recall,' which +embodies my impressions of Egyptian life. I went on writing for the next +two years, and doing other work as well, but in 1883 I made up my mind +to throw myself entirely into literature." + +Miss Sergeant's next step was to write and consult the kindly Dundee +editor on this subject, and in return she received a proposition from +the proprietors that she should go to live in Dundee and do certain +specified literary work for them. She did so, and counts it as one of +the most fortunate occurrences of her life, as she made many friends and +led a pleasant and healthful life, first at Newport, in Fife, and then +in Dundee. Two years later, however, it seemed better to her to return +to London, though without severing her connection with Dundee. Since +1887 Adeline Sergeant has lived more or less in London, although she +spends a good deal of time at the seaside, in the country, and in +Scotland, or in visiting at friends' country houses in different parts +of England. + +Besides the works already named, Adeline Sergeant has produced several +highly interesting novels, notably, "An Open Foe," "No Saint," "Esther +Denison," and "Name and Fame"--this last was written in collaboration +with A. S. Ewing Lester--"Little Miss Colwyn," "A Life Sentence," "Roy's +Repentance," "Under False Pretences." Her later works are "Caspar +Brooke's Daughter," "An East London Mystery," and "Sir Anthony." "Esther +Denison" and "No Saint" are, perhaps, the author's own favourites, +although she frankly says that she thinks that they have not found as +much favour with the public as some of her more "sensational" stories, +though the critics generally liked them better, and, indeed, compared +them with George Eliot and some of Mrs. Oliphant's works. Both these +books contain many transcripts from her own personal experiences. +"Esther Denison" is, indeed, largely autobiographical. It is evident +that Miss Sergeant has put her whole heart in this story. A somewhat +caustic wit is pleasantly relieved by the earnest tone which runs +through it. Without being a theological novel, the description of the +struggles of the high-souled but sympathetic heroine is powerfully and +faithfully drawn. Many of these books contain strong dramatic incidents; +they are all full of interest, and are characterized by the exceeding +good taste and the excellent English in which they are written. They are +all popular in America, where they are published by Messrs. Lowell & +Son. + +"I have sometimes been misunderstood by critics," Miss Sergeant +observes, "on account of the absence of any _data_ to my books. Having +disposed some years ago of many of the copyrights, I see them issued as +if they were freshly written, which is not always the case. A weekly +reviewer expressed great surprise at the publication of 'Jacobi's Wife' +_after_ 'No Saint.' As a matter of fact it had been written and sold +some years earlier. My own works seem to me to fall into two classes: +the one, of incident, when I simply try to tell an interesting story--a +perfectly legitimate aim in art, I believe--and the other, of character, +with the minimum of story. I like to analyze a character 'to death,' so +to speak, and I look on my stories of this sort as the best I have +written." + +Of one of Adeline Sergeant's late novels, "An East London Mystery," no +single word of the plot shall be hinted at, nor shall the intending +reader's interest be discounted beforehand. Suffice it to say that from +the first page to the last it is full of deeply-absorbing matter. Each +character is drawn with a masterly touch, and is admirably sustained +throughout; it may be safely predicted that when taken up it will +scarcely be laid down until the last leaf be turned. + +A peculiar interest is attached to a book which has lately come +prominently before the public, and which has created much sensation, +called "The Story of a Penitent Soul" (Bentley & Son), to which Adeline +Sergeant's name was not affixed, but of which she now acknowledges +herself to be the author. It deals with a sad subject handled in a +powerful but most delicate manner, and is quite a new departure from her +former works. For some time the critics, whilst mostly praising it +warmly and at once recognizing that it was written by no ''prentice +hand,' were somewhat puzzled as to the authorship. Gradually the secret +leaked out, and Miss Sergeant relates in a few eloquent words her +reasons for the concealment of her identity with the story. "Every now +and then," she says, "I feel the necessity of escaping from the trammels +imposed by publishers, editors, and the supposed taste of the public. I +want to say my own say, to express what I really mean and feel, to +deliver my soul. Then I like to go away 'into the wilderness' and write +for myself, not for the public, without caring whether anybody reads and +understands what I write, or whether it is published or not. That is how +and why I wrote 'The Story of a Penitent Soul.' It was written because +it _had_ to be written; it wrote itself, so to speak. Work done in this +way is the only work that seems worth doing and is in itself a joy, but +it cannot be done at will, or every day." + +Novel-making, however, does not absorb all this industrious author's +time. She is an ardent novel reader in three languages. Her favourite +writers in English are Thackeray, George Eliot, and Meredith. As she +reads French authors more for style than for subject she is not afraid +to avow that she greatly admires Daudet, Pierre Loti, Flaubert, and +Georges Sand; the Russian novelists Tolstoi, Dostorievski, and +Tourguenieff are also much to her liking, and she reads American modern +writers such as Howell, Henry James, and Egbert Craddock, with pleasure. +"But I read other things besides novels," she says. "Even as a child I +was always of a metaphysical turn, and my delight in books of that sort +is so great that I hardly dare touch them when I am trying to write +fiction. They fascinate and paralyse me. Economics and some kinds of +theological speculation are also a favourite study." + +Her love for economics and the discussion of social problems has led +Adeline Sergeant to join the Fabian Society, in which she takes great +interest. Her religious tendencies are all in the direction of what is +called "Broad Church," and she is an ardent believer in Women's +Suffrage. She is a member of the committee of the Somerville Club for +women, and is on two sub-committees. She is the co-secretary for the +Recreative Evening Schools Association in St. Pancras District, and an +Evening School Manager for north and south St. Pancras. "I must say that +I have a great deal too much to do," she adds, "and I cannot get through +half as much business as I ought. I have a rather large circle of +friends, and I find it difficult to keep up with my social duties. I +generally write all the morning, but I like to write and can write all +day. At St. Andrews, for instance, where I have just spent two months, I +wrote and read for quite nine or ten hours every day. One cannot do that +in London." As a recreation Miss Sergeant prefers music to any other, +and, indeed, used to play a good deal once, but has now no time to keep +up any pretence at _technique_. The same reason has caused her to +discard her old pastime of pen-and-ink drawing, of which she is +passionately fond, but which she found to be rather too trying to the +eyes to be pursued with advantage. "I have done some elaborate +embroidery in my time," she says, "but now I never use my needle for +amusement; only for necessity. Any sort of philanthropic work that I +undertake is purely secular. I love foreign travel, though I have not +gone abroad very lately. I have been in Holland, Belgium, Germany, +Italy, and France, besides in Egypt. Switzerland I reserve for a future +occasion. It may interest you to hear my unknown American readers every +now and then send me kind letters, with requests for autographs or +photographs, and that this last likeness, which misled you to think me +'severe and stern,' was taken chiefly in order to be reproduced for the +benefit of American as well as English readers. I wonder if it will have +the same effect on them," she adds, laughing. + +The little study beyond must be visited, and here are Miss Adeline +Sergeant's _secretaire_ and library. It contains a fairly good +collection of English authors, and much French literature; but she has +moved about so constantly from place to place, that she has been unable +to collect as many books as she would have liked. The great broad couch +by the window is a comfortable lounge for a weary writer, and the rest +of the furniture is all snug and suitable. Miss Sergeant imparts some +interesting information about this unique establishment, which was +founded for gentlewomen only, of different occupations. The number of +rooms in each flat varies from two to four or five, according to +requirements. The whole concern is conducted entirely upon the +principles of a gentleman's club, with the great advantage that the +tenants can be as much at home and enjoy as absolute a privacy as they +desire. The _cuisine_ and all domestic details are under the management +of an experienced housekeeper. Breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners are +served in the great club-room below during stated hours, each allowing a +good margin for the convenience of the members, whilst an adjoining room +is reserved for their private parties. This is a gala day at the +"Ladies' Residential Chambers." There is a large afternoon "At Home," +which is an annual entertainment. Each lady has sent cards to her +friends and the guests are beginning to flock in. The coloured-tiled +corridors and window-ledges are gaily decorated with palms, ferns, and +flowers. A hospitable custom prevails. Wherever a hall-door is found +open it is a signal that visitors to the other residents are permitted +to enter and look round the rooms. Should any lady be unable to receive +she "sports her oak." Ample refreshments are provided in the club-room, +and as many doors are invitingly thrown open, you take advantage of the +implied permission, and are kindly received by each hostess. There are +members of many professions within these walls. Two sets of chambers are +occupied by practising medical women, a third by a busy journalist, a +fourth by an artist, a fifth by a young musician, a sixth by a fair and +gentle girl, who modestly tells you that she is a high-school mistress, +and, with kindling eyes, adds, "there is a glorious independence in +earning one's own bread." There is a happy _camaraderie_ prevailing in +this big hive of scholarly, industrious women. Such things as quarrels +or petty jealousies are unknown, and when it is stated that these +mansions have only been built for four years, and that all the +twenty-two sets of chambers which they contain are inhabited, it will be +readily understood how much the comfort and freedom of this cheerful +club life is appreciated. But the three or four hundred guests are +dispersing, and you take leave of Miss Adeline Sergeant, with a sense of +gratitude for an entirely novel and interesting entertainment. + + + + +[Illustration: Mary E. Kennard] + +MRS. EDWARD KENNARD. + + +There is great wailing and lamentation at Market Harboro'. King Frost +holds the ground in an iron grip. Fresh snow falling almost daily +spreads yet another and another layer, and all is encrusted hard and +fast, but far around it sparkles like a sea of diamonds, emitting the +colours of a rainbow in the radiant sunshine. Horses are eating their +heads off and are ready to jump out of their skins; hounds are getting +fat and lazy; the majority of the sportsmen have long ago taken +themselves off to London, Monte Carlo, and elsewhere, and the few who +remain spend their days in skating, toboganning, and curling. + +While the barometer averages nightly ten to twenty degrees of frost, +perhaps the most favourable moment has arrived to find one's hunting +friends freed from the daily labour they so cheerfully undergo for the +sake of sport. As in ordinary weather a protracted hunt with Mr. +Fernie's hounds, or a long day with the Pytchley, would at this season +have kept Mrs. Edward Kennard to a late hour in the saddle, you gladly +seize the opportunity afforded, and accept a kind invitation to visit +her at "The Barn." A two-hours' run from St. Pancras to Leicestershire, +with a change at Kettering, lands you at Market Harboro' station, +where a neat brougham, drawn by a pair of handsome brown horses (with no +bearing reins), waits to convey you to Mr. Edward Kennard's hunting box, +which stands back between two fields of ridge and furrow in the main +road from Kettering to Market Harboro'. A straight avenue, bordered on +either side by lime and fir trees, breaks into a circular grass front, +where the drive divides, the right road leading to a substantial, +comfortable-looking red-brick house, with sloping roof, tall gable over +the entrance-hall, and sides picturesquely covered with ivy, whilst the +left turns to the stables (that essential part of a sporting +establishment), which, with the kitchen gardens and paddocks, are in the +rear. In usual circumstances a fine vista of undulating pasture, and +extensive views of the happy hunting-fields of Northamptonshire and +Leicestershire, can be seen, in which are several historical +fox-coverts; but now, in the snow-bound condition of the earth, +everything is white, save for the line of dark intersecting hedgerows, +and the delicate tracery of leafless trees standing in black silhouette +against the sky. As the afternoon advances, a grey haze creeps over the +far-famed Harboro' Vale, shrouding alike "bullfinches" and +"double-oxers," into which sinks a golden sun behind a bank of crimson +and purple clouds. + +But the carriage stops. The broad stone steps lead into the entrance +hall, where, facing you, stands a black, long-haired, stuffed sloth +bear, hugging the sticks and umbrellas, and an oak case, full of English +game-birds. Glass doors open into the broad, lofty, central hall, giving +outlet to numerous rooms, which are all draped with heavy _portieres_ +on each side. The first to the right opens, and Mrs. Edward Kennard +comes out to bid you welcome to "The Barn," and leads the way into the +drawing-room, which is bright with a huge, blazing fire and tall lamps. +She is above the middle height, and her slight, well-built figure shows +to as much advantage in the neatly-fitting brown homespun costume as it +does in her well-cut "Busvine" habit. She has a small head, well set on, +with dark hair curling over her brow, and dark eyes which, owing to her +being short-sighted, have somewhat of a searching expression as she +looks at you, and the kindest of smiles. A woman of peculiar grace, +gentleness, and refinement, her pluck and skill which are so prominent +in the chase and lead her to delight in all field sports, in no way +detract from her womanly characteristics in the home circle and other +relations in life. + +Mrs. Edward Kennard is the second daughter and fourth child of a +well-known public man, Mr. Samuel Laing, late member for the counties of +Orkney and Shetland, and formerly Finance Minister of India. + +"I believe," says your hostess, as you sit at tea, "that I took to +scribbling principally through finding time hang heavy on my hands and +seeking occupation. I fancy that any small love of literature which I +may possess is hereditary, since my father, who is now chairman of the +Brighton Railway, has written several important works, notably, "Modern +Science and Modern Thoughts," "Problems of the Future," etc., whilst my +grandfather, Mr. S. Laing, was also well known as an author in his day, +and wrote a famous book of Norwegian travel, still considered one of +the best extant. In the schoolroom (we lived at Hordle, Hants, then) I +was regarded as the dunce, and my childish recollections are always +embittered by thoughts of scoldings, punishments, and admonitions from +our various governesses. + +At the age of fifteen the young girl was sent to a private establishment +at St. Germains, when, under a different system of tuition, she began to +take an interest in her studies, and to work in earnest. Two or three +years later she returned to England, and shortly after married Mr. +Edward Kennard, Deputy-Lieutenant and Magistrate for the counties of +Monmouthshire and Northamptonshire, son of the late Mr. R. W. Kennard, +M.P. He, too, has literary as well as sporting tastes, and is the author +of "Fishing in Strange Waters" and "Sixty Days in America," besides +being a contributor to the _Illustrated London News_, _Graphic_, and +_The Chase_. He is also an artist, and every part of the house is +decorated with his clever, spirited sketches in oils and water-colours. + +Mrs. Edward Kennard's first literary efforts were a series of short +stories, which she wrote for her two boys. These were afterwards +collected and published in one volume called "Twilight Tales." +Subsequently, when the little fellows had to be sent to school, and she +describes herself as "having felt lost without them," during a long +period of indifferent health, she turned her attention to authorship. +Her first novel, "The Right Sort," was produced in 1888, and was +followed by "Straight as a Die," "Twilight Tales," and "Killed in the +Open." Next came "The Girl in the Brown Habit," "A Real Good Thing," "A +Glorious Gallop," "A Crack County," "Our Friends in the Hunting Field," +"Matron or Maid," etc., etc. These are all sporting novels, as most of +their names indicate, and contain the graphic account of many a stirring +and exciting run depicted with the vividness and fidelity born of +accurate knowledge of hounds, horses, and huntsmen, and long experience +in the field. All these works are very popular at home and in the +colonies, and most of them have passed into many editions. "Landing a +Prize" is the result of several seasons spent in Norway on the Sandem, +Stryn, Etne, Aurland, Gule, Foerde, and Aaero rivers. This book relates to +quite another kind of sport, for the author who can so successfully +negotiate a real Leicestershire flyer--a high blackthorn fence with a +ditch on either side of it--with such ease and grace, and has ridden +first flight in this county and in Northamptonshire since her marriage, +is equally at home in salmon-fishing, and last year, with considerable +dexterity and skill, wielded her seventeen-foot rod of split cane to +such good purpose that she landed a thirty-six pounder, a feat of which +her husband and sons are justly proud; but you must go to Mr. Kennard to +get details of his wife's prowess, for she says, modestly, "It is so +very difficult to say anything much of oneself. I like hunting, of +course, but look upon it purely as an agreeable physical amusement, and +not the _one_ business of life, as it is considered in this +neighbourhood, a thing to which all other interests must be sacrificed. +Marrying very young, it has since been my fate to reside in a hunting +county, and therefore I have had few opportunities for gratifying my +love for travel and seeing fresh scenes. For the last few years, +however, we have spent our summers in Norway, and I have become almost +as fond of salmon-fishing as of riding." + +The scene of the author's late work is laid in Germany, and in "A +Homburg Beauty" she gives a vigorous narrative of a steeplechase which +she witnessed in that place. The last two novels she produced are +entitled "That Pretty Little Horse-Breaker," and "Wedded to Sport." + +Mrs. Edward Kennard is as clever with her needle as is her husband with +his paint-brush, and many are the evidences of her capacity in this +feminine accomplishment in the room. The curtains, cornices, +mantel-cloths, together with several screens and cushions--even the +window blinds--are all exquisitely embroidered by her industrious +fingers. There are many priceless pieces of very old Japanese bronze, +china, and ancient lacquer work scattered about the room. On one table +is a perfect model in soapstone of an Indian burying-ground, and above +the dado is a narrow terry velvet ledge on which are strewn lovely bits +of Japanese ivories and other ornaments. The walls are hung with +water-colour paintings of scenes in Egypt, by Mr. Kennard, and the whole +room looks cosy and comfortable in the slow of warm firelight and +coloured lamp-shades. + +An hour or so later you are all sitting at a large round dinner-table, +which is artistically decorated with quaint dried sea-weeds and shells +of delicate tints and shades, grouped on an arrangement of "Liberty" +silks, and the effect is as original as it is pretty. There are only +the family party present: your kind, genial hosts and their two +sons--Lionel, a handsome young Militia officer reading for a cavalry +commission; and Malcolm, a naval cadet, who has just passed out of the +_Britannia_ with eight months' sea time. Both are promising youngsters, +the pride and joy of their parents, and either can hold his own against +the "grown-ups" in the hunting field. The silver bowl yonder is a prize +gained by "Rainbow" and "Ransom," two fox-hound puppies walked by Mr. +Kennard; and a large painting hanging opposite attracting your +attention, Mrs. Kennard explains that it was executed by Bassieti, and +was exhibited amongst the Old Masters at Burlington House, and that the +original study was purchased out of the Hamilton collection by the +National Gallery, where it now hangs. Dinner over, an adjournment to the +billiard-room is proposed. The walls are hung with trophies of sport, a +forest of stags' horns, including wild fallow, wapiti, red-deer, +chamois, and roebuck. Your eye is first caught by the monster salmon, +painted on canvas and stretched over the model of the great fish on the +spot where Mrs. Kennard landed it, and above it hangs a picture of the +scene at Tower Sloholen where the feat was accomplished. The principal +painting in this room is of the author on "Rhoda," long since defunct, a +celebrated mare by Zouave, who carried her several seasons without a +fall. Near this is Lionel when a child, on his first pony, "Judy," who +is still alive, and spending a happy old age in the paddock. This pony +and the handsome fox-terrier following his mistress round the room, both +figure in "Twilight Tales." But old "Skylark" must not be forgotten, +and here hangs his portrait, representing his wonderful jump--owner +up--over water, a distance of twenty-eight feet from take-off to land. A +curious object lies on the side table, a British officer's sword, with +crest, monogram, Queen's crown, and V.R. on it, which has been turned +into a barbaric weapon, and is encased in a rude leather scabbard with +silk tassels. On the mantelpiece stands a great bronze six-armed +monster, with open mouth, and on a lighted match being secretly applied +behind its back to a tiny gas tube within, you turn round to find a long +thin flame issuing therefrom, at which the gentlemen light their cigars. +Below this is a border, beautifully embroidered in silks by Mrs. +Kennard, representing hounds in full chase after a fox. A pleasant game +of billiards finishes the evening. + +On the morrow Mr. Kennard suggests a further inspection of other +interesting parts of the house, and promises that at noon, when the +horses are dressed, his wife shall act as cicerone, and do the honours +of the stables. Accordingly, first Mrs. Edward Kennard's summer study is +visited. It lies between the dining and drawing rooms, and looks bright +and cheerful, with its amply-filled bookcases, comfortable +lounging-chairs, and little tables. The writing-table stands in front of +the window, from whence there is a fine view, which in summer inspires +the author to write some of her happy bits of scenery; but the +peculiarity of this room is the extraordinarily large collection of +china ranged in tiers round the walls. It is, indeed, a complete dinner +service of fifteen dozen plates, designed and painted by Mr. Kennard, +and brought out by Mortlock, and is quite unique. + +On the other side of the hall is a glass case containing a splendid +silver-grey fox, stuffed, and carrying a dead pheasant in its mouth. +This was a tame fox, reared from a cub. Just at the foot of the great +open staircase is the weighing chair and book recording the weights of +all the hunting people in these parts. The broad, lofty staircase walls +are laden with an _olla podrida_ of curiosities, notably some barbaric +necklaces and armlets studded with uncut gems, and several full-dress +suits of Arab and Nubian ladies, made of grasses and strips of leather, +which on breezy days might be considered somewhat too scanty to please +the British matron. There are fine old paintings here by Albert +Bierstadt, Maes, and Van der Helst, and higher up hangs a more modern +one of a hunt in the early days of the author's married life, when dogs +supplied the place of children. Amongst a museum of stuffed crocodiles, +catamarans, a parrot fish from the Dead Sea, sundry Egyptian warlike +implements, musical instruments, and mediaeval deities painted on glass, +there hangs a solitary broken stirrup leather which has a story. It is +the one by which the famous horsewoman was dragged at a gallop over a +ridge-and-furrow field, breaking her arm in two places, the horse she +rode failing to jump a stiff stile out of a wood. This, and another bad +fall--when she was lost to sight in a ditch beneath the heavy body of a +fifteen-stone weight-carrier--Mr. Kennard declares to be the two worst +accidents he ever witnessed in the hunting-field, "but," he adds, "they +have in no way shaken her nerve." + +There is just time before keeping tryst with your hostess to peep into +her second writing room, formerly the nursery, but now devoted to +literature and fine art. From the window, which looks out to the +south-east, can be seen the rifle range and tobogganing ground. The next +is the large photographing room (in which art the whole family are +deeply interested), but noticing a negative plate lying buried under two +inches of ice in a dish, you prudently and promptly beat a retreat, +though not before noticing the lovely effect of the hoar-frost on the +deep ruby-coloured windows lighted up by the sun. Noon strikes, and +descending the staircase you find your hostess in the hall (both her +hands are full of lumps of sugar for her pets), and _en passant_ pause +to examine a splendid old Italian cassone over seven feet long, +supported on two animated-looking griffins. This is one of the finest +sixteenth century walnutwood carvings, or rather sculptures in high +relief, in Europe, and is complete and uninjured. + +The long passage at the back of the lower rooms of the great house opens +out into a large square red-brick courtyard, with coach-house, forge, +and two stables on the right and left, where the good stud-groom Butlin +is waiting. This faithful and trusted retainer is greatly valued by his +employers. He has been in their service for a great many years, adores +his horses, and is as proud of Mrs. Kennard's riding as are her husband +and boys. He opens the door on the left, where there are four stalls and +two loose boxes, in which stand "Roulette," a fine bay mare; "Bridget," +a dun pony who goes in harness, and carries the younger boy to hounds; +"Leicester" and "Blackfox," who are both harness horses and hunters. +The magnificent black-brown animal yonder is "Quickstep," a gift from +Mrs. Kennard's father; she says, "He does not know what it is to refuse +or turn his head, and is one of the boldest and freest horses that ever +crossed Leicestershire. I rode him twenty-seven times last season, and +he never had a filled leg." In the stable on the right you find "Diana," +a handsome bay mare with black points, standing 16.1, and "Grayling," +both fine bold fencers; "Grasshopper," and "Magic," a bay mare by +"Berserker," and a marvellous hunter. Lastly, "Bobbie," by "Forerunner," +who is a great pet, and inherits his natural jumping qualities from his +dam, Rhoda. Out of this fine collection "Bobbie" and "Quickstep" are +Mrs. Kennard's favourite mounts, though she often rides most of the +others. But you are particularly enjoined to see old "Skylark," who +occupies a summering box in the smaller yard. This grand old hunter, +though twenty years old, can still hold his own after hounds, indeed, +Butlin observes that "there is not a horse in the country who can jump +or gallop against him for a four mile run." Returning by the side of the +field, he points out old "Judy," and a promising filly, "Rosie," who +come trotting up to their mistress, in anticipation of their daily +sugar. + +There is a large and merry party of frozen-out fox-hunters at luncheon, +after which everyone goes off to the tobogganing ground. Mrs. Edward +Kennard is to the fore here too. She seats herself daintily in the +little vehicle, and glides down the great hill swiftly and gracefully, +though many of the party get an awkward spill, or land ignominiously in +a hedge full of twigs. By and by comes the news that a thaw is +imminent, which sends up all the spirits of the hunting community +delightfully, and great are the preparations and arrangements. If this +state of things continue, ere many days have elapsed the brave and +fearless writer will once more be in the saddle doing three, and +occasionally four, days a week, mounted alternately on her good little +"Bobbie" or the equally gallant "Quickstep." Then, although skating and +curling may have kept the sportsmen and women, who did not forsake +Market Harboro', fairly amused, there will be great jubilation, and once +more the delights of the chase will come as a fresh sensation after a +stoppage of so many weeks. Before long the shires will again be in their +glory, hounds will race over the purified pastures, foxes will run +straight and true, in that best of all hunting months February, and it +is just possible that the end of the season may yet atone for the +disappointments, inaction, and last, but not least, the expense which +for so long characterised it, and to the "music of hound and ring of +horn" you leave the gentle and clever author. + + + + +[Illustration: Jessie Fothergill] + +JESSIE FOTHERGILL.[1] + + + [1] Since the serial publication of these sketches the death + of the gifted writer has taken place. + +With a vivid recollection of the comforts enjoyed on a recent trip to +Ireland to visit Mrs. Hungerford, you again trust yourself to the tender +mercies of the London and North-Western line with the intention of +calling on Miss Jessie Fothergill, author of "The First Violin," etc., +in her own home. Starting at 10.10 a.m. from Euston, and having +prudently taken another of the young writer's works, "Kith and Kin," +to beguile the time during the long journey, you arrive punctually at +2.20 p.m. at the busy, bustling town of Manchester, having found that +with the fascinating novel, combined with the smoothly-running and +comfortable carriages and a good luncheon basket, four hours have passed +like one; so deeply absorbing is the story that you have lost all count +of time, and utterly neglected to notice the scenery through which you +have been so rapidly carried. Proposing, however, to repair this +omission on the return journey, you select a tidy hansom, with a +good-looking bay horse and an intelligent-faced Jehu, desiring him to +point out the principal objects of interest to be seen. Having an +hour to spare, there is time to make a _detour_, and drive round the +exterior of the great Cheetham Hospital, which, with its college and +library, are famous relics of old Manchester, and are in the immediate +neighbourhood of the Cathedral, and in a moment you seem to be +transported from the bustle and roar of life into the quiet and peace of +the old world cloisters. + +Presently, driving past St. Peter's Church, the open door invites a peep +at the famous painting of the "Descent from the Cross," by Annibal +Carracci, which adorns the altar, and, finally, passing on the left +Owens College, the principal branch of the Victoria University, the cab +pulls up at Miss Fothergill's door. + +It is a quiet street lying off Oxford-street, one of the main +thoroughfares of Manchester; and the house, one of a modest little row, +is small and ordinary. The rooms are larger than might have been +expected from its exterior, notably Miss Fothergill's own "den," as she +calls the place where she spends nearly all her time. It is upstairs, +and has two windows facing south; between them stands a large writing +table, from which the author rises to welcome you. It is literally +covered with papers and manuscripts. "You think it looks extremely +untidy," she says with a bright smile, after the first greetings are +over. "It is not untidy for me, because I can put my hand on everything +that I want. I am much cramped for space, too, in which to arrange my +books as I would have them. I have a great many more than these, and +they are scattered about in different other rooms in the house, which is +only my temporary home, and everything is in disorder now, as I am on +the eve of departure for sunnier climes." + +The furniture is arranged with the greatest simplicity, but it is all +very comfortable; there are several easy chairs, a good resting couch, +and plenty of tables, heaped up with the books, papers, and magazines of +her daily reading. Over the fireplace is a large and very good autotype +of Leonardo da Vinci's "Monna Lisa," with her mysterious smile and +exquisite hands. There are likewise many photographs of Rome, and the +art treasures of Rome. On another wall are two of Melozzo da Forti's +angels, after those in the Sagrestia dei Canonici at St. Peter's, Rome, +and a drawing of Watts' "Love and Death," made by a friend. + +"It is all extremely simple and rather shabby," Miss Fothergill remarks +placidly, "but it suits me. I rarely enter the downstair rooms except at +the stated hour for meals, and, though I detest the dirt and gloom of +Manchester, and am always ill in this climate, yet for luxury I do not +care. Sumptuous rooms, gorgeous furniture, and an accumulation of 'the +pride of life' and 'the lust of the eye' would simply oppress me, and +make me feel very uncomfortable." + +It is only fair to remark that on this occasion Manchester has put on a +bright and smiling appearance. Though the fogs and rain can be as +persistent as they are in London, the latter indeed much more frequent, +the sun to-day shines brilliantly over the great city, and "dirt and +gloom" are conspicuous by their absence. + +In person the author is moderately tall and slight in figure. She is +pale and delicate-looking, with dark brown curly hair brushed back from +her forehead, and fine grey eyes, which have a sparkle of mirth in them, +and indicate a keen sense of humour. "I have a keen sense of fun," she +replies in answer to your remark, "and see the ridiculous side of +things, if they have one. It is a blessed assistance in wending one's +way through life. My mother and all her family possessed it, and we +inherit it from her." She wears a soft black dress, trimmed with lace +and jet embroidery, and she is so youthful in her appearance that she +looks like a mere girl. + +Jessie Fothergill was born at Cheetham Hall, Manchester, and is of mixed +Lancashire and Yorkshire descent. Her father came of an old Yorkshire +yeoman and Quaker family, whose original home--still standing--was a +lonely house called Tarn House, in a lonely dale--Ravenstonedale, +Westmoreland. From there, in 1668, the family, having joined the Society +of Friends, removed to a farmhouse, which some member of it built for +himself in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, a district which until lately has +been quite remote and little known, but which is now beginning to be +sadly spoiled by the number of visitors from afar, who have found it +out, and who are corrupting the primitive simplicity of the inhabitants +of the dale. This old-world farmstead was called Carr End. It is still +in existence, but has passed out of the possession of its former owners. + +"My father spent his childhood there," says Miss Fothergill, "and used +to keep us entranced, as children, living in a stiff Manchester suburb, +with accounts of the things to be seen and done there--of the wild +moors, the running waterfalls, the little lake of Semirwater hard by +filled with fish, haunted by birds to us unknown, and bordered by grass +and flowers, pleasant woods and rough boulders. I never saw it till I +was a grown woman, and, standing in the old-fashioned garden with the +remembrance of my dead father in my heart, I formed the intention of +making it the scene of a story, and did so." But ere she has finished +speaking you recognize the whole description in the volume of "Kith and +Kin" which you had been reading in the train. + +Miss Fothergill's father spent his early manhood in Rochdale, learning +the ins and outs of the cotton trade, the great Lancashire industry, +settling with a friend as his partner in business in Manchester. He was +a Quaker, and on marrying her mother, who was a member of the Church of +England, he was turned out of the Society of Friends for choosing a wife +outside the pale of that body. His Nonconformist blood is strong in all +his children, and not one of them now belongs to the Established Church. +Mrs. Fothergill was the daughter of a medical man at Burnley, in +North-East Lancashire, another busy, grimy, manufacturing town. + +"I, however," says your young hostess, "knew very little of these +northern towns, or the characteristics of their people, the love of +which afterwards became part of my life, for, though my father's +business was in Manchester, our home was at Bowdon, a popular suburb +some eight or ten miles on the Cheshire side of the great city, and as +utterly different from its northern outskirts and surroundings as if it +belonged to another world." + +Misfortune soon brought the young girl in contact with other scenes. +When she was a mere child at school, and all her brothers and sisters +very young, her father died. Much reduced in circumstances, the family +went to live (because it appeared best, most suitable, and convenient) +at an out-of-the-way house appertaining to a cotton mill, in an +out-of-the-way part of Lancashire, in which her father and his partner +had had a business interest. + +"There must have been something of the artist," continues Jessie +Fothergill, "and something also of the vagabond in me, for I quite well +remember going home to this place for the first Christmas holidays after +my father's death and being enchanted and delighted--despite the sorrow +that overshadowed us--with the rough roads, the wild sweeping moors and +fells, the dark stone walls, the strange, uncouth people, the +out-of-the-worldness of it all. And the better I knew it the more I +loved it, in its winter bleakness and its tempered but delightful summer +warmth. I loved its gloom, its grey skies and green fields, the energy +and the desperate earnestness of the people, who lived and worked there. +I photographed this place minutely under the name of Homerton in a novel +called 'Healey.' Here I passed a good many years after that +turning-point in a 'young lady's' career--leaving school. Alas! there +was little of the 'young lady' about me. I hated company, except exactly +that in which I felt myself at home. I loved books, and read all that I +could get hold of, and have had many a rebuke for 'poring over those +books' instead of qualifying myself as a useful member of society. +Almost better, I loved my wild rambles over the moors, along the rough +roads, into every nook and corner of what would have been a beautiful +vale--the Tadmorden Valley--if man had but left it as God had made it. +But I liked the life that was around me too, the routine of the great +cotton and flannel mills, the odd habits, the queer sayings and doings +of the workpeople. It was only when compassionate friends or relations, +wishing to be kind and to introduce me to the world, insisted upon +appearing in carriages, presenting me with ball-dresses, and taking me +to entertainments that I was unhappy. I wove romances, wrote them down, +in an attic at the top of the house, dreamed dreams, and lived, I can +conscientiously say, far more intensely in the lives and loves of my +imaginary characters, than even in the ambition of some day having name +and fame." + +Both of Jessie Fothergill's two first books "Healey" and "Aldyth," +according to her own account "fell flat and dead to the ground." Nothing +daunted, however, by their failure, she paused for a while before +writing anything more. Soon after their publication, she paid two visits +to the Continent as the guest of friends, delighting much in all the new +and wonderful things she saw. But the real enjoyment of foreign life +came on a subsequent journey, when, with a sister and two young friends, +she found herself established in a German boarding-house at Dusseldorf, +on the Rhine, utterly without any of the luxurious hotels, drives, +dinners, or any correct sight-seeing which she had enjoyed on her former +visits, but with a thousand interests brought by the opening of a new +life, the wonderful discovery of German music, the actual hearing of +all the delightful things she had previously only heard of, which +naturally inspired her imagination and fancy. At Dusseldorf she began to +write "The First Violin," weaving into the scenes which passed every day +before her eyes a series of imaginary adventures of imaginary beings. It +was written "in spasms," she says--often altered, again completely +changed in plot and incident several times, and it was not actually +finished for a very long time after it was begun. + +During the fifteen months spent at Dusseldorf she took every opportunity +of studying the German language and life, and at the expiration of that +time she went back to England--"to the house at the end of the world," +she says, smiling; "and soon after my return I took a secretaryship, my +heart in my books, making several efforts to get some enterprising +publisher to take 'The First Violin.' I went to the firm who had brought +out my two first unlucky efforts, but they kindly and parentally advised +me, for the sake of whatever literary reputation I might have obtained, +not to publish the novel I submitted to them. Much nettled at this, I +replied, somewhat petulantly, that I acknowledged their right to refuse +it, but not to advise me in the matter, and I _would_ publish it. Next I +took it to another firm who made it a rule never to bring out any novels +except those of some promise. If it were possible to grant the premises +of my story, the action itself was consistent enough, but it was up in +the clouds and (though so elevated) was below their mark. Finally Mr. +Bentley took pity on it, and brought it out in three-volume form, first +running it through the pages of _Temple Bar_. Since that time I have not +experienced any difficulty in disposing of my wares, though continuous +and severe ill-health has been a constant restraint on their rapid +production, and has also kept me quiet and obliged me to seek rest and +avoid excitement at the expense of many an acquaintance and many a +pleasure I should have been glad to enjoy." + +On looking back, Jessie Fothergill cannot remember anything which caused +her to write beyond the desire to do it. Her first attempts began when +she was a mere child. Passionately fond of fairy tales, or any other, +good, bad, or indifferent, she read them all, literally living in them +when doing so. Then at school she used to instigate the other girls to +write stories, because she wished to do so herself. She would tell them +marvellous romances, which she had either read or invented. Her talent +for writing fiction cannot be called hereditary, since the only family +literary productions of which she is aware are a volume or two of +sermons preached by some Fothergill who was a Friend, a missionary, and +a man of note in his time. "Then, long ago," says the author, "there was +a celebrated Dr. John Fothergill in London. I came across his name in +one of the volumes of Horace Walpole's letters. He not only made a +fortune, but wrote books--purely professional ones, I imagine. My +father's people were brought up narrowly as regards literature and +accomplishments, as was the fashion in his sect in that day, but he +himself was an insatiable devourer of novels and poetry, and introduced +me to the works of Dickens and Walter Scott, exacting a promise that I +should not read more than three chapters of any given book in one day, a +promise which was faithfully kept, but with great agony of mind." + +Jessie Fothergill forms her plots as follows: She imagines some given +situation, and works round it, as it were, till she gets the story, all +the characters except the two or three principal ones coming gradually. +Next she writes them out, first in a rough draft, the end of which often +contradicts the beginning, but she knows what she means by that time. +Then it is all copied out and arranged, as she has settled it clearly in +her mind. She is quick in composing, but slow in deciding which course +the story shall take, as all the people are very real to her, and +sometimes unkindly refuse to be disposed of according to her original +intentions. "I write much more slowly," says Miss Fothergill, "and much +less frequently now that my health is so indifferent. As a child I +learnt very quickly, and sometimes forgot equally quickly, but never +anything that really interested me. I remember winning one prize only at +a very early age, and choosing the most brightly bound of the books from +which I had to select. It has always been my great regret that I did not +receive a classical education. If I had, I would have turned it to some +purpose; but when I was a child, music, for which I had absolutely no +gift, was drummed into me, and a little French, German and Italian I +have learnt for myself since." "The Lasses of Leverhouse" was her third +book, but "The First Violin" scored her first success. It went through +several editions, and was followed by "Probation," "Kith and Kin," "The +Wellfields," "Borderland," "Peril," and "From Moor Isles." Most of these +passed first through _Temple Bar_ before being issued in book form, and +each has been warmly welcomed and favourably reviewed. Some have +appeared in Indian and Australian journals, and nearly all her works are +to be found in the _Tauchnitz_ edition. "A March in the Ranks" is the +author's latest book. Besides these, she has written numerous short +stories, among them, "Made or Marred," "One of Three," and a great many +articles and essays for newspapers and magazines. + +Full of interest and incident, carefully and conscientiously worked out, +there is one prevailing characteristic running through all Miss +Fothergill's novels. She is thoroughly straightforward and honest. +Hating shams of all kinds, she pictures what seem to be things that +happen, with due license for arranging the circumstances and +catastrophes artistically and dramatically. "The First Violin" is a book +for all time; "Probation," "Kith and Kin," "Peril" and "The Wellfields," +are decidedly nineteenth century stories, as many of the interesting +questions of the day appear in them, and it is evident that the said +questions occupied the gifted writer's mind not a little. "I have +absolutely no sympathy," she says, "with what is often called realism +now, the apotheosis of all that is ugly in man's life, feelings, and +career, told in a minute, laborious way, and put forth as if it were a +discovery. Life is as full of romance as Italy is full of roses. It is +as full of prose as Lancashire is full of factory chimneys. I have +always tried to be impartial in my writings, and to let the pendulum +swing from good to bad, from bad to good; that has been my aim when I +could detach myself enough from my characters." Here Miss Fothergill +draws off a seal ring which she long ago had engraved with the motto she +chose to guide her through life. "Good fight, good rest," she adds. "It +embodies all I have of religious creed. It means a good deal when you +come to think of it." + +Miss Fothergill is a great reader. She delights especially in Ruskin, +Darwin, Georges Sand, and George Eliot's works, which she says have +solaced many an hour of pain and illness. In lighter literature she +prefers some of Anthony Trollope's novels, and considers Mrs. Gaskell's +"Sylvia's Lovers" one of the masterpieces of English fiction, and +"Wuthering Heights" as absolutely unique and unapproachable. Herbert +Spencer and Freeman are great favourites, whilst in poetry Browning +stands first of all in her affections, and next to him, Morris, Goethe, +and bits of Walt Whitman. Of her own works she remarks modestly, "It +seems to me that I have not much to say of them. What little I have done +has been done entirely by my own efforts, unassisted by friends at +court, or favour of any kind. It has been a regret that owing to my +having never lived in London I have not mixed more with scientific or +literary people, and that I only know them through their books." + +The author having studied her "Lewis' Topographical Dictionary" to such +good purpose, is thoroughly conversant with her own native city, and +its doings past and present, she has therefore much interesting +information to impart about its ancient history, the sources of its +wealth, and the origin of the place, which is so remarkable for the +importance of its manufactures and the great extent of its trade. +Manchester may be traced back to a very remote period of antiquity. It +was once distinguished as a principal station of the Druid priests, and +was for four centuries occupied by the Romans, being amply provided with +everything requisite for the subsistence and accommodation of the +garrison established in it. It was as long ago as 1352 that the +manufacture of "Manchester cottons" was introduced, and the material was +in reality a kind of woollen cloth made from the fleece in an unprepared +state. In that period Flemish artisans settled in the town, where, +finding so many natural advantages, they laid the foundations of the +trade and brought the woollen manufacture to a great degree of +perfection. Nor is the industrious city without later historical +reminiscences. In 1744 Prince Charles Edward visited Manchester, where +he was hospitably entertained for several weeks at Ancoat's Hall, the +house of Sir Edward Moseley, Bart., returning the following year at the +head of an army of 6000 men, when he took up his quarters at the house +of Mr. Dickenson in Market Place. In 1768 Christian, King of Denmark, +lodged with his suite at the ancient Bull Inn. Early in the present +century the Archdukes John and Lewis of Austria, accompanied by a +retinue of scientific men, spent some time in the place, and in 1817 the +late Emperor of Russia, then the Grand Duke Nicholas, visited +Manchester to inspect the aqueducts and excavations at Worsley, and was +escorted all over the principal factories. + +But the shades of evening draw on; London must be reached to-night, and +having likewise been "hospitably entertained," you bid Jessie Fothergill +good-bye, with an earnest hope that under southern skies, and in warmer +latitudes, she may soon regain her lost health and strength. + + + + +[Illustration: Mary Hardy] + +LADY DUFFUS HARDY. + +IZA DUFFUS HARDY. + + +At the uppermost end of the long Portsdown Road, which stretches from +near St. Saviour's Church away up to Carlton Road, and runs almost +parallel with Maida Vale, there stands a large and lofty block of flats +known as Portsdown Mansions. In one of these, a cosy suite of rooms on +the parlour floor, arranged so as to form a complete maisonette, an +industrious mother, Lady Duffus Hardy, and her only child, Iza, tread +hand in hand along the paths of literature. + +Whilst mounting the broad stone steps which lead to the entrance door, +and ere pressing the electric bell, a fierce barking is heard within, +but it is only the big good-natured black dog "Sam," keeping faithful +watch over his mistresses. The hall door opens, and displays a half-bred +pointer whose well-groomed, satin-like coat gives evidence of the care +and attention lavished upon him. He is a great pet, and is generally +known as the "Household Treasure" or "Family Joy." He inspects you, is +apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, wags his tail, and solemnly +precedes you into the pleasant home-like drawing-room, where he first +keeps a furtive eye on you as you glance around, and presently, in the +most comical way, brings up his favourite playmate, an equally +jet-black cat, to be stroked and petted, and then departs as if to fetch +his mistress. It is all very bright and cheerful: a fair-sized, lofty +room, the prevailing tints of pale sage green, with heavy damask +curtains, which do not, however, exclude the brilliant glow of sunlight +streaming in through an unusually broad window, for Lady Duffus Hardy +likes plenty of light, and wisely maintains that people, like plants, +thrive best in sunshine. + +She certainly justifies her belief. The door opens, and, duly escorted +by "Sam," a tall, portly gentlewoman of commanding and dignified +presence, with cordial and hearty manner, enters. Her gown of violet +velvet harmonizes well with her nearly white hair, which contrasts so +favourably with her dark eyebrows and brown eyes. These last have a +sparkle of merriment and fun in them, for Lady Hardy is of that pleasant +and genial disposition, which loves to look on the best side of people +and things, and she is consequently popular with old and young alike. +She tells you that she is a Londoner _pur et simple_; that she was born +in Fitzroy Square, when that part of town was in its zenith, and was a +favourite locality for great artists, Sir W. Ross, R.A., the celebrated +miniature painter, and Sir Charles Eastlake, late President of the Royal +Academy, being among their number. + +With the exception of a few years spent at Addlestone, where her +daughter was born, Lady Hardy has passed all her life in London, +residing for many years in the pretty house, standing in the midst of a +large and well-wooded garden in St. John's Wood, where she used to give +delightful Saturday evening parties, which are still pleasantly +remembered by her friends.[2] + + [2] Since the serial publication of these sketches the death + of the much beloved and respected writer has taken place. + +Lady Hardy was an only child. Her father, Mr. T. C. McDowell, died five +months before her birth, at the untimely age of twenty-six, when on the +threshold of a promising career, and her early-widowed mother, resolving +that she should never be sent to school, had her educated entirely at +home under her own eye, and only parted with her on her marriage with +Mr., afterwards Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy, D.C.L., Deputy Keeper of Her +Majesty's Records (first at the Tower and later at the Rolls House), who +died in 1879. "Rarely," says Lady Hardy, "has there been a man at once +so learned and so good." Whilst wading in the deep fields of historic +research, he did not disdain some of the lighter portions of literature; +indeed, the prefaces to many of his historical collections were written +in such an entertaining and pleasant vein, that they by themselves would +make delightful essays in any magazine of the present day. With all his +laborious occupation--for which he used to declare the year was so short +that he must make it into fourteen months by stealing the balance out of +the night--Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy maintained that the busiest people +have ever the most leisure, and he always had time to spare to enjoy the +society of his friends. It may be truly said of him that seldom did +twenty-four hours pass without his showing some act of kindness to one +or other of them. This sympathetic and amiable trait of character has +caused his name to be remembered with lasting affection and respect, +not only by the erudite scholar, but among his personal friends. + +Though always fond of writing, Lady Hardy did not actually set to work +seriously at story-making until after her marriage. Then, living in an +atmosphere of literature, she began to occupy her leisure hours with her +pen, and, having taken much trouble to collect her materials, she wrote +"Two Catherines" (Macmillan) and "Paul Wynter's Sacrifice," which went +well, and was soon translated into French. This success encouraged her +to write "Lizzie," "Madge," "Beryl Fortescue," and "A Hero's Work," all +of which were published in three volumes by Messrs. Hurst and Blackett. +"Daisy Nicholl" was brought out first by Sampson Low and Co., and then +in America, where it was received with much favour, and had a large +sale. Her latest novel, "A Dangerous Experiment" (Mr. F. V. White), came +out in 1888. During the last two or three years Lady Hardy has written +many short stories for high-class magazines and Christmas numbers, which +are all bright in dialogue and vigorous in design. + +Full of indomitable energy, the author has lately turned her attention +to journalism, and is writing a series of articles on social subjects, +"which interest me so deeply," she says, laughing, "that I sometimes +think of leaving novel-making entirely to Iza." Two of these papers +recall themselves particularly to mind at the moment as possessing +singular merit--one called "The Morality of Mercy" and the other "Free +Pardon." The former was quoted and much complimented in Mr. Donald +Nichol's book, "Man's Revenge," an interesting work on the reform of +administration of the criminal law, a subject in which Lady Hardy and +her daughter take a keen interest. + +At this juncture Miss Iza Duffus Hardy comes into the room. She is +dressed in a flowered "Liberty" silk tea-gown, with black facings. She +bears a striking likeness to her late distinguished father. She, too, is +tall, but slight and fragile-looking, pale in complexion, with soft +hazel eyes, and brown hair worn in coils round her head. Whilst she does +the honours of the tea-tray, you have leisure to look around. Lady +Hardy's Chippendale writing-table stands in the window, and her +ink-stand is a beautiful bronze model of Titian's own, and was sent to +her from Venice. There is a carved Venetian bracket on each side of the +fireplace; on one stands some fancy glass work, and on the other a +lovely Cyprus vase, a perfect _replica_ of the third century model. The +richly-carved jar, flanked on either side by terra-cotta statuettes, is +handsome in itself and is treasured because it was a gift from the late +Mr. S. C. Hall, who, together with his wife, was an intimate and valued +friend of your hostesses. Yonder, on a cabinet, is a large bust of +Clytie, also in terra-cotta. Amongst the pictures are, notably, a little +gem in oils by Ernest Parton, and a fine water-colour drawing of Durham +by Mr. W. H. Brewer. The bookcase is filled with autograph copies by +many of their friends, principally Julian Hawthorne, the late Mr. +Hepworth Dixon, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Mr. P. B. Marston, and Mr. +Cordy Jeaffreson. It also contains a goodly collection of Lady and Miss +Hardy's favourite poets which are evidently often used. There are +volumes of Rossetti, Browning, Morris, Swinburne, and some by Philip +Bourke Marston, the blind poet, son of Dr. Westland Marston. Over the +couch is spread a large patchwork coverlet, which was made and +embroidered by Miss Hardy, who is as much at home with the needle as +with the pen. + +A year after their bereavement, the mother and daughter having long +entertained a desire to visit America, determined to make a trip across +the Atlantic in 1880. After passing several pleasant weeks in Canada, +enjoying delightful glimpses of the social life in Ottawa and Toronto, +they visited Niagara Falls, stayed awhile in New York, and then +travelled over the Rocky Mountains to San Francisco, "where," says Miss +Hardy, "we spent a thoroughly pleasant winter, and received so much +genuine kindness and hospitality that it has endeared the name of the +country to us ever since," and she goes on to tell you that, amongst +many acts of courtesy shown to them--the courtesy which is so freely +displayed to women travelling alone in America--there was one from a +fellow-traveller, who did not even know their name, until by chance it +transpired, when the discovery was made that he had been intimately +acquainted in his youth with Sir Thomas Hardy, who had given him his +first start in life forty years before, and of whose letters he +possessed a large packet. On their return journey they visited Boston, +where they made the acquaintance of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and spent a +delightful day with the poet Longfellow at his country residence at +Nahant. + +In the following spring Lady and Miss Duffus Hardy returned home, but a +year later the restless spirit of travel again took hold of them, and +they decided to make a second tour in America, this time embracing the +Southern States, and visiting the chief cities of Virginia, South +Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, on their way to New Orleans, where they +met General Beauregard, the renowned Confederate leader, whose thrilling +reminiscences of the great struggle of 1863-5 Miss Hardy says they can +"never forget, any more than they can forget his unfailing kindness and +attention." The experiences of all these expeditions were embodied by +Lady Hardy in her books "Through Cities and Prairie Lands," and "Down +South," both of which were successful and well received. + +[Illustration: Iza Duffus Hardy] + +Inheriting talent from both parents, and reared among literary +surroundings, Iza Duffus Hardy naturally turned to writing at a very +early age. Before she was fifteen she had planned and begun a novel. +Always of a retiring and studious nature, she describes her lessons as +having been no trouble to her, and her greatest punishment would have +been to deprive her of them. Being an only and delicate child, her +parents did not like her to be much away from home, so she was only sent +to school for about two years, receiving all the rest of her education +at home. "But I think," says Miss Hardy, "that I learned more from my +father than from all my teachers put together." + +Her choice of reading was carefully guided, and an early determination +was made that before all things she would be thorough and conscientious +in her work. + +Her two first novels, "Not Easily Jealous" and "Glencairn," were +followed in rapid succession by "A Broken Faith," "Only a Love Story," +and "Love, Honour, and Obey." These two last were originally brought +out by Hurst and Blackett, but have been since published by Mr. F. V. +White in a single volume. Then came a short rest, after which the young +author wrote "The Girl He Did Not Marry," of which Messrs. Hutchinson +are about to produce a new edition in their "Popular Series." Then the +first journey to San Francisco gave Miss Hardy fresh ground to break, +and suggested the leading ideas of the incidents and graphic description +of the life in the beautiful Californian valleys, so charmingly depicted +in "Hearts and Diamonds" and "The Love that He Passed By" (F. V. White). + +"The nucleus of this plot," says Iza Duffus Hardy, "was a story told to +me by a fellow-passenger on the cars, who had been governor of the gaol +at the time of the attack by the Vigilantes. I connected that with +certain incidents in a celebrated murder trial which was going on about +that time, and built up all the rest of the story around those scenes." + +"Love in Idleness" is a picture drawn from the life, of a winter spent +among the orange groves of South Florida, a happy and peaceful time of +which Lady Hardy and her daughter speak most enthusiastically, and +declare to have been quite idyllic, the days gliding away in dream-like +fashion, boating on the lakes, driving through the open woods of the +rolling pine lands, and lounging on the piazzas, enjoying the exquisite +effects of the morning sunshine, the sunset hazes, or the glorious +tropical moonlight. Besides these books, Iza Duffus Hardy has also +embodied her American experiences in two interesting volumes, "Oranges +and Alligators" (Ward and Downey) and "Between Two Oceans." The former +in particular made such a decided hit that the first edition was +exhausted in two or three weeks. This work, widely noticed and quoted, +was strongly recommended by many papers to the attention of parents +about to send their sons abroad, as giving a fair and true picture, +showing both sides of life in Florida. + +Asking Miss Hardy for a peep at her study, she leads the way to a +comfortable little room at the back of the house, which she calls her +"cabin." Here she works from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, though she +confesses to taking occasionally an extra hour or two late in the +afternoon, and, the conversation turning on plots, she tells you how she +constructs her own. "I always," she observes, "have the story completely +planned out before I begin to write it. I often alter details as I go +on, but never depart from the main lines. My usual way of making a plot +is to build up on and around the principal situation. I get the picture +of the strongest scene--the crisis of the story--well into my mind. I +see that this situation necessitates a certain group of characters +standing in given situations towards each other. Then I let these +characters speak for themselves in my mind, and if they do not +individualize themselves, I never feel that I can portray them +satisfactorily. Having got the characters formed, and the foundation of +the story laid, I build up the superstructure just as an artist would +first get in the outline of his central group in the foreground, and +then sketch out the background and the details." + +Miss Hardy's later work, "A New Othello," ran first as a serial through +_London Society_, and was afterwards published by Mr. F. V. White in +three volumes. It deals largely with hypnotism, and not only to those +readers who are interested in this subject, but also to the genuine +fiction-lover, it is evident that she has handled the matter in a +masterly and skilful style, and has put excellent work into it. Before +beginning this book she fully read up the details of hypnotism, studying +all the accounts of Dr. Charcot's experiments, whilst Dr. Morton, of New +York, personally related to her the interesting episodes from his own +experience, which are so ably worked into the story. The author is also +an occasional contributor of a biographical article, or a fugitive poem, +or a short sketch, to various magazines, and she has just finished +another book, called "Woman's Loyalty," now running through the pages of +_Belgravia_, which she says has been somewhat delayed, owing to a sharp +attack of inflammation of the eyes, from which she has now happily +recovered. + +And so the busy days glide on, in peaceful contentment; not that these +interesting, amiable gentlewomen shut themselves from society. On the +contrary, their receptions are crowded with friends well known in the +world of fashion, of literature, and of art. Work alternates with many +social pleasures and amusements. Both being worshippers of music and the +drama, concerts and theatres are an endless source of enjoyment to them. +Perhaps one secret of their popularity may lie in the fact that they +always have a good word to say of everyone, and it is well known to +their many friends that they may rely as confidently upon their loyalty +as upon their sympathy. + +Over the well-filled bookstand in the dining-room hangs the picture of +Lady Duffus Hardy, taken in her early married life. Except that the +figure is slender and the hair dark, the likeness is still excellent. On +one side of this painting there is a large-sized engraving of a portrait +of Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, of the Blue Squadron, painted in 1714, and +on the other is a portrait of the late Lord Romilly, whose memory is +treasured by your hostess as that of a kind and valued friend. The +cuckoo clock opposite used to hang in Philip Bourke Marston's study, and +was bequeathed to Miss Hardy, together with some other souvenirs, in +memory of their life-long friendship. + +A photograph of Mr. Henry Irving occupies a prominent place, and leads +Lady Hardy to speak of the theatre. "I am very fond of the drama," she +remarks, "and though I can thoroughly enjoy a good melodrama once in a +way, yet I prefer plays of a more serious kind. I am a great admirer of +Mr. Irving. Few actors, in my opinion, excel as he does both in tragedy +and comedy. I think that the most intellectual treat I ever had was in +witnessing the performances of _Othello_ when Henry Irving and Edwin +Booth alternated the characters of Iago and Othello. Irving's Iago +struck me as a subtle and masterly study. Salvini, too, realised most +thoroughly my conception of Othello. He is indeed the ideal Moor of +Venice. In New York we used to enjoy immensely the classic plays which +are too seldom seen in London, such as _Coriolanus_, _Julius Caesar_, and +_Virginius_." + +A visit to the theatre is in contemplation this evening; so, having been +beguiled into making an unusually long but most enjoyable visit, you +take leave of Lady and Miss Duffus Hardy, with sympathetic admiration +for the happy home life in which daily work is sweetened by harmony and +affection. As Miss Hardy quoted the noble utterance, "Justice is the bed +rock of all the virtues," you cannot help feeling that here are two +women who at least endeavour to act up to their ideal. + + + + +[Illustration: May Crommelin] + +MAY CROMMELIN. + + +The story of May Crommelin's life may be said to be divided into three +parts. First, the period of her childish and girlish days in Ireland; +next, that, when after the beginning of Irish land troubles, her family +were enforced absentees, and suffering from anxieties and prolonged +illness; and thirdly, during the last four years, when her London life +began. The following is a brief account of her first home:-- + +On the east coast of Ireland there lies a long narrow neck of land, +which, jutting out at the entrance to Belfast Lough, curves down by the +coast of Down, and is called The Ards. Midway in it, where for an Irish +mile "and a bit" the ground slopes upward from the shore, a tower rising +just above the woods is a landmark for ships at sea. This is Carrowdore +Castle, the home of the late Mr. de la Cherois-Crommelin, where May +Crommelin (his second daughter and one of a large family) was reared. + +The house, now belonging to her only brother, looks away at a dark blue +belt of Irish Sea, across which on clear days after thunderstorms the +Scotch coast and even houses are visible. Ailsa Craig has the appearance +of a haycock on the northern horizon, and lying more southward the +Isle of Man seems but a blurred mass. Behind is the salt backwater of +Strangford Lough, and this arm of sea keeps the temperature so moist +that snow rarely lies long, and the humid nature of the soil causes the +garden of Carrowdore facing south to luxuriate in giant tree-myrtles, +sweet verbenas, and even hot-house flowers growing out of doors. It is +somewhat lonely in winter when the wind blows over the bare low hills +that have caused The Ards to be compared to "a basket of eggs," but +pleasant in summer and picturesque when its environing woods are green, +when the corncrakes call from the meadows on June evenings, and the +Orange drums beat along the lanes. + +Such was May de la Cherois-Crommelin's early home. Her present abode is +a pretty flat near Victoria Street. It seems quite appropriate that a +well-filled bookcase should be the first thing that greets the eye as +the hall door opens and admits you into a long carpeted passage, lined +with a high dado of blue-and-white Indian matting, above which, +on art paper of the same colours, hang several framed photographs, +reminiscences of the Rhine, Nuremberg, and the Engadine. A little +way down on the left is Miss Crommelin's writing-room, which is +laid down with Indian matting, and contains an unusually large, +workmanlike-looking writing-table, replete with little drawers, big +drawers, and raised desk. The principal feature of this room is a carved +oak fireplace, reaching nearly to the ceiling, and which is quite +original in design and execution. There is a handsome old oak dower +chest standing near the window, here an antique "ball-and-claw" footed +table, and there a few good Chippendale chairs. + +But whilst you are taking a brief scrutiny around, Miss Crommelin +enters. It is very easy to describe her. She is certainly above the +middle height, but looks taller than she really is by reason of her +absolutely faultless figure. It is exquisitely moulded, and every +movement is graceful. The good-shaped head and slender neck are well set +on her shoulders, fair chestnut-coloured hair curls over a low, wide +brow. The eyes, large and of the real Irish grey, are fringed with long +lashes, she has a straight nose, and the expression of mouth and chin is +that of dignity and repose. Her manner is peculiarly gentle and sweet, +and her voice is pleasant to the ear. The long, dark blue velvet +tea-gown that she wears, with its paler blue satin front folded in at +the shapely waist, becomes her well, and harmonises with the artistic +decorations of her pretty little drawing-room into which she has taken +you. The curtains are made of some art blue fabric, the walls are pale +yellow with a lighter frieze above, and are encrusted with memories of +the last three or four years, when the author first set up housekeeping +in London. All the woodwork is of dark walnut, as are the overmantel and +_etagere_, the doors are panelled with Japanese raised paper, a long +carved bracket has an excellent background of choice photographs, and +there is a delightful little "cosy corner," draped with dark terra-cotta +and blue tapestry, over which is a carved rail and shelf filled with +odds and ends of china, pet bits of blue Dutch delft, and quaint little +old brasses and bronzes from Munich and Florence. There is an Innocenza +framed in box-wood, and on the small tables yonder are some little +carved wooden _stovi_ such as are used in Holland, an old-fashioned +brass Lucernina, and many more little souvenirs, all of which she has +gathered together on foreign excursions. Amongst the pictures there is +one which Miss Crommelin particularly values--it is a large and +beautiful etching of Joan of Arc, by Rajon, who presented it to her +shortly before his death, with an inscription in his own handwriting. + +Some photographs of Carrowdore on the table close by lead you to ask her +for some particulars of her people. "Mr. Smiles remarked to me," she +says, "'Yours is a historical name' (he has written about us in his +'Huguenots'). I will try to think about some little family incidents, +though I am afraid that to talk about my family will rather bore you, +but I can briefly tell you the first that we know of them is in the +archives of Ghent. In 1133 the Count of Flanders concluded an 'Accord' +between the Abbot of St. Pierre de Gand and Walter Crommelin concerning +the domain of Testress. In 1303, one Heinderic Crommelin was three times +burgomaster of Der Kuere, near Ghent. I have been told it is strange +that simple burghers had a surname in the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries." + +Later on came those terrible times of the persecutions in the +Netherlands, when women were buried alive, and men were burned at the +stake for their faith. The Crommelins fled to France, and a pious +ancestor of that day wrote the history of their adventures, which record +is preserved in the British Museum. It begins, "_Au nom de Dieu. Armand +Crommelin et sa femme vivoient dans le Seizieme Siecle, dans un tems de +troubles, de guerres, de persecutions cruelles, etc._" This was their +first flight. In France they prospered exceedingly by special favour of +Henri IV., until came the Edict of Nantes. But acting on the old +Huguenot motto, "Mieux vaut quitter patrie que foi," they chose exile +rather than renounce their religion. This time, one brother escaped with +difficulty to Holland, where his descendants still reside, but another, +Louis Crommelin, offered his sword to William of Orange, crossed with +him to England, and finally settled in the north of Ireland, where he +brought Huguenot weavers and taught the linen trade, which is one of the +greatest sources of Ulster's commercial prosperity. To this day his name +is honoured as a benefactor, and he received a Royal grant from William +III., which founded anew the fortunes of his family. + +The de la Cherois, who were of a noble family in Champagne, also fled +with difficulty from France. They and the Crommelins were closely +connected by marriage, and also married into other families of the +little Huguenot colony in Ulster. "Perhaps this keeping to themselves +preserved their foreign characteristics longer and their faith +stronger," says your hostess. "Then one ancestress--we have her picture +at home, taken in a flowing white gown, and piled-up curls--married the +last Earl of Mount Alexander. At her death she left the present County +Down estate to my great-grandfather. He first, I think, took unto +himself a wife of the daughters of Heth. She was a beautiful Miss Dobbs, +of the family now living at Castle Dobbs in County Antrim. I must show +you a photograph of her portrait. Would it not make a lovely fancy +dress?--the grey gown with puffed sleeves and neck-ruffle, and wide +riding-hat and feathers. Then my grandfather married the Honourable +Elizabeth de Moleyns, Lord Ventry's daughter. You see her picture is +scanty skirted, with the waist under the arms. My grandfather must have +been rather too splendid in his ideas. Some of these were for improving +the country generally, as well as his own estate, but he lost many +thousands in trying to carry them into practice. I must tell you that an +ancestress, Judith de la Cherois, escaped from France with her sister by +riding at night across the country, their jewels sewn in their dresses. +She lived to be 113, and was quite strong to the last, and though she +lived fifty years in Ireland she could never speak English, which she +said, with vexation, was because people laughed rudely at her first +attempts. + +If it be true that the girl is mother to the woman (to change the +proverb), then May Crommelin still retains some characteristics of her +childhood. A shy child, sensitive to an intense degree, and shrinking +from the observation of strangers, her great delight when small was to +be allowed to run almost wild about the woods and fields with her little +brothers and sisters, and to visit all the tenant-farmers' houses, where +the children from the Castle were always warmly welcomed, and regaled +with tea, and oatmeal or potato cakes, in the parlour. In these later +years she still retains the intense love of nature that she had then, +and her descriptions of scenery have ever been praised as word-painting +of rare fidelity. Taking in her impressions early she produced them +later in a book called "Orange Lily," which proved how well she knew the +peasant life of Ulster, a work which was declared by good judges to be +absolutely faithful, while she herself was proud to find the farmers on +her father's estates in Down and Antrim had copies of the book sent home +from America, where it could be bought cheap, and where the many +immigrants from the "Ould Country" welcomed it. + +At five years of age she could read fluently, and thenceforth through +childhood she read so ardently that, having then defective vision, +though unfortunately it was unnoticed, it probably contributed to a +delicacy of eyesight that still troubles her. All the children used to +improvise, and from seven years old there hardly ever was a time when +May and her elder sister had not a story, written on their copybook +paper, stuffed into their pockets to read to each other at night. The +girls did not go to school, but were educated by foreign governesses, +and Miss Crommelin has not forgotten the miseries she and her sister +went through under the tuition of one whom she calls "that charming +fiend," and there is somewhat of indignation in her gentle voice as she +recalls her experiences. + +"I believe," she says, "that one's character is greatly influenced for +life by the events of one's childhood. Mine was. A boy may be made or +marred at his public school, a girl likewise looks back to her governess +as the mistress of her mind and manners. We had one for three or four +years who was so plausible that I am not surprised in later years, our +mother used to say with regretful bewilderment she could not understand +how it was that she never knew our sufferings. Ulster was gay in those +days, and our parents were often absent on visits of a week or so, all +through the winter. Our mother was highly accomplished, and we were +always anxious to be praised by her for progress in the schoolroom. Our +tormentor devised a punishment for us when she was offended (and she +seemed to hate us because we were children) of not correcting our +lessons. For weeks we blundered at the piano or brought her our French +exercises--returned with a sneer--while swallowing our indignant tears, +knowing well how our dulness and inattention would be complained of on +our parents' return. She poisoned our innocent pleasures, and I can +still remember how our hearts stood still at that catlike footstep, +but," Miss Crommelin adds, with a laugh, "I put her into one of my +books, 'My Love, she's but a Lassie,' under the guise of a cruel +stepmother!" A curious incident happened to this smiling hypocrite. The +servants execrated her, and one day in the nursery, when the poor little +girls had whispered some new woe into the ears of two or three of the +warm-hearted maids, one of them exclaimed, slowly and solemnly, the +while pointing out of the window to the enemy standing below: "Madam +Mosel, I wish you an illness that may lay you on your back for months!" +Soon afterwards the malediction was fulfilled. The governess became +ailing, took to the sofa for weeks, and was obliged to leave. Both +servants and children were much awed, and quite convinced that it was a +"judgment." + +Next came a kindly German, who found the children eager to be taught, +and she was not loath to gratify them, but rather beyond their +expectations. "I remember," says Miss Crommelin, "after a long morning +and afternoon's spell of lessons, her idea of a winter evening's +recreation was for my sister and self to read aloud 'Schiller's Thirty +Years' War.' Meanwhile, the wind would be howling 'in turret and tree,' +making such goblin music as I have never heard elsewhere. We were happy +for two years under this good woman." + +When about sixteen years of age, May and her sister began secretly to +contribute to a paper which kindly offered to print beginners' tales on +payment of half-a-crown. Alas! that bubble burst, as many a youthful +writer has found out for herself. + +Reared in the very heart of the country, and growing up with little or +no society of other young people, the children were warmly attached to +each other. May Crommelin describes her elder sister as clever, ardent, +with flashes of genius; but never, unfortunately, finishing any tales, +and exercising much of the same sort of influence over her as Emily +Bronte over her sister Charlotte. By and by, when schoolroom days ended, +came the usual gaieties of a young girl introduced into Irish county +society, much livelier then than during later years. There were the +usual three-days' visits to the country houses of Down and Antrim +through the autumn, when pheasants were to be shot; or merry +house-parties met by day at hunt races and steeplechases, and filled +roomy carriages at night to drive courageously many miles to a ball. The +canny northern farmers allowed no foxes to be reared, but still there +was a good deal of sport to be had with the little pack of Ards +harriers, of which Mr. Crommelin was master, and the long, cold springs +were sometimes broken by a season or two in Dublin. + +Her first introduction to county society inspired May Crommelin to write +"Queenie." She did this secretly, and about that time she went over to +England on a visit to a kind uncle and aunt, to whom she was much +attached. Alone with them, she confided the secret of her literary +venture, and coaxed her uncle to take her MSS. to a publisher whose name +caught her eye. This he did, but declined to give the name of the young +author. She waited in breathless expectation, and "thought it strange +that a whole week elapsed before their reply came." It arrived on a +Sunday morning--unluckily--because it was a good and wise custom of the +house, that no business letters should be opened on that day. It was +accordingly placed in a locked cabinet with glass doors, where she could +at least gratify herself by looking at the address, and never was a +letter more tantalizing. The next morning, however, her hopes were +rewarded by the joyful news of the publishers' acceptance, with a +substantial sum of money down and a promise of so much more if the +edition sold out, which it did. On returning home she in great +trepidation told her father. He was somewhat of a disciplinarian, and +had rigid ideas on feminine dependence and subordination, and though he +did not actually forbid her writing, he never encouraged it. Thenceforth +she wrote steadily in her own room, sending her MSS. to the same +publishers, who had promised to take all the future works she would +send them, whilst another offered to reprint in the same way cheaper +editions. + +"Black Abbey" also followed; but shortly before Miss Crommelin wrote "A +Jewel of a Girl," which was the result of a visit to Holland, the head +of the Crommelin family settled there wrote and asked his distant +kinsman to renew the acquaintance dropped for so many years. This laid +the foundation of future friendship and other mutual visits, though such +little breaks were few and far between, from the island bounded by "the +melancholy ocean." + +As yet May Crommelin's longings from childhood had been unfulfilled. She +desired to travel, to see new scenes, to become acquainted with +literary-helpers, critics, or advisers. Of these she knew not one, +excepting that Lord Dufferin, on his rare visits at Clandeboye, had +always a cheering word of encouragement for his young neighbour. The +late Amelia B. Edwards, too, a friend of some relatives in England, sent +her some letters of most gratefully received advice, and the Rev. Dr. +Allon, editor of the _British Quarterly Review_, having once, by chance, +met the young writer for two hours when he was on a visit to Ireland, +became an occasional kind correspondent and a lasting friend. Others +there were none during these years. + +But dark days were coming. What seemed apparently trifling accidents, +through horses, led to bad results. First of all, Mr. Crommelin had a +fall when out hunting, the effects of which prevented his following for +ever after his favourite sports, and his health declined. Then a +carriage accident was the beginning of his wife's later always +increasing illness. Their eldest daughter had not been strong, when she, +too, met with a mischance. Her horse ran away with her, and she +experienced a shock from which she never wholly recovered. The Irish +land troubles had begun; no rents were to be expected for two years; +servants and horses had to be reduced. So, like other neighbours, they +resolved to be absentees for a while in a milder climate, rather than +endure the loneliness of the country, far from town or doctors, and they +removed to Devonshire for two years, during which time May's eldest +sister died after a summer at Dartmoor. + +Meantime the young author was not idle. She wrote "Miss Daisy Dimity," +"In the West Countree," and "Joy." These two last are both full of +lovely descriptions of moorland scenery and air, and heather scent. Then +Mrs. Crommelin became rapidly worse. She could not bear the journey to +Ireland, so they moved to Clifton, where, after a long period of +suffering, she passed away, followed a year later by her husband. These +years of hopeless illness were a terrible strain on the family; +nevertheless, during the intervals of watching and nursing, Miss +Crommelin wrote "Brown Eyes," a remembrance of Holland, which little +work was an immense favourite; also a sketch called "A Visit to a Dutch +Country House," and this was translated into several Dutch papers. Then +came "Goblin Gold" in one volume, and "Love, the Pilgrim," begun before +her father's death, and finished under the difficulties of temporary +homelessness. Left thus free to choose an abode on her brother's +returning to take possession of his Irish home, May Crommelin at once +resolved to come to London, and established herself in her present home +in the cosy little flat. She describes this as "by far the happiest +period of her life." Surrounded by the literary and artistic society she +had always wished for, a favourite with all, enjoying also the +companionship of a sister, and having opportunities for travelling when +it suits her, she declares herself quite contented. + +Since coming to London she has written a charming and spirited novel, +"Violet Vivian, M.F.H.," of which she supplied the leading idea of the +tale and two-thirds of the story, the more sporting part excepted; also +"The Freaks of Lady Fortune." "Dead Men's Dollars" is the strange but +true story of a wreck on the coast opposite her old home. Next came +"Cross Roads," and "Midge," considered by many as her best book. Later +"Mr. and Mrs. Herries," a sweet and pathetic story, and lastly "For the +Sake of the Family." To the readers of May Crommelin's novels it is +quite apparent that the idea of Duty is the keynote. Whilst all her +works are remarkable for their refinement and purity of thought and +style, she almost unconsciously makes her heroes and heroines (though +they are no namby-pamby creations) struggle through life doing the duty +nearest to hand, however disagreeable the consequences or doubtful the +reward. She holds Thoreau's maxim that to _be_ good is better than to +try and _do_ good; indeed, the first and greater proposition includes +the latter, and from her youth up she has loved and taken for her motto +the lines of Tennyson:-- + + "And because right is right, to follow right + Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." + + + + +[Illustration: M Houstoun] + +MRS. HOUSTOUN.[3] + + + [3] Since the serial publication of these sketches, the death + of the venerable writer has taken place. + +One particular Monday, near Christmas, will long be remembered as being +perhaps the most terrible day hitherto experienced in an abnormally +severe winter. The heavy pall of dense fog which has settled over London +has disorganized the traffic and caused innumerable accidents. Great +banks of snow are piled up high at the sides of the roads, a partial +thaw has been succeeded by a renewed severe frost, making the pavements +like ice, and causing locomotion to become as dangerous as it is +detestable. Arriving at Victoria District Station early in the +afternoon, with the intention of paying a visit to the veteran novelist, +Mrs. Houston, in Gloucester Street, you find yourself in Cimmerian +darkness, uncertain whether to turn to north or south, to east or west. +A small boy passes by, from whom you inquire the way, and he promptly +offers his escort thither in safety. He is as good as his word, and +after a quarter of an hour's walk you arrive at your destination. +Thankfully presenting him with a gratuity, and expressing surprise at +his finding the road with such unerring footsteps, the child replies in +a cheerful voice, "I live close by here. I have been blind from my +birth; darkness and light are both alike to me"; and he goes off +whistling merrily. + +The septuagenarian author is upstairs in the drawing-room, lying on a +long, low, comfortable spring couch, from which, alas! she is unable to +move, some affection of the muscles having caused a complete uselessness +of the lower limbs. She is bright and cheerful, notwithstanding; serene +and patient. Her intellect is undimmed, her memory is perfect, her +conversation is delightful, and her dress is suitable and picturesque. +She wears a black velvet gown, which is relieved by a full frill of old +lace gathered up round the wrists and throat, a crimson silk shawl on +her shoulders, and a lace cap with a roll round it of the same coloured +ribbon. Her hair, for which she was famous in her childhood, is still +soft and abundant, and only changed from "the great ruddy mane of her +youth," as she calls it, to the subdued brown and grey tints of her +present age. Her eyes, of grey-blue, are bright, and light up with keen +intelligence as she converses, and her voice is low and sweet. She is +_grande dame_ to the tips of her fingers, and the small, +aristocratic-looking hands are white and well-shaped. With an old-world +courtesy of manner she combines a juvenility of thought, and being a +great reader, she is as well up in the literature of the day as she is +in the records of the past. A brilliant _raconteuse_, Mrs. Houston +possesses a fund of anecdote, as original as it is interesting. + +On each side of her couch stands within her easy reach a little table, +containing her favourite authors and some writing materials, and her +caligraphy is particularly neat, small, and legible. A broad verandah +runs along the front of the house; in summer it is her particular care, +as she superintends the training of the creepers over the wide arches, +and also the arrangement of a small conservatory, which can be seen +through the heavy Oriental _portieres_ which divide the two rooms. +There, a fine plumbago creeper, with several Australian plants and ferns +flourish, which give it quite a tropical appearance. + +There is a great variety of old Dresden china on the mantelpieces; a +Japanese screen stands near the further door. The book-cases in both +rooms are well filled, and so is the large round table at the side +yonder; they are kept in such method and order that Mrs. Houstoun has +only to order "the eighth book on the top of the shelf at the right," or +"the tenth book on the lower shelf at the left," to ensure her getting +the needed volume. She calls attention to her pictures, which are mostly +of considerable value. Over the piano hangs, in a Florentine frame, +Sasso's copy of the Madonna del Grand Duca, a painting by Schlinglandt, +which is remarkable for its extraordinary attention to detail, and +others by Vander Menlen and Zucarilli. A vacant space on the wall has +lately been occupied by one of Bonnington's best seascapes, which she +has kindly lent for exhibition. + +Mrs. Houstoun is the daughter of the late Edward Jesse, the +distinguished naturalist. The family is of French extraction. He was the +representative of a younger and Protestant branch of the _Barons of +Jesse Levas_, one of the oldest families in Languedoc, who emigrated +after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to England, and bought an +estate in the county of Wilts, but when they became English country +gentlemen they dropped, like sensible people, not only the distinctive +_de_, but the accent on the final _e_, which marked their Gallic origin. +Her grandfather was the Rev. William Jesse, incumbent of the then only +Episcopalian church of West Bromwich, Staffordshire. "I have no very +distinct personal recollection of him," she observes, "but I have reason +to believe that his value, both as a good man and a learned divine, was +duly recognized. Bishop Horne, author of 'Commentaries on the Psalms,' +was at one time his curate." In 1802, Mr. Jesse (then twenty years of +age) was chosen by Lord Dartmouth to be his private secretary, and four +years later, through his influential chief, he obtained an appointment +in the Royal Household. The duties which his post as "Gentleman of the +Ewry" entailed were of the slightest, consisting merely of an attendance +in full Court dress on great State occasions, to present on bended knee +a golden ewer filled with rose-water to the Sovereign. The royal fingers +were dipped into it and dried on a fine damask napkin, which the +"gentleman" carried on his arm. For this occasional service the yearly +pay was three hundred pounds, together with "perquisites"; but though +the absurd and useless office was long since done away with, whilst it +existed its influence over Mr. Jesse's prospects in life was very +considerable, as it enabled him to marry the beautiful daughter of Sir +John Morris, a wealthy Welsh baronet. Mrs. Houstoun's childish days were +spent first at a house in the prettiest quarter of Richmond Park, and +later on at a cottage close to Bushey Park. "Those were the days before +the then Duke of Clarence became king, and the Sailor-Prince showed +himself to be one of the most good-natured of men," says Mrs. Houstoun. +"He often joined my father and me in our rides about the Park, and on +one occasion he inquired of my father concerning the future of his only +son." + +"What are you going to do with him?" asked H.R.H. + +"Well, sir," was the reply, "he has been ten years at Eton, a rather +expensive education, so I entered him yesterday at Brazenose----" + +"Going to make a parson of him, eh? Got any interest in the Church?" + +"None whatever, sir, but----" + +"Might as well cut his throat," said the Duke. "Why not put him into the +Admiralty? I'll see he gets a clerkship." + +The royal promise was faithfully kept. Young John Heneage Jesse got his +appointment almost immediately, and worked his way up the different +grades, always standing high in the opinion of his chiefs, until after a +long period of service, he finally retired on a pension, and is well +known in the literary world as the author of "The Court of England under +the Stuarts and Houses of Hanover," and sundry historical memoirs. + +Reverting to these long bygone days, your hostess says she can remember +the famous philanthropist, William Wilberforce, in whose unflagging +efforts to effect the freedom of the West Indian negroes, her aunt, Mrs. +Townsend, was so zealous and able a coadjutrix; she recollects to this +day the childish grudge she felt against them both, when after the visit +of the great emancipator all cakes and puddings were strictly _tabooed_, +as they contained West India sugar, and therefore to eat them was a sin. +Living close to the home of her father's old friend, John Wilson Croker, +she became acquainted with many world-famed and literary men; amongst +them she mentions Theodore Hook, Sir William Follett, the poet Moore, +Sir Francis Chantrey, and Sir Thomas Lawrence, subsequently Samuel +Rogers, Mr. Darwin, Wordsworth, the gifted Mrs. Norton, and James Smith, +the most popular and brilliant of the authors of "Rejected Addresses." + +At the early age of sixteen she became engaged, and shortly after +married Lionel Fraser, whose father died when he was Minister +Plenipotentiary at Dresden, but in less than a year she became a widow. +Mr. Fraser, just before leaving Cambridge, had met with an accident. In +a trial of strength, an under-graduate threw him over his shoulder: the +lad fell on his head, and was taken up for dead, but after a while +recovered, and was to all appearance the same as before; but the hidden +evil had been slowly though surely working, and the rupture of a small +vessel in the brain brought to a sudden close the young life of so much +promise. Inconsolable, the young widow returned to her father's house, +where she lived in close seclusion for nearly four years, and then +became engaged to Captain Houstoun, of the 10th Hussars, second son of +General Sir William Houstoun, Bart. His son George, who succeeded him, +added the name of Boswall on marrying an heiress. _A propos_ of that +engagement, Mrs. Houstoun has an amusing story to tell. "Another of the +friends," she says, "to whom we were indebted for many pleasant hours, +was that courtly Hanoverian soldier Baron Knesbeck, equerry to the Duke +of Cambridge. We were riding on Wimbledon Common, and I was mounted on +the second charger of my betrothed, when the old Duke, on his stout bay, +joined our party; my engagement had not at that time been announced, and +I therefore parried, as best I could, the Duke's questions as to the +horse and its owner. At last, however, the climax came, for with a wink +of his eye, more suggestive than regal, His Royal Highness put the +following leading question as we rode slowly on: 'Sweetheart, hey?' +There was no resisting this point-blank query, and the soft impeachment +had to be owned at last." + +After her second marriage Mrs. Houstoun and her husband lived for a year +in their yacht "Dolphin," during which time they visited Texas and the +Gulf of Mexico. Later on they spent two winters at New Orleans before +slavery was abolished. Then came a tour on the Continent, where they +travelled from Paris to Naples in their own britska, taking four horses +and two English postillions. When they stayed for any length of time at +any place, the horses were saddled, and they would ride forty or fifty +miles a day, revolvers in saddle pockets, into the wildest parts of the +country. After a roving and adventurous time, escaping hairbreadth +dangers, for Mrs. Houstoun says her husband was "as bold as a +buccaneer," they returned home, where Captain Houstoun, after trying +various places, finally took on a long lease Dhulough Lodge, about one +hundred square miles of ground in the west of Ireland, and there for +twenty years she found her lot cast. In sheer weariness of spirit she +took to her pen. As a girl she had always been accustomed to correct her +father's proofs, and had written some short stories and poems, but she +then wrote her first novel, "Recommended to Mercy." It was so well +reviewed in the _Times_ that, encouraged by her success, Mrs. Houstoun +followed it with "Sink or Swim," "Taken upon Trust," "First in the +Field," "A Cruel Wrong," "Records of a Stormy Life," and "Zoe's Brand," +which last book M. Boisse, editor of the _Revue Contemporaine_, asked +permission to translate into French, but by some omission his +application was never answered, and the project fell through. Some time +later she wrote "Twenty Years in the Wild West" and several other +novels, and she has lately finished a new story in two volumes, entitled +"How She Loved Him," published by Mr. F. V. White, of whom she remarks +with warmth, "He stands high amongst the publishers I have known for +liberality and honour, and is one of my best and kindest friends." + +"Amongst other books," says Mrs. Houstoun, "I look back with +thankfulness to my novelette, entitled 'Only a Woman's Life,' the +writing of which was successful in obtaining the release, after twelve +years of convict life, of an innocent woman, who had been originally +condemned to death on circumstantial evidence for the murder of her +child. Of the death sentence I was so happy, at the eleventh hour, as to +obtain a commutation." + +But it is difficult to get the lonely old lady to talk much of her +books, and though her memory is perfect in everything else, both past +and present, she declares that she has forgotten even the names of some +of her own works. She infinitely prefers to speak about those of her +friends. She is devoted to Whittier's poems, and to Pope, and can quote +passages at great length from this great favourite; whilst among modern +novelists she prefers Mrs. Riddell and the late George Lawrence, though +she says, laughing, she fears that this last shows a somewhat Bohemian +taste. + +"I am sure I was born to be a landscape gardener," remarks Mrs. +Houstoun. "That was my real vocation in life. If you had but seen our +home amongst the Connaught Mountains when I first saw it! The 'wild +bog,' as the natives call the soil, reached to my very doors and +windows. A wilderness of moist earth-bog myrtle and stunted heather +alone met the eye, very discouraging to such a lover of dainty well-kept +gardens and flowers as I am. Towering above and beyond our roughly-built +house was a mountain called Glenumra, over 3,000 feet in height, whilst +in front was Muelhrae, or King of the Irish Mountains (as it is the +loftiest), and a part of it effectually concealed from us all the +glories of the setting sun. The humid nature of the soil was favourable +to the growth of plants. I designed and laid out large gardens, and had +only to insert a few feet or inches, as the case might be, of laurel, +fuchsia, veronica, or hydrangia into the ground, and the slips took +root, grew and flourished. Long before we left there were fuchsias +thirty feet high; the veronicas, over six feet, blossomed in November. +Then I built a stove-house and conservatory, where my exotic fernery was +my great delight, and I spent much of my time there. All the money I +earned by my writings I spent on my ferns and plants." + +But the damp of the climate, the constant sitting up at night with their +poor sick dependents, at whose beck and call she was ever ready, and the +impossibility of procuring any medical attendance, laid the seeds of a +severe neuralgic affection of the joints, from which she has never +recovered, and a terrible fall resulted in a hopeless injury to both +knees. She says that during her twenty years' residence in that +distressful country she never knew the blessing of really good health. + +Mrs. Houstoun is extremely hospitable and sociable in disposition. One +of her chief regrets in being so completely laid by is that she is no +longer able to give the pleasant little weekly dinners of eight in which +she used to delight. She enjoys nothing more than visits from her +friends, who are always glad to come in and sit with her and listen to +her amusing and interesting conversation. She is a great politician and +an extreme Liberal, "though," she adds, "not a Gladstonian." At the +present moment she is deeply absorbed in the Stanley controversy, and, +as she is a cousin of the late Major Barttelot, and was much attached to +him, she naturally remarks that she "never knew anything but good of +him." + +But though this venerable lady is unable to entertain her friends in her +former manner, she does not forget the poor and suffering. She gives +little teas and suppers to aged men and women, whose sad cases have from +time to time been recommended to her, at which charitable gatherings, +with doors rigidly shut to exclude the smell of the poor old men's +tobacco smoke, she allows them to indulge in the luxury of a pipe. + +Though enduring constant pain and many long sleepless nights, she avows +that she is never dull or miserable. No word of complaint or murmur +passes her lips at her crippled condition. On the contrary, she +expresses the deepest content and thankfulness for her many comforts and +blessings, amongst which, she remarks, are her three maids, all sisters, +who are as devoted to her as if they had been born in her service. They +carry her up and down stairs, and wait on her, hand and foot, with +tender care. "And only think," she concludes cheerfully and with a +smile, "what a mercy it is that I retain my memory so well, and that my +mind is so clear, whilst I lie here useless!" "Nay, not useless," is +your reply, as you rise to leave, "they also serve who only stand and +wait." + + + + +[Illustration: Mrs. Alexander Fraser] + +MRS. ALEXANDER FRASER. + + +A rapid run of about an hour and a half in duration from Victoria, with +just a change of carriages at Three Bridges, but no delay, and you are +set down one bright, fresh morning at the pretty and picturesque station +of Faygate, Sussex, which presents a curiously countrified and even +primitive aspect, considering the many large properties and cottages +that lie in its close vicinity. A well turned-out little carriage and +pair of handsome, high-stepping chestnuts has been sent to convey you to +Carylls, the lovely home of Mrs. Alexander Fraser of Durris. + +The whole place is bathed in sunshine, and the air, though somewhat +frosty, is wonderfully exhilarating, as you are carried swiftly along a +good winding road, with trees on either side, the branches meeting +overhead. Here and there, as the horses go more slowly up a gentle +acclivity, you turn round to reconnoitre a little, and find that there +is a charming view behind. On the left, Leith Hill, with a tower +crowning it, rises up in purple tints against the horizon. On the right +lies a lovely view of undulating country, broad green fields, trim +hedges, brown brakes and hollows, with a background of luxuriant wood. +After a short drive, the carriage turns into a gate flanked by two +high turreted walls, and a neat little lodge with diamond-paned windows, +peeping out of a mass of ivy, stands just within. Leaving it on the +left, you go up a wide gravelled drive through an avenue of poplars; the +lawns, which are undulating, and cover about three acres of ground, are +laid out with low terraced walls, over which in summer time the roses +trail in rich profusion, and edged with a row of weeping ash and elm +trees, they lie on both sides right up to the entrance of a big red +brick house, lavishly covered with ivy, wisteria, and roses, with quaint +gables and many-shaped chimneys, which is altogether most picturesque. A +large conservatory unites the right and left wings, and once within this +conservatory it is difficult to realize that it is still winter. Heated +to a pleasant temperature, full of bright and rare bloom, the gentle +breath of sweet-scented gardenias and tuberoses pervading the +atmosphere, cages of many-coloured foreign birds, a gleam of Moorish +lamps against the greenery overhead, comfortable lounges, wickerwork +tables, Turkish rugs strewn on the tesselated floor--all combine to make +it a delightful place in which to while away the time, with book or +work, in friendly converse, or perhaps in solitary day dreaming. + +At the present moment it is passed in friendly converse. Mrs. Alexander +Fraser has received you with much cordiality, and whilst lingering +amongst the flowers and the ferns, the talk drifts away to India, +America, and the Continent of Europe, where she tells you the earlier +part of her life was spent, and that for many years past her home has +been at Carylls. She is fair and rather pale, her eyes are brown, and +have a slight droop of the lids, which gives them a soft expression. The +profile is just a trifle aquiline, is delicate in form, and the mouth +and chin are well cut. Her hair--a little lighter in colour than the +eyes, is worn in a loose, curly roll over her brow, and a thick coil on +the nape of her neck. She is attired in a most becoming and well-fitting +gown of black velvet and grey fur, and her manner is frank and informal. + +Carylls is a very old place; a part of it, indeed, was built in 1640, +but so well have all the additions and improvements of later years been +carried out that the two form a truly artistic whole. Originally +belonging to the well-known Roman Catholic family of Caryll, it is +mentioned in Pope's poems, several of which he wrote under the old oak +trees, and it is considered quite one of the show-places of this part of +Sussex. Mrs. Fraser says that it suits her in every way. The air is +splendid, the society is good, and she is not far enough away from town +to feel out of the world. The conservatory glass door opens into a very +large and lofty drawing-room with oak ceilings and great bay windows. It +looks more like a foreign than an English room. An immense Indian carpet +is spread over the floor, the sea-green walls are hung with many mirrors +in black and gold frames, several lovely old cabinets, and plenty of +Dresden, Sevres, Chelsea, and Capo de Monti, are to be seen everywhere. +Two superb silver _repousse_-work Lucknow bowls are especially +attractive; one, containing a many-leafed palm, stands on the grand +piano, and in its fellow is a large fern, the delicate fronds drooping +over a beautiful alabaster "Magdalen" close by. + +"I admire these more than anything else in the room," says Mrs. Fraser, +pointing to some photographs on an inlaid iron table. "These two are my +sons, both of them very good-looking, as you see," she continues, +smiling with very pardonable pride as she places the pictures in your +hand. And truly she has a good right to feel proud of these handsome, +noble-looking young men, one of whom is in the uniform of the Gordon +Highlanders. Here, too, is a portrait of the Prince of Wales, with his +autograph below, presented by his Royal Highness to General Fraser, +which is a much-valued gift, and the others are pictures of different +Indian viceroys and their wives, all given by themselves, Lord and Lady +Dufferin, Lord and Lady Lytton, the latter in a frame designed by +himself, which is quite a work of art, with a coronet in blue-and-white +enamel. An hour is passed very pleasantly amongst the many curiosities +which Mrs. Fraser has brought chiefly from foreign lands. The room is, +in fact, quite a small museum. Going back through the conservatory into +the other wing of the house, an open door gives a peep of the +dining-room in passing. It is a good-sized room, with oak ceiling, +crimson walls, and a quantity of carved oak furniture. + +But Mrs. Fraser's own particular favourite is just beyond--she calls it +her tea-room, not her study. "Not very large," she says, "but always +bright and cheerful, and the view is so lovely from this window. That +wood was gorgeous in its autumnal tints, and on a very clear morning +Leith Hill looks as if it were close to us. My rose garden is just to +the right here. I wish it was summer, that you might see it in all its +glory." And the view is lovely now, as the sun peeps in and out amongst +the great trees, which stand in clumps, with rustic seats beneath them. + +After admiring it for a while, you turn round to have a survey of the +room, and certainly endorse Mrs. Fraser's opinion. It has an oak +ceiling, like the other reception rooms, and pale-green walls, that show +off to advantage a number of oil paintings framed in dark crimson velvet +and gold. Two are especially fine, "The Golden Horn," and "Morning on +the Dutch Rivers," by an artist of some note, Fryar; and you fall in +love with two exquisite little bits of Brittany, by Gregory. A large +mirror in an elaborately carved frame surmounts the mantel-piece, which +is laden with Satsuma ware and other Japanese, Chinese, and Indian +curios. An old French marqueterie cabinet full of books stand in a +recess _vis-a-vis_ to a handsomely inlaid writing bureau with a silver +basket of hothouse flowers on it. + +Mrs. Fraser here calls attention to a number of silver vases, loving +cups, hunting flasks, gongs, etc., all of which are prizes won by her +sons' ponies and fox-terriers. These lie so perilously near the window +as to suggest a remark to the effect that they might be stolen, but Mrs. +Fraser declares that the people are wonderfully honest down in these +parts of the country, and that no burglary has been heard of for thirty +years or more. + +Later on, whilst being regaled with all sorts of cakes and hothouse +grapes, the conversation turns on literary matters. "I have no +particular writing-room," says your hostess, "I generally write in the +evening after dinner, with my people chattering all the time, but I am +too much accustomed to that to be disturbed by it. My first essays in +fiction were magazine stories. I suppose I have written over four-score +of these, and they always seemed to find a good deal of favour with the +leading provincial journals. I sold a story called 'Manoeuvring' for a +very nice little sum to a French editor for translation into _L'Etoile_, +and I was very much pleased when I got a requisition for a tale from the +_Lady's Magazine_ in Philadelphia, but of later years I have written +about five-and-twenty three-volume novels. The first of these was called +'Faithless.' The next two: 'Denison's Wife,' and 'Not While She Lives.' +After that 'Her Plighted Troth,' 'A Maddening Blow,' 'A Thing of +Beauty,' and 'A Fatal Passion' came out. These are names which recur to +me at the moment out of all that I have written. I like the last best, +and next to it 'A Leader of Society,' and 'The Match of the Season,' +perhaps because I took the heroes and heroines from real life. More +recently Mr. F. V. White has brought out my books, and they have all +more or less been excellently noticed, especially 'Daughters of +Belgravia,' 'The Last Drawing Room,' and 'The New Duchess,' all of which +have gone into two or three editions. Occasionally I send a piece of +poetry to the magazines, and it generally gets a little _kudos_ from the +Press, and some little time ago I wrote a sacred song called 'Calvary's +Cross,' which gained much popularity; a copy of it was very graciously +accepted by the Queen." The latest of all is "A Modern Bridegroom." + +Mrs. Fraser observes that she has often been asked what is her "method" +in writing, and that on one occasion she received a letter from a +clergyman in Nottingham, begging her to "describe it exactly." "I +laughed when the letter came," she continues, "and I am ashamed to say I +never answered it, because I have no method. I simply write straight on, +and never copy my MSS., and pity the poor printers who have to decipher +my hieroglyphics. I am very fond of recitations, too, and some years ago +I studied elocution under Mrs. Stirling. Once, in her unavoidable +absence, I recited two of her pieces before a large audience in St. +George's Hall. I felt horribly nervous, but I suppose I did the "pathos" +pretty well, for I noticed a good many people crying, and was much +pleased to see them do so! I have recited several times in America also, +but now I never exert myself beyond writing a novel or a short story +just when I feel inclined for it." + +After tea Mrs. Fraser proposes a stroll through the grounds. "It is very +cold, but dry," she says, "so we might venture; but first come into the +billiard-room, which is our usual postprandial resort." Passing through +the hall and another conservatory, with vines thickly intersecting +overhead, and full of splendid specimens of maidenhair ferns, with the +vivid scarlet of geraniums between them, she takes you into a large and +lofty room, panelled in oak. At the further end a flight of oaken steps +leads up to a sort of dais, from which the game can be well surveyed. +The furniture is all of carved oak and crimson velvet, with the +exception of two great easy chairs, whose backs and arms and legs are +composed of buffalo horns, beautifully polished and mounted. These were +sent to her from Russia, and are the admiration of the neighbourhood. + +All round the walls hang pictures of the celebrated American trotting +horses, whose performances in Central Park, New York, were a daily +delight to Mrs. Fraser. A tall bookcase, carved quaintly, stands in a +recess, but she tells you not to expect to see any of her own novels in +it, as she invariably gives them all away, except one copy of each, +which her mother, who lives with her, always confiscates, and values as +her dearest possessions. This lady must have been one of the loveliest +of women in her youth, and she is still wonderfully handsome and +young-looking. + +Mrs. Alexander Fraser comes of a good old stock. Her grandmother was a +sister of Sir Wolstan Dixie, descended from the Sir Wolstan Dixie who +settled at Bosworth, Leicestershire, in the time of Queen Elizabeth. On +her mother's side she is related to the ancient house of Dunboyne, +dating as far back as Sir Thomas Butler, or Le Botelier, in the reign of +Edward II.; and she is a connection of William Makepeace Thackeray. Of +this she declares herself to be "most proud," and adds:--"I consider his +'Becky Sharp' is one of the most able studies of character that was ever +written. How much I should delight in his power of reading character, +though perhaps he took somewhat too caustic a view of it occasionally!" + +A stand close by contains the whole set of Mrs. Lovett Cameron's +novels--"I enjoy her writing so much," says your hostess. "When I was +younger I was _fanatica_ on Ouida; but though I still admire her +marvellous command of language, especially in description of scenery, I +have grown too sober and prosaic and practical in my ideas and views of +life to appreciate her works as I used to do." + +Losing her father at a very early age, when only fifteen, Mrs. Fraser +went to India, after spending two years at a school in Paris, and at the +age of sixteen she married Captain, now General Alexander Fraser, C.B., +sometime Member of Council, for many years Secretary to the Government +of India, and only surviving brother of the late Bishop of Manchester. +She describes her life in India in glowing colours. "I liked India +immensely," she remarks. "Most women do, I fancy. They are so hospitable +out there, and there is so much fun and 'go' in the society. Besides," +she adds, laughing, "one has so much attention that one feels in a +delightfully chronic state of self-complacency!" + +A door at the further end leads through the fernery to the western side +of Carylls, which is perhaps the prettiest part of the place. It is +curiously decorated with Sussex tiles, and has an ivy-clad gable and +long window in stained cathedral glass. Turning to the right, your +hostess takes you round a tastefully-laid-out rosery, at the extremity +of which is a glasshouse over a hundred feet in length, which is full of +peach, apricot, nectarine, and other big trees. Emerging at the other +door, you find yourself in a great double garden with an archway +between, and the whole is enclosed within high walls covered with +fruit-trees. Here are vineries and hot-houses, all in most exquisite +order, for this is Mrs. Fraser's particular hobby. The day is so clear +that the view all around is seen to perfection, extending to the Surrey +Hills, and dotted here and there with a few white houses shown up +against the dark green of the masses of firs which seem to abound in +these parts. Expressing a wish to see the stables, Mrs. Fraser leads the +way thither through the courtyard. Four good-looking horses stand in the +stalls, and as she opens a small square window near, the black velvety +muzzle of the sweetest little pony rubs against her shoulder, whilst he +eagerly devours the carrot she has brought for him. "I drive this little +fellow myself," she says. "I had a pair of them, 'Blink' and 'Wink,' but +poor 'Wink' has gone over to the majority, I grieve to say." + +A little further on are some picturesque kennels, and the inmates greet +their mistress vociferously. These are the fox-terriers who won the +prizes in the drawing-room. They are animals of long pedigree and long +price, and are pretty well known at all the shows in England. "They are +not only ornamental but useful," says your hostess. "Some are loose at +night, and I pity the individual who approaches them." + +Whilst leisurely rambling here and there, you stroll up to some broad +stone steps (overshadowed by oaks, and with pillars on either side +surmounted by large vases of flowering berberis) that lead past an +upper lawn enclosed by a shrubbery, in which syringas and _Gloire de +Dijon_ roses hold prominent places. "These two tennis courts are in +constant use in summer time," observes Mrs. Fraser, "but I really am a +bit of a recluse, eschewing society as much as possible, though I +thoroughly enjoy a quiet tea with my favourite neighbours. When I lived +in town," she adds, "I had a charming house in Clarges-street, and used +to like my Wednesday afternoons, when a number of diplomats generally +looked in, and there used to be a Babel of languages going on, but long +residence in the country makes one grow daily more of a stay-at-home, +and I have so much to do that I never find the day too long." + +Close by on the lawn lies a carefully-kept grassy mound. This is the +grave of three favourite dogs, and a much deplored grey parrot. One of +these dogs was a Schipperke, the breed kept by the bargemen of Belgium +to guard their goods and chattels. "He was a real beauty," says your +hostess, sadly, "and he travelled with me all over the Continent, then +across the Atlantic, and back again. I think one really grows to care +for a dog or a horse as much as for a human creature, and this pet was +almost human in his intelligence." + +Mrs. Alexander Fraser is warmly attached to her beautiful home, and +takes the keenest interest in the improvements. She brought the design +of the low double walls from the Park at Brussels, and herself +superintended their building, as also the re-arrangement of the lawns. +She rarely goes to town, and then only on a flying visit just to see her +lawyers, or her publishers, "all the while longing to get home again," +she says. She promises herself, however, to go up to stay with some +friends in the season, in order to do the opera and theatres, confessing +that she dearly loves a good drama. "Something that makes me weep +copiously," she adds, laughing. "I dislike comic pieces." + +After a stroll round the lawns to watch the glories of the setting sun, +you return towards the house, passing by a piece of water enclosed by +low walls, fringed all round with large weeping willows, and enter +through a heated conservatory on the eastern side, not yet visited. Here +is a wealth of tea roses in every shade of colour. Mrs. Fraser +ungrudgingly cuts a handful of the choicest buds, and gives them to you, +a welcome present indeed at this season. "Flowers," she says, "are a +passion with me. I like to have them everywhere, and always have a big +bunch on my table when I write." The eastern side door leads into a +little room containing many Oriental treasures, notably a carved screen +of sweet-smelling sandal-wood, a curious "neckbreaker" used by Indian +dacoits, and some rare ivory and enamels. Conspicuous among them there +stands a small inlaid table, and on it lies an evidently cherished +volume, "The Life of Bishop Fraser," together with a photograph of him, +in a costly frame. "He was my best friend," says Mrs. Alexander Fraser, +in a low tone and with much pathos; "and my _beau ideal_ of a man both +personally and mentally. I felt his loss from my heart, and I am sure +that thousands have done the same." + +But the carriage is announced, and Mrs. Alexander Fraser gives a +whispered order to the butler, which results in a basket of large, +purple hothouse grapes being brought, "to cheer you on your way back," +she says. During the drive to the station she hospitably invites you to +"come again when the strawberries are ripe and the roses are in bloom." + + + + + +[Illustration: Julia B. Chetwynd] + +THE HON. MRS. HENRY CHETWYND. + + +There is an old house in a quiet old-world street leading out of Hans +Place, called Walton Place, where the Emperor Napoleon III. used to live +after he left King Street, St. James's, and which was the scene of some +of his famous political dinner-parties. This house, which is back to +back with Jane Austen's home in London, once stood in its own gardens, +but the ground was too valuable to spare for the picturesque, and it has +long since been turned into a row of neat dwelling-places. Standing well +back from the noisy thoroughfare and the incessant roar of traffic in +the Brompton Road, there is a sense of peace and quiet about it +externally which prepares you to find that within it is a home of +talent, of refinement, of domestic harmony and affection. + +Whilst ascending the stairs a fresh, sweet soprano voice is heard, +giving thrilling expression to Tosti's lovely song, "Love Ties." On +being shown into a fair-sized double drawing-room, your first impression +leads to the belief that there are some good old bits of carved oak +furniture to be studied, but there is more to learn about that +presently. Mrs. Chetwynd is busily engaged in finishing a large coverlet +of art needlework, which she puts aside as she rises to greet you with +much grace and cordiality. She is very fair in complexion, with large +blue eyes and softly shaded eyebrows. The hair, parted smoothly on a +broad forehead, is gathered up at the back, and brought round the head +in a plait, worn in coronet shape in front. She is dressed in black with +a scarf of old black lace knotted becomingly round her throat, and a +bunch of violets nestles in the folds. She has an air of high breeding, +combined with an irresistibly sweet and pleasant manner. + +The musician is Mrs. Chetwynd's youngest daughter, and you cannot resist +the temptation to beg her to indulge you with yet another verse of the +song. She good-naturedly complies, rendering the melody with much skill +and pathos. On your thanking and complimenting her, she tells you that +she is a pupil of Madame Bonner, and has never had any other teacher, +and truly she does credit to her instructress. + +There is an artistic simplicity about these bright, cheerful rooms which +is very fascinating. The walls are hung with gold-coloured paper, copied +from a pattern at Hampton Court, and taken from an Italian palace. +Carpets of electric-blue colour cover the floors, and tapestry curtains +of the same shade, with inner ones of cream-coloured guipure, shade the +windows; close to your hostess's chair there is an enormous Moorish +brass tray mounted on a Moorshebar stand. This was sent home by a dear +absent naval son for his mother's afternoon tea-service, but as it is so +heavy that it would require two servants to carry it, Mrs. Chetwynd has +turned it into a most appropriate work-table. Large plants of the +"Sacred Lily of Japan" are flowering beautifully yonder, a big Japanese +screen stands near the door, armchairs of every shape and degree of +comfort, together with a broad couch, are placed apparently exactly +where they ought to be; nearly everything else in the room has a story, +and now the secret of the old oak furniture is learned. You could have +declared it was a production of the seventeenth century. The material is +of cypress wood, and Miss Katherine Chetwynd is now carving some oak, +which was a gift, and which is old, very old, inasmuch as it was taken +out of the Thames, at Blackwall, and formed part of the planks and +stakes driven in there to keep out the Spanish Armada. It is black with +age, but still sound. It would appear to be a curious present for three +young girls, but Mrs. Chetwynd's daughters have a genius for +wood-carving; collecting old designs, they actually made the fire-place +entirely by themselves, with its rich, broad pattern on each side, the +Rose and the Shamrock for their father, and the Thistle entwined in +compliment to their Scottish mother, and with the help of their brother +they even fitted and placed it without the aid of a carpenter. Several +tables, too, carved in a variety of designs, are the manufacture of +their clever fingers, and their talents do not end here, for on one of +these tables you recognize a life-size portrait, in red crayons, of the +fair young musician herself, executed with masterly and skilful touch by +her elder sister. The painted panels of the outer and inner doors as +also of those which divide the rooms, are the work of these young +artists, in thoroughly correct Japanese style, the rising sun, the +storks, and the tall flowers in raised gilt, being all perfectly +orthodox. This talent is inherited from their mother, for every picture +on the walls is from her own brush. On the right hangs her large +painting from Siegert's "Liebesdienst," in the Hamburg Gallery, and she +was very proud of obtaining permission to copy it, as it was then only +the second copy allowed. On one side of the fireplace there is her +portrait in oils of the beautiful Miss Bosville, afterwards Lady +Macdonald of the Isles, Mrs. Chetwynd's great-grandmother; on the other +"The Holy Margaret," copied in the Dresden Gallery, a Madonna after +Rotari, and a cherub after Rubens, in all of which pictures it is easy +to see that she excels in flesh tints, and has a fine eye for colour. + +Mrs. Chetwynd is the daughter of the late Mr. Davidson of Tulloch, by +his first wife, the Hon. Elizabeth Macdonald, one of the lovely +daughters of the late Lord Macdonald of the Isles. Mr. Davidson +inherited, besides the family place, Tulloch Castle, the deer forest of +Inchbae, and many thousands of acres on the West Coast, which he sold to +Sir John Fowler, Mr. Banks, and others. He was first in the Grenadier +Guards, then member for the county, and, finally, Lord-Lieutenant of +Ross-shire. He was noted for his handsome person and his great kindness +to everyone around him; a most popular landlord, he possessed a great +charm of manner, and was much in advance of his day, especially in the +matter of education. Though he was the best and kindest of fathers, he +was strict in discipline. His daughters were made to learn Latin and +mathematics, and, besides a resident English and foreign governess, the +village schoolmaster came to teach them history and geography every +evening. + +"It was impossible," says Mrs. Chetwynd, "to have had a happier +childhood than ours, particularly up to the time of my mother's death. +Though I think that education was perhaps a little overdone, we had a +great deal of exercise on horseback and on foot to counteract it. We +were made to keep very early hours, to be in the schoolroom at six +o'clock every morning in summer and seven in winter. The piper's walking +up and down playing in front of the old place at eight o'clock was the +signal for our breakfast, of which we had great need, having previously +studied for two hours. We then worked hard at our books till noon, when +my mother always appeared at the schoolroom door with peaches, grapes, +or something good in her hand; then we rode for two hours in all +weathers, dined at two o'clock, worked till four, out again till six, +then tea, preparation, and to bed." + +It is probably just the regularity, order, and method of the happy, +healthy country life of her girlhood, and the constant out-of-door +exercise, which have preserved Mrs. Chetwynd's constitution so +excellently, that until four years ago, when she met with a severe +accident at Rugby Station--from which she has never quite recovered--she +could walk long distances, and go out at night afterwards without +feeling any fatigue. "The walks and rides," she continues, "that we were +accustomed to take in the elastic Highland air, sound wonderful to +those who have not experienced the ease with which one can walk there. +We, as girls, would tramp seven miles to a luncheon party, join in any +expedition, and return the whole way on foot easily. We have often +ridden twenty-five miles, (sending other horses on early, and changing +halfway), gone out with the friends with whom we spent the afternoon, +and ridden home in time to dance at a gillies' ball." + +Another great excitement in their youth was the acting of French and +Italian plays, which were adapted for their own capacities from +_Moliere_, _Goldoni_, etc., by the foreign governess, enjoying +thoroughly the applause, the dressing-up and the arranging of the +costumes, which were made in strict keeping. "But what we did not +enjoy," adds your hostess, smiling, "was the trouble of our long and +thick hair, which as often as not was powdered for these juvenile +performances, and I can remember to this day how unmercifully our cross +French maid used to pull and tug at it next morning." + +The autumn holidays were often spent up at the West Coast place or on +the Continent. The former was, however, the favourite holiday resort of +these happy, hardy young people, where they boated, fished, and bathed +to their hearts' content, often going off to one of the many islands on +the coast, taking books, work, and provisions; then, sending away the +boat, they would spend half the bright, warm days swimming about in the +sea. When these vacations were spent abroad the opportunity was seized +to give them the best masters to be found; "and, though we enjoyed +foreign life very much," says Mrs. Chetwynd, "we always felt we were +being cheated out of our holidays. In later years my uncle, General +Macdonald (known as Jim Macdonald) lived at the Ranger's Lodge in Hyde +Park, and going there was always a great pleasure. He was so clever and +entertaining, never too busy to enter into anything affecting his +family, so overflowing with wit of the best kind, that he made one see +the amusing side of the most commonplace things." + +The excellent education she received, the beautiful scenery in which she +was reared, the clever people (George Eliot among them) with whom she +was brought in contact--all conspired to expand the young girl's mind, +and to pave the way for her subsequent career as a novelist. She +describes their charming supper-parties at St. Andrews which were +constantly joined by such learned men as Principal Tulloch, Professors +Aytoun and Ferrier, and Sir David Brewster, who used to talk to her in +the most fascinating manner about astronomy and other science, as "being +an education in itself." Thackeray, too, gave her the greatest +encouragement, and showed her much kindness. But the girlish days were +coming to a close. In February, 1858, she married Lieutenant, now +Post-Captain, the Hon. Henry Chetwynd, brother of Viscount Chetwynd, by +whom she has a family of four sons and three daughters. Her first +literary effort was a play, written at the early age of twelve, in which +she acted with her brothers and sisters. It was really a wonderful +production for so young a child, and a few years later she wrote several +society verses, which were printed, and read with much amusement by her +father, to whom, however, she had not the courage to disclose the +secret of their authorship. For some years after her marriage Captain +Chetwynd held some appointments enabling her to be constantly with him, +but when the dreaded moment for separation came, and he was ordered on +foreign service, first to the West Indies, and then to Mexico, Mrs. +Chetwynd felt the solitude of the long evenings to be so oppressive +after the little ones were gone to bed, that for distraction she took to +her pen and wrote her first novel, called "Three Hundred A Year." It had +a good sale, though on looking back on it now the author pronounces it +to have been "excessively silly." Encouraged by this success, she wrote +"Mademoiselle d'Estanville," which was translated into French, and had a +good run. Then came "Janie" and "Life in a German Village," which passed +into several editions. "Bees and Butterflies" came out first in the +_Pictorial World_ before being published in three volumes. This book the +author considers to have been the most successful, financially, though +"Sara" is her own favourite, and was the result of a long study. The +story is founded on fact, and the incidents relating to the discovery of +South End smugglers were drawn from the life, Mrs. Chetwynd having been +a witness to the scene when the great cask, supposed to contain wine, +was opened, and found full of white satin shoes, valuable lace, and +other contraband articles. Scenes, too, in the Highlands are well +depicted in this book, whilst the sketch of Sara is carefully worked +out, from her first introduction as the "dethroned princess" in all her +ignorance and absorption in her supposed "Gift of Poetry," to the final +page when, after many vicissitudes of fortune, her soul is awakened by +the love of a good man, and her really fine and noble character is fully +developed. Other books written by Mrs. Chetwynd are entitled "A March +Violet," "The Dutch Cousin," and "Lady Honoria's Nieces," but though +want of space prevents much comment on them, they can confidently be +recommended as most pleasant reading, and all are characterized by the +kindly nature, the refinement, and the noble spirit of this +distinguished gentlewoman's mind. She modestly says of her works, "When +I think of the great competition nowadays, I am surprised that they have +held their own at all, and directly a new book is out, I always feel +that I should like to recall it. I have sold the copyright of most of my +stories, but some are still in my own hands, and I have long since +handed over all my literary business affairs to Mr. A. P. Watt, which I +have found a perfectly satisfactory arrangement." The author was +considerably amused a few days ago on hearing that a former old servant +takes in _Bow Bells_ regularly in order to read her late mistress's +novels, which have been reproduced and are now coming out weekly in that +periodical. Her two last books are called "Criss-Cross Lovers" and "A +Brilliant Woman." + +On asking Mrs. Chetwynd about her plots and taste in literature, she +says: "I generally build up characters from my own experiences, a bit +here, and a trait there, but I do not deliberately set to work to take +pictures of people. I think that most persons have some particular +characteristic that comes out in everything they do, and to create is +better than to copy. My favourite novels are written by the Gerards, +and by Mrs. L. B. Walford--I find all hers charming. Besides these, I +admire George Meredith's books more than any others, the one drawback +being that when I have re-read one of his I cannot interest myself in +anything else for a long time. I delight in history, too, history of all +nations. Things which really happened absorb me intensely. I remember +when a child I had curious punishments; for being untidy I had twenty +lines of _Henriade_ to learn by heart, or a French fable. As I could +repeat the _Henriade_ from beginning to end, I must have been untidy +pretty often. The English governess for punishment used to make me read +twenty pages of Alison's "History of Europe" aloud in the play-hours, a +fact which I once told the learned historian, and it amused him greatly. +The historical punishment, however, has not deprived me of my love for +history. My favourite poets are Wordsworth, Tennyson, Shelley, and +Burns. I am a great needlewoman, too, and when I am ruffled by anything +I take refuge in sewing a plain seam. This coverlet is from a Munich +pattern, and I have finished it for my sister, Mrs. Carnegy of Lour, who +began it; the tablecover is for my other sister, Mrs. Craigie-Halkett of +Cramond." + +It is through one of her daughters that you learn of Mrs. Chetwynd's +great musical gifts. She was a pupil of Garcia, had a beautiful voice, +and used to sing at many amateur concerts. She still keeps up her +pianoforte playing, for which she won a gold medal, and will improvise +on the piano by the hour together. Her husband and children are very +proud of her performances. She has lately invented a fire-escape, which +is approved of by experts and engineers, and of which more will soon be +heard. + +After tea, at which the party is joined by a beautiful thoroughbred +Dachshund called Freda, you are taken down into the dining-room, and, in +passing, just peep into a little room on the stairs, which your hostess +calls her "girls' workshop," where all the wood-carving is carried on. +There is a little point of interest in the dining-room which must be +noticed as betokening the versatile gifts of this accomplished family. A +friend had sent them a roll of paper from Japan, but, as it was found +insufficient to cover the whole of the walls, Mrs. Chetwynd and her +daughters put their heads together to consult as to how the balance +required could be eked out. The result was, that they first distempered +the uncovered part of the wall to the exact shade of the colour, and +then painted it in such close imitation of the Japanese pattern, even to +the native mark, that it is quite impossible to discover which is the +original and which the imitation. Among the many books is a copy of +"Freytag's Reminiscences," translated by Mrs. Chetwynd's second +daughter, and considered by good judges to be one of the best +translations from the German that has appeared for a long time. There is +a picture of that grand old Highlander, Mr. Davidson of Tulloch, taken +in the days when he, with your hostess's uncle, Cluny Macpherson, Fox +Maule, afterwards Earl of Dalhousie, and the Duke of Abercorn, danced +the first reel that the Queen ever saw in Scotland at Taymouth. By the +way, Mrs. Chetwynd herself was a great performer in that line in her +youth, and at some juvenile festivity she and another young Highland +friend danced the reel before the late Prince Consort. + +But you had forgotten thoroughly to inspect the picture of Tulloch +Castle, so Mrs. Chetwynd sends for it. "I am sure," she says, "that my +old home is the loveliest place in the world. Part of it is very old, +and it has been (through the female line) in our family since 1300." It +has an old keep, and what was once the dungeon is now a wine cellar. The +house stands very high up, though almost at the foot of Ben Wyvis, and +over the park you see the far-famed Strathpeffer, framed in the distance +by the West Coast hills. On the other side, also over the well-wooded +park, are the Cromarty Frith, and Dingwall nestling at its bend. The +gardens are very large, and a good many acres are now not kept up. The +approach to the front door is under a very old archway; and though a +great part of the place was destroyed by fire some years ago, the walls, +some of which are six feet thick, are intact. Facing the south, it +catches all the sunshine, and as the hills rise behind it everything is +sheltered from the colder winds, and flowers and shrubs grow most +luxuriantly. Some scarlet rhododendrons of great height blossom in the +winter out of doors. The place is now in the possession of Mrs. +Chetwynd's nephew. + +Your hostess recalls one little incident which she says was "an event in +our lives. My father and Cluny Macpherson received the Queen on the +occasion of her visit to Badenoch. She went to Ardverikie, then rented +from Cluny by the Duke of Abercorn. My father took forty gillies with +him, Cluny had as many more, and they met her majesty on the edge of +the property, and escorted her in true Highland fashion. Ardverikie was +afterwards sold by Cluny to Sir John Ramsden. The Queen went to Cluny +Castle, and examined the many relics of 'Prince Charlie' kept there with +an interest which pleased all the family much. Some of the sisters were +there with my father." + +You are rising regretfully to leave, when the door opens, and Captain +Chetwynd comes in. This fine old sailor greets you in the same genial +manner which characterises the rest of the family. He is the chief +inspector of the Royal National Life-Boat Institution. He is a great +organiser, is deeply interested in his work, and his wife delights to +think that his talents are now turned to saving, not to destroying life. +She had previously confided to you, that not only is he one of the +cleverest and best of men, but also one of the most straightforward and +appreciative. The good, benevolent face carries its own testimony to the +fact. A more happy, united family it would be impossible to find; mutual +love and confidence reign supreme; when cares and anxieties come, as to +whom do they not? they are shared by all, and thus is the burden +lightened. + + + + +[Illustration: Jean Middlemass] + +JEAN MIDDLEMASS. + + +Among the many quiet, shady nooks and corners to be found in the "busy, +toiling, but ever pleasure-loving Metropolis," where, if a student +desire, she can be in the world, and yet out of its distracting roar, +Brompton Square can claim to be one; not that it is really a "square" at +all, but merely two long rows of houses, connected at the further end by +a semi-circle composed of three or four larger houses. The gardens which +separate the two lines of old-fashioned, solidly built dwellings, are +thickly planted with shrubs and grand old trees, that in summer time +quite shut out any view of the opposite neighbours, and ensure a +delightful privacy, whilst the twittering of birds, and the cawing of +the rooks, who have built their nests therein, undisturbed for many +generations, would almost cheat a stranger into the belief that it is a +bit out of a country village. Alas! for the poor little buds which had +struggled feebly into life before the devastating blizzard! They were +all untimely nipped. Spring has lingered so long in the "lap of winter," +that the summer greenery is somewhat backward, yet, at last, the green +shoots which have slept "through the long night" are beginning to burst +out into strength, and the gummy, swelling buds of the great lilacs +within the railings are coming out, and are already casting a delicious +perfume around the peaceful and old-world enclosure. + +Nearly every house in Brompton Square is associated with the names of +men and women who have left their mark in the history of London, chiefly +of those who belonged to the theatrical and musical professions. On +yonder side Mr. John Baldwin Buckstone, the well-known author-actor, +entertained merry parties of wits. A few doors further on stands the +house which Mr. Edward Fitzwilliam--famous in his day as a musical +composer--inhabited. Spagnoletti, the leader of the Italian Opera +orchestra, lived on the opposite side, and was succeeded in his tenancy +by a famous and accomplished actress of those days, Mrs. Chatterly. Mr. +James Vining, a much respected actor, owned the house which was +afterwards occupied by the late Mr. Shirley Brooks. George Colman, the +younger, lived and died there. Mr. William Farren, the elder, occupied +one house, and owned another, which was the residence of Mr. Payne +Collier, who, as Croker says in his interesting "Walk from London to +Fulham," gave to the public several editions of Shakespeare, and who was +long distinguished by his profound knowledge of dramatic literature and +history, and his extensive acquaintance with the early poetry of +England. In contradistinction to these more amusing personages, there +lived in a house on the east side a man of solid and profound learning, +Sir John Stoddard, who, within these walls, wrote at the age of +eighty-five, a Polyglot grammar, which was much in use at schools of +that period. + +In addition to these world-known and histrionic names may be added those +of the late Mr. Yates, Mr. John Reeve, Mr. Robson, Mr. Liston, the +comedian, and Mr. Henry Luttrell, termed by Lord Byron "the great London +wit," once well known in the circles of literature, the author of many +epigrams, and of a volume of poetry. These have all been residents in +Brompton Square, whilst, in later years, Mr. and Mrs. Keeley inhabited a +house on the south side, and Mr. and Mrs. Chippendale lived a few doors +further on. + +What could be more appropriate than that Miss Jean Middlemass, author of +"Dandy," "Patty's Partner," "A Girl in a Thousand," and many other +bright and interesting stories, should take up her abode in this +time-honoured locality, so full of literary and dramatic associations? +She has settled herself in one of the larger houses in the bend of the +semi-circle at the top, which was erstwhile the dwelling-place of Mr. +Alfred Wigan. A spacious hall opens into two good-sized and lofty rooms, +which are divided by massive doors, folded back, and draped with heavy +Moorish curtains of subdued colouring. + +It is all so old-fashioned as to be in thorough keeping with the +exterior; but though old-fashioned, the comfortable rooms are by no +means dull or gloomy. A flood of sunshine steals in through the long, +high windows, lighting up the crimson coverings of the furniture, and +casting a bright ray on the picture of a head of Rembrandt, by himself, +which is set in a handsomely-carved oak frame of great antiquity over +the mantelshelf, on which stand three old and valuable Spode jars. On +one side hangs a painting by Bowden of a lovely child, the son of +Frederick Reynolds, the dramatic writer, and near it is one of Riviere's +elaborately finished and exquisite miniatures of the author's mother +taken in her youth. There are some choice bits of Dresden on a carved +corner bracket, and scattered about here and there are several Japanese +and Chinese curiosities, which have just been sent to Miss Middlemass +from the East, including a magnificently carved junk, correct in every +minute detail. Surely the very smallest writing-table at which author +ever sat belongs to Jean Middlemass; but that, too, was a present, and +was originally made tall enough for her to write at while standing, but +as that position was found to be quite too fatiguing it has been cut +down to suit her present requirements. There is a beautiful old oak +mounted carving on the wall--so old that she "can remember nothing about +it or its subject," she says, "beyond the fact that we always seem to +have possessed it, and it has been greatly admired." Above it some +delightfully quaint old china is arranged in a half circle; on either +side hang four antique engravings of great value, classical subjects +from Boucher, the French artist's paintings. But the picture which she +prizes more than all is a life-size portrait in oils, the last work that +was ever finished by the artist Jackson. It represents the author's +grandfather. He held an appointment in the Treasury, and was the one +member of the family who had any connection with literature, being +intimately acquainted in his youth with Sir Joseph Banks, Mdme. de +Stael, Lady Blessington, and other people of letters. + +There is a look in Miss Middlemass which proclaims the relationship. +She is above the middle height, very upright, with a good figure, fair +complexion, grey curly hair, and keen, bright-blue, short-sighted eyes. +She is dressed in black, relieved by a little rose-coloured ribbon round +the wrists and throat, tied in a bow on one side. She is sprightly and +merry in nature, full of pleasant conversation, and genial in manner. + +Jean Middlemass is Scottish by descent. She was born in one of the +pleasant terraces surrounding Regent's Park. Naturally a clever, +intelligent girl, she began to write at a very early age, and, to +encourage her in this taste, when yet quite a small child her father +started a magazine for private circulation only, to which she, her +brothers, and several other Harrow boys used to contribute scraps and +stories, aided by pieces from a few older persons to encourage the +juveniles. She describes herself as having been quick at learning by +heart, quick in everything, and fond of study. Plays were her chief +delight, and at eight years old she had read and could repeat pages of +Shakespeare, often astonishing her parents by apt quotations given with +considerable dramatic power. Her youthful enthusiasm in this direction +soon, however, received a check, for on one occasion, being rebuked by +her mother for some trifling fault, and told how much better people +would think of her if she behaved well, she pathetically replied--coolly +substituting a word at the end of the first line which she considered +more suitable:-- + + Amen; and make me die a good old age! + That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing; + I marvel that her Grace did leave it out. + +For this piece of childish and precocious impertinence, as it was +deemed, she was punished by the prompt confiscation of her beloved +Shakespeare, whereat she wept copiously. + +"I was kept hard at my lessons," says Miss Middlemass; "no expense or +pains were spared to educate me well, and I enjoyed them. My father was +a great student, and himself instructed me in Latin and the rudiments of +Greek. I used to attend M. Roche's French classes, and constant +residence abroad has enabled me to speak French and German as fluently +as English. Music I disliked from the first, and when a tiny child, if +my mother were singing, I used to cry out, 'Speak it, speak it!' I do +not care for music to this day, and rejoice in the exceeding thickness +of the old walls of this house, which causes even the sound of +neighbouring pianos to be quite undisturbing. History and biographies +were always favourite studies, and I prefer reading French to English. +For some years I wrote in a desultory sort of fashion, and it was not +until after my mother's death, about fourteen years ago, that feeling +lonely--for my four brothers all died young--I adopted writing as a +profession." + +At the age of eighteen, being emancipated from the school-room, Miss +Jean Middlemass was brought out, made her _debut_ at an early Drawing +Room, and enjoyed the gaieties of two London seasons, but after the +death of her father the family moved to Brighton, where, later on, her +inherent talent for acting asserted itself; she studied recitation and +elocution, and constantly took part in amateur theatricals, sometimes +playing in as many as four parts in one evening at the Royal Pavilion, +coached by Mrs. Stirling. On one occasion she recited "Lady Macbeth" +before a full audience at the Dome, and she was always in great request +at private parties, where she used to arrange and take part in tableaux, +charades, proverbs, and such like entertainments. + +Miss Middlemass never acted in a theatre, though she may have had a +strong desire to do so, and she smilingly confesses to being perhaps a +little of the Bohemian at heart, inasmuch as she dislikes formalities +and conventionalities, and loves freedom of action. She has played +Esther in _Caste_, Pauline in _Delicate Ground_, Lady Aubrey Glenmorris +in _School for Coquettes_, Lady Constance in a scene from _King John_, +besides others too numerous to mention. Her most successful recitations +have been selections from the works of Dante Rossetti, and Tennyson, +Hamilton Aide's "Lost and Found," and Hood's "Dream of Eugene Aram"; +also scenes from plays--Beatrice in _Much Ado About Nothing_, and +Pauline in the _Lady of Lyons_. Her memory being excellent, her +_repertoire_ was very large, and, according to those who witnessed her +performances, her histrionic powers entitled her to a prominent position +in the Thespian temple of fame, for in all that she undertook, whether +in acting or reciting, she worked with indomitable energy, exhibiting +the conceptions of a discriminating and educated mind, marked by the +influence of a rich and cultivated taste. + +"After a few years," says Miss Middlemass, "I began to publish some of +my stories, and as the love of writing grew upon me more and more, I +found I could not write and act too, so as the histrionic amusements +were gradually abolished, I turned my attention more exclusively to my +pen, and wrote my first novel, 'Lil.' My mother used to like my stories +when they were out, though she never enjoyed them whilst in process of +being written. I generally make out a vague plot of half a page, then +draw it out into chapters, and arrange the characters. I prefer writing +stories of middle or low class life, I don't know why; it came to me, +and I often pick up ideas of the lower London life from standing about +here and there to listen. I compose and write very quickly, going over +it all several times; and I have never had much help, but have just +struggled on through it alone. At night, when I go to bed, I work out +all the thoughts and ideas which have suggested themselves during the +day; often going to sleep in the middle of it, but in the morning it all +comes back to me, and I write it out readily and rapidly." + +"Lil," which is well calculated to keep alive the interest of the +reader, and has, moreover, the merit of being animated in dialogue, was +soon followed by "Wild George," in which the beautiful but dangerous +French adventuress and her faithful old soldier servant play so +prominent a part. Next came "Baiting the Trap," "Mr. Dorillon," "Touch +and Go," succeeded by "Sealed by a Kiss" and "Innocence at Play." In all +these works there is much insight into human nature, and the French +scenes are particularly bright and life-like, betokening the author's +intimate knowledge of foreign cities. "Four-in-Hand" was the sporting +title of a volume of short stories. "Sackcloth and Broadcloth" contains +some capital sketches of clerical life and its surroundings, about which +Miss Middlemass has had considerable experience. Perhaps up to that date +she scored her greatest success with "Dandy," written in 1881; of this +book the critics and the public were unanimous in their applause. +Penetrating into the haunts of the poorest section of humanity in order +to depict naturally and truthfully the scenes so touchingly described +therein, she gained an unusual insight into their words and ways, their +occasionally high, their too often low standard of morality. + +"Patty's Partner" is a delightful and interesting tale of the porcelain +manufacture works in the West of England, where Miss Middlemass is as +much at home as she is in the scenes in "Dandy." It is full of humour +and clever writing. Among other of the author's works may be mentioned +"Poisoned Arrows," "By Fair Means," "The Loadstone of Love," and "Nelly +Jocelyn, Widow." A three-volume story published lately, entitled "Two +False Moves," contains some powerful pieces of writing, and the +characters of Derek Home, Ruth Churchill, and the Rev. John Eagle are +drawn to the life. Her last work in one volume is entitled "How I Became +Eminent." + +In poetry Miss Middlemass does not as much incline to modern writers as +to the ancient classics in which she was so early instructed. In +politics she is a strong Conservative. Until the last year or two she +was, as may be supposed, a frequent visitor at the theatre, but being, +unfortunately, so short-sighted, the necessity for using strong glasses +temporarily strained her eyes, so that pleasure is partially laid aside +for the present. + +Miss Middlemass is, as usual, full of literary engagements. A new novel +is being meditated, though it may not actually be begun; several short +stories are in requisition, and one appeared in an early number of John +Strange Winter's weekly paper. Among other enjoyments, Jean Middlemass +delights in travelling; "Not in the sea part of it," she adds, smiling; +"I am an especially bad sailor, and do not like being on the water. I +always take the shortest sea-routes." She has made many journeys on the +Continent, and in former days lived for a year in Paris. She knows her +Paris well, and loves it so dearly that she has often felt that she +would like to make her home in that gay and festive capital. She is +equally familiar with Brussels, and has been a good deal in Germany, but +only on the Rhine, passing some time at Wiesbaden, and paying what she +describes as a "delightful visit to the old city of Nuremberg." + +"I keep on my quarters in town," continues your hostess, "principally as +a _pied-a-terre_. The severity of the long winter, then the sudden +change of spring for a few days in February, following those dreadful +fogs and frosts, and then the terrible gales and east winds, were all +most trying, and I am again contemplating a trip abroad to more +seasonable climates; first, a short tour in Holland, then on to Paris +for a few weeks, and later, into North Italy, perhaps on to Venice, if +the weather then be not too hot." + +The brightness and vivacity of foreign life suit well Miss Jean +Middlemass's happy disposition and sunny nature. Blessed with good +spirits, full of clever anecdote and harmless repartee, with great +conversational power, her prevailing characteristic is an utter absence +of selfishness and affectation. She has a soft, merry laugh, and a kind, +warm heart. With this good gift, it is almost needless to say that she +goes through life making no enemies, and many friends. In her ready wit +there is no sting. Before all things scandal and backbiting are an +abomination to her; it has been truly quoted of this talented and +amiable woman, as it has been said of many great and famous persons, +"Though knowledge is power, yet those who possess it are indulgent to +weaker intellects, and become as one of them in sociability and +friendship." + + + + +[Illustration: A. de Grasse Stevens] + +AUGUSTA DE GRASSE STEVENS. + + +Among the younger American authors who have made their mark on the +literature of the day, Augusta de Grasse Stevens takes a high stand. +Highly educated and deeply read, as well versed in the political and +civil history of her own country as in that of the land of her adoption, +her mind expanded by much continental travel, and inheriting the talents +of her brilliantly gifted parents, it is no wonder that she should have +attained the depth of thought, the originality of idea, and the fluency +of expression which characterise her writings. The young author, who is +_petite_ in stature, and slight in figure, with grey-blue eyes and brown +hair, was born in Albany, on the Hudson River, the capital city of New +York, a quaint old Dutch town that bears to this day many marked +peculiarities of its rich founders, whose manor lands, granted by royal +patent, stretched far and wide along the river banks. Her father was the +Hon. Samuel Stevens, one of the most brilliant lawyers the American bar +has ever produced; his opinions are still quoted in legal matters on +both sides of the ocean. He was a man of the keenest intellect, and most +wonderful memory; a power wherever he appeared, and one who had the +reputation of never losing a case. The courtesy title was bestowed upon +him by the State Legislature in recognition of his great services to +that body. He was the life-long friend of such men as Chancellor +Walworth, Henry Clay the statesman, and Daniel Webster, who declared +that "in his opinion Mr. Stevens as a lawyer stood first in the United +States, and that as a colleague he welcomed him in every case, but as an +opponent he hoped each case would be the last." From Mr. Stevens' +conduct of so many cases, involving important inventions, he has been +called unanimously "The Founder of American Patent Law." + +"Mr. Phelps, the late U.S. Minister, has often told me," says Miss +Stevens, "that he, as a young man, used to travel miles to hear my +father argue a case, such a lesson was it in eloquence and profound +legal knowledge, and he retained as one of his happiest memories the +remembrance of certain interviews he had had with him in which he +learned more from my father than in hours of study and private research. +My paternal grandmother was of French birth and lineage. She was Mdlle. +Marie de Grasse, the daughter of Pierre de Grasse, who was a brother of +the famous Admiral Comte de Grasse, the intimate friend of La Fayette, +whose patriotism, like his own, was devoted to the American cause. Her +parents left France in the seventeenth century, and established +themselves in a country home not far from Albany. My grandmother was +very beautiful, and retained her beauty to an advanced age, and it is +from her we take the name of De Grasse. My great-grandfather was an +ardent patriot, and I have often heard my aunt say, that stored away in +the attic of their house were trunks full of 'national paper bonds,' not +worth the paper on which they were printed, but which represented the +sums that he had advanced to the American Government during the War of +Independence, and which afterwards they were unable to redeem. My father +married rather late in life, my mother being only a girl of eighteen at +the time. She was very charming in manner and appearance and highly +educated." On the maternal side, Miss de Grasse Stevens can trace her +descent back without a break to that brave Simon de Warde who fought +with the Conqueror and who fell at Hastings, and whose name is engraved +on the Battle Abbey Roll, among those for whom "prayer perpetual is to +be offered up" within the Abbey walls. The Wards emigrated to America +some time in the year 1600, and settled in New England. They were +staunch Puritans and patriots, and begrudged neither life, nor money, +nor substance to the cause. General Artemas Ward, one of Washington's +chief generals, early distinguished himself in the service, and he was +but one in a long line of similar instances. It was while walking +through an old churchyard in Connecticut that the late Samuel Brown, +coming upon General Artemas Ward's tomb-stone, first saw the name that +he afterwards adopted and made world-famous in a far different fashion. + +Miss Stevens can remember well her great-grandfather Ward, though she +was only a child when he died. He was a typical gentleman of the old +school, and wore to the day of his death his hair tied in a _queue_, +the knee breeches, silk stockings, low shoes with gold buckles, fine +cambric frill, and neckerchief of his time. Her childish recollections +are full of pictures of him, and she can shut her eyes and recall +without effort the long, sunny drawing-room, so still, and full of a +certain awe, the trees outside bending in the summer wind, the warm +crimson hangings at the wide windows, the fire on the open hearth, +burning there all the year round, and the great arm-chair drawn close +within its rays, in which was seated the dignified figure of her +great-grandfather, Dr. Levi Ward, his beautiful clean-shaven face, +slightly stern when in repose, breaking into a kindly smile at the first +sound of his daughter's voice. By his side on a little table lay the +great Bible, always open, which he knew literally by heart, and from +which, when the blindness of old age came upon him, he could repeat +chapter after chapter with unfailing accuracy. "My great-grandmother, +his wife, I cannot remember," says Miss Stevens, "but she, too, was a +remarkably handsome woman, and one who throughout her whole life held a +distinguished position in society as well as being a leader in all +philanthropic and charitable undertakings. Their beautiful home, Grove +Place, Rochester, New York, was the perfection of a country seat, and +about it cluster many tender memories and associations. Their daughter +married my grandfather, Mr. Silas Smith, whose daughter in turn became +my father's wife, and went with him to his home in Albany, where she +soon won for herself a position of much responsibility, and became, puny +as she was, a recognised power in all social matters. My father died +when I was very young, and my earliest recollections do not date beyond +his death. My mother, a young widow, returned with her little family to +her father's home, Woodside, just out of Rochester, and with that dear +and beautiful home all my happiest, fondest memories are knit up +indissolubly. Woodside was a typical home; a large and spacious mansion +set in the midst of acres of park land, gardens, and meadows. I think +there never was just such a home! Everything that refinement, +cultivation, and wealth could procure surrounded us, yet all was +distributed and governed with so just and wise a hand that luxurious +ostentation and wastefulness were never known amongst us. Here I grew +from babyhood to girlhood, and to the fond remembrance and recollection +of life there my thoughts turn always when I speak or think of--_home_." + +The young American author describes her mother and her system of +education in touching and eloquent words. Her mother, she says, was +possessed of one of those rare, unselfish natures to whom personal grief +was unknown. Even in her early widowhood her first thought was for her +children, and to their care and education she devoted herself +unsparingly. Possessing a gifted mind and great personal attractions, a +voice of unusual sweetness and power, and a heart that literally did not +know the meaning of the word self, she called forth in everyone with +whom she came in contact the greatest admiration and affection. "Her +children loved her passionately," says Miss Stevens. "How well I can +remember when I was but a tiny mite of five, how she would gather us +all around her in the grey winter afternoons, and with me nestled close +at her knee, read to us by the hour together, but not fairy tales or +story books. She went straight to the big heart of Shakespeare, of +Longfellow, of Tennyson, of Thackeray, of Dickens, and opening the +treasure-houses of their genius, read them to us with only such +explanations and changes as necessity required to meet the status of her +youthful audience. I cannot remember the time when Shakespeare was +unknown to me, or when the Poet Laureate, and Campbell, and Dickens, +were not dear, familiar friends. Out of this galaxy of riches, _The +Tempest_, _Midsummer Night's Dream_, _Hiawatha_, and _Dombey and Son_, +stand out clearest in my mind. Then she would sing to us, play to us, +and so we became familiar with Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, and with +all the plaintive, old English ballads and Scotch border songs; and in +the morning hours, while she was busy with a large correspondence and +literary work, my dear grandmother taught us, my sister and me, to sew, +cut out, and knit, inculcating meantime many a goodly lesson in charity, +kindliness, and thoughtfulness for others. To my dear mother, indeed, I +owe all that I am. She is gone from me now, but to her clear mind, wise +criticism, and sound judgment is due whatever literary reputation I may +have earned. I wrote for her, _she_ was my public!" + +This beloved home was ever one of open hospitality, and to it came at +all times guests of every kind. Here, Miss Stevens tells you, her +grandfather had welcomed Talleyrand and Louis Napoleon, and here in +later days gathered many a company of literary giants whose names are +now household words. After six years of widowhood her mother married the +late Mr. John Fowler Butterworth, a man who was universally beloved and +respected, of high position, wealth, and great personal attractions. "We +all went with them to the new home in New York," adds Miss Stevens. "He +was the only father I have ever known, and I loved him most tenderly." + +From this time the family spent much of their time on the Continent of +Europe. Miss Stevens and her sister were educated in Paris, having for +their instructress a very charming and capable woman, who had been +_gouvernante_ to the Orleans Princesses. It was their habit to spend at +least three months of every year abroad, and in this way the young girl +saw much more of foreign countries than her own. Italy, Switzerland, +France, Germany, the Tyrol, each were visited in turn, and such was the +method of their travelling that every country and town were indelibly +and individually impressed upon her memory. Rome, Florence, Geneva, +Verona, Turin, Munich, Innspruck, each one and all are to her bright +with particular associations. After her stepfather's death Miss Stevens +and her mother settled permanently in London, where they had many +friends and many family ties, her sister having married and made her +home in England. + +The young author's first literary efforts were begun at a very early +age. "I can scarcely," she says, "remember a time when I did not +scribble. My first attempt was a sermon on the text 'God is Love,' and I +distinctly recollect how and where I wrote it, crouched behind a long +swinging glass in my mother's bed-room, printing it off in capital +letters--writing being then far beyond my attainments--and getting very +hot and flushed in the effort." Her next attempt was a decided advance. +Her sister and two cousins had established a small home newspaper, +called the _Dorcas Gazette_, price one halfpenny, circulation strictly +private and confidential, its end and aim being the helping of the +"Dorcas Society," a body formed to make clothes for the poor. The +circulation amounted to six copies a week, each of which had to be +written out in fair round hand on two sheets of foolscap paper. To this +ambitious venture she was invited to contribute, and for two years was +writer in chief, furnishing serials, short stories, and anecdotes, her +sister doing the political and poetical parts. "I have still," says Miss +Stevens, smiling, "one or two of those old 'gazettes,' time-stained and +yellow; I look on them with the utmost respect, and feel that for +harrowing plot and thrilling adventure, my 'serial' in five chapters, +called 'Blonde and Brunette,' beats the record of any of my subsequent +work!" Her first book, written when she was seventeen, was a small +novelette called "Distance." It was published by Appleton, of New York, +and was well received and reviewed. On coming to London, Miss de Grasse +Stevens was asked by the proprietor of the principal American journal, +the _New York Times_, to prepare for them a series of articles upon +English art and artists, and for ten years she filled the position of +special art critic to that paper, her letters upon London artists and +their studios being the first of the kind ever written, while her +account--a two-column article--of the private view and pictures at the +Royal Academy, which appeared in the morning edition in New York the +next day, was the first "art-cable" sent across the wires. Her first +short story, written long ago, appeared in _Harper's Magazine_. She +wrote it secretly, and sent it off furtively. It was called "Auf +Wiedersehn," and was subsequently translated into German, and reprinted +in many English papers. "After sending it off," she relates, "I waited +in sickening suspense for ten long days, and when at last a letter came +bearing the well-known Franklin-square stamp, I dared not open it. When +I did I fell upon the floor and cried bitterly from bewildering joy! It +contained a satisfactory cheque, and a request for 'more matter of the +same sort.' From that moment the spell of literature held me as in a +vice. I have never known a moment of purer, more unalloyed joy than +that, and to it I owe my perseverance in the 'thorny path.'" + +Miss De Grasse Stevens's first three-volume novel was called "Old +Boston." It was originally published by Sampson Low & Co., and has since +been brought out in one volume edition. Its reception was more than +flattering, and the reviews upon it were such as a much older and more +experienced writer might be pleased to win. The story is partly +historical, and is founded on the events just preceding the siege of +Boston and the declaration of American Independence. Keenly attracted +beyond aught else by history, especially by the history of her own +country, in which there is stored away such treasures of romance, of +reality, of poetry, and of pathetic prose--the young American writer +has, in this delightful romance of a hundred years ago, given clear +evidence of her thorough knowledge of her subject; each character is +strongly individualised; true pathos and purity of style mark every +page; you are carried back a century, yet can feel with unflagging +interest that the persons described are living fellow-creatures. The +descriptive writing is artistically fine, the love story is tenderly and +pathetically told, whilst the whole betokens careful study and research. +This book gained for Miss de Grasse Stevens countless kind and +flattering letters from old and, as yet, unknown friends. "Some of my +dearest and most trusty friendships," she says, "I owe to it; first and +foremost in which was that of the late Mr. Kinglake. I had known his +family in Taunton for some time, but to 'Old Boston' I owed the +friendship of the author, which ended not with his death, for I am +certain such friendships are eternal." She contemplates some day writing +a sequel to this book, bringing the history part of it down to the +famous battle of Valley Forge and the bombardment and surrender of New +York. + +The author's next work, "Weighed in the Balance," was a short story +written for Mr. W. Stevens's _Magazine of Fiction_, and was of the +sensational school. Over a hundred thousand copies were sold, and for +this, too, she received so much praise and so many letters that she +declares herself to have been "greatly surprised"; among them were two +which she prized highly, one from the late Earl Granville and the other +from the late Earl Spencer, who both wrote that the scenes being laid +at Deal, the book was particularly interesting to them, especially the +parts relating to the Goodwin Sands, and the historic, but decayed old +town of Sandwich. This book was followed by one that caused a good deal +of stir--a historical monograph called "The Lost Dauphin," in which the +writer took up the mysterious fate of little Louis XVII., and advanced +the theory that he did not die in the Temple but was stolen from there +and carried to America, where he was deposited with the Indian tribe of +the Iroquois and was eventually taken East, educated and trained as a +missionary under the name of Ealeazer Williams. The book is illustrated +by three portrait engravings. It called forth a storm of controversy and +a great number of reviews amongst all the leading journals, the majority +of which frankly accepted her hypothesis. Innumerable letters poured in +from all sorts and conditions of people, mostly scholars and men +interested in out-of-the-way questions. The late Mr. Kinglake was +particularly keen on it, and Miss Stevens has a large packet of highly +prized letters from him, devoted to the discussion of the theory that +she had advanced and in which he thoroughly believed. This, from so +great a scholar as the author of "Eoethen" and "The Crimea," was praise +worth having. The late Robert Browning was another _litterateur_ who +wrote in commendation of the book, as did Mrs. Gladstone, Henry James, +Mr. Russell Lowell, Miss Sewell, Mr. Phelps, and many others. + +"Miss Hildreth" is the name of Miss de Grasse Stevens's next +three-volume novel, which, following as it did closely after the +sensation made by "The Lost Dauphin," attracted great attention both in +France and England. The scenes are laid in St. Petersburg and New York, +amidst the society with which she was most familiar. The plot is +original, the story is conspicuous by the ability with which it is +written, and proves how thoroughly and conscientiously she studies the +subject that she has on hand. Very powerfully drawn is the account of +the fortress prison of Petropavosk, the descriptions of scenery show how +entirely the author is in touch with nature in her every aspect, while +the scene of the trial betrays the logical mind and power of argument +which she has inherited from her distinguished father. "Miss Hildreth" +is moreover from "start to finish" deeply interesting and exciting, and +displays the same experienced pen and graceful language, free from any +exaggeration or straining after effect that is so conspicuous in "Old +Boston." Mr. Gladstone, in his letter to her about "Miss Hildreth," +after expressing his deep interest in its _motif_, writes, "I thank you +very much for the work you have been so good as to send me. Both your +kindness and the subjects to which it refers, make me very desirous to +lose no time in beginning it." The young author has just finished a new +novel in one volume, called "The Sensation of a Season," which will +shortly be published, and is completing another to be called "A Romantic +Inheritance." The former work is absolutely different in style, and +deals chiefly with American society in London. Besides fiction, Miss +Stevens writes several weekly articles for American syndicates, and is +a contributor to a South African magazine on more abstruse subjects. She +has written, on and off, special articles, by request, for the _Saturday +Review_ since 1885, notably among these, papers on "Old American +Customs," and on "The position of needlewomen in London," bearing upon +the work depot established in Cartwright Street, Westminster, by the +Hon. Mrs. William Lowther and Miss Burke; also an amusing account of +"Christmas in America fifty years ago," in the Christmas number of a +weekly paper, and she has for a long time been a regular writer on the +_Argosy_ staff. Mention must not be omitted of a particular article +called "The Beautiful Madame Grand, Princesse de Talleyrand," for which +Mr. Cassell sent specially to Versailles to copy the portrait in the +Grand Gallery for the frontispiece of the magazine. This was followed by +a series of illustrated biographical sketches in the _Lady's +Pictorial_--"American Ladies at Home in London." + +When engaged on a novel Miss Stevens puts no pen to paper. "I think it +all out in my head," she says, "before writing a word, chiefly when +travelling; the movement of the train has a peculiar fascination for me. +I make no notes. When it is all complete in my brain, I write straight +away with no effort of memory." But with all her increasing literary +work, Miss de Grasse Stevens finds time for a little recreation in +exercising her talents for modelling and painting. In both of these arts +she is no mean proficient. The gift is inherited from her lamented +mother, who painted much for the Royal Family, and who counted among her +personal friends H.R.H. Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne. Sir +Frederick Leighton, another valued friend, used to say that her power of +colouring was especially wonderful. The young author is a very early +riser, and is up and out of doors every morning before seven. She writes +from ten till three, and divides her time between her sister's beautiful +country home in Kent and the pretty little house at West Kensington, +where she stays with a dear aunt and uncle, Dr. Hand Smith, well known +in the scientific world of London for his discovery of the endolithic +process, about which the late Sir Edgar Boehm was so enthusiastic an +admirer. This little abode may be briefly described as distinctly +artistic. The rooms are olive-green in colour, and contain several +cherished reminiscences of her mother. The great "Alexandre" American +walnut-wood organ--both reed and wind--reaching to the ceiling, is quite +unique. On a draped easel stands a large mounted plaque of gorgeous +Florida poinsettias, painted by her mother in a method discovered by +herself, a _replica_ of the design she furnished to the Queen. Another, +almost as beautiful, of different-coloured pansies, by the same beloved +hand, adorns the mantelshelf. Many well-used volumes of Tennyson, +Browning, Whittier, Thackeray, and of Mrs. Lynn Linton fill the +bookshelves. "I delight in Mrs. Lynn Linton's books and papers," says +your hostess; "I call her the Modern Crusader, and read everything that +she writes with much pleasure." Among these works you notice an "In +Memoriam" monograph by Miss Stevens of William Kinglake, illustrated +with his portrait, and a picture of his home, Wilton House, Taunton, +both of which he gave to her. There are a few good pictures on the +walls: two of Morland's are especially attractive, _lunette_ in shape, +first proofs before letters engraved by Nutter. Yonder hang a couple of +paintings of her sister's Kentish home, an old red-brick Elizabethan +building, with the peculiar white facings and low white door belonging +especially to the Tudor days, surrounded by park lands, lawns, and very +old fruit orchards, which are at this season bright with yellow +daffodils. Tradition assigns to it a veritable ghost, whose uneasy +spirit walks every All Saints' Eve! A packet of letters from great men +lies on a little table near. From them Miss Stevens selects some from +Gladstone, Kinglake, and Irving. This last was written on the appearance +of her papers in the leading Boston and New York journals on the subject +of "Macbeth." She has new and pleasant work now on hand as art editor of +the _Novel Review_, in which her late biographical monograph upon "John +Oliver Hobbes" elicited more than ordinary comment from the general +press; also a fresh and important post in connection with a smart New +York society journal. "I particularly like the prospect opened out in +this new field of journalism," remarks Miss de Grasse Stevens quietly, +"as it gives me greater freedom of subject as well as of treatment. I am +delighted, too," she adds, smiling, "with the mere thought of grappling +with any little difficulties that may arise on the subject." + +And to these "little difficulties" you leave the bright young American +writer, feeling sure that her clever brain will guide her able pen to +solve them aright. + + + + +[Illustration: Bertha Leith-Adams] + +MRS. LEITH ADAMS + +(MRS. LAFFAN). + + +It is a lovely day in early springtime. A gentle south-west wind is just +stirring the meadows, and the young birds are chirping gaily in the +hedgerows which are beginning to put forth their tiny buds. All nature +seems awake and smiling; truly a fitting morn on which to visit +Stratford-on-Avon, the place so fraught with memories of the immortal +bard. You have been so fortunate as to make the long journey from London +in the company of the well-known and popular Captain Gerard, late of the +23rd Welsh Fusiliers, and as he has been for some years a resident in +these parts, he has given you the _carte du pays_ and much useful and +interesting information. + +The town of Stratford-on-Avon is beautifully situated on the south-west +border of Warwickshire on a gentle eminence rising from the bank of the +Avon. As the train glides into the station, Mrs. Leith Adams is seen +standing on the platform. She has come to meet you, accompanied by many +dogs, who insist on jumping into the carriage as an escort home. On +leaving the station the road runs past the hospital, down the +wonderfully broad High-street of the town with its venerable houses +on either side, and as the beautiful old porch of the Guild Chapel (of +which Mr. Laffan is incumbent) comes into view, the pony turns down +Chapel-lane and draws up at the School House. + +Entering the porch into the hall you face the Head Master's study on the +left, a charming room and evidently the haunt of a scholar. The next +room on the same floor has two French windows opening on to the garden. +In a nook by one of these windows Mrs. Leith Adams does her writing with +the shades of George Eliot looking down on her, and a fine photograph of +her youngest son now in Australia. Wandering about the grounds into +which these windows look are six beautiful peacocks, a comical cockatoo, +a seagull, so tame that it comes up when called, two white broken-haired +terriers, and a wise-looking pug. On the left stands a tree with +cocoanuts tied upon it, where countless blue-eyed tits congregate all +day long. The wide winding staircase leads up to the drawing-room, where +you find yourself among shades of olive green, and a roving glance is +caught by two magnificent old china jars, standing on either side of the +fire-place, once full of unguents belonging to the Knights of St. John +of Jerusalem, and found in the vaults under the palace at Malta. The +side window looks across the School gardens to the Memorial Theatre, a +fine domed building on the banks of the river, and the three windows in +the front look over New Place Gardens where lie the foundations of the +house where Shakespeare died, and where in 1643 Henrietta Maria, Queen +of Charles I., was hospitably received and entertained for three days by +Shakespeare's daughter. + +It was as the wife of the late Surgeon-General A. Leith Adams, F.R.S., +LL.D., M.D., that the author of "Aunt Hepsy's Foundling" (by which story +the name of Mrs. Leith Adams is best known to the public) entered on her +career as a novelist. Having been much struck during a visit to Scotland +by the character and personality of a venerable minister of the +Presbyterian Church, she resolved to attempt to make him the centrepiece +of a short story. Of this resolve the result was "Keane Malcombe's +Pupil," since republished under the title of "Mabel Meredith's Love +Story." Her first essay in fiction met with instant success. Without any +previous acquaintance with, or introduction to, the present Mr. Charles +Dickens, the author offered her MS. to _All the Year Round_. It was at +once accepted and published in the year 1876, from which time up to the +present Mrs. Leith Adams has been continuously a member of Mr. Dickens's +staff. + +A more ambitious effort followed in the year 1877 when "Winstowe," her +first three-volume novel, was brought out. It bore marks of great +inexperience, but had a certain limited sale in England and a wider one +in America. In the following year "Madelon Lemoine" was issued, a book +which has made its way steadily among a section of the community, and is +looked upon by many critics as the foremost among the author's earlier +works; but it was not until the publication of "Aunt Hepsy's Foundling" +that her name came prominently before the public. A remarkable notice in +a leading journal resulted in a second edition being promptly called +for. This has been followed by two other editions, each in one volume, +also one in America and one in Germany. In writing this book Mrs. Leith +Adams was inspired by the recollections of life in New Brunswick, in +which country she had spent nearly five years with her husband's +regiment--the 1st Battalion "Cheshire." The novelty of the scene and the +freshness of its treatment secured for the work a prompt success, and it +was spoken of by a weekly review as "an almost perfect novel of its +kind." + +The author has enjoyed very exceptional advantages as preparation for a +literary career. Married at an early age, when the impression of a +girl's life are peculiarly vivid, she was but six months in Ireland with +the "Cheshire" when that regiment was ordered on foreign service. Her +presentation at the Irish Vice-Regal Court, over which the scholarly +Lord Carlisle then held sway, the brilliant festivities at the Castle, +_reunions_ at the house of Sir Henry and Lady Marsh, where she met all +the men of letters in Dublin, the happy _camaraderie_ of regimental +life; all these things, so new to her, passed like a flash, and were +exchanged for the troopship, and ultimately for lands and societies +strangely differing the one from the other. + +The sunshine, orange groves, and military pomp and glitter of life in +Malta were succeeded by the sound of the sleigh bells over the snow, the +wonders of the sudden springtime, and the gorgeous "fall" of New +Brunswick, and, after nine years' wandering, the beautiful coast scenery +of Guernsey; then once again the delights of soldiering in Ireland, this +time in the South, where the lovely climate, devoted friends, and the +charm of being near home once more, have, as your hostess expresses it, +"all made the memories of those days most dear to me." + +Mrs. Leith Adams did not begin to write whilst still a very young woman. +She says of herself that although the idea may have been in her mind, +she wished to wait until she had great stores of experience and +observation upon which to draw. Some of these experiences have been of +an intense and exceptional character. During the great cholera epidemic +which visited the island of Malta in 1866--after sending home to England +her only little child for safety--she devoted herself to the care of the +sick and dying in her husband's regiment, in company with a band of +soldiers' wives, who gladly and fearlessly gave themselves to the good +work. Many of her experiences during this awful time are to be found in +the pages of "Madelon Lemoine," but in one instance (not there alluded +to) it may be said that Mrs. Leith Adams ran extraordinary and perilous +risk, such as rendered her entire immunity from harm little short of +miraculous, whilst she also had the satisfaction of seeing the woman +whom she was attending gradually recover from the fell disease that so +seldom spares the victim that it has once attacked. + +After twenty-five years' service with the old regiment, Dr. Leith Adams +obtained a Staff appointment connected with the recruiting department at +the Horse Guards, and this brought himself and his wife to London, where +they continued to reside for some years. + +It was during this period that her literary career began. At the time +of her husband's death she was under an agreement to supply a serial +story to a leading magazine, in fact she had one, and only one, chapter +written towards that weekly instalment of "copy" necessary during such a +process, "but," she says, "I shall ever remember with the deepest +gratitude, the prompt generosity with which the editor, on hearing of my +bereavement and of my subsequent illness, made arrangements to give me +time." As soon as she was able to resume her pen, Mrs. Leith Adams +completed and published "Geoffrey Stirling," first in the pages of _All +The Year Round_, and then in three-volume form. This story has had its +share of popularity, and a "picture-board" edition of it has been issued +lately. + +"Amongst the many other advantages I enjoyed," she remarks, "I rank by +no means least the society of the many eminent and scientific men that +my husband's tastes and attainments opened to me. I can look back upon +gatherings round the hospitable board of Sir Joseph and Lady Hooker at +the Royal Society Gardens, which included such men as the late William +Spottiswoode, P.R.S., Professor Huxley, Professor Flower, and of foreign +_savans_ not a few, occasions on which I would gladly have found myself +possessed of not two ears alone, but twenty, and when to listen to the +conversation of the charmed circle was indeed a liberal education. At +the _soirees_ of the Royal Society I used to delight in meeting all the +talent of this and many another country, and I hold the very strongest +opinions as to the unspeakable advantage that it is to a woman to listen +to highly gifted and deeply learned men discussing questions and +knowledge of the greatest and most vital importance." + +In the autumn of 1883, Mrs. Leith Adams married, _en secondes noces_, +the Rev. R. S. de Courcy Laffan, M.A., eldest son of the late +Lieut.-General Sir Robert Michael Laffan, K.C.M.G., R.E., Governor of +the Bermudas. Mr. Laffan is head-master of King Edward VI. School at +Stratford-on-Avon, the school at which Shakespeare received his early +education. He is a refined scholar, a most able preacher, and on his +staff are men of high university degrees and much culture, so that, as +Mrs. Laffan, the author's lines are still cast among intellectual +surroundings. + +She has thrown herself into the interests of school-life as earnestly as +she did into that of a regiment, and of social life in London, and +amidst all the claims of her literary work contrives to find time to +give the most minute care to the health, comfort, and happiness of the +boys under her husband's roof. It is impossible to see her in their +midst, whether they be tall striplings preparing to become defenders of +their country or little fellows in sailor suits just introduced to the +surroundings of school, with its pleasures and its trials, without +recognising, as they cluster about her in their own sitting-rooms, or in +her drawing-room, that she has completely won their hearts and that her +influence among them is one of the factors in the rapidly increasing +success of the school. At the annual speech day, Mrs. Laffan personally +designs all the costumes of the play, Shakesperean or otherwise, and on +the last occasion of this kind wrote the play for the junior boys and +composed the music incidental to it. + +One of the later novels by Mrs. Leith Adams (who prefers to retain her +former name in her literary capacity) is "Louis Draycott," in which the +reader will find many traces of the influence of school life, and the +study of the characteristics of boys. "No one but a woman could have +filled in these tiny canvases," remarked a critic; "nor are evidences +wanting of her being surrounded by the classic traditions of +Stratford-on-Avon. Thoroughly imbued with Shakespeare, she has +judiciously, to a certain extent allowed him to influence her diction, +but never obtrusively." + +It is only natural that the author should miss in her country home the +literary, musical, and artistic society of London, where she has so many +friends, but she has made acquaintances too in Warwickshire, where she +has the privilege of meeting men and women eminent in the world of +letters. Stratford-on-Avon is of itself a shrine to which so many +distinguished pilgrims, especially Americans, are drawn, that charming, +unexpected meetings often take place and friendships are cemented when +she takes her many visitors to see the interesting places in the town. + +"Bonnie Kate, A Story from a Woman's Point of View," was the writer's +next work. It had a successful career, and was followed by "A Garrison +Romance," wherein military reminiscences figure largely and many +characters are sketched from life. A story in the same line, entitled +"Colour-Sergeant No. 1 Company," is shortly to appear, also a novel in +three volumes called "The Peyton Romance." A late small volume, "The +Cruise of the Tomahawk," was written by Mrs. Leith Adams in +collaboration with her husband and a friend; the poems with which it is +interspersed and the small illustrations are from the pen of Mr. Laffan. +At the Church Congress held at Cardiff in 1889 she read a paper upon +"Fiction viewed in relation to Christianity," and she says that she has +some intention of giving a lecture during the present year on the +subject of "Literature as a Profession for Women." + +As regards her mode of work, she remarks: "The plots which I find the +easiest to work out are those which have been thought over the longest: +the word 'long' here stands for a great deal. The plot and characters of +'Bonnie Kate' have been under consideration, and the subject of the +accumulation of constant notes for the last eight years, dating from a +visit to a Yorkshire farmstead for the express purpose of obtaining the +colouring and atmosphere necessary to the delineation of 'Low Cross +Farm.'" + +Of Mrs. Leith Adams' minor works, it may be said that "My Land of +Beulah" has had a quite exceptional popularity, and "Cosmo Gordon," with +its delightful self-made man, Mr. Japp, has had its full share of +admirers. "Mathilde's Love Story," published two years ago in the spring +number of _All The Year Round_, is a memory of Guernsey, and "Georgie's +Wooer" is a reminiscence of life in the South of Ireland. + +Mrs. Leith Adams is an ardent musician and accomplished pianist, and as +there are several good violinists among the masters and boys of +Shakespeare's School, concerted music is often the order of the day, +more especially at her Thursday afternoon "at homes." + +There is a long gap between the publication of "Geoffrey Stirling" and +that of "Louis Draycott," but various causes combined to make this so. +Further very heavy bereavements, variable health, anxiety as to the +health of her son (Mr. Francis Lauderdale Adams, now well known as poet +and journalist in Australia), the necessity for his leaving England, the +same long anxiety with the same results in the case of her younger +son--a most promising boy, whose health broke down just when his +prospects seemed brightest: all these causes militated for some years +against continuous mental effort. The pen is now, however, once more +resumed, and no doubt a group of what may be called "later novels" will +be the result. In addition to the high value she places upon long +consideration of a projected novel, Mrs. Leith Adams holds that to write +well, you must read well. She is convinced that the style and tone of +what people read thoughtfully, sensibly affects their own diction. "I +am," she observes, "a devoted admirer of Mrs. Carlyle, and have read +again and again those thrilling letters in which all a woman's innermost +life and sorrows, and heart story are laid bare. I am of opinion that +had Jane Welsh Carlyle seen fit to make literature a profession, that +she would have taken rank second only to that apostle of female culture +and ambitions, George Eliot. Shakespeare, Browning, Tennyson, and all +biographies of great men, are the reading that I love best. Carlyle +himself only comes second to his wife in my estimation, and at the feet +of Charles Dickens I worshipped in my girlhood. (This influence is +distinctly traceable in much of her work.) Mrs. Gaskell, Miss Austen, +Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre,' and many of Miss Broughton's works, +George Meredith, Baring Gould, and, above all, George Eliot--these among +English fiction are my favourites, whilst in French, Dumas' _Chevalier +de la Maison Rouge_, and many of Octave Feuillet's are my companions. If +I like a book I read it again and again; if I like a play I go to see it +again and again. It is like learning to know more and more of one whom +you love." + +Like most writers, Mrs. Leith Adams has had some strange and funny +experiences in letters from people unknown and never to be known, and in +the calm impertinences--probably not intended--of people absolutely +ignorant of literary knowledge, as for instance when a peculiarly +_banale_ woman remarked to her, "I'm sure I could write novels quite as +well as you _if I were not so weak in the wrist_," which was assuredly +locating the mental faculties rather low down; and another, a perfect +stranger, who called upon her in London and said with startling candour, +"I want to make some money, I'm going to write a novel. _How do you +begin?_" + +Later on, a visit to the schools is suggested, and, escorted by your +hosts, you make a tour round these interesting premises. The schools, +the chapel, and the vicarage house form three sides of a quaint +old-world quadrangle, in which it is easy to forget for a moment the +nineteenth century, and to dream oneself back into the middle ages. The +Guild Chapel, one of the most interesting buildings in Stratford, was +founded by the brethren of the Guild of the Holy Cross. The chancel +dates from the thirteenth century, but the nave is of more recent +construction. The next building bears an inscription, "King Edward VI. +School," though its real founder was Thomas Jolyffe, one of the priests +of the Guild, who built the Old Latin Schoolroom in 1482. The +unpretending exterior scarcely prepares you for the quaint beauty of the +interior. On entering you find yourself in a long panelled room, which +is the Old Guild Hall, where the Earl of Worcester's players gave their +representations in Shakespeare's day. On the same floor is a class room +called the Armoury with Jacobean panelling, and a fresco of the arms of +the Kings of England. A narrow staircase leads to a little room on the +left, where a few years ago several 16th century MSS. were discovered. +Then comes the Council Chamber with its splendid oak roof and Jacobean +table, and on the wall there are two curious frescoes of roses painted +in 1485 to commemorate the termination for ever of the terrible wars of +the Roses. Next to it is the Mathematical Room, but it is on leaving +that, and entering the Old Latin Room, that you feel impressed with the +great antiquity and beauty of the building. The roof is one of the +finest specimens of the open roof in the country. It was in this and the +adjoining room that the poet received his education, and from it the +desk which tradition assigns to him was taken. It now stands in the +museum at the birthplace, which place you are duly taken to visit and +also the Church of Holy Trinity, where at the entrance to the altar, on +a slab covering the ashes of the poet, is an inscription written by +himself, together with his bust painted into a strict likeness, even to +the complexion, the colour of the hair and eyes, and you leave all these +interesting relics with a strong conviction that no better cicerone +could be found than Mr. and Mrs. Laffan to do the honours of the ancient +and historic buildings of Shakespeare's School and the "sacred places of +Stratford-on-Avon"-- + + "Where sleep the illustrious dead, where lies the dust + Of him whose fame immortal liveth still + And will live evermore." + + + + +[Illustration: Jean Ingleow] + +JEAN INGELOW. + + +"Talent does what it may; Genius, what it must." To no one could the +definition apply more appropriately than to the well-known and gifted +poetess, Jean Ingelow. She came into the world full-blown; she was a +poet in mind from infancy; she was born just as she is now, without +improvement, without deterioration. From her babyhood, when she could +but just lisp her childish hymns, she was always distressed if the rhyme +were not perfect, and as she was too young to substitute another word +with the same meaning, she used simply to make a word which was an echo +of the first, quite oblivious of the meaning. Every trifling incident, a +ray of sunlight, a flower, a singing bird, a lovely view--all inspired +her with a theme for expression, and she had a joy in so expressing +herself. + +Jean Ingelow was born near Boston, Lincolnshire. She was one of a large +family of brothers and sisters; she was never sent to school, and was +brought up entirely at home, partly by teachers of whom she regrets to +say she was too much inclined to make game, but more by her mother, who, +being a very clever woman of a poetical turn of mind, mainly educated +her numerous family herself. Her father was a banker at Suffolk, a man +of great culture and ability. "It was a happy, bright, joyous +childhood," says Miss Ingelow; "there was an originality about us, some +of my brothers and sisters were remarkably clever, but all were droll, +full of mirth, and could caricature well. We each had a most keen sense +of the ridiculous. Two of the boys used to go to a clergyman near for +instruction, where there was a small printing machine. We got up a +little periodical of our own and used all to write in it, my brothers' +schoolfellows setting up the type. It was but the other day one of these +old schoolfellows dined with us, and reminded me that he had put my +first poems into type." + +Many of these verses are still in existence, but the girl-poet had yet +another place, and an entirely original one, where in secret she gave +expression to her muse. In a large upper room where she slept, the +windows were furnished with old-fashioned folding shutters, the backs of +which were neatly "flatted," and formed an excellent substitute for +slate or paper. "They were so convenient," she remarks, smiling. "I used +to amuse myself much in this way. I opened the shutters and wrote verses +and songs on them, and then folded them in. No one ever saw them until +one day when my mother came in and found them, to her great surprise." +Many of these songs, too, were transmitted to paper and were preserved. + +Whilst on a visit to some friends in Essex, Jean Ingelow and some young +companions wrote a number of short stories and sent them for fun to a +periodical called _The Youth's Magazine_. She signed her contributions +"Orris," and was delighted when she received an intimation that they +were accepted and that the editor "would be glad to get more of them." +Meantime, she went on accumulating a goodly store of poems, songs, and +verses; many were burnt and others directly they were written were +carefully hidden away in old manuscript books, but the day was fast +approaching when they were to see the light. In the affectionate give +and take of a witty, united, and cultured family, her brothers and +sisters used to laugh merrily at her efforts and often parodied +good-naturedly her poems, though secretly they were proud of them. The +method of bringing out this book, which was her first great success and +was destined shortly to become so famous, was very curious. A brother +wishing to give her pleasure offered to contribute to have her MSS. +printed. This was done, and the next move was to take them to a +publisher, Mr. Longman. "My mother and I went together," says Miss +Ingelow; "she consented to allow my name to appear; we were all rather +flustered and excited over it, it seemed altogether so ridiculous." Very +far from "ridiculous," however, was the result. Mr. Longman at first +looked doubtful, but soon recognising the merits of the work, took up +the matter warmly, with the excellent effect that in the first year four +editions of a thousand copies each were sold and the young poet's fame +was secured. The book bore the simple and unpretending title, "Poems, by +Jean Ingelow." + +"It was a long time before I could make up my mind if I liked it or +not," says the author. "I could not help writing, it is true, but it +seemed to make me unlike other people; being one of so many and being +supposed to be sensible, and to behave on the whole like other people, +and trying to do so, and delighting in the companionship of my own +family more than in any other, I am not at all sure that I was pleased +when I was suddenly called a poet, because that is a circumstance more +than most others which sets one apart, but they were all so joyous and +made much fun over it." + +This first volume of poems has been re-published and yet again and +again, until up to the present time it has reached its twenty-sixth +edition, in different forms and sizes. One of these was brought out as +an _edition de luxe_, and is profusely illustrated. Jean Ingelow's +poetry is too well known and widely read to need much comment. In this +remarkable volume, probably the most quoted and best recollected verses +are to be found under the title of "Divided," "Song of Seven," "Supper +at the Mill," "Looking over a Gate at a Mill," "The Wedding Song," +"Honours," "The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire," "Brothers and a +Sermon," "Requiescat in Pace," "The Star's Monument," yet when this is +said, you turn to another and yet another, and would fain name the last +read the best. Where all are sweet, sound, and healthy; where all are +full of feeling, bright with suggestions, and thoroughly understandable, +how hard it is to choose! And who has not read and heard over and over +again that exquisite song which has been set to music no less than +thirteen times, "When sparrows build"? Also, "Sailing Beyond Seas," +with the beauteous refrain:-- + + O fair dove! O fond dove! + And dove with the white breast, + Let me alone, the dream is my own, + And my heart is full of rest. + +To the most superficial reader the tender and real humanity of these +entirely original poems is evident, while to the student who goes +further into the fascinating work, deeper treasures are discovered; you +realise more and more her own personality, her own distinctive style, +and get many a glimpse of the pure heart and lofty aspiration of the +gifted singer. + +But to return to the original issue of this first published book. In +consequence of its success, Mr. Strahan made an immediate application +for any other work by the same pen; accordingly Jean Ingelow's early +short tales, signed "Orris," were collected and published under the +title of "Stories told to a Child." This, too, went through many +editions, one of which was illustrated by Millais and other eminent +artists. A further request for longer stories resulted in the production +of a volume called, "Studies for Stories." + +These delightful sketches, professedly written for young girls, soon +attracted children of much older growth. While simple in construction +and devoid of plot, they are full of wit and humour, of gentle satire +and fidelity to nature. They are prose poems, written in faultless style +and are truthful word-paintings of real everyday life. + +Jean Ingelow has ever been a voluminous writer, but only an odd volume +or so of her own works is to be found in her house. She "gives them +away, indeed, scarcely knows what becomes of them," she says. Among many +other of her books is one called "A Story of Doom, and other Poems," +which has likewise passed into many editions. Here stand out +pre-eminently "The Dreams that come true," "Songs on the Voices of +Birds," "Songs of the Night Watches," "Gladys and her Island," ("An +Imperfect Fable with a Doubtful Moral,") "Lawrance," and "Contrasted +Songs." "A Story of Doom" may be called an epic. It deals with the +closing days of the antediluvian world, while its chief figures are +Noah, Japhet, Amarant the slave, the impious giants, and the arch-fiend. +Her portraiture of these persons, natural and supernatural, is very +powerful and impressive. "Lawrance" is unquestionably an idyll worthy to +be ranked with "Enoch Arden." Told, at once, with much dramatic power +and touching simplicity, there is a fresh, pure atmosphere about it +which makes it intensely natural and sympathetic. One of the poems in a +third volume, republished four or five years ago, is called "Echo and +the Ferry," which is a great favourite and is constantly chosen for +recitation. In the "Song for the Night of Christ's Resurrection," +breathes the deeply devotional and sincerely religious spirit of the +author who was brought up by strictly evangelical parents, yet is there +no trace of narrowness or bigotry in Jean Ingelow or her writings. She +is large-hearted, single-minded, and tolerant in all matters. + +"It may seem strange to say so," observes your gentle hostess, whilst a +smile illuminates the speaking countenance; "but I have never been +inside a theatre in my life. I always say on such occasions, that +although our parents never took us, and I never go myself out of habit +and affectionate respect for their memory, I do not wish to give an +opinion or to say that others are wrong to go. We must each act +according to our own convictions, and must ever use all tolerance +towards those who differ from us. We had many pleasures and advantages. +There was no dulness or gloom about our home, and everything seemed to +give occasion for mirth. We had many trips abroad too, indeed, we spent +most winters on the Continent. I made an excursion with a brother who +was an ecclesiastical architect, and in this way I visited every +cathedral in France. Heidelberg is very picturesque, and suggested many +poetical ideas, but all travelling enlarges one's mind and is an +education." + +One event which caused the keenest amusement to these happy young +people, all blessed with excellent spirits, sparkling wit, and general +enjoyment of everything, occurred when a pretty, kindly, appreciative +notice appeared in some paper of a person called by her name. There was +hardly a single item in it that was really true, even to the description +of her birthplace, which was described vaguely as being stationed on the +sea-beach and flanked by two lighthouses, "between which the lonely +child might have been seen to wander for hours together nursing her +poetic dreams, dragging the long trails of seaweed after her, and +listening to the voice of the waves." This supposititious little +biography was productive of the greatest merriment to her brothers and +sisters. The first impulse was to answer it, to disclaim the solitary +wanderings and poetic dreams, and to describe the place correctly; but +although urged by friends to do this, Jean Ingelow on reflection decided +to let it pass, and in the end the laughter died out. "To a poetic +nature," she remarks, "expression is a necessity, but once expressed, +the thought and feeling that inspired it may often be forgotten. I am +sure that I could not repeat one of my own poems from beginning to end +just as I wrote it. I have a distinct theory too, that one is not +taught, one is born to it. I was never able to make a great effort in my +life, but what I can do at all, I can do at once, and having thought a +good deal on any subject I know very little more than I did at first. +Things come to me without striving, besides I am quite unromantic. I +never wrote in a hurry. We might all be laughing and talking together, +yet if I went up to my room and sat alone, I could at once write in a +most sad and melancholy strain. I was not studious as a child, though I +remember a great epoch in my life was reading 'The Pilgrim's Progress,' +when I was seven years old, and I was perfectly well able to perceive +the deep imaginative powers of it, but I always wanted to study what was +not in books." + +But if Jean Ingelow's books are sold by thousands in England, they are +sold by tens of thousands in America. Her publishers there for many +years used to send her a handsome royalty on their sales; some years +ago, however, five other American publishers brought out her poetical +works simultaneously, since which time she has received nothing! She is +probably the first woman-poet who has met with not only world-wide +popularity, but who might if it had been needful, have lived very well +by the proceeds of her verse alone. A few years ago Messrs. Longman +brought out, by request, a new edition of her books. Altogether, she +declares herself to "have been a very fortunate woman, and almost always +happy in her publishers, too." + +In later years Jean Ingelow has written many prose works of fiction, +notably "Off the Skelligs," "Fated to be Free," "Don John," "Sarah de +Berenger," "Mopsa, the Fairy," "John Jerome," etc. "Off the Skelligs" +was the first novel by the author whose name had hitherto been almost +exclusively associated with verse, and it was received with more than +ordinary interest. The book teems with incident; the poetic vein may be +traced in the realistic pictures of child life, in the description of +the lovely scenery depicted in the yachting trip, and in the graphic and +stirring account of the burning ship and rescue of its passengers. +"Fated to be Free" is a sequel to the previous work. The book opens with +a powerful description of an old manor house and family over whose head +hangs the mysterious blight of some unknown misfortune, which is +cleverly indicated rather than described, and though tragical in the +main, the sorrow is not allowed to overshadow the story too heavily, for +here and there humour and wit sparkle out, while the whole betrays the +writer's deep intuitive knowledge of human hearts and human lives. +"Mopsa, the Fairy" has been called "A poem in prose, for the use of +children," and a better name for it could not be found. It is, as the +title implies, a tale of fairyland in its brightest aspect, and is told +with the purity of conception and the excellence of execution which +characterise the gifted author's writings. + +A few words must be said in description of the pretty house in +Kensington where Miss Ingelow lives with her brother, and into which, +some thirteen years ago, they removed from Upper Kensington to be +further out and away from so much building. Since this removal she says, +"three cities have sprung up around them!" The handsome square detached +house stands back in a fine, broad road, with carriage drive and garden +in front filled with shrubs, and half a dozen chestnut and almond trees, +which in this bright spring weather are bursting out into leaf and +flower. Broad stone steps lead up to the hall door, which is in the +middle of the house. The entrance hall--where hangs a portrait of the +author's maternal great-grandfather, the Primus of Scotland, _i.e._, +Bishop of Aberdeen--opens into a spacious, old-fashioned drawing-room of +Italian style on the right. Large and lofty is this bright, cheerful +room. A harp, on which Miss Ingelow and her mother before her played +right well, stands in one corner. There is a grand pianoforte opposite, +for she was a good musician, and had a remarkably fine voice in earlier +years. On the round table in the deep bay windows in front are many +books, various specimens of Tangiers pottery, and some tall plants of +arum lilies in flower. The great glass doors draped with curtains at the +further end, open into a large conservatory where Miss Ingelow often +sits in summer. It is laid down with matting and rugs, and standing here +and there are flowering plants and two fine araucarias. The verandah +steps on the left lead into a large and well-kept garden with bright +green lawn, at the end of which through the trees may be discerned a +large stretch of green-houses, and a view beyond of the great trees in +the grounds of Holland Park. On the corresponding side of the house at +the back is the billiard-room, which is Mr. Ingelow's study, leading +into an ante-room, and in the front is the dining-room, where the +author's literary labours are carried on. "I write in a commonplace, +prosaic manner," she says; "I am afraid I am rather idle, for I only +work during two or three of the morning hours, with my papers spread all +about the table." Over the fireplace hangs a painting on ivory of her +father, and above it a portrait of her mother, taken in her early +married life. This portrait, together with one of the poet herself when +an infant, is in pastels, and they were originally done as door panels +for her father's room; the colouring is yet unfaded. + +The conversation turning upon memory--for Jean Ingelow holds pronounced +theories on this subject--she leads the way back to the conservatory and +points out the picture of her grandfather's house, called Ingelow House +after her, with which her very earliest recollections are associated, +and her memory dates back to when she was but seventeen months old! She +says that "friends smile at this and think that she is romancing, but if +people made attempts to recollect their very early days, certain visions +which have passed into the background for many years would rise again +with a distinctness which would make it impossible to mistake them for +inventions, and also make it certain that the records of this life are +not annihilated, but only covered." She took some trouble to collect +facts as to "first recollections" of many people, and found that two at +least could remember events which were proved to have happened at the +age of eighteen and twenty-two months respectively. In further support +of this theory she relates an amusing and curious incident of dormant +memory in early childhood which actually happened in her own family. +Miss Ingelow's mother went on a visit to her own father, who lived in +London, accompanied by her infant son aged eleven months and his nurse. +One day the nurse brought the baby into his mother's room and put him on +the floor, which was carpeted all over, where he crept about and amused +himself whilst she dressed her mistress. When the toilet was completed, +a certain ring which Mrs. Ingelow generally wore was missing. Search was +made but it was never found and shortly after the visit ended, and the +matter was almost forgotten. Mother and child again went on the same +visit exactly a year later, accompanied by the same nurse, who took the +boy into the same room. His mother saw him look around him, and +deliberately walk up to one corner, turn back a bit of the carpet and +produce the ring. He never gave any account of it nor did he seem to +remember it later; he had probably found it on the floor and hidden it +for safety--it could hardly have been for mischief--and had forgotten +all about it until he saw the place again, as he was too young when the +ring was missed to understand what the talk and search about it meant. +"He was by no means a precocious child," adds Miss Ingelow, "nor did he +show later any remarkable qualities in his powers of learning or +remembering lessons." + +She lost her mother thirteen years ago, and her father passed away +before the publication of her first book of poetry--the book of which he +would have been so proud. "It was a joy to me," says the poetess, "when +I found that people began to read my verses, and I can never forget too +my pleasure when first introduced to Mr. Ruskin and he asked my mother +and me to luncheon at his house. Of course, I was far too modest to be +willing to talk to him, especially in my mother's presence; but after +luncheon I got away from them, leaving them in high discourse, and +surreptitiously stole down to look at a bush of roses which were very +much to my mind. Mr. Ruskin presently came up to me, and entered into a +charming conversation. He gathered some of the flowers and gave them to +me--I kept them for a long time--then we walked round a meadow close at +hand which was just fit for the scythe, and afterwards he took me to see +a number of the curiosities that he had collected. We soon became loving +friends and his friendship has been one of the great pleasures of my +life. Sir Arthur Helps, too, was for many years a dear friend." + +Miss Ingelow is, as may be supposed, a great reader, though she +observes, "that few people take as long a time in reading a book as she +does." Her preference is for works of a religious tone, chiefly those of +eminent divines. "I do not want to use the word 'fastidious,'" she +adds, "but perhaps I am more _bornee_ than most people in my taste in +literature. Even some of Sir Walter Scott's and many of Thackeray's +novels I cannot read, but I am fond of 'Vanity Fair,' and Dickens, and +delight in several of Shakespeare's masterpieces, reading them over and +over again." + +She is "resting" for a while now. The poetic vein, she says, is not +strongly upon her for the moment, but it invariably returns. Meantime it +is to be hoped that the day may not be far distant when the public will +rejoice to welcome yet more sweet strains from the pen of the great and +gifted poet. + + * * * * * + + +The pleasant task of writing these simple biographical sketches of +writers of the day is at an end. With those who were previously friends +the friendship has been deepened, the few who were as yet strangers have +become friends. In thankfully acknowledging the great kindness and +cordiality shown by all, it must be added, that in future days no +remembrances can be happier than the delightful hours spent with the +"Notable Women Authors." + + For a few brief mentions of historical facts in one or two of + these sketches the writer is indebted to "Lewis' Topographical + Dictionary." + + + + GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEROSE. + + + * * * * * + + + + +Size 7 in. by 31/2 in. In Cloth, 1s. 3d. + +THE TOURIST'S LIBRARY. + +HANDY FOR THE POCKET. + + +[Illustration] + +_Second Edition._ + +WHAT WAS IT? + +BY GRETA ARMEAR. + + Press Opinions on "WHAT WAS IT?" + + _Academy._--"Miss Armear's very entertaining story consists of a + well-distributed mixture of ghost, love, and a dash of politics. + The style is bright and natural, and there is an approach to + dramatic power in some of the more stirring passages." + + _National Observer._--"Deserves nothing but praise for a bright, + fresh, well-written story." + + _British Weekly._--"The style is fresh, and the interest well + sustained." + + _Scotsman._--"Has strength enough in its wild plot to keep a + reader's curiosity awake during the little time it takes to read + the book." + + _Daily Mail._--"It will be read with breathless interest. The + characters are well drawn. The authoress has good descriptive + powers, and she uses the mystery of 'the unseen presence' with + excellent effect." + + +_Second Edition._ + +WHITE COCKADES: + +A STORY OF PRINCE CHARLIE. An Incident in the '45. + +BY E. I. STEVENSON. + + "This is a thrilling tale of the memorable '45. The style is bright + and interesting, and the story will be found a very enjoyable + one."--_Paisley and Renfrewshire Gazette._ + + "A cleverly-written and romantic tale of the '45."--_Scotsman._ + + "All through it is full of interest; the incidents are depicted + with realistic effect, and the work is evidently a faithful picture + of the stirring times of the '45."--_Brechin Advertiser._ + + "A capital story, and well worked out."--_Bristol Mercury._ + + +GRAPHIC SCOTCH ANECDOTES. + +COMPILED BY JOHN INGRAM. + +WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS BY T. 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Cloth, 3s. 6d. + +OUR CHILDREN: + +HOW TO KEEP THEM WELL AND TREAT THEM WHEN THEY ARE ILL. + +A Guide to Mothers. + +BY ROBERT BELL, M.D. + + "Should be found on every mother's bookshelf."--_Morning Post._ + + "Dr. Bell's most admirable little treatise on children deserves the + highest praise. It is so simple that the veriest tyro can + understand the directions, and yet there is in its pages an amount + of experience and talent in every way worthy of the high reputation + of its learned author. Medical books are, as a rule, a mistake, in + so far as they enable amateurs to dabble in professional doctoring; + but in the present instance this drawback is reduced to a minimum, + and the work may with advantage find a home in every family where + rosy faces smile and young feet patter."--_Allen's Indian Mail._ + + "The work is one of the best of its class, and the information it + contains should be carefully studied by every mother who wishes to + fully understand, and to be, as far as possible, equal to dealing + with the diseases and ailments to which children are + liable."--_Nottingham Daily Guardian._ + + "Must prove of immense service when prompt action is + necessary."--_Newcastle Daily Chronicle._ + + "Without empanelling a jury we have submitted the volume to a + duly-qualified juror, and are therefore competent to pronounce it a + very practical, satisfactory, and useful work."--_Bristol Mercury._ + + "The directions are clear and not embarrassed by tiresome verbiage + and mystery."--_Bradford Observer._ + + "It is an excellent work of its kind, and deserves a large + sale."--_Scotsman._ + + "We have no hesitation in saying that with this treatise at hand + careful parents are well provided against any emergency which may + arise until the doctor takes the case in hand."--_Leeds Times._ + + "It is a volume that ought to be in every household where there are + children."--_Glasgow Daily Mail._ + + "It should prove a valuable aid to the intelligent understanding of + difficult and delicate duties."--_Evening Times._ + + "It deals with all the ailments to which infants and children are + subject--some of them of a kind which mothers are backward to speak + about--and gives plain directions as to the best way of treating + them; it is a book that should be in every house where there are + children."--_Ayr Advertiser._ + + "Should be in every mother's hands."--_People's Friend._ + + +Second Edition. Crown 8vo. Paper Cover, 2s. 6d. Cloth, 3s. 6d. + +Uniform with "Our Children." + +WOMAN IN HEALTH AND SICKNESS. + +BY ROBERT BELL, M.D. + + "The book may safely be recommended as one of the best, plainest, + and most trustworthy on the important subject of which it + treats."--_Leeds Times._ + + "Mothers ought to feel thankful for a book which in plain yet + delicate terms may be applied to for guidance and advice in times + of extremity."--_Dundee Courier._ + + "Full of most valuable information about matters peculiarly + interesting to women of all ages."--_Bristol Times and Mirror._ + + "Dr. Bell in plainest terms points out all ailments peculiar to + women, and gives practical hints that are of immense value. The + work is performed with a rare delicacy, and might find its way into + the hands of the most refined and sensitive lady in the + land."--_Dumbarton Herald._ + + "Dr. Bell has here very lucidly placed within the reach of every + woman the means by which she can be informed upon what so + intimately concerns herself, viz., her health. The excellent advice + contained in it will prove to be an inestimable boon to all + womankind."--_Perthshire Advertiser._ + + +SMALLEST COMPLETE POCKET EDITION + +SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMATIC WORKS and POEMS. + +[Illustration] + +With glossary, life, and index to familiar quotations. Forty Line Block +reproductions of Westall and others' well-known Engravings. Eight +volumes, crown 32mo, in a suitable cloth case, 10s. 6d. In French +morocco and lidless French morocco case, with spring lock, L1 1s. +Morocco case, L1 11s. 6d. Russia case, L2 2s. 0d. + +New Red Line Illustrated Pocket Edition of Shakespeare's Dramatic Works +and Poems. + +Carefully collated with the best texts; with life of the poet; index to +common quotations from his works; and a full glossary, the words having +the references to the Plays or Poems, thus forming a convenient index to +the passages in which they occur. By J. TALFOURD BLAIR. Illustrated with +forty reproductions of the well-known engravings of Westall and others. +Eight volumes, royal 18mo. In cloth box, 12s. 6d. French morocco, and +French morocco patent spring lock case, 25s. + + +[Illustration] + +_WORDSWORTH'S POETICAL WORKS._ + +New Red Line Pocket Edition. + +Reprinted from the first complete 8vo edition of 1845. With life of the +poet. Eight wood-cut illustrations and portrait. Eight vols., royal +18mo, clear type. In cloth box, 12s. 6d. French morocco, with French +morocco patent case and spring lock, 25s. + + +Royal 18mo. Red Line Border. In Buckram, overlapping edges, and +ornamental covers, 1s. 8d. + +The Life and Adventures of + +CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. + +BY ALEXANDER INNES, M.A. + + "He that hath buffeted with stern adversity + Knows how to shape his course to favouring breezes." + OLD PLAY. + + "An interesting, stimulating, and spirited narrative."--_St. James' + Gazette._ + + "For a hasty scamper through the story which is now attracting + world-wide attention on account of the celebration of the fourth + centenary, let me commend the pretty little book of which Mr + Alexander Innes is the author."--_Queen._ + + "Within the compass of 150 small pages the author has compressed + all that is worth knowing of the subject, and the volume is as + interesting in the reading as it is dainty to look + upon."--_Manchester Courier._ + + "May be recommended as a well-condensed biography. There is nothing + new to be said about Columbus, but in this little book his voyages, + his triumphs, his difficulties and disappointments, are carefully + and concisely described."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + +_NEW VOLUMES, SPARE MINUTE SERIES._ + +Royal 18mo. Red Line Border. In Linenette Binding. 1s. 3d. + +SOME PERSIAN TALES + +From Various Sources. + +WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND APPENDIX. + +BY W. A. CLOUSTON. + +Author of "Popular Tales and Fictions," "Flowers from a Persian Garden," +etc. + + "The selection is varied, and gives a fair idea of the resources of + an Oriental story-teller."--_Literary World._ + + "Mr. Clouston's familiarity with Oriental fiction is well known. + These tales are favourable specimens of Eastern + story-telling."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + "Each story is a delightful bit of reading for those who have a + little leisure time, and the volume is of handy pocket + size."--_Belfast Morning News._ + + "It is an actual rest to turn from the artificial and + highly-wrought fiction of our times to these tales."--_Aberdeen + Daily Free Press._ + + "Interesting stories, suitable to any age, and suggestive of + pleasant reflections."--_Liverpool Mercury._ + + "An hour may be most agreeably spent in the perusal of this little + volume."--_Manchester Examiner._ + + "An enjoyable collection."--_Bristol Mercury._ + + "A very interesting little book."--_Leeds Times._ + + +Royal 18mo. 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