By Mrs. Parr
In the small circle of women writers who shed literary lustre1 on the early years of her present Majesty’s reign2 was Dinah Mulock, best known to the present novel-reading generation as the author of “John Halifax, Gentleman.”
To appreciate fully3 the position that we claim for her, it will be necessary to turn back to the period when she began to write, and see who were her contemporaries.
Pre-eminent4 among these stand out three names—names immortal5 on the roll of fame for so long as taste and critical judgment6 last; the books of Charlotte Bront?, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot must be regarded as masterpieces of fiction. We, their humble7 followers8, bow before their genius which time, fashion, or progress cannot dim or take from; therefore, to have achieved success and to have made an abiding9 fame while such
luminaries10 were shining in the firmament11 was a distinction to be justly proud of—the result of talent, delicacy12 of handling, and grasp of character that were only a little below genius.
How vast the difference that one small step would have made it is not our purpose to show; our intention is rather to take a general view of the work of a writer who—now that close upon half a century has passed, since, in 1849, timidly and without giving her name, she launched on the world her first novel, “The Ogilvies”—has never lost her hold upon the reading public of Great Britain, the Colonies, America, or wherever the English tongue is spoken.
Dinah Mulock was born in 1826 at Stoke-upon-Trent in Staffordshire. Her disposition14 towards literature seems to have been inherited from her father, who was connected—but in no very prosperous way—with letters, and was known to Byron and to the poet Moore, whose fellow countryman he was. At the time of his daughter’s birth, he was acting15 as spiritual minister to a small congregation who were followers of what were then generally thought to be his advanced and unorthodox opinions. Few who forsake16 the established road for their own peculiar17 rut find that prosperity bears them company, and the fortunes of
the Mulock family during the embryo18 authoress’s early years were unsettled and unsatisfactory. We are all given to rebel against the clouds which overcast19 our youth, seldom realising that to this pinch of adverse20 circumstance we owe much of that power to depict21 the sorrows, joys, and perplexities of life in the setting forth22 of which Miss Mulock became so eminently23 successful.
Before she had reached the age of twenty, she left her home and came to London, “feeling conscious,” we are told, “of a vocation24 for authorship.”
Now, in the present day, when novel writing has become an employment, profession, distraction25, I might almost say a curse, there would be nothing remarkable26 in such a conviction; but in 1846 the mania27 of desiring to see their names in print had not seized upon our sex; therefore the divine afflatus28 must have been very strong which sent a timid attractive girl, hampered29 by all the prejudices of her day, to try the fortunes of her pen in London.
That she had not been deceived in her quality is shown by the success of “The Ogilvies,” which not only was popular with novel readers, but raised hopes that the writer possessed30 great dramatic power, to be more ably used when experience had corrected the crude faults of a first book. The story, based on passionate31 first love, is written with the enthusiasm and vigour32 which comes pleasantly from a
young hand, and makes us disposed to view leniently33 the superabundance of sentiment which, under other circumstances, we should censure34. The death of the boy, Leigh Pennythorne, is rendered with a pathos35 which calls for admiration36, and we are not surprised to see it ranked with the death of little Paul Dombey; while that of Katherine Lynedon, spoken of at the time as possessing great dramatic force, strikes us now as melodramatic and sensational37.
Encouraged by having found favour with the public, Miss Mulock followed up her success with “Olive” (1850), “Agatha’s Husband” (1852), “Head of the Family” (1854). Her literary reputation was now established; and, though her magnum opus, “John Halifax,” had yet to be written, it may be as well to consider some of the merits and weaknesses of her style, her treatment of her subjects, and her delineation38 of character.
In a short sketch39, such as this, it is not possible to give a synopsis40 of the plots of the various books, or even, in most cases, extracts from them. We have to confine ourselves to the endeavour to realise the effect they produced at the time they were written—the estimation they were then held in, and to see what position they now command among the novels of the present day.
Perhaps it will be only fair towards the faults we are about to find that we should recall the forward strides made by women in the past forty years. We who can recall the faulty teaching and the many prejudices of that date must often question if women now are sufficiently41 sensible of the advantages they possess.
A reviewer of Miss Mulock’s novels, writing in 1866, says: “It is one of the chief misfortunes of almost every female novelist that her own education, as a woman, has been wretchedly defective42;” and further on he adds: “the education of the majority of women leaves them not only without information, but without intelligent interest in any subject that does not immediately concern them.” He then points out that it seems impossible for women to describe a man as he is—that they see him only from the outside. “They are ignorant of the machinery43 which sets the thing going, and the principle of the machinery; and so they discreetly44 tell you what kind of case it has, but nothing more.”
Now, when the time has come that young men and maidens46 have other interests in common than those which spring out of flirtation47 and love-making, we may feel quite sure that each sex will get a better insight and have a juster knowledge of the other. The general taste for exercise, and the development of activity and health of
body, has killed sentimentality and the heroines of the Rosa Matilda school. Not that these were the heroines that Miss Mulock created. Her ideals are to a certain extent made of flesh and blood, although they are not always living figures. Even at the period when we are told that “In the world of letters few authors have so distinct and at the same time so eminent a position as this lady,” her judicious48 admirers find fault with her overflow49 of feminine sentimentality, which never permitted her ideal sufferers to conquer their griefs so far that they could take a practical and healthy interest in the affairs of the living world. “They live only ‘for others’” says one critic, “‘the beautiful light’ is always in their faces; their hands ‘work spasmodically’ at least once in every two or three chapters.”
Regarding the cramping50 influence of the prejudices which hedged in women in Miss Mulock’s day, is it not very possible that this flaw in the portraiture51 of her own sex may have been due to the narrowness of her training rather than to any deficiency in her talent? Nothing more plainly shows how warped52 her judgment had become than many of the passages in “A Woman’s Thoughts about Women.” This is a book with much sound argument in it, and full of the desire to rectify53 the feminine grievances54 to which she was not blind. But
when we come to a passage like the following, in which she asserts that all who “preach up lovely uselessness, fascinating frivolity55, delicious helplessness, not only insult womanhood but her Creator,” we ask how is this to be reconciled with the text which comes immediately after: “Equally blasphemous56, and perhaps even more harmful, is the outcry about the equality of the sexes; the frantic57 attempt to force women, many of whom are either ignorant of, or unequal for, their own duties, into the position and duties of men. A pretty state of matters would ensue! Who that ever listened for two hours to the verbose58 confused inanities59 of a ladies’ committee would immediately go and give his vote for a female House of Commons? or who, on receipt of a lady’s letter of business—1 speak of the average—would henceforth desire to have our courts of justice stocked with matronly lawyers and our colleges thronged60 by ‘sweet girl graduates with their golden hair’? As for finance, if you pause to consider the extreme difficulty there always is in balancing Mrs. Smith’s housekeeping book, or Miss Smith’s quarterly allowance, I think, my dear Paternal61 Smith, you need not be much afraid lest this loud acclaim62 for women’s rights should ever end in pushing you from your counting house, college, or elsewhere.”
On this showing, such crass63 ignorance is to be accepted
in women, and is to be taken as a matter of course and as natural to them as cutting their teeth or having measles64 or chicken pox. It is of little use to advocate “Self Dependence65,” “Female Professions,” “Female Handicrafts,” for those who cannot write a business letter or do a simple sum. Miss Mulock may have had, indeed 1 fear had, much reason to cast these reproaches at her sex. But that she did not feel their shame, and urge her sister women to strive for an education more worthy66 of intelligent beings, proves to me how deeply her mental gifts suffered from the cramping influence of the time in which she lived. Could she have enjoyed some of the advantages which spring out of the greater freedom of thought and action permitted in the present day, how greatly it would have enlarged her mental vision! Her male creations would have been cast in a more vigorous man-like mould. Her feminine ideals would no longer be incarnations of sentiment but living vital creatures. Where the mind is stunted67 the mental insight must be limited; and strong as were Miss Mulock’s talents, they were never able to burst the bonds which for generations had kept the greater number of women in intellectual imprisonment68.
In “Olive,” the novel which immediately followed “The Ogilvies,” Miss Mulock ventured on a very fresh
and interesting subject. Olive, the heroine of the story, is a deformed69 girl, “a puir bit crippled lassie” with a crooked70 spine71. To make this centre-character attractive and all-absorbing was a worthy effort on the part of an author, and we take up the book and settle ourselves to see how it will be done. Unfortunately, before long, the courage which conceived the personal blemish72 gives way, and, succumbing73 to the difficulties of making mind triumph over beauty, Miss Mulock commits the artistic74 error of trying to impress upon you that, notwithstanding the pages of lamentations over this deformity and the attack made on your sympathy, the disfigurement was so slight that no person could possibly have noticed it. Naturally this puts the heroine in a more commonplace position; and as several minor75 plots are introduced which Olive only serves to string together, much of the interest in her with which we started is frittered away.
Finally, Olive marries and restores the faith of a religious sceptic. And here it is curious to read the objections raised at the time against bringing into fiction “subjects most vital to the human soul.” One critic, after describing the hero he is willing to accept—and, much to our regret, space prevents us showing this terrible model that we have escaped—says: “But a hero whose intellectual crotchets, or delusions77, or blindness, are to be entrusted78 for repairs
to a fascinating heroine—a mental perplexity which is to be solved in fiction—a deep-rooted scepticism which is to lose its vis vit? according to the artistic demands of a tale of the fancy, this we cannot away with. Sceptics are not plastic and obliging. Would to Heaven scepticism could be cured by bright eyes, dulcet79 tones, and a novelist’s art of love!”
Criticisms in this tone make more plain to us the difficulties which novelists in the fifties had to grapple with. So many subjects were tabooed, so many natural impulses restrained, while the bogey80 Propriety81 was flaunted82 to scare the most innocent actions, so that nothing short of genius could ride safely over such narrow-minded bigotry83. That an extreme licence should follow before the happy mean could be arrived at, was a safe prediction; but many of the writers in that day must have had a hard task while trying to clip the wings of their soaring imaginations, so that they might not rise above the level marked out by Mrs. Grundy.
Now, all these social dogmas must have had an immense influence on the receptive mind of Dinah Mulock, and readers must not lose sight of this fact should they be inclined to call some of her books didactic, formal, or old-fashioned. She never posed as a brilliant, impassioned writer of stories which tell of wrongs, or crimes, or great
mental conflicts. In her novels there is no dissection84 of character, no probing into the moral struggles of the human creature. Her teaching holds high the standard of duty, patience, and the unquestioning belief that all that God wills is well.
The enormous hold which, ever since its first appearance in 1857, “John Halifax” has had on a great portion of the English-speaking public, is due to the lofty elevation85 of its tone, its unsullied purity and goodness, combined with a great freshness, which appeals to the young and seems to put them and the book in touch with each other. Those who read the story years ago still recollect86 the charm it had for them; and, in a degree, the same fascination87 exists for youthful readers at the present time. The theme is noble, setting forth the high moral truth of “the nobility of man as man,” and into its development the author threw all her powers.
From the opening sentence, where you are at once introduced to the ragged88, muddy boy and the sickly helpless lad, you feel that these two will prove to be the leading actors in the story—probably made contrasts of, and perhaps played one against the other. This idea, however, is speedily dispelled89. Possibly from a dread90 of failing where it is thought so many women do fail—in the
portrayal91 of the unseen sides of character and the infinite subtleties92 it gives rise to—Miss Mulock, wisely we think, decided93 to place her story in the autobiographic form; and the gentle refined invalid95, Phineas Fletcher, is made the deus ex machina to unravel96 to the reader not only the romance of his friend John Halifax’s history, but also the working of his noble chivalrous97 nature. Few situations are more pathetically drawn98 than the attitude of these two lads, with its exchange of dependence and hero-worship on the one side, and of tender, helpful compassion99 on the other. A true David and Jonathan we see them, full of the trust, confidence, and sincerity100 young unsullied natures are capable of. And the story of the friendship, as it grows towards maturity101, is equally well told.
His energy and his indomitable faith in himself make a prosperous man of the penniless boy. We follow him on from driving the skin cart to being master of the tan-yard; and throughout all his temptations, struggles, success, he maintains the same honest, fearless spirit.
It seems natural that when to such an exalted102 nature love comes it should come encircled with romance, and the wooing of Ursula March, as told by sensitive, affectionate Phineas Fletcher, is very prettily103 described.
For the reason that Ursula is an heiress with a host of aristocratic relations, John believes his love for her to be
hopeless. He struggles against this overwhelming passion for some time, until the continuous strain throws him into a fever of which his friend fears he will die. In this agonising strait Phineas is inspired with the idea of confessing the truth to Ursula; and, after a touching104 scene in which this is most delicately done, she determines to go to the man who is dying of love for her. In the interview, which is too long to be given in its entirety and too good to be curtailed105, John tells her that owing to a great sorrow that has come to him he must leave Norton Bury and go to America. She begs to be told the reason, and without an actual avowal106 he lets her see his secret.
“‘John, stay!’
“It was but a low, faint cry, like that of a little bird. But he heard it—felt it. In the silence of the dark she crept up to him, like a young bird to its mate, and he took her into the shelter of his love for evermore. At once all was made clear between them, for whatever the world might say they were in the sight of heaven equal, and she received as much as she gave.”
When lights are brought into the room John takes Ursula’s hand and leads her to where old Abel Fletcher is sitting.
“His head was erect107, his eyes shining, his whole aspect that of a man who declares before all the world, ‘This is
my own.” ‘Eh?’ said my father, gazing at them from over his spectacles.
“John spoke13 brokenly, ‘We have no parents, neither she nor I. Bless her—for she has promised to be my wife.’
“And the old man blessed her with tears.”
Abel Fletcher, grave, stern, uncompromising—as members of the Society of Friends in that day were wont108 to be—is a clever study. He will not yield readily to the influence of John, and when he does give way it is by slow degrees. Yet one of the most winning traits in this somewhat over-perfect young man, given at times to impress his moral obligations rather brusquely, is the deference109 he pays to his former master and the filial affection he keeps for him; and the author manages in these scenes to put the two into excellent touch with each other—so that, through John’s attitude to him, the hard close-fisted old tanner is transfigured into a patriarch who fitly gives his blessing110 to the bride, and later on, in a scene of great pathos, bestows111 his last benediction112 on her blind baby daughter.
It was said at the time of its publication, and it is still said, that in “John Halifax” Miss Mulock reached the summit of her power. That she felt this herself seems to be shown by her adopting the title of “Author
of ‘John Halifax.’” Its publication was in many ways a new departure. It was the first of that numerous series of books brought out by her (after) life-long friend, Mr. Blackett. Those were not the days when “twenty thousand copies were exhausted113 before a word of this novel was written;” yet the book had a remarkable and legitimate114 success. Of its merits a notable critic said, “If we could erase115 half a dozen sentences from this book it would stand as one of the most beautiful stories in the English language, conveying one of the highest moral truths.” And that these few sentences, while in no way affecting the actual beauty of the story, are a blot116 and an “artistic and intellectual blunder—” the more to be deplored117 in a book whose moral teaching throughout is so excellent—we must confess. “The ragged boy, with his open, honest face, as he asks the respectable Quaker for work, is no beggar; the lad who drives the cart of dangling118 skins is not inferior to Phineas Fletcher, who watches for him from his father’s windows and longs for his companionship; and the tanner—the honest and good man who marries Ursula March, a lady born—is her equal. Having shown that men in the sight of God are equal and that therefore all good men must be equal upon earth, what need that John should have in his keeping a little Greek Testament119 which he views as a most precious
possession because in it is written ‘Guy Halifax, Gentleman’? Are we to conclude that all his moral excellence120 and intellectual worth were derived121 from ladies and gentlemen who had been his remote ancestors, but with whom he had never been in personal contact at all, since at twelve years old he was a ragged orphan122, unable to read and write?”
Miss Mulock could not have meant this, and yet she lays herself open to the charge, a kind of echo of which is heard in the adding to her good plain title of “John Halifax” the unnecessary tag, “Gentleman.”
Her literary career being now fully established, Miss Mulock decided on taking up her permanent residence in London; and, about this time, she went to live at Wildwood, a cottage at North End, Hampstead. The now ubiquitous interviewer—that benefactor123 of those who want to know—had not then been called into being, so there is no record at hand to tell how the rooms were furnished, what the mistress wore, her likes, dislikes, and the various idiosyncrasies she displayed in half an hour’s conversation. Such being the case we must be content with the simple fact that, charming by the candid124 sincerity of her disposition, and the many personal attractions that when young she possessed, Miss Mulock speedily drew around her a
circle of friends whom, with rare fidelity125, she ever after kept.
“John Halifax” was followed in 1859 by “A Life for a Life,” a novel which, although it never obtained the same popularity, fully maintains the position won by its precursor126. In it Miss Mulock breaks new ground both as to plot and the manner in which she relates the story, which is told by the hero and heroine in the form of a journal kept by each, so that we have alternate chapters of his story and her story. This form of construction is peculiar and occasionally presents to the reader some difficulties, but as a medium to convey opinions and convictions which the author desires to demonstrate it is happily conceived. The motive127 of the book is tragedy, the keynote murder—that is murder according to the exigencies128 of the story-teller. Max Urquhart, the hero—who at the time the tale opens is a staid, serious man of forty—is the perpetrator of this crime, committed at the age of nineteen in a fit of intoxication129 on a man named Johnston. Journeying from London to join a brother who is dying of consumption at Pau, Urquhart, through a mistake, finds that instead of being at Southampton he is at Salisbury. On the way he has made the acquaintance of the pseudo-driver of the coach, a flashy, dis
sipated fellow, who by a tissue of lies induces the raw Scotch130 lad to remain for some hours at the inn and then be driven on by him to where they will overtake the right coach. By this man young Urquhart is made drunk, and when as a butt131 he no longer amuses the sottish company they brutally132 turn him into the street. Later on he is aroused by the cut of a whip. It is his coach companion who pacifies133 him with the assurance that if he gets into the gig he will be speedily taken by him to Southampton. The lad consents, he is helped up and soon falls fast asleep to be awakened134 in the middle of Salisbury plain by his savage135 tormentor136, who pushes him out and tells him to take up his lodging137 at Stonehenge. The poor youth, with just sufficient sense left in him to feel that he is being kept from his dying brother, implores138 the ruffian to take him on his way. “To the devil with your brother,” is the answer, and in spite of all entreaties139, Johnston whips up his horse, and is on the point of starting, when Urquhart, maddened by rage, catches him unawares, drags him from the gig, and, flings him violently on the ground, where his head strikes against one of the great stones, and he is killed.
How Urquhart manages to reach Southampton, and to get to Pau, he never knows; but when he does arrive at his destination, it is to find his brother dead and buried,
and the fit of mania which follows is set down to the shock this gives him. At the end of a year, hearing that Johnston’s death is attributed to accident, and being under the conviction that if the truth were told he would be hanged, he resolves to lock the secret in his own breast until the hour of his death draws near, and, in the meanwhile, to expiate140 his offence by living for others, and for the good he can do to them. He becomes an army doctor, goes through the Crimean War, and, when we are introduced to him, is doing duty at Aldershot, near where, at a ball, he meets the inevitable141 she, Theodora Johnston. If the hero is drawn dark, thin, with a spare, wiry figure, and a formal, serious air, the portrait of the heroine, with her undeniably ordinary figure, and a face neither pretty nor young, forms a fitting pendant to it. These two are irresistibly142 drawn towards each other, and, notwithstanding that the lady bears the fatal name of Johnston, they soon become engaged. Dr. Urquhart’s tender conscience then demands that the tragic143 misdeed of his life shall be confessed to the woman he is about to make his wife, and, in a letter, he confides144 to her the sad history, adding, as postscript145, some few days later: “1 have found his grave at last.” Here follows the inscription146, which proves the dead man to have been the son of Theodora’s father,
her own half-brother, Henry Johnston. “Farewell, Theodora!”
It is impossible here to give more than this crude outline of the plot of a book in which, far beyond the story she means to tell, the author has her own individual opinions and convictions to impress on us. The temptation to earnest writers to try, through their writings, to make converts of their readers, is often very strong, and in this instance Miss Mulock undoubtedly147 gave way to it. She had not only a vehement148 abhorrence149 of capital punishment, but, to quote from her book, she maintained “that any sin, however great, being repented150 of and forsaken151, is, by God, and ought to be by man, altogether pardoned, blotted152 out, and done away.”
As was at the time said, “Her argument demands a stronger case than she has dared to put;” but so ably are the incidents strung together, so touchingly153 are the relative positions of these suffering souls described, that their sorrows, affection, and fidelity become convincing; and, full of the pathetic tragedy of the situation, we are oblivious154 of the fact that what is called a crime is nothing greater than an accident, a misfortune, and that for murder we must substitute manslaughter.
From the date of the appearance of “John Halifax,”
Miss Mulock’s pen was never long idle. Composition was not a labour to her; and friends who knew her at that time, describe her as walking about the room, or bending over on a low stool, rapidly setting down her thoughts in that small delicate writing which gave no trouble to read. She had beautiful hands; a tall, slim, graceful155 figure; and, with the exception of her mouth, which was too small, and not well shaped, delicate and regular features. These attractions, heightened by a charming frankness of manner, made her very popular. Her poetic156 vein157 was strong. She published several volumes of poems, and many of her verses, when set to music, became much admired as songs.
Following “A Life for a Life,” came, in somewhat quick succession, “Studies from Life,” “Mistress and Maid,” “Christian158’s Mistake,” “A Noble Life,” “Two Marriages.” These in a period of ten years.
As may be supposed, they are not all of equal merit; neither does any one of them touch the higher level of the author’s earlier books. Still, there is good honest work in each, and the same exalted purity of tone, while much of the sentimentality complained of before is wholly omitted or greatly toned down.
“Mistress and Maid” is one of those good, quiet stories, full of homely159 truths and pleasant teaching, in
which is shown the writer’s quick sympathy with the working class. The maid, Elizabeth, is as full of character and of refined feelings as is Hilary Leaf, the mistress, and her one romance of love, although not so fortunate, has quite as much interest. The opening scenes, in which these two first meet, are excellent, giving us, all through their early association, touches of humour—a quality which, in Miss Mulock’s writings, is very rare.
The picture of the rather tall, awkward, strongly built girl of fifteen, hanging behind her anxious-eyed, sad-voiced mother, who pushes her into notice with “I’ve brought my daughter, ma’am, as you sent word you’d take on trial. ’Tis her first place, and her’ll be awk’ard like at first. Hold up your head, Elizabeth,” is drawn with that graphic94 fidelity which gives interest to the most commonplace things in life. The awkward girl proves to be a rough diamond, capable of much polish, and by the kindly160 teaching of Hilary Leaf she is turned into an admirable, praiseworthy woman. One has to resist the temptation to say more about Hilary Leaf, an energetic, intelligent girl who, when she cannot make a living for herself and her sister by school-keeping, tries, and succeeds, by shop-keeping. The description of the struggles of these two poor ladies to pay their way, and keep up a respectable appearance, comes sympathetically from the
pen of a woman whose heart was ever open to similar distresses161 in real life. To her praise be it remembered that to any tale of true suffering Dinah Mulock never closed her ears or her hand.
Her next two novels, “Christian’s Mistake” and “A Noble Life,” in our opinion, fall far short of any of her previous efforts. Yet they were both received with much popular favour, particularly the former, which called forth warm praise from reviewers.
For us not one of the characters has a spark of vitality162. Christian is not even the shadow of a young girl made of flesh and blood. Her forbearance and self-abnegation are maddening. Her husband, the “Master of St. Bede’s,’” twenty-five years her senior and a widower163, is nothing but a lay figure, meant to represent a good man, but utterly164 devoid165 of intellect and, one would think, of feeling, since he permits his young bride, possessed of all the seraphic virtues166, to be snubbed and brow-beaten by two vulgar shrewish sisters-in-law. There is no interest of plot or depicting167 of character, and the children are as unreal and offensive as their grown up relations. In “A Noble Life,” also, there is nothing which stirs our sympathies. Even the personal deformities of the unfortunate little earl fail to touch us, and, when grown up and invested with every
meritorious168 attribute, he is more like the “example” of a moral tale than a being of human nature.
As has been said, the portrayal of men is not this author’s strong point. “Her sympathy with a good man is complete on the moral, but defective on the intellectual side”—a serious deficiency in one who has to create beings in whom we are asked to take a sustained interest.
That she could rise superior to this defect is shown in “The Woman’s Kingdom.” In this story Miss Mulock displays all her old charm of simplicity169 and directness, and is strong in her treatment of domestic life. At the outset she announces that it will be a thorough love story, and takes as her text that “love is the very heart of life, the pivot170 upon which its whole machinery turns, without which no human existence can be complete, and with which, however broken and worn in part, it can still go on working somehow, and working to a comparatively useful and cheerful end.” This question we shall not stop to argue, but proceed with—we cannot say the plot, for of plot there is none; it is just an every-day version of the old, old story, given with admirable force and sweetness. It is said to appeal principally to young women, and it is possible that this is true, as the writer can recall the intense pleasure reading it gave to her nearly thirty years ago.
The book opens with the description of some seaside lodgings171, in which we find twin sisters as opposite in character as in appearance. Edna is an epitome172 of all the virtues in a very plain binding173. Letty, vain, spoilt, but loving her sister dearly, is a beauty. “Such women Nature makes rarely, very rarely; queens of beauty who instinctively174 take their places in the tournament of life, and rain influence upon weak mortals, especially men mortals.” Two of the latter kind arrive as lodgers175 at the same house, brothers, also most dissimilar—Julius Stedman, impulsive176, erratic177 and undisciplined; William, his elder brother, a grave, hard-working doctor, just starting practice. The four speedily become acquaintances—friends—and when they part are secretly lovers. Letty, by reason of what she calls “her unfortunate appearance,” never doubts but that she has conquered both brothers; but happily it is to Edna that the young doctor has given his heart; and when in time Letty hears the news, “and remembers that she had been placing herself and Dr. Stedman in the position of the Irish ballad178 couplet,
Did ye ever hear of Captain Baxter,
Whom Miss Biddy refused afore he axed her?
her vanity was too innocent and her nature too easy to bear offence long.”
“But to think that after all the offers I have had you should be the first to get married, or anyhow, engaged! Who would ever have expected such a thing?” “Who would, indeed?” said Edna, in all simplicity, and with a sense almost of contrition179 for the fact. “Well, never mind,” answered Letty consolingly, “I am sure I hope you will be very happy; and as for me”—she paused and sighed—“I should not wonder if I were left an old maid after all, in spite of my appearance.”
But to be left an old maid is not to be Letty’s fate. Julius, already bewitched by her beauty through being much more thrown into her society, falls passionately180 in love with her, and for lack of any one else, and because his ardour flatters and amuses her, Letty encourages him, permits an engagement, and promises to join him in India. But on the voyage out she meets a rich Mr. Vanderdecken, with whom she lands at the Cape76, and whom she marries. This is the tragic note in the happy story, the one drop of gall181 in the Stedmans’ cup of felicity. Edna and her husband are patterns of domestic well-being182. The joys and cares of every-day life have mellowed183 all that was good in them, and the account given of their home and their family is one we dwell upon lovingly.
Perhaps it is but natural that in our later reading we should note some small discrepancies184 that had formerly185
escaped us. We regret that the sisters had drifted so widely apart, and that each should seem to be so unconcerned at the distance which divides them. It is as if happiness can make us callous186 as well as luxury. And although it was true that Letty’s desertion suddenly wrecked187 the hopes of her lover, it seems hardly probable that such an unstable188 being as Julius would have taken her falseness so seriously. A wiser man might have foreseen the possibility.
Still, when this and more is said, our liking189 for the story remains190 as strong as ever. We know of few books which give a better picture of healthful domestic happiness and pure family life.
Although we have hitherto called, and shall continue to call, our authoress by her maiden45 name, she had in 1864 changed it by marrying Mr. G. Lillie Craik, a partner in the house of Macmillan & Co., and shortly after she removed to Shortlands, near Bromley, in Kent. This change in her state does not appear to have interfered191 with her occupation, and for many years volume followed volume in quick succession.
Unwisely, we think, for her literary reputation, she was led, through her strong sympathy, to advocate marriage with a deceased wife’s sister in a novel, published in 1871, called “Hannah.”
The novel with a purpose is almost certain to fall into the error of giving the argument on one side only. Its author has rarely any toleration for the ethical192 aspect of the other side of the question, and it is to be doubted if such books ever advance the cause they desire to advocate. In “Hannah” we are perfectly193 surfeited194 by those who wish to marry within the forbidden degree, and we feel as little toleration for the placid195 Bernard Rivers—one of those men who never believe in the pinch of a shoe until they want to put it on their own feet—as for Jim Dixon, who, after evading196 the law, speedily grows tired of the deceased wife’s sister, and avails himself of his legal advantage to take another wife.
The objections we feel to novels of this class are well stated by a writer in the Edinburgh Review, No. clxxxix. “We object,” he says, “on principle to stories written with the purpose of illustrating197 an opinion, or establishing a doctrine198. We consider this an illegitimate use of fiction. Fiction may be rightfully employed to impress upon the public mind an acknowledged truth, or to revive a forgotten woe—never to prove a disputed one. Its appropriate aims are the delineation of life, the exhibition and analysis of character, the portraiture of passion, the description of nature.”
In most of these aims Miss Mulock had proved herself
an expert. In addition to her numerous novels and volumes of poems, she wrote a large number of tales for children, many of which, 1 am told, are exceedingly charming. One cannot read her books without being struck by the intense affection she felt for children. She had none of her own, but she adopted a daughter to whom she gave a mother’s love and care. From time to time there appeared from her pen volumes of short stories, studies, and essays; but it is not by these that her name and fame will be kept green. Neither will her reputation rest on her later novels. This she must have realised herself when writing, “Brains, even if the strongest, will only last a certain time and do a certain quantity of work—really good work.” Miss Mulock had begun to work the rich vein of her imagination at an early age. She took few holidays, and gave herself but little rest.
She was by no means what is termed a literary woman. She was not a great reader; and although much praise is due to the efforts she made to improve herself, judged by the present standard, her education remained very defective. That she lacked the fire of genius is true, but it is no less true that she was gifted with great imaginative ability and the power of depicting ordinary men and women leading upright, often noble lives.
The vast public that such books as hers appeal to is
shown in the large circulation of some of her works, the sale of “John Halifax, Gentleman” amounting to 250,000 copies, 80,000 of which—the sixpenny edition—have been sold within the last few months. This shows that her popularity is not confined to any one class. The gospel she wrote was for all humanity.
As a woman, she was loved best by those who knew her best. “Dinah was far more clever than her books,” said an old friend who had been recalling pleasant memories to repeat to me. She died suddenly on the 12th of October 1887, from failure of the heart’s action—the death she had described in the cases of Catherine Ogilvie, of John Halifax, and of Ursula, his wife—the death she had always foreseen for herself.
Around her grave in Keston churchyard stood a crowd of mourners—rich, poor, old and young—sorrowing for the good loyal friend who had gone from them, whose face they should see no more.
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1
lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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abiding
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| adj.永久的，持久的，不变的 | |
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luminaries
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| n.杰出人物，名人（luminary的复数形式） | |
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firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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embryo
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| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
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overcast
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| adj.阴天的，阴暗的，愁闷的；v.遮盖，（使）变暗，包边缝；n.覆盖，阴天 | |
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adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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depict
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| vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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afflatus
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| n.灵感，神感 | |
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hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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32
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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leniently
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| 温和地，仁慈地 | |
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34
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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delineation
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| n.记述；描写 | |
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39
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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synopsis
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| n.提要，梗概 | |
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41
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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42
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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43
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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44
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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45
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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46
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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47
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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48
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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49
overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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50
cramping
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| 图像压缩 | |
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51
portraiture
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| n.肖像画法 | |
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52
warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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53
rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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54
grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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55
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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56
blasphemous
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| adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的 | |
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57
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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58
verbose
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| adj.用字多的；冗长的；累赘的 | |
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59
inanities
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| n.空洞( inanity的名词复数 )；浅薄；愚蠢；空洞的言行 | |
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60
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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62
acclaim
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| v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞 | |
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crass
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| adj.愚钝的，粗糙的；彻底的 | |
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64
measles
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| n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子 | |
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65
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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66
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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67
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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69
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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70
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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71
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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72
blemish
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| v.损害；玷污；瑕疵，缺点 | |
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73
succumbing
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的现在分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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76
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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77
delusions
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| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dulcet
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| adj.悦耳的 | |
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80
bogey
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| n.令人谈之变色之物；妖怪，幽灵 | |
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81
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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82
flaunted
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| v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的过去式和过去分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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83
bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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84
dissection
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| n.分析；解剖 | |
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85
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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86
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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88
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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portrayal
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| n.饰演；描画 | |
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subtleties
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| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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103
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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104
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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curtailed
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| v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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107
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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110
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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bestows
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的第三人称单数 ) | |
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112
benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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113
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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114
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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115
erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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116
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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117
deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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118
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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119
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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120
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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121
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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122
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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123
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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124
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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125
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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126
precursor
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| n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆 | |
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127
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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128
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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129
intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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130
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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131
butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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132
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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133
pacifies
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| 使（某人）安静( pacify的第三人称单数 )； 息怒； 抚慰； 在（有战争的地区、国家等）实现和平 | |
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134
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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135
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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136
tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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137
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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138
implores
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的第三人称单数 ) | |
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139
entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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140
expiate
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| v.抵补，赎罪 | |
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141
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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142
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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143
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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144
confides
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的第三人称单数 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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145
postscript
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| n.附言，又及；(正文后的)补充说明 | |
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146
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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147
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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148
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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149
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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150
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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151
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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152
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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153
touchingly
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| adv.令人同情地，感人地，动人地 | |
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154
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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155
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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156
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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157
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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158
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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159
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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160
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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161
distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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162
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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163
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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164
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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165
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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166
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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167
depicting
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| 描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述 | |
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168
meritorious
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| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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169
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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170
pivot
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| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
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171
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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172
epitome
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| n.典型，梗概 | |
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173
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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174
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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175
lodgers
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| n.房客，租住者( lodger的名词复数 ) | |
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176
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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177
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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178
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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179
contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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180
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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181
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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182
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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183
mellowed
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| （使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香 | |
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184
discrepancies
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| n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 ) | |
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185
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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186
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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187
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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188
unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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189
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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190
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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191
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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192
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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193
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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194
surfeited
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| v.吃得过多( surfeit的过去式和过去分词 )；由于过量而厌腻 | |
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195
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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196
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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197
illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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198
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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