C. J. Hamilton

“ It is by the novel of "Nathalie" that Julia Kavanagh is best known. Here her finished and graphic studies of French life reach their highest perfection. "Nathalie" is one of the best stories of French life ever written in English. The atmosphere is French, the old chateau, with its courtyard and its garden, are faithful pictures, delicately touched by a careful and loving hand. ”

“ An aged mother, so blind as to be only able to distinguish light from darkness, was left to mourn a daughter from whom she had never been separated; a daughter whose life had been devoted to her mother, to whom she was all in all, in whom had lived as bright and pure a spirit as ever breathed.'
The remains of Julia Kavanagh rest in the Catholic Cemetery at Nice. A marble monument, consisting of a small cairn of stones with a cross above, marks the spot. There is a short inscription, and a text in French: "She rests from her labours, and her works do follow her." ”

“ Julia Kavanagh is specially fond of these reflections. From one in "Sybil's Second Love," which throws a sidelight on her own experience, we may quote the following:—
"What would make you happy now, might make you wretched ten years hence. Youth is made to wish and dream, and life to deny youth's dreams and wishes. ”

“ The hero, a man of strong will, of deep but controlled affections, and a strong sense of honour, is too much of the Rochester type in his discourteous self-assertion, but Nathalie herself, impulsive and warm-hearted, is a living woman, and the love between her and her elder sister, Rose, is beautifully sketched. ”

“ This is to pass through life in the vain longing for doing better things, in stagnant quietness when the soul's passion is action, their sacrifice is that of will, and they too have their reward, and enter at last into the end and consummation of all things—God. ”

“ Some, they are happy, are called upon to struggle for truth and right in the sight of God and man, to endure the weariness, the burning heat of the noonday sun, until the evening's well-earned rest is won at length.... For a third class, whom the Almighty knows as less gifted to act, less fit to soothe the woes and cares of others, another fate is given. ”

“ I have always felt that of myself I can do nothing, but I might be rendered useful, and nothing could give me greater joy. I make this proposal to you in the sincere belief that you will not misunderstand me, or think me guilty of indecorous and unwomanly presumption. I live by my labour and have not much time to spare, but in this cause I will gladly make time and dispense with payment. ”

“ Novels fifty years ago were very different to what they are at the present day. Then, writers were free to philosophise as they pleased, and to give forth their own ideas on human life and experience. ”

“ After his trial in April, '49, which resulted in a disagreement of the jury, Gavan Duffy arrived in London, and proposed reviving The Nation, which had been suppressed in Dublin.
"From the beginning," he says, "gifted women were the best beloved contributors to the Nation, and the revived Nation was destined to rally recruits of the same class. Julia Kavanagh, who was earning her income by literary work for the English periodicals, offered to aid this new experiment, without payment or applause, by her facile pen." ”

“ He meant that Ireland should be colonised by Englishmen."
At this time, when she was twenty-six, Julia Kavanagh's fame had become well established. She was now a popular authoress. Her well-known story, "Madeleine," founded on the life of a peasant girl of Auvergne, had been followed by 'Nathalie," a novel in three volumes, which came out in 1850, and is generally considered her masterpiece. ”

“ While he was losing money over his literary ventures, his daughter was gaining it, and was rapidly coming to the front as a writer. She contributed various tales and essays to the magazines of that day, and her first book, a tale for children, "The Three Paths," came out in 1847, when she was twenty-three.
From a portrait of her in the National Portrait Gallery in Dublin, presented by her mother, we gather some idea of her appearance. Her eyes were real Irish eyes, dark grey, large and brilliant, her hair black ”