Elizabeth Lee

“ Unpractical, and not very scrupulous in money matters, Ouida fell into debt when her literary profits declined, and gradually became a prey to acute poverty. Her mother, who died in 1893, was buried in the Allori cemetery at Florence as a pauper. From 1894 to 1904 Ouida lived, often in a state bordering on destitution, at the Villa Massoni, at Sant' Alessio near Lucca. From 1904 to 1908 she made her home at Via-reggio, where a rough peasant woman looked after her, and her tenement was shared with dogs which she brought in from the street. ”

“ Grey read a paper at the Social Science Congress at Leeds, October 1871, advocating the establishment throughout England of large day schools for girls with boarding-houses in connection. For that purpose she formed in 1872 the 'National Union for the Higher Education of Women.' A mercantile company was created under the style of 'The Girls' Public Day School Company,' which provided the funds needed to give practical effect to the purposes of the union. ”

“ The fresh and vivacious style reflects the Irish temperament, and the tone is always wholesome. 'Kitty Costello' (1904) , a novel which presents an Irish girl's introduction to English life, and has autobiographic touches, was written when Mrs. Hector was seventy-seven and was barely completed at her death. A witty, clever talker, of quick sympathies and social instincts, Mrs. Hector was in many ways abler and broader-minded than her writings show. She died in London, after ten years' suffering from neuritis, on 10 July 1902, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. ”

“ In November 1894 Miss Toulmin Smith left Highgate on being elected librarian of Manchester College, Oxford; she was the first woman in England to be appointed head of a public library, and held the post until her death. Her house at Oxford became the meeting-place of British and foreign scholars, at whose disposal she always placed her aid and advice and even her labour. ”

“ Outspoken in criticism, and an untiring fighter, she never spared her opponents, but her earnestness and sincerity gained her friends not only among liberals and radicals, but among tories and even clericals, though she was hostile to the church. ”

“ After reading at Lincoln's Inn, he was called to the Irish bar in 1836. His life was dedicated to the service of his fellow-countrymen, and he worked hard for the relief of the distress during the Irish famine. He believed emigration to be the only panacea, and encouraged the young men to go out to Canada. Hearing of the terrible sufferings of the emigrants on the voyage, in May 1847 he went himself as a steerage passenger to Canada. ”

“ Meanwhile Merivale won a reputation as a novelist with 'Faucit of Balliol' (3 vols. 1882) , the earlier chapters of which give an admirable picture of Oxford life. He proved his literary facility in a fairy tale for children, 'Binko's Blues' (1884) , and 'Florien,' a five-act tragedy in verse (1884) , and in frequent contributions to 'Blackwood,' the 'Cornhill,' the 'Spectator,' 'Punch,' 'Saturday Review,' the 'World,' and 'Truth.' But it was in poetic drama that Merivale's ability, which combined fancy and wit with a poetic imagination, showed to best advantage. ”

“ Gladstone, who refers to Miss Hennell as 'a member of a family of distinguished talents which is known to have exercised a powerful in influence on the mind and career of George Eliot,' wrote that 'No critic can surpass her either in reverence or in candour' (Nineteenth Century, Nov. 1895) . 'Thoughts in Aid of Faith' (1860) is an attempt to reconcile religious feeling with philosophy and 'the higher criticism.' Her most ambitious work, 'Present Religion as a Faith owning Fellowship with Thought' (3 vols. 1865, 1873, and 1887) , is marred by a laboured and involved style. ”

“ In 1874 she settled permanently with her mother in Florence, and there long pursued her work as a novelist. At first she rented an 'apartment' at the Palazzo Vagnonville. Later she removed to the Villa Farinola at Scandicci, three miles from Florence, where she lived in great style, entertained largely, collected objets d'art, dressed expensively but not tastefully, drove good horses, and kept many dogs, to which she was deeply attached. ”

“ Sturgis was a man of singular charm of character, the reticence which distinguishes his writings being laid aside in his intercourse with his friends. His novels show a peculiar and sympathetic insight into the immature mind of masculine youth. ”

“ In April 1835 the society appointed him organiser of country schools, his duty being to 'organise new schools' and assist newly appointed masters in obtaining 'good discipline by moral means.' In October 1839 he was appointed normal school teacher and inspector, and from 1835 worked both in the training college and as an inspector outside. In 1846, when the training department of the institution in the Borough Road became recognised by the privy council as a grant-earning normal college, Cornwell was appointed by the British and Foreign School Society its head teacher or principal. ”

“ Orr's main interests lay in art and literature, and in social intercourse with artists and men of letters. Already in the winter of 1855-6 she had met, in Paris, the poet Robert Browning, with whom her brother was on intimate terms from early manhood. The poet's acquaintance with Mrs. Orr was renewed at intervals until 1869, when, both having fixed their residence in London, they became close friends. For many years he read books to her twice a week. ”

“ Between 1880 and 1885 she studied cookery at the Domestic science training school in Liverpool, and from 1885 to 1889 acted as an examiner in cookery in elementary schools, and of teachers trained by the 'Northern Union of Schools of Cookery.' She was soon recognised as an authority on domestic economy. ”

“ An attack of pericarditis in 1889 had left permanent ill effects. Miss Bayly died on 8 Feb. 1903 at 6 College Road, Eastbourne. The body was cremated and the ashes buried at the foot of the old cross in Bosbury churchyard, near Bosbury Hill, Herefordshire, a place which figures in her novel 'In Spite of All' (1901) , and of which her brother, the Rev. R. Burges Bayly, was vicar.
Slight in build and of medium height, with dark brown hair and dark grey-blue eyes, Miss Bayly was fond of music and of travelling, and described her tours in vivacious letters. Her style is always clear and pleasant. ”

“ From early youth Merivale had been devoted to the drama, and was a good amateur actor, but his endeavour to found a dramatic club at Oxford, as Sir F. C. Burnand did at Cambridge, was foiled by the opposition of the dons. He was called to the bar of the Inner Temple on 26 Jan. 1864; he went the western circuit, and also the Norfolk circuit, where Matthew Arnold was his companion. Later he was through his father's influence junior counsel for the government on Indian appeals, and in 1867 boundary commissioner for North Wales under the Reform Act. ”

“ He excelled in the poetic form of the sonnet, of the technique of which he had a perfect mastery, and the dramatic impersonal 'Imaginary Sonnets' (1888) and the autobiographic 'Sonnets of the Wingless Hours' (1894) rank with the best of their kind.
Lee-Hamilton wrote also 'The Fountain' of Youth,' a fantastic tragedy in verse (1891) ; two novels, 'The Lord of the Dark Red Star, being the Story of the Supernational Influences in the Life of an Italian Despot of the 13th Century' (1903) , and 'The Romance of the Fountain' (1905) ”

“ But with the publication in 1885 of 'In the Golden Days,' an able historical novel of the seventeenth century, her profits grew substantial. 'In the Golden Days' was the last book read to Ruskin on his deathbed (Collingwood, Life of John Ruskin, 1900, p. 403) . It was dramatised later by Edwin Gilbert, but had no success on the stage. 'Donovan,' 'We Two,' and 'In the Golden Days' are Miss Bayly's best books. ”

“ Hesba Stretton, who led a retired, simple and hardworking life, and avoided publicity, wholly depended for her livelihood on her pen. She never went to a theatre, cared nothing for dress, and owned no jewellery. ”

“ Meanwhile Murray used his literary power to best effect in fiction. In 1879 he contributed his first novel, 'A Life's Atonement,' periodically to 'Chambers's Journal.' From that date until his death scarcely a year passed without the publication of one and at times two novels. ”

“ There were no children of the marriage.
Mrs. Riddell, by making commerce the theme of many of her novels, introduced a new element into English fiction, although Balzac had naturalised it in the French novel. She was intimately acquainted with the topography of the City of London, where the scenes of her novels were often laid. ”

“ Eugene as a child lived with his widowed mother and her brother, William Abadam, at the Château de Biranos, near Pau, until Abadam's death about 1854, when his mother took him to Paris. There she married her second husband, Henry Ferguson Paget, an engineer, whose active sympathy with the Polish insurrection had compelled him to leave his employment in Poland. ”

“ Hoey began with a story entitled 'Buried in the Deep' a long connection with 'Chambers's Journal,' then under the editorship of James Payn [q. v.] . Until 1894 she was a constant contributor, writing articles, short stories, and two serial novels, 'A Golden Sorrow' (1892) and 'The Blossoming of an Aloe' (1894) .
Mrs. Hoey wrote in all eleven novels, dealing for the most part with fashionable society. ”

“ For some time Ruskin and John Strange Winter constantly corresponded.
In 1891 she started a penny weekly magazine, 'Golden Gates'; in 1892 the title was altered to 'Winter's Weekly,' and so continued until 1895. In 1896 the health of her husband and of her youngest daughter made residence at the seaside imperative, and Dieppe became her home until 1901, when she returned to London, retaining a house at Dieppe for summer residence until 1909. She wrote enthusiastic articles about Dieppe which greatly increased its popularity. ”

“ Thenceforward the success of the college was assured. In 1873 it was first installed in buildings of its own, which were enlarged three years later, when there were 310 names on the books. In 1880 the college was incorporated as a company. The numbers then had reached 500. Numerous additions were made to the buildings between 1882 and 1905. In the present year (1912) there are over 1000 pupils and 120 teachers, fourteen boarding houses, a secondary and a kindergarten teachers' training department, a library of over 7000 volumes, and fifteen acres of playing-fields. ”

“ As a child she wrote little plays for her brothers and sisters to act, and invented stories for their amusement. Her first novel, 'Nellie's Memories,' told verbally in this way when in her teens, was published in 1868, and was immediately successful. Henceforward her career as a writer was assured. More than 52,000 copies of this book have been sold. Between 1868 and the year of her death Miss Carey published thirty-nine novels. The large sales, varying between 41,000 and 14,000 copies, testify to their popularity. ”

“ Educated under governesses at home, she read much for herself. In 1844 her parents, owing to pecuniary losses, left Dublin for Liverpool, and after sojourning at Chester, Jersey, and other places, settled in London. ”

“ Parr published 'Dorothy Fox,' a novel of Quaker life, which was so much appreciated in America that a publisher there paid Mrs. Parr 300l. for the advance sheets of her next novel. Nothing of importance followed until 1880, when her best novel, 'Adam and Eve,' was published. It is an interesting story, told with artistic restraint, of Cornish smuggling life founded on incidents related in Jonathan Couch's 'History of Polperro' (1871) . Six novels followed, none coming near to 'Adam and Eve' in merit, the last, 'Can This be Love?' appearing in 1893. ”

“ Her first publication was a volume of verse entitled 'From Dawn to Noon' (1872) , written under the pseudonym of 'Violet Fane,' which she chose at random, and retained in permanence in order to conceal her identity from her family. (It is the name of a character in Disraeli's 'Vivian Grey.') In 1875 appeared 'Denzil Place : a Story in Verse,' an interesting love-tale, never rising to high passion, but showing much feeling. 'The Queen of the Fairies and other Poems' appeared in 1876, and in 1877 'Anthony Babington,' a drama in prose and verse. ”