Margaret Oliphant Non-Fiction Bibliography old print edition

41 Pages·1997·10.1 MB·English

by  John Stock Clarke

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Copyright o John Stock Clarke 1997
rsBN 0 E6776737 5 VICTORIAN FICTION RESEARCH GUIDES
tssN 0t5E 392r
Victorian Fiction Research Guides are issued bv the Victorian Fiction Research Unit
within the Department of English, The University of Qleensland.
The Unit concenfrates on minor or lesser-known writers active during the period from
about 1860 to about 1910, and on fiction published in journals during the same period.
Among the Victorian Fiction Research Guides currently in preparation are
bibliographies of Ada Cambridge, 'Sydney Grier'lHilda GreggJ, and L T Meade, and
indexes to fiction in The London Joumal.
We would be interested to hear l?om anyone working on bibliographies of these or other
authors of the period, or on indexes to f,rction in journals of the period. Any information
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would also be appreciated.
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Introduction
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i'important
n;:'1 Mrs Oliphant, says Mrs Q. D. Leavis, was as a
; case-history of the woman of letters in the nineteenth century".r
qJa I^2 e€4;qC) Z-' '- '4!!31!? .x 'i-, -u a-rI= Is Wwefrreqeerli uiqtgtehauiroilen.lyu nk st aSl yodh lfeme c aihtirtodeeeodedrk r na saaos, wns aa aein nbssdti s eolIearigtenrergsatriteaap lrlhy yien for a,ruh narisbanotandovn ermu ylhniu,s idcsteh.ta o rosnrBtfdya ,unh intde tiirnnhh g ene h orol enimvfr- e fahdisctaeu tiyrrooe nasf yhs ee waa wrassas
.p =A- U<3 43 =-I she regularly reviewed books in BLackwaod's Magazjne and other
v periodicals. She was almost as prolific as a writer of articl-es
!- -l F i-:iF f and book reviews as she was as a novelist. Accordingl-y, whoever
-1-'l tv 2=< O'oi;4:6 F wnej-esdhes st oto bfeoarmr i na mcoimndp Ltehtee pcoicntutrrieb utolof nM rms aOdeli pbhya hnet ra nso an -wficrittieorn to
Eii.J the completion of this picture, and to a fuIler understanding of
AA her literary personality and her cast of mind.
rl+-\l P
II
Mrs Oliphant's first work of non-fictlon, Sundays, was
published when she was 29. It has been given no attention by any
biographer or critic, until Elisabeth Jay made brief mention of
it in her recent book /tfrs Oliphant: "A Fiction to HerseLf ", so,
although it 1s in most ways an undistinguished book, it is worth
a brief mention here, especially as it has a significant role to
play in the development of her religious views. Its main purpose
is to survey the Christian year and to recommend regular rituals
for the celebration of events in the calendar. As a Scotswoman
living in England she had come to feel affection for the traditi-
ons of Anglicanism, even though she retained throughout her life
her loyalty to Presbyterianism; and in sundays she expresses a
regret that Scotland, as a resuLt of over-reaction to Roman
Catholicism, has disregarded the events of the Christian Year.
Thus, so early in her career, she shows the broad-minded attitude
to the different Christian sects that was to characterise her
later work. Her Christian faith never faltered, except perhaps at
the time of her daughter Maggie's death, but she was happiLy able
to respond to Anglicanism, both High Church and Low Church; and
after her long stays in ltaly, France and other parts of Europe
in 1859/60 and 1863/65 she became equally sympathetic to
Cathol- i ci sm.
In .gundays Mrs Oliphant showed her sympathy for the movement
towards reformation in the Church of Scot1and, associated with
such names as John Tulloch, Principal of St. Mary's College, St.
Andrews, who became her friend three years after the publication
of the book. One of Tulloch's special concerns was the softening
of ScotLand's strict sabbatarianism, and in the introduction to
Sundays Mrs Oliphant speaks of "our gloomy Sundays" and stresses
in some detail that it is possible to worship God with cheerful-
Dage of the third edition of The Life of Edward Irvine (see items 7. 8)- ness. 2
In other ways ,gundays is of interest to students of Mrs
iv Oliphant's work. Themes which were to be of importance in her
future work, especially her novels, make an appearance here, She
complains of the current trend towards institutionalised charity,
which inhibits genuine human compassion.3 She speaks with ironic
disillusion of the tendency of all human ideals to lead only to
3
clauses. But at other times she adopts a quieter tone, in which
dnobiossvaeepslpsso.iv ineS thmsee eslnfh-tot,o wprsrr neuenfindgteu; rrsintthagnis d tinhisge oeircfo hntohieced tbcoayn phea ecori ft tyrh eoeafrt mmfineaennyst tpoef ospolnr at oorf htouom ocuoru irste oauLslo wtoe db, ew iirtohn ya, gaelnthtloeu gdhet aircohnmye ndto ferso mat Irtviminegs wbrheiackh is
the most interesting characters in her mature novels. And she eprakr through her defensive approach, for example "His was not a mind
of the difficulty that rnost people find in thinking, which is usually judicial, impartial, able to confine itself to mere evidence";
represented by tta reverie, disconnected, broken, full of sudden the word "mere" quietly and effectively highlights Irving's
starts and pauses, sudden pictures suddenly disturbed, a kind of irrationality. And Mrs Oliphant recognises Irving's occasional
panoramic contemplation of everything hovering within our mental "iLliberallty and intoLerance", regrets that in expressing his
range, which we dignify with the narne of thoughtrr.o This point of views he can be "strongly defensive and belligerent", and notes
view is expressed in many of her novels and indeed is to be found the "aLl-believing admiration ... admiration too great" which
earl-ier than Sundays, in the novella John Rintou-l, 1853. Irving aroused in his hero-worshippers.s
In the last five chapters, where Mrs Oliphant has a classic
III tragedy to narrate, her instlnct for the dramatic comes into
fu1l play, and she highlights the hubris and hamartia which
Mrs oliphant's second work of non-fiction was her biography of Irving's story so richly illustrates. "Whom the gods wish to
Edward Irving, published in May 1862. As a proud Scotswonan and a destroy they first make mad." These chapters contain some fine
deeply religious woman she had long adrnired Irving, the Scottish examples of sustained eloquence, for example the opening of
revivalist religious leader who became one of the most eagerly volume II, chapter 4 (chapter 1"6 in the one-volume editions), and
sought-after preachers in the London of the 1820s, and founded the are remarkable for the clear inevitability of their narrative
catholic Apostolic church, The biography was carefully researched, line, although this is much encumbered by tedious theologlcal
with rnany letters to, and interviews with, people who had known detail. But the tragedy, rich in tragic ironies, maintains its
frving - including Thomas and Jane Welsh carlyle. It brought Mrs impact upon the reader.
oliphant fame and afso sorne notoriety, because of her eager The writing of Irvinq had a direct influence upon Mrs
championship of Irving in his disputes with the Scottish Kirk. Oliphant's subsequent novels. Of special interest is her analysis
Irving has so crucial a role to play in Mrs oliphant's of the mental processes, both of Irving and of his more rational
development as a writer that rnore attention rnust be given to it than colleague Thomas Chalmers, noting Irving's moments of self-
to any other of her non-fictj-on. examination, and strikingly examining the mutual incomprehension
Mofr spE oodJww-aieprrdhf uaIlnr vtp ineegvrse orw ndaaesl s mocnraje-qb noeefdt i,s threnei,t hmderoriv seti nne xbntroya voaenrlds oi nobars reybs isocighorana,rp aahcnitee isrds:6 ewah omfimxanei ojufd gthee sthee t wooth veer rwy idthif fesurecnh ta nm aesnt.o n"Tishhei nogne g mualfn wofa sd nifofet reanbclee to
egotistical- and credulous, hj-s credulity fuelling his egotisn, hj-s between"e. We hear much of this "gu1f of difference" in her
egotl-sm closing the door to any critical self-observation, except mature novels; her insight lnto the states of mind of lrvj-ng and
accordinq to the stereotypes of conventional piety; this egotisrn Chalmers prefigures a wealth of similar insights in the novels.
strangely coexisting with self-abasing hurnility; anti-intellectual, And she speaks with confident authority from her developing
wi"th tittle capaci,ty for systernatic thinkinq, or for prosaic experience of human nature, as when she comments on the "disench-
ratj-onalityr dn unassailable conviction of the rightness of hi,s antment which, next to personal betrayal, is perhaps the hardest
views, and an entire inability to heed advice. Mrs oliphant describes experience in the worl.d"r o.
him as rrimpracticablerr, Iimpatient, eager, visionarytr, Itthought or
calcul-ation of prudence not being in the tnantr, rra primitive Pope or IV
Bishop, as, indeed, he felt hirnself to berr, holdi.ng to his trprimitive
standing ground ... as if he had been born in the days of Moses or Irving had given Mrs Oliphant a taste for biography and it
Abraham".5 He nakes a lonq journey from the austerities of Scottish is not unreasonable to say that almost all the non-fiction she
Presbyterianism to an idealistic, revivalist, visionary, evangelical, subsequentLy wrote was essentially biographical in character. She
j-nspj-rational, prophetic, theocratic, millenarian new religi-on, with published three more biographies as conscientiously researched as
i-ts sights set on the Second Cominq, heralded by the presence in that of lrving: of the Count de Montalembert, the liberal French
Irvj-ng's congregation of supposed prophets endowed with the gift of Catholic reformer (L872); of John Tulloch, Mrs Oliphant's friend,
rrTonguesrr. "He had left the calrn regions of philosophy far apart and an important Scottish religious leader (1888); and of Laurence
behindr'.0 And he makes another journey from the rnassive popular Oliphant, journalist and traveller, and possibly a distant
support of the pubJ-ic and of his eccl-esiastical superiors to publlc kinsman of Margaret Oliphant (1891). In addition, there were
ridi-cu1e, hostitity and suspicion, and to rejection by the three minor biographies, compiled from existing authoritles, and
Presbyteries of l,ondon and Annan? for supposed heresy, leading to hll included in series of volumes published on particular themes:
unfrocking. Francis of Assisi (1868 for The Sunday tibrary for Household
Reading Irving is not a comfortable experience as a result of Reading), Thomas Chalmers, a leading figure in the history of the
Mrs oliphant's style, too often rhapsodic and rhetorical, with Kirk of Scotland (1893 for English Leaders of Religion), and
carlylean rhythrns, and over-elaborated sentences relying upon Jeanne d'Arc (1896 for Heroes of the Nations, an Anglo-American
the cumulative effect of interlocking subordinate and co-ordinata series). To this list must be added Savonarola, the fifteenth-
century Florentine monk, to whom the five finest chapters of
Makers of FLorence (1876) were devoted.
These biographies all have in conmon an interest in strong
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religious faith. The apparent exception to this, Laurence Oliphant, space as she can to.the daily routine of her subjects, their
is not an exception at aII. Mrss oliphant is evidently much rnore gardens and parlours, their experience as parents, their private
interested in the entangled development of Laurence's religious relationships. There is little scope for this in lrving or the
opinions and of his baffled sel.f-exarninations on the subject than in Savonarola chapters, but Irving's affection for children is
his political and rnilitary exploits. The natural and inevitable lightly stressed as a foil to the dramatic events of his life.
hcLisir nraexl igoifo uthse bcoiongvreaprshioy nls, atnhde h sise qsuuebnsceeq oufe ntth rsetrea ncghTaep, toebrsse dsseisvceribing tThhree eb ioygeraarpsh ayf toefr QMueresn O Vliipchtoarniat',s pduebaLthis,h deedv iont esit so nfl-iny atwl of oorfm its
sj.nutbrjoedcuticoens tinot oth eth eA mbeiorigcaranp heyv aan gneolties to Tf htornaagse dLya kree mHia-nrrisi-cse, nwt hoof eight chapters to the oueen's public life, and its title in the
Irving, and poses questions, as does Irving, about the nature of body of the book is ffte Domestic Life of the Queen, although on
obsessj-on. The last two chapters, describing events subsequent to the title page it appears as Queen Victoria, a Personal Sketch.
oliphant's bitter crisis of disenchantment with Harris, centralise, l And in the historical character studies which I sha1l examine in
at times rather tediously, the further developrnent of his religious the next section political events are treated mainly as a back-
opinions. ground to the study of mood, motive and human reLationships.
Many sirnilarities of theme unite these eight biographies, Mrs Oliphant's inclination to picturesque and evocative
although thirty-four years separate Irving from Jeanne d'Arc, years description and colunentary sometimes betrays her into overuse of
in which Mrs oliphant developed and deepened her skj.lls as a words like 'rromantic" and "poetic" and of self-conscious imagery;
novelist, and came to understand rnore thoroughly her responsibilities and picturesque detail, especially at the dramatic highlights of
as a biographer. Most of the biographical subjects are driven by her subject's life, for example eloquent, poetic, graphic
powerful religious belief, which they follow to extremes of descriptions of the executions of Savonarola and Jeanne d'Arc.
asceticj-sm or to the creation of new religious movements which Nevertheless, as I sha1l later show, she never sensationalises
pproosmseostes epda as srieornnaatrek albolyea gltiyft amfoorn qi nthsepiirr atfioolnloawl ereslo. qAueIIn coef, tohre, nto be trreavgeicre netvi.eanl ttso.n eS hwe hiisc hl ecaasntn oitn taeIrloewst inag s hwahrpen e nshoueg mh apiincttauirnes aof her
ol-ef slsrv cinhga,r itaCbhleal,r neerrsn aontido nSaal vrohneatororliac,, aensdp ienc itahlely psoelietinc ainl thsep eseecrhmeosn sand sCuhba1jemcetr.s ,T ihnitse riess tpinagrt icounlalyr lya s tar uceo notrf ibthuetio lnif e to otfh eTh oemcacslesiast-
writings of Montalernbert, but also in Jeanne d'Arc and, more ical politics of the nineteenth century Scottish Kirk.
lyrically, in Francis of Assisi. A11 of them were single-rninded
idealists and individualists often at odds with their society, often
driven to confrontations with authority, thus provoking authority to v
destroy thern (Irvj,ng, Montalembert, Savonarola, Jeanne), or el-se
aiming to transforn it by transforming the religious life of the The two series of Historicaf Sketches, and the five books of
communities where they found thernselves, whether nineteenth century urban history seem to form a different category of books from the
Scotland and France or fifteenth century Florence (Irving, biographies; but their main interest is essentially biographical.
Montalernbert, Tul-l-och, Francis, Chalmers, Savonarola, and in his The lfistoricai Sketcftes were a series of character studies of
later years Laurence oliphant). Montalembert fought for religious and distinguished figures at the time of George II and of Queen Anne,
educational- liberty and the revival of the spirit of rnonasticisrn in published respectively in 1869 and December 1894.12 Mrs Oliphant
the increasingly secularised France of the time of Louis Philippe and saw history as the chronicle of individual human beings. If it
Napoleon III. Savonarola irnposed a brief regine of stern austerity seems that by titling her chapters, for example, "The Poet", "The
upon Florence, epitornised by the famous Bonfire of Vanities of L496, Reformer", "The Phil-osopher", "The Painter", "The Journalist",
which Mrs oliphant describes with the picturesgueness of detail in "The Humourist" (from the George II volume, Pope, Wesley,
wTuhilclohc hh,e rw bhioosger abpiohgierasp ahyre i sr icthh,e ilnedaeset dd sraemlf-aintidc ualgned nmtloys t rdicohn.estic of ABdedrkiseoleny) Manrds OHolipgahratnh,t aisn dim, fprolymin gth eth aQtu eheen rA sntnued vieoslu maree, gDeenfoeeri cand
tohfe S bciootgtirsahp hrieelsig, iopulasy edlif eh is inp atrht e ina fttehrern raethvi toafl istihneg Diasnrudp htiuornna noisfing crahtahrearc ttehraisnt icp arotifc uthlaer , agien tienn dwehdic hto hree porre ssehne t Iievaecdh, ptehreso an rtaiscles
O18J4-i3p,h aanntd/s f ubli-ol gdraeptahiyl , irstT hgei vReenn aoisf stahnicse oinf tthhee eSicgohtcthh cChhaurpcthetrr. of Mrs tphuermelsye lavess a pnr oinvdei vtihdeu aclo, ntoranrLyy. ligEhattcyh opnlea coef dt hweimth iins tthreea tceodntext
I have stressed the dornesticity of the Tulloch biography.
In any of Mrs oliphant's biographies the dornestic life oi her subject of history, but largely examined for complexities and ambiguities
is as irnportant as the dramatic events in which he or she is of motivation and for the richness of their personality. Mrs
invofved. To her the trivialities of everyday life have as Oliphant's approach is essentially that of her biographies- The
important a rol-e to play as the great events of the world outside, final sentence of "The Man of the Wor1d", which is a study of
since rrthe narrowest domestj.c record widens our experience of Lord Chesterfield, makes her point of view very clear: "IChester-
human nature, which, of alL things involved, changes least frorn field'sl Letters are within everybody's reach; but they are not
one generation to anotherrr. She speaks of ilthat assured and so wonderful, so unique, or so manifotd, as was the man"r3. The
tranquil life in which no great thing happens, but in which words "unique" and "manifold" are significant. Mrs Oliphant was
all the events of life are developingt',rrand gives as much constantly drawn to people who, while seeming to conform to a
stereotype, prove on close examination to be sharply individual-
ised, distinguishable by motivation, background and circumstances
from other people apparently similar. And in both novels and
biographies she responds most readily and creatively to
characters who are multifarious, complex, ambiguous or even
fi I
ambivalent, and qulte frequently paradoxical. She is oltan dftwil emotional crisis and complex, unstable state of mind at the time
to the strange, the excessive and the unfathomable. She ettanptr of his conversion, and the examination in a later chapter of he
again, for example, to explain the strange story of Swlftrt strange, compulsive power of asceticism for Francis.
relationship with SteIla and Vanessa, and she describes wlth
mixed feelings the extravagant emotional behaviour at WesJ.eytt VI
public meetings, "wiId and wonderful scenes, exhibitions of thc
strangest and most indecorous emotion"-ta lHer view on such Mrs Oliphant took the art of biography very seriously, and
events seems to have hardened since Irving.) made many comments on it. She reviewed many biographies during
Between 1876 and 1-895 Mrs Oliphant published five books her career, and in her articLe "Men and Women" of i-895 (item 475)
designed as contributions to urban history. She chose three she insists that biographers and historians should be trained,
Itatian cities, Florence (1876), Venice (1887), and Rome (1895), while novelists and poets probably cannot. A good model for
and also Edinburgh (1890) and Jerusalem (1891). Each book was training biographers is suggested:
published for the Christmas season, each was lavishly iflustrated
and aimed to celebrate the visual scene of each city, with a Could Lockhart guide the pen, could he show what to leave
tribute to the artists and writers, politicians and churchmen who out, what to pile oD, - might he teach the Iearner himself
had contributed to the life of the city, each was lyrical and to grow in knowledge, gradually, lovingly, with the
evocative, picturesque and "graphic", a word much favoured by character he expounds, making it also to grow upon the
reviewers. The three Italian books, each with the word Makers in reader in natural development, like the unfolding petal by
the title, had much in common; they confine themselves almost petal of a noble flower!t?
entirely to the medieval period, and make serious attempts to
assess the historical processes that had moulded these three This is idealistic and optimistic, but elsewhere when she
cities. But Mrs Oliphant cannot be taken seriously as a histor- reviewed biographies she offers more specific recommendations.
ian, and in the brief preface to ,lvakers of Modern Rome she Her most considered analysis of the art of biography was provoked
acknowledges that "origi-nal research" cannot be expected from her by her disapproval of what she saw as the indiscretion of
because she is not "trained in the ways of learning". A similar Froude's biography of Thomas Carlyle, and was published in ?he
admission is made at the end of the Introduction to JerusaLem. Contemporary Review in July 1-883, "The Ethics of Biography" (item
The three Italian city books are notable mainly for eloquent and 498). In this article she recommends above all that a biographer
picturesque description, and for those character studies which should aim to achieve balance. The biographer should steer a
give her the opportunity for vivid narrative. middle course between the excess of hero-worship and partisanship
The other two city books are slightly different in struct- on the one hand, and on the other hand cynical denigration,
ure, Royal Edinburgh selectively covers the history of that city although denigration is the worse approach since "our defender is
fron Margaret of Scotland to Sir Walter Scott, with chapters on at all times more nearly right than our detractor". He should
John Knox and Mary Stuart, and on the poets ALlan Ramsay and avoid an excess of documentation, and over-interpretation of the
(unconvincingly included in a book on Edinburgh) Robert Burns. It problems and mysteries of his subject's Life. His aim shouLd to
is more frankly a book of character sketches than its Italian be to highlight the essential qualities of his subject and to
companions, and is highly nostalgic and evocative. The narrative avoid the accidental. He must "guard himself from superficial
of JerusaLen is taken entirely from the Bible, from David to impressions" and aim to discover the reaL man or woman behind
Jesus, and the immediacy and objectivity of the Biblical narra- appearances. But he must scrupulously avoid "that prying
tive are overlaid by the interpretative comments and biographical curiosity which loves to investigate circumstances, and thrust
rhetoric which by 1891 had become habitual to Mrs Oliphant. itself into the sanctuaries of individual feeling". And this
Several reviewers complained of this, not unreasonably.r5 entails avoidance of the flood of trivialities and indiscreti.ons
Mrs Oliphant's approach to biography is essentially that of that so often disfigures biographies. The biographer "must use
a novelist. She adopts an intimate approach to her biographical his imagination only as an adjunct to his sympathies, and as
subject, inviting the reader to identify with him, speculating on giving him the power of realizing the position of his hero, and
motives and imagining thought processes which her authorities may putting himself in his place; and ... he must violate no law of
not necessarily justify. It is certainly legitimate for her to testimony, and call no unfair witnesses". He must possess "that
challenge the conclusions of previous biographers and suggest power of penetrating beneath the surface into the character of
more complex motivation than they allow; less l-egitinate in a another, which is sympathy, imagination, genius, all in one".1 8
biography is a rhetorical device in which she indulges from time It would be interesting to assess Mrs Oliphant's biographies
to time, inviting the reader, sometimes with the use of an in the light of her own criteria. But I can give only brief space
exclamatory style, to imagine the feelings or unspoken thoughts to such an assessment here. It is reasonable to give her credit
of her trero or heroine. She treats her subjects like characters for achieving the objectivity and detachment that she recommends,
in one of her novels, for example interpreting the ambivalent even though reviewers complained of undue hero-worship, especi-
emotional state of Francis of Assisi during a brief crisis of aIIy in Irving, where she was less than just to some of the
doubt, which the medieval co[unentator interprets in the simplest particlpants in Irving's tragedy. She usually makes fair attempts
way possible, unable to see the inner workings of Francis's to give a balanced evaluation of the biographical information
mind.r6 And perhaps the most striking passages in her biography that she is using, scrupul-ously avoiding, for example, a verdlct
of Francis are those in the first two chapters describing his on the true nature of Jeanne d'Arc's "voices", just as earlier
I
VII
she had refused to comnent on the extraordinary rrtongues" (gloss- A little space rnusts be given to Mrs oliphant as a literary
olalia) which manifested themselves at Irving's services. I have critic, choosing very selectively from a wealth of material. There is
already mentioned her over-indulgence in lyricism, and sometimes little need to do more than rnention tr^ro of the three short books she
she does risk the over-interpretation she deplores; but it can ontributed to the Blackwood series which she herself edited, Foreign
fairly be said that in her best biographical work she does Classics for English Readers, studies of MoliEre and Cervantes, and
achieve her own ideal of avoiding an excess of the detail which her book on Sheridan contributed to the English Men of Letters
obscures rather than illuminates. She acknowledges, where it is Series. As always she seems to concentrate her energies upon the J-ife
reLevant to do so, that there is a mystery which she is unable to of the writer rather than upon his work. For example, the two
explain; and is usually at her best, as I have already said, when chapters devoted to Don Quixote in the Cervantes volume consist
discussing compLexity and ambiguity. The most interesting pass- almost entirely of extended plot sunmary, with occasional brief
ages j.n her undramatic life of John Tulloch are those describing interpretative cornment. And it is not easy to understand why
his periodical bouts of deep depression. Much of this biography Macmillan offered her Sheridan for the EML series. How much more
concerns ecclesiastical and university politics, which gives no interesting would have been a book frorn her on Jane Austen or Sir
scope to Mrs Oliphant's distinctive gifts as a biographer. But Walter Scott. Her comments on Sheridanrs plays are largely
the chapters on TuIloch's depression, interweaving Tulloch's own conventj.onal, although there is a convincing analysis of the faulty
descriptions of his affliction, in letters and diaries, with construction of The School for Scandai, based upon study of its
sensitive and perceptive anaLyses of them by Mrs Oliphant, are textual developrnent from early drafts. (Her inforrnation was derived
among the most memorable sequences in her non-fiction. As an exclusively from Thomas lvloore's life of Sheridan.)
examination of the painful phenomenon of clinical depression they The first of her three contributions to the Foreign Classics
are worthy of mention alongside that classic study of the series, a book on Dante, clairns rather more detail than its two
ssIuuacbididje ocaft ,n adCl la oclhceeerirsd sbgiiebo'lgse r at"oDp hetihjeeesc tarieofatned:r e ar.nIr vOindge ".l sW hthata ct atnh ecye ratarien layl wabyes hasnuedcr crUeenslissgeoieornsu,.s Ts ihnvecie efvi rrsDst a annttdeh truse peDo nicv hhineaerp tceeonrmsti erodefy wslfieaarski eears s m ooaff joFSrT tioonrrfeileunsec eno cafe re thuepo nSeen
Mrs Oliphant's biographies are at their best when her story mcoonncoegrnraepdh ,w pituhb liDshaendte ,a b yuet atrh eoyr tawreo plautreerL y (b1i8o7g9ra),p dheicvaotl.e sT mheost of its
becomes tragic, because here the voice of disillusion that 208 pages to ?he Divine Comedy, surnmarising it arith eloquent
appears in her novels is most clearly heard. She treats tragedy enthusiasm for its irnaginative intensity and the powerful sense of
with detachment and without inflated rhetoric, because she can circumstantial reality in its presentation of human suffering in the
reflect her own experience of life. To iLlustrate this I deliber- Inferno. Mrs Oliphant finds her attention wandering when allegory or
ately choose quotations from minor biographies, mainly from nystification takes priority over human feeling: rreven the sometimes
Jeanne d'Arc. Although Jeanne faces "the deep distress of having sublime strain of the Paradiso is irnpaired by the very large
been abandoned in the sight of men, perhaps the profoundest pang admixture of theology and philosophy to which the denizens of heaven
of which nature is capabIe", and discovers that "the most gj-ve ventrr. And she is rnost deeply noved by Dante's treatment of the
terrible of all despairs is such a pause and horror of doubt lest suffering of individual human beings: r'The fierce hunan anguish [of
nothing shouLd be true" as was felt by the followers of Jesus Ugolinol, so real and close to the spectator, moves us as no vaguer
after the Crucifixion, perhaps also by Jeanne, nevertheless she and vaster misery canrr.23
was "no supernatural heroine, but ... a terrified, tormented, and Mrs oliphant published two literary histories, respectively of
often trembling girl". In her literary biography Cernantes Mrs the Rornantic period (1882) and of the Victorian period (1892). She
Oliphant speaks of "a tragedy, not so much of gross and fleshly ained to be all-inclusive, including chapters on historians,
passion, as of that endless human blundering and piteous folly philosophers, theologians and in the Victorian volurne scientists
which Iis] so much closer to every man's experience", and in (although this particular chapter was probably written by her son and
these words we hear the voice of the mature Oliphant novels-1s collaborator Francj-s Romano Oliphant). As a result she is often more
Probably of alL Mrs Oliphant's biographies the one that most superficial than she rnight have been had she been more selective,
satisfies her own criteria, and is also likely to appeal most to thus confining herself to those authors on whom she was well-
the modern reader, is that of Laurence OLiphant, a man rich in inforned. Characteristically, the history of the Romantic period
the complexities and the mysteries of motivation that attracted tends to be a series of character sketches, with incidental comnents
her. She may not unreasonably be considered to have done justice on the author's works, often very personal, subjective and ernotive.
to a man whom Michael Sadleir has described as "double-natured to Mrs oliphant was not much more qualified as a literary historian than
an extraordinary degree. In his one personality he combined the she was as a general or urban historian; and many reviewers of the
mhexeotrsr etb mpiooegswr aoepfr fhuaield sav neidns t mufraootuuunsre dg hianal lnatdhnletirn ygt r eaoanft dmt hmeeny ts thtoeicfm Ouen loirpef hadasoinsnti'l.sl"u 2s0Li ooHnses r oifn bteoaa lratlhineecre Rdh opinseatronsrptyice cMctoi.orvnveme meonfe tentdht .ezu nhCfaiosvntoocuerirdcaianbgll y t haoennsd he c euur nltiduneraanbli ialibteylev e lnitmtos i tpathrtiaootvn idsle,ed a
cfaointhv ulisni otnhse, ethvea nthgreoliwstin Hg aorfrfi s:o f "tah alot nmg oasntd t rceomnefnirdmoeuds aolfl emgoiaranlce, honiset omryay sotfi 1V1i -cfitnodri arnn ulcithe roaf tuinrete rersetd ucine st hbeiosger ahpishtio-criaels i.n foArnrnda atiso nth eto a
the destruction of a faith that had been for many years the chief
thing in his Iife."2r A recent biographer of Laurence Oliphant
frequently cites Mrs Oliphant's biography, and takes it seriously
as an authority, although noting her reticence and evasiveness on
some delicate matters. 2 2
10 11
minimun it is more confined to literary fact and opinion than the synpathy for and understanding of women. Richardson had learned
earrier history.25 There is, however, one remarkabre exception. much from constant companionship with women, and "the sisters of
etrhnxe trtraheve ai sgth aianrd ts iuncs htaiatispn teedirm toarfigb euthrtyee. Hfitreosr te C cavhroallyurlarenc,e te eorl to sqtTuuhdeeyn vtt iacaktnoedrs isa plii grihoAfrgliyiey mtOhoxefr oebr droe yaa udrepyo nanno wdt h boomen tlyrt^e remr auqrcehu apslpilfeeieandsd ainnignt e hrme taaopn syt aoinlfks tmatononc, eeysb a uttto vEtetaorkyne ma npudcahrt in
over literary criticism, although there is an interestrirg defeirce those mild intelLectual encounters, those littIe incursions over
of the notorious Carlyle style. the borders of metaphysics, discussions of motives, sentiments,
her wMidres houlimpahna netx pjeurdiegnecse h, egru pidreedd ebcye shseorr si natnedll icgoenntceem poarnadr iesse nfsroitm- pcarosleifsic o f csounbsjeccietsn coef, pcooninvtes rsoaf tisoonc, iathl ahno -n onuort, wonhliych t haereir thbero mthoesrt,
ivities, and by her particular preoccupations, sometimes person- but their brother's tutor, and all the learned community to which
al' sometimes aesthetic. Her views of -owper, Burns, crabbe, he belongs'r. The benefits of such conversations prove themselves
Wordsworth, Tennyson, Browning, Rossetti lnd other poets are of when Richardson comes to create Clarissa, and I must quote at
varue, not because hre necessariry endorse her verdiits, which are some length Mrs Oliphant's tribute to his heroine. "This
sometimes orthodox, sometimes idiosyncratic, but because they conceptlon stands by itself amid aII the conceptions of genius";
oualfatfhel-o r u(_gHuhes ras thnree a adptopmeroesa nhct heo rt fo b Keteshtae ttssoe i sgp oivseeltm sa pl vabhathircaehnt icicse db dueits vtsainurciprtaerytrif oicniia nord;f iiB/ibydru-otn pCoofl atttrheiseris nafge wise ox"rp.igo..is nitaaol rv, tirybgpuient s-mi no af hrtaeyrrrt ," o; wans ppheoere s"tohicna svs bihsueio t insaa rgdyai vribrnueelio"n;ug s, " toahnneed
Mahjuneasdrrt iictaSre ihbE.e udl)tgle eeHsyw esorth rovteh i e,si swJir as nt eowem fa Aprnuteeosrartve mesnlec tsanotnttsatd l lwsyau nistidnta ctnoai n Fpttaeehbrrerelei est htro rfe a,tedsre o *w iunaomigmh oe tnnhm gen motohrveee, rmainsodtsst hoo"[ifbSg shhheeeerrs]v tage tpexiooinsneet,str ia cot brio cysnr eht uiaesdtr i yoho,n wa onlfor rfi ksgntohho tetw,r uleaeadg ngeted oi s ois nf tahntthiuosert e wot"h.no eerM lmdfrr"sua. itOtc hl"ilpeoNhsfosat naftig wiusormea"n.
vtch_haaartru 3ascbhtleee r scis h raatpotthoee rosr ftotehfn a tnhc eco tnoetseaenrl tiee wxra itmhh iinseatnotitrohynu, s oiaafs rmtthh oetou iig nhdt niivte id niu;o avlaiet yrp isittyso'f aatrmnibdau ztetheda tth toan to R wsicuohmcaha rndi nwssoriignteh'srt ahirntaitssot iycae t wcionomtmeaeng rnhiateysa rb ieitne. nh Aaocnldhdii nesgvhe etd op bahyyis sa a man,
nthoevier lisntosv, erasn.d r nca tnh es cvaircctoerlyia nsa yv omluucmhe o sf hien toefrfeesrst afabro utot om omsatn yof cpheorsceenp ttiroang iocf ethned ibnge sfto rp riCnc-liaprljesss a.o "f Wairtth wheh akte apnt blnyt uhitisiv eoriginal
cthheamrl.o tBteu t Bheror nvtdie wdess oefr vDe itcok ebnes ,t aGkeeonrg see Eriloiouts, ry Tbroy lltohpi em aonddern nideecae.s siti.es[T o]hf ea irnt"t.erests of morality concurred with the highest
reader' even though her choice of novers to cimmlnt on is Mrs Oliphant goes on to a telling and perceptive analysis of
sretrmaanrgkealbyl es aesle hcetivr ea;u cacneds stehse. Ffaoilru erexsa mpolfe ,h sehr ei nhsaisg hntost hainrge atos say tLhoavte lLaocvee, lawcheom i ss hae cfaorm pmaroerse winittehr eFsiteinldgin gs'tsu dTyo mof Jaon reask,e i,n shiasvtiinngg
othnis T hneo MveiLr Li no n1 8th8e5 iFnr ohsesr. Hreovwieewve or, f sJn.ew h. acar oasrrse'sa diyif ec ornornf enGteedo rugpl6n minosries tcso, mhpalesx "ittyh,a mt osruep dreempet hp,o mwoerre o af mnbaivtuarleanl csee. leRcictlhoanr dwshoinc,h she
mnpEwuoaroibvrornereti sl.aieshidxntesmt de f inrfoiinsaefi tv ieoLEeu8nldye9.i ne7ssbn iit unruVnr dgiicalihaet ordDRlry iieaai,nv n'is oe hhnwdee r (rreJi taivuegirbmentiiw cl e5(r eieot0e f7 vr)noc",Tnr '2hsma3peiel9 e0s) at.oitksenitne tgrhB seo r of Bwnoirttmo€ enncwt6ai"tnh, be abogbeovniveloaoerkln py,gi srsnasi s ois tftooeoin drfeg g s,the htenaefroil oulerr,s ed "aes,, sxinoSacanhmensepd wcl" e.hoh.,ne ytc. h fSleueaide rll efl sasC it lhhuhthearimier sia e sdseorm elGff m irrtlaaaihnnrtepikdo aiisnnibdog lente ha eaailsi sr wtreieacodanler d l adienn rfdwb eceirathihnoin rdan
- Mrs Oliphant's preference in poetry and novers is for the the enthusiastic audience in the book itse1f".26
calfofescet ioonbs earnvda thiounm oouf r,t hbeu tw noorrt dw oitfh hdumocaunm eexnpiaerryie nrecaei,i svmie.w esnde with than Tehloeq tureibnuctee. Itt o imCpfalireisss ath eis vvieewry t healot qgureenatt, baurtt titr anissc emnodres the
admires the feeling for emotional truth which gives us the need for "observation, or study, or knowledge of the world",
pleasure of recognitlon, and she arso looks toi ttre farticularity important though these are, and searches for the universal,
tolrhufe tdthice. tatHio-el rwp pohreiecthfse rgreiikvneec ess _hifnoedrr_irvesiyod buaranierditt yyn oovafe nrtdios ntfsae m mliiklaieak eristD yhi clrk eioun nssu yannnipvdae _Ersmairry tslihtyeemr aburonylii vc epcrshoaaelrtiitacyc tterour ft mhm uysthtt han;to 1tu t onmndlueysr ltbi edesi s inpthdlaeivy i odtbuhsaeel irspveoedwd erreb tauolti tyare;l scorea ahateve
Bronte. And her preference for novels which give a wide range of' and interpret what the writer has experienced.2T
human experience, not a 1imited sector of itl makes her sceptical
of novels like Jaae Eyre, with their inexhaustible obsession with VIII
the need to be loved, In poetry she responds to lyrlcism and to
the tender handling of grief and sorrow in poems iiXe .rn Brief reference must be made to Mrs Oliphant's last, and in
MemorMiamrs. oriphant's craims to be taken seriousry as a literary mPaunbyl iwshaiynsg m Eoosut seen, dwuhriicnhg ,c owmorbkin oefs nao bnio-fgicrtaiopnhy, oAf ntnhael sp uobf liasher
cebrriositeigcwr ahpeahrreiee; sbt,o u atb ntedo pfoigru.llnluadsp t:mr aaateitns loyw pirnroa eth taerryri, y r ebinve i ehBwelasr c ofkinwf eonsootd v,sep laMss asaganadgzei noef and Wwlitaeislrl iaearxmyh aBuhlasisctitkvoweroyly o,d o,af n1Bd,7 L7ea5xc-hLk8wa3uo4os, dtia'nsn gMdly ao.g fa rzehisnisee a asrcnohdne sdi,t swa nictdho hnaatr sid bferuettaoqirluesed. ntIlyt
riterary criticism r must give some detail of her a.ti"te in the been cited as an authority by historians and scholars, although
George .fJ volume on Richardson, to whom she was drawn by his it needs supplementing and correcting by later research.2s Of
L2 13
particular value is the first volume, with chapters on the four (1888) "in a newspaper to which I happened to have access at the
leading figures of early Blackwood days: John Gibson Lockhart, moment", but, unable to understand the book, compromised with a
Christopher North (John Wilson), James Hogg, and WiIIiam Maginn, study of his career,3t The newspaper to which she had access in
and useful biographical lnformation upon Coleridge and De L888 was St James's cazette; and the article appeared on 22 NIay
Quincey. Volume II is of less interest, but includes passages of that year. It is unsigned, but is unmistakably the article
about George El-iot and Branwerr Bronte not previously available. which Mrs Oliphant describes. There may be other articles to be
The two vorumes are characteristic of Mrs oriphant in their many discovered, identifiable only by recognition of Mrs Oliphant's
quick vivid sketches of character; she is always ready to enter style and manner.
dramatically into the state of mind of the Brackwoods and their
authors, no doubt an inadvisable procedure for a biographer. x
Nevertheless she always concedes priority to documentation,
especially the extended quotation of letters from the Blackwood Mrs Oliphant seems to have taken herself seriously as a
fi.les, and sometimes she shows considerable skirr in summarising poet, The second chapter of Sundays, "Going up to Jerusalem",
J-ong and complex correspondences to extract their gist. consists mainly of a thirteen-page poem in irregular rhymed
verse. And Dante contains many long translations from the yita
IX Nuova and the Divine Comedy. Some of the poems listed in Section
C are ambitiously written in complex verse forms (items 62L, 623,
It would be impossible in an introduction like this to do 626, 63L, 632'). Near the end of her Life she considered a small
justice to Mrs Oliphant's journalism and book reviewing, which volune of coltected poems.32 But Mrs Oliphant never allowed
kept her occupied throughout her long career. she was an inexhau- herself the time to achieve distinction as a poet, and one cannot
stible reviewer of books; not merely novels and biographies and dissent from Elisabeth Jay's verdict: "her poetry was utterly
other works of imaginative literature, on which she courd speak unmemorable because the constraints of conventional metrical
with authority, but on virtually any subject, whether or not she discipline never allowed her to do more than imitate other poets'
had the chance to do any background reading on it. She was rhyttrns or pad out her verses with line-fillers."33
steering an uneasy course between direttantism and a wide-ranging
ctou rsiopseiatyk waitbho uat aselle mhiunmg aanu pthheonroitmy enwah. iAchn dc yaent oaftte nti mceasrr ys rrceo insv iicltte- NOTES AND REFERENCES
ion. section B of the bibliography llsts alr books reviewed and I Mrs Q. D. Leavis, Introduction to Oliphant, Autobiography and
briefly annotates some of the specialist articres; and r need not Letters, Leicester University Press, I"974, <1,0>.
give further detail here.
Late in her Life Mrs Oliphant wrote articles in which she 2 Sundays, 1, 5-6. 8-10.
made discursive commentary upon a wide range of contemporary
topics, political, social, artistic, Iiterary, or whatever of 3 This is the topic with which Elisabeth Jay deals in her
interest had come to her attention. This inctudes the series "The reference to the book (Jay, Mrs OTiphant: "A Fiction to Herse7f",
Looker-on" contributed to Bl-ackwood,s Magazine and "Things in Oxford, L995, 2O9). Mrs Oliphant derived her social philosophy on
General" contributed to AtaLanta, a periodical for young women, the promotion of personal charity partly from the Scottish
and also two series of articles Iisted in this bibliogriphy for theologian Thomas Chalmers, mentioned later in this Introduction,
the first time: "A Conmentary fromr/in an Easy Chair" contributed and she refers to this theme in her biography of Chalmers, and
to The Spectator; and the recently identified "A Fireside also in her biography of Edward lrving, and even in her history
commentary", contributed to st.James's Gazette. rn her autobio- of English literature of the Romantic period. Fu1ler treatment of
graphy Mrs oriphant refers to an article in this newspaper on her the theme is to be found in her article "Social Science"
youthfur campaigning against the corn Laws.2s This wai published published Ln Blackwoodts Magazine in December L860 (item 289).
in the Gazette on lL January 1888, and was the first of ZI
articLes with this tit1e. Then after a stight gap appeared a Sundays, 20. Elisabeth Jay considers Sundays to be an
thirteen articles with the signature "M". These in ltyle and "improving book for children" (Oliphant, 133 and 32O, n. L34l;
content are clearly the work of Mrs Oliphant. Moreover, The but I find this unconvincing. My quotations suggest a book
Spectator had in 1874 and 1884 published two Letters to the intended for adults, encoura{ling a modification of their approach
Editor over this signature (items 562 and 573), known from to religion, and a maturer awareness of the world in which they
documentation held in the Spectator 1ibrary to be by Mrs live.
Oliphant; and two further Letters to the Editor signed
followed in 1894 and 1896 ( items 6 j.4 and 6i.5; . : o - "M" s rrving, II,22; II,64; I,215; II,337. Mrs Oliphant is at
It is unlikely that Section B is as complete as one would times at pains to defend Irving against the charge of egotism;
desire. Many of Mrs Oliphant's contributions to periodicals, but often the biographical information she proceeds to give calls
especialLy newspapers, have probably stiIl to be identified, as in question the validity of her defence.
they would certainry have been unsigned. one article which r have
been able to trace is a short sunmary of Laurence Oliphant's 6 frving, II, 136.
career published in st James's Gazette. she terls us that she had
intended to review oliphant's last book scientific Religion 7 Annan is the Dumfriesshire town where Irving was born, and
L5
l4
where in 1922 he was ordained.
eI Irving ff, 191; IT, 88; If, 1Og; fI, 1OO. 6(GJOuua3l.r- d4iL;a 8n'€o 8ns2tee1em, n2po0ot8rea- r11y2 5;. L TSihteiem rGailtuauarr etdc"io,a mn,pT LlhaLei n OBtsrc ittw-is eh1re 8 8mQ2au,d aLer4 toe2frL T-hy2e -R rF elovairce kwT h o7e6f
rrving, rr, 23. historicat perspective in reviews of her five books of urban
10 history. See in particular a review of Makers of Modetn Rome by
f rving, I, 4o7 . E. Arn3trong, rhb English HistoricaT Review 1L (Oct - ' L896) ' 77L-
trAutobiogrSpfigf, 2.
A: nnal_s of a publishing nHoo tu" s-e ,B IeI n,v e6n7uto Cel_Iinj-" (item 4o4), 2i 2s The history of Victorian literature was in some ways an
waa1bu2arts hi dTtohghreeret d ymd .ta oetnxSetteh ,o e af ptshtu hewbe elb.isBrilbh rileatioisds.g htirnh a ephp hynilyebe,al riicrci ataiest im o"arnsnr, ei 2ienIti4oi o f nateinitidrd-e r Zeb-iegIu5caiia. -'u, shteea xDste .n coemThbeer eBf4ixf3Ttt7yae)c n.kswyiooeonad r,oss f uMin adgCeaorz tidtnheeen, agJue snbueilrervaeel yat iotrltfei c tlhee o f plitu"eTbrhlaiest uhOreeldd Sinoa fl Jotuohnnee" p1(ir8tee8vm7io iuns
t3
Historical Sketches of ... ceorge ff, I,2oO. 26 George II, II,2L9,236-238,243,254,255. The full analysis
ta of Clarissa is 233-239 and of Lovelace 243-46.
George II, II, 60.
r'lr(yr-;T 83 hf9 e.(1,sS ,Gi er31 ue8;a, c 9rfrhd2roBai,ra or 3nloee5 kwsxs5 aa-wa6ms.1 inlnp sd"lo geNBrn, oo)?ro tBihrkc oe eGro e?Mkoy,ss,a.' s, io tipc'Tforh h fet,e'hJ s eetGTe-rhurWu eacsr eiaSdieiiTuaakneinr"d,'ni, ,a. ,T y'zrh boSe e ua;T-;ipi-,i'hm; i".ti lOei ins-t^Dr a"a1eung7c^gz ,.D,i ,i cet1Sicz8nB.6,71., p6M2Joot?r su eAt mtaOinccaol tiL.ptc h hooea(nfrT ncnhttehotesne v wte rooaPl wrTtwdiano hg.n")iupc ,e Sho wye eMeehti raiccgsr"h u.,O e Hterlhianepe nrhA rspeancr nneaaetni s sdg( eBsirne r otaithtfiths elyeht ha eaCcd eclbamudorr.iiora)se'k tsde ah 3 wc 2igop7ahma-s3ls miODgsu'ahengftioscee a, 'tsiiiotssn
newspaper published in London.)
2s see, for example, Alan Lang Strout, "Walter scott and Maga",
16
Francis of Assisj, 8g. The Times Litetaty suppLement, 5 Feb', 1938, 92; and Frank D'
Tredrey, The House of Blackwood 1'804-L954 (London and Edinburgh:
't ttMen and Womenil, 62L. Blackwood, L954).
18 ttThe Ethics of Biographyil, 93 , 84, g7, g9. 2s Oliphant, Autobiography, ed. Jay. (See item 730 in the Addenda
te to this bibliography), 25.
.Jeanne-d,Argt 393, 2Og, 3g4i Cervantes, L2O. fn the last
tqroruE oxtehtametp iotlarnar ygM eNrdsoi veOeslr ispsi'hh!,ea b ndute t isshc errirbe ewfesor rriainn= g hi "eiitrror i n"oorrnvyee- r.o3;; fi; i;"iCa' -e[riv"gain"tphenesi,rEs 3ap.-p-r-o-a-ch I h3e0 rE 1li9s9a5b beitohg rJaapyh my aokfe sM ursse O olifp hthaen t, 5(ts eJaem neoste's 3G aazbeotvtee ).articles in
20 Michael sadJ-eir, Foreword to Laurence oliphant, piccadirry, 3r Laurence Oliphant, II, 356.
reprint, .constabl-e's Miscellany oi originai i--s-"i"lt"a
paPniucdbc lwa-iacdsai Jtrireovvn,ise.a wi nes daL rbiirtyei- rcMaatrrus- r onelo ipv(hetioin,i rt; a;orl nn: " B;cioi;Siis;citrkaiwbvr o-e"h pa,Zniita-ri iloiJoZr.r re,in ae rgi n2ing )r e,z ov. 33921 .Letter to Mr [willian] Blackwood, 15 Septenber' L892' A&L,
9ctob:l.1B7o (item 333). rhis r,/as her firsi comment 33 Jay, OTiphant, 298.
yp9l grlphant.,-?n9 her nexr was her obituary," nwini"t"h'[ 6a brief
b( irtoegmra 4p4h7y) , .published in Blackwood,s ttagazin;'in feliuary l-889
2t
Laurence OTiphant, II , 206.
]yr1oll*u-.Yn-_o?l :ro:s.nArt nyp npPe, rT39.a?2y:6,l, o Llr_,9 4_78L 2aa)nu. drRe 2ne5cfe5e_r eo7n.ticpehsa tnot MtBO2W9O-8'. 8r e(tOicxefnocrde: oaxrefo trod be
23
Dante, L94 , 1,06.
1A-t,ht"e"n, aefuonr ,2ei xra4mayp,l eL,a (aT2h,e 6osdso-ree oW; astattsu i[:lda;tye rR "W;i;;a: tts-iDi",ut.nrrto,.n, f),L T8hse2,